Archive for the ‘Social Networking’ Category

Social media throws up new challenge to the Olympic Games

LONDON (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee will sail in to unchartered waters next week when the Games open in London, at the mercy of the millions of fans around the world on Facebook and Twitter who will give instant reaction to everything that unfolds.

The explosion of social networking offers huge opportunities to the IOC, but with much of its revenues dependent on the billion-dollar deals agreed with broadcasters, the body overseeing the Games will also have to protect those long-held rights.

Fans inside a stadium will be allowed to use their smartphones to film Usain Bolt on the track or Michael Phelps in the pool, but they will not be allowed to upload it to Facebook in a ruling that may surprise many tech-savvy fans who now upload clips on a regular basis.

Anthony Edgar, head of media operations for the IOC, freely admits that he does not know what to expect in London following the explosion of social media, with some 900 million people using Facebook in 2012 compared to the 100 million who used the site just four years ago at the time of the Beijing Games.

"Yes you can't hold a camera when you're running down the 100 meter straight and do an exclusive broadcast. That's for the broadcasters," he told Reuters in an interview. "But you can certainly talk about it. You can certainly take photos of it. And you can certainly write about it.

"We're having to deal with things now that didn't exist in Beijing, with a voice that wasn't so loud in Beijing. Everyone is allowed to film who goes into a venue ... but it's for personal use only."

YOUNGER AUDIENCE

Ian Maude, an analyst in online media at the British-based Enders Analysis firm, said he thought it could pose a huge challenge to the social networks and IOC, as many fans will not know the rules.

"Everyone has a mobile phone which is also a video camera these days and they're going to want to record the moment for posterity," he said.

"I think there will be an issue with people not realizing the rules but also some people could think about how much they've paid for those tickets and they may not care about the rules anyway."

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Social media throws up new challenge to the Olympic Games

Apartment Guide Wins Large-Company Category of Atlanta Social Media Competition

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Apartment Guide, a leading resource for apartments for rent nationwide, today earned victory in the Atlanta market Social Madness competition, a matchup of Atlanta-based companies vying to show leadership in social networking influence. By beating 10 large company category competitors in the Atlanta market, Apartment Guide now moves on to national bracket competition, potentially facing companies such as FedEx Corp., Target and Southwest Airlines for the honor of being named the organization with the most social influence.

Were pleased to have come out on top in the Atlanta competition and hope to further validate our emphasis on social media as a key business driver when we compete in the upcoming national phase, said Arlene Mayfield, Senior Vice President, PRIMEDIA and President, Apartment Guide, Rentals and Homes divisions. Social media tools are highly effective for extending our advertisers reach, driving more qualified leads and facilitating faster filling of vacancies, and this is why weve embraced the technology so wholeheartedly.

During the local market phase lasting from June 1 July 16, Apartment Guide garnered 6,507 votes earned through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn activity and direct votes during competition. In total, 127 companies competed in the Atlanta market. In moving on to the national phase, the company will be one of 64 entrants, seeded according to total points earned during the local rounds. The national competition consists of seven weeks, from July 24 Sept. 10. Head-to-head matchups based on seeding (#1 seed vs. #64 seed, #2 seed vs. #63 seed, etc.) will take place each week for the first five weeks, as the 64-company field is narrowed to two finalists. The two finalist competitors will participate in a two-week final round, with the company receiving the highest vote total from the start of local competition through the end of the final round being named the victor.

We encourage all individuals connected to us through social channels including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to cast their votes and show their support, said Mayfield. Well face intense competition from well-known organizations, but we know our social presence is strong enough to help Apartment Guide prove worthy of inclusion among industry leaders.

The Social Madness competition is presented by Capital One Spark Business. The 43-city local and national promotion, designed to measure the growth of companies social presence,involved thousands of companies in three categories based on organization size large (500-plus employees), medium (100-500 employees) and small (fewer than 100 employees).

About Apartment Guide

A 36-year apartment industry expert, Apartment Guide helps millions of consumers nationwide find an apartment through innovative Internet, mobile and social media solutions. A trusted brand, it is a primary apartment search resource, offering potential renters content-rich apartment listings and information. For more information visit http://www.apartmentguide.com or http://www.listonapartmentguide.com.

About PRIMEDIA

PRIMEDIA helps millions of consumers nationwide find apartments, houses for rent or new homes for sale through its category-leading web sites and mobile applications, including ApartmentGuide.com, Rentals.com, RentalHouses.com and NewHomeGuide.com. PRIMEDIA continues to simplify the consumer home search and drive leads that result in occupancies for property management companies, landlords, new home builders and real estate professionals. PRIMEDIA was acquired by TPG July 13, 2011. For more information, visit http://www.primedia.com .

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Apartment Guide Wins Large-Company Category of Atlanta Social Media Competition

A Social Network Free of Ads

A Social Network Free of Ads

The dominant social networks cater too much to advertisers, says the man behind a Twitter-style network that users would pay for.

Social networking is too important to the future of the Web to be reliant on the advertising industry. That's the argument put forward by the founder of an effort to create an open, ad-free social network closely modeled on Twitter but supported by fees from users.

Dalton Caldwell, who founded one of the Web's earliest successful social networks, Imeem (see "IM-based Social Networking"), and sold it to MySpace in 2009, announced the project, App.net, last week to widespread interest from Web startups and developers. Caldwell has decided to divert the efforts of his current startup, Mixed Media Labs, to begin work on the project, and wants to raise $500,000 in donations to fund the rest. The project has already secured over $65,000 towards that goal. Donations have come from people paying the $50 annual member fee the service will charge, or larger amounts for the access that software developers need to build apps on the service. Mixed Media Labs received $5 million in investment funding in 2010 and originally worked on tools to help creators of mobile apps market them online.

