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| GoPollGo Puts Polls in Your Twitter Feed | | Friday, June 15, 2012 5:26 PM | Kate Freeman |
|  Startup GoPollGo has become the first polling company to integrate with Twitter's newly launched expanded tweets feature. Now entire polls can be viewed in the details of Tweets. "Before, you tweeted out a question and didn't have space for all possible options," Ben Schaechter, founder of GoPollGo, tells Mashable. Now, "GoPollGo will give users a preview of all the options."
Seeing those options have increased clicks to companies' polls hosted on GoPollGo. "The people who are running the polls typically see three-to-four more times engagement," Schaechter said. The startup's clients include ESPN, AppleInsider, The Weather Channel and Hotels.com. Schaechter highlights the site's analytics as a one-of-a-kind feature for Twitter polls. GoPollGo can segment the users who took the poll by a myriad of descriptors: age, gender, region, OS, browser and how influential other people on Twitter were in pointing that person to take the poll. "When you ask a question, you get unstructured responses back. With GoPollGo you can see what your followers responded plus analytics," he said. "You're not only getting the answer to your question, but you're also getting a lot of data behind the voters who are voicing their opinion." This Twitter functionality is not available to all just yet. The expanded tweet option has rolled out to about 10% of Twitter users so far; the rollout will continue in the coming weeks. SEE ALSO: Twitter's Expanded Tweets Now Show More Interactive Content Offensive polls will likely be taken down, Schaechter says, but "we're pretty lenient." The company doesn't want to create "overarching rules," he said. So for more adult-themed polls, the team at GoPollGo will likely request the user mark the poll "private." A chat area on the right side of the screen lets users expand on the reason behind their vote for a particular idea or brand.
For many, the go-to site for Twitter polling is TwtPoll. Schaechter says GoPollGo offers more features than the competition, such as detailed real-time analytics. Plus, it's free. Unlike their competitors, Schaechter says GoPollGo will not charge by the number of people allowed to participate in the poll. However, companies that want a GoPollGo branded page will have to shell out some cash. Schaechter says they'll work with companies on finding a competitive price -- the startup doesn't want to charge a mom-and-pop store the same as a giant corporation. Users login with Twitter or Facebook and post the poll to either feed (GoPollGo has full Facebook Open Graph integration). If you Like someone's poll, you'll receive updates on the status of that poll and the responses. The poll creator can see all the action on the poll -- who answered, how they responded -- and will be updated each time they login. "It's a fun experience that's going to get you more votes and more views for your poll," he said. "It's fun and engaging no matter how big your following is." GoPollGo.com is an Idealab-backed startup launched January 2011. The team operates out of San Francisco and Palo Alto, Calif. Schaechter and a staff of three full time developers run the site. Would you use GoPollGo? Tell us in the comments. |
| Why Expanded Tweets Will Be Great for Journalists | | Friday, June 15, 2012 5:05 PM | International Journalists' Network |
|  Twitter is like a wire service of yesteryear on steroids, but it's easy to waste time clicking those clever 140-character missives only to find news you don't need to use if you're a journalist. Twitter's recent announcement of expanded tweets may change that. You'll be able to preview the headline, intro and videos and photos without clicking through. If the preview is enough to warrant a re-tweet or favorite, you can do that from the expanded tweet, too. As more journalists scan for news from smartphones and tablets, previewing will be a welcome time and bandwidth saver. Expanded tweets are already available on Twitter.com, and Twitter's mobile site and are expected to be available soon on Twitter's mobile apps for iPhone and Android. What I find less convincing is that expanded tweets are currently only available for select media partners, almost all of them U.S. news organizations. There are some heavy hitters for the initial launch (The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, TIME magazine), but the only international source to make the first cut is Germany's Der Spiegel. The example of the expanded preview Twitter led with -- from the World Wide Wrestling Entertainment Twitter account -- makes me wonder whether it didn't consider the potential impact of the feature on global news, or if the company wanted to avoid concerns about previews that are not safe for work or show real violence. The San Francisco-based microblogging service has been a force in news events around the globe -- from the Japan tsunami to the Arab Spring -- and now operates in 28 languages, including the recent additions of Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi and Urdu. Here's hoping it expands the longer tweets to a more diverse group of news organizations. |
