News

Los Angeles-based travel tour provider Tours4Fun has capitalized on social media by setting up shop across the spectrum of social networks from Twitter to Facebook to Myspace and Youtube. Social media has taken communication and the sharing of information over the Internet to another level. Recognizing the effective leverage that social media provides to connect with people all over the world, Tours4Fun has established itself on all the prominent networks, providing answers to all customer inquiries.

Twitter and Facebook have taken social networking by storm and Tours4Fun has been active on both sites for quite some time now. By publishing posts related to travel news, destinations and tips on planning your vacation, Tours4Fun has gained an impressive following on Twitter. In addition, Tours4Fun uses MySpace as a platform to interact with travel enthusiasts all over the world. “We realize that in the digital age, having multiple channels of communication is in the best interest of our customers and company” said Kevin Du, Co-Founder of Tours4Fun, Webeez, Inc.

Tours4Fun has also acknowledged the rising popularity of social bookmarking sites, by gaining visibility on Delicious and Newsvine. These sites exercise a non-hierarchical keyword categorization system in which users can tag each of their bookmarks with a number of freely chosen keywords thereby increasing search engine visibility. Tours4Fun utilizes these time-saving and easy to use methods of sharing their exciting travel related news by bookmarking on these sites.

To further spread the word across the expanses of the World Wide Web, Tours4Fun also employs the real time feed aggregator FriendFeed to consolidate all the posts from their social sites and blog. An interactive blog that is rich with travel information, where readers can participate and leave comments regarding some of their helpful “Find Things to Do” or even ask questions about special travel deals. Tours4Fun invites all inquiries and or suggestions, which is why they can be found on all the major fronts of social media.

About Tours4Fun
Tours4Fun, founded in 2006, is a thriving online travel supplier, dedicated to providing the finest online purchasing experience for all your travel needs. Tours4Fun strives to be the ultimate online travel superstore with the widest selection and best prices. http://www.tours4fun.com

What is the next thing for Social Networking? Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and their competitors let you find friends, build brands, and form groups. But a newer site lets you do those things, plus monopolize a chunk of the Internet around a social issue, philosophical question, research problem, niche art form, or environmental challenge that you are passionate about. And all for free. The rationale for the World Mind Network (WMN) stems from events over the last five years or so – the advent of new Web 2.0 tools which have hit society like waves, one after another: MySpace, Skype, Facebook, YouTube, all the various iPhone and Blackberry applications, and now Twitter.

But to a large degree, Web 2.0 tools have been used historically for rather trivial purposes such as games, gossip, silly videos, and inconsequential chatter.

The WMN wants to help people use these tools for grander purposes. Members can use these vastly expanded powers of networking to improve education, do research, build community across political divides, and utilize collaborative online mind-mapping to address common problems. Equally important, their tools allow an individual or small group to attract so much search engine traffic that they may become almost synonymous with their favorite cause.

The WMN Board of Trustees includes five Nobel Laureates.

The first project was helping a multimedia ICT Education center in Kenya receive funding through donation of unused cellphone minutes (SambazaGroup.com).

Joining the World Mind Network is like having a Facebook or Twitter account, but it assumes that one is interested in improving the world somehow. Participants can join a forum devoted to improving science education co-moderated by a Nobel Laureate (Peter Doherty), start a psychological research project, or contribute to an interactive blog on the world economic crisis co-hosted by another Nobelist (Edmund Phelps).

A new project, Twit Lit, invites users to create poems in classic forms short enough to become Twitter feeds (TwitLit.net).

Members are setting up live webcam links between secondary classrooms in South Africa, Macedonia and Japan.

In the works is a program using solar powered cell phones recently invented by Samsung to track the spread of the Aedes mosquito that carries the deadly Dengue fever in East Africa.

The new Institute for Digital Music (Institutefordigitalmusic.ning.com) invites visitors to compose, perform and collaborate with others in creating music through elements such as iPhone apps, Leaf Trombone and Ocarina.

One WMN member is starting a contest to award the best Keitai Shoushetsu, or cell phone novel, a cultural phenomenon that has taken Japan by storm.

