9 new stories on The Next Web today |  |
- The Next Web is tracking the future of music industry innovation at Midem
- Brands may be paying celebrities for tweets, but who’s paying Twitter?
- Japan’s NTT DoCoMo to request that Google reduces Android’s data usage
- Copyright enforcement gone wrong: Universal takes down a song it doesn’t own
- Sean Parker says Facebook IPO could be ‘the largest offering in history’ [video]
- CBS fires sports blogger following Twitter-based misstep on Paterno’s death
- Pictos is like Typekit for your UI with over 650 icons to play with
- Bellbot will make happy sounds every time you get a new user
- Yahoo!, like Google, aims for “mobile first”; kills several apps for a cleaner slate
- A Facebook employee says the company will sell private shares on Monday
| The Next Web is tracking the future of music industry innovation at Midem Posted: 28 Jan 2012 03:29 AM PST  For the next few days, I’m in Cannes, France at the most tech-focused edition yet of long-running music industry conference Midem. The music industry is changing – its old model just doesn’t work any more and finally, top-to-bottom, the industry has realised the need for change. Startups and app developers have flocked to Cannes for this year’s event, and between now and Tuesday we’ll be meeting the established names and new companies that will shape the future of music. You’ll find all our Midem coverage at a specially branded channel thenextweb.com/midem – although our coverage will of course be completely independent. Expect audio and video interviews as part of our coverage, and we’ll be live-streaming Visionary Monday, when the industry’s future will be discussed by everyone from Facebook’s Dan Rose to Rovio’s CEO Mikael Hed. We’ll also be looking at the Midem Hack Day – a 48-hour hackathon which aims to surface innovative solutions to music industry problems. Everyone from small startups to major labels have been pitching ideas to the assembled developers at the Innovation Factory stage. So, keep an eye out for The Next Web’s coverage of Midem – and if you’re a startup or established tech company at the event, drop me a message on Twitter and let’s meet up. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Brands may be paying celebrities for tweets, but who’s paying Twitter? Posted: 28 Jan 2012 01:41 AM PST  It seems you can’t even post a photo of yourself eating a chocolate bar on Twitter these days without kicking up a stink. On Tuesday, Manchester United and (former?) England defender Rio Ferdinand – with almost two million Twitter followers – posted this message, accompanied by a photo of himself just about to get stuck in to a Snickers chocolate bar:
So what, right? Well, yes. Except, with the status that Rio has – both in real life and on Twitter – he holds a lot of sway. And a simple 5-second tweet can get him a lot of money from companies willing to pay him to promote their products, which is what happened here. Such an offence actually contravenes the UK’s Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) guidance that celebrities must make it absolutely clear that they are promoting or endorsing a product. It’s deceptive advertising if they don’t reveal they are being paid to promote. Snickers-gate, as it will surely be known, was actually preceded by a number of other UK ‘celebrities’ doing something similar to promote Snickers’ new UK Twitter account – Jordan, Ian Botham and Amir Khan all tweeted images of themselves eating Snickers over the weekend.
