Media Search:



Personalisation and social discovery, Q&A with StumbleUpon CEO

We all know about the king of social networking: Facebook with its billion plus users. Then there is Twitter, Linkedin, Google+ and the major Chinese social networks like Renren and Sina Weibo. Then there is are the outsider social networks, the medium sized ones but have strong brand recognition thats where StumbleUpon plays.

Most people wont be able to explain what a discovery engine is, but you might find that some of those people are part of StumbleUpons 25-million users. Though the platform works a little like a search engine, its algorithm is just a bit different.

StumbleUpon finds and recommends content that is personalised to its users based on their tastes and interests using peer-sourcing and social-networking principles. Started in 2001 as a way to create a virtual community for people online, things have changed quite a bit for the company. In August 2011, StumbleUpon announced that it had reached the 25-billion stumble mark, at which point it said that more than one-billion stumbles were being added per month.

It hasnt always been smooth sailing at the company though. It was bought by eBay in 2007, then bought back by its founders in 2009. Last year founding CEO Garrett Camp stepped down leaving the company CFO Mark Bartels to take his place as CEO. Earlier this year, the company laid off 30% of its staff from 110 to 75 employees.

But it seems things are starting to get mainstream for the discovery engine platform. According to the Hollywood Reporter, film studios are beginning to use the platform to promote their content.

Studios using StumbleUpon to market and distribute their content is a relatively recent phenomenon, StumbleUpon product VP Cody Simms told the Hollywood Reporter.

On a recent trip to Silicon Valley, we chatted to the new CEO to get a better idea of where the discovery engine is today and what plans are in place for its future. Bartels believes that personalised discovery is an interesting challenge as evidenced by the number of resources that are currently being put toward it.

Mobile is a crucial playing field for the company and, according to Bartels, smartphones have been great for the company. Mobile stumbles, he says make up 35% of all stumbles on the platform.

Memeburn: Weve seen discovery play an increasingly important part in social networking and search. Do you feel that Stumbleupon was ahead of the curve?

Mark Bartels: Personalised discovery is a very interesting challenge and more and more companies are now dedicating a large amount of resources to it. At StumbleUpon weve always been committed to serving you the right content at the right time on the right device. Discovery is a precursor to Search. Search recommendations are based on specific user requests, while Discovery recommendations are based on the users tastes and interests without a specific request. In other words we recommend the most appropriate content to you before you asked for it. Thats an interesting challenge

Originally posted here:
Personalisation and social discovery, Q&A with StumbleUpon CEO

The social networking teen turn-off: MORE evidence chat apps are set to take over from Facebook and Twitter

Comes as Google rumoured to be preparing to launch its own chat service called Babel Facebook last week revealed Home, an Android 'skin' that includes a powerful chat app

PUBLISHED: 13:02 EST, 11 April 2013 | UPDATED: 13:04 EST, 11 April 2013

Chat and messaging apps are increasing replacing social networking sites such as Facebook and Teitter, new figures have claimed.

A study of 5,000 US teens by PiperJaffray found 10% fewer named Facebook as their 'most important' site compared to a year ago.

The teens surveyed were also less interested in Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Flickr, and Tumblr - with only Pinterest showing growth.

A study of 5,000 US teens by PiperJaffray found 10% fewer named Facebook as their 'most important' site compared to a year ago

The sites teens are talking about, according to PiperJaffray

The study also looked at which services teens were talking about - and found messaging services such as Kik and Snapchat were popular, alongside Vine, Twitters video-blogging service, messageboard 4chan and shopping site Wanelo.

The report is the latest to claim that Facebook and Twitter face major competition from char setvice.

Google has this week played down rumours it is set to buy the WhatsApp service for a reported $1bn, while it is also believed to developing its own chat app called Babel.

Read the original post:
The social networking teen turn-off: MORE evidence chat apps are set to take over from Facebook and Twitter

The Hierarchy of Social Networking

By Robert Davis Print Article

When I teach my clients about being a successful social networker without spending a lot of time or money, I start of by explaining a concept I call The Hierarchy of Social Networking. It outlines the steps needed to climb the mountain of social networking.

The base of any social networking is to set up an account. You obviously cant begin to climb the social networking mountain without an account. Youd be surprised how many agents still dont have Facebook and Twitter accounts.

