- Location-based social networking (Google Maps meets Facebook with Socialight opening up its tools to mobile developers - Michael Sharon, Socialight's CEO, will be a speaker at the Ypulse Mashup in July!) (Mashable)
- Aniboom goes mobile (the ugc animation site also happens to be a Mashup speaker) (Media Post, reg. required)
- Rapping about 'The Economist' (the song, along with a new "Economist" Facebook group, is bringing an unexpected young surge of readers to the periodical) (Guardian)
- 'Truth' ads are a tad out of touch (claims AdRants citing ancient quotes from now-deceased tobacco bigwigs has little sway with teens)
Every young person knows someone who has lost an interview, a job, or some sort of professional opportunity because of scandalous activity posted on their public social networking profiles. An article in today's Washington Post (reg. required) reported a recent increase in the use of aliases on websites like MySpace and Facebook. More and more people are creating alter-egos to keep strangers out and and unfiltered information intact. Resorting to a fictional name sounds a bit extreme, especially with the prevalence of privacy controls and ease of "untagging" unflattering photographs. It also defeats the purpose of utilizing the "networking" aspect of these networking sites. It is awfully tough to climb the proverbial ladder under someone else's name.
Deleting an existing account and creating an alter ego is, in most cases, unnecessary. Say you just graduated from college and snagged your first "grown up" job. After your first day of work, you receive a friend request from your boss on Facebook. What are your options?
1) Decline friend request. After all, this is your boss, not your buddy.
2) Accept friendship, but only allow limited profile viewing.
3) Delete your hard-partying pictures. You're a professional now, welcome to the real world.
Recent grads might miss those photos, but there are certainly benefits to keeping a profile with your actual name. Online networking can be endlessly beneficial, especially for young professionals who are moving to new cities and starting new jobs. And for those still on the job hunt, social networking sites can also help uncover the perfect job - though preferably not under that fake name. The New York Times (reg. required) recently reported a rise in utilizing Facebook for the sole purpose of business networking. New applications from CareerBuilder.com and Jobster.com even help people kick off the job search from the comfort of their own personal profiles.
While Facebook can be a daily reminder of what college life was like, it also has the potential to be a shiny free resume for everyone to see. In the end, it comes down to deciding whether snapshots of beer bongs and keg stands or business contacts and career options mean more to young people leaving college. No one said it was going to be an easy decision.
Teens are largely uninformed when it comes to news, and those who do keep up often get their daily dose through "The Daily Show" and "The Onion." Classic news sources -- their parents' papers of choice -- are overlooked in favor of blogs, networking sites and Google.
MSNBC is ready to change that with their shiny new NewsWare service. One interactive tool merges the news spectrum with the color spectrum, presenting you with color-coded headlines of interest. It really is quite the news experience, reminding me of a trippy computer screen saver that unexpectedly incorporates interesting news bites. Coincidentally, you can indeed set it up as your screen saver and receive headlines while your computer is idle.
If you aren't away from your computer long enough to need a screen saver, Newsware also allows you to create your own customizable news widget to embed on your blog, Facebook profile, or desktop.
Perhaps the most interesting feature is the arcade of news headline games, dubbed "news gaming" by the folks at MSNBC. Although I can't imagine getting my headlines while trying to race against time to destroy all of the orbs, it might be an appealing to stay informed to a Wii-obsessed teenage boy.
This comes on the heels of the launch of iCue, NBC New's social education website. In hopes that "video will replace the textbook," iCue is a mix of news clips, study guides, and educational games.
Both sites offer a sleek, engaging design and quick, informative flashes of news. From a convenience perspective, they certainly beat the lowly ol' newspaper. However, it will be interesting to see how they fare with teenagers, the target market of both Newsware and iCue.
Somewhere in syndication lives a very memorable episode of "Friends" where Ross plans his birthday celebration at a fancy restaurant, and Rachel, Joey and Phoebe confess that they don't earn enough money for such elegant dinners. The wealthier of the group offer to pay for the not-so-wealthy to come along, and then the dreaded "charity case" emotions arise. Leave it to "Friends" to make such a delicate circumstance so comical. Of course, if the "Friends" clan had discussed their salaries in the first place, this sticky situation would have been avoided altogether.
An article in The New York Times (reg. required) reports that professionals under the age of 35 openly discuss finances the same way they chat about last night's episode of "The Office." Though many have no idea how much their parents make, they can rattle off the salaries of their entire circle of friends. Then again, if a quick Google search can reveal any career salary, what's the use in being modest about it?
Close friends have always had a holds-no-barriers policy, but this hasn't extended to finances until recently. With the struggling economy and challenging housing market, discussing money candidly can bring a "we're all in this together" reassurance. Pursestrings are inevitably tightening, whether you make 40 or 80 grand, so seeking solace with your friends is comforting.