The basic premise is thus – they send tweets about something really banal and out of character, and follow it up shortly after by saying they were feeling out of sorts because they hadn’t eaten a Snickers. It’s all very imaginative. Here’s what Rio had to say prior to his ‘Snickers’ elation:
We don’t know how much these celebrities were paid for the ‘stunt’, but it must’ve been fairly substantial. It’s thought that Rio alone earns over £100,000 a week at Manchester United (even when he’s not playing), so for him to risk irking his mass of followers, Snickers must’ve waved a sizable sum at him. This is perhaps indicative of the way Twitter is going though. Yes, it can be used to communicate and broadcast to the world in times of political crises, but it can also be leveraged as a BIG marketing tool, especially with users that have millions of followers. Ashton Kutcher: The value of a tweetIn January 2011, we pondered how much traffic a single Ashton Kutcher tweet gets you, after the actor tweeted a link to a media company’s online video. In just five hours, the company in question said that the tweet had sent 13,000 people to the video's YouTube page. A company spokesperson said at the time:
Indeed, The Next Web actually discovered first-hand what an Ashton Kutcher tweet is worth, after he tweeted one of our stories on New Year’s Eve:
What did it mean for us? Well, let’s just say he drove a heck of a lot of traffic to our site and leave it at that. Of course, Kutcher wasn’t being paid for his ‘promotion’ – he was merely sharing links to content he liked. But with well over 9m followers, he has the ability to bring a website to its knees, especially if it’s just a small company with small server capacity. But that’s another debate altogether. Legal issuesAs we’ve mentioned, Snickers-gate actually raised a genuine legal question in that celebrities must make it clear they are being paid to endorse a product. In the UK, at least. “The internet plays a key role in how people purchase products and services and the importance of online advertising continues to grow,” said Heather Clayton, Senior Director of OFT’s Consumer Group, to the Telegraph. “The integrity of information published online is crucial so that people can make informed decisions on how to spend their money. We expect online advertising and marketing campaigns to be transparent so consumers can clearly tell when blogs, posts and microblogs have been published in return for payment or payment in kind. We expect this to include promotions for products and services as well as editorial content." A spokesman for the Advertising Standards Association (ASA) added that it would look into the Snickers campaign only if it received a formal complaint, so it looks like Snickers and Rio are off the hook for now. Back in 2011, the OFT was forced to take action against a PR firm Handpcked Media that was found to be paying bloggers to write favorably about its clients, noting at the time that it has to clearly state when promotions in the social sphere have been paid for. The future of advertisingBut what does this Snickers campaign mean for the future of advertising? And what implication does it have for Twitter as a platform? It seems we’ll start seeing much more of this kind of activity moving forward, and we could see a staggered pricing structure – the more followers you have, the more you can charge to promote. However, all that will come at a price, figuratively speaking. For celebrities, they risk alienating themselves from their followers, and a single ‘promotional’ tweet could potentially On TV adverts, there’s no blurring of lines – you know it’s an advert and you know the people in it are being paid for it. Following Rio’s Snickers promo, a number of his followers took umbrage at his actions, asking him whether he really needed the money and complained that they didn’t follow him to be ‘advertised to’. One even called it embarrassing. The whole furor over the actions of these Snickers-celebs may seem a bit over the top, but fans of the microblogging service don’t want Twitter to be turned into a massive marketing fest. Wait a minute…who’s paying Twitter here?We’re already seeing brand pages rolling out, whilst promoted tweets and trends are gaining traction too as Twitter strives to build a proper revenue-generating platform. And this perhaps raises the biggest question of all – how does Twitter get its cut of the Snickers’ promo cash? Or with other brand-celebrity partnership for that matter? Well…it seemingly doesn’t. From what we can tell, the money from Snickers bypasses Twitter’s coffers altogether. If that’s the case, and we see many more of these celebrity/brand team-ups (which we will), you can bet your bootlaces that Twitter will be extending its palm for a share. Or at the very least, it could look at ways to discourage paid-for tweets that don’t carry its official ‘promoted’ stamp of approval. Because that’s the whole point of Twitter’s Promoted Tweets, right? You KNOW you’re being promoted to because they’re labeled quite clearly. Of course, how Twitter would enforce this is another issue altogether – it may have to simply rely on the respective consumer watchdogs around the world to enact their own country’s laws. This is actually quite an interesting quirk. In TV advertising, a brand pays people (celebrities or otherwise) to star in its commercial, but crucially the broadcaster receives its share of the money. With Twitter, this doesn’t seem to be the case. However this all pans out, you can be certain that 2012 will be the year Twitter really comes to the fore as a powerful platform for advertisers, and you’ll likely be seeing many more celebs take to the Twittersphere to endorse big brand names. We’re just at the very beginning. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Japan’s NTT DoCoMo to request that Google reduces Android’s data usage Posted: 28 Jan 2012 01:17 AM PST  In what appears to be one of the first public cases of a mobile operator approaching a smartphone operating system provider to amend how its software operates, Japan’s NTT DoCoMo is reportedly to ask Google to reduce the amount of data its mobile OS consumes, Reuters reports. According to the report, DoCoMo has already taken issue with an Android VOIP application that allows free voice communication, which assisted in bring down its service on Wednesday, but will also campaign for Google to increase the periods between when the Android operating system requests new data for its applications. With some Android applications polling for new data every three to five minutes (even when not in use), Android devices are pulling around ten times as much traffic as a normal mobile phone, increasing the strain on smartphone-intensive mobile operators. Android is said to transmit control signals every 28 minutes; DoCoMo will ask that Android does that less regularly, as doing so would enable it to offer its service to more Android device owners and reduce disruptions on its networks. DoCoMo also intends to work with Google and other mobile operators to ask Android app developers to reduce the frequency of their control signals, which could not only anger software creators, it could also have an impact on smartphone users, who invested in Android because of its open nature. Because Android is an open platform, operators have more control over how the operating system operates on devices that they sell. Some are able to limit certain features, include their own applications and modify the software to brand devices. However, with tools available to users, some of these customisations can be wiped at launch. It’s an interesting request by DoCoMo, one that could see other operators across the world requesting the same changes in order to better serve their customers. The question remains, is limiting how often an Android device requests information better serving customers or should the operators ensure investments are made in their networks to cater for users? This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Copyright enforcement gone wrong: Universal takes down a song it doesn’t own Posted: 28 Jan 2012 12:52 AM PST  Proactive copyright protection systems like YouTube's ContentID are double-edged swords. On the one hand, they help large companies efficiently ensure that their copyrights are not infringed, which can be difficult with sites where anyone can upload content. On the other hand, they can give those with the right deals and connections unfair influence, are open to abuse, and can lead to some unfortunate and frustrating situations for fans and independent artists. With Universal Music Group's recent YouTube takedown of a song by After The Smoke, it seems to be all of the above. The Florida rap group, who are not signed to a label, uploaded their song "One in a Million" to YouTube, only to have it taken down by UMG hours later for copyright infringement. Confused, After the Smoke tried to figure out from YouTube what was going on. They "went through the all the correct procedures" with YouTube, as member Whuzi tells VICE, and were told that the copyright for their song was owned by UMG. "I filed a dispute and got a message back saying that, basically, we were lying and that Universal owned it, without any proof," he explains, "It's pretty much their word over ours." What happenedApparently, here's what happened: After the Smoke wrote and recorded a beat and were trying to sell it to another artist, which is not uncommon. Yelawolf was interested and recorded a song with it, but was then signed to a subsidiary of UMG, and nothing came of the track (and the beat was never paid for). So After the Smoke used the beat in their own song, the aforementioned "One in a Million." While Yelawolf's track was never officially released, it was leaked (without any credit to After the Smoke), and UMG apparently had it taken down. When After the Smoke uploaded their track with the same beat, the beat they wrote and own, YouTube's automated system recognized it and removed the video, telling them that it was infringing on UMG's copyright. Abuse, not enforcement"This is really quite an amazing form of copyright abuse when you think about it," writes Mike Masnick at Techdirt, "UMG artist fails to license beat on a song that is leaked… and then UMG claims copyright over the official song over the same beat." As Whuzi put it to VICE, "We're independent artists with our own copyrighted material and we're being accused of infringing on their artist just because they're on Universal." A system where UMG doesn't even need to own the copyright to content for it to be added to YouTube's content matching system is ripe for abuse, as this and last year's take down of Megaupload's "Mega Song" demonstrate. YouTube denied that its partners can take down videos they don't own the rights to, but this latest take down seems to contradict that. Fortunately, UMG retracted its claim over the video, so After the Smoke can now treat their own music like it's really their own. But it took the support of their fans, "back and forth with the right people, and some advice from lawyers." Whuzi told VICE, "if it wasn't for our fanbase getting riled up about it, I think this would have been swept under the rug." Unsurprisingly, Whuzi says he wouldn't accept a record deal from UMG even if it was offered. "We're not even Universal artists and they think they can push us around," he said, "imagine what they'd be doing to us if we were actually signed to them." A larger problemAlong with some important questions about how YouTube's Content Management System works, this story highlights a significant problem with much of the copyright systems and suggestions proposed by those like UMG: often, they're good for large companies more than they're good for artists overall. It shouldn't take an uproar from artists and their fans for a system to work as intended. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Sean Parker says Facebook IPO could be ‘the largest offering in history’ [video] Posted: 27 Jan 2012 04:36 PM PST ![6499439813 b010b5193c z 520x245 Sean Parker says Facebook IPO could be the largest offering in history [video]](http://cdn.thenextweb.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/01/6499439813_b010b5193c_z-520x245.jpg "6499439813 b010b5193c z 520x245 photo") Former President of Facebook, Sean Parker, did an interview with CNBC today in which he discussed Facebook’s “inevitable” IPO and applauded Mark Zuckerberg for keeping the company private for as long as he has. While Parker didn’t provide any insight as to when the public offering would be made or at what valuation, he did admit that the public push for Facebook shares can’t be ignored:
Our sources say that the IPO could happen as early as next Monday, but it’s anyone’s guess at this point. In the interview below, Parker discusses how ironic it is that Zynga, which has found success with its games by piggybacking Facebook’s social graph, went public before Facebook did. Notice that the interview started to go south when questions about Justin Timberlake’s portrayal of him in “The Social Network” started being asked. Let’s keep it to tech folks, shall we? This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| CBS fires sports blogger following Twitter-based misstep on Paterno’s death Posted: 27 Jan 2012 04:06 PM PST CBS finally let go its sports blogger Adam Jacobi following the Paterno debacle, Jacobi himself announced today on his Twitter account:
As you may remember, CBS Sports wrongly announced the death of the ex-Penn State American football coach Joe Paterno – who had recently been accused of covering child sex abuse. As Paterno’s sons soon pointed out, the information was incorrect – although terminally ill, their father only passed away hours later. Following the misstep, it emerged that Jacobi’s report was based on a sole source he initially didn’t bother to name: the Onward State. A local online news outlet run by students targeted at Penn State College community, it had erroneously reported JoPa’s death on Twitter. This is how CBS ended up sharing the blame with Onward State’s managing editor Devon Edwards. According to Poynter, the student’s wrong information was itself based on a false email and other incorrect allegations. Had Jacobi mentioned his source, he may had kept his job following public apologies. Instead, CBS seems to have hesitated for a few days before deciding to let him go. Jacobi had been working for CBS Sports for the past 17 months; according to his LinkedIn profile, his job title was College Football Blogger.
Jacobi himself insists he’s not bitter about CBS’ decision – not only with the above-mentioned apologetic messages, but also with this clarification an hour later:
Jacobi and Edwards know it too: source attribution and fact-checking are mandatory for quality reporting. These are two tasks anyone involved in print and news has to perform, no matter if they call themselves ‘journalist’ or ‘blogger’, ‘student’ or ‘senior’. Still, some consider CBS’ decision to be harsh on Jacobi. Says US blogger Erik Wemple:
For journalists and bloggers alike, Jacobi’s sacking is certainly frightful: one article goes wrong, and we could lose our jobs. Yet, this whole debacle also serves as a reminder that we should always maintain our standards. Despite deadlines and newsroom pressure for scoops, let’s keep in mind the damage bad reporting can do. Do you think CBS’ decision was fair? This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Pictos is like Typekit for your UI with over 650 icons to play with Posted: 27 Jan 2012 03:15 PM PST  At first it may sound strange for a designer to keep their icons in a font file, let alone use them Online. CSS3 and @font-face are just now emerging as a viable option for display and text fonts, so why depend on it more for icons as well? The thing is, pictograph and icons packed into a font file are already a very reasonable way to keep track of an entire series of graphics. All you need to do is install the font for safe keeping, start typing and you'll automatically have access to scalable icons straight from your system's font library. Now, with CSS3, we can style them in tons of impressive ways Online with little effort.
According to the creator:
If your interest is peaked, you’ll want to check out the guide to using the font, as well as the explanations for accessibility and compatibility problems. There are definitely issues involved in the process. If you rely on the font for all of your navigation and your site is viewed in an incompatible browser, your entire site is doomed. The service also costs $19+ per year, and you could instead use other fonts like Modern Pictograms or IcoMoon for free with the @font-face tag, but you’d have to host that yourself. All in all, this is definitely worth the experiment. If you feel like living on the edge then go for it. Icon fonts may be the way of the future, along with actual CSS drawings. If you’re stuck supporting old versions of IE, then you’ll unfortunately have to stick with images for now, but otherwise, why not give it a try? > Pictos Server ($19+ / year)
Check out our full Design and Dev channel for more inspiration! Also, you can exclusively view typography articles here. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Bellbot will make happy sounds every time you get a new user Posted: 27 Jan 2012 03:08 PM PST  I’m a big fan of simplicity, because it shouldn’t take rocket science to explain a service or product. One of the masters of simplicity is Philip Kaplan aka Pud, who has made some fun products that even your mom can understand. One of his most recent creations, TinyLetter, allows people to start an email newsletter in just a few clicks. It was purchased by MailChimp in August. Kaplan’s latest app, Bellbot, might not get acquired, but it’s yet another interesting creation from a guy who has seen it all in Silicon Valley. The service allows you to drop a single line of code on any page of your site, and a bell will ring when someone hits it. In a TinyLetter email today, Kaplan explains the service:
All you have to do is sign up for Bellbot, and you’ll get a unique code to drop on any page of your site. To go along with the usage Kaplan suggests, you should put the code on a “Thank You” page that happens after someone signs up for your site or buys something.