| YouTube Adds Auto Captions in Spanish | | Friday, June 15, 2012 4:45 PM | Samantha Murphy |
|  Want to watch a YouTube video in Spanish, but don't speak the language? The company has rolled out automatic captions in Spanish with the ability to translate the subtitles to about 50 languages, from English and French to Arabic and Afrikaans. Adding to its existing lineup of automatic captions in various languages including English, Korean and Japanese, YouTube announced on Friday that its voice-recognition software now supports a fourth language, Spanish. The auto-captions feature, which was first added in 2006, aims to make the site more accessible for everyone, including the hearing impaired. SEE ALSO: YouTube Improves its Automatic Captions/a> Here's how the auto-captions work: When a clip features a recognizable audio track determined by YouTube's voice-recognition software, the video player will feature a "CC" button at the bottom right-hand side. By clicking the button and hitting "Transcribe Audio," users will now be able to read captions in Spanish. By clicking "CC" again, users can select "Translate Captions" for options in about 50 languages. Try out the feature on the video below: The auto-caption feature is currently available on more than 157 million videos. YouTube noted via a blog post that the site raked in more than one trillion views last year, which is equal to about 140 views for every person on earth. "As the world tunes in to YouTube, we want everyone, in every language, to have the same opportunity to enjoy YouTube," said YouTube, adding that it's launching in new countries "all of the time." BONUS: 10 Incredible Interactive YouTube Videos |
| Indonesian Man Imprisoned for Atheist Facebook Comments | | Friday, June 15, 2012 2:27 PM | The Daily Dot |
|  An Indonesian man was sentenced to 30 months in prison Wednesday for posting atheist and anti-Islamic messages to Facebook. Alexander Aan, 30, was reportedly an active member of an atheist Facebook group where he shared irreverent cartoons of prophet Mohammed -- like one where he has sex with his servant -- and posted atheistic sentiments like “God doesn’t exist.” “What he did has caused anxiety to the community and tarnished Islam,” Aan’s presiding judge said. Indonesia is home to more than 200 million Muslims, more than anywhere else in the world. Aan gained local notoriety about his posts in January, when an angry mob came to his office and beat him. He was arrested two days later and charged with “disseminating information aimed at inciting religious hatred or hostility.” Amnesty International has condemned Aan’s arrest, citing United Nations resolutions that call for universal freedom of religion, including the choice of atheism. Indonesia is the only nation to have fully withdrawn from the UN, however. An online petition that calls for Aan’s release is circulating online. It calls out Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and quotes him in a 2009 speech where he called for Indonesia to “project the virtue of moderate Islam throughout the Muslim world.” Image courtesy of iStockphoto, asbe |
| Facebook Confirms Testing 'Call' Button for Online Video Chats | | Friday, June 15, 2012 1:47 PM | Samantha Murphy |
|  Facebook is reminding users how to make video calls via the social network by testing a "Call" button on member Timeline pages. The button, which was first spotted by TechCrunch, is located next to the "Message" option on Facebook Timeline's layout. The "Chat" button would replace the subtle video-camera icon now used to start an online video chat. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to Mashable that the button is only a test, so it's unknown at this time if it will become a permanent part of Timeline. In the meantime, some members using a desktop version of Facebook will be able to test the feature. Although Facebook partnered with popular online chat service Skype nearly a year ago, the social network hasn't made the option overly visible on the site. Now with the increase in popularity of social chat services such as Google Hangouts and Airtime -- which was launched by former Facebook president Sean Parker -- it looks like Facebook is ready to get the service more on its users' radar. SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg Does Not Look Thrilled with Airtime This isn't the first time Facebook has played with the concept of a "Call" button. It was featured on the previous version of profile pages, but it was hard to find in the settings drop-down menu. Do you think the "Call" button will influence Facebook members to use video chat more? Will Facebook be able to compete against other social video chat services such as Airtime and Google Hangouts? Let us know your opinion in the comments. BONUS: 7 Alternatives to Airtime Video Chat |
| 5 Lessons From Obama's Twitter Town Hall | | Friday, June 15, 2012 1:16 PM | Zach Green |