Caldwell thinks the ad-supported business models adopted by Twitter and Facebook have encouraged those companies to create closed arenas that not only do a disservice to users but also choke online innovation. "Twitter created as fundamental a technical innovation as e-mail and HTML itself, and they totally blew it," says Caldwell. He draws an analogy with the early days of the Web, when Netscape got the medium started by releasing the first mass-market Web browser. "If Netscape had decided to build a proprietary ecosystem and become a media company supported by advertising, we wouldn't have the Web we do today," Caldwell says.

Caldwell's move was inspired by the positive response to a blog post he published this month lamenting recent moves by Twitter to restrict access by third-party apps and companies to its members' data. Many of Twitter's features and early traction came when the company adopted ideassuch as hashtags and retweetsthat originated with its users, and when it let outside software developers tap into the network, which yielded the first desktop and mobile clients for Twitter. But in 2011 the company announced that it intended to provide the main, if not only, ways of accessing the service, and has increasingly restricted what outside developers can do ever since.

That appears to be motivated by Twitter's need to establish its ad business, which relies on inserting paid-for messages into a user's update stream. That creates an incentive to build a closed network that keeps users locked in to the main Twitter site, and puts their needs second, says Caldwell. He says the dynamic also afflicts Facebook. "They're doing exactly the right thing for advertisers. If you're not an advertiser, they're not building it for you." Caldwell says that offering a service paid for by users creates a clear, uncompromised incentive to do what's best for them. He says the success of companies such as Dropbox and Evernote shows that people are willing to pay for online services. He also points out that more established communication networks such as the phone system have long gotten their revenue directly from their users.

The exact design and features of App.net will be shaped by feedback from supporters, but the basic form is intended to be similar to Twitter. Users can publish updates and subscribe to those of others to build a personalized real-time feed of content.

He acknowledges that he and many of those most excited by his project are "nerds," but he contends that many people outside the tech community are leery of the increasing efforts of Twitter and Facebook to position ads around their socializing.

However, some who agree with his analysis question Caldwell's solution.

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A Social Network Free of Ads

Social networking site helps arrest fugitive

Thursday, July 19, 2012

CATARMAN, N. Samar Thanks to modern technology and social media network, a murder suspect who escaped the sub-provincial jail in Baybay, Leyte two years ago was arrested by the police here last Monday.

Police Superintendent Isaias Tonog identified the suspect as Joey Del Monte, 37, resident of Lapinig, Northern Samar.

Get updates on President Benigno Aquino III's address to nation.

Police records reveal that Del Monte faces a murder case at the Regional Trial Court (RTC) branch 14 in Leyte, and he was detained at the sub-provincial jail in Baybay City in 2000.

Ten years after, however, while the trial of his case was still ongoing at the Leyte RTC, Del Monte led a jailbreak and fled from the said prison along with eight other inmates.

At that time, Tonog then was still based in Palo, Leyte as chief of the Police Regional Investigation and Detective Management Division (RIDMD).

According to Tonog, in his effort to locate Del Monte he thought of finding his name in Facebook, a social networking site that is very popular among the Filipinos.

Tonog was surprised to find Del Montes updated Facebook account, and was even more surprised by the suspects profile picture where he posed carrying a a KJ 9mm machine pistol.

He was even smiling as if showing off his firearm, Tonog said.

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Social networking site helps arrest fugitive

Scania Selects tibbr as Its Enterprise Social Network

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire -07/19/12)- TIBCO Software Inc. (TIBX) today announced that Scania has chosen tibbr as its private social network. tibbr was selected for its ability to deliver a cross-functional social networking platform that can be deployed on-premise and integrated with Scania's current business solutions. Founded in 1891, Scania is one of the world's largest commercial vehicle manufacturers, employing more than 37,500 people and operating in more than 100 countries. Scania's tibbr community is named Agora, which is provided to employees company-wide.

"We believe all employees are knowledge workers stimulated to achieve continuous improvements. Sharing ideas and collaborating in a dynamic environment helps us enhance our skills and continue to develop our leading position in the market," said Fredrick Sjblom, Head of Knowledge Management at Scania.

"Scania has people working across distributed locations who need access to relevant data and expertise, and tibbr helps bridge the gap between their locations and the information they need," said Ram Menon, President Social Computing, TIBCO Software. "tibbr brings all sources of information at work -- people, content, data and business processes -- under one intuitive interface that's accessible from any device, allowing the right person to access the right information at the right time."

About tibbrWith more than one million users in more than 25 countries, tibbr is the universal social enterprise platform that is revolutionizing the way we work, collaborate, learn and share. tibbr connects people, applications and data in context in an entirely personal way. tibbr brings together what matters -- to individuals or groups -- to get work done better, faster. It's an open, intensely flexible platform that can be delivered on premise or in the cloud. Learn more at http://www.tibbr.com.

About TIBCOTIBCO Software Inc. (TIBX) is a provider of infrastructure software for companies to use on-premise or as part of cloud computing environments. Whether it's efficient claims or trade processing, cross-selling products based on real-time customer behavior, or averting a crisis before it happens, TIBCO provides companies the two-second advantage -- the ability to capture the right information, at the right time, and act on it preemptively for a competitive advantage. More than 4,000 customers worldwide rely on TIBCO to manage information, decisions, processes, and applications in real time. Learn more at http://www.tibco.com.

TIBCO, The Power of Now, two-second advantage, tibbr, tibCast, and TIBCO Software are trademarks or registered trademarks of TIBCO Software Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other product and company names and marks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification purposes only.

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Scania Selects tibbr as Its Enterprise Social Network