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Twitter Releases 2012 Sundance Film Festival Must-Follow List

sundance image


Twitter is getting into the Sundance Film Festival buzz with a list of must-follow accounts from top filmmakers, critics and interesting voices that will be at this year’s movie extravaganza. The Twitter list is a way to promote the festival’s growing social media presence as well as allow movie fans who can’t travel to Utah to participate in the festivities from afar.

The list, called Sundance2012filmmakers, includes filmmakers such as @SpikeLee (Spike Lee, Red Hook Summer), @Birbigs (Mike Birbiglia, Sleepwalk With Me) and @EricWareheim (Eric Wareheim, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Move).

It also includes other festival-goers including actors such as @hitRECordjoe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), rappers-turned-actors like @Common (Common) and film critics including @aoscott (A.O. Scott, the New York Times). The list is curated by Basil Tsiokos, a programming associate for the Sundance Film Festival (@sundancefest).

If you want to get behind-the-scenes video and exclusive content, the Sundance Twitter account or Tsiokos’ Twitter list can be a bit of a chore. Go to Sundance’s Facebook page to get easy access to videos such as director Alison Klayman speaking about her documentary about Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, or catch an ongoing livestream of interviews and features from the festival.

The movie industry is becoming more social. Studios and filmmakers are realizing social media is a great way to promote their movies, especially for smaller films that may not be able to buy TV spots. One such movie, Indie Game: The Movie is making its debut at Sundance. The documentary used Kickstarter to help raise more than $100,000 — all while building an engaged and loyal audience.

Will you be following the 2012 Sundance Film Fesitval on Twitter? How important is social media for modern films?

Image courtesy of Calvin Knight and Sundance Film Festival

More About: Film, movie, Social Media, Twitter

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from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/01/20/sundance-film-festival-twitter-list/?utm_sourc...

Y Combinator Wants To Kill Hollywood

An anonymous reader writes "Y Combinator, a firm that invests in startups, has put out a call to kill Hollywood. In a post on their site, the firm said attempts at legislation similar to SOPA wouldn't stop until there is no industry left to protect. They now want to incubate ideas for new types of entertainment, so we can evolve the movie and television industries. Quoting: 'There will be several answers, ranging from new ways to produce and distribute shows, through new media (e.g. games) that look a lot like shows but are more interactive, to things (e.g. social sites and apps) that have little in common with movies and TV except competing with them for finite audience attention. Some of the best ideas may initially look like they're serving the movie and TV industries. Microsoft seemed like a technology supplier to IBM before eating their lunch, and Google did the same thing to Yahoo.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

from Slashdot http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/12/01/21/1550229/y-combinator-wants-t...

Project Bifrost: (Fission) Rockets of the Future?

astroengine writes "Researchers from Icarus Interstellar Inc. and General Propulsion Science have announced their intention to pursue the development of Nuclear Thermal Rockets and other fission-based space technologies. The aim? To revolutionize space travel, ultimately paving the way to the goal of sending a probe to another star."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

from Slashdot http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/01/21/0927258/project-bifrost-fission-ro...

What Can Twitter Tell Us About the South Carolina Primary?


What’s the social sentiment on Twitter saying about Saturday’s South Carolina Primary? Mashable teamed up with social media analysis company Global Point Research to find out.

In the latest results from Public Policy Polling (PPP), Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is strong heading into tonight’s primary. He has a nine point lead over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum just barely edged out Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) for third place.

The latest American Research Group poll also shows Gingrich leading the rest of the candidates by a wide margin.

Gingrich’s sudden burst of energy is mirrored on Twitter. Ron Paul is doing much better among Twitter users than in the PPP poll, ranking just under Gingrich. Romney and Santorum are falling flat on the microblogging service, with the least positive sentiment surrounding their campaigns:

Twitter suggests strong showings for Gingrich and Paul, but a less spectacular night for Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.

In Iowa, we found that Romney’s Twitter status fell flat, while Santorum’s spiked — and Santorum was recently declared the winner. New Hampshire’s results showed a clear advantage for Romney, who ran away with the contest.

