Klout Doesn’t Really Measure Influence [STUDY]

A new study about digital influence says Klout and other social media measurement tools don’t really define how users influence their networks.

All too commonly, sites like Klout and PeerIndex claim to measure influence — and maybe they do measure influence. But what does digital influence really mean?

Brian Solis, author of The Altimeter Group report, says social websites that rank users’ social media influence don’t measure influence like they claim to do. Rather, Solis says a user’s social media score measures the “capacity to influence.”

“Scores can be measures of social capital, but not true influence,” he said.

Solis came up with his own definition of digital influence: “the ability to cause effect, change behavior, and drive measurable outcomes online.” Solis conducted qualitative research by interviewing vendors, conducting software demos, and reviewing brands with piloted digital influence programs.

He also says brands don’t really understand influence.

“While these tools use sophisticated algorithms to calculate a corresponding number, they do not take into account all of the complexities of influence and the nature of relationships between people in social networks,” Solis says. “As a result, brands are potentially misallocating precious resources based on the lack of understanding of what influence is and the role influencers play within customer markets.”

Klout said it was well aware of Solis’s report before it was published — the company even had an advanced copy. But Lynn Fox, Klout’s spokeswoman, would not say whether Klout agreed or disagreed with the report.

“The report reinforces that we came in early on and we are furthest along in the process of measuring influence in this market,” Fox said.

How Klout Found Success by Focusing on Users

The 33-page report outlines the three pillars of influence, which is the ways brands become influencers, Solis said. The pillars — reach, resonance and relevance — determine how a brand or person can cause change or effect in their social network. A social media score alone does not mean a brand is an influencer, he said.

“The Pillars of Influence contribute to social capital, which indicates the likelihood to influence behavior, but a “score” does not predict the resulting actions or outcomes,” Solis said. “A score of 74 only represents the capacity to influence, but other variable come into play as defined by the Pillars of Influence.”

Azeem Azhar, the CEO of UK-based social media influence ranking site of PeerIndex, said the study is a great conversation driver, but the conclusion of the study doesn’t mean much. Social media rating sites are all in the realm of influence and the rankings branded as measured influence aren’t misleading users, Azhar said.

“We are in a semantic battle here rather than a practical battle,” Azhar said. “I don’t think there’s much difference between the capacity to influence and influence itself.”

He illustrated this with an anecdote about martinis. If a person drank martinis the past 10 Friday nights, it’s likely the person will drink a martini the next Friday night, he said.

“Or we can say it’s likely you have the capacity to drink a martini,” Azhar said. “I don’t see a difference.”

Klout openly says on the site has an algorithm to measure influence. The algorithm has come under scrutiny in the past, but Klout says its scientists and engineers work to make sure your influence score is accurate.

“Influence in general is a challenge to define, but the point is that the data exists and influence is the ability to drive action,” she said. “Our focus right now is continuing to unlock influence for consumers.”

Does this report uncover the limitations of a social media score, or is this a semantic battle? Are the three social media pillars needed to be a digital influencer? Tell us in the comments.

Photo courtesy of iPhoto, AlijaAlija

View the original article here

Did Rick Santorum Really Fix His ‘Google Problem’?

Has Rick Santorum finally fixed his “Google problem”, as the candidate claims? Sort of.

The campaign announced its triumph over a satirical site designed to redefine the candidate’s last name during a Friday morning breakfast at Google’s Washington, D.C. office, according to The Daily Caller.

For years, searches for “Santorum” on Google and other engines offered SpreadingSantorum.com as the top result. That site suggests an off-color redefinition for “Santorum” and was designed by Dan Savage, a writer and gay rights advocate, in response to Santorum’s position on same-sex marriage.

Santorum’s presidential campaign’s website was unable to dethrone the satirical site — until now. According to the Santorum campaign, Google searches for “Santorum” now deliver websites “relevant to Rick’s campaign.”

So has Santorum beaten Savage at last? To find out, Mashable performed a “clean” Google search — first logging out of all accounts and clearing cookies, then searching.

Our results: Santorum campaign does indeed rank higher than the satirical “SpreadingSantorum.com,” the long-time nemesis of the candidate’s digital team. But a Wikipedia entry about the satirical site still claims the top spot — so it’s not a total victory for Team Santorum.

Peter Pasi, one of the candidate’s digital consultants, credited Santorum’s bid for the White House as the cause of their victory as traffic from major news websites brought the official campaign site to the top of Google.

“We’re obviously a major player now,” Pasi told The Daily Caller.

Santorum has tried multiple times to petition Google to change the search results and accused Google of having a “political agenda.” However, Google wouldn’t budge because Savage’s site didn’t break the “rules” of search. Instead, it got traffic the old-fashioned way: viral buzz and search engine optimization, or SEO. All those eyeballs on the site drove it above Santorum’s website back while he was still a senator.

