Showing posts with label Social Media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Media. Show all posts

2/04/2011

3/01/2010

Internet Status

9/12/2009

YouTube Video Tools Collection

SAVE AND DOWNLOAD YOUTUBE VIDEOS

  • Delutube – Lets you view deleted Youtube videos.
  • Video Downloader – a firefox extension that allows you to download youtube videos to your computer from YouTube and most video sites.
  • YouTubeX – allows you to save and download YouTube videos easily using only your IE or firefox browser.
  • TubeSock – grabs YouTube videos from the web and copies them to your video iPod, Mac, or PlayStation Portable.
  • VideoDL – is a quick AJAX application that allows you to download online video into your computer. It supports top 3 video sites – YouTube, Google Video, and Break.com.
  • Download YouTube via bookmarklets – A collection of Greasemonkey scripts and bookmarklets to do the job.
  • Youtube-dl – is a small command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com. It requires the Python interpreter, version 2.4 or later.
  • KeepVid – Download videos direct from most video sites like YouTube.
  • YouTube Downloader – enter url and download YouTube videos.
  • Youtube Grabber – is a free tool that downloads FLV files from youtube.
  • GooTube FLV Retriever – enter the video page URL, download the youtube video.
  • Capture Youtube and Google videos - save them as AVI files encoded in the MPEG4 format, using only one command.
  • YouRipper – a freeware software which enables you to download videos from the YouTube and Google Video
  • Save YouTube Videos – paste the youtube video url and download the video.

TOP YOUTUBE THIRD PARTY TOOLS

  • Splicd – lets you isolate an interesting clip from a YouTube video and provides you with a link to share it with your family, friends, and colleagues.
  • YouTube Userscripts – a collection of scripts to perform several tasks with YouTube.
  • Youtube Video Slideshow – insert a username or a video tag below and it starts a slideshow.
  • fTube – a YouTube player that downloads the list of 25 most recent videos featured on the YouTube front page. The user can select a video from the list and hit the play button to play it in-Flash.
  • TubeCH – YouTube flash player.
  • iTube – grab Youtube videos, then convert and import them into iTunes. Requires .Net framework and works exclusively on Windows.
  • TvTube – For Mac users. Allows you to browse YouTube, Google Video and Yahoo Videos, for movie clips that people upload, choose your favorite clips and add them to your shared library.
  • YouTube API Extraction Tool – PHP script that taps into the YouTube API to deliver videos by tag, by username or what’s a current favorite.
  • YouTube Widget – brings all of YouTubes videos to your Mac Dashboard.
  • Search The Tube – A quick way to find videos for your website, blog or profile.
  • YoutubeCrazyVideos – A Youtube videos desktop player. Freeware.
  • IndexTube – categorized and browsable index of the publicly available Youtube videos.
  • YouTube Podcaster – makes Podcast feed from your submitted keyword or url. The feed is made up from embedded youtube video IDs and all videos are converted to the MP4 file format.
  • MemoriesOnWeb – freeware photo slideshow software for YouTube.
  • Overstream – lets you add subtitles to online videos.

INTEGRATE YOUTUBE IN YOUR SITE OR BLOG

  • YouTube badge maker – will show your viewers images of your 6 most recently uploaded videos.
  • YouTube Wordpress Plugin – Display YouTube videos on your Wordpress blog according to Tags.
  • YouTube Video Gallery Wordpress Plugin – displays a gallery of videos from youtube.com.
  • WordPress Related Videos Plugin – Uses tags to look for related videos on YouTube, displays the three most recent related videos on your WordPress blog post and updates videos automatically.
  • Wordpress Favourite YouTube Videos – Wordpress plugin / widget to display, in a very configurable manner, your latest favorite videos from Youtube.
  • Viper�s Video Quicktags – WP plugin that easily generates codes for copy / pasting to embed videos from sites like YouTube and Google Video or for self-hosted videos into your posts.
  • WP-FLV – Wordpress plugin simplfies the process of inserting flash video files (FLV) inside a Wordpress post or page.
  • TubePress – a highly configurable WordPress plugin that displays YouTube videos in an embedded gallery in posts and/or pages.

