Social media sites like Facebook have been criticized as catering to users’ own deluded senses of self-importance, but a current lawsuit against Facebook might prove social media users are important. Within circles of friends, in fact, users might be considered celebrities–which has big legal implications. Read More »
Tech
Prince Alwaleed’s $300-million investment in Twitter has raised fears of undue influence if the “Arab Spring” uprisings spread to Saudi Arabia. While this seems unlikely, that users are concerned at all highlights the pressure Twitter is under as it becomes a major media entity. Read More »
The largest companies in the world are in process of figuring out how they can incorporate public social conversations into their daily business operations. Chris Moody from social media data company Gnip explains why social media for your company is not a one-size-fits-all. Read More »
In the wake of an Oregon court ruling that decided a blogger wasn’t a journalist, some have argued it’s more important to define what journalism is — but in many ways, that’s even harder to define than who qualifies to be a journalist. Read More »
Bottlenose, a new web-based service that launched Tuesday and was co-founded by serial entrepreneur Nova Spivack, joins a growing number of apps and services aimed at filtering the noise out of our social-media streams. But does Bottlenose have what it takes to do the job? Read More »
Can BuzzFeed turn itself from a silly meme-generator into a serious media outlet by hiring journalists like Politico writer Ben Smith? If the meteoric rise of the Huffington Post has shown us anything, it’s that new media entities can spring from the most unlikely of sources. Read More »
Swedish banks are fighting off rumors of financial difficulties amid reports that online rumors led to a $29m bank run in Latvia over the weekend. But was it really a Twitter-induced panic? Read More »
While Google’s new Currents app for mobile news-reading is seen by some as a competitor to Flipboard and Zite, there are some crucial differences between them that make me wonder whether Google really understands how media is changing and how they can take advantage of that. Read More »
With its dramatic new redesign, Twitter is now trumpeting itself as a better option than Facebook or Google+ when it comes to showing the world who you are via an online profile. “This is the best place to represent yourself on the Internet,” Jack Dorsey said. Read More »
IBM plans to acquire retail data analytics company DemandTec in an all-cash deal valued at $440 million, continuing Big Blue’s buys in big data businesses. DemandTec has two especially compelling elements for IBM: It adds to its big data expertise, and it’s vertically focused. Read More »
Another election year is nearly upon us, and if the past is any lesson, new uses of technology will impact the outcome in many new and unpredictable ways. Read More »
Mike Abbott, who most recently was VP of engineering at Twitter, has joined Silicon Valley venture capital stalwart Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers as a senior partner. Abbott is just the third person to be added as a KPCB senior partner in the past three years. Read More »
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