Ian's shared items
Filed under: Internet, web 2.0
There are some nascent attempts, like the cheap-and-cheerful approach of Google Sites, but nothing that comes close to the simple, graceful beauty of BaseKit. For a start, you can import Photoshop PSD files! I can't begin to describe the pains I've been through, as a web designer, trying to implement PSDs in valid HTML and CSS -- but now BaseKit can do it for me, and the code it generates works in all modern browsers. It takes a little getting used to -- you need to name one of your layers 'Header', for example -- but overall, the process is very quick and very smooth. Check out the video on their homepage, if you want to see the PSD import in action.
Even if you don't want to import PSDs, there's lots of other shiny bits to lure you in. The interface is beautiful, like a marriage of everything good about Web 2.0. There is dragging and dropping, resizing, AJAX and widgets up the yin yang -- forms, date pickers, star ratings, imported Flickr and Twitter feeds -- it's all there. If you want to see what's possible, check out their showcase. You'll also notice there's no Flash (but they're working on including it... damn).
If I haven't won you over yet, I've saved the best, beardy-pleasing morsel for last: it generates W3C-compliant code!
Right now you have to sign up for a beta key -- and there are certainly some beta bugs that need ironing out -- but I will try to get some keys to hand out in the next few days over on our Facebook page!
BaseKit is a web app that generates websites from Photoshop PSD files originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google officially unveiled Buzz, their major step into social statuses through Gmail today at an event held at 10 AM PT. Within the hour, Yahoo PR was set in motion to let everyone know that they actually did this first, almost a year ago.
Here’s the humorous email that was sent out:
It’s been almost a year and a half since we first launched Yahoo! Updates – a social feature that lets people share their status, content and online activities and stay connected to what their friends and family are doing on Yahoo! and across the Web – and we wanted to share the latest on what’s happening with Updates:
- There are now more than 200 Yahoo! and third-party sites that feed into Yahoo! Updates – like Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, Yelp and Yahoo! Buzz – allowing people to see and share updates such as when they’ve uploaded photos, changed their status, buzzed up a news story or posted a new restaurant review, all from Yahoo!
- Yahoo! Updates now appear throughout the Yahoo! network, in popular sites and services like Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo.com, and Yahoo! Messenger and across our content properties, meaning people can always keep up to date with their friends’ latest activities
- Yahoo! Updates are featured prominently on the “What’s New” section of Yahoo! Mail, which is used by more than 300M people worldwide. People can also update their status and share it with friends and family directly from the “What’s New” tab
- Yahoo! Updates are now available globally
- Additionally, Yahoo! recently announced an expanded integration with Facebook that will allow people to connect with Facebook friends on Yahoo! and share Yahoo! content with Facebook friends as well
- Ultimately, Yahoo! sees social as an enabler and as a dimension that is part of everything we do—and everything people do online.
Let us know if you have any questions or would like to hear more about Yahoo!’s social features.
That’s all true, but all that really highlights is that Yahoo’s offering has failed to catch on in any meaningful way in the past year. It’s hard to say if Google or Yahoo have a worse track record when it comes to the social web. But at least Google is still pushing hard, while Yahoo recently gave up and announced it would outsource the majority of its work to Facebook. With Buzz, Google is going right after Facebook (and Twitter, and Foursquare, and yadda, yadda…).
But Yahoo wasn’t done take shots at Google Buzz with its PR blitz. The official Yahoo account on Twitter also chimed in noting that Yahoo Buzz, a product with the same name but completely unrelated, launched two years ago. Yahoo has an event tomorrow to talk about something. This could get ugly.
“Busy people don’t want another social network, what they want is the convenience of aggregation. We’ve done that. Hotmail customers have benefitted from Microsoft working with Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and 75 other partners since 2008.” – Microsoft statement on Google Buzz.
When one of the big guys launches a new product, competitors generally just sit it out and let the press do its thing. But Microsoft made a point of reaching out today with the quote above, criticizing Google Buzz as “another social network” and noting that Hotmail has aggregated Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and other services since 2008.