A wiki devoted to the psychological effects of H1N1 influenza is at emotionalcontagionandswineflu.wetpaint.com.

For more information, including how to start or co-moderate a project, write to [email protected], or visit www.theworldmindnetwork.net.

This release was issued on behalf of the above organization by Send2Press(R), a unit of Neotrope(R). http://www.Send2Press.com

On the heels of two new online community launches in the past year, Toolbox.com now serves more than 1.6 million members and over 800 advertising partners.

Toolbox.com, the operator of online communities for professional knowledge sharing, announced today that the company is celebrating its 11th anniversary.

In the past year, the Toolbox.com community has grown to more than 1.6 million registered members and receives over 3.2 million unique month visitors. Professionals using the online communities at Toolbox.com have generated more than 2.5 million pages of content.

Since its last anniversary, Toolbox.com has launched new communities and tools to serve the knowledge-sharing needs of executives and professionals. The company has also expanded its team to serve its growing base of advertising partners.

These new offerings include:

Toolbox for HR: launched in October 2008, this new community for HR professionals has grown to more than 20,000 registered members.
Toolbox for Finance: launched in December 2008, this new community for Finance professionals now serves more than 12,000 members.
New Sales Office: opened in April 2009 in San Francisco, this new office serves Toolbox.com’s West Coast advertising partners.
Newsfeed: launched in May 2009, this tool displays updates from a community member’s network of connections directly on their personal home page to keep them current on the user-generated content that matters most to them.
Ask-a-Question: launched in July 2009, this upgrade streamlines the discussion group experience for professionals by suggesting similar asked-and-answered questions as well as the appropriate groups for new questions.
Ratings and Achievements System: launched in July 2009, this proprietary ratings system enables professionals to rate the posts of their peers, earn recognition for their contributions, and build their reputation and personal brand.

“Over the past 11 years, we have seen a clear evolution in the way professionals use online communities, from quick-fix answers to workplace problems to a resource for peer-tested best practices,” commented George Krautzel, president and co-founder of Toolbox.com. “Now these same professionals are using Toolbox.com to build their professional reputations and personal brands. It is also exciting to see our advertising partners take this cue by increasing their engagement with the community, providing relevant and quality content, and building their own brands in the process.”

To learn more, please visitwww.Toolbox.com.

About Toolbox.com

Toolbox.com helps professionals do their jobs better by enabling them to easily share knowledge with experienced peers. The online communities at Toolbox.com include professional networking, blogs, discussion groups, wikis, and a vendor research directory through which executives and professionals collaborate to solve problems, make decisions, and increase workplace efficiency. Through the community, advertising partners can engage prospects and customers either directly or by integrating their message through a proprietary contextual matching engine. This combination of community and advertising value has made Toolbox.com a leading destination for professionals and a leader in online advertising. Toolbox.com is a division of Corporate Executive Board (NASDAQ: EXBD). For more information, visit www.toolbox.com

The results of Bringing Social Security to the Online Community poll were released today, highlighting the vulnerabilities and concerns of social community members around cyber security and the precautions that they are taking or need to take to protect themselves. The online survey conducted by AVG and the CMO Council reveals that while the social networking community has serious concerns about the overall security of public spaces, few are taking the most basic of steps to protect themselves against online crimes.
The survey shows that while the majority of social networking users are afflicted by web-borne security problems, less than one third are taking actions to protect themselves online. Participants indicated concern over growing phishing, spam and malware attacks, and nearly half of those surveyed are very concerned about their personal identity being stolen in an online community.

The survey was conducted online during the second quarter of 2009 and gathered responses from a random sampling of more than 250 consumers. According to the poll results, despite widespread use (86 percent) of social networks at home and/or at work, most fail to perform the following basic security measures on a regular basis:

Changing passwords (64 percent infrequently or never)
Adjusting privacy settings (57 percent infrequently or never)
Informing their social network administrator (90 percent infrequently or never)
“As social networking populations grow globally and the proliferation of niche social networks and mobile offerings extends the reach of social communities, the threats and vulnerabilities are escalating accordingly,” said Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. “More frequent breaches and outbreaks on popular social sites are a testament to the need for a more preventative mindset and threat-alert culture among community users.”

