Keeping a close watch over social media since 1874.
The world has gone social. In 2010, the industry truly reached a tipping point. 2011 seems to be more of the same, but with new innovations that will likely shift how we spend our Facebook and Twitter time into new directions.
This graphic by Online Schools puts it all into perspective for us. Enjoy!
Many have been predicting since 2007 that Twitter was a fad that would soon die. They suggested that people enjoyed the simplicity but in the end they would shift back towards long-form and abandon microblogging altogether. It’s 2011… where are the experts now?
Do YOU use Twitter? If you’re reading this blog, you either are using twitter or you’re considering it.
This breakdown by our friends at Flowtown puts it all into perspective for us in stunning digital fashion. Are you doing it right? If you’re considering using it, into which demographic will you fit? [Read more...]
What is your government tweeting now?
That’s the question that GovLive tweets asks on their new website. With over 500 hand-picked agencies so far, it makes for an interesting way to see what “The Man” is saying in social media.
Bots on twitter are getting more clever. Accounts can be automated to seem as real as you or me.
Believe it or not, there’s actually a place for bots on Twitter. For many, they can be effective for certain things such as RSS feeds for blogs, tag retweeting, etc. The problem is with the automated accounts that are nothing other than ways to accumulate followers to spread whatever spammy message the botmaster wants spread either now or in the future.
We will be tracking the hashtag #notabot going forward and listing accounts that claim to be, well, not a bot. Accounts that tweet it will be verified for authenticity and listed here weekly. [Read more...]
UPDATE: As predicted, they did not revert. They are going forward with their plan. Two nice “concessions” – a blog post explaining it (I didn’t expect that) and a reverse on older URLs already in use prior to today (good move – don’t change what we’ve already tweeted).
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I hope I’m wrong, but…
Patience. It’s a virtue. It’s also one that is hard to channel when issues concern social media. The “real-time web” is not real when it comes to decisions and changes (or lack of changes) on large websites, especially when something goes wrong on social news websites. Such is the situation with Digg and their recent Diggbar fiasco.
Kevin Rose, founder and CTO at Digg, was apparently not happy with the rollout of the recent change to the Digg URL shortener. It received quite a bit of negative buzz once the story broke, but the fervor of complaints have dwindled to whispers. Rose was just returning from a 2 week trip when the changes were made to push clicks from Twitter and other sources to the Digg story page rather than a framed source as other URL shorteners do.
The tweet you see above was a reference to “catching up” from this trip with the negative buzz as one of the top points of discussion. While many (including me) are hoping that the new code will be pulled, a lack of response at this stage is not a good sign. Here are the possibilities: [Read more...]
UPDATE: This image speaks for itself:
UPDATE: Leo Laporte had Digg co-founder Kevin Rose on his show and asked him about this. You can see it on Twit Live – the Diggbar discussion starts at the 11:26 mark. Here is an excerpt:
UPDATE: Digg has confirmed via email that this is not a mistake and the shortener is working as intended.
UPDATE: Let Digg know how you feel through Twitter. Send an @digg via @socialnews reply and your tweets will be posted here as well.
Either there’s an error happening with Diggbar or Digg just made a big mistake. Before, those who clicked on the links when not logged into Digg would be taken to the source image, article, or video.
Recently, the links have been switched to point to a Digg landing page if you aren’t logged in – the pages where the story is posted on Digg, not the original source.
No word from Digg regarding this. No blog post. No onsite message. No reply to a recent email. They dropped it in and now it appears that they’re seeing if it sticks.
I’m still holding onto hope that it’s a mistake and not a conscious choice. [Read more...]