Of course Microsoft also owns a chunk of, and has a search deal with, Facebook. So they’re being threatened on a number of fronts. Still, just the fact that Microsoft is speaking on the record about Buzz shows that the guys in Redmond are a little worried. And they are not the only ones.
GMAIL USERS: You can now follow Mashable’s official Google Buzz profile here: http://www.google.com/profiles/mashable
It’s official: Google has just announced Google Buzz, its newest push into the social media foray. This confirms earlier reports of Gmail integrating a social status feature.
On stage revealing the new product was Bradley Horowitz, Google’s vice president for product management. While introducing the product, Mr. Horowitz focused on the human penchant for sharing experiences and the social media phenomenon of wanting to share it in real time. These two key themes were core philosophies behind Google Buzz.
“It’s becoming harder and harder to find signal in the noise,” Bradley stated before introducing the product manager for Google Buzz, Todd Jackson.
Here are the details:
Google Buzz: The Details
- Mr. Jackson introduced “a new way to communicate within Gmail.” It’s “an entire new world within Gmail.” Then he introduced the five key features that define Google Buzz:
- Key feature #1: Auto-following
- Key feature #2: Rich, fast sharing experience
- Key feature #3: Public and private sharing
- Key feature #4: Inbox integration
- Key feature #5: Just the good stuff
- Google then began the demo. Once you log into Gmail, you’ll be greeted wiht a splash page introducing Google Buzz.
- There is a tab right under the inbox, labeled “Buzz”
- It provides links to websites, content from around the web. Picasa, Twitter, Flickr and other sites are aggregated.
- It shows thumbnails when linked to photos from sites like Picasa and Flickr. Clicking on an image will blow up the images to almost the entire browser, making them easier to see.
- It uses the same keyboard shortcuts as Gmail. This makes sense. Hitting “R” allows you to comment/reply to a buzz post, for example.
- There are public and private settings for different posts. You can post updates to specific contact groups. This is a lot like Facebook friend lists.
- Google wants to make sure you don’t miss comments, so it has a system to send you an e-mail letting you know about updates. However, the e-mail will actually show you the Buzz you’ve created and all of the comments and images associated with it.
- Comments update in real time.
- @replies are supported, just like Twitter. If you @reply someone, it will send a buzz toward an individual’s inbox.
- Google Buzz has a “recommended” feature that will show buzzes from people you don’t follow if your friends are sharing or commenting on that person’s buzz. You can remove it or change this in settings.
- Google is now speaking about using algorithms to help filter conversations, as well as mobile devices related to Buzz.
The Mobile Aspect
- Google buzz will be accessible via mobile in three ways: from Google Mobile’s website, from Buzz.Google.com (iPhone and Android), and from Google Mobile Maps.
- Buzz knows wher you are. It will figure out what building you are and ask you if it’s right.
- Buzz has voice recognition and posts it right onto your buzz in real-time. It also geotags your buzz posts.
- Place pages integrate Buzz.
- In the mobile interface, you can click “nearby” and see what people are saying nearby. NIFTY, if I say so myself.
- You can layer Google Maps with Buzz. You can also associate pictures with buzz within Google Maps.
- Conversation bubbles will appear on your Google Maps. They are geotagged buzz posts, which lets you see what people are saying nearby.
- They just showed off a video for Buzz. We’ll have it up soon.
The Third Act
- Google’s philosophy on social is this: It wants buzz to be the paragon and poster child for creating a social destination in an open environment that adheres to open standards.
- It’s launching at 11:00 a.m. PT in its first wave.
Reviews: Android, Facebook, Flickr, Gmail, Google, Google Maps, Picasa, Twitter
Tags: android, gmail, Google, trending
The 2010 Technology Entertainment Design conference will be kicking off tomorrow in Long Beach, California, bringing the leading minds of many fields together to talk shop about innovation, change, and what the future holds.