Pasi says Savage’s site was able to do so well because the writer “had a huge platform through his columns to say go ahead and search for this, link to this,” while Santorum’s own site “wasn’t active.”

SEE ALSO: Dear Rick Santorum: 6 Ways to Fix Your Google Problem

Do you think Santorum has defeated his “Google problem” for good? Sound off in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Flickr, Gage Skidmore

View the original article here

Twitter Does Not Actually Predict Box Office Sales [STUDY]

Twitter has developed the reputation of being able to predict the future — from box office sales to presidential primary results and even the stock market. But according to researchers at Princeton University, Twitter might not be able to foretell how well films will perform after all.

A new report called “Why Watching Movie Tweets Won’t Tell the Whole Story” found that monitoring tweets related to movies is not a reliable source for what could actually happen at the box office.

The news comes as analysts predict a record-breaking opening weekend for the movie The Hunger Games, based on active chatter about the book-to-film trilogy.

“We found that data from Twitter — while valuable for the unprecedented access it provides into the public psyche — is not necessarily representative of the larger online population, as seen from the results of our studies on ratings computed from movie tweets compared to International Movie Database (IMDB) and Rotten Tomatoes ratings,” study co-author and professor of electrical engineering at Princeton University Mung Chiang told Mashable.

SEE ALSO: Social Media Supports ‘Hunger Games’ More Than ‘Potter,’ Less Than ‘Twilight’ [CHARTS]

Chiang, along with two postdoctoral research associates Soumya Sen and Felix Wong, analyzed about 10 million user tweets with movie keywords from Twitter between February and March 2012 (around Oscar season) and data using machine learning techniques to label tweets based on their temporal context (before, during and after watching a movie) and opinion (positive or negative reviews).

“Twitter users tend to be much more positive in their reviews and comments for films overall,” Chiang said. “But they are less positive than IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes reviews for Oscar ‘Best film’ nominated movies.”

In addition to sentiment analysis, it looked at how well certain films performed at the box office via data on IMDB.

“We found that if a movie received high ratings in IMDB — by over 70% approval — and a lot of buzz on Twitter, then it usually does well at the box-office in the long run,” Sen added. “But otherwise, predicting box-office success is difficult. Movies with a lot of hype on Twitter and low IMDB ratings can be successful or unsuccessful at the box-office. It’s harder to predict.”

Overall, the study found no clear evidence that shows a direct link between Twitter hype, ratings and box office sales.

“The most surprising finding was that Twitter data may not be representative enough of the total population, so it is somewhat risky to use the site for forecasting,” Sen said. “More sophisticated techniques may be needed to understand the applicability of such data sets, such as the metrics we developed to understand the extent of the difference between Twitter users and other online rating side users.”

Do you think Twitter can predict big trends? Let us know in the comments.

View the original article here

Have You Blown Off Google’s New Privacy Policy?

As some of you already know, I was planning to blog about my site’s new theme and why I updated it, but I felt this topic was more important.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about Google’s new privacy policy that will go into effect March 1, 2012.

There’s been a lot of chatter about this on the Web over the past three weeks, so I’ve been sitting back absorbing all the info.

Like many people, you may have ignored the updated policy notice and/or clicked “Dismiss” because who wants to read all that fine print, right?

Besides, you aren’t doing anything illegal or unethical online, so what’s the big deal? They’re just creating one policy that covers all their services.  What’s the harm?

But, that’s just it.

Google knows you won’t read it clearly, and even if you do, you’ll probably get tripped up on the legal speak (blah, blah, blah…. Neeeext!)

In a recent YouTube video, Google described the updated policy as one beautifully, simple experience.  The presentation was quite rosey and appeared as if Google is doing us all a great service as they simplify their privacy policy.

So what does it all mean?

Starting on March 1st, when you use any of Google’s services (Calendar, Gmail, Search, Groups, etc.) they will collect and store that information to serve you with better advertising, search results, etc.

Doesn’t sound like a huge deal, right? Isn’t that how Google has been operating anyway?

For things like search and web browsing, yes, that is how it works today.  But on March 1st, that policy allows Google to collect and combine the data across all 60 Google services to better target ads and “improve your experience.”

The problem is not so much about Google wanting to personalize your experience.  The bigger problem is the privacy issue should hackers or the wrong people get a hold of this information.

Let’s say you’re doing a research paper on fighting child pornography and you do a Google search to collect some information.  Maybe you even watch a few YouTube videos about people speaking out against it and send a couple of emails on the subject.

Now there is an online paper trail of you performing searches, watching videos and sending emails on child pornography that could be used against you should that data get into the wrong hands.

Now I realize this is a very extreme example, but I’m just providing one of the worst case scenarios for illustration purposes.

Yes, you actually can opt out and it’s very easy to do.  Just log out of Google.

Problem solved, right?

For some maybe, but not for those who rely on a variety of Google services.  Logging out is just not an option for many people.

