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MixedInk is Digg for Collaborative Writers

Posted: 07 Jan 2009 05:27 PM PST

In private beta until today, the MixedInk collaborative writing platform has launched the public beta version of its product. This is a democratic writing and publishing platform that takes the Creative Commons license to the next level, enabling entire communities to work together on a single document or publication.

While this isn’t the first time this concept has been approached with an online tool, D.C.-based MixedInk is using a new angle for automating much of the process, essentially eliminating the need for wikis in the traditional sense, or even editors. As MixedInk promotes a democratic process, each document submitted by a member of the community can be voted upon, which pushes that document up in rank.

The user that has initiated the topic for the collaborative document can then take the highest ranked document and use it for their purposes. The other highlight of MixedInk’s service is the way in which a collaborative document is created. Instead of many users re-editing a single document or an editor picking and choosing various aspects of multiple users’ content, any member of the community can mix and match different pieces of all related documents in order to create a single, cohesive submission which can then be voted upon.

Such a democratic process also requires the diligence of all its members instead of just the editors, meaning that the community members would need to read all the submissions in order to truly create a comprehensive document that potentially represents the best of all individuals involved.

But MixedInk helps you out with this aspect of its democratic process by recommending relevant portions of related documents as you type your own submission or browse through others’. You can highlight the portion of the text that you like, and add it to your notes or a live document being created on the site. MixedInk automatically tracks who’s content is being used where, to stay in line with the Creative Commons licensing attributions. For its public beta launch, MixedInk is also announcing a partnership with Slate magazine, which is using the collaborative publishing platform for a collective Innagural Address.

So is this a step towards true online democracy? There are always inherent issues with the democratic process in terms of individual responsibility, not to mention the self-selected users that would join a collaborative platform in the first place. But I certainly think the concept behind MixedInk is moving in the right direction, and such a service can be used far beyond inaugural addresses or newspaper articles to include nearly every aspect of traditional media both online and offline.

MixedInk from MixedInk on Vimeo.

Soulja Boy Tell’Em - Social Media SuperStar

Posted: 07 Jan 2009 03:29 PM PST

-Soulja Boy Photo- CES 2009 (Consumer Electronics Show) - Billboard Digital Music Live

Soulja Boy Tell’Em Social Media Success

Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em launched himself to success through social media. Soulja Boy is generating tens of millions of dollars in music and online digital revenue based on success achieved in social media. Soulja Boy told his story today at the CES‘ Digital Music Live, to a crowd of traditional record executives and digital media start ups. Soulja Boy started on SoundClick.com at the age of 16, uploading tracks that were downloaded 35K times a day at their peak.

His SoundClick success was the result of social media features, where the audience could tag his songs as their favorite, and the audience could see just how popular his songs were by the number of downloads. Soon his SoundClick comments were filled with requests from fans to build a MySpace page. In 2005 he did so with the help of his cousin, and a social media star was born.

Soulja Boy accumulated millions of page views, fans and streams that attracted the attention of Collipark and then a record deal with Interscope/Universal Music Group. Soulja Boy then used YouTube to launch highly popular dance moves, music videos, a Soulja Boy Tell’Em channel and a whole hip hop subculture of dress styles and words written on sunglasses. His millions of fans’ created a “whole world” in the social media sphere, that made signing him a no brainer, according to Soulja Boy’s manager.

Social Media and Traditional Music Industry

Record executives, artist managers and start ups are all asking themselves what the recipe for success is in social media, who should own the rights for communications such Twitter feeds and how they will all profit from the new music industry. It seems that artists will finally all be able to make a living thanks to social media. Artists can be their own “small business owner”, doing their own marketing, distribution and tour promotion online - primarily on social networks.

Major record labels were quick to point out that it still takes record label promotions teams to get on radio, which drive traditional CD sales that define the music industry. Soulja Boy is now benefiting from major label marketing and record sales, but his digital music revenues - benefiting him, online partners and his manager directly (outside record labels) are staggering. Soulja Boy now operates and profits from a many digital businesses, including a subscription based mobile media services that receives 30 million callers and has one million paying subscribers - all promoted with a phone number he sings in a song that is distributed via MySpace and YouTube.

