Soren Gordhamer works with individuals and groups on how to effectively use new technologies. He is the author of the book, Wisdom 2.0 and the organizer of the Wisdom 2.0 Conference. He is @SorenG on Twitter.

The most radical shift to media in recent years is that we now have a central real-time hub that serves to enhance every other content platform on the web. Sure, we could always use RSS for blogs, and sign up to follow a person’s activity on a video or photo sharing site, but used correctly, Twitter now provides a one-stop, real-time service for all of a person’s content. It allows us something that in the past only huge corporations could have: our own broadcasting network. If you’re on Twitter, and to a certain extent Facebook, you are in the broadcasting business.

Of course, real-time status sites like those very much depend on other services: YouTube and other video sharing sites, Flickr and photo sites, and WordPress, Blogger, and the rest are all important for publishing and hosting content. However, Twitter and its ilk provide the hub, the means of connecting all of one’s online activity to create a real-time, people-run and directed broadcasting network.

This is powerfully and significantly changing the nature of media.

1. Shared media: Not yours but our media

New media is increasingly becoming shared media. Though one person initially creates a tweet or links to a story, whatever you broadcast on your network, I can also broadcast too. On Twitter, of course, it is called retweeting. This is a huge shift in media.

Sure, in the past, you could always email or call a friend to inform him or her of a quality news story or TV show; now, however, in a matter of seconds you can share this information on your broadcasting network via Twitter or Facebook, with tens, hundreds, or even thousands of people. It’s not my or your media anymore; it’s our media, and we can all broadcast it.

2. Power of the crowd: People pick the news

In the past, what people thought of as “news” was what was reported that day in the New York Times or CNN. In an age where we all possess our own broadcasting network, though, smaller stations have greater power. Of course, a post on Twitter from CNN, which has over two million followers, will get more views than one from Joe Smith who has 20 followers will, but Joe Smith is at least in the game now, where he was not previously.

In the new media landscape, the task of defining what is the news that matters to people lies less with a few major media outlets, and much more with the millions of small outlets like you and I who each choose what to talk about. Increasingly, lots of littles, in aggregate, are becoming more powerful than a handful of bigs.

3. Multiple streams: No one kind of content rules

In this new era, no one means of content rules. Text, pictures, videos, you name it, all can be shared via a site like Twitter. Sure, you post videos and photos elsewhere and link to them, but Twitter provides the hub to broadcast that media to consumers. Also, applications like Power Twitter are enhancing the Twitter experience so that rich media can be embedded and viewed right in one’s Twitter stream.

The focus is less on the type of content, and more on the quality of it.

4. Personal: Connections to people, not just content

Media is also becoming more personal. More and more people expect their broadcasting networks to be people with personalities, not simply sources of news. We want to know as much about the person reporting news as we do the news they are reporting. Broadcasting is more a personal act than ever, as users seek to have connections not just to content but to people.

This is happening at every level, from the small, citizen powered networks I talked about above, to the major mainstream media networks whose personalities are beginning to interact directly with viewers and readers on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

5. Interactive: Responding, Not Just Consuming

Who could have predicted that you could get into a discussion with a major news outlet about a story they posted or with a major celebrity about a movie they just acted in? Yet today, this happens everyday on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites. People seek not only to consume media from broadcasting networks, but to also respond to the newsmakers, and Twitter, perhaps more than anywhere else, allows this. Our age is one of interactive broadcasting networks.

Conclusion

While all the various content sharing sites are useful, it helps to have a hub, a ring that ties them all together. The most obvious hub we have at our disposal today is Twitter, which acts as a central place where people can post or link to any and all content of their choosing, from a short thought to a blog post or video they created, to an article they have read.

It is this lack of restriction on the kind of content one shares, and the ability for people to follow one another to receive their updates, that has created the biggest and most profound change in media during our generation: giving each of us our own broadcasting network. Where we go from here no one knows, but so far it is pretty clear that this movement is making the world of media much less centralized, and much more people-driven. It is a different world: We are all broadcasters now and the new face of media, is you.

What are your thoughts about how Twitter and other social media sites have changes the media landscape? Let us know in the comments.

More social media resources from Mashable:

- 10 Most Extraordinary Twitter Updates
- 4 Ways Social Media is Changing Business
- 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business
- 6 Incredible Twitter Powered Art Projects
- HOW TO: Manage a Facebook Group

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, domin-domin

Tags: List, Lists, media, trending, twitter

The iPhone is a remarkable phone for browsing the web, but as for taking quality photos…well that’s debatable. There are a number of applications that attempt to enhance the camera experience, but we’ve just discovered the ultimate iPhone camera utility for serious photographers.

The soon-to-be released 8x Telescope with Hard Case from USBFever is not your ordinary iPhone accessory. It’s an iPhone 3G or 3GS hard case that comes with an accompanying stand and detachable telescope lens with 8x optical zoom and manual focus.

