Kmart has had a tough time in recent years getting attention. They have tried to find success on social media, particularly on YouTube, but in the last year they’ve only had one video get more than 100,000 views. Five days ago, they put up a video that has had more views than the combined totals of dozens of videos they’ve put out over the last three years. This one got a lot more than anything they’ve ever seen. They’ve had videos with UFC stars like Wanderlei Silva and  Matt Hughes, country singers like Rascall Flatts and Jason Aldean, and pop stars like David Cook and Demi Lovato. They’ve tried how-to…

YouTube makes stars out of ordinary people. It happens every day. In many cases, it’s not intentional, such as with the case of Antoine Dodson and the bedroom intruder. Others such as Jenna Marbles did exactly what they hoped to do – get on YouTube and find an audience for their videos. The path to YouTube stardom varies from person to person and their success level or notoriety can often follow them for a long time. While it’s too early to say whether or not it can last the rest of their lives (YouTube is just a decade old), for some who have found stardom, it seems to be sticking with them. In this graphic…

In 60 seconds, Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, and their friendly carjacking cohorts can boost a high-dollar ride for sale to their fictional employer/nemesis. This is nothing compared to the things that happen on the web in any given 60 second period. The folks over at ixtract put together a visualization that demonstrates some of the millions of activities that happen on the internet every minute. They include: 12 websites hacked 14 Spotify songs uploaded 20 victims of identity theft 50 blogs created 70 domains registered 100 LinkedIn accounts created 320 Twitter accounts created 411 Facebook…

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been over 9 years since Gmail was opened up in beta. When it was first launched, many thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke because it was launched April 1, 2004. Some joke, eh? The funny part is that it stayed in beta for over five years, so if that qualifies as a joke, then good on Google. Here’s an infographic that shows the timeline. Are you on Gmail? …

With over 70 million consoles sold since it was unveiled in May, 2005, the Xbox 360 is one of the most popular game consoles ever created. Many of the fans of the Microsoft gaming device are diehards which is why anticipation of the successor, the Xbox 720, has been building up for years. Rumors, both good and bad, have been circulating for some time, but as the anticipated launch is right around the corner, some of them are starting to become more clear. Here’s a roundup of the five persistent rumors that seem to hold the most credibility. 1. Xbox Live Microsoft’s online multiplayer and digital distribution…

It’s a different era. The digital world is molding children in a way that is completely different from their parents. Some may say that it’s always the case as technology, culture, and societal norms change, but this is different. It’s faster. This isn’t just a matter of, “I don’t understand the music you kids listen to these days.” It’s a major shift in the way that kids interact with the rest of the world. It wasn’t but a couple of decades ago when talking on the phone and passing notes was still a major thing for teens. It had been that way for a long time. Today, kids aren’t talking to each other on the…

April Fool’s Day is pretty annoying for the unprepared. The flood gates of false announcements, buyouts, and new products fill the feeds and often get people excited or discouraged until they remember the date. It gets bigger every year. Some companies such as Google play multiple tricks on people. Others do even worse – making announcements that aren’t so far fetched that they actually get some people to believe them for a time, embarrassing them when they spread the words to their friends. I’ve been a victim of that in the past. Never again. This year’s round includes some standard cleverness,…

Oh, those pranksters up in Mountain View, CA. Every year they roll out several April Fool’s Day jokes. Last year’s included being able to change the weather and an exceptional one that made many locations on Google Maps 8-bit. This year’s first one focuses on YouTube. The site was apparently started in 2005 as a contest to find the best video ever. Entries close at midnight and then the decade-long process of identifying the best video ever will begin. They’ll have 30,000 technicians watching videos over the next decade with a panel of judges that include film critics, YouTube celebrities, and…

The social media world and offices across America were joined in laughter last week when a video by Pepsi featuring race car driver Jeff Gordon exploded all over Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The video showed an unsuspecting salesperson getting put through a harrowing experience during a test drive while being recorded by hidden camera. The only problem was that it was completely fake. In reality, that wasn’t a problem at all. It’s approaching 30 million YouTube views and has been shared over 2 million times on Facebook. The ad worked even if it was completely staged, even if the car salesperson…

There are many videos, both parodies and serious ones, that give a particular angle or treatment to the exceedingly-popular HBO series, Game of Thrones. As the start of season three nears, we’ve already broken down the real trailer, laughed at the mashup with The Princess Bride, and been blown away by the stunning Minecraft treatment. Now, we get to see what might be considered the best of them all – the 1995 re-imagining of the intro. It starts off with an ancient lead in from HBO, then we launch into a perfect compilation of the previous two seasons. Appropriate 90s music plays uncomfortably in…