Yo dis King Keith. Man yall gotta check this out. Master P little girl is making hits! What do you think about this?

Facebook has drubbed MySpace on almost all fronts—in the media, with users, in growth, in traffic—except ad revenue. But expect that to change next year, according to eMarketer: “It will surpass its former rival, MySpace, in ad revenues in 2010, when marketers worldwide will spend $605 million on Facebook versus $385 million on MySpace.”

The projections for next year show MySpace on a downward trend, falling from $490M worldwide this year to $385M next year. Facebook on the other hand is still climbing: from from $435M this year to over $600M next year.

Meanwhile, overall social network ad spending is going up. eMarketer predicts 7.1% growth for total ad spend next year, bringing the total to almost $1.3B. Although they initially expected 2009 to see a downturn in revenue, now the stats show 3.9% growth over last year.

Back in September, we saw that 20% of all online advertising was on social networks, with MySpace slightly leading Facebook (9.2% to 8.2%). I suppose we can expect the social share of online advertising to continue to grow—but not MySpace’s.

The biggest factor contributing to Facebook’s revenue growth this year, according to ClickZ, is its growth. They reached 200M users in April—and just five months later, they’d added another 100M users. Now at 350M active users, Facebook has doubled in size since February of this year.

Yeah, I’d say that would drive some revenue growth.

What do you think? Will Facebook really pass MySpace? How has MySpace been able to retain its revenue lead for so long?

Social Media Monitoring in Just 60-Seconds. Guaranteed!

In This Season Of Giving, One iPhone App Gives Back

 With over 100,000 iPhone apps available for download an iPhone owner can have fun, increase productivity, listen to music and do just about anything. What iPhone apps can’t do is fix the economy, or solve social issues. But, they can sure try.

 One iPhone app attempts to provide more than just entertainment, it seeks to give back to those that inspired its creation in the first place. The Riff Raters iPhone app announced on December 10th that 5% of all proceeds from the app will go to Blue Star Music Camps. Blue Star, a non-profit organization provides a fun learning environment for kids 13 to 18 to hone their musical skills.

 In this age where the economy is in the tank, cities are going bankrupt and schools are shutting down meaningful programs, even the smallest contributions seem like gigantic ones. To help provide funding for a child that otherwise would not be able to afford an instrument or learn music skills in a classroom environment, the Riff Raters iPhone app has possibly set a precedent in the development of not just iPhone but all smart phone apps.

With 100,000 plus apps and growing, it was difficult to find out whether other apps have similar programs that are giving back. However, it’s safe to say that even one iPhone application can make a difference. When reading this, keep in mind, very few developers of smart phone applications are getting rich off development. Apple, developers, staff and overhead costs eat into much of the potential profit. Thus, the point of Riff Raters and probably several other smart phone apps is mainly not about maximizing profits, but rather innovation, fun,  giving back and maybe, just maybe making a few dollars in the long run.

For more information about Riff Raters go to: www.riffraters.com

To find out more about donating to Blue Star Music Camps go to: http://www.reindeermotel.com/BLUESTAR/bluestar_mar_home.html

As has been very widely reported and broken by Brandon Coomer over at Coomer Cove, Gold City have announced a new tenor and part-time piano player. The Singing News article can be read here.

The appointment of Roy Webb caused me to smile. This is a great move. Roy injects a brilliance of dry wit, rarely seen on a Gold City stage these days. Roy Webb, of course, got his trade polished with arguably the most high-energy and brilliant quartet on the road today, Ernie Haase & Signature Sound. In an age where soundtracks and “press play” have become all too common, its good to see Gold City incorporating a live piano player into at least some of their shows.

Joshua Cobb was a name i did not expect to see crop up. I had all but forgotten about him after he left Legacy Five. There has been rumblings about his comments in the past. I really think that 10 years is a long time to mature and grow in wisdom if he did say those things. If you believe it was a friend hacking the account and trying to be funny, well then so it is.  I hope Danny Riley has checked these things out before hiring Josh Cobb for the sake of the fans. Josh has a fabulous voice, which when blended with the other three voices should make for an interesting sound. Hopefully the YouTube videos will crop up soon.

For Gold City 2010 really does herald a new year and a new beginning. 2009 has been tough on the group, but now with the experience and integrity of Tim Riley returning on a permanent basis, they should be able to grow and develop. Perhaps develop is the wrong word, rather Gold City should be able to return to the top of the Southern Gospel genre where they truly belong. I think they had to be bold with their choices in filling the tenor, piano and bass slots. They have accomplished this with class and ability. There is no denying the talent now centered in this group, if they have the cohesive spirit they should be to accomplish great things.

