Web-enabled film and TV network EPIX has signed Emmy award-winning comedy writer Larry Charles to make an original, single-camera, half-hour comedy series called iCON. The series will take place in and poke fun at the Silicon Valley tech culture. Dan Lyons will also write for the series.

Dan Lyons is the author of the satirical blog “The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs,” so he seems a strong match for the Silicon Valley satire genre. Larry Charles is best known as a writer for Seinfeld, Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

He describes iCON as “nothing less than a modern Citizen Kane” (way to manage expectations!). The show will air on all of EPIX’s distribution channels — the cable TV channel, the streaming video site and the video-on-demand service. Judging from the title of the show and Dan Lyons’s background, it’s easy to guess what this new series will be about. Stay tuned — there’s been no announcement about iCON’s premiere date, but we’ll report it when we hear it.

Tags: cable, curb your enthusiasm, dan lyons, entourage, Epix, icon, larry charles, Seinfeld, television, the secret diary of steve jobs, tv, web series

Many were hopeful that Spotify CEO Daniel Ek might reveal details about the U.S. launch of the popular European music-streaming service at today’s SXSW Interactive keynote.

However, those of us in the States eager for a crack at the on-demand competitor to Rhapsody, Napster and MOG will just have to keep waiting. Ek dodged questions about the U.S. launch date during the interview with Wired’s Eliot Van Buskirk.

He did reveal some new subscriber statistics, with a jump to 320,000 paid members, up about 28% from the 250,000 milestone Spotify passed back in January.

Ek also appealed to a diversity of business models to answer the pressing music industry revenue question: “What I want is a special edition or an album for the artists that I really like. I’m more than happy to pay $100 for a set with a good set of notes. Another person might be willing to pay for a live edition with extended tracks. A third person might be willing to pay for live events. The reality of the music industry today is that there isn’t one business model. It’s about how to use downloads, subscriptions and merchandise to make money today.”

With competitors like MOG aggressively pushing forward with mobile apps here in the States — which along with Rhapsody’s new iPhone version will support offline listening via downloads to a stored cache — Spotify is comparatively taking its time to pursue the U.S. market. We’re sure the complexities of licensing deals and legal issues are enormous, yet we hope to see the service step up to the plate in the U.S. market much sooner than later.

How do you access music online: free streaming service? Paid subscription? Paid a la carte downloads? Let us know what you think of the current playing field of online music services in the comments.

Reviews: Rhapsody, Spotify

Tags: MOG, music subscription, musicv, rhapsody, spotify, sxsw, sxsw2010, sxswi

Xobni (that’s inbox spelled backwards), a company that makes an e-mail management plugin for Microsoft Outlook, is officially releasing Xobni Mobile for the BlackBerry platform today, bringing the power of Xobni to your mobile device.

Xobni is a killer tool for anyone who deals with tons of e-mail, because it makes finding messages and attachments, getting widespread contact information about a person and even searching through multiple PST databases easy. Plus, it integrates with social media tools like Facebook and Twitter.

Think of Xobni as kind of a cross between something like what Apple’s Spotlight search, Google’s contact tools and a synchronized address book like Plaxo. Xobni Mobile for BlackBerry is designed to make it possible to access all of your most important contact info — irrespective of whether or not a person is in your BlackBerry Address Book — directly from your phone.

Outlook users who use Xobni Mobile can also link the tool with a new service that Xobni is launching called Xobni One, which means that from the app — which has been integrated deeply into the core BlackBerry OS — you can get the contact information for every person you’ve ever communicated with in Outlook on your device. So if you’ve ever sent, received or been CC’d alongside another person, you can find and have access to their contact info — without having to have them in your address book.

Because you can store lots of social information alongside e-mail info within Xobni’s contact system, that information is also available in the BlackBerry app. The app also offers one-click access to Facebook and LinkedIn profiles and photos. You can also track back through SMS, phone calls and shared appointments with users on your phone, plus send your availability to a group of people that you choose.

If you don’t use Outlook — say you use Gmail — you can still use Xobni Mobile on the BlackBerry, but without Xobni One. You won’t get the historical information like Outlook usres do, but it will index the e-mail on your BlackBerry device from the time you install the app, which means that you can still take advantage of the algorithmically optimized stuff that makes Xobni super cool.

Check out this overview of Xobni and demo of Xobni Mobile from CES 2010:

Xobni Mobile is available today from Xobni.com/mobile and will soon be in the BlackBerry App World. Xobni Mobile as a stand-alone app is $9.99. If you want to use Xobni alongside Xobni One for Outlook, it’s $6.99 plus a recurring fee of $3.99 per month. You can also get a year of Xobni Mobile and Xobni One for $39.90 a year.

Xobni Mobile works on the Blackberry Tour, the Curve 8900, the BlackBerry Bold and the Storm and Storm II phones.

What’s your favorite contact management tool for the BlackBerry?
Reviews: Facebook, Gmail, Google, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Xobni

Tags: blackberry, Outlook, xobni, xobni mobile

In another move signaling its increased focus on opening up data, Facebook is rolling out a set of enhancements to its search experience. The changes are focused on getting you to the relevant profile, page, group or event on Facebook before actually running a query.

Previously, Facebook would auto-suggest existing connections, for example, if you’re my friend and started typing “Adam ...” in the search box, you’d see a link to my profile. Now, it’ll make broader recommendations based on your friend connections and what’s popular with the wider Facebook network. If this still doesn’t yield what you’re looking for, you can go to “see more results,” which takes you to Facebook’s full search results interface.

This isn’t the first time Facebook is using data in this type of fashion –- for example, users are already accustomed to seeing suggestions of people to friend based on mutual connections, and ads for Fan Pages will tell you which of your friends are already fans.

The idea with search seems to be that pulling suggestions from your extended network, which presumably has lots of like-minded people in it, will get you to what you’re looking for faster. At this point, it’s tough to say how well it works, since the feature isn’t live for everyone and is being rolled out gradually over the next few days.

Do you think this approach to search will yield better results? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Tags: facebook, Search

Digital measurement firm comScore’s Andrew Lipsman blogged some stats about the Chatroulette pop culture phenomenon today. He shared details about the site’s sudden growth and its demographics.

If you’ve used the random video chat site before, you’ve already figured this part out: Chatroulette is dominated by college-aged males. Male users make up 72% of the site’s audience, and people of any gender aged 18-24 account for 45%.

Males aged 25-34 and females 18-24 are the second biggest demographic behind males 18-24. Females outside of the 18-24 range are not very likely to use the site, but even males 35-44 make up a chunk of the userbase. Here’s the graph; 100 represents the average Internet user.

Those collegians are behind the site’s insane growth spurt. When comScore tracked Chatroulette in January, it recorded 109,000 unique visitors. When it looked again in February, it found just shy of one million.

Lipsman also shared some data on the other Internet activity of Chatroulette users. They were dramatically more likely than average to be interested in instant messaging and chat sites — not surprising given that Chatroulette fits into that category. They were also more interested in visiting gay and lesbian sites than most, and many of them visited career training or educational websites, implying that they are indeed students.

Chatroulette users commonly have an interest in websites that sell tickets or serve up information on video games. Are you noticing a trend here?

Why does Chatroulette appeal so much more to college students than it does to other Internet users? If you have a theory, let us know in the comments.

Tags: analytics, chat, chatroulette, ComScore, instant messaging, live video, stats, video chat

Samsung is the next consumer electronics manufacturer to come out swinging against Apple’s iPad. A senior executive confirmed plans to release a “slate PC” during the second half of this year.

The key differentiating points for this tablet will address what Samsung feels are two major shortcomings of the iPad: lack of processing power and not enough connectivity options.

“I do feel that that slate-type platform has legs but I think the legs need to be far more powerful, for example an Atom-based product which has far greater flexibility, not to mention inputs and outputs,” said Director of Samsung Australia’s IT division Philip Newton at the Samsung Forum in Singapore. “This has more potential than an iPad.”

The goal is to build a device powerful enough to become the primary computing machine for many people. The ARM chip that powers Apple’s iPad was deemed not powerful enough to make the tablet form factor truly shine; hence Samsung reports that it is looking at two platforms from Intel to power the unnamed device: Atom or the Moorestown System on a Chip.