Professionally, comparing salaries can be a smart move. The realization that you are making comparatively less than your equally-qualified pals can give you a necessary push back into the job market. This knowledge can also be beneficial when negotiating raises and bonuses. In NYT, one software developer profited from knowing what his skills were worth:
"People started leaving firms to go to other companies, and they were getting 15, 20, 25 percent raises," recalled Mr. Wang, who can name what his 30 or so closest friends earn "within a bandwidth of $5,000." "I thought, why not go out and see what my true market rate is? I found out that there were two companies both willing to pay 18 percent more, so I left."
And then there is the "Friends" complex. Call it the modern day version of "Keeping up with the Joneses." If your spending habits pale in comparison to your friends because your budget doesn't allow weekly shopping adventures and nightly lingering dinners, the wealthier of the circle have two choices: 1) be considerate and generous or 2) find new pals.
- A grandma's guide to clubbing (Young grandmothers in Britain are hitting the clubs in a very Mrs. Robinson kind of way) (The Mail)
- A topless Hannah Montana (An embarrassed Miley apologizes about provocative photos in Vanity Fair) (Associated Press)
- Hilary Duff heads to '90210' (the Duffster is said to be joining the cast of the new Aaron Spelling-spinoff show) (E! Online)
- Celebrities love OP (the beachy clothing label is enlisting B-listers like Kristin Cavallari, Christina Milian, and Pete Wentz to revive their image)
- Kurt Cobain + Coco Chanel (Karl Lagerfeld is said to be eying the daughter of king and queen of grunge, Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, for future ad campaigns) (United Press International)
- Teens watch ABC Family (Gen Y loves "Greek" and "Kyle XY" because they are "really much more optimistic than the previous two generations") (Multichannel News)
'MTV's Baby Woodwards' (The New York Observer on the teens behind MTV's new reality series "The Paper," which I can't wait to watch. Plus MTV attempting to reclaim its music roots with an "I Want My Music On MTV" contest? And the competition heats up online - Pitchfork.tv joins Videoogum in the indie music online video space)
- 'HSM 4' will happen (most likely without the original "High School Musical" cast "in tact") (MediaPost, reg. required)
Remember Miss O & Friends? (the tween girl site founded by now 19-year-old Juliette Brindak? They tell me that Procter & Gamble is their single largest investor and mentioned their stuff will be in Target stores later this year. According to CosmoGIRL! the company is now valued at $15 million)
- Victoria's Secret may be going less sexy (but not the Pussycat Dolls - they're launching their own line of lingerie - who cares if their TV audience is tween girls!?) (New York Magazine)
- 'Step Up' (case study of how Disney marketed the sequel on MySpace towards the bottom of this how to market on social networking sites piece...what? A teen movie profile with an existing following on MySpace did well? Plus ReelPop reviews Bebo's latest video effort "Sophia's Diary"...no webcam/handheld look this time around) (AdAge.com, reg. required)
- Honesty not always the best policy (at least when it comes to Facebook apps -- the "Honesty Box" is quickly becoming a cyberbullying tool) (New York Times, reg. required)
KOL is back (with partners like the tween girl avatar site Girlsense and National Geographic Kids. Plus Disney launches Disney Online Studios to produce more games/virtual worlds. And Kidzui -- a new "walled garden" approach for kids) (Forbes)
- YouIntern (kind of like a RateMyTeachers for internships or really more reminiscent of The Vault)
- 18in08 on CSPAN (Ypulse College Mashup speaker David Burstein interviewed on the youth vote. Plus Obamaeton - supporters create a Reggaeton Obama song/video)
- The ACLU (defending our right to free speech, even if it's speech some disagree with - they've taken on the case of a high school student who wanted to wear her anti-gay T) (The Bloomington Pantagraph)
- Risky wrestling (teens who watch wrestling take more health risks...kind of like teens who watch MTV's Jackass....) (Reuters)
- My So-Called 'quarterlife' (Marshall Herskovitz writes about how the series came about...and is interviewed by NewTeeVee - Sidenote: I just rewatched My So-Called Life after watching Freaks & Geeks, and have to say, way more into Freaks & Geeks. The parents on MSCL really bug me)
Hopped up on candy (it used to be just the sugar, now its caffeine to compete with energy drinks. This doesn't seem like a good thing) (WSJ)
- Metromix to launch in L.A. (Tribune's free weekly aimed at the Millennial set to launch a print version in Los Angeles -- it's already popular in Chicago) (AdAge.com, reg. required)
- Kim Kardashian (to star in the latest Bongo campaign. Paris Hilton paved the way for going from socialite to reality star to endorser of product...I wonder who will be next?) (press release)
OMG! The Pope just texted me! (Pope Benedict will send inspirational messages on "World Youth Day") (via Yahoo! News)