Despite the apparent security risks and dangers of engaging in social networking sites, respondents identified several common practices that could cause harm to unprotected users:

21 percent accept contact offerings from members they don’t recognize
More than half let acquaintances or roommates access social networks on their machines
64 percent click on links offered by community members or contacts
26 percent share files within social networks
As a result of this widespread proliferation of links, files, and unsolicited contacts, users have experienced high levels of breaches and threats:

Nearly 20 percent have experienced identity theft
47 percent have been victims of malware infections
55 percent have seen phishing attacks
“The fact that users understand the risks, and yet are failing to take the basic steps to protect themselves presents an interesting challenge to companies, like AVG, that are working to create a safer cyber community,” said Siobhan MacDermott, Head of Public Policy, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, AVG Technologies.

According to MacDermott, AVG hopes to reverse this trend on familiar turfs such as Facebook and Twitter. “Our Data Snatchers campaign is a viral effort that will not only get consumers thinking about their personal security but will also provide them with simple tools to do something about it when they are in the spaces that make them feel the most vulnerable.”

MacDermott said that the Data Snatchers campaign is about combining sound technology with safe practices while enjoying the social computing experience. In addition to encouraging users to take advantage of AVG’s free security offering at http://avgfree.com, MacDermott encourages users to follow Six Simple Steps to Stay Secure:

1. Do not accept pop-ups or prompts for software, unless you are armed with web scanner software such as AVG’s free LinkScanner, which checks each site for infections prior to access.

2. Do not ever provide, post, or submit any confidential personal data (e.g., SSN, banking details, medical records). Social networking sites do not require this sort of information to join, unless you are online dating or paying monthly.

3. Change your password at least once a month. Do not change it if you are prompted to. This can be a third party malicious link.

4. Do not let friends, peers, coworkers, etc. access their social networks on your computer, nor yours on their machine. Others could introduce infections to your computer through unsafe practices, or your login security could be compromised via cookies saved on your computer.

5. Never auto save your password information, and clear your history at least once a week.

6. Do not accept friend requests or request friends that you personally do not know.

A full summary and presentation of the survey results and implications is available at avgnews.com.

Keep in touch with AVG

For up-to-the-minute news on the latest cyberthreats:

Subscribe to AVG Chief Research Officer Roger Thompson’s blog at http://thompson.blog.avg.com/
For general AVG updates:

Join our Facebook community at www.facebook.com/avgfree
Follow AVG on Twitter @officialavgnews.com
Register at www.avgnews.com
To download AVG’s free LinkScanner product:

Visit http://linkscanner.avg.com/
About the CMO Council

The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide-range of global industries. The CMO Council’s 4,500 members control more than $120 billion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include over 12,000 global executives across 90 countries in multiple industries, segments and markets. Regional chapters and advisory boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The Council’s strategic interest groups include the Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness (CLOSE), Brand Management Institute, and the Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience (FAME). www.cmocouncil.org

About AVG Technologies

AVG is a global security software maker protecting more than 80 million consumers and small businesses in 167 countries from the ever-growing incidence of web threats, viruses, spam, cyber-scams and hackers on the Internet. AVG has nearly two decades of experience in combating cyber crime and one of the most advanced laboratories for detecting, pre-empting and combating Web-borne threats from around the world. Its free, downloadable software allows novice users to have basic anti-virus protection and then easily upgrade to greater levels of safety and defense when they are ready. AVG has nearly 6,000 resellers, partners and distributors globally including Amazon.com, CNET, Cisco, Ingram Micro, Play.com, Wal-Mart, and Yahoo!

www.avg.com

Tweet! Tweet! Twitter subscribers can now receive instant updates regarding the lowest current mortgage rates for fixed-rate mortgages, jumbo mortgages, FHA mortgage and adjustable-rate mortgages. As an industry-leading direct mortgage lender and mortgage broker, Total Mortgage Services is able to offer unparalleled industry-leading pricing as well as a diverse product mix that is able to meet the needs of any type of borrower. The creation of a Twitter account represents another step forward for Total Mortgage’s web marketing initiative.