The case/lense combo retails for $28.99 and will start shipping on November 25, 2009. Using the accessory, you can snap photos and capture videos with your iPhone like never before.

On the upside, your iPhone can finally be used to shoot close-ups. We see it coming in handy when on vacation or at sporting events, concerts, and the like. On the downside, the iPhone accessory is a cheap way to turn your phone into a stalking device, and could be used by predators with less than pure motivations. Whether you view it as cool or creepy, you have to admit that the accessory does improve upon the iPhone camera.

Watch this short video which demonstrates the power of the telescope’s 8x optical zoom.

[via MacWorld]

Tags: camera, iphone, Telescope

Google SafeSearch has long provided concerned parents, and web searchers looking to avoid adult sites, an easy alternative for opting out of seeing adult sites in their Google search results.

Today Google has just released a feature to let you lockdown SafeSearch settings. Once you put your search on lockdown, you’ll need to enter a password to revert back, and you’ll know your results are safe because you’ll see big, colored balls.

Yep, Google’s trademark colors — green, yellow, red, and blue — take the form of large balls so that you can be visually assured, “even from across the room,” that the search experience is locked down.

Although the feature doesn’t appear to be rolled out to everyone yet, you will be able to turn on SafeSearch lock from your Search Settings page, and use the colored balls as an ongoing reference to ensure that you and your children aren’t exposed to inappropriate content.

Watch the video below for a demonstration of how to setup SafeSearch lock.

Tags: Google, google safesearch

Every few years the world gets visually assaulted with a trendy new shoe craze. This decade alone we’ve seen the rise (and fall) of Uggs, Crocs and Kashi Kicks. We can now add another shoe to the list: Diggs.

Seriously. The popular social media destination has teamed up with TOMS Shoes to launch a custom Digg shoe.

The shoe was designed by Digg employee Danny Trinh and features the Digg logo on the lining. You can watch Kevin Rose talk about the collaboration in this video:

We might not be big fans of the design, but there is something very cool about TOMS Shoes. Every pair of shoes you purchase from TOMS (Digg or not) will also include a pair of shoes donated to a child in need. Now that’s an idea we can get behind!

Would you wear Diggs? Let us know in the comments.

Tags: digg, shoes, toms shoes

Microsoft seems to have decided that this week is “roll out new features” week for its upstart search engine Bing. Yesterday the search engine infused new features into Bing Maps, and it also transformed MSN Video into Bing Video.

Today is no different. The search engine has just launched a trio of new features, headlined by one major addition that has been in the works for months: integration with the Wolfram Alpha Computational Engine.

For those who may not remember Wolfram Alpha , it garnered major hyped as a potentially new form of search. It received a lot of buzz at its launch, but the initial traffic spike has leveled off. Wolfram Alpha actually doesn’t search the web, but instead computes results based on your inputs (i.e. What’s the Biggest Country in the world?).

Now that computational power is part of Bing. When you search for food or nutritional information, you’ll be presented with Wolfram Alpha’s data on its calories, ingredients, composition, nutritional data, and more. Wolfram Alpha also appears when you type in equations. We’ve seen this integration before, and it is slick. Here’s a screenshot:

Bing also has added two other features: enhanced hover preview and full-page weather and event results. Hovering over any search result now includes a snapshot of the website in question, the most-clicked links of that website, the ability to search within that specific site, and longer text snippets. All of this gives you information before you even click.

In addition, weather results are now enhanced with a wide array of weather forecasts and details. There’s also a video of this in action (but you’re going to need Silverlight):

Bing continues to pile on the features as it tries to make headway against Google. The thing is though, all of these features are very useful and create a compelling reason to switch. And they’re not done yet: we know that more features are on their way this week, so tune in for our additional coverage.

Tags: bing, microsoft, wolfram alpha

Clay McDaniel is the principal and co-founder of social media marketing agency, Spring Creek Group. Find him via @springcreekgrp on Twitter.

The Internet has already radically changed the way we shop. Googling for promotion codes, free shipping, free return shipping, virtual models, live chats with sales associates – it’s all become common place. In fact, a recent study from Burst Media found that 85% of consumers will shop online this holiday season, and the majority of those people will continue to shop online throughout the year. Now that online shopping is widespread – just try finding someone who has never purchased an item on the Internet these days – it’s about to enter whole new dimension: social shopping.

What Is Social Shopping?

Many consumers are turning toward social networks like Facebook and Twitter, coupon aggregators like RetailMeNot and CouponCabin, and deal blogs like FatWallet or Dealfinder to find the best discounts and bargains – and they’re sharing these deals with friends, family, and the wider web. This social shopping behavior, in its nascent stages last year, is out in full force this holiday – which is why some 47% of online retailers plan to increase their use of social media this holiday season, according to the National Retail Foundation.

