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Over the past few days there has been a lot of buzz about Facebook Beacon. I wrote last week that Beacon was not actually relaunched but was instead never shut down. In the past day though, Facebook has shut down promotions of beacon and Techcrunch confirmed that Facebook Beacon was on the way out the door. Facebook Connect is the new system... - socialmediaBiz

Bloggers are not a homogenous group, but they are an educated and affluent one: three out of four U.S. bloggers are college graduates, and 42% have attended graduate school. They skew male, and more than half have a household income over $75,000. They are experienced: although it has only recently exploded into the mainstream, blogging is not a new phenomenon. Half of bloggers are on their second blog, and 59% have been blogging for more than two years... - socialmediaBiz

Technorati has searched through its own search index of the world’s blogs and released new data on the state of the blogosphere in 17 months. And my, there are a lot of us bloggers out there. It’s time for some serious navel gazing. Technorati has indexed more than 133 million blogs since 2002. It’s been a long time — April 2007 – since the company last posted such a report. At that point, Technorati reported there were more than 70 million blogs with 120,000 being created every day... - socialmediaBiz

When it comes to social media, Ford is an admitted neophyte. It dipped its toe in the water with its well-received "Bold moves" campaign in 2006, and it hired a social-media consulting firm to create blog-friendly press releases. But for the most part, it has remained on the sidelines when it comes to using new technology tools to foster two-way conversations with customers and its employees... - socialmediaBiz

This is a recap of a presentation by Michael Lazerow of Buddy Media from the Web 2.0 Expo. Social Networks are clearly here to stay with almost 50% of the population is using these sites (70% of teens). Social Network have all opened up their platforms which means that brands have cost effective access to more than 500M engaged users (250M of them on just Facebook and MySpace alone!) This is a massive distribution channel for any brand but still <1% of digital ad budgets are going toward Social Networks – why?... - socialmediaBiz

Slowly but surely airlines are edging into online social networking, giving air travelers an opportunity to share experiences and maybe score some discounted airfares. In return, the airlines are developing a marvelous new marketing tool. A win-win? Maybe. As usual, U.S. carriers - which are preoccupied with battling high fuel prices and slackening demand for travel - face the fact that innovation is coming from overseas, where most major airlines are still solvent, if not necessarily flying high. Just this week, Lufthansa, the dominant German carrier, introduced what it says is the first-ever dedicated airline-sponsored social network for college students: GenFlyLounge.com... - socialmediaBiz

Branded content is still a relatively new and developing advertising format, but Ogilvy & Mather is ahead of the curve: In June 2007, while many digital ad agencies were still experimenting, it launched the high-production 12-episode web series "In Search of Real Food" on Yahoo for Unilever's Hellmann's. The second season, Real Food Summer School with Bobby Flay, launched May 22 of this year.... - socialmediaBiz

Viacom division MTV Networks announced Monday that it has turned its minority stake in software company Social Platform into a full acquisition: Social Project, formerly known as Tagworld, is the basis for Viacom's Flux. MTV Networks launched Flux just over a year ago as a social-networking platform that would be used across all its digital entertainment properties as well as eventually sites outside Viacom... - socialmediaBiz

PulsarBox has launched PulsarBox Mobile, which is a new development platform for creating, publishing and sharing content with mobile devices. It’s done with the aid of a simple desktop application (Windows-only) that even non-developers should be able to use without much effort. You basically upload the information you want from your desktop and it’s stored on the mobile device, thus eliminating the need for constant online connection... - socialmediaBiz

Livemocha, the world’s largest online language learning community, announced today that its community has reached 1 million members from around the world in its first year of existence. Livemocha also introduced Mochapoints, an innovative new peer-based reputation ratings feature that allows members to evaluate one another’s contributions and monitor language proficiency. - socialmediaBiz

Twitter is a highly popular and viral social media tool. It is considered a micro-blogging tool and means of staying in touch with friends and family - letting them know where you are and what you are doing, etc.. But how do we leverage this catchy social media tool that allows you to build followings and influence communities for enterprise? Here is a case study example of how Coverity did just that with the help of their agency, Position2... - socialmediaBiz

Microsoft Research has hired social network researcher danah boyd, probably the most high profile academic in the world focused on the emerging web and its social consequences... - socialmediaBiz