“In the past two years, we’ve made a concentrated effort to increase awareness of the Total Mortgage brand through web marketing techniques such as search engine optimization and social networking,” says John Walsh, founder and president of Total Mortgage. Twitter provides us an innovative channel for providing real-time mortgage rates and broadcasting other developments in mortgage industry,” says Mr. Walsh.

Although the Total Mortgage Twitter account has only been in existence for a few months, the company has already amassed hundreds of followers. Instant updates or “tweets” made by Total Mortgage include topics such as current mortgage rates, opportunities for mortgage refinancing, and mortgage “Frequently Asked Questions,” to name a few.
Links to Total Mortgage’s blog “Mortgage Rates and Trends” on Twitter have also kept subscribers abreast of the most recent developments in the mortgage industry. These content-rich mortgage blog articles cover a wide array of topics, ranging from open market operations performed by the Federal Reserve to developments surrounding the FHA Mortgage Loan Modification Program.

“Getting a mortgage loan is a major financial commitment,” says Mr. Walsh. From the standpoint of the borrower, having the most relevant mortgage rates and industry analysis is absolutely crucial to making the most well-informed decision when purchasing a home or refinancing. Through Twitter, Total Mortgage can continue maintaining its commitment to offering exceptional customer service by empowering our borrowers with insightful, invaluable information.”

Readers can follow Total Mortgage on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/totalmortgage or on the company’s blog, “Mortgage Rates and Trends” at http://www.totalmortgage.com/blog.

Total Mortgage Services, LLC, provider of some of the nation’s lowest current mortgage rates, is an industry leading direct mortgage lender and mortgage broker, having funded over $4 billion in mortgage loans since 1997. Licensed in over twenty states, Total Mortgage offers a variety of products and programs including fixed-rate loans, adjustable-rate loans (ARMs), jumbo loans, FHA mortgages and more.

On August 29, 2009, Boulevard Mall becomes the first shopping center in Western New York to launch the social networking website, Shoptopia. Shoptopia is a national social shopping networking website designed to connect Boulevard Mall shoppers with others who share their passion for shopping, as well as retailers and other community groups.

Shoptopia bridges the gap between online and traditional retail shopping, allowing members to enjoy the benefits of online shopping while reconnecting them with the enjoyment of an in-store shopping experience. Shoptopia members share insights, product reviews and their passion for shopping, across a community of fellow shoppers, while receiving special discounts and incentives that can be redeemed at Boulevard Mall merchant locations.

“Shoptopia helps us build relationships with shoppers and provides them with information about retailers and promotions that are specifically relevant to them,” said Betsey Bonvissuto, marketing director, Boulevard Mall. “This allows us to enhance the in-store shopping experience by taking our shoppers from online and enticing them to visit the mall. We can communicate with our shoppers in real time about all the different activities and sales promotion that are meaningful to them happening at the mall.”

In celebration of Shoptopia’s launch, Boulevard Mall plans to give the first 200 Shoptopia members who bring their printed Shoptopia profile page to Guest Services at Boulevard Mall on Saturday, August 29 a free $10 gift card, while supplies last. All members will be entered into a drawing for a $250 shopping spree, just for signing up for a free membership now through September 13, 2009. In addition, Shoptopia will award special prize giveaways to shoppers throughout the day on August 29 via a special text message mobile campaign.

Using Shoptopia is simple. Users sign up to create a profile and personalize their shopping preferences. They collect and organize favorite products with Shoptopia Lists, seek the opinions of like-minded shoppers and share a shopping experience with family and friends in the Talk section. Shoppers engage across all major retail categories including, Women’s Fashion, Men’s Fashion, Kids, Gadgets, Health & Beauty, and Eco-Green.