If you’re a retailer, you need to know what social shopping trends are taking hold, so you can incorporate them into your marketing efforts this holiday and beyond. And if you’re a consumer, well everyone loves a bargain, so read on for our list of five hot trends in social shopping!

1. Instantaneous Product Reviews

Nowadays, if you want to know how people feel about a product, service, or company, all you have to do is put the name in Twitter Search, Twendz, or any other number of “real-time” search engines and you get an up-to-the-minute streaming snapshot of buyer sentiment. Where we once had to search and decipher reviews on product review sites or on specific retailers’ sites, now we simply watch as others do the hard work for us.

Further, when you do feel particularly strongly about certain products, whether positive or negative, you have the ability, through social media, to contribute your own opinions to a wide audience. With Twitter and Facebook, you can push personal reviews out into whatever online channel you choose, sharing immediate opinions with not only your direct connections, but a much larger, interconnected network as well.

2. Real-Time Deals

Twitter skeptics are always quick to ask “what’s the point of Twitter anyway?” Well, the exclusive deals and discounts tweeted every day would be reason enough for most to give Twitter a try. Accounts like @woot, @bingcashback, @slickdeals, @fatwallet, and more offer real-time deals on products that are actually on people’s wish lists. Each of these services has thousands of followers, who find out about instant deals, coupons, and discounts on a wide range of products. Some of the promotions are only for Twitter followers, so you can’t get them elsewhere, and most are short in duration. Seeing “limited-time” offers used to mean you had days, or even weeks, to take advantage of a good deal. With Twitter, many of the deals shared work only for an hour or so.

3. Group Gifting

It’s an old practice – updated and made easier thanks to social media. You want to get a quality gift for someone, but your tight budget makes it impossible. Thanks to some new social shopping services, you can join monetary forces with your friends and turn your individually-meager finances into a collectively excellent gift.

Smaller sites like Lolligift have made this concept their bread and butter, and larger retailers are starting to take notice. Best Buy recently instituted a “Pitch In” program, where shoppers can register online for gifts they want, and send a notice to friends and relatives via e-mail or social networking sites like Facebook. Gift-givers can then sign up for the program online and pay for a portion of the listed items.

4. Being “Fashion Forward” Is Now A Lot Easier

Social Media can also help guide us in those purchase-making decisions that are not necessarily based on money or convenience, but rather on fashion and style. Instead of waiting each month for a new issue of W to arrive in the mail, you can get instant, daily fashion counsel on Twitter from @Coutorture or @highsnobiety, or via a number of other Twitter feeds dedicated solely to style trends and tips. Or learn how to affordably emulate your favorite star’s fashion-forward sense with advice from Rachel Zoe’s Facebook Page. Sign up to follow some of these fashonistas, who also sometimes offer special promotions via their feeds.

For true fashion addicts, social sites have emerged such as Shopflick and Us Trendy. These channels foster online shopping communities, where shoppers share thoughts, photos, and videos regarding the latest fashions and designers – and fashion experts and brands connect with and help trend-hungry consumers.

On the more exclusive side of online fashion are sites such as Rue La La and Gilt. These sample sales sites are invitation only, so in order to join the community you must be invited by an existing member. Once a member, you have access to the latest sales and offers for some of the most haute brands in the industry.

5. Pass on the Gift

Consumers shop to give, especially around the holidays. While gift-giving in someone’s honor is not new, social media helps charitable organizations increase these efforts by allowing givers and receivers to share their genuine thoughts in a variety of social channels.

Organizations active in social media, such as the grassroots volunteer group Heifer Portland, use the space to promote their cause giving through channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and Posterous. People are notified that a cow, llama, sheep, or other gift has been donated in their honor and can then share their appreciation via Tweet or Facebook post. It’s easy to learn about the bees someone just bought for their dad, or the goat that they want under their Christmas tree, or the chickens that were gifted to a family on someone’s behalf.

Not only is more awareness generated for the cause, you also know that something good has been done in your name.

More shopping resources from Mashable:

- 6 Superb Ways to Shop Using Social Media
- HOW TO: Use the Web for Socially Responsible Shopping
- 10 New Sites for Socially Responsible Shopping
- 9 Fantastic Facebook Pages for Fashion
- 5 of the Best iPhone Apps for In-Store Savings

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, berekin

Tags: List, Lists, social shopping, trending, trends

The movies have always been a communal, social experience. Whether you’re sitting in the theater with a hundred strangers or piled in your living room with family and friends, it’s just fun to watch movies with others.

Social media and our increasing addiction to digital technologies has had an interesting effect on the movie-watching experience. Admit it, how often do you send out a tweet while watching a Blu-ray or DVD title at home? How often do you check IMDB or scour Wikipedia for information about an actor or factoid in the film? Spot411 and Fox Home Entertainment have decided to partner together to better meld the social experience of watching a movie with social media.