The slate will be a device “you could take to university and do a PowerPoint presentation on it, for example, or a device that could be taken home or to the office and docked,” Samsung’s Emmanuele Silanesu said .

Samsung is no stranger to the “in-between smartphone and laptop” zone, having released the Q1 ultra-mobile PC (pictured above right) back in 2006. Silanesu assures us that the forthcoming new tablet will have a much stronger focus on the consumer market than the Q1, which “was a very niche product for a vertical market… It was limited (in functionality), the price was relatively high, and it wasn’t an attractive device for consumers.”

It’s not terribly much to go on yet, but how do you think Samsung’s planned device might stack up against the other crop of iPad alternative hopefuls? Are you interested in some flavor of tablet device, and if so, what features should it have?

[via Boy Genius Report]

Tags: apple, atom, ipad, moorsetown, Q1, samsung, samsung tablet, Tablet, tablets

As far as we’re concerned, March means Madness of the basketball variety, and keeping up with all aspects of the NCAA tournament is an absolute must. If you feel the same way, then we think you’ll find our complete guide to all things college basketball on the social web indispensable.

A recent survey revealed that this year, more Americans than ever are going to be turning to the web and social media for their NCAA fix. Although traditional TV comes out on top, 54% of those quizzed are planning to catch the action live online, 10% via a mobile device, and 18% through various social networks. If you’re one of the many participating online this year, check out these resources.

Facebook Fast Break

Facebook is a popular destination for NCAA fans. Not only can you catch up on the latest news, but you can get your fellow basketball-loving buddies involved too — whether it’s for some trash talking, or to celebrate the win of a mutually fave team.

The Official NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Facebook Fan Pages will allow you to connect with nearly 10,000 others (4,000 on the Women’s page) on the social networking site.

As well as having info on the NCAA with links to sites of interest, the Pages offer informal commentary from the NCAA teams, fan comments and insight, ticketing info, and comprehensive events data.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a bracket system that’s available within Facebook, then Bracket Challenge by Citizen Sports is a popular option. The free Facebook app will get you making your picks in no time at all, and offers the chance at a $5,000 grand prize. Bracket Challenge also has the option to create pools with your friends.

Mobile Madness

Citizen Sports also offers a free companion app (to their aforementioned Facebook application) for the iPhone or iPod touch with customizable push notifications for your favorite teams.

More mobile options include the 99 cent Pocket Bracket for the iPhone and Android devices that allows you to create unlimited brackets and organize pools from your phone. You can compete against thousands of users on the PocketBracket Network, as well as your friends, family, and coworkers.

The Baseline Fan series of apps, available for the iPhone and iPod touch, offer basic team-specific data for 99 cents a pop, while fans of free should take a look at Talk Hoops, another dual-platform app, offering aggregated news in one place.

Web-based Winners

Facebook and phones certainly aren’t the only places to get your bracket challenge fix. There is a wealth of online options, many offering larges cash prizes, should you be astute enough to pick the perfect bracket. Of course, the odds of that happening are a whopping 9.2 quintillion to 1. Still, the contests below are all great places to make your picks and each (excluding Applebee’s) come from sites that offer a dearth of tournament news, scores, opinions, and analysis, as well.

The 2010 Yahoo! Sports Tourney Pick’em game offers a whopping million dollar prize for a perfect bracket, while having the next highest scoring bracket will nab you $10,000. This gives you the option to join the masses or create a private group with invites that can be sent via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

If you don’t have a Yahoo! ID or care to create one, there’s also ESPN’s 2010 Tournament Challenge, as well as another chance at a $1 million prize from restaurant chain Applebee’s.

Also getting in on the online action is Fox Sports with their bracket challenge, and CBS, which is offering the enticing grand prize of a 2011 Infiniti M for the top bracket champ.

The biggest prize this year, though, has to be from AOL’s Fanhouse, with the SoBe Lifewater Zero Inhibitions Bracket Challenge that boasts a $9 million jackpot for anyone with a perfect bracket. (Again, though, good luck with that.)

Video Slam Dunk

With your bracket picked, you need to find somewhere to watch the action, and while the NCAA’s official YouTube channel offers a good overview of the organization, the better destination for live coverage is the NCAA March Madness on Demand website.

Powered by CBS, this website offers free live streaming video of every game in the 2010 championship. That means, the only things you’ll need to watch the entire tournament is your computer and an Internet connection. In addition to the live streams, there will be game highlights for those that need to catch up in a hurry, and full game archives for any poor sucker that missed a must-see match. A “High Quality” player option offers a widescreen view with a better quality feed.

If you can’t get yourself in front on a computer in time for tip-off, then the CBS Sports NCAA March Madness On-Demand app for the iPhone and iPod touch is a great option. It’s also perfect for those who don’t want to be tied to their desk or television screen during the tournament.

For $10, this app will give you live streaming video of all 63 games via either Wi-Fi or a cellular connection, from the first round through the finals. The app also offers game previews, a real-time tournament bracket, scores and headlines, and the option to comment and trash talk via Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter Tip-Offs

As with any other topic you could possibly name, Twitter offers a great way to keep up with what’s happening in the world of NCAA basketball, and there are a few Twitter accounts you should follow if you want to stay in the hoop… sorry — loop.

The main NCAA Twitter account offers all sorts of official news from the world of college sports. But if you’re only after hoop-specific NCAA news, the basketball account is where it’s at.

Elsewhere, you can grab news snippets from the Twitter home of the “ubiquitous college basketblog” Rush the Court.

If you like getting your basketball news from sources who can add a bit of commentary to the game, then there’s a ton of sports journos tweeting who can offer just that.

Tweeple that cover the NCAA basketball championship for various media outlets include 12 New York Times reporters and editors at The Quad, and a team of Sports Illustrated writers and photographers as well.

ESPN fans can follow longtime college basketball analyst Dick Vitale, senior writer and college basketball reporter Andy Katz, college hoops reporter Dana O’Neil, and Jimmy Dykes, who works for ESPN and also offers analysis on ABC.

CBS meanwhile comes in with Seth Davis, as well as columnist Gary Parrish, who should offer you some good insight into the Big Dance.

Conclusion

If we’ve overlooked a service you use, be sure to shout it out in the comments. Or, if you have an idea for an even better way to use social media to keep up-to-date with the March Madness, then Coke Zero wants to hear from you as part of their clever, basketball-themed social media promotion.

The fizzy drink company is currently asking for ideas to improve the NCAA fan experience. A winning idea could net you $10,000 and tickets to the 2011 Final Four. So get your thinking caps on!

More sports resources from Mashable:

- 5 Reasons Every Sports Fan Should Be On Social Media
- 5 Social Media Lessons the NBA Can Teach Businesses
- When Social Media Gets Athletes in Trouble
- How the PGA Tour Uses Social Media to Connect with Fans
- Social Media Analysis: The 2010 Winter Olympics

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=185191

Tags: basketball, facebook, iphone apps, List, Lists, march madness, NCAA, sports, twitter

Amid the considerable sound and fury of SXSW, on-demand music-streaming subscription service MOG announced the launch of its impending mobile app for iPhone and Android.

The mobile service will launch in the early second quarter of this year for a $10 per month fee, which also includes on-demand desktop streaming.

Back in December, the MP3 blog network launched its all-you-can-eat music-streaming service, offering on-demand listening to its seven million song library from a web browser for $5 per month.

The mobile version of the All Access service takes all that music with you on the go, and includes the ability to download tracks to a “local cache” on your device for listening when you don’t have a cell signal and are out of Wi-Fi range. An “HQ Audio” option allows users to opt for a higher audio quality download in exchange for the tradeoff of larger file sizes.

Founder and CEO of MOG David Hyman said of the announcement, “The whole point of putting music in the cloud is to be able to get to it whenever you want it, from anywhere — and mobile was always an end goal for us.”

MOG, which just raised a new round of funding to the tune of $9.5 million, is backed by Universal Music Group and Sony Music. Its $10/month mobile service undercuts competitor Rhapsody’s $15/month fee, though it remains to be seen how its pricing will stack up against the “coming any day now” U.S. version of hugely popular European streaming site Spotify.

The music subscription model itself remains largely unproven here in the States, with many consumers balking at the idea of losing access to downloaded tracks if they choose to stop subscribing.