The two main videos of Josh Cobb (singing since his departure from Legacy Five) have been saturated on other Southern Gospel blogs so i thought i would post a video of Josh during his tenure with Legacy Five. The song is, “I Stand Redeemed”, the song which really made an impression on my life, not just because Josh can sing it so well, but the deep, underlying message within.

http://digg.com/d31Dh43

By Andrew Hayett

     First, I want to thank those readers who have taken the time to come by this blog. They may not be very many, but I am still thankful to all of you. You, my readers, are the icing to this cake. A blog cannot possibly exist without at least a few faithful readers. You are the lifeblood of this blog.

     As a token of my gratitude, I will let you have another inside look at my book. Tomorrow, I will let you have another taste. I wish I was giving you a full-fledged book trailer, but that’s unfortunately something I haven’t managed yet. A book trailer, if I make one, is still a few months to go. I will try to have one made. I hazard a guess that I might have one ready by late February.

     So, make sure to come by tomorrow for another nice insider look into ‘Dulcet’. I believe you will like it. Meanwhile, you can connect with me at www.myspace.com/red-phoenix2009.

http://digg.com/d31DhYz

After Ethan Lader and Rob Roy teamed up for Rob’s “Fur In My Cap” video (below) I had to get at Ethan for more of his work. His stuff is too steezy! Its great when underground independent directors and artists work together because their masterpieces are often times so far from the norm that they retain the ability to captivate, rather than become passive pieces of media that no one wants to see after seeing a million other similar pieces. Big Ups to Ethan Lader for his work. Here is another piece he just put me onto, check out both Sliimy and Rob’s videos below, I promise you will enjoy!

Track: Sliimy – Womanizer

Director: Ethan Lader

Vimeo Link: Sliimy – Womanizer

Track: Rob Roy – Fur In My Cap

Director: Ethan Lader

Vimeo Link: Rob Roy Fur In My Cap

Links:

Ethan on VIMEO

Ethan on FACEBOOK

Ethan’s WEBSITE

Sliimy on MYSPACE

TheKnwldG.

MUDVAYNE

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Noted social networking site Facebook is becoming a problem for employers at offices in India, as employees have started spending so much time on the social networking site that it is beginning to affect productivity, a new survey has revealed.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) have found in their survey that office staff on average spends an hour a day on sites like Facebook, resulting in a loss of productivity measuring 12.5 per cent.

The study noted: “Close to 12.5 per cent of productivity of human resource in corporate sector is misappropriated each day since a vast majority of them while away their time accessing social networking sites during the office hours.”

Seemingly, the workers use Orkut, Facebook, Myspace and Linkedin for “romancing”. As a matter of fact, [the] growing use of browsing sites can be dangerous for overall productivity and IT companies have already installed software to restrict its use,” the BBC News quoted Assocham secretary general DS Rawat as saying.

As part of the study, a total of 4,000 employees between the ages of 21 and 60 from different cities in India including Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai (Bombay), Pune, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Kanpur, were questioned.

It was observed that nearly half of office employees accessed Facebook during work time. Moreover, four in every 10 workers built their entire Orkut or Facebook profile at office. Also, 83 percent of the employees think there is no harm surfing at work during office hours.

We had another case recently, when a mother Twitted as his son lay dying.
Though the concept is is good, its utility depends on its usage.Unfortunately you can not control what is being posted on th net;nor can you stop any criminal actions arising out of it.The more you try to regulate , more the people shall circumvent it.
So, as with all technological innovations, you have to take with a pinch of salt.
Story:

In our meeting today we all were able to come up with a story regarding Facebook. From the case of Anthony Stancl the American teenager who blackmailed fellow students at his secondary school into having sex after using their Facebook images . To a story here in the UK about Craig Lynch, he is on the run from police after absconding from prison three months ago, but is still finding time to update his Facebook page. And apparently according to a British study a fifth of divorces are due to Facebook.
http://ramanan50.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

Forget business cards.  Forget digital drop cards.  Contxts is a mobile platform that allows industry professionals and musicians to throw away those wasteful pieces of paper and share information with each other through SMS texts.  The days of, “Sorry.  I’m out of cards” is over.  Contxts is easy to set up, free, and the potential is endless.