After setting up your accounts and clients start to like and follow you. It is imperative to have some regular content posted to your accounts. I always suggest working with a service that will post your listings on your social networking accounts for you.

Almost every time I mention this I get push back from agents. They say, If all you do is post your listings youre going to turn clients off. Theyre going to de-friend or un-follow you. They dont want to only see your listings. I actually agree, but this is where the hierarchy comes into play. Having social media accounts is better than not having social media accounts. And posting listings on a regular basis is better than not posting anything at all.

Lets pretend you do have a client de-friend you because you only post your listings, but you have another call you and express interest. Well Id say thats a success. It is so much better to post something than to not post anything at all. But thats not where we want to end up, so lets keep climbing the social networking mountain.

The next level in The Social Media Hierarchy is regularly posting relevant content. How do you do this without taking up all your time? Find a service provider who offers a program to distribute relevant content to every agents social networking sites in your brokerage. Agents connect their social networks to the system and when a company administrator posts an article it trickles down to all the agents accounts in the brokerage. If the brokerage wants a more localized approach an office administrator can also post for the agents in their specific office.

At this level in the hierarchy you will look like a seasoned social networker. You will have an active account, posting your listings and relevant content regularly. The best part, you wont even have to lift a finger. But that isnt the top of the hierarchy its just the least time consuming and easiest way to actively post on your social networking sites.

The highest point in the hierarchy is personalized content and interaction. Theres no program or technology that can replace a personalized approach to social networking. Replying and interacting personally with your clients and friends is the most effective social networking but its also the most time consuming.

I have heard success story after success story from those who use social networking to grow their business. It is a technology that can lift your sales to new heights. Start climbing the social networking mountain by working with a company that can do the heavy lifting for you. This will help you look like a social networking expert and allow you to focus on the most importing items of real estate.

Read the original:
The Hierarchy of Social Networking

New Bird Flu Seen Having Some Markers of Airborne Killer

The new bird influenza thats killed six people in eastern China has some of the genetic hallmarks of an easily transmissible virus, according to the scientist who showed how H5N1 avian flu could become airborne.

The H7N9 strain, which is a new virus formed as a result of two others merging their genetic material, has features of viruses that are known to jump easily from birds to mammals, and a mutation that may help it attach to cells in the respiratory tract, said Ron Fouchier, a professor of molecular virology at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, in a telephone interview yesterday.

Thats certainly not good news, said Fouchier, who reviewed a gene sequencing of H7N9 published by Chinese health authorities. This virus really doesnt look like a bird virus anymore; it looks like a mammalian virus.

To curb the spread of H7N9, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing, cities with confirmed human cases of the virus, have halted trading in live poultry, closed bird markets and slaughtered more than 20,000 fowl. Shanghai today reported two new infections, taking Chinas tally to 18, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News from reports released by the national and provincial governments.

The outbreak caused soybean futures and airline stocks to fall yesterday on concern the virus may spark a pandemic.

While theres no evidence yet of human-to-human transmission, scientists are scrutinizing the viruss genetic makeup for clues to the threat it may pose.

Fouchier authored a study last year that showed five genetic tweaks to the deadly H5N1 virus, which has killed more than 600 people since 2003, made it airborne in ferrets, the mammals whose response to flu most closely resembles that of humans.

One of the mutations he made is in an enzyme called polymerase; another was in a protein called hemagglutinin on the surface of the virus. H7N9 has both mutations, he said.

This virus is certainly of more concern than the vast majority of bird flu viruses, Fouchier said. Most bird flu viruses that we know do not have these mutations.

Whether those mutations alone are enough to make the virus easily transmissible isnt clear, and should be high on the research agenda, Fouchier said. Still, theres no evidence yet that the virus is more likely to become more dangerous than H5N1, he said.

See the article here:
New Bird Flu Seen Having Some Markers of Airborne Killer

how to extend the ram for free 5X ( Super video) – Video


how to extend the ram for free 5X ( Super video)
how to extend the ram for free 5X ( Super video) games for windows 7 windows 7 download free full windows 7 audio drivers audio drivers for windows 7 windows...

By: John tamil

Follow this link:
how to extend the ram for free 5X ( Super video) - Video