In research Global Point has done in the past, its data tends to be about two weeks ahead of polls and elections. For their analysis, Global Point used tweets from Jan. 15 – Jan. 20 which mentioned the South Carolina primary. Their weighted metric combines tweet volume and retweets with detailed sentiment analysis.

The PPP polled 1,540 “likely Republican voters,” and had a margin of error of 2.5%.

Global Point’s data isn’t a scientific poll. However, we’re asking: Is it useful to look at social media sentiment ahead of an election?

We’ll continue to answer that question, but what do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, JamesBrey

More About: 2012 presidential campaign, Twitter


from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/01/21/twitter-south-carolina/?utm_source=feedburner&...

Announcing gzip compression for Streaming APIs

A piece of feedback we regularly get from Streaming API consumers is that the bandwidth required to maintain a connection can be very large for high-traffic connections such as the Firehose and Site Streams. As the number of Tweets flowing through Twitter's servers grows, this has been a bigger and bigger problem. I'm happy to announce that we've started rolling out code which will help address this, by sending gzipped streams to consumers who request them.

read more

from Twitter Developers blogs https://dev.twitter.com/blog/announcing-gzip-compression-streaming-apis

3 Metrics that Will Change the Way You Market on Facebook


Amy Porterfield is the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies and creator of the Facebook marketing training program, FBinfluence. You can join her on Facebook at facebook.com/AmyPorterfield or read her blog at AmyPorterfield.com.

Facebook isn’t just the largest social networking site on the web (with more than 800 million active users); it also collects a massive amount of information about those users. Through the newly revamped Facebook Insights, Page owners can access a staggering amount of information about their fans’ activities. This information gives business owners valuable insight into what they need to do to give fans a better experience and, in turn, achieve better marketing results.

But it can be challenging to sift through all that data. An easy way to avoid metrics overdose is to find and target just a few key metrics.

Below is an overview of three game-changing metrics you should be tracking, along with concrete tips for improving your Page’s performance in each area.


1. Track ”People Talking About This”


People Talking About This is one of the new metrics for Facebook Pages. Unlike other metrics on your Insights dashboard, it’s also the only one visible to the public.

This number represents the total number of people who, over the past seven days, have engaged with your Page in any way — by Liking it, commenting on or sharing a post, answering a question, tagging your Page, or responding to an event. In your Insights dashboard, you’ll also see a percentage increase or decrease next to the current number, so you can compare this week’s engagement against last week’s stats.

If you want to build a thriving community on Facebook — or if you want to turn existing fans into raving super fans — engagement is the most critical metric you can track. And People Talking About This is a good measure of overall engagement.

Luckily, the best way to increase engagement is easy: Just ask.

Ask your fans questions, request their opinions, and ask people to click. Don’t post, “I’m excited about the Superbowl this year!” Instead, write, “Click Like if you’re excited about the Superbowl this year!” You can also ask people to share your content. I might write, “If you found this tip useful, make sure to share it with your friends.” Inserting mini calls-to-action reminds your audiences to act, not just read.

Tip: Never let a post go unattended — meaning, when someone does comment, Like or share your post, reach out to him personally and acknowledge his action with a thank you, or use it as an opportunity to expand the conversation. But whatever you do, don’t leave fans hanging.


2. Track “Engaged Users”


On your Insights dashboard, you’ll see a chart in the Page Post Information area with a column called “Engaged Users.” The number represents the number of unique people to have clicked anywhere on that post. (Note: Insights only tracks this for 28 days.)

Hint: If you click on the number itself, you’ll also see a pie chart with types of clicks, including “other,” which counts the clicks not included in any other metric (clicking on someone’s name, for example). This shows you how many people are really paying attention, even if they don’t comment or click Like.

Engaged Users is another engagement-related metric, but since it tracks actual clicks, you can see how your audience interacts with your posts — and use this information to craft more engaging calls-to-action.

Tip: Target posts to your ideal audience. If you’re not getting steady, increasing clicks on your posts over time, the most likely culprit is that you’re not giving your audience members the information they need.

To create more targeted posts, ask yourself:

  • Who is my ideal audience? Age? Male/Female? Location?
  • What type of information do they want from me?
  • What are the main challenges I can solve for them?