What do you think of music subscription services versus the pay-per-track or per-album model? Do you think $10 per month is a fair price for access to a music buffet on the go?

Tags: android, iphone, Mobile 2.0, MOG, music, music subscription, rhapsody, subscription

Tiger Woods will compete in the 2010 Masters tournament next month, returning to golf from his five-month hiatus.

If you want to see him play, you’ll be able to do so in a new way: Comcast will stream live video of the Masters in addition to its traditional cable broadcast of the event, and both will be available in 3D.

You’ll need a 3D-enabled television or computer to experience it, but if you’ve got the hardware, tune on April 7 – 11 to see Tiger and the other golfers show off their skills. Comcast plans to stream about two hours of live footage each day. While the 3D web stream will be powered by Comcast, the official Masters website will host it.

It’s not clear whether or not the 3D streams will be limited to Comcast customers.

Tiger’s return to golf has been anticipated ever since his multiple extramarital affairs went public and dominated the news and Twitter’s trending topics for days.

Woods has already proven that he can draw a lot of viewers to a live stream — his post-affair press conference attracted 683,000 viewers on Ustream. We’ll see in a few weeks if his golfing prowess — and the intense consumer appeal of 3D — can pull in big numbers, too.

[img credit: Keith Allison]

Tags: 3D, comcast, Golf, live video, masters, masters-2010, sports, streaming video, tiger woods, video

The Real Results series is supported by Gist, an online service that helps you build stronger relationships. By connecting your inbox to the web, you get business-critical information about key people and companies. See how it works here.

PR professionals use social media every single day to get the word out about clients, to communicate with customers and to respond to questions or problems. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social sites have quickly become important tools in a PR professional’s overall toolkit.

As one PR professional, Jeremy Pepper, told us,

“There are so many uses — conversational marketing, reaching influencers — that PR is able to participate in conversations and answer questions, be a support system for clients and companies, as well as empowering customers and power users to be a de facto resource for your company, a champion for your products.”

We’re going to take a look at how PR professionals are using social media to achieve real results when dealing with business-to-business relationships, when representing companies that already have a well-known brand, and in politics. We’ll also look into some of the tools of the trade that PR pros are using to measure the success of their endeavors.

The Role of Social Media in Business-to-Business PR

Pepper considers social media an important part of the public relations toolkit. When I asked him what social media has to offer PR professionals, he said, “Social media is a great tool for public relations people, especially if you align it to both PR goals and figure out what the ROI is for the client or the company.”

As we’ve pointed out when discussing measuring social media ROI, having a goal in mind or a main focus can be very important when using social media for any reason.

Pepper offered some insight into how he uses social media with Palisade Systems, a business-to-business data loss prevention company. For Palisade, the main goal is to increase the company’s name recognition. Because data loss prevention deals with sensitive data and often regulatory compliance (for things like HIPPA/HITECH, FERPA and others), having strong name recognition is important, as a known name can often be equated with trust.

Pepper explained how he goes about reaching his client’s core audience, in this case small and medium-sized enterprises.

“At Palisade, we’ve done a three-pronged approach: traditional PR, traditional analyst relations and social media. We have a Palisade Blog where we write and talk about Data Loss Prevention and various issues for corporations, we are on Twitter, shooting out information, retweeting interesting articles in the space, and participating in conversations [@PalisadeDLP], and, we reach out to security bloggers.”

While I expected Twitter to have limited use in a B2B PR strategy, it turns out it can actually be pretty powerful. By following security experts and industry analysts, Palisade can take part in the conversations happening in the space. Pepper can also track keywords on Twitter and then communicate with CIOs and IT people who are asking questions about DLP and he can then send them case studies or reach out to start a new kind of relationship.

As Pepper said, “It lets the people know that there is another solution besides the large corporations, and lets us have conversations with the analysts beyond the calls.”

Blogging, for instance, is one way the company can share stories beyond just what goes into a press release.

“One recent example is that EPISD (El Paso Independent School District) is a legacy customer of Palisade Systems, and recently signed up for the DLP solution. I interviewed the IT staff for the press release, and got great anecdotes that weren’t really appropriate for the press release. But I was able to tell them in the blog post, and expand on why they continue to use Palisade — because of our support, and our product.”

Social Media Drives Authenticity

Political figures have really embraced social media — the White House has an official presence on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, plus its own blog-powered website, for example — and more and more local and national representatives from all over the world are taking to the web to connect with their constituents.

Claire McCaskill, the junior U.S. Senator from Missouri, is one politician that has embraced social media in a big way. On Twitter, @clairecmc has nearly 37,000 followers — making her the second-most popular person in Congress, according to Tweetcongress.org. The Senator also has a YouTube channel and a Tumblr blog that she uses to share information with her constituents and to respond to questions.

Anamarie Rebori, a spokesperson for Senator McCaskill, told us that the senator actively uses social media. “While it definitely has changed the way she gets the word out, McCaskill has said that if anything, she is glad she has the opportunity to bring a more personal touch to her communications and get outside the Washington bubble,” Rebori said.

Especially for politicians, authenticity is an important part of PR. According to Rebori, McCaskill has been able to utilize social media to communicate authentically. “People seem to respond best to an authentic touch over Twitter, and that’s something that Senator McCaskill has been able to convey in her use of social media,” Rebori said. “It’s really her typing each of those tweets, and people can tell.”

Senator McCaskill makes a point of reading every tweet that is addressed her way — and she also makes a point to respond to others on Twitter, either via @replies or direct messages. However, as the Senator explained in her Tumblr blog, she doesn’t follow anyone.

That’s not because of lack of engagement, it’s because it’s the best way the senator can allocate her resources. Furthermore, the senator has developed a hashtag for Missourians to use so that she can connect with as many of them as possible. If you’re a Missouri resident and you use #MO in a tweet, chances are it will get the senator’s attention.

There are huge possibilities from a PR perspective for politicians who use social media, as Senator McCaskill’s success shows.

Building Brand Loyalty

Pepper also works with computer bag and accessory provider Targus. Because the company is already well-known in its space, the goals for public relations are different than with other brands. “Working with a very well-liked brand, it’s both hard and easy to get conversations going,” Pepper said, who explained that responding to negative feedback is rarely an issue because Targus gets very little.

Instead, the approach for Pepper has been figuring out ways to develop brand loyalty and turn customers into fans. One method that has yielded results for Targus is utilizing its Twitter account for giveaways and promotions and monitoring Twitter conversations to target bag-buying consumers.

In one situation, Pepper followed a conversation between a user who had a bag from a rival company. Pepper tweeted the user a coupon code for 25% off, which ended up being more than what the company that made his old bag had offered him and resulted in the user writing about his experience. That’s the type of thing that can create long-time customers and also get users observing or reading about the situation to consider Targus for their next product.

Using social media has provided Pepper with a simple way to build brand loyalty without having to invest significant time and resources.

Tools of the Trade

Josh Jones-Dilworth, the founder and CEO of the PR and marketing consulting firm Jones-Dilworth, Inc. (and a Mashable guest author) has a lot of expertise in blogging and social media. As such, Jones-Dilworth has developed his own system for measuring the effectiveness of different social media approaches as they relate to PR.

Jones-Dilworth explained that while it’s fairly easy to measure conversations and engagement on an empirical level, putting that analytical data into context so that it can be evaluated as cause and effect is considerably more difficult.

“Right now we are doing a lot of work to mash up social data with business data to get cause and effect. Some products are starting to support this action — but only a few. I think this is the next big wave. You’ve got to be able to tie causes to effects, and that is the big challenge right now, what all our clients want, and what is frankly the hardest to accomplish.”

We absolutely agree that this is both a big challenge when evaluating the successfulness of social media in any context — PR or otherwise — and that it is going to be a large area of growth in the future.

For the future, Jones-Dilworth sees visualizations and modeling as two key components to watch for.

“Visualization [is important] because we really need to be able to make these streams come alive and make them navigable, otherwise you’ve got death by data, pure and simple. More is more is more until it isn’t.

Modeling is all about predicting out futures: Who will be the Farecast of social media? Who will help with intelligent decision support?”