FoxPop

Spot411 has developed an application called FoxPop that adds interactive elements to your movie watching experience. You can download FoxPop on your computer (it’s built using Adobe AIR so you can use it on Mac or PC) or use the free iPhone app that launches on December 1.

When you first start up the app, it looks like a regular Twitter or Facebook client. You can login with your credentials, send messages and see what others are doing or saying. However, the cool part is what happens when you start a FoxPop compatible movie. The software identifies what film is playing based on audio (so you can use the iPhone app while watching a movie in your home theater or the desktop app while watching on your laptop or desktop) and immediately skins itself to match the film.

At this point, based on where you are in the film, the FoxPop app will start showing you updates that include trivia, behind-the-scenes information about the film, and the coolest part — comments from your friends on Facebook that they’ve made about the film at the exact same place that you are watching. If your friends happen to be online, you can have kind of a real-time viewing party — but even if you are watching after your pal, you can still see what they think and leave them messages too.

You can pause the stream at any time if it is getting distracting and you can also go back and visit messages from your friends or the additional information provided by the app after you finish watching the movie. You can also find out behind the scenes information about the actors, crew members and soundtrack right from the app itself. Everything is self-contained inside the FoxPop app, meaning your movie window isn’t going to be obstructed.

Movies that Use FoxPop

The first big Fox release that utilizes FoxPop is the film “A Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” which comes out on DVD and Blu-ray on December 1 (the same day as the iPhone app). Future releases include “Jennifer’s Body,” and “(500) Days of Summer.” You can also use the Spot411 player with existing films like “WALL-E,” “The Dark Knight,” “Coraline,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Gran Turino.”

Each movie offers its own unique appearance to the FoxPop app — which just adds to the experience.

Try it Now

Spot411 has provided 1000 Mashable readers with beta access to the app now! You can go to http://signup.spot411.com/mashable to sign up and receive a download link.

We love the idea of integrating social media with the movies in a more interactive and fluid way. Integrating Twitter and Facebook into the experience — as well as providing additional information and value to the films themselves — is a really great way to adapt the traditional movie watching experience to the new ways of social interaction.

What do you think? Do you like the idea of commenting on movies with your Facebook friends? Let us know!

Tags: a night at the museum, foxpop, Movies, spot411

At this point, a fair number of Twitter users have the new retweet feature enabled (and if you’re not one of them, don’t worry, the rollout continues).

While we’ve weighed both the pros and the cons based on the early descriptions and screenshots provided by Twitter, company co-founder and CEO Evan Williams has taken to his blog to detail why exactly Twitter is making this change and why he believes it’s in everyone’s best interests.

Up front, perhaps the most important thing to know is that “old-school retweets” as Williams calls them will still be supported – so even if you don’t like the new feature or its rationale, you can still use Twitter the way you do now (though, the interface will still be a bit different, both on the website and third-party clients, most of which Williams says are adopting the new system).

In his post, Williams outlines the things he thinks the new system solves: attribution confusion, messages becoming messy or broken in the Twitter version of a game of telephone, and the repetitive and noisy nature of retweets as they exist currently. The features that solve that are showing the original author of the retweet, consolidating retweeters under that message, and not allowing comments (though, it’s not ruled out for the future).

What does all of it add up to? In Williams’ words “a more powerful system for helping people find out what’s happening now that they care about.” That’s not at all dissimilar to what Facebook (and previously FriendFeed) has done with “Likes,” using the data to highlight the top stories from your friends.

Of course, in Twitter’s case, much also depends on how developers implement the new feature. With a large portion of the Twitter community accessing the service via clients and mobile apps, it will be these implementations that help the feature sink or swim based on the perceived value it provides.

If you’re still undecided about the new retweet system, we suggest giving Williams’ post a thorough read. Meanwhile, if you’ve got the feature enabled, let us know what you think in the comments.

Tags: retweets, twitter

If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable’s Job Lists section gathers together all our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter.

But we’d like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable’s job boards are a place for socially-savvy companies to find people like you. This week and every week, Mashable features its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web, social media space, and beyond. Have a look at what’s good and new on our job boards:

Mashable Job Board Listings

The qualified candidate will have 5-7+ years account management experience in social media, online advertising or related field. They will bring a strong record of strategic client support to senior level CPG, Fortune 500 and/or Automotive clients and agencies.

Read more about this opportunity here.

We seek mid-to senior-level marketing professionals from corporate and/or agency backgrounds with seven or more years of marketing experience. We offer a wide variety of opportunities which change on a daily basis.

Read more about this opportunity here.

We’re looking for Drupal experts to join our team of “ninjas” who share an obsession about helping customers overcome roadblocks to make their Drupal sites rock. The right fit is someone with mad Drupal skills and an astute diagnostic mind coupled with warm people skills — “Support DNA”, we like to call it. Some have it, some don’t.