That’s what bugs me the most.  You either opt out and stop using all of Google’s services, or login and be forced to share everything you do. There’s no way to use their services and opt out.

Of course, the reason Google did not give us that option is because they know everyone would do just that — thus defeating the whole purpose and agenda of the new policy.

This post is not about trying to turn you away from Google.  I’m simply educating you on what the new policy means since you may have missed the fine print.

You have the right to be properly informed and make decisions that are appropriate for yourself and your business.

Some people have dropped Google’s products altogether, while others have decided to ride with the new policy changes.

Nevertheless, I feel a sense of responsibility to educate since so many of you use multiple Google products these days.  Even if you’re OK with the new policy and plan to do nothing, you should at least understand and be aware of it.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a lawsuit against the FTC last Wednesday stating that Google’s new policy is a “clear violation.” However, Google insists they are not violating their user’s privacy and does not intend to change how personal information is shared outside of Google.  You can read more here.

March 1st is fast approaching, so please share this with your followers and make sure they know what they are “accepting” when the new policy takes effect.

And if you agree that Google should allow you to opt out of their services upon logging in, please sign this petition. I did.

————————

So will this new policy change how you use Google and their services?  Are people blowing this all out of proportion? Please share your thoughts.

View the original article here

A Nifty Online Tool That Will Improve Your Writing

Have you ever written an article and wished you could find a better way to phrase something?

Do you sometimes repeat the same words in your copy over and over again?

I have these issues all the time and often find myself browsing an online thesaurus for word inspiration.

Well, thanks to a BlogCastFM Interview with Laura Belgray, I now have a more useful tool in my arsenal.

It’s called OneLook – a free online dictionary that lets you perform a variety of different wildcard searches to find related words, concepts and phrases.

For example, let’s say you want to write an alliteration, and you need three words that start with the letter g that mean “happy.”

Simply type the query, g*:happy and the site will churn out the following results…

You can also seek out related phrases that begin with/contain certain words or match a given concept.

If you enter **happiness** OneLook will reveal phrases that contain the word happiness.

Pretty cool, huh?  I could play with this tool all day!

So the next time you find yourself stumped when you’re writing, or you’d like to unearth a more interesting way to phrase something, fire up OneLook.

It’s like a dictionary on steroids!

And while you’re at it, you might as well tune into the BlogCastFM podcast.  It’s chock full of actionable, noteworthy copywriting tips from Laura.  I really enjoyed it.

Are there any tools you use to help enhance your writing?  Do share!

View the original article here

5 Powerful Ways To Open Your Next Blog Post …or Fix Your Old Ones

Pop Quiz: How many blogs are there on the internet?

a. 50 million
b. 160 million
c. a Gazillion

If you said C, you’re wrong. But don’t worry, I thought it was C, too

The actual number is unknown but back in 2010, there was an estimated 160 million blogs online.

So, if you said B, pat yourself on the back (cuz I can’t do it from here).

Take a second right now and think about what I just did. How did I get you to read past the first sentence?

That’s what this post is all about and today you’re going to learn 5 ways to open your blog posts, or fix your old posts openings and get people to read.

Just like first impressions matter in life, the first sentence of your articles are just as important. Your readers use them to determine whether the post is worth their time.

After reading this you’ll be able to literally “copy & paste” these techniques on your own posts – and hopefully see better results. Here are the 5 ways you can open your articles…. with examples.

This is by far the simplest of them all and I use it on most of my blog posts. You can’t go a day without seeing this opening, and for good reason – because it works.

Not only does it help you get started writing, it also grabs your reader’s attention which entices them to continue reading your article. Here’s an example of this opening at work:

Starting with a quote might seem like something you would do on a high school grade essay, but they’re very useful when opening blog posts, too. Quotes are great because they made “quotes” for a reason.

Maybe they inspired someone or made them think differently about a particular topic.

Whatever the reason, you should use them in your openings because they will have the same effect on your readers. If it’s a really good quote, they’ll want to know who said it, and hopefully why you’re quoting them.

I love stories. We all do. That’s what we do all day long. When your best friend asks you how your day was, you don’t just say fine and keep it moving.

You tell them about that dude that cut you off while you were driving. Then you tell them how the cops pulled you over for speeding when you were just trying to catch up to the guy that cut you off, to do it back to him.

We tell stories.  That’s what we do, and they’re another great way to start your articles. They get your readers hooked and that’s exactly what we want. Here’s a quick example of storytelling at work:

The shock and awe approach. Works like magic. You can start your blog posts by disagreeing with what is commonly accepted as the norm. This builds an instant sense of curiosity and bring up questions that your readers need answered.

Use this opening with caution. You don’t want to shock your audience with a strong statement, or build a ton of curiosity and not back it up. Your content needs to clearly explain your point of view.

