YouTube ads for viral videos: 'buzz targeting'

I found this interesting article written by Stephen Shankland on you tube it's pretty neat.Google is starting to share more details about its high priority of making more money off YouTube's popularity, introducing an advertising product on Tuesday called buzz targeting.
The ad product uses an algorithm to find videos that are about to "go viral," when word of mouth (or IM, or blog, or e-mail) promotes a Web site to a phase in which it spreads like wildfire. In this case, ads are overlaid on the bottom fifth of viral videos supplied by YouTube partners who share ad revenue with the search giant.
Making more money off YouTube is Google's "highest priority," Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said in April. The company is working on new YouTube ad possibilities, he said last week.
Until now, YouTube ad campaigns have been more targeted to specific demographics. Buzz targeting adds a broader option, though the ads still are sold as categories such as entertainment or how-to, a YouTube representative said.
Lions Gate was the first advertiser to sign up, using buzz targeting to promote a film, The Forbidden Kingdom, on 500 different videos. "Buzz targeting allowed us to reach a very large, diverse audience," Danielle DePalma, Lions Gate's director of digital media, said in a statement.

Facebook makes you think about the future of social networking

This is a very nice article I found,on social networks author unknown.The original idea of Facebook was good because it served a real purpose in a normal environment for a niche group of people. But it wasn’t long before the company got lost in the network effect and everything turned into a storm of virtual critters inviting me to bite my friends. Now that’s a good time, especially when the critters can get to me before my email messages. Wrong order of operations for the “social utility that connects you with the people around you.”
More astounding is the fact that fun dominates the Facebook playhouse and is making it incredibly difficult to stay around and wait for the real value of the service to emerge (for the user, not the business). MySpace pioneered social networking mayhem. With all the crazy profile features and advertising I’ve never been able to feel at home. LinkedIn on the other hand targets an audience through a niche service and feels more welcoming than both MySpace and Facebook, leading me to believe they will walk away victorious.
The sad truth is we’ve all been pointing at Facebook, but the numbers are an indication of the world we live in and the ways people utilize their time, which has nothing to do with Facebook other than they offer users a place to do it. Fun is not a bad thing at all and of course fun is part of any business that becomes successful, but I’d like to think that for the sake of society, fun means something different. Go outside, run around. Don’t bite people.
The first time anyone signed up to join a social network it was fun because it was new and made it easier to connect with lots of people from all over the world. Consider that at some point the developed world will be full of people who were born into social networks. The dynamics of the game will have evolved and at that point, Facebook and MySpace will hold less purpose because they fail to pinpoint a niche audience and it will have become distasteful to see so much at once.The social networks that survive the changing times will be niche sites like LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter and FriendFeed. Think of niche social networks as TV channels. What are the characteristics of TV channels? You watch one channel at a time (LinkedIn business contacts channel, YouTube video channel, Flick photo channel, Twitter messaging channel) and one special channel serves as a guide to all the other channels (FriendFeed channel guide). I want my Internet like my TV - a proven and logical format.
Data portability is the key to unlocking this freedom. The way Facebook and MySpace try to bring so many features onto one screen is overwhelming and there’s been a lot of problems because of it. I’m voting for channels and decentralized authority. Facebook will never be the mecca of my digital life and I think other people feel this way too. What do we really need it for? To bite people..
LinkedIn + YouTube + Flickr + Twitter + FriendFeed - MySpace - Facebook = my recommendation for an improved social networking experience.

Claim Your Brand Name on Social Networks or Suffer

I found this article written by Dan Schawbel,I thought it was very interesting of what could happen to anyone.
There has been much debate in the blogosphere about Seth Godin’s Twitter account. He never registered his name on Twitter and someone took it. This individual used his avatar, information and actually tweeted using this account. Fake Seth now has 4,375 followers and has sent 476 updates. Luckily for Seth, he blogged about this and the person who owns the Twitter account has only syndicated his blog, rather than torture his brand by misrepresentation. I’ve also seen fake Chris Brogan accounts and a few other “internet celebrities” being taken on Facebook. Truth be told, many of these individuals don’t seem to care because they are so high above the status quo that they feel their reputation can’t be burst into oblivion. Some may register their domain names, while others may forget to sign-up for the top social networks. Today’s post will tell you how to protect and secure your name, so you don’t suffer later.
“I have no idea how to kick someone off my name. What if they have the same name? Is this a productive use of my time if all this person is doing is reposting my blog? That’s not dishonest or wrong, it’s sort of a nice service.” - Seth Godin, Best Selling Author and BloggerHere is what you need to know
#1 - Purchase yourname.com and if you haven’t yet, I posted the procedure.
#2 - Review the social networking checklist to identify which social networks to join and which to stay away from.
#3 - Register your full name on each social network. I recommend Twitter, Facebook, Wordpress.com, LinkedIn.com, Technorati, MyBlogLog, and YouTube for starters.
#4 - Start an excel spreadsheet or the Apple equivalent and list the social networks you’re apart of, as well as the login information and time they were last updated. The purpose here is to let each profile grow as you develop, so you aren’t misrepresented and don’t lose opportunities.
#5 - Pay attention to what social networks are gaining traction by subscribing to blogs that showcase new social networks and that keep a tally on what’s hot.