Read more about this opportunity here.

As Technical Architect, you will be involved in all stages of the client experience including pre-sales, engagement planning, implementation, project management, client management, and post-deployment escalation support. You will engage with clients and teammates as both a leader and an individual contributor, building and maintaining a high-level of technical and business credibility with our clients and partners.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Are you energized by the thought of jumping into a product development role and creating a company’s next great product? Do you have experience in the Internet, Cable or Telecom industries? Have you worked in a fast-paced technical or software environment? We are seeking a Product Development Manager who loves to write product requirement documents, provide technical consultation to an engineering team, and serve as a liaison between the customer and the engineering staff to facilitate the development of a great product.

Read more about this opportunity here.

We are an online marketing firm in Annapolis, Maryland We promote our website by search engine optimization (SEO), social media optimization (SMO) and paid placement (PPC). Our Online Community Manager will oversee and contribute content to support our customers and corporate objectives.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Acquia is looking for an exceptional visual designer to work on a contract to permanent basis. We’re looking for someone who is fast, truly talented and passionate about great design with an appreciation for usability. In this role, you’ll collaborate with internal creative, marketing and engineering teams to identify the vision of an entire site, page, UI component or advertisement and bring it to life.

Read more about this opportunity here.

We are seeking qualified Drupal developers to work on all aspects of Acquia’s customer-facing Drupal systems. Qualified developers will be building and adding capabilities to several systems and sites.

Read more about this opportunity here.

You’ll lead the development and maintenance of Acquia’s automated build, continuous integration, release and deployment systems, add and debug new components to the build, acquire and release tools and packages, improve the build process and infrastructure, manage branching and other subversion activities, and continuously improve our tools for building, unit testing, regression testing, and problem isolation of build, packaging and product problems.

Read more about this opportunity here.

The Interactive Marketing Manager works with the Director of Database Marketing and Innovation and property management to leverage, via multi-channel direct marketing programs, Barona’s competitive advantages represented by our customer database as well as various interactive, electronic, emerging, and other media. Design and develop objectives and strategies for properly integrated programs. Analyze the market in order to plan, direct and execute promotions that select the right channel(s) for each player and allow for robust web and behavioral analytics. Assist the Director in contributing to revenue growth through customer acquisition, retention and recovery programs. Provide creative, strategic and tactical support to the Director for other direct-response marketing programs.

Read more about this opportunity here.

ADF is seeking a full-time and highly professional Web Designer responsible for developing and executing creative concepts for all online marketing communication initiatives and the construction of all emails and landing page. The Web Designer is responsible for increasing the quality, quantity and turnaround time of all ADF online marketing communications. As a result, there will be an increase in team capacity – allowing ADF to respond to a greater number of requests and opportunities for growth. Other responsibilities include managing and updating all content on the ADF websites.

Read more about this opportunity here.

The Senior Account Director is responsible for driving our relationship and account team for a number of our retained clients within the automotive vertical. An experienced account manager with vertical expertise, coupled with a strong knowledge of social media strategy, tactics and channels is required with an ability to manage teams, and manage relationships with high-level executives at top global brands.

Read more about this opportunity here.

CREDO Action is seeking a fun, aggressive, political campaigner with good technical chops and strong copywriting skills to work in our office in downtown San Francisco. New media experience is a must.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Some of your duties include: maintain a php-based eCommerce website including custom shopping cart, develop the back-end infrastructure and front-end features of social community sites using PHP, MySQL, and other open-source technologies, maintain CMS infrastructure and ensure efficient process integration across different departments, and develop, design, test, and maintain highly innovative and scalable web-based applications coded in PHP & MySQL

Read more about this opportunity here.

IMRE, a full-service marketing agency located in Sparks, MD is seeking a full time Associate Account Executive for our Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing services team. The opportunity involves working with account teams to research and implement strategic campaigns for clients in home and building, financial services and healthcare. These campaigns could include the following tactics: blog/forum administration, social networking marketing, and ambassador and loyalist program development.

Read more about this opportunity here.

The digital publicist will: work closely with Discovery’s PR and Marketing teams to implement digital strategies for program promotables, which includes creating, distributing, pitching and placing media stories, materials and video; creating content and strategies for social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook; monitoring commentary re: Discovery properties and talent on online social networks, key blogs and forums; creating and executing digital reporting across the network.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Safari Sundays is looking to staff up our Organic Media team with a couple of Social Media interns. We have a number of interesting projects in the works, and need help managing the social aspects of our campaigns on a daily basis.

Read more about this opportunity here.

kgbweb is looking for an Office Sheriff to join our phenomenal and growing team. This is an ideal position for someone looking to work in a start-up environment.

Read more about this opportunity here.