However, just because he doesn’t have all the tools at his disposal now doesn’t mean that Jones-Dilworth is operating in the dark. Here is Jones-Dilworth’s list of the tools that he uses for tracking social media results in his work as a PR pro:

• Viralheat
• Infoharmoni
• Buzzstream
• Twitalyzer
• Omniture
• Eloqua
• Klout
• Yahoo Pipes
• Bime (for visualization)
• Google Analytics
• WolframAlpha [Disclosure: WolframAlpha is a client of Jones-Dilworth's]
• Compete
• Bit.ly

He also points to these tools that he enjoys playing with:

• Lugiron
• Hubspot
• Mixpanel
• ManyEyes (for visualization)
• OneRiot
• Wildfire

Until we reach the stage where drawing contextual correlations between social media actions and results can be more easily measured (or at least, more easily distilled), it is vital to have concrete goals before starting a social media strategy in PR and to also have some sort of baseline.

Common Threads

PR professionals are using social media in a lot of ways to either supplement or add on to existing PR strategies. The most successful PR pros focus on creating active relationships and truly engaging with their customers (or constituents) to have a real conversation.

It isn’t about just putting a PR pitch on Twitter or Facebook, it’s about using the platforms in ways that help clients to connect.

Are you a PR professional? How do you use social media to get real results in your job? Let us know in the comments!

Series supported by Gist

Gist helps you build stronger professional relationships by bringing together information from across the web for all your contacts and their companies giving you the right information at the right moment to get a first meeting, deliver an amazing pitch, or just find a better way to make a connection. Gist does all the work for you, assembling a dynamic collection of all your contacts and their companies from your email inbox, your social networks, or even your CRM system automatically building and updating their profiles as new content is published – by them or about them.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, sodafish

Tags: claire mccaskill, jeremy pepper, josh jones-dilworth, palisade dlp, politics, pr, PUBLIC RELATIONS, real results, targus

First Letterman called Twitter a waste of time, and then he tried his hand at operating the microblogging site with his very own twitter machine. Last night, Letterman regaled audiences with a list he called, “Top Ten Signs You Spend Too Much Time on Twitter.”

As folks who actually do spend waaaaay too much time on Twitter (and Facebook, and Foursquare, and various and sundry video humor sites, and just basically hiding from the nourishing rays of the sun…), we’ve annotated his list below.

10. You miss your son’s soccer game waiting for Lady Gaga to post what she had for lunch.

There’s tons of mobile apps to rectify that issue, unless you’re still rocking a Samsung Juke (which I totally was until about a month ago).

9. You answer the phone: “Twello?”

Who… who would do that? Honestly, is this something people do?

8: You’ve spent millions developing iPhone waterproofing technology so you can Tweet in the shower.

Yeah, I think a bunch of people have beat you to that…

7. You haven’t touched your CB radio in months.

C…B…wha?

6. You ask yourself, “What would Jesus Tweet?”

Query: Answered.

5. You sleep tweet.

When Twitter is ‘a rockin’…

4. No number 4 — writer on Twitter.

Obviously, said writer has not heard of @Anywhere.

3. You stopped paying attention to this list after the first 140 characters.

No, man, you had “Lady Gaga” in there, and that was totally a top trending topic last week.

2. Even Ashton Kutcher thinks you tweet too much.

Like Kutcher actually follows any of us common folk via Twitter. (BTW, I’m @Brenna_E if you wanna rectify that situation, dude — please tell me more about daylight savings time while showering me with inspirational quotes.)

1. You walked in on the landscaper retweeting your wife.

Yeah. This one doesn’t really make sense, but nice go at saucy, sexual innuendo.

Check out the Letterman vid below and let us know in the comments: What are the real top 10 signs you spend too much time on Twitter?

Tags: david letterman, television, twitter, video

Today, Google announced that it is now selling a new version of the unlocked Nexus One that will work on AT&T and Rogers Wireless in 3G.

Earlier today, we discussed the lackluster sales of Google’s Nexus One smartphone. One of the reasons we think sales are below expectations is that the phone was previously only available on one 3G carrier in the U.S. and Canada.

While Google is still only selling the phone unsubsidized through T-Mobile, consumers now have two options when buying an unlocked handset. Both versions sell for $529. Additionally, the Nexus One can now be shipped to Canada from the Google web store.

This is a nice step and certainly offers up more carrier choices for the Nexus One, but it still isn’t an ideal solution. For instance, if you live in the United States, you are still going to be locked to one provider for all intents and purposes. If you want to use the phone on a 3G network, you’re still going to have to choose a version of the phone that will be incompatible with other carriers.

Yes, you can now choose to buy an unlocked device that will work with AT&T, but that same device will not work on T-Mobile, at least not in 3G. Likewise, the T-Mobile 3G unlocked phones will not work on AT&T’s network in anything other than EDGE.

European countries — where there isn’t an ongoing game of chicken taking place over not only wireless technology, but what frequency each operator uses — can continue to use either device on most networks, including support for 3G.

Our frustration with the lack of dual-band support for both North American 3G UMTS frequencies aside, this is still great news for anyone who wanted a Nexus One device, but needed to use it on a 3G network other than T-Mobile.

Does having the Nexus One available for AT&T make you more willing to consider buying the phone? Let us know!

Tags: att, nexus one, T-Mobile

Ten weeks after the launch of Google’s Nexus One smartphone, sales continue to remain slow. Mobile analytics firm Flurry, who also projected first week and first month sales for the snazzy device, has just released its latest sales estimates, deducing that in 74 days, 135,000 devices have been sold.

This is in sharp contrast to the Motorola DROID and the original Apple iPhone, which both sold a million units in the same period of time.

Flurry actually used 74 days as a barometer, because that was how long it took for the original iPhone to sell one million units back in 2007. Motorola’s DROID sold 1.05 million units by day 74, and that’s to say nothing of future iPhone releases, which all crossed the one-million-sold mark even more quickly.

Flurry lays out some good arguments for why Nexus One sales have lagged behind DROID sales (and we really do think that DROID is the more accurate barometer, rather than using the 2007 iPhone benchmarks), but we think it’s really all about one thing: Carrier.

Problem 1: T-Mobile

Although the Nexus One is available unlocked (for a higher price), it is still largely tied to a single carrier in the United States (and in Canada). That carrier, T-Mobile, has the smallest 3G coverage area of the major wireless telecos. That’s a big problem when you are talking about a phone that really needs to be connected to 3G or Wi-Fi to show off its best features.

Conversely, Verizon has a huge subscription base, the most consistent 3G network and is running a very aggressive ad campaign promoting the DROID.

AT&T may be the bane of many iPhone users’ existence (although it is slowly improving), but the coverage options still trump T-Mobile, even with 3G out of the equation. Fortunately, Google has just made unlocked Nexus One phones available for AT&T and Rogers 3G networks. Unfortunately, this is still a separate version from the T-Mobile Nexus One, which means that if you wanted to switch carriers in the United States or Canada and keep 3G, you’re still SOL.

Once the Nexus One hits Verizon, we expect sales to really start to increase.

Problem 2: Buying/Getting Support

When Google officially released the Nexus One, I commented that it wasn’t really about the phone, it was about Google’s new phone marketplace.

Seventy-four days later, this phone marketplace has a lot of problems that still haven’t been completely resolved. First, customers complained about an additional (and excessive) early termination fee that Google charged for users who terminated their contract in the first 120 days of ownership. This fee was in addition to T-Mobile’s fee and as expected, consumers went ballistic. Google has since lowered the ETF to $150, but that still means you’re paying two early termination fees if you cancel in the first four months of use.

Then, there’s the ongoing issue of getting support for the Nexus One. Google has since improved support options, but you still need to potentially deal with three different people: the manufacturer, the wireless company and then Google. That’s problematic and it is something that doesn’t happen for other phones, even on the same carrier. When I had problems with my BlackBerry, I called and was served by a T-Mobile person — sometimes I had to jump through hoops to talk to a RIM specialist, but I didn’t have to call RIM directly.

Plus, I do think that perhaps Google underestimated how many people like to, I don’t know, physically touch a phone before buying it. Now, I’m not one of those people (Hey, I pre-ordered the iPad sight-unseen), but many users are — and not having any store presence is problematic, if only because it decreases visibility.

Bottom Line

The Nexus One is clearly not the big hit that many expected it to be — and even on Verizon, it might never be a hit.

However, the fact that DROID numbers are so strong shows that this isn’t a platform problem, it’s an execution problem. It will be interesting to see Google’s next attempt.