After you’ve placed the code on your page, just keep your Bellbot page open, sit back and relax. As soon as people start hitting your chosen page, the app will ring. It sounds goofy, but if you’re just getting started, this type of incentive will definitely keep you and your team in the know and pushing forward to keep going.
This could be great for a charity who is having an event and wants to let everyone in attendance know when a new donation is made. As donations come through and Bellbot starts sounding off, more people will be excited to donate too. This one falls under the “Why didn’t I think of that?” category, and Kaplan is a master at churning these types of apps out. ➤ Bellbot This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Yahoo!, like Google, aims for “mobile first”; kills several apps for a cleaner slate Posted: 27 Jan 2012 02:15 PM PST  On the Yahoo! Search Blog, the company has announced a focus on “mobile first” and the related discontinuation of several of its mobile apps for iPad, iPhone, Android, and Blackberry, citing the fast pace of change in the mobile space. “Our plan is to keep moving, to keep innovating, and to continuously measure and scrutinize what's working and what isn't,” says the post, “so we can make room for great new products.” Here’s the list of apps that will no longer be supported:
Features from certain apps including AppSpot and Sketch-a-Search have been integrated into the main Yahoo! Search app, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see other features from these apps make their way into the search app too. Despite the end of these apps, Yahoo says it is “moving forward with a ‘mobile first’ mindset.” This echoes comments made by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who said in early 2010 that Google would be following a “mobile first” strategy. Schmidt predicted that smartphones would eventually overtake PCs in popularity, and that prediction seems to be coming closer to reality every day, as the popularity and ubiquity of smartphones continues to increase. Yahoo’s post gives some hints as to where in mobile the company will be focusing this year:
The company hopes its products will “change the mobile game well beyond Yahoo!” Since Larry Page took over as CEO at Google, a similar reexamination of priorities and focus has occurred, with many products that don’t fit into Google’s core mission being discontinued or open sourced. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| A Facebook employee says the company will sell private shares on Monday Posted: 27 Jan 2012 01:59 PM PST  There’s word blasting through the tech world today that Facebook is readying an S-1 filing for its IPO next week. With a valuation expected to be as high as $100 billion, the company is reportedly aiming to raise as much as $10 billion. But the timeline that we’re hearing now doesn’t quite match up to what other sources are saying. A Facebook employee, who has asked to not be named (for obvious reasons) has forewarned some insiders to prepare for an announcement on Monday, rather than Wednesday, which is the current conventional wisdom. While being a bit coy about any details, the advice was to have bankers on hold for a Monday filing. Update: We’ve gotten word that the Monday event will be of private shares, rather than the S-1. The title of the article has been updated accordingly. There’s not much known about anything else surrounding Facebook’s IPO and the S-1 just yet. Though you can bet that we’ll be digging into the filing as soon as it drops to scrounge up any juicy details. What you can almost bet is that the round will be led by and collaboration with Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley as the two powerhouses vie for the prestige that would come with one of tech’s most long-awaited filings. We’re no experts, and this isn’t to be considered financial advice, but Mondays are typically quiet in the technology world. If Facebook is looking to make the biggest splash possible, that’s most certainly the day to do it. I may be dead wrong on this one, but everything seems to line up. The real question is this – Will the newly-minted millionaires of Facebook be our next crop of Silicon Valley investors? And if so, will they be any good at it? This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
sever any trust ties that are in place. Legal issues aside, if you are paid to promote a chocolate bar you probably should mention that you’re deliberately advertising it, because people will then wonder if future tweets are ‘promotional too. What if Rio says on Twitter “I’m watching the big fight on Sky Sports tonight,” people may assume he’s being paid for it when in fact he isn’t.
Pictos
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