Once users create a profile that identifies their preferences, they enjoy exclusive perks and deals from Shoptopia and Boulevard Mall. Retailers build relationships with customers who frequent their stores and provide these shoppers with the product information and promotions that are relevant to them.

Shoptopia has launched at The Promenade Bolingbrook, Bolingbrook, IL, The Mall at Robinson, Pittsburgh, PA, Charleston Town Center, Charleston, WV, The Mall at Stonecrest, Lithonia, GA, Promenade Temecula, Temecula, CA, Galleria at Sunset, Henderson, NV, Short Pump Town Center, Richmond VA, . Following the launch at Boulevard, Shoptopia will continue to roll out to more than 20 shopping centers nationwide by the end of the year.

About Shoptopia
Shoptopia is an online shopping experience where members can share their love for their favorite brands, discover new products, seek shopping advice from a community of friends, family and peers, and receive exclusive benefits from local shopping centers. Shoptopia is the creation of Mallfinder Network, the leading developer and provider of interactive marketing services for the shopping center industry since 1997. Mallfinder develops and hosts websites, manages e-mail and mobile marketing campaigns, and coordinates the delivery of brand and retailer content. Experience Shoptopia at www.shoptopia.com

About Boulevard Mall
Boulevard Mall is a 934,000 square-foot, one-level shopping center located in Amherst, New York at the corner of Maple Road and Niagara Falls Boulevard. Boulevard Mall is anchored by Macy’s, Macy’s Men’s Store, JCPenney and Sears and includes over 120 specialty shops, restaurants and a food court. For more information, visit www.boulevard-mall.com Boulevard Mall is owned and managed by Forest City Enterprises, Inc., a publicly traded (NYSE: FCEA and FCEB) national real estate company.

Send Your Best (Sendyourbest.com), a newly-conceived online community designed to cheer on friends and family as they achieve milestones, is currently accepting beta testers while prepping for a late 2009 launch.

Created by David Goldman after his close friend, Kathleen was diagnosed with breast cancer, Send Your Best was initially a simple one page website that Mike Coulter built where Kathleen’s friends and family members could express well wishes and give her encouragement. Alternately Kathleen was able to give regular updates to the group that was rallying behind her. With the power of the internet in hand not only did Kathleen receive regular pep talks and ‘atta girls from those closest to her, she heard from people she hadn’t heard from in years and also received hundreds of well wishes from people she’d never met.

“After seeing how much this simple website lifted Kathleen’s spirits and made her battle a little bit easier, Mike and I realized that if this could help her then it could help thousands if not millions of people worldwide,” explains Goldman. “Kathleen is, thankfully, fully recovered and doing well.”

Send Your Best is not only geared towards those who are fighting illnesses like cancer but also to anyone working toward a milestone be it an educational goal, a marathon and so on. The scope of cheerleading Send Your Best can provide is as wide open as its users are creative. Unlike other social networking sites where you create your own page, with Send Your Best your friend or family member creates a page for you. Designed to put people in contact with others dealing with the same struggles and triumphs, Send Your Best also connects those who need help with those who are there to give it. It’s safe to say that everyone can use a support network at some point in their life.

Send Your Best Team

David Goldman

A professional photographer with over 13 years of working in the music, celebrity and advertising worlds, Goldman is the founder of Send Your Best. Not long after relocating to New York in 2005 from Los Angeles a very close friend of his was diagnosed with stage 3 advanced breast cancer. No longer living in LA and feeling somewhat helpless as to what he could do to help his friend David came up with the idea of Send Your Best. Originally for his friend, it quickly became clear through all the positive feedback and great support gleaned from the site that it would be a crime if he did not do everything in his power to make it a reality for anyone in need.

Eythor Ernstson

A software and marketing professional with 10 years of experience in entrepreneurial and startup environments, Ernstson is a partner of Send Your Best as well as the lead web designer for the site. Born and raised in Iceland, Ernstson moved to the US to explore opportunities but ended up settling in Toronto where he and David struck up a friendship. After a few brief conversations, Ernstson realized the potential that Send Your Best has on positively impacting people and joined the effort to make it a reality. Aside from working on Send Your Best, Ernstson runs a consulting firm out of Toronto and Huntsville, Alabama.

