KickApps is a social media web site authoring and social content management system system. Web publishers and marketers can develop branded communities, social applications and interactive widgets — both on their domains and across the social web — to drive customer and employee relationships and grow online audiences. Content, user experience and social graph can be consistent across all platforms. The platform includes KickApps AppStudio, a drag-and-drop interface that lets nontechnical users build highly customized online experiences.

After the jump — what you need to know about KickApps. Read the rest of this entry »

YouTube Annotations are one of the most invaluable tools offered by the video site and, interestingly enough, are also one of the most overlooked by online video content creators.  If you aren’t using Annotations in your YouTube videos you are missing out on some great opportunities for maximizing your subscribers, your views, and the overall success of your YouTube videos and channel.  Read on to learn how to use YouTube Annotations to maximize your YouTube success.
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Snaptu is a mobile application that everyone who owns a mobile phone absolutely needs to know about, particularly the 4 billion users out there without a Smartphone. What this free app does is bring masses of apps available to iPhones to your regular cell phone, even a $20 dingy old thing you got in Thailand, as long its Java enabled and has internet.  The company was founded 3 years ago and has acquired an astonishing 14 million users so far.  It works on 2,500 different phone models and contains access to many web hotspots with the most recognizable being Facebook, Twitter, Picassa and Flickr. At this stage in their popularity, mobile operators actually seek out Snaptu for rights to install it in their phones because it offers major appeal for consumers who aren’t already in the smartphone scene. Read the rest of this entry »

When YouTube launched YouTube Charts last month, a new interface that ranks the top videos on YouTube, they turned to viewers to ask what features they would like to see added to Charts.  One of the most common questions that viewers had was, “Why doesn’t YouTube Charts rank videos according to categories?”  YouTube has now responded to these viewers by adding new functionality to their Charts, giving viewers the opportunity to search by category.
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Consumer Watchdog, the consumer group that has long a thorn in the side of Google over privacy issues, has taken its fight against the company to new heights.

On Thursday, the group began running a JumboTron ad in New York City’s Times Square that depicts Google CEO Eric Schmidt as a maniacal ice cream truck driver happily delivering free ice cream to children, while at the same time collecting information, spying on them and conducting full body scans to absorb private information through “Google Analytics.”

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As online video sites are growing in popularity, web video marketing is becoming more and more of a necessity for brands looking to get their name and message out there.  But web video marketing isn’t what it used to be—simple video commercial spots, sidebar ads and pop-ups are being replaced with more technologically advanced breakout ads, interactive video campaigns and more, and analytics and ad targeting are becoming more comprehensive as well.  Read on to find out about five upcoming trends that you can expect to see from web video marketing and that you should become familiar with if you want to maximize your brand’s web video marketing success in the future.
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Happy Friday viral video fans!  It’s that time of the week again where we bring you a selection of the best viral web videos.  This week our picks for the top viral videos include a talented dog, the very first live action rocket jump, a bunch of beach-goers in formal wear, a potty-mouthed music video, a cool interactive YouTube campaign and, of course, that Double Rainbow guy we’ve all grown to love.  Check out all the videos after the jump.
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Ever have the urge to shout at your phone? Want to grab that coveted “mayor” badge in Foursquare? Now you can do both at the same time if you have an Android 2.0 or higher, thanks to the new collaboration that lets you use update your Foursquare account by voice. The technology already existed for Facebook and Twitter, and so it was just a matter of time before location king Foursquare could get in on the action. Read the rest of this entry »

Virtual goods have slowly begun making their way into mainstream society. Target today is announcing that it will be carrying Facebook Credits gift cards nationwide, making it the first brick-and-mortar retailer to do so. With the virtual goods industry blooming, both Facebook and Target expect these cards to become hits as gifts. More after the jump.

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LivingSocial is one of a handful of major daily deals providers fighting for dominance in the group coupons/local deals space – and they’ve just added a new tool to their arsenal to try to beat out the competition. While they have had a presence in over 20 major cities for several months now, LivingSocial has just announced their new hyperlocal deals targeting not cities but neighborhoods. These deals are even more location-specific than others. Read below the jump to see if you are in one of the first neighborhoods to get your very own daily deals.
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