Social media, 360 deals and Music 2.0

Soulja Boy figured out the secret of success all on his own from his bedroom in Memphis. He used social media - primarily MySpace and YouTube, to create a cultural phenomenon. He parlayed these into record deals, and received a Grammy nomination in 2008. Social media allowed the world to beat a path to Soulja Boy’s door, creating a super star. Labels are all scrambling to do ‘360 deals’ where they get a piece of all an artists revenue - including online sales driven by social media.
Do you think social media will define the future of the music Industry?

Nebraska Attorney General Wants Sex Offenders Banned from MySpace, Facebook

Posted: 07 Jan 2009 02:16 PM PST

-Jon Bruning Photo- In Omaha Nebraska, Attorney General Jon Bruning is proposing a few legislative changes to increase public safety, and this includes cracking down on the presence of sex offenders using online social networking sites, according to MSN. Bruning wants them banned from sites like MySpace and Facebook all together, making their use of such social networks a crime.

This would be pretty difficult to enforce from a legislative standpoint, especially without the cooperation of social networks themselves. The state of Indiana has already banned sex offenders from using social networks, but enforcement is still an issue. And after a slew of threatened and imposed legal action on MySpace, networks (especially MySpace) have found ways in which to work with sate and federal authorities regarding sex offenders that have accounts online.

It’s been well over a year since MySpace helped track down several sex offenders using its service, but it looks like such measures won’t suffice for Bruning. While sex offenders’ use of online social networks can be considered a matter of public safety, the anonymity of such networks means that any legislative changes regarding a complete ban would likely require enforced changes to the networks themselves.

New prerequisites for registration would be in order, along with a level of tracking and other forms of enforcement. Not to mention, these requirements will need to be standardized to some degree across all cooperating networks. Is this a viable option for either legislation or social networks? It doesn’t seem likely it at this point, or the near future.

Similar initiatives have been started for requiring identification verification, especially for sites that are for people that are of a certain age, like 18 or 21 years old. Perhaps a good direction for Bruning to go in is team up with third party services that provide trust scores for individual users across a number of social networks.

Buddy Media Exceeds its Own Expectations in 2008

Posted: 07 Jan 2009 09:07 AM PST

Buddy Media has revealed its numbers for 2008, and things are looking good for the “appvertising” company. When Facebook launched its platform in 2007, many developers and ad networks were surprised but encouraged by the lack of restrictions Facebook imposed for third party applications that carried ads. Despite this seemingly open market for advertising campaigns, only a few have succeeded on a large scale, which includes Buddy Media.

The “app-vertisement” company reports exceeding its revenue goals for 2008, with campaigns for 50 brands and a 138% revenue increase from Q3 to Q4 2008. By working as an application developer alongside major ad networks, and launching an ad network of its own, Buddy Media has grown its two core competencies in tandem. Buddy Media also experienced growth through a number of acquisitions last year, having taken on AceBucks, a virtual currency application on Facebook, and Crushes.

By also spreading its applications across multiple networks including MySpace, Buddy Media is also expanding the number of places a given advertising campaign can be viewed. While many are becoming speculative towards the social media advertising market, Buddy Media has shown that there’s still an interest in advertising within the social realm. And given some attitudes towards Facebook’s own advertising platform, which can be rather hit or miss at times, many advertisers are looking to third party applications as more targeted ways of reaching a specific demographic. Buddy Media has also taken steps to encourage such targeting through options like the BuddyBrain service, which offers metrics for its advertisers, among other things.

Given the success Buddy Media has experienced in the past year, it’s not surprising to see that the company is looking for exponential growth for 2009. With over $7 million in funding from Softbank Capital and PayPal founder and Facebook investor Peter Thiel, Buddy Media has a great deal of support for its particular product and is part of a dynamic experiment regarding third party applications and integrated social advertising in the online media space.