Short. Sweet. To the point. There’s nothing sexy about this blog opening, but it works just as well as the others. I don’t use this one as much as I should, but it does make starting blog posts a lot easier.

Simply think about the one thing you want your readers to get out of your article and just say it. Tell them from the very beginning and I bet they’ll be more interested in finding out more. Here’s how I used this opener:

How do you open your blog posts? Please share some tips with us in the comments.

View the original article here

The Absolute Worst Advice I’ve Ever Received Online

Affiliate Marketers Shouldn’t Create Their Own Products!

Yep, that’s what someone told me on YouTube when I asked my subscribers what kind of book they would like me to write.

My critic went on to say that I should not sell my own products because I already offer so much free advice.  What could I possibly put in a book that would be worth anyone’s money?

He believes affiliate marketers should stick to selling other people’s “stuff” instead of trying to create their own products.

I have to say.  That was probably one of the worst pieces of advice I’ve received in my 14 years of affiliate marketing.

If you want long-term success online, your ultimate goal should be to sell your own product(s).

From our exchange, I could tell he assumed I was just going to regurgitate everything on my site, throw it into a book and slap a price tag on it.  But what’s so ironic about that is many people suggested I do just that!

Once again, I learned that oh-so-valuable lesson I wrote about last week…

YOU CAN’T PLEASE ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME.

Having said that, I understood his concern.  It was never my goal to just paraphrase my site and put it into a book.  I knew I had a lot of information and lessons tucked away that could be packaged up and presented.

So yes, there were a few naysayers who spoke out against product creation. However, the overwhelming majority requested a book on niche websites/affiliate marketing, and those are the people I listened to.

This was two years ago, but thanks to a very debilitating RSI (typing) injury I went through in 2009 and 2010, I was never able to start the book.  Writing for long periods of time was just too painful and I had other priorities that kept getting in the way.

I was also having trouble with the direction of the book, so I chalked it up to bad timing and decided to table the project until I was ready to dedicate my time to it.

Nevertheless, that is all behind me now, and I have completed Niche Website Success!  It’s a very detailed, practical guide for creating a niche website and includes numerous strategies I’ve used over the years for building websites, AdSense, affiliate marketing, video and more.

And because I don’t want you spending your hard-earned money on something you don’t need, you can download the table of contents.  Check it out and browse the chapter info.

The news just keeps getting sweeter!  If you have an audience that would benefit from Niche Website Success, I am offering a whopping 75% commission.  All you have to do is sign up with Clickbank (free) and grab the code to promote it on your website!  Click here for details.

Thanks for all the amazing feedback and testimonials you’ve sent me thus far.  I know it took forever to get this puppy out, but hopefully you’ll find it worth the wait.

Check out Niche Website Success!

The issue with launching products when you’ve been known to give away so much for free is people often worry you are going to start selling out or pitching your product down their throats every chance you get.

Let’s hope you know me better than that.  I will continue to provide free resources, advice, tutorials, etc. as always.

I am simply diversifying my income as often suggested here on my blog.  Hopefully you are doing the same.

View the original article here

New iPad Battery Indicator Lies, Research Shows

The battery indicator on the iPad is a liar. Research from a display research company says Apple‘s new tablet continues to charge for a long time after the onscreen indicator shows it’s full.

Ray Soneira of DisplayMate– whose research also showed that the new iPad’s retina display drains significantly more power than previous models — conducted a test that showed the iPad kept drawing power at the full recharging rate of about 10 watts for two hours after it initially reported having a 100% charge. Only at 2:10 did the recharging “fully terminate” with a sudden drop in power.

Soneira says he wasn’t setting out to test the battery, and that he only looked at the iPad’s power usage to see how much is going to the screen. However, when he noticed his equipment told him his iPad was charging even though the screen said “100%,” he decided to study the issue further. That’s when he discovered the extended charge time.

Why would the iPad say it has a full charge when it doesn’t? Apple isn’t saying (a spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment), but Soneira has a theory.

“The charge indicator on all mobile devices is based on a mathematical model of the charge rates, discharge rates, and recent discharge history of the battery,” he told Mashable in an email. “It’s actually rather difficult to do because most batteries degrade slowly and then tend to surprise with a precipitous decline near the end. So there is something wrong with the battery charge mathematical model on the iPad.”

SEE ALSO: Is a Retina Screen on the iPad 3 Overkill?

The takeaway for users: If you want a full charge (for, say, your next flight), don’t trust the display and be sure to keep your iPad charging for at least two hours after your iPad says it’s had enough. Or better yet, simply leave it plugged in overnight when it’s time for more juice.

This isn’t the first time Apple has had problems with display indicators on iOS devices. Back in 2010, amidst the iPhone 4 “antennagate” flare-up, the company re-examined the signal-bar icons on the iPhone, and found them to be inaccurate. Soon after, Apple released a software update that addressed the problem.