A beauty industry giant is seeking a full-time interactive marketing strategist to developing strategies and manage day-to-day execution of digital marketing programs for professional haircare brands.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Act as social media leader on the RBNA digital marketing team. Cultivate and expand Red Bull’s use of social media as a communications channel across Red Bull stakeholder groups including consumers, employees, and partners. Assist cross-functional partners in applying social technologies and tools to achieve marketing and communications objectives. And more.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Are you a news junkie who craves local news? Do you receive breaking news updates on every mobile device you own? Are you a pro at creating sticky Web content? Can you spot a typo from a mile away? Do you dream in headlines? If you said yes to the above questions, you’re off to a good start! 1010 WINS is looking for a Weekend Web producer to post content to our all news, award-winning Web sites 1010wins.com, and WCBS880.com.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Are you a simplehuman? Do you want to be? Our mission is to create “tools for efficient living” for the home. Our products are designed to help make everyday chores just a little bit easier and more efficient. How we talk about our products, who we are and what we do is the focus of this position.

Read more about this opportunity here.

IMRE, an agency of marketing experts in the Healthcare, Home & Building and Financial Services industries, is seeking an experienced account executive to join our team in Sparks, MD. Position will manage word of mouth/social media projects and use their tactical mastery of social media tools including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin, blogs, forums, etc to identify and reach the key target audiences of our home and building clients.

Read more about this opportunity here.

The Online Community Manager will be in charge of the main marketing efforts for the community (including social/viral marketing, email marketing and more), maintaining a live and active relationship with contributors and Alumni Association Board Members, and managing various aspects of content on the website.

Read more about this opportunity here.

We need a person that understands what it takes not only to write in a compelling way that stands out, but also understands and has proven ability to get content referenced and linked to by other bloggers, news outlets, journalist etc.

Read more about this opportunity here.

isocket is looking for a few people to lead the development of our web application. We’re a funded pair of devoted and experienced entrepreneurs looking to expand our team of two. We’ve got a successful product in private beta testing with hundreds of people waiting for an invitation. We need people who are going to help us move faster, run better, and grow stronger.

Read more about this opportunity here.

The Front End Web Developer collaborates with User Experience Designers and Software Developers to build all manner of well-crafted, forward looking things, using modern standards-based techniques and best practices. Lead technical decisions relating to front end code, including CSS, XHTML, and OO JavaScript, and keep the ASP.NET software developers honest with respect to the front end.

Read more about this opportunity here.

New Media Strategies (NMS) the industry pioneer & global Leader in social media marketing and intelligence is seeking a driven, senior level sales & business development professional to serve as Regional Sales Director, Midwest. The qualified candidate will be based in Chicago and have 10 years sales experience in social media, online advertising or related field.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, seeks a director of web services. This position reports to the director of advancement and is an integral member of TCG’s external relations team along with development, marketing, membership, advocacy and PR.

Read more about this opportunity here.

We need a web developer to work full time on internal projects as well as client projects. We are a digital marketing agency, specializing in social media marketing. Dynamic work environment. Self starters and people that think out the box is what we are looking for.

Read more about this opportunity here.

The Sr. Digital Media Specialist provides effective social media programs and assures they are managed for client satisfaction and agency profitability, recognizes and pursues growth opportunities on the accounts for which he/she is assigned and participates in new business pitches for prospective clients, providing a social media perspective and expertise, and solutions, and provides leadership, training and development for those reporting to him/her and social media training to internal account teams.

Read more about this opportunity here.

The Community Manager oversees a variety of fan communities – including social networks, blogs, band websites, and E-teams – for a diverse roster of artists. The community manager is responsible for setting, maintaining, and achieving specific and actionable goals, including revenue, traffic, and engagement. You are the eyes and ears of the artist and the company in and among the fans: you know how they think, how they act, and more importantly you are able to measure and analyze these patterns. You must have a firm grasp of fan motivation, marketing, and the nuances of the music industry in the digital age.

Read more about this opportunity here.

You’ll create slick and fast front-ends for our consumer site, partner portals, and monetization system using your sophisticated knowledge of XHTML, CSS, Javascript, and the DOM; work closely with our product management team and architect to create new user experiences which really engage our users, create new applications in PHP which expose our core infrastructure in new and exciting ways, and constantly factor and re-factor your code for reusability, repeatability, and maintainability.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Simply Ready for Opportunity? Got something to prove? Want to join an organization that is changing the world? Simply Hired wants you! We’re hiring competitive sales reps with 2-4 years of experience to help bring the Simply Hired message to hiring professionals all over the country.

Read more about this opportunity here.

Digital Divide Data (DDD) is looking for a passionate, driven individual to help us build our online presence and implement our social media strategy. This is an exciting opportunity to live in Southeast Asia, work with an internationally acclaimed social enterprise and lead a vital initiative. The primary function of this job will be to understand our organization and make the DDD story accessible and compelling for the global online audience.

Read more about this opportunity here.

