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#HashtagsTopTwitterTrends

posted on January 7, 2011

One of today’s trending Twitter topics is the hashtag #tiredofthat. It’s spurred people to list the multitudinous things they’re tired of such as “being alone on Valentine’s Day,” “the Twilight Saga” and the ever encompassing “Monday through Friday.”

One thing people are #nottiredof, are hashtags. According to What the Trend, hashtags have taken over the top spot as the category that gets the most Tweets.

In 2009, entertainment was the most Tweeted about topic with 39% of the pie. The next closest category was sports with only 11%. In 2010, entertainment dropped to 28% and hashtags took 40% of the pie.

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The Ultimate in Mobile: Connected Cars at CES

posted on January 7, 2011

Have a long commute to work? Why not make the time count by having your email read to you as you drive? All you need is a BMW with ConnectedDrive.  Running late for that movie? Toyota’s EnTune service will allow you to buy your tickets from the car. If these in-car distractions cause you to have an accident, no problem, OnStar has partnered with Verizon on a gizmo that will record the accident and you can even use the system to send a Twitter update.

Opps. Fender bender. Going to be late for dinner! #mycarmademedoit

Connected cars are all the rage at this year’s CES and that makes me wonder if this isn’t the next big thing in marketing.

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Could Social Media Sharing Violate Copyright?

posted on January 7, 2011

Everyone agrees that stealing the work of another person is wrong, but the definition of what constitutes stealing is a murkier matter. In most cases we roll back to the term “fair use” which allows a person to quote a section of an article or book for the purposes of education or discussion. You see that here all the time. There’s no malicious intent and there is no damage to the original party. On the contrary, the original writer will likely get a traffic boost from people clicking through to the source material, so it’s often a good thing.

Now here comes Righthaven LLC. According to a story in Fortune, the law firm is taking an aggressive stance against copyright violators by skipping the cease and desist letter and going straight to court. In every case, they’re demanding $150,000 in damages and the offender’s domain name. Ouch.

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Facebook’s Financial Dealings Jon Stewart Style

posted on January 7, 2011

Jon Stewart is just funny. When you (or your writers) are not afraid to ‘call it as you see it’ the results are at the very least amusing and at their best insightful. He’s a little of both on this one. (Hat tip to Greg Sterling)

Have a nice weekend!

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Japan’s New Year Tweets Help Set Twitter Record

posted on January 7, 2011

Twitter helped the world ring in the New Year and the world responded. In particular Japan used the service to talk to just about everyone about the new year.

From the Twitter blog

Well, that didn’t take long. Just four seconds after midnight in Japan on January 1st, Twitterers set an all-time record in the number of Tweets sent per second (TPS). At that moment, the world sent a staggering 6,939 TPS wishing friends and followers a fond “Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu” (“Happy New Year!”).

The photo below is a visualization of the US. The bigger the circle the more activity at that moment so I can’t tell if it is midnight in LA and the party is still going on the east coast or did the NY / LA TV thing at midnight EST create this activity? I just don’t know.

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Mobile Platform Shift Trends Continue

posted on January 7, 2011

It will come as little surprise but the latest data from comScore shows that for right now (emphasis on right now) Android is the big winner. Things are changing and if the Verizon iPhone deal ever gets past the “It’s definitely coming at some point in the very near but maybe sorta far away future” talk that will be the true measure of who has whom by what body part in the mobile platform space.

The comScore results are

RIM’s position at the top is likely to continue to be that way for a while as their position in the corporate world helps them look like they are ahead of the pack. We all know though that the BlackBerry isn’t keeping pace with the growing competition from Apple and Android devices and eventually they will slide through that chart. We’ll report it as news on that day but no one will be surprised.

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Rumors Say Linkedin May Be First to IPO

posted on January 6, 2011

Facebook may get more than its share of buzz, but Linkedin, the social media network with an eye toward business relationships, has been quietly sneaking up on the world. According to the LA Times and a variety of other sources, Linkedin appears to be priming itself for an early 2011 IPO.

Sources say that Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase all took meetings with Linkedin back in November and the timing couldn’t be better. With the financial world all a flutter at the thought of investing in a social media site, Linkedin would be smart to jump in before Facebook steals the spotlight once again.