How important is battery life to your tablet, and do you think this is a serious problem? Sound off in the comments.

View As Slideshow »

The most touted feature of the new iPad is its ultra-high-resolution "retina" display, which clocks in at 2,048 x 1,536 pixels -- a million more pixels than a 1080p HDTV. Thanks to the extra pixels and the iPad's new graphics processor, the screen has 44% better color saturation. The screen's pixels are so small, Apple says it had to change the design of the LCD itself to elevate the pixels above the circuitry to prevent distortion. Apple calls it the best display ever made for a mobile device, and -- from the specs -- it's hard to disagree.

To drive those millions of pixels in the retina display with the same fluidity of previous iPads, the new model features an upgraded processor, called the A5X. It's a dual-core processor, though it features quad-core graphics. Full specs aren't known yet, but benchmarks and teardowns revealed the previous A5 chip (found in the iPhone 4S and iPad 2) was a 1GHz processor. The new one is likely somewhere between 1 and 1.5 GHz.

Apple upgraded the iPad's camera to capture 5-megapixel still pictures and 1080p video (at 30 frames per second), though that's still less than the iPhone 4S's 8MP camera. However, megapixels aren't the most important thing about a camera. The backside-illuminated sensor, large f/2.4 aperture and automatic image stabilization will improve the quality of your photos and videos, especially in low light. However, the front-facing camera got no love, remaining at VGA resolution.

Apple now offers different models of the iPad that can connect to the 4G LTE networks of both AT&T and Verizon. Since the two carriers use different bands for LTE, the models aren't identical, so don't think you'll be able to switch at will. The pricing plans vary, too, but both carriers offer it month-to-month -- no contracts. Either LTE model offers connection to 3G networks when you take your iPad abroad, though -- a feature previously limited to the AT&T version.

There's no Siri on board the new iPad, but Apple added a dictation option, accessible via a dedicated button on the virtual keyboard. You can use the new dictation feature to send a text message, search the web or write a note. Apple says it'll even work with third-party apps, letting you tweet or post to Facebook just by speaking.

6. AirPlay Video Streaming at 1080p*

Apple upgraded the iPad's ability to use AirPlay streaming -- that is, transmitting video to the Apple TV wirelessly -- to 1080p. That makes complete sense, since the Apple TV just got an upgrade to 1080p. This doesn't appear to be complete mirroring, however, since Apple specifies that "AirPlay Mirroring" is only done at 720p (as opposed to "AirPlay video streaming"). Both the iPad and the iPad 2 will mirror to the new Apple TV at 1080p resolution over a hard-wire connection.

*This item was corrected after reviewing Apple's spec sheet in more detail.

Upgrading the iPad to Bluetooth 4.0 is helpful in a number of ways. Thanks to its ability to work with the newer low-power Bluetooth devices, it'll allow accessory manufacturers to build things like keyboards that you won't need to recharge for months or even years. Bluetooth 4.0 will also let the iPad interact with wearable devices like medical sensors, gathering data like heartbeat or blood sugar level and relaying it to medical personnel when needed.

All these great new features -- especially the retina display -- demand more power, yet the new iPad has the exact same battery life as the previous model. That's because it has a brand-new battery, rated at 42.5 watt-hours, almost double the previous model's 25 watt-hours. It appears, though, Apple hasn't had a breakthrough in battery storage, since leaks prior to the event showed the battery is simply physically much larger.

Because of all the new radios, layers and gizmos in the latest iPad, it's actually bigger than before. The new iPad is 0.37 inches thick, or 0.03 inches thicker than the iPad 2, which was 0.34 inches. It's heavier, too: 1.44 pounds to 1.33 before. The bigger design apparently doesn't affect Smart Covers, and it's still smaller than the first iPad, which was 0.5 inches thick and 1.5 pounds. Still, the heftier new iPad is interesting proof that Apple will compromise on design for performance -- albeit only slightly.

View the original article here

8 Compelling Content Sessions to Expect at Mashable Connect 2012

Our largest conference, Mashable Connect, is returning to Orlando, Fla., from May 3-5, and this year we will explore the future of digital with some of the brightest minds in the industry.

An array of digital leaders will be speaking on topics ranging from new digital business models, mobile networking, digital campaigning and social TV.

There are still a limited amount of tickets available to the public. They include three nights at the Contemporary Resort, compelling content sessions, unique networking activities, connecting with Mashable team members and special events within Disney Parks.

We’re pleased to share a sampling of content sessions delivered by our premier Mashable Connect speakers. Stay tuned for the announcement of a complete agenda in the coming weeks.

