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2014 US midterm elections: Live Report

Washington (AFP) - 05:14 GMT - More pot - US media project that Oregon will OK marijuana use. The move makes it the third state in which it will be legal to use the drug recreationally, catching up with Colorado and neighboring Washington.

05:06 GMT - Maryland surprise - In what would be a real upset, the overwhelmingly Democratic state of Maryland seems to be about to elect a Republican governor. Businessman Larry Hogan has a sizable lead over Lt. Governor Anthony Brown, who has been slammed for tax increases under the incumbent.

05:00 GMT - CALLING IT A NIGHT - We are closing our Live Report on the US elections.

Races are still undecided around the country, and final results from Alaska to Connecticut may not be known for days. But the big question has been answered. A Republican wave washed over the Senate, giving the GOP control of the upper chamber for the first time since President Barack Obama was elected.

The White House issued no reaction, but we can expect Obama to speak to reporters at some point on Wednesday and probably take questions. Obama retains some power through executive orders and the veto pen, but substantive governance will require cooperation. With majorities is both houses, the Republicans will determine the country's legislative agenda at least until the next presidential vote.

And so, with ballots from Tuesday's vote still being counted, talk over breakfast in Washington will turn to 2016.

04:40 GMT - Squeal - Joni Ernst's big win in Iowa makes her the first woman to represent the agricultural state in the Senate. The 44-year-old Army and National Guard veteran served in Kuwait in 2003 and 2004. One of her campaign ads, titled "Squeal," went viral for both friends and foes. She asserted her experience castrating hogs growing up gave her the experience needed to cut "pork" spending in Washington.

04:38 GMT - Harry Reid - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid acknowledged his was not long for the job. He released a statement making the usual vow of bipartisanship.

"I'd like to congratulate Senator McConnell, who will be the new Senate Majority Leader. The message from voters is clear: they want us to work together. I look forward to working with Senator McConnell to get things done for the middle class."

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2014 US midterm elections: Live Report

For anyone who says that using social media is not an exact science, theAtlanta-based company Insightpool would beg to differ.

Today, Insightpool unveiled the second generationof its audience cultivation and conversion platform with a slew of new features and capabilities, all designed to grant clients complete knowledge and control of their social media campaigns.

Big companies are finally getting wise to the enormous impact social media marketing has on what people buy, howthey engage with businesses, and so on.When I interviewed Insightpool CEO Devon Wijesinghe about Insightpool 2.0, he called social media the worlds largest focus group.

But its one thing for businesses to know social media marketingworks, and its another to know how it works.Wijesinghe made it clear that you cant mass message millions of people and expect a decent response. Its against the unwritten rules of social media etiquette.

Insightpools platform takes the guesswork out of social media marketing bynarrowing down the millions of potential clients, prospects, and leadsto the handful that really matter to a company. Before a business even sends their first tweet or shared link, Insightpool will tell them both how receptive a contact will be, as well as how likely they are to take the desired actionswhatever those may be.

Speaking about the analysis capabilities of Insightpools new version, company CTO Raj Gulati said:

With Insightpool 2.0, we now provide brands with our proprietary Social Predictor rankings, developed from our algorithms that are capable of analyzing over 350 million people across 60 relevant variables in under 15 minutes, to show exactly who is most likely to reciprocate an online engagement with an organization.

After the platform narrows down the list of contacts, it recommends what actions should be taken via social media, whether its sharing links, tweeting coupons, or any number of other methods of engaging users. But rather than inundating people with messages, Insightpool uses social drip marketing to slowly engage users over time, ensuring that contact is consistentbut never obnoxious.

Insightpool offers its own tools for managing clients social media, but it also interfaces seamlessly with social media tools like Sprinklr, Spredfast, and Shoutlet.

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How Insightpool 2.0 reinvents social media marketing

Robert Hannigan is shown in Manila, Philippines, in 2008. He became chief of the British eavesdropping agency Monday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

London (CNN) -- UK spy chief Robert Hannigan called on big U.S. tech companies to do more to help governments combat terrorism Tuesday, as he described social media as "a terrorist's command-and-control network of choice."

In an opinion piece written for Britain's Financial Times newspaper, Hannigan, the new director of UK government eavesdropping agency GCHQ, said there must be greater cooperation from the private sector to tackle the threat.

His comments play into the continuing debate over the conflict between people's right to privacy online and governments' need to ensure national security, intensified by the revelations last year of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden over mass government surveillance programs.

In a rare public statement, Hannigan accused U.S. tech companies of being in denial over terrorists' use of the Internet.

Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks

Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks

Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks

Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks

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Social media: Terrorists' 'network of choice'

Liberty Media Corporation ( LMCA ) is slated to release its third-quarter 2014 results before the opening bell on Nov 4.

Last quarter, Liberty Media delivered a huge negative earnings surprise of 80.28%. Moreover, the company's earnings have missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters, with an average miss of 11.05%. Let's see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Factors to be Considered this Quarter

Liberty Media is steadily restructuring its business model, with an aim to control several subscription-based businesses. The company has also started providing cable TV services through its partial acquisition of Charter Communications Inc. ( CHTR ) and is determined to strengthen its foothold in the pay-TV market. Moreover, the combination of Live Nation and Sirius XM should considerably drive revenues and subscriber tally for the company.

On the flip side, Liberty Media's businesses are prone to rapid technological changes. Large cable TV operators are deploying digital TV networks, which are rapidly garnering huge market traction. This may adversely impact the channel positioning of Liberty Media's networks.

Notably, growing deployment of personal video recorders, video-on-demand technology and IPTV network are steadily changing distribution and viewing habits among the general public. Also, stiff competition from pay-TV operators coupled with macroeconomic fluctuations in the U.S. may hurt housing sector growth.

Earnings Whispers?

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Liberty Media is likely to beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1, 2 or 3 for this to happen. Unfortunately, that is not the case here as elaborated below.

Zacks ESP : Liberty Media's earnings ESP is 0.00%. This is because both the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are poised at 26 cents.

Zacks Rank : Liberty Media carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, a 0.00% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult.

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Will Liberty Media's (LMCA) Earnings Surprise this Season? - Analyst Blog

Buying your vote, online. Were just days away from the election, and theres a new battleground, with candidates trying to sway voters on social media.

Social media consultant Trish Moratto said, If you want to earn a new demographic, which is younger voters, you really need to go where they are.

The stakes in Novembers midterm are high: control of Congress. But mid-terms have historically had low turnout, forcing campaigns to get creative.

For close elections like the race for the 7th Congressional District, that means tapping into social media.

Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus are platforms used by retailers to get you to shop for their products. And now, theyre the new battleground for elections.

The social media stuff allows us to interact with people directly, real time about issues that affect their everyday life, 7th District Congressional candidate Doug Ose said.

President Barack Obama laid the groundwork bywinning younger voters and raising money in an unprecedented way in 2008: online.

With 1.3 billion Facebook and 271 million Twitter users monthly, the opportunities are endless.

All the political world stopped thinking about digital as a website and started thinking about it as a tool they could use to win, saidCampaign consultant Bryan Merica.

So, if you feel inundated with phone calls, door knocks or mailers, just add social media to the mix.

Read more here:
Using Social Media to Reach Younger Voters in Close Races