TOP / BEST YOUTUBE VIDEOS SERVICES

  • PureVideo – collects top 10 videos from around the web
  • The World Internet TV charts – tracks the most popular video clips from four leading Internet TV sites.
  • Top YouTube Videos – a daily updated selection of the most popular videos from YouTube.
  • Vidspedia – is a collection of the best Google and YouTube videos, submitted and rated by users.
  • Youtube top-rated – a coverpop with the 1,001 top rated videos from YouTube updated every week.
  • Best of YouTube – a blog selecting the best Youtube videos.
  • Viral Video Chart – tracks the world’s most blogged about videos including GooTube and MySpace.

9/11/2009

Distracoes Digitais ...

The Cloud

In this diagram, each level in this hierarchy trumps the next.

So, if you get a new msg on Facebook, but your landline rings, you’ll take the landline call. You might have a spasmodic moment of ‘uh? wadd I do’. But, usually, you’ll take the call.

Similarly, if you get a new SMS whilst opening a new online dating message, you’ll be hard pressed not to read that SMS. It’ll take a great force of will. You may attempt to do both simultaneously. But if you really observe yourself closely, one will take priority – even if it’s only by milliseconds. The SMS will win your attention.

And so on up the chart…

(I understand this post reveals much about my pitiful life. There’s no need to say that in the comments, thanks.)

But if I’ve missed any distractions, feel free to suggest them. I realise AIM and MS Messenger introduce a whole universe of distraction. I don’t go there. I have enough distractions.

8/29/2009

8/28/2009

Woofer, the Anti-Twitter, Launched

Woofer, the Anti-Twitter, Launched
Published on August 27, 2009

This dog can't hunt, but it sure can woof: Woofer, which calls itself an "homage to Twitter," is a new "macroblogging" site that requires each post be a minimum of 1,400 characters, reports Jon Brodkin on Network World, in contrast to Twitter's maximum of 140 characters.

Like Twitter, Woofer counts down the number of characters entered with a big number on the top right of the screen. Until you count down from 1,400 to 0, you can't post.

woofer post

Apparently to avoid any legal problems, the Woofer site states: "We are not affiliated in any way whatsoever with Twitter." Yet Woofer's user interface is nearly identical to Twitter's, and for a time Woofer "borrowed" profile pictures from Twitter users, inadvertently allowing any Woofer to impersonate any Tweeter.

Tempted to reach the character minimum by typing in a single letter 1,400 times? When Brodkin tried it, Woofer barked in protest: "No Woof. Really?! 1400 characters and you can only use d? You can do better than that..." As of this writing, a Woofer named "adjoins" had better luck with typing in "la" repeatedly.

Copy-and-paste seems the preferred method to reach 1,400 characters. Scribes of some of the most popular Woofs reached the minimum by inputting the openings of the Catcher in the Rye, the Gettysburg Address, and Moby Dick.

Woofer is run by Join the Company, which says it specializes in launching "entertaining websites that change the way people use the Internet." Will Woofer succeed in this lofty mission? Only the blue dog knows.

Power of the 140 Characters

Power of the 140 Characters

You can post up to 140 characters in your Tweets – that’s the beauty of this service for sure. This is the absolute limit and you won’t ever post more than 140 characters per tweet. For me, It’s actually enough to do some basic communication between you and your followers and it’s good for a several reasons:

  • Fast – You’ll be able to post quickly what do you think right now.
  • Message Delivery – Your followers will probably read your tweet because it’s short.
  • Say all you Need to Say – I think that you can say whatever you need to say within 140 characters.
  • SMS – Because of this limitation you’ll be able to post tweets and get updates directly to your phone via SMS.

Why to Join Twitter

Below, I’ll show you the reasons why you should create a Twitter account and use it.

Fast and Easy

As I’ve sad above, Twitter is a very fast and powerful social-networking service. Because of the limits to 140 characters per Tweet, make Twitter an ultimate tool for promotion and communication between thousands of users. I’ve to note that Twitter doesn’t have a followers limit – you can have millions of them! Compared to the Facebook which have a limit to 5.000 friends you can add on your account.

Everything going up on Twitter is in the real-time. You can know the latest news and announcements through the world within a seconds, and actually be a part of it.

Great Marketing Tool

Twitter is a great tool for a bloggers and webmasters. Allowing you to connect your blog with your Twitter account and post updates directly to it. This may give you an instant readers and better crawl on the search engines. Of course, this automatically affect your blog traffic and quality of it.