Instead of guessing the answers, collect feedback online or use Facebook polls to find out more about what your audience is actually looking for.


3. Track “External Referrers”


Click on Reach (under Insights in your sidebar) and scroll down to find “External Referrers.” You’ll see a list that shows how many times people arrived on your Facebook Page from an external site during a selected date range.

All business owners should know where and how people are finding them online. While it’s important to direct traffic from social media to your main “hub,” whether it’s a blog or a static business site, bringing traffic onto your Facebook Page is also important.

Why? Because Facebook allows you to have conversations and build relationships that you just can’t have on a regular website. Those conversations can yield powerful market insights and, eventually, lead to actual sales.

Tip: Actively drive traffic to Facebook. Start by determining where your current referrals are coming from, and then ask yourself whether you’re doing all of the following.

  • Am I optimizing my Facebook Page so that when Google indexes Facebook, users find my Page too? Make sure to include keyword-rich information on your “Info Tab” to help users find you easily.
  • Am I doing enough outside of my website and Page to bring traffic in? One way to do this is by guest posting to blogs in your niche, especially highly trafficked blogs. In general, getting yourself out there is good, whether by webinars, teleconferences, interviews or free online trainings. Each is a great forum for driving more traffic to your Facebook Page — and you can get feedback on participant experiences when they stop by.
  • Does my website account for some of my referrals? If not, make some changes to your business site. Add a Like box social plugin, include share buttons, and of course, display your social icons in a visible place on every page.

Have you started actively monitoring Insights yet? Which metrics have yielded the most valuable business insights? Share your experience in the comments.

Image courtesy of Flickr, GOIABA (Goiabarea)

More About: contributor, Facebook, facebook insights, features, Marketing, metrics

For more Business coverage:

from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/01/20/facebook-metrics-marketing/?utm_source=feedbur...

Time Warner Cable app streams live TV to iPhones, no longer iPad-only

After finally issuing a version of its TWC TV app for Android tablets and phones (sans-live TV streaming, for now) Time Warner Cable has finally made its iOS version, which launched last March on the iPad, compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch. There's no additional charge for the app which allows for the aforementioned live TV viewing (as long as you're on your home WiFi) and DVR scheduling, and the accompanying blog post reveals the available list of channels has reached 196. We should probably mention that the app is unlikely to play nicely with any jailbroken iOS devices it encounters, so some extra hackery may be in order to get things working there. Otherwise, Time Warner customers can grab it now from iTunes at the source link below.

[Thanks, Jason]

Continue reading Time Warner Cable app streams live TV to iPhones, no longer iPad-only

Time Warner Cable app streams live TV to iPhones, no longer iPad-only originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/twc-tv-for-iphone/

Recon partners with Scott and Smith, brings MOD to the masses

We love Recon's MOD system for Ski-goggles, especially now that it's open to developers. Starting soon, an avalanche of new winter-sports enthusiasts will be able to wear the multi-sensor based statistics system atop their eyeballs, thanks to a new partnership with both Scott and Smith. The GPS touting in-goggle display will be unveiled in the new family of eyeware at a slew of outdoor sports events this month. Of course, if you're still unsure the tech is up to your hardcore ski routine, have a word with these guys. Want to know more? We thought so. Slide on past the break to read the full PR.

Continue reading Recon partners with Scott and Smith, brings MOD to the masses

Recon partners with Scott and Smith, brings MOD to the masses originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/18/recon-partners-with-scott-and-smith-brings...

Comcast launches live TV on iPad

There's a number of live TV-streaming apps out there for cable subscribers, and Comcast has added its AnyPlay service to the mix. Part of the Xfinity TV iPad app, AnyPlay allows subscribers with Xfinity HD Triple Play to access live cable programming at home via the iPad. Those who are traveling can't access their cable but can utilize Xfinity's On Demand services.

The service is restricted to the Denver and Nashville area for now with further rollouts planned. Xfinity's mobile app also just received an update with the ability to send free texts using the app and an Xfinity home phone number.

Comcast launches live TV on iPad originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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from TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2012/01/10/comcast-launches-live-tv-on-ipad/