Overview: Social Web

"We’re all pretty familiar with Twitter’s 140 characters—and of course, a photo is always an eye-catching addition. But what if your Twitter audience could sign up for your email list without ever leaving Twitter, or directly download your new app straight from a tweet? What if a photo and article summary could travel alongside every post of your …

"I honestly doubt that there is an algorithm in the world that can reliably surface such unexpected content, so well. An algorithm ... cannot surface unexpected, diverse and sometimes weird content exactly because of how algorithms work: they know what they already know.... Twitter brims with human judgment, and the problem with algorithmic filte…

"Accountability must become part of Silicon Valley’s culture... robots are taking a central role in our lives. But we need an open conversation about who shapes their values." Just because something should happen doesn't mean it will. - We can’t let tech giants, like Facebook and Twitter, control our news values | Media | The Guardian

"The Guardian released a beta version of its new website to get reader feedback as it continues to tweak its design.... Content discovery is a major focus ... “container model” allows the paper to implement a responsive design while also retaining a story hierarchy, user experience director... Each item contains a story, which are put together…

"Since it launched in March 2012, I F*cking Love Science has attracted more than 17.9 million Facebook followers—more than Popular Science (2.7 million), Discover (2.7 million), Scientific American (1.9 million), and The New York Times (8 million) combined. ... Her empire has since expanded to include a website, IFLscience.com, which has a staff a…

While possibly a bit naive regarding Facebook's motivation for crucifying organic reach, some good points here: "- Talking doesn’t equal connecting: It seems that many brands take their audience for granted. Liking a page doesn’t always imply interest. ... - Paid reach won’t substitute for great storytelling: While paid reach might get more visib…

A new angle on the filter bubble: Facebook's ""Report Abuse" button, which is used to flag content that's hostile or inappropriate ... can also be used as a tool for stifling dissent... If you swarm a page or a person with enough abuse reports, you can kick them off Facebook. Pro-government forces in Vietnam have learned how to do it, and they’re…

"Buying traffic isn’t so much a taboo as it is a poor business decision for most publishers in most instances ... It’s expensive, and the money could usually be better invested in editors who reach an organic audience.... There are times when paid promotion makes sense. Some do paid promotion on posts that have particularly high engagement alread…

"just because the overlord of search has decided who actually wrote a post isn't all that important, doesn't mean the concept of the journalist as brand isn't still on the up.... ... 'trust' as a variable in an algorithm was unnecessary. Users use Google to search organically using keywords; they get their news from trusted sources on social med…

" in-depth article, which I’ve jointly co-written with Mark Traphagen, will cover the announcement of the end of Authorship, the history of Authorship, a study conducted by Stone Temple Consulting that confirms one of the stated reasons for cessation of the program, and some thoughts about the future of author authority in search."

"test data collected from three years of Google Authorship convinced Google that showing Authorship results in search was not returning enough value compared to the resources it took to process the data." - It's Over: The Rise & Fall Of Google Authorship For Search Results

"3 main talking points of why your B2C clients should want to work with bloggers."

Interesting & contested view of that Facebook study, by its co-author: ""If you say, 'I don't want to be experimented on,' ... what does that mean?"[Google is ] constantly needing to tweak their algorithm. If I say, 'I want to opt out of that,' does that put me back to Google search 2004? " Others beg to differ: "It's not A/B testing. It's just b…

Unsurprising that LinkedIn promoted this post.... the comments rapidly turned into an interesting conversation on Linkedin v. Facebook... people seem to comment more on LinkedIn posts than elsewhere. Perhaps the return of blogging that people are starting to talk about is next.

Thoughtful longread on the past (and future?) of longreads - i.e., blogging. Plus a hint that Vox's Chorus CMS may be getting wider use in the future... "Today everyone in the media world is launching email newsletters... Great. But what I miss from emails is the sense of community, the shared experience... Obviously Twitter replaced parts of t…

Seeing more stuff on robots & AI this year than in previous 3. "In many cases, their algorithm clearly identifies influences that art experts have already found. For example, ... Klimt is close to Picasso and Braque ... the influence of Delacroix on Bazille, ... Munch’s influence on Beckmann and Degas’ influence on Caillebotte. The algorithm is …

Seems that, 3+ years after "The Filter Bubble" was pubished, it takes an event like #Ferguson to make people realise what it is. "if there was no Twitter to catch on nationally, would #Ferguson ever make it through the algorithmic filtering on Facebook? ... or be buried in algorithmic censorship?... Facebook has become like a digital version of…

"relying too heavily on Facebook’s algorithmic content streams can result in de facto censorship. Readers are deprived a say in what they get to see, whereas anything goes on Twitter." Puts some numbers to the opacity of the filter bubble experienced by Facebook users in comparison with Twitter users, by comparing coverage of #Ferguson and 'Ice B…

Sonar Solo allows you to search any topic to find trends and influencers about any subject, in real time. Sonar Solo visualizes what’s on people's minds right now, by combining data mining, trend intelligence and advanced sentiment analysis on the world's social media chatter.

Beat this: "Each day, HBR.org publish five to seven pieces of top-notch content with a staff of fewer than 10 full-time digital editors and no full-time writers ... four million unique visitors every month." What really stood out for me was how they get the "expert take", using the Content Partnership model I used when trying to decentralise com…

(and why I joined a technology company, not another comms agency): "...organizations that had software engineers and Web enthusiasts in the room when big decisions were made navigated the seas of change more successfully than those that didn’t... When you think about how news and entertainment have been delivered over the internet so far, four m…

"Because blogging isn’t new and hip, many people dismiss this form of content as less effective.... Blogging is a great front door for any individual or organization because it is real estate that you can own.... Contrast that with social networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and G+. All are good, but you will never own your real estate the…

Tracking #Ferguson on Twitter. Via @Mathewi, GigaOm

"Analyze what content performs best for any topic or competitor Find the key influencers to promote your content "

"Continuing its tradition of airing its internal discussions outside the office, the staff at Jezebel today called out the higher-ups at parent Gawker Media today over some pretty disgusting trolling at the site." I wonder how much more loyalty Jezebel's community feel for the site because they air their internal problems so publicly? I wonder ho…

"I wanted to see if I could trick Facebook into believing I'd had one of those big life updates that always hang out at the top of the feed. ... Let's see if I can fabricate some social love. I posted: "Hey everyone, big news!! I've accepted a position trying to make Facebook believe this is an important post about my life! I'm so excited to beg…

"Thinking of the people you are reaching as multipliers and your content as “spreadable” rather than “viral” will help you avoid several all-too-common pitfalls" OK, so I've been building projects around multipliers and avoiding the v-word like - well - the plague, for years, but these insights are worth repeating nevertheless. - 4 Mistakes Mark…

"BuzzFeed UK editor Luke Lewis shared his tips and advice for effective use of social networks as part of news:rewired last week" You've probably read this already, but just in case... - Lessons in creating a buzz on social media from BuzzFeed | Media news

These figures need to be compared with other research shows that people seem happy to consume long articles on their mobiles. "Ad Age looked at ... Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger to see how their traffic has changed over the last year and what effect [mobile] has had on the time people spend with each service...." On the one hand we read about the …

What it says on the tin: "Below I have listed five nifty pieces of software to enable you to effectively analyse and keep up to date with your twitter presence:" - 5 Free Tools to Manage and Monitor Your Twitter Account