What do you think of Nexus One sales? Are you surprised that they are as low as they are? Let us know!

Tags: droid, flurry, nexus one, phone sales

The newly released 2.0 version of PayPal’s iPhone app [iTunes link] can transfer money to another iPhone when you bump the two handsets together. Don’t worry, though; you probably won’t do it by accident.

PayPal licensed the tech developed by Bump Technologies, which also powers that iPhone app that friends people on Facebook when you shake your phone.

With this app, you can either enter the e-mail address of your friend’s account or bump your phones together to download the necessary info. Then you enter the amount and send. Your friend can also request money by bumping his or her phone against yours.

Other new features in PayPal’s updated app include a tip calculator, the ability to transfer money from your PayPal account to your bank account and the option to request money from contacts bill or invoice-style. The app is available now, and it’s free.

Tags: App, apple app store, iphone, iPod Touch, paypal

David A. Yovanno is the CEO of Gigya, Inc., a leading social optimization platform for online business. He can be found on Twitter at @daveyovanno or e-mail dave(at)gigya(dot)com.

Now that most social networks are supporting functionality on third party sites — via Facebook Connect, Sign in with Twitter, Yahoo! Open Strategy, MySpaceID, and other similar technologies — entertainment companies are experimenting with a variety of approaches.

While movie promotions on Facebook, top sports moments on YouTube, and MySpace music pages remain key fixtures, many entertainment companies are also now actively focused on how to apply social strategies to their own sites to deepen relationships with fans and become more relevant. Here are four ways on-site social features are benefiting both fans and the entertainment industry today.

1. Making TV Participatory

TV has historically been a “lean back” form of entertainment -– just sit back on your couch and let your eyes and ears take it in. Reality TV shows like American Idol broke new ground by making TV participatory -– fans can take action and influence the outcomes — and social technologies are now helping to make TV a “lean forward” experience.

In the most recent season of Dancing with the Stars, ABC made the voting process social. Fans could sign-in to abc.com with a Facebook or Twitter account to cast a vote for their favorite couple, and then donate their status to help support that pair. For example: “Vote to keep Louie Vito and Chelsea Hightower dancing on ABC!”

In the realm of real-time engagement, another example comes from MTV, which enabled live chat for previously aired episodes of the popular show 16 and Pregnant on MTV.com, where viewers could discuss the often controversial content with other fans.

Benefit for fans: Viewers are empowered to not only vote, but get out the vote among friends. Voting with a Facebook or Twitter identity makes voting a personal, rather than anonymous, experience. For 16 and Pregnant, teens have a live forum for sharing thoughts and experiences.

Benefit for TV networks: Fans are highly engaged with the show online, and the shows gain significant exposure on social networks from donated status updates. Traffic is generated back to the show online and off. Offering users a choice of networks for participation appears to boost engagement. For example, data from Gigya shows that for a single episode of 16 and Pregnant, tens of thousands of messages were sent by chat users to their social networks with the following distribution: 40% to Yahoo, 29% MySpace, 24% Facebook, and 7% Twitter.

2. Bringing Live Sporting Events to Life Online

In the real world, sports fans experience events together, whether live at the stadium, with buddies at a sports bar, or with family in front of a new 50” LCD TV. Recognizing this, sports media are trying to make online viewership a bit more like the real world.

A slew of sports media added live social chat to their event webcasts this year, enabling fans to participate online alongside the event using their Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or Yahoo identity. TNT used it for the NBA Eastern Conference finals and NASCAR Race Buddy series, CBS for its College Football series, NBA.com for ongoing games, and the PGA for the summer tour events including the PGA Championship. Fan messages about the game were syndicated to the social networks as news items in the feed. Even Roddy White of the Atlanta Falcons has gotten into the act on his own website.

Benefit for fans: Live social media integration provides an opportunity to chat about stats, players, and highlights, and to virtually high-five other fans or friends –- almost as if they were watching together in person.

Benefit for sports media: Fans participating with real identities adds authenticity to the socializing. Interactivity means fans are highly engaged, generating more page views, and messages shared to the social networks drive more traffic back to the online event, creating a virtuous cycle.

3. Giving Music Lovers an Outlet for Self-Expression

MySpace proved years ago the power of grass roots social efforts to take an artist from obscurity to household name, with Sara Bareilles one of the poster children for resisting the traditional label model. Now music companies large and small are putting social channels to work, and taking a number of new approaches in the last year.

MuchMusic, a music channel on Canadian cable TV, incorporated celebrity tweets and live chat into their MuchMusic awards, bringing fans “backstage” to a behind the scenes interview room. Similarly, MTV incorporated live social chat into its webcast of the “Hope for Haiti” telethon with the aim of further engaging viewers for a special cause.

Reverbnation, a music marketing platform that helps individual artists manage promotion, fan relationships, and other aspects of the business, built a feature enabling fans to register on the site using their social network identity, then build and share their favorite playlists into the feed on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. Rather than help the artists build a presence on the social networks and send fans away, Reverbnation has integrated their own site directly with those key platforms to make themselves a one stop shop for the social music ecosystem.

Benefit for fans: Social integration creates an outlet for communicating with other fans, and sharing passion for artists and music –- whether in the form of a comment or their own playlist creation.

Benefit for music sites and artists: Integration provides greater exposure for artists and tracks as well as increased page views for the site.

4. Driving Word-of-Mouth for Movies

Word of mouth is everything in the movie industry. Buzz puts fans in seats, and is the benchmark by which the industry gauges traction for marketing efforts. It’s no surprise that studios are experimenting more with social media far beyond basic trailer promotion.

The movie Paranormal Activity broke new ground by using grass roots efforts and word-of-mouth to build buzz and gain a wider distribution for the film. They also took advantage of social media promotion, enabling fans to invite their friends from social networks to join them at the same time that they purchased movie tickets.

Twentieth-Century Fox, together with MTV, got fans directly involved to promote Avatar. They put on a first-ever live interview with James Cameron and the Avatar cast, answering questions from fans, who in turn shared their reactions in a real-time chat via Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Yahoo.

Benefit for fans: Movie goers receive greater access to their favorite films and celebrities.

Benefit for movie studios: The campaigns generate new and widespread buzz before and during the theatrical release.

Conclusion

When fans connect to a company using a social network identity, they are establishing the basis for a longer-term relationship. The data shared by these connections will allow companies to better segment and serve their fans.

For example, in addition to awareness-generating efforts for individual films, a movie studio could gain greater insight into the specific demographics of those that are responding early to a release and adjust efforts accordingly. They could also more easily continue the dialog by remarketing to users around sequels or films in the same genre.

Whichever path entertainment companies choose, integrating social technologies on their own sites to deepen relationships with fans is a blockbuster opportunity.

More social media resources from Mashable:

- How Musicians Are Using Social Media to Connect with Fans
- How The Roxy Became the #1 Venue on Twitter [INTERVIEW]
- The Science of Building Trust With Social Media
- How Companies Are Using Your Social Media Data
- How Twitter in the Classroom is Boosting Student Engagement

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, MarsBars

Tags: business, facebook, facebook connect, MARKETING, myspace, myspaceid, social media marketing, twitter, Yahoo

Lady Gaga and Beyonce’s “Telephone” video went ultra viral after it premiered on Vevo last week, and now a new cover of the jam has blown up (albeit on a smaller scale): Enter “Telephone” (the super twee, adorable version), by Pomplamoose.

You might remember Pomplamoose (a.k.a. musicians Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn) for their similarly stripped-down, hipstered-up version of “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” which came out back in September and has since racked up more than 3.5 million views.

Well, Conte and Dawn’s newest track hit YouTube just yesterday, and it’s already been watched more than 100,000 times. And even as the resident Lady Gaga detractor over here at Mash, I gotta say, it’s pretty catchy. (I especially enjoy the subtle dig at the original’s blatant product placement.)

Check it, and then head on over to the comments to unleash your over-brimming emotions:

Reviews: YouTube

Tags: beyonce, Lady Gaga, music, telephone, viral video, youtube

A new study shows that those who are fans or followers of a brand on Facebook or Twitter, respectively, are significantly more likely to buy products and services or recommend the brand to a friend.