As social media has become a game changer for industries across the board, you can bet the experts at this year’s TED conference will have their sights set on peeling back the hype and getting at the core of what social technology has in store for this year and beyond.
Perhaps the best part of the TED conferences is that videos of the talks are archived and free to view right on the organization’s website. Given the wealth of insight we’re sure to see tomorrow, we thought we’d whet your appetite by highlighting a few recent and exceptional talks from TED’s past, with a focus on social media.
1. Alexis Ohanian: How To Make a Splash in Social Media
We’ll start things off with a real-life social media parable about how the biggest and most effective forces on the web usually take shape by accident. Alexis Ohanian of Reddit.com tells the quick and hilarious story of how the social web provided some unexpected help to Greenpeace in halting the Japanese whaling industry. Internet marketers take note: The meme is all powerful, and it cannot be controlled.
2. Clay Shirky: How Social Media Can Make History
In this talk, consultant, professor and author Clay Shirky discusses the unprecedented immediacy of real-time citizen journalism made possible by social media and the nearly ubiquitous access to mobile web technologies. From the election crisis in Iran to the massive earthquake that shook China in May of 2008, Shirky discusses how media is made on the ground, as-it-happens, via the social web.
3. Evan Williams: Listening to Twitter Users
With a couple of anecdotes building the ultimate social media case study, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams discusses how a little side project called Twitter became a game-changing phenomenon with the help and input of the very users who made the service a success. From innovative marketing uses to core functionality, Williams provides the evidence for what we knew all along: Users know best.
4. Stefana Broadbent: How the Internet Enables Intimacy
As social media changes our social lives, speculation has abounded for years on how the web may be disconnecting us from intimate interactions in favor of meaningless quests to rack up followers and “friends.” Not so, says Stefana Broadbent, who explains that social networks function the same way online as they do in real life. While we may have lots of friends, we only really communicate regularly and meaningfully with a handful of them, and social technologies like e-mail, texting, and tweeting allow us to do so more often across time and space.
5. Seth Godin: The Tribes We Lead
From professional sports mascots to balloon animal makers, some communities are so extremely niche that they could only properly thrive on the Internet. So argues blogger and author Seth Godin, who believes that our revolutionary new connectedness has brought human culture back to its roots, and that tribes (groups of people mobilized around a shared interest) are the present and future of all web content.
What are your favorite TED talks about social media? Which did we miss? Let us know in the comments.
Reviews: Iran , Twitter, reddit.com
Tags: future, List, Lists, social media, social networks, technology, TED, TED Talks, twitter, video
Although all is said and done when it comes to football this season, such is not the case for the Super Bowl advertisers.
We’re now entering the entertaining aftermath of the Super Bowl ad showdown, and thanks to social media tracking services like Alterian and Radian6, we can take an early look at advertisers winning big on the web.
The following results come from two sources. Starting in early December, Alterian SM2 looked at social media conversations across a variety of sites and tracked all discussions relevant to Super Bowl advertising. Its latest report is embedded below. By contrast, Mullen and Radian6 crafted BrandBowl2010 to measure volume and sentiment of Twitter chatter mentioning the advertisers, with analysis beginning the Friday prior to the game. The discrepancies in their results represent different methods of data collection.
Biggest Buzz-Makers
When it comes to sheer volume alone, Alterian SM2 ranks Focus on the Family as the advertiser with the most mentions overall from December 1, 2009, to February 8, 2010, at 3:00 a.m. CST.
You might recall that initially the unaired ad stirred up controversy prior to the big game due to its pro-life subject matter. While this viewer thought the buzz was much ado about nothing, the fact of the matter is that the build-up led to a highly anticipated spot with a big payoff on the social web in terms of overall mentions.
By comparison, however, Alterian SM2 found that conversations on game day alone were Google-heavy. According to the company, Google’s late entry into the Super Bowl advertiser foray was a pretty big win for the search giant. On Super Bowl Sunday, Google was the advertiser with the most mentions, highest Social Engagement Index (i.e. farthest reach), and the second-highest sentiment score (second only to Doritos) among all advertisers.