Also, you can post and advertise your products, sites and services through your own Twitter profile. Giving you opportunity to make Twitter as a great marketing tool completely for free.

Get Connected

Twitter makes it easy to put yourself and your own business in front of the people you want to get in touch with. Every time you post a tweet, it will be displayed on the public timeline. Allowing your followers (your potential customers) to stay in touch with you directly.

This makes a good opportunity to hear some feedbacks regarding to your site, service or a product. Creating good and quality connections make your offers more quality and productive for them. Twitter is a great tool which has a huge potential for you and your own business for sure.

Stay in Touch

Twitter is not just about announcing people to know what exactly you’re up to. It’s also a good tool to communicate and stay in touch with similar-minded people to share experiences together. Staying in touch with other people couldn’t be easier than this – it’s simple, fact and very productive. All you need to do when you find someone you like is to follow him/her and watch their updates and communicate between.

This service open the new opportunities for you and for your business. Allowing you also to stay in touch with your loyal readers (followers) and your own potential partners. Also, it’s a good way to find new friends.

Raising your Profile

If you search for the quick and easy way to get your name out there and spread the world about what are you doing, Twitter is a great opportunity to make that happened. You should care about what’re you going to do with Twitter, is it going to be a tool for promotion or the personal tool – it’s your choice of course. The best way is to create a combination of these two concepts.

Getting more and more followers, you actually raise your own profile and popularity over the internet. Allowing you to make some new connections and followers as time goes. Twitter is a great and the fastest way to do that completely for free and with little work.

Real-Time News

As you might know, everything happened on the Twitter is in the real-time. Twitter is a good way to know something new and fresh in the real time. Good and bad news spread fast over the internet, but on the Twitter it’s a whole new dimension! Allowing you and others to directly participate in the discussions and share your opinions.

Twitters like to share a news with others in the real-time and that’s one more beauty of this service.

Final Thoughts

Twitter allows you to do many things. No matter you use it for a promotion, fun or satisfaction, you’ll always have an opportunity to make something more with it. It’s a huge community created with the real people all around the world. It’s completely free service with no annoying advertisements, maybe that’s why it’s so popular.

Anyway, if you don’t have a Twitter account, I recommend you to create one completely for free.

Why to use Social Media?

Why to use Social Media?

Below, I’ll display the main reasons why should you use a social media marketing:

  • Because 2/3 of the global internet population visit social media and networking websites.
  • Because time spent on social networks is growing more than 3 times to the overall internet growth.
  • Because visiting social sites is now the fourth most popular activity on the internet, just ahead checking an e-mails.
  • Because social networks are based on the word of mouth principle.

These are the main reasons why you should use the social media marketing through social networking websites and services through the internet. I’m sure that social networks are one of the most popular places where visitors like to come again and get addicted to. The best examples are Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

Power of the Social Networks

The social networks are powerful and very useful services (networks) to promote your website or blog contents. You can easily get load of traffic if your site content become popular on these networks.

I’ve seen proves over the internet that webmasters and bloggers can get thousands visitors in just few hours from these social networks.

I’ve to note that all generated visitors are coming by the free-way. You don’t have to pay or even do anything to keep them coming. And that’s the main beauty of this marketing technique.

Social Media marketing today is a very popular and there’s a reason for that. Anyone can be featured on any social-media and networking website anytime and get many quality visitors completely for free.

And that’s why I like social media marketing and anything about it.

8/26/2009

Where is Everyone?

These days, everyone is trying to figure out how to connect with other people. It used to be simple, you just placed some ads in whatever newspaper that was most suited to your product, but now that world is becoming ever more irrelevant. So how do you connect with other people today? And more importantly, how do you do it tomorrow?

In this article, we are going to take a little tour through the history of information, or more specifically, where to focus your efforts if you want get in touch with other people. It is a really exciting time, because we are currently in the middle of the most drastic change since the invention of the newspaper.

We are seeing an entirely new way for people to interact. One that makes all traditional ways seem silly. It is a fundamental shift, and it will completely change the world as we know it. And the best thing about it is that you get to help make it happen.

So join me on this (unscientific) tour of the last 210 years of information + 10 more years into the future.