Specifically, the study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies found that consumers are 67% more likely to buy from the brands they follow on Twitter, and 51% more likely to buy from a brand they follow on Facebook. Moreover, they’re 79% more likely to recommend their Twitter follows to a friend, and 60% more likely to do the same on Facebook:

Of course, those findings might be a bit overstated — many people actively seek out the brands they’re already fans of and follow or fan them on Twitter and Facebook. But there’s still much to be said for the mindshare that engaging those existing brand enthusiasts on social media sites creates, in turn keeping them active. Plus, the study also found that many consumers across a wide variety of demographics have negative perceptions of brands that aren’t using social media.

Overall, the study is another sign that social media is becoming a competitive advantage for those that are participating, and an increasingly major weakness for those that aren’t.

[via eMarketer]

Reviews: Facebook, Twitter

Tags: facebook, statistics, twitter

When we talk about file-sharing, there’s a whole spectrum of issues that usually get mixed up or treated as one when they’re really very different things.

Is it OK to borrow an audio CD I just bought? Is it OK to play it to some friends at a party? Can I convert it into MP3 files or make a copy? Is it fine if I put it in a shared folder of a P2P application such as eMule?

At the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got creators of P2P apps, owners of link sites (sites that generally don’t actually host any content, they just link to content that resides elsewhere) and torrent trackers.

Sometimes, you’ll hear that all of the above are illegal. Often, extreme examples such as “listening a CD with a friend” will be laughed at (well of course you can do that) but when it comes to creating a simple backup copy, it’ll be called a gray zone or even declared illegal.

Very rarely you’ll hear a court decide that linking to copyrighted material is OK, but this is exactly how Spanish judge Raul N. García Orejudo ruled in a case of Spanish music collector society SGAE (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores) vs. Jesus Guerra, owner of link site www.elrincondejesus.com.

Do judge Raul’s arguments make sense? You bet they do. First, he denied SGAE’s request to shut down Guerra’s site in June, saying that “P2P networks, as a mere transmission of data between Internet users, do not violate, in principle, any right protected by Intellectual Property Law.”

Now, he decided that “offering an index of links and/or linking to copyright material is not the same as distribution.” His decision was largely based on the fact that Guerra doesn’t make any direct or indirect profits off the site.

Without going into the moral side of the story, it’s obvious that there’s not a very big difference between a site like www.elrincondejesus.com and Google. And if you start going that road, you end up with weird legal precedents, such as the recent decision by an Italian court, which found Google Italy execs guilty over an offensive video Google had failed to remove from its index.

There’s no doubt that SGAE will appeal the decision. But this ruling once again shows that not everything is as black and white in the world of file-sharing as the recording industry would have you believe.

Reviews: Google

Tags: file sharing, link sites, p2p, Spain

If you’re a soccer fan, you’ll understand. If you’re not, well, suffice to say that Europeans (Italians, especially) are (in general) crazy about soccer.

So when Heineken staged a fake classical music concert at the same time of a crucial Real Madrid vs. AC Milan game on October 21st, there was no chance that any real soccer fan would be there…except if their girlfriends, professors and bosses convinced them (by all means necessary) to attend.

What happens next is sheer hilarity, and a nice example of a high-budget guerrilla marketing campaign from Heineken. Suffice to say that over 1100 soccer fans got swindled, 1.5 million people saw their reactions on live TV, and Heineken received 5 million visitors to the site devoted to the event, and a great deal of news coverage for their troubles.

As far as what happens in the video itself, we won’t spoil it for you; see it below and enjoy.

Tags: Heineken, viral video, web marketing

If you’re a user of Opera Mini, chances are you’ve already switched from Opera Mini 4.2 to Opera Mini 5, beta tag be damned. The new version brought many improvements (tabs and speed dial probably being the most important) that made its predecessor look pale in comparison.

Same goes for Opera Mobile 10, and since both these browsers have been available as betas for several months now, it’s no surprise that Opera decided to promote them to stable versions.

Compared to the betas, Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10 don’t bring new features, only minor bug fixes. You can download them both here.

Check out a video introducing Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10 below.

Tags: mobile browsers, opera mini, opera mobile, web browsers

While most of the world happily enjoys Internet’s free services such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Google, in China these are either inaccessible or might become so in the following months.

And, as shown by Google’s recent squabble with the Chinese government, it can be very hard to operate in the world’s most populous country. But Twitter’s Jack Dorsey has faith that Twitter will be able to operate in China, although it’s currently blocked by the government.

At a New York panel discussion on social media and digital activism, Chinese activist Ai Weiwei asked Dorsey whether they can promise availability of Twitter in China. Dorsey said: “I would say yes. It’s just a matter of time”. Weiwei called this answer “very philosophical”; knowing that a giant like Google has trouble securing their presence in China, a cautious answer like this by a much smaller Twitter instills little confidence.

Weiwei also pointed out a very interesting fact that westerners probably don’t think about: Twitter is a very different tool in Chinese and in English. “At 140 words, in Chinese, you can really write a novel. You can discuss most profound ideas really to democracy, freedom, poetry,” he said. Unfortunately, it seems that this fact didn’t escape Chinese censors, which have been blocking Twitter for nearly a year now.

Reviews: Google, Twitter

Tags: china, social media, twitter

Last week, Sony announced the PlayStation Move, a new motion-based controller to compete with both the Wii and, more importantly, Microsoft’s upcoming Project Natal full-body motion controller.

That’s why we made the topic of the latest edition of our Web Faceoff about Sony and Microsoft’s upcoming next-generation gaming controllers. We asked you to tell us which excited you more: Microsoft’s Natal or Sony’s Move. After over 2000 votes…

…Project Natal emerged victorious. With 56% of the vote (1,268 votes), Natal was more than a match for the PlayStation Move, which mustered 30% of the ballots (668 votes). 170 voted that you didn’t care for motion controllers, while antoher 150 preferred the Wii.

Tune in tomorrow for the next edition of our web faceoff series!

Tags: microsoft, Nintendo, playstation move, poll, project natal, PS3, sony, web faceoff, Wii, xbox, Xbox 360

It seems that the question on everyone’s mind over at SXSW this year is: What will be the next Twitter? Well, as our own Pete Cashmore said the other day during an interview with Bloomberg, and during a recent interview with Time.com’s Dan Fletcher: It’s all about location.

Twitter still remains a SXSW legend, even though some point to stats demonstrating that Twitter’s web traffic has been leveling off as of late. Still, the microblogging site asserts that it’s going as strong as ever, arguing that the true rubric for success is the number of tweets being sent out as opposed to the number of people logging on to Twitter via a web browser.

Now, location-sharing services like Foursquare seem to be creating a ton of buzz down South. Foursquare was first introduced a year ago at the SXSW conference in Austin, TX, and has only become more popular in the ensuing months — just the other day it garnered 347,000 checkins in a single day (mostly due to folks checking in in Austin). Other services like Gowalla have also joined the fray, as well as Facebook and Twitter, who have adopted or plan to adopt location features.

Check out the video below to see Pete chatting with Time at SXSW about Twitter and Foursquare, as well as how Mashable was born, the evolution of social networking, and what trends Pete sees dominating in 2010.

What do you think of the future of Twitter and the advent of location-sharing services? Let us know in the comments.

Tags: facebook, foursquare, gowalla, mashable, pete cashmore, sxsw-2010, twitter

Chatroulette has had its share of stormtroopers and Comedy Central hosts, but now there’s a new star on the block: the Chatroulette improv piano player.

The webcam network has quickly ascended to become one of the web’s biggest phenomenons. The anonymous webcam network, estimated to be made up of 71% males, 15% females, and 14% perverts, has gained huge traffic that has attracted venture capital interest and, of course, funny viral videos.

The Chatroulette improv piano player, who we found via the Huffington Post, uses only his playing prowess and freestyle vocal to entertain random dudes and win the hearts of teenage girls in hilarious fashion. It’s no wonder this video’s already going viral.

Watch and listen to the improv piano man himself; you won’t regret it:

Tags: chatroulette, music, Piano, video, web video, youtube

Feature-length documentary film Earth Days will premiere on Facebook with a live video stream and a chat at 8 PM EST on April 11, more than a week before the over-the-air PBS television premiere at 9 PM EST on April 19.