I first heard about Contxts through my friend Katie when I her over the summer.  Ever since then I have been telling every hip nerd (not an oxymoron if you think about) I know about it.  To give you an idea of how it works, feel free to text davidchaitt (one word) to 50500. Within seconds, you’ll receive my digital business card, which includes my name, email, blog link, and twitter handle.

Your Contxts name doesn’t have to be one word nor does have to actually be your name and it’s not case sensitive.  Also, you can fill your Contxts message with WHATEVER you want, which makes it extremely exciting for musicians.  My only beef is that there are no analytics attached to this platform, so you can track it’s effectiveness.  To the fine folks at Contxts make it

A couple creative uses:

• Links to main site and/or blog
• Links to MySpace, YouTube channel, Twitter, Facebook, Sonicbids, or any other social networking site
• Links to your agency, record label, publicist, lawyer’s website
• Links to download your new single, B-sides collection, live tracks, entire albums, or even better, include a link to an exclusive track only available through Contxts.
• Links to your Sellaband or Kickstarter account to raise capital for next album
• Link to a press release or digital one-sheet
• Include a press quote with a link to the whole article
• Include name and email of your agent, manager, lawyer and/or publicist (possibly a completely separate Contxts account)
• Include band’s email address and/or screen name
• Include upcoming tour dates
• Include the name of your new album and the day it is released, or even better, include a link to pre-order the album with discount code only available through Contxts

What context is Contxts useful:

• At shows, tell every people to text “_____” to 50500 and they’ll have all your info in their phone, so it’s one less thing to for them to have to remember.
• Put it on flyers promoting an upcoming album or concert, so people can text to find out more if they’re interested while they’re walking by or at a concert
• At networking events, concerts, parties, or literally ANYWHERE where you meet someone and tell them about your band or company

Basically, the body of your Contxts message can be whatever you want it to be.  Be creative.  Experiment with copywriting, links and exclusive content to see if people are taking note of it.  More importantly, tell people about it to see if your demographic identifies with this type of content distribution.

OneRiot launches a new ad platform for the iPhone, Twitter apps and IM clients as part of its RiotWise real-time ad network. Articles and analysis from:

Marketing Vox

” Digsby, an IM and Twitter client, is integrating a new real time ad platform into News Feeds – a reflection of the growing influence of Twitter and other social platforms that stream day-to-day online conversations. “

EveryThing PR

” Real time web search engine OneRiot is ramping things up with a new monetization model: trending ads will now appear alongside trending topics, which are indicators of what’s currently hot on the web”

PC Mag

” According to the company, “RiotWise is grounded on the premise that users of real-time Web apps are trying to find out what’s going on right now.”

OneRiot Blog

” RiotWise Trending Ads are available via OneRiot’s API, as well as a new Mobile Ad Unit. We’re looking forward to seeing what developers do with it.  For example, our friends at Digsby, (the wildly popular IM and Twitter client,) are integrating the trending ads right into the stream of News Feeds.”

Over Thanksgiving weekend I visited my younger sister who is thirteen.  One day, she had a friend over; however, it was not what I remember  hanging out to be–not giggling, gossiping, prank calling, and  whatever other foolish stuff I did when I was that age.  The activity of the day?  Texting!  Of course, the texting probably included my old repertoire of behavior,  but rather than laughing physically, it was with the simple click of  three letters: LOL….laughing out loud.
 
Rather than speaking aloud, voicing opinions,  it was communication through the hands.

At first I believed this to be a very anti-social behavior, to  continue to text even when others are physically in the room with you,  but with a background in Anthropology I dwelled on it. Why type when  you could speak?

That question brought me back to other primates. Chimpanzees,  alongside other apes who share a close common ancestor with Homo sapiens, use grooming to establish and maintain relationships.  This is a practice that is all but gone in humans today. During our evolution, grooming has been important and I do not believe we have  lost this trait. Seeing my younger sister use texting as a primary form of communication leads me to hypothesize that the need to use our  fingers as a social tool, as in texting or social gaming.  Many  people’s addictive nature to this form of media is not a new  predicament, but one that mirrors our evolutionary past. Only now  touching another body via grooming has been substituted by a  techno-intermediary, though still the social goal is still being  achieved.

Now, as I look around seeing people hunched over their iPhones,  Blackberries, and Facebook pages ‘poking’ people– I do not see a  species becoming non-social, but I see apes, as we truly are, using  our fingers in a new type of grooming.
 
Gwen Borgen