But before we start to explore the future, let's explore how we got here. Let's go back to 1800 - back when information was nothing like what we have today...

Note: The graph predicts influence over time.

1800 - The face to face period

In the 1800, the only way you could really interact with other people was to go out and meet them. It was all about face-to-face communication. If you wanted to sell a product, you would go to the local marketplace, where you would setup a stand. But this also meant that the only way for you to get information - or to give information back - was to be at the right place at the right time. You didn't really know what happened in another part of the city, nor could you sell your products to people in another place.

Some people did talk about this new thing called the newspaper. But it wasn't really the same. You had to meet people in person. That was the only good way to interact.

1900 - Read all about it!

By the year 1900, the newspapers and magazine had revolutionized how we communicated. Now we could get news from places we have never been. We could communicate our ideas to people we had never seen. And we could sell our products to people far away.

You still had to go out to talk other people, but you could stay on top of things, without leaving the city. It was amazing. It was the first real revolution of information. The world was opening up to everyone.

1960 - We will be right back after these messages

During the next 60 years the newspapers dominated our lives. If you wanted to get the latest news, or tell people about your product, you would turn to the newspapers. It seemed like newspapers would surely be the dominant source of information for all time to come.

Except that during the 1920s a new information source started to attract people's attention - the Radio. Suddenly you could listen to another person's voice 100 of miles away. But most importantly, you could get the latest information LIVE. It was another tremendous evolution is the history of information. By 1960's the two dominant sources of information was LIVE news from the Radio and the more detailed news via newspapers and magazines.

It was really great times, although some meant that "The way for newspapers to meet the competition of radio is simply to get out better papers", an argument that we would hear repeatedly for the next 50 years.

1990 - Tune in Tomorrow

During the next 40 years a new technical revolution, the television, was introduced. It started to real get public interest in the 1950s, and by the year 1990 it was huge. It had surpassed the newspapers and magazines, and it was slowly obliterating the radio. Now people could not only hear information, they could also see it.

The 1970s-1990s was also the time where the newspaper executives were realizing that something was going terrible wrong with their market. They have had many problems with competing with radio, but the TV was in a different league.

1998 - The dawn of the Internet

Only 8 years later, television is ruling the world, radio is almost reduced to ‘a place where you listen to free music' and newspapers are doing everything they can to stay relevant. But the constant evolution of technology plows ahead with never before seen determination. A new phenomenon is looming in the shadows - the Internet.

1998 was the year when the internet changed from being a geeky place that had little relevance, to ‘every company needs to have a website'. The revolution had started 3 years earlier, but in 1998 it reached critical mass and caught everyone's attention.

It still wasn't used much, and most people didn't have access to it, but everyone agreed that it was the future. It was the dawn of a new era. It was a place where everyone could get information from everywhere - at least in theory.

People also started to realize that the internet was more than just information. You could give something back. You could join the conversation. You could be a part of the experience instead of just a spectator. And most importantly, you could choose what you wanted to do, when you wanted to do it - a concept that hadn't been possible since the 1800. The possibilities of the internet were just mindboggling.

2004 - I decide what to do!

In 2004, only 6 years later, the internet had revolutionized how we approach information. Televisions and newspapers still dominated our news sources, but the new world was definitely online.

In 2004 everyone was making new websites. People were exploring the world of web applications, and online workflows.

People could do an incredible amount of things, and participate in so many areas, that a new concept appeared - information overload.

For the first time in our lives we were being exposed to more information than we could consume. In the age of newspapers we had to choose what we wanted to see. But in 2004 we had to choose what we didn't want to see.

This had a devastating effect on the traditional forms of information. In the past, you could get people's attention simply by making something. People wanted more choices, so you simply had to give them another choice. But in 2004 this changed. People started to have enough, and now you actually had to make something better. It was not enough that it was different.

2004 was also year when a new phenomenon started to take off - Social Networking. The concept had been slowly gaining ground with the concept of blogs. It was an easy, simple and affordable way for everyone to share their ideas. And you could post a comment. For the first time, everyone could create their own sphere of information without doing ‘technical things'.

Information changed from being tools for the professionals, to a tool for everyone to use.

2007 - Me too

3 years later the social element if the internet showed just how powerful the voice of the people really is. The TV was from the first time no longer the primary source of information, and newspapers are struggling to survive.