According to Mullen and Radian6’s BrandBowl2010, which looked at just Twitter chatter over a shorter time span, Doritos saw the most volume of tweets, and was its winner for “most effective brand to advertise on the Super Bowl telecast.”
BrandBowl ranked Google and Focus on the Family as second and third in the most-buzzed about competition. Its top 10 most effective brands are as follows:
1. Doritos
2. Google
3. Focus On Family
4. Snickers:
5. Budweiser
6. Bud Light
7. Hyundai
8. Kia
9. GoDaddy
10. Coca-Cola
Who We Really Love
Quantity is one thing, but quality is something else entirely. When looking at initial tallies, social media analysis points to the advertisers and ads we loved the most.
Alterian SM2 crowns Anheuser-Busch as its initial post-game victor in the battle for the most-loved brand overall (for the entire duration of the measurement period).
On game day only, however, Doritos took the top spot with the highest sentiment score, followed by Google in a distant second. Due to the flurry of social positive sentiment Doritos garnered on Super Bowl Sunday, the brand was able to skyrocket to become the second most-loved (i.e. highest sentiment score) brand overall as well.
Per BrandBowl, we — the members of the Twittersphere — loved McDonald’s and Dr Pepper. Though neither of these advertisers ever cracked the top 10 list in terms of volume, tweets about them were extremely positive.
The Biggest Losers
Per Alterian SM2’s data, the advertiser with the most negative conversations from December 1, 2009, to December 8, 2010, at 3:00 a.m. CST was Focus on the Family.
Interestingly enough, BrandBowl declared Budweiser Select55 to be its last place-finisher. The kind hearts at Mullen are now offering free creative services for next year’s commercial as a consolation prize. Its 10 least effective brands list is as follows:
30. NBC’s Universal – Universal Orlando
31. Paramount Pictures
32. FloTV
33. Cars.com
34. Motorola
35. Diamond Foods’ – Pop Secret
36. Honda
37. Teleflora
38. Michelob Ultra
39. Budweiser Select55
Super Bowl Social Media Results Feb82010
[img credit: Willard, iStockphoto]
Reviews: Google, Radian6, Twitter, iStockphoto
Tags: Anheuser-Busch, doritos, MARKETING, Super Bowl, Super Bowl ads
We learned earlier today that Google is launching a social status update feature in Gmail. While details are sparse, The Wall Street Journal reports that it is a new Gmail module that could integrate status updates as well as content from YouTube, Picasa and potentially other social sources. WSJ is unclear as to when it will launch, though.
We think that Google’s new social status feature will be announced tomorrow. We have just received an invite to attend an event at Google’s headquarters where it will be “unveiling some product innovations in two of [its] most popular products.”
The description fits very well with the WSJ report. Gmail is one of Google’s most popular products, and this new social status update feature would be a “product innovation” within Gmail.
As for what the other product getting new features may be, we can’t say for certain. Picasa, YouTube, Google Friend Connect and Google Accounts all seem like potential candidates.
The event begins at 10:00 a.m. PT tomorrow. We will be there covering the entire thing.
Reviews: Gmail, Google, Picasa, YouTube, google friend connect
Tags: gmail, Google, social search, WSJ
Each month, our partner Visible Measures compiles a list of the top ten most popular web video series, and we share those results with you and provide analysis.
In January, the threshold for entry into the list was the highest it’s ever been, but viewership for the top 10 shows dropped 26% as compared to the record-breaking month of December.
If you’ve been keeping track in previous months, you won’t be surprised to see that Fred and Happy Tree Friends have again topped the list. Also notable: CollegeHumor and video game-themed shows collectively took up half the list. There weren’t any new series on the list in January, but a couple that dropped off in the past made a comeback. We also learned that the majority of viewers for the top 10 shows were male.
Here’s the complete chart with video clips included for each series. We provide some deeper analysis below.