Mike Coulter
An LA-based Art Director and Web Designer, Coulter is a co-founder and the lead web developer for Send Your Best. He was born outside of Baltimore and after graduating from Penn State in 1985 with degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering Coulter moved to California. Passion intervened and Coulter sidestepped engineering for his love of music and dreams of becoming a rock star. His band Lifter was signed to Interscope Records in 1993 and released one record. Mike found a permanent home in the film industry as an Art Director for television commercials co-mingled with a second career in web design and development. He lives in Eagle Rock with the love of his life, his dog Calvin.

Adopt-a-Pet.com launches “TwitterACritter” campaign with help from Kevin Nealon, Alyssa Milano, and others

Adopt-a-Pet.com, North America’s largest non-profit pet adoption web service, announces the official launch of TwitterACritter, a new social media campaign that uses Twitter to spread the word about adoptable pets in shelters.

On the campaign web site, www.TwitterACritter.com, pet lovers can select one of the 130,000 homeless dogs, cats, and other pets listed on Adopt-a-Pet.com and tweet a link to that pet’s information.

“TwitterACritter is a fun, easy way for people to actively save the life of a shelter pet, even if they can’t adopt one themselves or afford to donate,” says Abbie Moore, executive director of Adopt-a-Pet.com. “Homeless pets are powerless to promote themselves to potential adopters, so it’s up to those of us who love animals to lend a hand, and a set of thumbs, and tweet about them. In these difficult economic times, when so many pets are being relinquished to shelters, they need our help more than ever.”

Already the campaign has gotten a boost from several celebrities who have participated and encouraged their Twitter followers to do the same. Since the TwitterACritter feature became available two weeks ago, Kevin Nealon, Alyssa Milano, Denise Richards, Kristin Chenoweth, and several other celebrities have taken up the cause and tweeted links to shelter pets listed on Adopt-a-Pet.com. According to Moore, “In each case, immediately after the celebrity’s tweet, hundreds of their followers tweeted homeless pets as well. . . and their followers tweet, and so on and so on. The celebrities create an avalanche of compassion.”

“The bottom line is that if enough people see a shelter pet, that pet gets adopted. There is no better way to expose shelter pets to as many potential adopters as possible than through Twitter,” continues Moore. “It’s no exaggeration to say that a single tweet can save a life. Imagine the impact it would have if everyone tweeted just one critter a day!”

To learn more about TwitterACritter and to see photos of celebrity participants, visit http://www.TwitterACritter.com. You can follow the campaign at http://www.Twitter.com/TweetACritter

About Adopt-a-Pet.com:

Adopt-a-Pet.com (formerly 1-800-Save-A-Pet.com) is North America’s largest non-profit pet adoption website, helping over 8,000 animal shelters, humane societies, SPCAs, pet rescue groups, and pet adoption agencies advertise their homeless pets to adopters for free. Adopt-a-Pet.com displays photos and descriptions of adoptable pets to over 1.5 million people seeking to adopt a pet each month, and is funded by the passionate pet lovers at Purina and North Shore Animal League America. Aside from being able to adopt a dog or adopt a cat, Adopt-a-Pet.com visitors may now also adopt a rabbit, horse, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, farm-type animals and other small pets.

Faculty Focus, a website for higher education professionals, today announced results of a survey on Twitter usage and trends among college faculty. The survey of approximately 2,000 higher education professionals found that nearly one-third (30.7 percent) of the 1,958 respondents say they use Twitter in some capacity. More than half, (56.4 percent) say they’ve never used Twitter.

The findings, available in the downloadable report Twitter in Higher Education: Usage Habits and Trends of Today’s College Faculty, show relatively strong adoption rates among higher education professionals. On the other end of the spectrum, the results also reveal a large number of faculty question the value of using the micro-blogging service in an academic setting.

