Category: internet

where I discuss new technologies, “web 2.0,” and everything cool

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Why Connecting With Obama Will Break Your LinkedIn

I’ve lauded Senator Obama and the Obama campaign for being aggressive social media participants (adopters) in many posts on this blog. And there’s nothing wrong with a national figure having a profile on LinkedIn, whether or not it’s maintained and established by a handler/assistant.

But I will not connect with Barack Obama on LinkedIn. The reason is simple. On LinkedIn.com:

Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of qualified professionals.

LinkedIn shows you results based on how closely related you are to others based on your connections on the network. So if you connect with Obama, suddenly you are a 2nd connection from any of the hundreds (thousands?) of users connected to him. Because you and these 2nd connections likely aren’t 2 degrees separated — other than the fact that you both wanted to connect with Obama — your LinkedIn experience (should you truly use it as the networking tool that it is) will be severely diluted.

Restrain yourself and just stick to the Obama ’08 LinkedIn group if you feel the need to connect. Then again… if Obama chooses his Attorney General from within his LinkedIn pool, my argument is moot.

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Obama Facebook App Targets Your Friends in Battleground States

Obama Facebook App, Swing States, and Your Friends

Barack Obama’s 21-month-long presidential campaign got off to a lively start, owing much to students who used Facebook — among other social networks — to raise awareness and build a coalition. The McCain campaign (as well as every other campaign) struggled but all fell short in attempts to embrace and embolden the millions of social media loving youth to their advantage.

It was easy for Obama. At an early campaign rally, he went on and on about the Students for Barack Obama group on Facebook and how it helped get his campaign off to a running start. This was in Los Angeles in February 2007 and I was there shooting video:

Last week, Obama’s online team went live with an integration of MyBarackObama.com and Facebook via Facebook Connect.

facebook notification election vote obama campaign appTonight I was welcomed to Facebook with a notification asking me whether or not I had voted yet. The greeting came from the Obama app which I had installed months ago. In Facebook — as in much of the online world — Obama beats McCain in a landslide. Messages from campaigns on online networks *could* get annoying if frequent, but in Obama’s case, frequency was not necessary for the messaging to be effective. Facebook users are more aware of social media etiquette than most. Perhaps that’s why they’re so quick to call out the bullshitters and fear-mongers — as much of the online media world is at this point in the campaign (see my previous post).

How has the Obama campaign used social networks and leveraged social media so wisely, even getting up and running on Facebook Connect a month before its official launch? Obama discovered the power of Facebook early on in his campaign and, well, he’s got Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes working on his online strategy team.

See also: Obama Dominates Content Sharing as Election Approaches at Mashable.

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MTV Launches MTVMusic.com

It only took 30 years or whatever for MTV to get back to actually presenting music videos. It’s been about a month since MTV fully acquired Flux / Social Project. MTV’s involvement with Flux has been quiet and inneffective over the past year or so. Perhaps owning the full package will lead to some nice social channels? Or perhaps I just want to embed one of the worst videos of all time (by one of my all-time favorite bands) below. Via MTVmusic.com.

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Internet Radio Bill Passes House Unanimously, Senate Next

SaveNetRadio.orgGreat news for WOOZradio, Pandora and all other net radio broadcasters. Though this bill doesn’t entirely spell things out re: the future of net radio (at least in terms of WOOZ and our streaming via Live365) it is a positive step toward a solution that will keep net radio alive after many contentious months following the CRB’s unfair ruling in March 2007.

The key — the National Association of Broadcasters has rolled over:

The real deciding factor came when Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) met with members of the NAB. They told him that they feared their Web competitors would get a deal done first. Under the terms of the legislation, SoundExchange, the body that collects royalties and is part of the Recording Industry Association of America, has until Dec. 15 to negotiate a new rate. The NAB apparently was worried that the deadline didn’t give the organization enough time to strike its own royalty agreement.

“Berman said ‘Fine, we’ll extend the date until Feb. 15, which gives you two more months to talk,'” said one music-industry source with knowledge of the discussions. “There isn’t anything in the act that prevents traditional broadcasters from reaching their own royalty rate.”

That did the trick, according to the source. Dennis Wharton, an NAB spokesman confirmed Saturday night that the NAB met with Berman and that the deadline was extended. He said the trade organization has dropped its opposition in both houses of Congress.

You can listen to netZoo Internet Radio station — WOOZradio commercial free (for a small monthly fee that cuts into our royalty payments) by clicking here. Or listen w/ commercials for free.