When it looked like it would exceed one billion views on YouTube by the summer of 2012, Korean singer Psy's Gangnam Style headed into the record books for the sheer number of people who have watched the video and heard the music. Today, it's become the most watched video on YouTube of all time. Now, says YouTube, it exceeds two billion views and, as a result, Google has devoted more servers to handle the traffic. Reshared post from YouTube on Google+: We never thought a video would be … [Read more...] about Astounding Psy
Google+
More possibilities with extended-time live video from Google+
Wow - now you can do a Google Hangout On Air (a live video broadcast) for up to 8 hours! That's a huge amount of additional time from the previous 1-hour-maximum you had. And remember: up to 8 hours means just that - you don't have to do 8 whole hours. Oh what possibilities! Here are just 4: A live idea-a-thon to flesh out thinking and ideas for brand engagement via live participation with brand owners, customers and fans on the social web. Live segments over a set period with … [Read more...] about More possibilities with extended-time live video from Google+
Think of the new Gmail/Google+ features as part of the identity jigsaw
Last week, Google announced the addition of an interesting new feature to Gmail - the ability for people you know on Google+ to email you even if they don't have your email address. And vice-versa. I first heard about it through seeing posts and reports galore about "how to disable Google's new Gmail feature," clearly suggesting that an awful lot of people see this as something really bad and to be avoided. In fact, I'm ok with the idea as explained by Google, that enables anyone in my … [Read more...] about Think of the new Gmail/Google+ features as part of the identity jigsaw
Getting personal with a custom Google+ address
Ever since Google introduced Google+ in 2011, a big frustration for many users of the embryonic social network was letting people know where to find them. That means a web address or URL: something you can let people know about so that it's easy for them to find you on Google+. Except that it wasn't easy when your Google+ address was something like https://plus.google.com/116986422495636163350. That happens to be my Google+ address. Hardly memorable, is it? Now, though, it really is … [Read more...] about Getting personal with a custom Google+ address
The difference between America and Europe
Reshared post from The Economist: Today's #Dailychart shows how entrepreneurship differs wildly among countries. America is an engine of innovation, as attested by the upcoming public listing of Twitter, which aims to fetch a cool $1 billion. How do other countries rank in terms of entrepreneurship? Sadly, not so well http://econ.st/1f62ZQG View this post on Google+ Many of my American friends have a "Yes you can!" approach to things. I compare that to many of my European friends who are … [Read more...] about The difference between America and Europe
The over-arching strategy for Google+
One of the characteristics of any conversation about Google+ is a view that not many people actually use it - mostly the "users" versus "active users" argument - and how it will fail as it's not like Facebook or Twitter as a social network. Speaking as an "active user" since Google field trialled Google+ in mid 2011, I'd agree with that latter point - it isn't like Facebook or Twitter. Don't take my word for it, though - hear what a voice of Google has to say on the matter. The Drum … [Read more...] about The over-arching strategy for Google+
Google makes it easier for people to find and amplify trusted content
Of two new Google+ features announced yesterday by Google - authorship attribution and embedding posts - the latter caught my imagination straightaway. If you want to embed a post published publicly on Google+, you can now embed that content in your own blog or website by simply adding a few pieces of code. Making it happen is quite easy: […] If you’re a site owner and you’d like to embed a post, simply find a public post on Google+, and select ‘Embed post’ from the drop-down menu. Copy … [Read more...] about Google makes it easier for people to find and amplify trusted content
Connecting content and the social conversations
A topic Shel and I discuss in this week's FIR podcast episode 715 is commenting on blogs. More specifically, about the conversation that can happen in response to a post someone writes and publishes on a blog, and where the conversation actually takes place. Increasingly, it's not on the blog itself - it's on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, anywhere across the social web except in the comments section of the blog post that prompted someone to add their two pence-worth. Here's an example: … [Read more...] about Connecting content and the social conversations