|  Zach Green is the founder of 140elect LLC, a Twitter political consulting firm that specializes in campaign services and custom Twitter solutions. He blogs regularly at 140elect.com. Follow him @140elect. Twitter town halls have become a popular campaign tool during this presidential election season. That's why campaign strategist David Axelrod followed President Barack Obama's economic speech in Ohio yesterday with a power-packed Q&A, sending 28 tweets and re-tweets through the @BarackObama account in as many minutes. Certainly, an endless stream of presidential and congressional candidates have tried their own variations of this medium, but Axelrod's was the most effective execution to date. Here's why. 1. Created a Controlled Venue Most town halls fail by not taking the reader's viewpoint into account. Where are users supposed to be watching the town hall's tweets? Following hashtags through Twitter search or Tweetdeck is the wrong answer. Other tweets get thrown into the mix and the central conversation is quickly lost. Worse yet, Republicans have made hijacking hashtags with a flood of attacks into a sport. Axelrod did it right by directing readers to @BarackObama's profile page, giving him complete control over the content. There, only tweets they chose to send and retweet were displayed. I'm about to take over the reins of Twitter.com/Barackobama for a live Q&A. Tweet Qs using #Obama2012— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) June 14, 2012 2. Retweeted Questions First Holding a town hall on your own profile page provides control over messaging, but still leaves something out. How is anybody supposed to know what questions you're answering? Tweets are simply too short to restate the question and answer in a single message. Axelrod took the correct approach of retweeting questions first. @BarackObama's Twitter profile displays both retweets and original tweets, reflecting the full conversation with context. #Obama2012: What can we do about the proposed legislation that will double student loan rates in July?— Anne Trudel (@atrudel) June 14, 2012 3. Made Replies Public If you've noticed users putting periods at the beginning of their tweets, it's probably not a typo. In order to clean up timelines, Twitter limits the number of people who see tweets starting with an @mention. If a tweet is sent by @UserOne, and begins with the text "@UserTwo," only users who follow both @UserOne and @UserTwo will see that message. Tweets beginning with the characters ".@" are seen by everyone on Twitter. As a result they get eleven times the average retweet count of tweets with just "@" at the start. You can see how Axelrod responded to Anne Trudel's question about student loans below. .@atrudel: Need to keep public pressure on GOP to stop playing games with lives of young Americans. -Axe— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 14, 2012 4. Answered The Eggs Twitter provides the opportunity for anybody to ask questions. That's one reason it's such a powerful tool for reaching constituents. Politicians who often seem out of reach are humanized through direct interactions with regular citizens. While there are many power users and big names on Twitter, there are countless people who don't use it often and haven't even changed their profile picture from the default image of an egg. Axelrod took a question from Roberta Goldberg that highlights precisely why campaigns should engage these users. @BarackObama has more than 16.5 million followers, while she had only 14. This tweet got 101 retweets, more than any other question of the town hall. #obama2012 how can we make sure votes of average people matter when rich people can drown them out with $100 million donations to SuperPACS— Roberta Goldberg (@robertagoldberg) June 14, 2012 5. Kept It Quick Twitter is exciting because a vast number of people can send messages, producing a fast-flowing stream where you only have to skim the surface. Watching a profile page, on the other hand, can get boring quick. People often get easily distracted and abandon town halls not too far into the event. Where most of these events have progressed at a snail's pace, Axelrod kept the flow moving without pause. It was the first time @BarackObama sent a tweet or retweet every minute, and that kept things interesting. There is a risk of annoying users with such a blast of messages, but that didn't seem to happen here. That may have been due to increased enthusiasm around Obama's major economic address. The most shared answer from the event came at the very end, bringing in 274 retweets with Axelrod's final response. .@saramvalentine: Mitt says we don't need any more teachers. Obama says future depends on recruiting army of teachers. Very big difference.— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 14, 2012 While this was a highly successful Twitter town hall, there were problems. This event only averaged 97 retweets per tweet compared to @BarackObama's average of 389 retweets per tweet over the past week. This suggests a problem with virality. Axelrod failed to make it clear when he was responding to a specific question because he did not hit the reply button. This made it impossible to find out what he was answering unless you were watching @BarackObama's profile page. Many of Axelrod's answers only made sense in this context. You can normally see a tweet from @BarackObama in your timeline, or shared by another user, and understand it without relying on a broader conversation. Axelrod's tweets were only intelligible if you knew a town hall was occurring. That said, his use of Twitter after President Obama's speech today was yet another step in the evolution of Twitter and politics. Image courtesy wavy1, Flickr. |