While the number of Facebook users that have signed up to protest the social net's redesign represents only a fraction its 100 million members, the movement continues to gain attention. Over the past few months, dozens of groups have popped up on Facebook to voice displeasure at the changes. As USAT notes, one group has attracted 1 million members. - socialmediaBiz

Swimsuit Mashup-GilletteAt Friday's OMMA Global panel on Gillette's interactive video campaign around Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue, the audience was mostly guys. That may prove a basic tenet of marketing, which even plumbing supply companies follow when they put out their yearly calendars: Whether it's a sink drain, a car or a shaver, put a beautiful woman next to it and the guys will pay attention. Especially if it's a shaver... - socialmediaBiz

By fawning over Facebook, social media marketers may be missing out on advertising opportunities on MySpace. According to a new JupiterResearch study, MySpace has twice as many U.S. users as Facebook. But three times as many marketers favor Facebook in their spending plans in 2008... - socialmediaBiz

Another application called SocialCalendar launched earlier this year, aiming to do Amazon one better. Today, SocialCalendar says it’s growing at an expected rate of two million new users a month, after having grown to 1.5 million total active users since launch, according to Facebook. - socialmediaBiz

After only 15 days, mothers are signing up at an astounding rate to Twittermoms.com. According to its founder, the site’s growth has been unexpectedly strong, and about 39 percent of its 5,000-or-so daily users are considered “addicts” based on Quantcast figures. - socialmediaBiz

announced new support for Yammer, multipy, youare.com and diigo - socialmediaBiz

Lego has had plenty of forays into the digital space over the years, from video games to products that let users design their own sets, but its biggest is the upcoming Lego Universe, a project begun in 1999 with the goal of bringing users online to not only play, but share their imaginations. - socialmediaBiz

One of the sessions I attended after mine was finished was "Monitoring Social Media for Fresh, Contemporary and Reliable Sources" presented by Andrew Baron, founder of the popular Rocketboom videoblog/podcast. Andrew shared some of the ways he keeps his ear to the ground on social media to pick up on breaking news before it hits the mainstream media - socialmediaBiz

Net4Mac released its exclusive social networking service for Mac users about 6 months ago to mixed reviews. It has now released a version for the iPhone, according to Macworld. It is available from the iPhone App Store [iTunes URL] for $4.99. - socialmediaBiz

website for keyword searching online forums - socialmediaBiz

Gospelr is quick to point out that it’s not “just another Twitter.” Instead, the site prides itself on being the world’s first “Ministry Microblogging” tool for those that want to share thoughts, ideas, words of encouragement, prayer requests, daily scripture readings, and oh so much more. - socialmediaBiz

Cisco announced today that it has acquired Jabber, an open-source IM and presence protocol used by Google Talk and Gizmo, for an undisclosed sum. - socialmediaBiz

Julia is a Senior Agent at Undercurrent, a digital think tank in New York City, helping brands and agencies understand and engage more effectively with a growing population of digital natives. Before that, Julia was at Schneider Associates, where she started the agency's first social media practice, and she blogs at JuliaRoy.com. She joins us this week to discuss a Yammer, the new collaborative microblogging service; - socialmediaBiz

Yahoo India announced that it has launched yet another social network for the 16-24 age bracket in an attempt to capture the growing market in India. And although scant details are available, it sounds interesting. - socialmediaBiz

The first signature project is MyHollywood.com - a women’s web destination for celebrity and entertainment news, casual games, fashion and community. The site is currently in public beta. MyHollywood.com specifically targets the fastest growing segment of internet users – women 18-34 who enjoy casual gaming. - socialmediaBiz

Today we’ve released the updated graphs showing virtual worlds by sector. - socialmediaBiz

How many more new social networking or micro-blogging or video-sharing site can one person use? Most of us don’t have time to respond to voice mail and e-mail every day, let alone check our Twitter updates and Facebook accounts and Flickr friends - socialmediaBiz

Like other corporate executives, Michael Dell wants to know what his customers think about Dell computer products, customer service, and other areas. But rather than wait for customer complaints or praises to affect other people through blogs, discussion boards, or the media, he has a staff of 42 employees who monitor the social web and follow-up with people through online communities - socialmediaBiz