Predicting the Future: Duane Bray, partner at IDEO, will assess our current digital tools, mobile apps and social networks to get a sense of what the future will really be. He’ll explore how the role of collective intelligence, multi-threaded narratives and new literacies will shape the next digital landscape. After SOPA/PIPA: What Winning (One) Means: Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, will share his vision on the future of digital creativity and technology innovation in a post SOPA and PIPA world.The Truth About Online Reputation: Joe Fernandez, Founder and CEO of Klout, will sit down with Mashable to discuss the truth about online reputation. How much influence does your reach online affect you in the offline world? What does your Klout score really mean? There are just a few of the questions that we’ll ask Joe Fernandez during our fireside chat.How to Reinvent the Web: Roger McNamee, Managing Director of Elevation Partners, will talk about why the concepts of the “web” and the “Internet” are increasingly obsolete in the face of the new app-centric model. He’ll discuss how to reinvent the web to preserve the spirit of openness that has defined the current generation and examine the role of mobile technologies and their influence on how we navigate digital content.Why Sound Will Be Bigger Than Video: What will be the dominate form of media? Alexander Ljung, Founder and CEO of SoundCloud, will explain why sound will be bigger than video. Mobile-first Social Networking: Meghan Peters, Mashable’s community manager, will lead a discussion on mobile-first social networking and ask the question: are these the communities of the future? Web 3.0: Curating Big Data is Future of the Web: Burt Herman, co-founder of Storify, will look at how humans and algorithms, along with media and technology, are all coming together to help us make sense of the world in this age of information overload.The Evolution of the Second Screen: Christina Warren, Mashable’s entertainment editor, will moderate a panel with Umami, Discovery Digital Media and TVPlus to discuss the evolution of the second screen. This discussion will look at the impact the second screen is having on how content is produced and the huge potential for marketing to this type of engagement.

Our annual destination conference, Mashable Connect, brings our community together for three days to connect offline in an intimate setting at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World®. Registration is now open.

Held in a unique location away from everyday distractions, Mashable Connect is a rare and valuable opportunity to be surrounded by digital leaders across industries. You’ll spend time with Mashable’s passionate and influential community, hear from top speakers who will provide insight into the the technologies and trends that are shaping the next era of digital innovation, and get to spend time with the Mashable team.

To keep Mashable Connect as intimate as possible, only a limited amount of tickets are available.

View As Slideshow » 1. Mashable Connect Race Powered by Gowalla

Team members check in to a race location at Magic Kingdom during the Mashable Connect Race powered by Gowalla.

Pete Cashmore, founder and CEO of Mashable, delivers his keynote speech at Mashable Connect at Disney World.

A team poses at a checkin spot for the Mashable Connect Race.

4. Social TV Panel with HBO and Bravo

Sabrina Caluori (left), director of social media and marketing at HBO, and Lisa Hsia (right), executive vice president at Bravo Digital Media, talk with Mashable reporter Christina Warren about the future of television and social TV.

Attendees connect over delicious food.

Attendees show their excitement at Epcot.

Mashable's associate editor for marketing and media, Lauren Indvik, talks with Greg Clayman, publisher of The Daily. Clayman discussed the iPad-only publication's first few months and its goals for the future.

The Mashable editorial team shows its true talent on stage during karaoke with a live band.

Attendees making lots of connections in a short period of time during Speed Connections.

This is where the stories about Mashable Connect were created.

Founder and CEO of Tumblr talks about the power of identity on the web.

Adam Hirsch, Mashable's COO, makes an announcment.

Adam Rich, founder and editor-in-chief of Thrillist, presents talks about how e-mail is the fundamental social medium.

Christy Tanner, general manager and executive vice president of TV Guide Digital talks about how social media is (and is not) transforming the entertainment business.

Josh Williams, CEO of Gowalla, discusses what brands and consumers can expect for the future of location. He says these apps should be used for crafting the narrative of your life, as defined by the places you go, the people you meet and the photos you capture.

Zach Sniderman, Mashable's assistant features editor, introduces speaker Aaron Sherinian, executive director of communications and public affairs for the United Nations Foundation.

Aaron Sherinian, executive director of communications and public affairs for the United Nations Foundation, addresses crowdpushing and why non-profits want your help.

Steve Rubel, executive vice president of global strategy and insights at Edelman, delivers his presentation, "Authority in the Age of Overload."

Sharon Feder, Mashable's managing editor, gives a speech.

20. David Jones, Sharon Feder & Adam Ostrow

Keynote speaker David Jones, global CEO of Havas and Euro RSCG, hangs out with Mashable's Sharon Feder and Adam Ostrow.

A limited number of sponsor opportunities are available for Mashable Connect. This is an excellent opportunity to get in front of Mashable’s passionate and influential audience. Contact sponsorships@mashable.com for opportunities.

View the original article here

Aziz Ansari: Turning Fans Into Customers, One Tweet at a Time

There’s no rest for the online entrepreneurs of comedy these days. Standups like Louis C.K. and Aziz Ansari are among the first to break out of the traditional distribution methods for comedy specials.