Everyone wanted to create their own little world, and connect it with their friends. But 2007 was also the turning point for the traditional websites. It was once the most important change, but now people compared the traditional websites to newspapers - a static and passive form of information. We wanted active information. We wanted to be a part of it, not just looking at it.

The blogs also started to get in trouble. Just as TV had eliminated radio (because it was better and richer way to give people LIVE information) so are social networks eliminating blogs. A social profile is a more active way for people to share what they care about. Social networks are simply the best tool for the job, and the blogs could not keep up.

2009 - Everything is Social

2 years later, today, the new internet is completely dominating our world. The newspapers are dead in the water, and people are watching less TV than ever. The new king of information is everyone, using social networking tools to connect and communicate.

Even the traditional website is dying from the relentless force of the constant stream of rich information from the social networks.

In the past 210 years we have seen an amazing evolution of information. We could:

  1. Get information from distant places
  2. Get it LIVE
  3. See it LIVE
  4. Get to decide when to see something, and what to see
  5. Allow us to take part, and comment.
  6. Publish our own information
  7. ...and in 2009... be the information.

But 2009 is also going to be the start of the next revolution. Because everything we know is about to change.

The Future

The first and most dramatic change is the concept of Social News. Social news is quickly taking over our need for staying up-to-date with what goes on in the world. News is no longer being reported by journalists, now it comes from everyone. And it is being reported directly from the source to you - bypassing the traditional media channels.

But social news is much more than that. It is increasingly about getting news directly from the people who makes it. Instead of having a journalist reporting what some analyst are saying, you hear it from the analyst herself. Social news is about getting news from the source, directly, and unfiltered.

A new wave of entertainment is emerging (the light blue and purple areas), one dominated by the games, video and audio streams. Instead of tuning into a TV channel, you decide what to see and when to see it. We are no longer subscribing to a channel, where someone else decides what you can see. You decide and control everything about the experience.

And a new concept in the form of targeted information is slowly emerging. We are already seeing an increasing number of services on mobile phones, where you can get information for the area that you are in. E.g. instead of showing all the restaurants in the world, you will only get a list of the restaurants in your area.

This is something that is going to explode into in the years to come. In the world where we have access to more information that we can consume, getting only the relevant parts is going to be a very important element. And, this will expand far beyond the simple geo-targeting that we see today.

2020 - Traditional is dead

In the next 5-10 years, the world of information will change quite a bit. All the traditional forms of information are essentially dead. The traditional printed newspapers no longer exists, television in the form of preset channels is replaced by single shows that you can watch whenever you like. Radio shows is replaced podcasts and vodcasts.

The websites have a much lesser role, as their primary function will be to serve as a hub for all the activities that you do elsewhere. It is the place where people get the raw material for use in other places. And the websites and social networks will merge into one. Your website and blog is your social profile.

Social news, as described previously, is going to be the most important way that people communicate. The traditional journalistic reporting is by now completely replaced getting information directly from the source. Everyone is a potential reporter, but new advances in targeting will eliminate most of the noise. The journalists will turn into editors who, instead of reporting the news, bring it together to give us a bigger picture.

The news stream of the future will be personalized to each individual person, and is constantly adjusting what you see - much the same way as Last.fm is doing today with music.

Everything will incorporate some form of targeting. You will be in control over every single bit of information that flows your way.

In 2010, two new concepts will start to emerge. One of them is intelligent information, where information streams can combine bits from many different news sources. Not just by pulling data, but summarizing it, breaking it apart and extracting the valuable parts.

Instead of reading 5 different articles on the same topic, you will be presented with one, highlighting the vital point of interest.

The world information is also going to be available almost everywhere. The concept of having to get the paper, sit in front of your TV, or look at your computer, will be long gone. Information will not be something you have to get. It comes to you, wherever you are, in whatever situation you happen to be in.

In the same way, information will not be something you ‘consume' a certain times - like you did with prime-time on TVs. The information stream will be a natural part of every second of your life. It is not something you get, it is something you have.

The static and controlled forms of information that we see today will soon be a thing of the past.

Get ready!

Ask yourself. Are you still trying to get journalists to write about your products? Are you still making websites? Is your social networking strategy to ‘get a Facebook Page'?

...or...

Are you making yourself a natural part of people's stream of information?