I've seen at least two stories today that remind us why social media can be a legitimate venue for good information. If you haven't been able to grasp the concept yet, perhaps this will help. read more

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The phrase "private pre-alpha" hasn't ever before been used to describe something on WebProNews, and it conjures up overkill images of two guys whispering to each other behind six-foot walls.  But that's how a new service backed by Pierre Omidyar and Randy Ching was until recently classified, and the small amount of information that's since leaked looks rather interesting.read more

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Twitter has announced that it hired Kevin Thau as Director of Mobile Business Development last month, and that even though "mobile" is part of his title, he'll be working on a variety of different fronts as Twitter's "first official business development guru."read more

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It would be hard to be more embarrassed than the guy caught with his pants down at the ski lift—whose photos are at SmokingGun—but if there’s a contender, it’s “Crystal” at Twitter, whose admin support account was hacked by a standard “dictionary” attack. read more

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Twitter co-founder Biz Stone recently talked about some phishing issues going on with Twitter on its official blog. "If you receive a direct message or a direct message email notification that redirects to what looks like Twitter.com—don't sign in," warned Stone. "Look closely at the URL because it could be a scam." Doug reported: read more

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Twitter users, take heed: now might be an excellent time to check your Twitter posts for embarrassing messages, and no, we're not talking whatever might have resulted from your New Year's Eve celebrations.  Instead, such messages seem to be the result of a new and almost astonishingly effective phishing scam.read more

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A week or so ago, some people noticed some updates to Google Toolbar PageRank scores. It was unconfirmed however if this was an official update. Matt Cutts eventually confirmed on Twitter that it was indeed a Google update.read more

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You may have heard that there was a possible Facebook Book in the works. "My next book is about the kids who founded Facebook," says author Ben Mezrich. Well, it turns out that there is a book already available about Twitter. It's less of a bio on the founders however, and more of a how-it-can-help-you book for businesses.read more

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Israel is well known for both developing and buying some of the most advanced military tech in existence.  Now, arms of the nation's government have begun using two of the tech community's favorite social media sites in order to explain and defend its recent actions.read more

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The countdown is on. Only a handful of sleeps until 2009 and of course the predictions are flowing thick and fast. The experts are gazing into their crystal balls and sharing their visions for 2009 in terms of search, social, online, mobile and marketing in general.I've pulled together a list of the best predictions I've uncovered so far and detailed them below. (if I've missed any - share them via our comments, and I'll add them in).read more

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Twellow, our tool that has made finding fellow Twitterers with common interests easier for a number of users has just made searching for these people even more convenient. You can add special characters to your queries to enhance your search. If you are unfamiliar with Twellow, think about it as a yellow-pages service for finding people on Twitter.  You can search for things or browse the directory to find people who tweet about the topics you are interested in. read more

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I’m in an awards mood today, and it’s almost time to reflect on 2008 as we head barreling into 2009. The New York Times blogged about a company’s quest (great PR move by Sawhorse Media)  to find the best tweeters of the year. The awards are called the Shorty Awards, and it’s a hot topic on Twitter. Over 12,000 entries have come in already.read more

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Yes, the headline isn't really breaking news to many of us. However, I received an interesting report this week that ties numbers to the tumultuous newspaper industry and its struggle to remain relevant, today and tomorrow. I wanted to share the numbers with you...read more

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Last week we launched TwellowHood, part of our popular Twellow service, and a way to find people who are on Twitter by the cities they live in. This lets you find out who close to you is using Twitter, and can lead to you making some connections with locals that you may not have otherwise.read more

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While Twitter lacks a business model it does not mean other businesses can't take advantage of the microblogging service by using it to spread their message.read more

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It's almost the end of the year, and that means it's time for lists.  Naughty and nice, most and least popular . . . you know the routine.  Now, one new list shows how well Twitter has (or hasn't) caught on in different parts of the world, and names some of its top users, too.read more

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AOL's Platform-A said Monday that the new AOL.com homepage is bringing advertisers record performance on their homepage advertising and is also driving increased user reach and engagement.Since AOL redesigned its homepage in September, advertising click-through rates on the primary 300 x 250 ad banner increased 30 percent, according to internal tracking.read more

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Google has announced that its new Friend Connect platform has now been integrated with Twitter. Now you can Tweet from any Friend Connect-supported site. "This means that when you join a friend connected site, you can choose to use your Twitter profile, discover people you follow on Twitter who are also members of the site, and quickly tweet that you have found a cool website," explains Google Friend Connect Product Manager Mussie Shore. read more

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Wouldn't it be nice to find people in your own neighborhood who are on Twitter? One thing Twitter lacks is a good way to communicate with the locals. Twitterers are often wanting to get together in the physical world for business networking, or even just to hang out. Wouldn't this be a lot easier if you had some Twitter friends that were already close by? read more

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While it certainly is not an exodus there have been some high profile Google executives leaving the Mountain View nest for other opportunities.read more

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In the "SEM Small Business Blitz" session the speakers focused on how to use social media in an affordable and practical way. (Coverage of SES Chicago continues at WebProNews Videos.  Keep an eye on WebProNews for more notes and videos from the event this week.)Jennifer Evans Laycock, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Guide, offered advice on social media marketing.read more

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I got my first invitation today to join a "network" on Microsoft's new "Windows Live" social network. Here are some of my rough initial thoughts.read more

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Those who find success using social media are the ones that truly believe in the medium. They're out there using it consistently, and they're constantly making new contacts. They know how to play the game. It's not just a marketing trend to them. It's a way of life. A successful life. read more

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When will we get tired of pointing out what a great tool Twitter is for breaking news? This is essentially the question asked in this CNET article. read more

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Making money wasn't always the greatest concern for the founders of Twitter. It's success in terms of business interest practically came by accident, mirroring the thoughts of this post from Shomemoney. read more

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There was an incredible amount of Internet buzz about the plane "crash" in the Hudson river yesterday, which as far as I can tell, was really more of an emergency landing. I talked a bit yesterday about how social media contributed to the reporting of the incident. The story seemed to be all over Twitter before any major news outlets had picked it up. There were Twitterers on the scene. read more

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Hitwise has shared some data showing that Twitter has surpassed Digg in terms of market share of visits for the first time since its launch. They're not exactly the same kind of service, but it is still an interesting comparison between two popular social sites. read more

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If you’re a Twitter user, you like the idea of extending your virtual community into the real world, and you’d be keen to help a worthy cause, Twestival is right up your street.read more

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Check out the latest blog post over at the Hitwise blog which details Twitter catching up to Digg in terms of total visits.read more

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Traffic to the ever-popular Twitter has increased by 974% from the week ending January 19th 2008 to the week ending January 17th 2009. That's a pretty dramatic increase. This data comes from Hitwise, who reported the other day that Twitter traffic had surpassed that of Digg, a concept that some found hard to believe. Twitter's growth in general, is not so surprising, considering the non-stop talking about the service in recent memory.read more

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