Louis C.K. knocked it out of the park with his DRM-free $5 special, earning $1 million in less than two weeks. Although Ansari is not yet releasing sales numbers for his own $5 download — a one-hour comedy special titled Dangerously Delicious which hit the web on Wednesday — the Parks and Recreation star says he’s very happy with the response so far.

“People are really excited that I’m releasing the special this way as opposed to going to DVD,” says Ansari.

On Twitter, Ansari says he’s seen nearly no negative feedback in terms of copying Louis C.K. Rather, many of them have expressed the wish for more comedians to follow this direct business model. What differentiates Ansari from C.K.’s route is that he did no press before the release.

“I just decided whenever we announce it, it’s going to be available right away,” explains Ansari, who will soon be promoting the special on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and Conan.

We received a promo video to share, featuring a clip from Ansari’s new special. (Note: The language might be NSFW, so keep your headphones on if you’re in the office.)

The point of this experiment-turned-trend is that people are willing to pay a reasonable amount for DRM-free content, delivered directly to them by a performer they love.

It’s also proven how powerful social media marketing can be when done outside the realm of a network brand.

“You have content flowing through there that’s both funny and innovative, but I think you also have some people who are realizing that a directly addressable fanbase is an extremely valuable thing to have going forward,” says Erik Flannigan, EVP of digital media at Viacom. “Growing that base ends up probably helping those people out and raising their profile beyond what their current television work life might be.”

Twitter has played a huge role in Ansari’s nontraditional social marketing campaign. The approach is straightforward as the comedy special itself — he’s talking directly to his fans through informal media outlets like Reddit, and getting up in front of them to drum up goodwill and awareness. He’s even gone so far as to take his fans out to lunch.

You in NYC? Did you buy Dangerously Delicious? Free from 1 to 230 today? Email AzizDDThanks@gmail.com. First 10 ppl get a dope lunch on me.

— Aziz Ansari (@azizansari) March 22, 2012

I was one of nine other fans to join Ansari Thursday in New York for burgers and fries at Shake Shack. Of course, to do so, we had to prove purchase of the special via screenshot or forward our receipt.

“I can’t believe none of you turned out to be crazy, this could have ended really bad,” the comedian joked with us.

The lunch was a test-run of something Ansari hopes to do in several cities while on his Buried Alive comedy tour — the content of which is completely separate from his newly-released special.

Although many standup comedians utilize Twitter as a testing ground, Ansari says he doesn’t take it too seriously. However, it is proving to be a valuable tool for Dangerously Delicious. More fans are contacting Ansari directly on Twitter, and even though he’s responded to the same questions dozens of times by now, he says it’s not hard for him to help his fans this way when he can.

“Since people are buying it directly through me, I feel more personally invested in it. It’s a different kind of product than if it’d air on TV,” says Ansari. “They’re buying it from me — I can help out if someone asks a question.”

Although social media has made nontraditional marketing easier for comedians, and people clearly agree with the non-DRM business model, Ansari says he’s still not sure if this is the future of standup comedy special production.

“Who knows what the landscape will be in two years?” says Ansari. “I mean, two years ago if people asked, ‘Oh, what are you going to do with your next special?’ I doubt I would have said I’m going to put it on a website and sell it for five dollars.”

Image via AzizAnsari.com

View the original article here

How Google Is Making YouTube More Like iMovie [EXCLUSIVE]

If you’ve been seeing a strip of thumbnails along the bottom of YouTube videos lately, you’re not seeing things.

The site has been quietly rolling out a feature that automatically generates thumbnails of every moment in a video, laying them all out the way a video-editing app like iMovie would.

When you’re just sitting back and watching, the thumbnails are invisible. But try dragging the playback dot along the red strip at the bottom of the video to find an exact frame.

If you hover your mouse pointer anywhere on the red strip, a thumbnail of that specific moment pops up, letting you easily see what you’ll see before you jump.

YouTube product manager Nundu Janakiram says the site introduced the feature because many users were trying to find exact moments, or see a particular moment in context with the rest of the video. There was a more subtle motivator, too.

“You’re at your computer and everything on this page is very interactive. You can subscribe, you can like, you can leave a comment, you can click on related videos. We wanted to make the video itself feel interactive, so it doesn’t feel like just this black box.”

For some of YouTube’s long-form content, the standard red strip doesn’t quite give users precise control to really target a specific moment. With videos longer than 90 minutes, a secondary slider appears when mousing over, so a user can zero in on moments like so:

The thumbnails feature isn’t on every video yet — Janakiram says they’re limited to just some videos with more than 1,000 views. The feature is available worldwide. The goal is to eventually bring thumbnails to all videos on the site.

Considering over an hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute, that’s a lot of thumbnails. The task of creating, storing and serving up that many images is something only a company on the scale of Google can achieve. And even then it’s pretty hard.

SEE ALSO: YouTube vs. Hulu: Which is the Future of Online Video?

