• Egypt: What Ghonim, Google, and Everyone Should Do Next
    After disappearing for two weeks into the bowels of Egypt's prisons, Google executive Wael Ghonim emerged as one of the central figures in the Egyptian Revolution which removed longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak from power in February 2011. Now Ghonim's employer -- a company with unprecedented power and influence in the world economy -- has an equally unprecedented chance to side with good, in keeping with its motto, "Don't be evil," (which I choose to interpret as an injunction to be good). True, this might require cooperating with archrivals like Facebook and Twitter, which Ghonim singled out for praise last week. …
  • Inigral Helps Schools Create Virtual Campuses on Facebook
    While no one can question Facebook's massive success, its rapid expansion in the general population has also taken it pretty far from its roots as a social site for college students -- but now a new service, Inigral, is helping reconnect it with college life. Inigral uses a Schools App on Facebook to enable college and university administrators to create official, exclusive sub-networks within Facebook for their students and alumni -- a sort of Facebook within Facebook. These school networks can invite incoming freshman to join via email as soon as they're accepted, helping foster a sense of community, and …
  • Social Media For Dummies, Congressional Dummies, That Is
    I'm not going to issue moral judgments about Rep. Christopher Lee, who resigned yesterday after Gawker.com published a shirtless photo he sent to a woman (not his wife) he met through Craigslist personals. Nor am I holding my breath for rich and powerful men to change their behavior: politicians are apparently compelled to engage in hanky panky, even though being in the public eye and having numerous opponents means there's a good chance they'll get caught. Like bugs around a bug zapper -- particularly stupid, narcissistic bugs -- they flirt with destruction, circling and circling until POOF they hit the …
  • You've Got Tweets: Social Media Supplanting Email
    Email usage rates are declining sharply among teens and young adults as email is increasingly supplanted by text messaging, including social media messaging, according to comScore's Digital Year in Review. The data suggests this is part of a broader downward trend cutting across most ages.
  • Less Than Half of Marketers "Like" Facebook's ROI
    Judging by all the press coverage, Facebook represents the advertising Holy Grail -- but most marketers still have no idea if it's any good for, like, advertising. At least that's according to eMarketer, which recently published the results of a survey of chief marketing officers about their use of social media. Overall less than half of the 175 execs surveyed by Bazaarvoice and The CMO Club on eMarketer's behalf even knew what kind of ROI Facebook was delivering -- and of these, the majority rated it just "average."
  • Facebook Ruined Your Marriage? No, You Did
    Well, I guess it was inevitable. With millions of bored people whiling away the empty hours on Facebook, reconnecting with old friends and stalking their ex's, there was going to be some hanky panky -- and some relationships were going to be ruined, and some marriages were going to end in divorce. And then someone was going to start a Facebook page (or actually, a bunch of pages) about it.
  • Facebook Gets All The Money (Well, About Two-Thirds, Anyway)
    The online economy, for all its chaotic variety, still seems to produce dominant -- or even monopolistic -- companies, which take the lion's share of revenues in their markets. In 2009 Google raked in $23.7 billion, or 79% of a total search market of just over $30.1 billion. Now a similar dynamic is emerging in the burgeoning world of social media.
  • Cuba: The Social Media Revolution That Isn't (Yet)
    The Egyptian revolution has inspired a flurry of debate, even though everyone basically agrees on the fundamental points. If I may summarize the consensus that emerged from people angrily, heatedly agreeing: Social media played a role, but obviously it didn't make the revolution. Human beings did that. Duh.
  • Path Raises $8.65 Million
    Venture capitalists have been pouring money into social media startups, and they show no signs of stopping: this week brought news that Path, a new social network which focuses on real relationships, has raised $8.65 million from investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Index Ventures. As part of the deal, Kleiner and Index are both taking seats on Path's board of directors. Back in November Path raised $2.5 million from backers including Index, First Round Capital, and Founders Fund.
  • In Egypt, Revolution Is a Media Mashup
    Lest anyone take offense, I should clarify at the outset that I don't view the revolution in Egypt as simply a media case study -- it is obviously an event of earthshaking importance, for Egypt, the Middle East and the whole world. But it also perfectly encapsulates a number of media trends -- and I'd like to focus on those, if I may, without trivializing the broader event.
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