| Greece's Social Media Users on the Euro: We Want Out | | Friday, June 15, 2012 1:01 PM | Alex Fitzpatrick |
|  Greeks are heading to the polls this weekend to cast their ballots in a vote that could have big consequences for the global economy. Major political parties have framed the election in pro- or anti-bailout and Euro terms, turning the election into a referendum on debt-laden Greece's economic future. Official opinion polls are banned for two weeks leading up to elections in Greece, but unofficial polls indicate a rising support for pro-bailout parties. However, social media-using Greeks say just the opposite. Social media analysis firm Crimson Hexagon looked at almost 33,000 opinions posted by Greeks on Facebook and Twitter about the elections, bailouts and the Euro in general from May 12 to June 5. According to its report, of the 32% of Greeks talking about the three subjects discussing the Euro, 16% of them wanted to abandon the currency. Meanwhile, 13% of discussion around the Euro was neutral, while only 3% of discussion showed support for continuing use of the Euro. Among the 28% of Greeks who used social media to discuss the Eurozone in general, 12% supported a Greek exit of the zone while 7% wanted to remain in the zone. About 40% of Greeks talking economic politics during that time period debated political parties, with 16% of these commenters showing support for pro-bailout parties compared to 14% in favor of anti-bailout parties. The margins are certainly close, and surely not all of Greek voters are using social media to talk about the elections. But if Greek Facebook and Twitter users had their way, it would seem anti-Bailout and anti-Euro parties would have a slight advantage during this weekend's voting. Can social media predict election results? Why or why not? Share your opinion in the comments. Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, megatronservizi |
| Beauty Editorial Depicts Beat-Up Women, Sparks Outrage | | Friday, June 15, 2012 1:01 PM | Joann Pan |
|  An online magazine editorial, portraying female victims of violence, is receiving a huge backlash on the Internet. Online Bulgarian magazine 12's latest beauty editorial called Victim of Beauty shows photos of models with a black eye, slit throat, severe burn and torn flesh. In Bulgarian -- a warning for the online photo spread translates: "Recommended Parental Controls: pictures are not recommended for persons under 16 years. And for the faint hearted." The editorial was shot by photographer Vasil Germanov. Makeup on the six models was by Daniela Avramova. Angry viewers are taking to the website's comment section, Twitter and other outlets to voice their dismay with magazine. One commenter on the website writes, "This is the glorification of violence against women dressed up as 'art.' It is demoralizing to women and offensive to anyone who has ever experienced violence. Use the pictures for a campaign against violence against women. Otherwise you must expect to be condemned for trying to cash in on something that is so reprehensible." Twitter users have also reached out to the magazine. Many feel the publication is glamorizing violence and sensationalizing abuse against women. Here are some Twitter reactions. Shame on @twelvemagazine. Glorifying abuse of women is disgusting. 9nl.com/6f9f/ #ENDTHEVIOLENCE— Ramona Singer (@ramonasinger) June 12, 2012 @jennylmackinnon I think it's more than #revolting right now because @twelvemagazine continues to answer "we are proud of what we did".— Francesca Sironi (@SirFr) June 14, 2012 However, the magazine stands by its photo spread showing models in H&M skirts and clothes by Iabel Capasca. Editors in Chief of the magazine Huben Hubenov and Slav Anastasov told Mashable they don't think the photos promote violence or abusive behavior in any way. "Quite frankly, we do not think that there is a person, who will see the photographs and automatically assume that violence is okay," Hubenov and Anastasov wrote in an email. Though photos show women who are beat up and cut, the magazine editors say they never mention domestic violence or reference to "pain inflicted by men on women." "Yes, if someone is hyper-sensitive to trauma, we agree that this shoot may provoke their inner demons, invoke unpleasant memories, and we apologize to anyone who feels offended by it, this was not our intent," they wrote. The editors believe the global response to the editorial piece is an "overreaction, adding, "We have to clarify, that even though this shoot is talking about violence in general, and pain as part of beauty, it does not talk exclusively about domestic violence, or pain inflicted by men on women. That being said, the overreaction from the other side of Atlantic surprise us, and frankly - scares us." Do you think people are overreacting to this beauty editorial? Share your thoughts with us -- does these photos glamorize violence against women? Warning: This slideshow contains some violent images. Image courtesy of 12 magazine, Vasil Germanov |
