Mediatwits

Mediatwits #49: Facebook IPO Mania; Internet Week; 16th Webby Awards

Welcome to the 49th episode of the Mediatwits podcast, with Mark Glaser and Dorian Benkoil as co-hosts. Today is the day for the Facebook IPO, so we've got it covered like a wet blanket. Special guests Debra Aho Williamson of eMarketer and Troy Young of SAY Media talk over the ins and outs of Facebook as it soars into the... more »

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Poll: What Do You Think About the Facebook IPO?

Now we have a date (May 18) and a price range ($28 to $35 per share) for what could be the biggest initial public offering in the history of tech stocks: Facebook. The company has grown by leaps and bounds since it was born in Mark Zuckerberg's dorm at Harvard in 2004, and now could make Zuckerberg richer than Microsoft... more »

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Must Reads

Daily Must Reads, May 18, 2012

The best stories across the web on media and technology, curated by Lily Leung. 1. Thanks to IPO, Zuckerberg is now wealthier than Google founders (Bloomberg) 2. Why Warren Buffett is snapping up newspapers (PaidContent) 3. How Facebook should spend its IPO money (Mashable) 4. Twitter implements do not track privacy option (NYT) 5. 52% of media pros say they...

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Must Reads

E-books and Self-Publishing Roundup, May 17, 2012

The best stories of the week from across the web on e-books and self-publishing 1. E-book pricing lawsuit moves ahead (via NYT) 2. Authors have ramped up writing pace to meet feverish e-book demand (Christian Science Monitor) 3. Debating the right price for digital books (Columbia Journalism Review) 4. Screenplay for upcoming Wes Anderson movie will come out as e-book...

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Must Reads

Daily Must Reads, May 17, 2012

The best stories across the web on media and technology, curated by Lily Leung. 1. Want to buy Facebook shares now? You may be too late (Reuters) 2. 15 key stats on Facebook's analytics (Experian) 3. Pinterest snags big-time investor in Japan (AllThingsD) 4. Pinterest tries email to keep users engaged (PaidContent) 5. Turner Broadcasting invests in Funny or Die...

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Business

Can Web-Only Original Programming Finally Stick?

The days of skateboarding dogs holding sway on the web may be numbered. Technology companies and advertisers are professing their belief in the value of professionally produced original content. Portals and platforms like YouTube, AOL, MSN and Yahoo -- once known for aggregating and optimizing video produced by others -- are spending millions of dollars to develop and acquire programming...

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Must Reads

Daily Must Reads, March 16, 2012

The best stories across the web on media and technology, curated by Lily Leung. 1. E-book pricing lawsuit moves ahead (NYT) 2. General Motors plans to pull the plug on its Facebook ads (WSJ) 3. Despite its huge population, Google+ is a 'virtual tumbleweed town' (Businessweek) 4. Bitly may be launching a real-time viral search engine (The Verge) 5. Flipboard...

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Collaboration

How Design Links Storytelling to Social Enterprise

That a story can give voice to a cause and incite a social movement is an old concept. But at a recent gathering of more than 100 documentary filmmakers, social entrepreneurs and designers, the real question was not whether stories can make change happen, but how to make storytelling a systemic part of how a social enterprise disseminates its message...

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Free Speech

Could Facebook, Twitter Be Charged Under Thailand's Computer Crime Act?

On June 3 of last year, MediaShift published the article "Crisis in Thailand Leads to Net Crackdown, Censorship" on the harassment journalists and netizens faced as political clashes arose in the country. Many of the comments in a long thread following its publication mentioned the monarchy. Some of the comments were just opinions, but according to the lese-majesté law, they...

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Must Reads

Journalism and Digital Education Roundup, May 15, 2012

The best stories across the web on journalism and digital education 1. Students with computer science degrees are in high demand this year (Bloomberg) 2. Libraries in this county are buying, not leasing, e-books (Boing Boing) 3. Tax increase could bring iPads to classrooms in S.C. (Island Packet) 4. Teacher behind Calif. school's iPad program gets laid off (NBC) 5....

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Must Reads

Daily Must Reads, May 15, 2012

The best stories across the web on media and technology, curated by Lily Leung. 1. Former head of Murdoch U.K. newspaper empire faces charges in hacking scandal (NYT) 2. Facebook bumps up its share price (Washington Post) 3. Should This American Life fact-check David Sedaris stories? (Poynter) 4. With a new CEO in place, can Yahoo focus on becoming a...

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World View

Why Now Is the Time for Media Innovation in Africa

In Africa, where mobile news and digital innovation are growing but startup capital is too often scarce, innovators have a unique opportunity to help reinvent media: the African News Innovation Challenge. The newly launched contest, modeled on the Knight News Challenge, will award $1 million (in increments of $12,500 to $100,000) to projects that create new ways to tell stories,...

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