The film chronicles the history of Earth Day in the United States and investigates issues related to the today’s American environmentalism movement. It has been playing the festival circuit and in select theaters for months, leading up to its PBS American Experience premiere. Earth Days has pulled a 70 rating on Metacritic — “generally favorable reviews.”

The Facebook event will use a new social streaming platform provided by a company called Brand Networks. The entire documentary will play (its producers claim this will be the first feature-length documentary to stream on Facebook) alongside a social stream of updates that can either be restricted to folks watching the event, or made available to other Facebook friends.

Director Robert Stone will be joined by American Experience Executive Producer Mark Samels to interact with the community watching the film, though nobody’s said what that interaction will entail.

You can RSVP to the Facebook event page. It currently has 543 confirmed guests, 398 maybes, and 2,344 from which it’s awaiting reply. That’s just the event page, though; there’s no telling how many will show up without RSVPing. In case you’re on the fence, here’s the trailer.

Tags: american experience, brand ntworks, documentary, earth days, facebook, live video, mark samels, pbs, robert stone, television, tv

Voting ends tonight (11:59PM CT) in the Pepsi Refresh SXSW Challenge, where Mashable is supporting SparkHelp, a location-based mobile application that looks to connect people to opportunities to volunteer in their communities.

As a quick refresher, we’re competing against two other teams to help SparkHelp win $50,000 in funding so they can pursue their idea. If you want to help us out, you can append the hashtag #RefreshMashable to your tweets until voting ends, as the idea whose hashtag is used the most gets the prize.

Meanwhile, the project and the competition have received a variety of media attention over the past few days. Below you can find our interviews with Blip.tv and The Derrick Ashong Experience on Oprah’s XM radio channel (our segment is around the 2:00 mark), where we talk more about the project. CNN and CNET have also written about the competition.

Blip.tv

The Derrick Ashong Experience

Tags: sxsw

A few hours ago, Twitter CEO Evan Williams keynoted SXSW in an on-stage interview with Umair Haque of Havs Media Lab. During it, Mr. Williams announced the @Anywhere platform and answered Mr. Haque’s questions.

While Umair did ask a lot of questions, some thought that he did not ask enough tough questions about the future of Twitter. Perhaps that’s why Twitter’s CEO decided to answer more questions via the microblogging site:

“I heard on the backchannel that people want me to answer tougher questions. What’ya want to know? Will answer 10. Go.”

The result was a flood of questions — and a flood of answers, including a few gems, including a definitive answer to: “Will Twitter be sold or merged in the next 2 years?”

The Questions

Before I dive into analysis, what I’m going to do is actually repost the first 12 questions and the answers Evan Williams gave in chronological order. Most of the questions he answered were superfluous or humorous, but I’ve bolded some very interesting questions and answers:

Q1: @ev why is location an after-thought?
A1: @bitcollector we didn’t start with location but are making serious in roads with it right now. It will be a major part of Twitter soon.

Q2: @ev when will you expand your capacity? The whale is cute and all but I see him way too often! Thank you!
A2: @MadysonsMallows we expand it every day. But we can do better.

Q3: @ev Here’s one: why is your api team so unresponsive?
A3: @mickhagen they’ve been really flooded and are getting more resources (2 new developer advocates this month). Also: come to Chirp

Q4: @ev OK, not a profit question. Soccer. Who will win the World Cup this year?
A4: @MatthewLumby sounds like you’re conflicted.

Q5: @ev What do you think is your next Aha! idea?
A5: @vivekunc always hard to know that ahead of time

Q6: @ev How do you see things settling out among Google, Facebook, and Twitter? Am interested because our daughter now works at Facebook.
A6: @BobMetcalfe she should probably apply at Twitter.

Q7: @ev What am I thinking right now?
A7: @TMDavenport @ladygaga

Q8: @ev Will @anywhere put API developers out of work?
A8: @steyblind only if they can’t think of what o do on top of it. It should allow them to create more value.

Q9: @ev what is your favorite bourbon?
A9: @thewebdawg now THAT’s a good question. I like Evan Williams Single Barrel, but that’s probably too obvious.

Q10: @ev Why would I ever, ever want a newspaper to @anywhere link to @anildash instead of using HTML to link to anildash.com?
A10: @anildash It’s not an either/or. It’s a hover action. Link still exists. Will result in more followers and ultimately traffic

Q11: @ev Why hasn’t Twitter named me as their Spirit Promoter since I made a Substancial Entity for Dialogue and Connection out of just tweeting
A11: @RoseProphecy um… Yeah. Have to think about that one.

Q12: @ev will Twitter be sold or merged in the next 2 years?
A12: @ds5384 No.

The Big Question Still Remains…

We’re still looking through the questions people asked and answers Mr. Williams gave, but we can say a few things:

- We like this transparent step by Twitter’s CEO with his very interested audience. He was perceptive of the audience reaction to his keynote and essentially opened up the floor to questions.

- With that said, he did not reveal all that much. Questions like the one below dominated his answers:

- The biggest piece was something we already suspected: That Twitter is not selling anytime soon.

- Another piece of news: Twitter will be revealing more details about how it will fight Facebook Connect at the Chirp conference. He provided this answer to GigaOm’s Om Malik.

- Twitter lists could be much better, and the team is working on making them a stronger feature.

Still, there are a lot of questions we have, including one we had hoped he would answer during his keynote today: Is there a Twitter advertising platform, and if so, when will it launch?

Hopefully we’ll get our answer soon. If not today directly from @Ev, then most likely at the Chirp conference next month.

Tags: evan williams, facebook, social media, sxsw-2010, twitter

The FCC has just submitted its National Broadband plan to Congress. The plan is pretty ambitious; the FCC wants at least 100 million U.S. homes to have access to affordable broadband of at least 100Mbps download speeds. Likening broadband to electricity, the executive summary calls the technology “a foundation for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way of life.”

Congress directed the FCC to develop a National Broadband Plan early last year. This would ensure that every American “has access to broadband capability.” Congress further stipulated that the plan include a detailed strategy for how this goal would be achieved affordably and with maximum efficiency.

The four points outlined in the plan are:

• Design policies to ensure competition
• Ensure efficiency in asset management and allocations
• Reform current deployment services in high-cost areas
• Reform policies to maximize the benefits of broadband when used in public sectors like education, health care and government.

If you’re interested in the entire overview, be sure to take a look at the plan. It will be interesting to see the Congressional response to this plan.

While there are lots of calls for government regulations to ensure fair pricing and service speeds, the bulk of infrastructure development and roll-out costs are assumed to be provided by the private sector. How these two areas can be reconciled will likely be one of central issues in actually implementing any National Broadband Plan.

What do you think of what the FCC is proposing? Let us know!

[img credit: Matti Mattila]

Tags: broadband, fcc, national broadband plan, politics

Jeffrey Katzenberg was right: 3D is the future of movies. USA Today interviewed Avatar director James Cameron about this new era of filmmaking, and the director revealed plans to bring a certain unsinkable hit back to theaters in 2012, this time in 3D: Titanic.

Because of the success of Avatar — and now Alice in Wonderland — studios are scrambling to release as many big titles in 3D as possible. Thanks to computer technology, 3D effects can be added to films shot without the use of 3D-specific cameras like Cameron used for Avatar. This includes Warner Bros.’s upcoming Clash of the Titans, a film that was not shot in 3D, but is being converted to 3D over an eight-week period in hopes of capturing more attention (and higher ticket sales) at the box office.

While Cameron was critical of how little time some of these conversions were taking, he wasn’t opposed to the idea that old titles be converted — as long as the original director is the one who oversees the process.

From the interview:

“They’re converting Clash of the Titans in eight weeks. But I’m guessing six months to a year to do it right. We’re targeting spring of 2012 for the release (of a 3D version of Titanic), which is the 100 year anniversary of the sailing of the ship.”

Titanic, for its time, was actually a quite technically advanced film. Many of the interior and exterior shots were completely computer-generated, as was much of the water in the film. That offers up some better options when re-processing the film for 3D because artists are working with digital imagery — not to mention the improvements in visual effects and CGI that have taken place in the ensuing 13 years.

Cameron also discusses 3D television sets and plans for Avatar in Blu-ray and in 3D.

What do you think about technology retrofitting classic films into 3D — or 2.8D as Cameron calls it? Let us know!

