social media

'Eastwooding' meme sweeps across Twitter

First there was "Tebowing," and now there is "Eastwooding."

Twitter users today are flocking to the social network to share pictures of empty chairs in the spirit of "Eastwooding." The name comes from famed actor and director Clint Eastwood, who last night at the Republican National Convention held an interview with an empty chair. In that chair, Eastwood claimed, was President Barack Obama.

A quick search across Twitter reveals dozens of updates every few seconds of people posting their "Eastwooding" pictures. In some cases, an empty chair is shown with folks pointing … Read more

Does a Reddit live chat give Obama more tech cred?

Ever the tech-conscious politician, President Barack Obama today held a live Q&A session on, arguably, the geekist message board around -- Reddit.

The session may up the president's tech cred, which has already been bolstered in the past by his social media prowess and use of technology in campaigns.

Many have said that his use of social media in the 2008 election helped him get elected and just last week, Obama's campaign became the first to accept contributions via text messages.

Reddit General Manager Erik Martin said he didn't know what this would do for … Read more

Flipboard celebrates year two with 20 million users

News-reading app Flipboard has 20 million reasons to celebrate today.

The app, which lets users integrate social media accounts into its feed and presents updates as news stories or blog posts, marks its 2nd birthday with 20 million users, 1.5 million of whom access the app daily.

The company has picked up steam over the years and now boasts a new Flipboard user every second, with users spending an average of 86 minutes per month on the app, according to its blog post.

With 3 billion items shared each month, Flipboard breaks down what its most popular sections and … Read more

Crowdwire looks at politics via lens of social media, branding

The screen grab above is from The Crowdwire, a new, noncommercial project that among other things looks at the success of the political campaigns in regard to branding and social media.

As you can see, in this snapshot for the period July 16 to August 15 the brand of President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, figure in the top three most-discussed brands on social media (I was surprised to see that the Batman movie came in only at fourth place considering the fact that the Colorado shootings took place July 20).

The Crowdwire (@TheCrowdwire on Twitter), a … Read more

Twitter, NBC defend Olympics coverage after viewer outrage

Twitter and NBC just don't see why so many are complaining about their Olympics partnership.

Speaking to The New York Times in an interview published yesterday, Twitter and NBC representatives said that just 0.5 percent of all tweets about the Olympics criticized the companies' partnership. All others, they say, took no issue with their deal.

Still, it's hard to diminish the sheer number of complaints that rained down on the companies as the Olympics went on. From the very beginning, tweeters were upset with NBC's decision to hold off coverage of key events to prime time. … Read more

Facebook and CNN launch the 'I'm Voting' app

As election season heats up, politics are increasingly taking center stage in Facebook discussions -- and now that's going to step up even another notch. The social network and CNN launched their "I'm Voting" app today.

Announced last month, the app lets users commit to voting while endorsing specific candidates and issues. The commitments are displayed on users' timelines, news feeds, and real-time tickers. This way (for better or for worse) users can show all of their friends who they are voting for and how they feel about certain issues -- like immigration, health care, and … Read more

Obama still beats Romney in digital messaging -- study

While Mitt Romney is getting better at harnessing the power of the Internet for campaigning, the current POTUS still dominates the online world.

President Barack Obama's campaign has used more direct digital messaging than Romney's campaign, according to a Pew Research Center report released today.

The report notes Romney's attempts to catch up to Obama's tech savvy, with Romney's most recent stunt involving the announcement of his VP pick via an app. The report also mentions Obama's 2008 sucess with social media campaigning.

The research -- part of the center's studies over the … Read more

Olympic athletes score big on Facebook

Following their amazing performances in the Olympics, many of the world's top athletes now have a lot more Facebook fans.

With the summer games coming to a finale yesterday, their influence on Facebook was examined in a report released today by Wildfire, Google's new social media marketing business.

Gold medal Olympic gymnast Gabrielle Douglas now boasts more than 590,000 Facebook fans, a surge of 3,944 percent since before the games. The page for fellow gymnast Marcel Nguyen holds more than 197,000 fans, an increase of 2,451 percent.

Athletes such as Steve Lewis, Camille Muffat, … Read more

LinkedIn unloads upgraded API to expand sharing power

LinkedIn is updating its developer platform with several new changes revolving around discussing and sharing professional content.

Over the last year, LinkedIn asserts it has been working closely with more than 75,000 developers to build innovative developer tools that leverage the LinkedIn platform across the web. Some of the developer partners getting involved and might have a heavier presence on LinkedIn soon include WordPress, Evernote, and Flipboard, among others.

The primary way more sharing is going to be done is with LinkedIn's upgraded share API, which is essentially designed to be a win-win for developers and users … Read more