The Digital Marketing & Sales Director will achieve growth by identifying new and existing business opportunities and developing digital strategies. This position is designed to further our mission by developing and managing the online communications and sales strategies for WiseCampus. You will also take on the responsibility of running the department, so your position will also involve a mix of duties…

Read more about this opportunity here.

Mashable has a variety of web 2.0, application development, business development, and social networking job opportunities available. Check them out at Mashable’s Job Board.

Got a job posting to share with our readers? Post a job to Mashable today ($50 for a 30 day listing) and get it highlighted every week on Mashable.com (in addition to exposure all day every day in the Mashable marketplace).

Tags: careers, jobs, mashable

When it comes to YouTube ads, you can’t say that Google isn’t trying. You’ve got overlay ads, post-roll ads, huge banners, and yes, you’ve got pre-roll ads, which didn’t work out very well because the users were unwilling to watch a pre-roll video before a video that’s also very short – in some cases, even shorter than the actual ad they were forced to see. Now, Google has decided that it’s time to try out pre-roll ads in skippable form once again.

Put all these ads in one video, and you get a mess. Fortunately, these new skippable pre-roll ads will be just another experiment, visible on videos from content providers who opted in for the test.

But what is it that Google is testing? From the users’ perspective, this isn’t new; in fact, pre-roll advertisements are prevalent on many other video sites, such as Hulu. Google, however, aims to develop a new advertising model based on the user’s behavior. When Google first started testing pre-roll ads, abandonment rates were as high as 70%. But it worked much better when users were watching longer (15 – 20 minute long) clips, with completion rates being up to 85%.

Furthermore, simply clicking that “No, thank you” link counts for something. Phil Farhi, product manager at Google’s YouTube says: “we see the ability to skip ads as another form of engagement.” According to him, the length of the pre-roll can be much shorter on YouTube than on TV. “On television you might need 30 seconds to make sure people know the Web site and phone number, and tell them the offer three times. Online, you can run a much shorter industry ad, and use the companion ad space for the call to action.”

Will all this experimenting be enough to bring significant ad revenue to YouTube? It’s tough to say, as the users of the site have so far reacted very negatively to any form of advertising. On the other hand, you can’t say Google isn’t methodical about YouTube ads: they’re trying out every avenue, hoping one day they’ll strike the perfect balance between annoying and engaging.

Tags: ads, youtube

When a tech giant gives you their vision of the future, you expect to be impressed. However, the video Nokia had shown at their The Way We Live Next 3.0 event, which is supposed to showcase the company’s plans for tech-imbued living in 2015, doesn’t bring many things we don’t already have.

You can see the video below, courtesy of Slashgear, but here’s a short rundown: first, we see a bunch of keyboardless gadgets that reminds us of the iPhone. Then, we see various services on one such gadgets: location-based services, web browsing, stock information, GPS, augmented reality…

Now, forgive us for ruining the party, but all of this is already available on iPhone, Android, Symbian, and other mobile devices of today. Sans a projection keyboard presented in the other part of the video, there’s nothing new here, and even that keyboard isn’t something to be terribly excited about. Yes, there’s also a dual-screen laptop/netbook thingy there, but we’ve seen a fair share of those already.

Still, it’s a nice video, if only for the sleek visuals and the warm, comfortable feeling that we’re already living in the future.

Tags: future, Nokia

Popular social media destination Digg is no stranger to video production. In fact, they have five different video shows that go out mostly on a weekly basis, best known of which is Diggnation, where Digg founder Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht discuss the most popular stories on Digg.

Now, at DiggTV, you can follow all five shows at one place. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but for Digg fans it’s a nice one-stop shop for all their Digg video needs.

Besides Diggnation, the shows include the Digg Reel, in which Andrew Bancroft covers top videos on the web, Diggcetera, which is a mashup of various Digg videos, Digg Townhall, in which Kevin Rose and Digg CEO Jay Adelson answer questions from the Digg community. Finally, perhaps the most interesting show is Digg Dialogg, which features interviews with stars such as Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Tony Hawk.

Tags: digg, Digg.tv

Prices? What prices? Doesn’t Google give out everything for free, one may ask?

Relax. We’re talking about extra storage; for example if free storage that comes with Picasa Web Albums or Gmail isn’t enough for you, you can purchase extra storage space for a price.

Today, Google is dramatically slashing that price. You can now buy 20 GB for $5 a year, which is pretty darned cheap compared to the old price: 10 GB for 20 bucks per year.

Furthermore, Google has increased the amount of storage you can purchase. If you have a lot (we really mean a lot) of family photos, you can store them all at Google’s servers in the clouds, as the cap is now 16 terabytes.

Extra storage will act as an overflow for the free storage, meaning it only starts being used when you reach the limit of free storage. If you already have an extra storage plan, it will be automatically upgraded.