The Chart: January 2010
| Rank | Last Month’s Rank | Title | Studio | Genre | True Reach View Count | % Change in Views | Sample Episode | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
*The Visible Measures Top 10 Webisodes Chart focuses on digital studio-driven Web series that appear on Internet video-sharing destinations. Each Web series is measured on a True Reach™ basis, which includes viewership of both studio-syndicated video clips and viewer-driven social video placements. The data are compiled using the Visible Measures Viral Reach Database, a constantly growing repository of analytic data on more than 100 million Internet videos across more than 150 video-sharing destinations.
Note: This chart does not include vloggers, interviews, how-to series, news shows, or product review shows. View-count results are incremental by month.
To notify Visible Measures of an upcoming Web series, or for an end-to-end assessment of your campaign’s overall performance, please contact us directly.
If you’re interested in exploring this data further, go to visiblemeasures.com/mashable.
Consistently On Top: Fred
The teenager with the high-pitched voice has topped the list again, and he managed to do it even though he only put out one new video in January. That new episode garnered 1.7 million views, so the rest of the 24.7 million were all thanks to old content that people are still discovering or re-watching.
You can’t fault Fred completely for dropping from his December high of 34.2 million views; he didn’t have topical holiday content to work with this time. It’s still impressive that a 16-year old actor with a webcam is beating each and every show from web TV networks like Next New Networks and CollegeHumor.
We mentioned earlier that the majority of top 10 show viewers are male; it’s interesting to note that Fred has the highest ratio of female viewers at 45%.
CollegeHumor’s Mark Is Hard to Miss
CollegeHumor is straight up mainstream now thanks to two cable TV deals in the works with MTV, and its online performance is as impressive as ever. It’s the only network with three series on the list — POV, Hardly Working, and Jake & Amir. They’ve all appeared on the list before, and together they racked up just shy of 11 million views.
All three of these CollegeHumor series saw growth since last month; POV didn’t appear on the December chart at all, but now it’s back. Hardly Working is actually working hard; it cranked out several new videos in January and grew 32% as compared to last month. Jack & Amir experienced a modest 6% growth.
The Guild and Red Vs. Blue: The Gamer Niche
Video game-themed programming has always been a significant genre in web TV. Because web series are usually cheaper to produce and viewership expectations are lower than would be the case with over-the-air shows, web series find it advantageous to serve a deep and narrow niche. Gamers are a great audience because there are just enough of them, and because they have their own dedicated ecosystem of social media and blogs to spread the word.
The Guild and Red Vs. Blue aren’t performing as well as they used to, but the gamer audience is still obviously alive and well since these gamer shows take up two of the top 10 spots. Red Vs. Blue just started airing new content, so it returned to the list after a hiatus. Conversely, The Guild is off-season so its numbers have declined.
A greater portion of Red Vs. Blue’s audience is male than any other show on the list. That should be no surprise since the series is based on the science fiction action shooter Halo.
Reviews: video
Tags: monthly top webisodes, video, visible measures, Web TV, web video
Filed under: News, Blogging, Social Software
Pew Internet released a report yesterday called Social Media and Young Adults that shows teen blogging down by 50% over the past four years, even as blogging increased among those over 30 years old.
The report also shows that teens are not very likely to be Twitter users (only 8% of internet users between the ages of 12 and 17 report using the service), even though they are heavy users of almost all other online applications; in fact, 73% of "wired American teens" are social networking website users. Twitter seems to stick out as a service that younger people are not as interested in.
Interestingly, even as MySpace popularity wanes overall, young people are still almost double as likely to maintain a profile there as are older adults, who have moved on to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
The report's summary has a ton of other interesting statistics about social network and wireless usage, which as Mashable points out, seems to indicate that teens just don't seem to be very interested in content creation, compared to adults. This seems somewhat counterintuitive, but you can't argue with the numbers.
Social Media and Young Adults report shows teen blogging on the decline originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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