“One of the big challenges was we didn’t want to compromise on the speed at which we serve these images, or the quality,” says Nils Krahnstoever, the software engineer responsible for scaling the thumbnails to YouTube vast amount of video. “The system actually provides images at multiple resolutions — initially when you [mouseover a point] you see a lower-resolution version of the image, but we increase the resolution of it as we fetch additional data.”

“That’s especially cool,” Janakiram said. “We generate tons of these thumbnails, yet when you use this feature it feels almost magical. If there was a lag, it would really detract from the user experience.”

As magical as the new thumbnails are, there’s one thing they can’t do: give you more options for the representative thumb when you upload a video. The storyboards aren’t tied to uploading, so you still only get three to choose from.

Also, you won’t be able to see the thumbnails on mobile devices, though Janakiram says they’re exploring it.

How do you like YouTube’s new thumbnail feature? Let us know in the comments.

View the original article here

Why I Ditched The Thesis WordPress Theme

Ditched.
It’s such a harsh word isn’t it?
Nevertheless that’s the verb many people have used in the past week when they noticed my new theme design.
Hey Lisa!  Why did you ditch Thesis?
Let me make one thing clear.  My move to another theme was less about any love lost for Thesis and more about finding what I needed in one theme and at the right time.
I was actually planning on installing a fresh copy of Thesis on my local WordPress testing platform so I could redesign from the default design, but for whatever reason I just wasn’t in the mood.
My e-buddy Brankica highly recommended The Genesis Theme after using it for her new design — which I did eventually buy and used for NapturallyCurly.  However, I wanted something different for this site.
About two weeks ago I remembered a Facebook fan raving about WooThemes so I decided to check out their designs.  And while browsing through, it just so happened their Headlines theme had everything I wanted and more.
My wishlist for the new design included, but was not limited to…
Clean (more white space, fewer colors)A customizable, all-in-one latest/popular post widgetSpace for a banner ad in the header
Could I have accomplished all this with Thesis?  I sure could have, but not without more work than I cared to deal with at the time.
Not to mention, I fell in love with many of the additional WooTheme features I never even thought I wanted such as…
An animated feature post widget on the homepage (I will probably go back to a partial static homepage like before, but I haven’t had time to tweak much yet.  I still think it’s important for a blog homepage to have some static elements.)Dynamic post thumbnail featuresTons of extra sidebar widgets, including ones for 125×125 ads, a Twitter feed, author box and moreIt’s also very AdSense-friendly with spots for AdSense in the header and top of the posts.  All you do is paste your code into the admin panel.  No plugins needed.Shortcodes to easily add contact forms, social media icons/buttons info boxes, highlighted text, dividers and more right into your post by using the WOO button on the edit bar.
Now having said all those wonderful things about WooThemes, I can’t lie. I immediately began missing several Thesis features.
Keep in mind, I had been using it for nearly three years, so it’s easy to forget how many of the customizations were specific to the Thesis theme only.
I was spoiled!
For example, if I wanted to change the width of my sidebars and post area with Thesis, I just had to go to the Design Options menu and adjust the values.
With this theme, I’d have to edit the PHP files directly and begin fiddling with

values — which can get messy.
I also love how easy Thesis makes it easy to customize the smaller details like nav menu colors, site-wide font colors and sizes, post bylines/meta etc.
Fortunately I’m pretty comfortable with CSS, so the changes I made weren’t that hard to pull off.  However, a CSS novice may have gotten stuck.
So the theme you’re looking at now is pretty much Headlines out-of-the-box.  I did upload my own red nav bar image that I made in Photoshop because the original was too small and so was the text.
I also tweaked the header CSS to make room for a 728×90 AdSense banner.  The theme only allowed space for a 468×60 image.  Fortunately the banner was already coded in so it was an easy tweak.
Also, this particular theme does not have hooks — which makes it easier to customize or add elements to different parts of your site (after the post, before the comments, after the header, above the footer, etc.)
Thesis was a pioneer with the hook functionality, and many themes have adopted it since.  However, WooThemes does have a Hook Manager for their Canvas theme, just not this one.
So yes, Thesis definitely wins the “ease of customization” battle, however WooThemes delivered the overall feel I wanted with minimal tweaking.
For the record, I am not completely abandoning Thesis.  If Chris Pearson EVER releases version 2.0 (sigh), I may revisit again to test out the new features.  That’s a perk of having free upgrades as a customer.
But I’ve got to say, making those few customizations in WooThemes made me appreciate some of the Thesis features I took for granted for the last few years.
Most themes have pros and cons, and I find it hard to find one that I like out-of-the-box.
Unless you’re going to code your theme from scratch (the ideal solution but not a desire for me) or hire someone, it’s usually about finding one that gets close to what you want and then tweaking it after the install.
At least that’s how I roll when it comes to WordPress themes.   How about you?

View the original article here