Tags: cloud, Google, storage

Back in June, popular Twitter desktop app TweetDeck made a splash when it launched its iPhone app. It was significant, as it was the first Twitter iPhone app to integrate with a desktop version and it provided a very real challenger to the Tweetie iPhone app.

Since then, there have not been major updates to the app, while Tweetie got a whole new version. Now TweetDeck is fighting back with its first major update (v. 1.1.1), one that includes full integration with Facebook.

This Update is Chock Full of New Features

Let’s start with the biggest addition to TweetDeck for iPhone: Facebook integration. Just like the desktop app, you can create Facebook columns, read status updates, write on walls, add comments, and update your Facebook status. By all accounts, it is a major addition that seamlessly integrates Twitter and Facebook into one iPhone app.

That’s not the only new thing about this app, though. It also boasts integration with 12seconds.tv. For those with the iPhone 3Gs, you can now record and send out 12 second videos through your Twitter and Facebook accounts. The ability to see trending topics has also been added, as well as Bit.ly support and the ability to save drafts.

Finally, for those who really hate typing on the shortened iPhone keyboard, TweetDeck now includes landscape support. Yes, thee have a been a ton of additions, and they’re all very nice.

When Tweetie 2 launched, it took a giant leap ahead of TweetDeck for iPhone in terms of features and support. That is no longer the case. In fact, TweetDeck’s Facebook integration is a major differentiation point from the Tweetie 2 app. The debate over which Twitter iPhone app is best has been reopened.

If you want to learn more about TweetDeck for iPhone’s new features, the company has included a useful demo video, embedded below:

Tags: iphone, trending, tweetdeck, twitter

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Graphite

Quick Pitch: Graphite is an easy-to-use web-based application that allows individuals to calculate calorie intake and expenditures.

Genius Idea: Keeping track of what you eat and how many calories you burn is the key to losing or maintaining weight. Graphite takes a fast, no-nonsense approach to logging and graphing your caloric and exercise information.

Graphite is a caloric tracking tool that makes it extremely easy to record and keep track of what you are eating, how many calories you are burning (based on your daily activities) and what your different caloric and fitness goals need to be in order to achieve a certain weight.

What we like about Graphite is that the interface is very, very clean and easy to use. There aren’t lots of options or buttons; you just have access to you information and your dietary goals. You can enter in what you eat and Graphite’s library of food sources will pull up results in real time that you can add to keep track of your calorie counts. Likewise, you can add in your exercise regimes to track the calories you are burning.

Graphite comes with tools that tell you what your daily caloric baseline is for maintaining your current weight. You can then set goals for how much weight you want to lose and see your caloric numbers change accordingly. You have access to graphs that chart your weight, exercise and caloric intake over time and you can see how you are progressing towards your goals.

You can sign up for a 30-day free trial of Graphite but after that, the service is $5 a month or $50 a year to use. For users who want an easy, cruft-free way to track dietary changes, Graphite is a great option.

Do you track your diet and energy regimes? What tools do you use? Let us know in the comments.

Spark of Genius Series Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”

Tags: diet tools, graphite, health, weight loss

One of the hottest trends right now is the rise of location-based services (LBS), which helps friends network and find each other based on their location. Foursquare and Loopt are prime examples of these growing networks.

Google has its own LBS service as well: Google Latitude. Today, the search giant announced some major additions to Latitude that bring it in line with its fast-rising competitors. Primarily, Google Latitude has added location history and location-based alerts.

Location history is fairly straightforward: Google will store all of your past locations and will use that information to create visual histories of your trips and adventures via Google Maps. If you take a bike ride across Indiana for example, you can track the route you took along with the times in which you arrived.

The other feature is Google Location Alerts, which sends you notifications when your friends are nearby via email or SMS. To make sure you don’t get a text every time you go to work and see your Google Latitude-using co-workers, Latitude utilizes your location history to eliminate notifications when you’re in a location you regularly visit. It even incorporates time, so if you’re at work but at 3 AM, you’ll get notifications once again.

Google Needs to Push Apple for a Latitude App

Both features are good additions to Latitude, but we can’t help but feel that Google’s coming short in the LBS space. While Latitude has an Android app, it doesn’t have an iPhone equivalent, just a mobile site. This leaves Latitude without the ability to send push notifications, a major reason why Foursquare has been a red-hot product.

For Latitude to make deeper inroads, we believe that it needs an iPhone app. There is a complete difference to the user when they download an app versus opening it up in the mobile web. It could even automatically send your location utilizing the same method that Loopt is testing. Google could turn into an even stronger competitor in the LBS space.

Whether Apple would cave into Google pressure is, of course, another matter. They’ve told Google that they didn’t want a Latitude app, and the search giant complied. Things have changed though, especially in the relationship between the two companies. Thus we wonder if Google should now try to force Apple’s hand, especially in light of the Google Voice debacle.

Tags: Google, lbs, Location Google Latitude, location-based service