Tags: 3D, 3D TV, Film, james cameron, Movies, titanic

Social networking has finally become something valuable for brick-and-mortar businesses. Smartphones and location-based social networks allow users to interact, share, meet up, and recommend places based on their physical coordinates. This real-world connection to social media can mean more foot traffic and profits for business owners.

So-called “lo-so” networks like Foursquare, Loopt, and Gowalla enable any business with a physical location to not only communicate with customers online, but actually get more of them to walk in the door — and that’s exciting.

The question any brick-and-mortar business owner should be asking him or herself is no longer “Should I use lo-so networks?” It’s “How do I do it?” The following tips are essential to getting started.

1. Learn the Platforms

First of all, you need to understand how the technology works. Generally, people use lo-so apps on their phones to “check in” whenever they go places. Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) locate the users and determine what “venue” they might be at, giving them options to select a location or create a new listing. These “check ins” allow their friends to know where they are now, or where they frequently go. Some services allow users to leave location-based tips for friends to discover later, and several involve social competitions, or the ability to unlock digital badges, stickers, and prizes. Businesses can announce specials or promotions through these apps, so when users “check in,” they receive notifications of nearby deals.

Item one on your to-do list should be to become familiar with the prevailing platforms. Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, Brightkite, and Google Latitude are the most talked about in general, though others exist, and popularity varies by geography (e.g. Foursquare reigns supreme in New York City, and Loopt has a lot of clout in Silicon Valley). Other platforms to be aware of include Yelp and Facebook, which are just now dabbling in lo-so. Sign up for all of these, and download the apps to your phone if you can, so you can become familiar with how someone would use each one. Most of the networks have iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry apps, and all of them allow you to “check in” via desktop and mobile web browsers.

2. Determine Your Goals

Before you can optimize your business for lo-social networking, you need to step back and determine what you want to accomplish.

• Are you hoping to increase foot traffic to your store?
• Do you want to sell more of a particular item?
• Do you want more patrons at certain times of day?
• Do you want to promote a specific product?
• Are you looking for new customer acquisition?
• Repeat customers?

You may say, “I want all of those,” but to be effective, you need to set specific objectives. These will determine your approach to the entire process. Luckily, if you need to change things around to fit new objectives in the future, the cost of doing so is very small.

One goal that should be on every business’s list is to be easily findable on every network, which brings us to number three:

3. Establish Your Presence

Make sure that your business is listed on each network. Then make sure the address, phone, and details are correct and current. Don’t assume that users have added everything correctly. On some networks, once a venue is there, it’s stuck. Others let you edit. Don’t be afraid to contact the network itself to ask them for help if you can’t fix your venue listing. Gowalla’s Jonathan Carroll says, “We receive dozens of e-mails a day from businesses around the world asking for additions or tweaks to their Gowalla locations, and we’re happy to help out with them.”

It’s also a good idea to put up notices or stickers (on the door, order counter, or table centerpieces, for example) announcing “We’re on Foursquare” or “Find us on Yelp.” This will remind people to “check in” and spread the word about you.

4. Customize

Different networks have different options for customization, but it’s important that you do as much as you can to build out your listing. Add your website. Integrate with your other social networking accounts, like Twitter. Features are constantly being added to each network, but great customizations you can try right now include the following:

On Foursquare: Create to-do lists for users to explore around your area. And if possible, work with Foursquare to create a custom badge for your venue or event.

On Gowalla: Ask for a custom icon for your location, rather than the generic one for your category. Examples: Shake Shack, NYC, Austin Java, and Coop Ale Works.

5. Implement Compelling Promotions

Lo-social networks allow you to run promos to increase engagement and get people into your store. Foursquare’s Tristan Walker says, “Any type of in-store promotion you can conceive we want to make it so Foursquare can run it.” Many businesses offer specials like “check in 10 times and get a free appetizer” on all the major lo-so networks. Establish well-conceived promotions based on your goals, then evaluate the results. The biggest mistake you can make is to do this sloppily or half-heartedly.

Carroll cites Lift Cafe as a good example. “They offer 10% off every purchase when you check in on Gowalla, which they include in their description and also as a reminder in the success screen after check-in.”

“[What] we’ve seen across all channels again and again is that what works is a good local offer,” says Loopt CEO Sam Altman. Businesses with offers that cater to people “making that gametime decision” when they’re out and about do the best. “Offer value to the customer so it doesn’t feel like an ad,” he advises.

Shelley Bernstein, Chief of Technology for the Brooklyn Museum, talks about how the institution uses Foursquare to create a multi-faceted campaign and experience for museum goers.

“We knew that many people coming here wanted to know more about the local neighborhood, which is something Foursquare does well. We asked our staff for their opinion of the best stuff in the neighborhood … and left tips at all these venues for Foursquare users to find. Second, we added a promo for our mayor to reward the people who are consistently identifying themselves with us. Third, Foursquare has given us a badge which unlocks after three visits, and this helps reward our community for coming in the doors.

“All of these things together help create a total presence on the platform that works well for the Foursquare community, the Brooklyn Museum visitor, and the local merchants in our neighborhood.”"

Common promotions across various networks include the following:

• Raffles (e.g. “Every person who checks in gets a chance to win an iPod.”)
• Specials for the user who checks in most often. This is a staple of Foursquare promos for a lot of venues (e.g. “Top user/mayor gets the first drink free every time he/she comes in.”)
• First check in specials (e.g. “Get 30% off your order when you check in for the first time.”)
• Digital punch cards (e.g. “Check in 5 times, get a free coffee.”)

Tips for developing effective promotions:

• Advertise particular incentives, rather than your business in general (“20% off between 2 and 4pm;” “Buy one burger, get one free;” etc.).
• On platforms that allow you create your own banner ads (such as Loopt), include your address and opening hours in the ad itself, when possible.
• Be creative. For example, Incase, the bag and protective case maker, recently ran a promo with Gowalla to put virtual versions of its products into the app to be collected and traded. Carroll remarks, “The result has been phenomenal: Thousands upon thousands of their virtual items have been distributed in Gowalla to an audience who could benefit from their products, but many of whom had not previously heard of Incase.”

6. Engage With Your Customers

It would be a mistake to use Twitter as a one-way corporate megaphone, never interacting with your audience. That’s a quick route to an audience of zero. One of the most effective uses of social media is personal engagement and relationship building with your audience. The same goes for lo-so networks.

7. Track Everything

Foursquare just released a slick analytics dashboard for venues to track their stats. Other networks have metrics you can view as well, and they’ll certainly be releasing better and better tools. From data you can study online to qualitative observations at your own store, it’s important to keep track of everything so you can learn what promotions work with your audience. Be aware, though, that your ROI may not be directly measurable, and aside from increased sales, you’re working for brand exposure and increased awareness of your business.

8. Be Prepared to Adapt

Location-based social network technology may be the newest and grooviest incarnation of social media, but it certainly won’t be the last. And in a year it won’t look exactly like it does today. Be prepared to adapt your methods when features change, as new tools emerge, and as you review your own promotional results. Again, keep your objectives in mind, and be ready to keep up with new technology.

9. Avoid Common Pitfalls

In talking with representatives from the major lo-so networks, several common mistakes came up. Here are a few things you should try to avoid:

• Don’t leave fake reviews or tips. They’re easy to spot, and you’ll lose all on- and off-line credibility immediately when people catch on.
• Don’t throw up poorly designed ads. “A badly designed banner ad performs so much worse than … a good one,” Altman says. “It’s an insane difference.”
• Don’t forget to monitor activity. Carroll points out, “Chances are if someone has a gripe or praise with their check-in, it’s a real-time thing: The patron is probably still there … so the business has a chance to make the experience even better.”

We’d love to hear about your own lo-so experiences. Let us know how location-based services have benefited your business in the comments!

More location-based resources from Mashable:

- 10 Foursquare Apps You Can Use Right Now
- 6 Foursquare Apps We’d Love to See
- 6 Tips for Getting the Most out of Foursquare
- Foursquare vs. Gowalla: Location-Based Throwdown
- Location, Location, Location: 5 Big Predictions for 2010

Tags: brightkite, business, facebook, foursquare, google latitude, gowalla, List, location, location-based, loopt, MARKETING, Mobile 2.0, small business, social media, social networks, twitter