Key findings of Twitter in Higher Education: Usage Habits and Trends of Today’s College Faculty include:

21.9 percent of respondents say they are “familiar” or “very familiar” with Twitter.
Of those who use Twitter, 21 percent say they “frequently” use it to collaborate with colleagues; 15.6 percent do so “occasionally.”
Of those who use Twitter, 7.2 percent “frequently” use it as a learning tool in the classroom; 9.4 percent do so “occasionally.”
71.8 percent of current Twitterers expect their usage to increase this school year.
20.6 percent of current non-Twitter users say there is a “50/50 chance” they will use Twitter as a learning tool in the classroom in the next two years.
12.9 percent of respondents say they tried Twitter, but stopped using it because it took too much time, they did not find it valuable, or a combination of reasons.
Depending on how they answered the question “Do you use Twitter?” respondents were asked a unique set of follow-up questions. The 20-page report released today provides a breakdown of the survey results by question, including comments provided by survey respondents when available. The comments further explain how they are using Twitter, why they stopped, or why they have no interest in using it at all.

Although the majority of faculty do not currently use Twitter, their reasons are varied. Many questioned its educational relevance and expressed concerns that it creates poor writing skills. For others the reasons boiled down to the simple fact that they either don’t know how to use Twitter, or don’t have time to use it.

“One of the more interesting findings from the survey is the high percentage of faculty who use Twitter, even if they’re still experimenting with the best ways to incorporate it into their courses,” says Mary Bart, content manager for Faculty Focus. “What also became quite apparent was how strongly Twitterers and non-Twitterers feel about the technology.”

The majority (55.9 percent) of people who took the survey are professors or instructors, with another 4.3 percent who designated themselves as online instructors specifically. Nearly one-fourth (23.6 percent) are academic leaders, such as department chairs and deans. Sixteen percent selected their role as “other” and this included individuals in faculty development, academic advisement, instructional design, marketing, admissions, assessment, and library services.

The survey was conducted in July and August 2009. An email invitation to participate in the online survey was distributed to Faculty Focus subscribers, as well as to select in-house lists of higher education faculty and administrators. Faculty Focus also notified its Twitter followers of the survey via http://twitter.com/facultyfocus.

To access the full report: Twitter in Higher Education: Usage Habits and Trends of Today’s College Faculty visit http://bit.ly/4cjCh0 or http://www.facultyfocus.com/.

About Faculty Focus

Faculty Focus, a resource from Magna Publications, is a website dedicated to the academic issues at the forefront of higher education today. Developed for teaching professors and academic leaders, the site features innovative strategies, best practices, and fresh perspectives for creating a better teaching and learning environment. Visit http://www.facultyfocus.com/

Tewspaper, an online newspaper without writers, has launched with coverage of five major metropolitan cities – Baltimore, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. Tewspaper scours social media websites such as Twitter and filters messages down to breaking news. One of the local sites, Baltimore News, brings algorithmically filtered news to people in Tewspaper’s home town.

Tewspaper is neither endorsed nor sponsored by Twitter or other social media websites; the company uses publicly available APIs to connect with social media sites and find relevant data. One of Tewspaper’s innovations is a system of filtering through the obscure and finding the relevant news on social media sites. For example, Twitter alone has over 2 billion messages, and is growing by thousands of messages per minute. Tewspaper makes it easy to find out what is happening now, in an organized, succinct, and accessible fashion. It is an ideal way for the Internet generation, who text and tweet, to view the news at their rapidly moving pace.

“We began by limiting the news to trusted authorities on Twitter. From there, we are working on an algorithm that can find additional breaking news from anyone on Twitter and other websites as it happens,” said Jared Lamb, the creator of Tewspaper.

Another obstacle Tewspaper had to overcome was the limited content it could locate for each story. To solve this problem, the website automatically matches images to related stories. Tewspaper determines the optimal image to display for every story based upon the author, subject, headline text, date, links, and other context.