| Violate Twitter's Brand Guidelines With This Logo-Alteration Site | | Friday, June 15, 2012 12:46 PM | Brian Anthony Hernandez |
|  When Twitter unveiled a redesign of its trademark "little blue bird" June 6, the company directed you to a list of don'ts that described ways you weren't allowed to modify the bird. Bertrand Fan, however, didn't listen and instead created a website for you to disobey all of those limitations. ViolateTwitterBrandGuidelines.com lets you add chirp bubbles, rotate the bird, make duplicates, turn them different colors, add a ledge for the birds to sit on -- and make the logo look like Batman. SEE ALSO: Website Generates Absurd Twitter Bios | Expanded Tweets Now Show More Content People have been altering the bird logo even before this month's face-lift. Below, you'll find 25 cool renditions of it (not associated with ViolateTwitterBrandGuidelines.com). We also found fun makeovers of the new logo. |
| The Beach Boys Surf the Social Web | | Friday, June 15, 2012 11:59 AM | Todd Olmstead |
|  The Beach Boys turn 50 this year, and to celebrate, they're spending the summer on tour supporting a new album, That's Why God Made the Radio. While the title of the album pays homage to the era of music when the boys got their start (when they topped the charts for songs like "I Get Around" and "Help Me, Rhonda"), you might be surprised to learn that the band has a strong digital push supporting them. That's Why God Made the Radio is the band's first album of all new material since the band released Summer in Paradise two decades ago. Despite their early hits, The Beach Boys have been largely a touring group throughout their careers. Now that they're presenting new music to both an older audience and a new audience, the band has ramped up its presence on Facebook and Twitter and put an increased emphasis on multimedia. On the band's YouTube channel, they release videos focusing on the reunion and the new songs. Most recently, they've curated a YouTube playlist, featuring previews of the songs and including videos of other performers that will be a part of their 50th anniversary tour. These include contemporary acts, such as Beck, Foster the People and Death Cab for Cutie. The Beach Boys have also released a series of album trailers (see above) that look at the album and different aspects of their career. SEE ALSO: YouTube Cover Song Face-Off: Carly Rae Jepsen's 'Call Me Maybe' The response to the videos has been mixed; the video for the album's single of the same name has earned over 300,000 views, while the album preview videos are mostly in the low thousands. But the Facebook page has taken off, with just under 1 million fans. It's not surprising that the most populous social network is an area of success for one of the most popular musical acts of all time. "We want to get the word out to the broadest audience possible," says Jesse Ervin, senior director of digital marketing at EMI Catalog. Ervin manages The Beach Boys' social campaign and has done digital marketing for a diverse portfolio of acts, such as the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, David Bowie and Eazy-E. For the broadest audience possible, Facebook is certainly an appropriate avenue, especially as the band's Twitter presence hasn't yet taken off. Ervin suggests that people don't think to find The Beach Boys on Twitter yet, which may have something to do with it. Plus, the band has been on Facebook since early 2008, as opposed to just four months on Twitter. But also, the Twitter account's infrequent, impersonal nature is less conducive to the medium. On Facebook, they can do more. The band has filled out its Timeline with a rich mix of photos, links and videos. And the band recently launched an app that allows you to color your own version of the cover of That's why God Made the Radio, while listening to a five-song album preview within Facebook. The album itself sounds like classic Beach Boys, and they probably could market it on that aspect alone. After all, The Beach Boys just played Bonnaroo alongside contemporary heavyweights like Radiohead and Red Hot Chili Peppers, and that wasn't on the strength of its YouTube videos. But to grow the brand, they can't just expect to ride success from the last 50 years, and Ervin understands that. "We need to make sure that we satisfy those loyal fans that have been with the band for 50 years and introduce it to a new generation," he says. "Seeing a five-year-old sing 'Surfin' Safari' is a fun thing. The music is timeless. We just want to be everywhere and have people know that the record is out and the band is touring and celebrating their legacy." |
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