Twitter has released a video and some great examples that underscore the powerful relationship it has formed with television highlighted so well by the Royal Wedding where broadcasters when big with social media.

The examples and video really drives home how well broadcasters are now using Twitter and the benefits they are getting from it as audiences show their willingness to join an ever growing conversation. Read More »

Twitter hit a new record for the average number tweets per second sent as the death of Osama bin Laden broke on the social network and the story played out in traditional media.

The moment when the news broke on Twitter, and was then confirmed by a political aide before President Obama, made his address, is being described as Twitter’s CNN moment. A true coming of age for the microblogging service. Read More »

There are a few mighty suns in this Twitter user galaxy and they certainly do shine brighly. There is Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Ashton Kutcher and Kim Kardashian to name a celebrity few.

Then in different orbits we have the likes of Barack Obama, CNN and and the New York Times. Read More »

Piers Morgan does love Twitter and even more than that he loves the social network he seems to enjoy engaging in public slanging matches with rivals and critics alike, but you have to wonder how healthy that is for him and CNN?

His latest is with Vanity Fair contributing editor James Wolcott. Fresh from his ratings stormer with Charlie Sheen the magazine has very publicly trashed the British replacement for Larry King in a long article and @piersmorgan (410,051 followers and rising) responded in kind on Twitter. Read More »

Facebook could be facing a new privacy row as it prepares to launch a new ad option that will turn your Facebook’s “likes” into ads or “sponsored stories” as it is calling them without giving users any opt out.

Some people are clearly not going to like this at all. Effectively, the new ad unit turns Likes, Facebook Places checkins, and application activity by users into ads. It allows advertisers to effectively take from the crowd and build ads on the back of any viral buzz it might be generating. Read More »

Interesting study from CNN that not only confirms, what we all pretty much knew, that shared news matters more, but it also shows that the value of shared news can be substantiated from an advertising perspective for the first time as well.

The results of the study show a “halo effect” of substantially higher engagement with “recommended” news content and embedded advertising, as opposed to “randomly” consumed content and advertising. Read More »

File this one under stupid and irony. The Washington Post has suspended sports columnist Mike Wise after he inadvisably sent a fake tweet claiming that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would be suspended for five games. Read More »

Facebook has launched a useful guide to help media groups and blogs get the best out of Facebook by making their content more social media friendly and more shareable.

A lot of this is about how organisations use Facebook’s “like” button, but other stuff looks at timing, dedicated pages and live streaming. Read More »

There is a lot of this going around. Reporters sacked for making comments on blogs and social networks. The latest is CNN, following The Washington Post and The Age, which has parted company with Middle Eastern affairs editor, Octavia Nasr, after she tweeted a controversial message of support for Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. Read More »

Over 50,000 websites have adopted Facebook’s new social plugins, which include the soon to be ubiquitous “Like” button, one week after the website announced its ambitions to become the nexus of the web, via its Open Graph API.

Last week Facebook launched social plugins with just 75 partners, including CNN and the New York Times, which allow users to “like” or “recommend” content across the web without having to sign into their accounts. Read More »