Canpages Inc., Canada’s fastest growing local search firm, announced today the acquisition of GigPark, an online social media platform which allows users to find local businesses and service providers through recommendations from friends as well as make recommendations themselves.
The acquisition will enable Canpages to integrate user recommendations into its online local search platform, Canpages.ca. Additionally, it will allow Canpages to add a social media layer to its online and mobile products, connecting users with its advertisers through recommendations from friends and others.
“Online recommendations, especially those from a user’s social networks, are increasingly important when choosing which local businesses to buy from,” said Olivier Vincent, President and CEO of Canpages. “With the acquisition of the GigPark, we are thrilled to be the first local search and directories publisher in North America to embrace social recommendations in a relevant way.”
GigPark was founded in 2007 by Pema Hegan and Noah Godfrey. Both Hegan and Godfrey, along with GigPark’s Director of Technology, Paul Dowman, will join the Canpages team in Toronto.
The acquisition will also allow Canpages to incorporate GigPark’s functionality and content into its ImmersiFind platform-the company’s online search and SEO-enabled publishing technology that it licenses to directory companies around the world. There are currently 15 directory publishers globally licensing the platform, which totals more than 1,500 advertising consultants that sell into the ImmersiFind network. In less than one year since ImmersiFind’s launch, Canpages has become the leading licenser of online local search technology in the world.
“Our acquisition of GigPark is another example of Canpages’ commitment to delivering the best local search experience to Canadians and ImmersiFind customers,” said Vincent. “Canpages is already Canada’s fastest growing local search company and with the addition of GigPark, we are one step closer to becoming a global leader in local search online.”
The GigPark acquisition represents another milestone for Canpages, which has grown its online presence at Canpages.ca from 300,000 unique visitors per month to 3.5 million and more than tripled its number of employees from 200 to over 700. Additionally, in less than one year Canpages has also expanded its reach from 2 million to over 8 million homes and businesses across the country.
About Canpages Inc. and Canpages.ca
Canpages is the largest independent local search and directories publisher in Canada. Its website, Canpages.ca features a national residential and business database and more than 3.5 million unique visitors come to visit it every month with their local search requests. With 84 publications and over 85,000 customers, Canpages reaches more than 8 million households and businesses across Canada. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canpages employs 700 people and has offices in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. For more information visit: www.Canpages.ca.

MYARTSPACE.com, the premier online social network for the contemporary art world, has announced the launch of MYARTSPACE.tv, a site providing live, 24-hour per day streaming contemporary art and music.

Catherine McCormack-Skiba, the founder of MYARTSPACE and CEO noted “With our incredibly rich collection of contemporary art from our 60,000 artists we represent, we have a unique ability to launch rich and interesting new art services to the viewing public. MYARTSPACE.tv allows people to enjoy very high-quality, curated contemporary art in their web browser 24 hours per day. The diversity of work is also unique, with artists from over 116 countries being represented in our community.”

The live streaming fine art service is combined with a music playlist constructed on Playlist.com. The service is interactive. Clicking on the art as it streams by allows art appreciators to learn more about the artist and purchase work from them.

Brian Skiba, Chief Technology Officer at CatMacArt Corporation, the producers of the MYARTSPACE site notes “This is a first step in an interesting new direction for contemporary art, and the way in which an audience can interact. Ultimately we see specialty fine art channels being rolled out – for photography, sculpture, mixed media, painting. We also see a variety of platforms and devices from which we can leverage including high-definition television, the iPhone, and other internet-connected devices. And finally, we’ll work towards availing dedicated channels for museums and galleries to offer a means of attracting a broader, younger audience to the contemporary art world.”.

The stream art service is available free at www.myartspace.tv.

About MYARTSPACE:

MYARTSPACE.com, the premier online venue for contemporary art, is one of the fastest growing and diverse communities on the internet. Its members include more than 60,000 artists, collectors, galleries and other art world professionals from across the globe, and it currently has on display hundreds of thousands of pieces of fine art. Membership is free and artist can upload their creative work including images, music and video. Myartspace is created and run by CatMacArt Corporation. CatMacArt Corporation is located in Palo Alto, California. www.catmacart.com.