It looks like Pinterest. It acts like Digg. The newest player in the social media sphere adds some features from Stumbleupon and Twitter to the mix to form Thruzt, now entering into public beta. Unlike many of its predecessors, Thruzt encourages networks to be formed within the community to draw attention to submissions. Users select content on the web that they find valuable or write up their own stories on their blogs and submit it to Thruzt. Then, the “game” is on to get it enough votes to get popular. The first thing people will notice when visiting is that the layout is very similar to Pinterest….

Have you ever bothered to read the terms of service agreement on the back of a video game book?  I have.  A few months ago out of pure boredom I decided to pop open the case of “my” Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and while flipping through began to read the licensing agreement.  In short and paraphrased it essentially said I didn’t own the game but I purchase a license to play the game.  Furthermore it went on to describe all the various things I couldn’t do with “my” copy… so what would this have to do with Twitter at all? Flash back to October and the Occupy Wall Street movement.  On October…

It seems to have crept into every nook and cranny in our daily lives. It makes sense that social media would start to have a dramatic influence on sports, the way that players interact with fans (and the media), and even who will be anointed as the next big star (regardless of actual play on the field). That’s the premise behind this infographic from KT Tape that comes to us via Raleigh Toyota. Click to enlarge. …

Don’t be fooled by reports that Google and Twitter have become “ensnared” in the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation of Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram. Both the search giant and microblogging platform are exactly where they want to be. This is the best news for both Google and Twitter with some suggesting that they may have both had their hands in prompting the investigation in the first place. The deal puts the most powerful social network in the world in prime position by having the most used mobile photo-sharing company in the world at its disposal. That’s bad because…

With so much money going into social media as a marketing and branding tool, it’s hard for businesses to discern the true value that their social media efforts are bringing. How much are they really getting when someone posts a tweet about them or mentions them on Facebook? Are they getting real value or is it all just another intangible to throw into the advertising budget like billboard signs and television ads? The folks over at backupify took their cloud data and applied it to the question, “What is social data worth?” The results help to quantify social by showing the average per-user value and…

One of the biggest complaints about Twitter over the last couple of years surrounds doubts about their actual size. They have the users – over 200 million – but are they really engaged? How many of them are actually using the service and how many created an account after Ashton Kutcher did, then abandoned it after an annoying month of hearing about what people were having for breakfast. They get plenty of that on Facebook, after all. Today, they purchased the technology and most of the team behind RestEngine, a “social marketing automation platform” that specializes in getting users re-engaged…

One of the hardest parts about personalizing social media profiles and pages is getting the artwork and branding just right. Every site has different sizes and styles that they prefer when placing artwork on your page. The challenge is that they rarely (for some reason) tell us the dimensions that work best. This graphic by San Diego web design is a perfect cheat sheet for those who want their pages to look just right. It’s particularly useful for agencies who have to post graphics on a semi-regular basis. Click the image to download the PDF version for safe keeping. …

The internet world is still talking about Facebook’s $1 billion purchase of photo sharing service Instagram, which marked the biggest acquisition in its eight year history. This deal surely resulted in a nice payday for the people behind Instagram, but why Facebook? Why not other players in the social space, namely Twitter or Google+? Well, Twitter expressed that it wanted to buy the service, but decided to pass. Google flat out said it wasn’t interested – sure. All that aside, Facebook and Instagram is just a better fit. Here’s why:   The user experience People are infatuated with…

Marketing execs drinking midday highballs on Madison Avenue are posh and glamorous. No wonder then that some businesses still hold traditional media marketing—glossy campaigns in print, splashy billboards, tv spots and their mindless jingles—over and at the expense of their social media marketing efforts. Just like business school is stuck in analog and antiquated ways, denigrating modern, online MBA programs in favor of prestigious institutions that have always been there. Marketing is the same way.  But the problem with this dated type of advertising push is that the information…

Ever since Twitter started making a splash in mainstream and social media consciousness in 2008, it has been a major target of spammers. Its influence on clicks and search have made it USDA prime meat for those promoting nefarious agendas and Twitter has been challenged to sift through the real and fake tweets to try to sniff out the culprits. Now, they’re bringing in the law. They are attacking the source of many of the biggest spam attacks by going after tool providers who help spammers get their messages mass-distributed. The goal is to not only cut off many of the techniques that spammers use to…