social-media

Article

Twitter's Twaggies

Twaggies.com is the first start-up I've ever, er, started up that's made it out of the incipient early BETA test phase and has actually brought people joy. So I thought it was high time I introduced it to you awesome _flossers. The basic idea is that we find tweets we think are funny and then illustrate them to make them (hopefully) even funnier. You know how you tag photos on Facebook? Well, here we are twagging people we like on Twitter. One of our early supporters @1surlygurl, once tweeted that we're... READ ON

List

18 Social Media Icons You Need to Know

Sure, you know what those Twitter, Facebook, reddit and Digg icons mean at the bottom of most blog posts these days, but what about all those other funny-looking ones? There's a pantload of them - so many that it can be overwhelming and confusing. Allow us to break down our 18 favorites for you (click each icon to be taken to their Web site): 1.... READ ON

Article

What Kind of Tweeter R U? The 13 Types on Twitter

Some of you may recall my post on the 13 Types of Friends on Facebook. So here's a companion piece, though each type of Tweeter on Twitter will be limited to 140 characters, to keep in the spirit of the post. 1. The MIA/Machine Gunner is MIA for 4 weeks & then comes out of nowhere with 10 tweets in a row within a 4-minute span & then gone again! 2. The Social Media Moron DMs U even though U can't DM back because he's not following U, forcing U to @reply the whole world with private... READ ON

Article

Friends: How many is too many?

Okay, I'll admit it: I don't have time to read more than half the tweets and status updates sent out by my friends on Facebook and the people I'm following on Twitter. And I only have 200 on Twitter and 350 on Facebook. In fact, on most days, I probably only read one third of the chatter (and I don't mean that in a pejorative way). There have been a few pieces floating around the Web lately that say the average person can only keep track of about 100-300 people maximum; after that, it just becomes white... READ ON

Article

185-Person "Virtual Choir" Assembled Via YouTube

Eric Whitacre has created a "virtual choir" using volunteers from YouTube. The choir members applied via audition videos like this one, and Whitacre then posted a "conductor track" for his choir to sing along to (the piece is "Lux Aurumque" by Whitacre, written in 2000). By having the choir sing along at home, with a loud "BEEP" sound at the beginning of the video (used for synchronization), Whitacre could then assemble the video and audio of his 200 choir members to create one master performance. It's... READ ON

Article

OkCupid Analyzes Online Dating Data; Surprising Conclusions Revealed

The online dating website OkCupid has performed a statistical analysis of the photos their users post, in order to study patterns. Which types of photos result in the most dates, for which types of people? Does it help to show off your body, or to look interesting? How do users' representation of themselves change as they age? You can view the results here. For example, if you're a man, does posting a photo showing off your totally ripped 6-pack abs help generate responses? The answer is yes, but... READ ON

Article

To Paywall or not to Paywall?

Editor's Note: In response to the somewhat frantic emails I've been receiving today, let me reiterate (pre-iterate?) what it says in large text below: this is not something we're considering. I would not expect anyone to pay for the free blog you've come to know and love and tell your friends about. If you like what you read here on a daily basis, I'd love you to take our relationship to the magazine subscription level. But please stop worrying that we're about to send you a bill (and please stop emailing... READ ON

Article

The Story of Mr. Splashy Pants, by Alexis Ohanian

Loyal readers who follow Higgins on this blog know all about TED Talks. Some of my favorites he's posted include this one by Torsten Reil and this one by Ian Dunbar. Now, however, I have a new fav. Because he's been such a devoted _flosser, and because reddit has done such nice things for us, we couldn't resist posting this really short, really really worth watching TEDie by our pal Alexis Ohanian, who explains the success of Mister Splashy... READ ON

Article

3 Unusual Twitter accounts worth following

1. @Cookbook Maureen Evans is a 27-year-old from British Columbia who's studying for a master's in creative writing at Queen's University Belfast. But her 18,231 followers don't know that"¦ at least not most of them. To them, she's @Cookbook, and she's dropping recipes on them, 140 characters at a time. Here are a couple recent ones as examples: Fettucine Alfredo: boil 16oz(pref fresh) fettucine to aldente. Boil 3â„4c pasta hâ‚‚o/1â„2c... READ ON