Jimmy Fallon is Webby Person of the Year

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fallonThe Webby Awards winners were revealed today in a wide range of categories, including websites, online film and video, interactive advertising, and mobile websites.

Webby Person of the Year goes to Jimmy Fallon who broke new ground by using the Internet to hone his late-night-hosting chops before the TV launch of his talk show. He became one of the most ardent online evangelists interacting with fans through his blog and Twitter, inviting feedback on his skits, and even hosting a contest that allowed fans to select the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon logo.

As expected, Webby Breakout of the Year goes to Twitter, which has grown by 900% in the last year alone.

A full list of winners can be found at WebbyAwards.com.

@AKGovSarahPalin joins Twitter

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Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has officially joined the ranks of Twitter addicts. The Alaska governor has so far amassed 12,096 followers (as of this writing).

“This is my official Twitter feed – from here I’ll provide updates on issues concerning Alaskans. Learn more about AK at www.alaska.gov,” the governor said in her first post.

Yesterday, she also posted her take on Swine Flu. “We still have no reported cases of swine flu. Be vigilant, AK! Wash hands & watch for flu-like symptoms. Go to http://tinyurl.com/c2avc4.”

Palin is following, among others, Bill O’reilly, David Gregory, Mike Huckabee, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Karl Rove and of course… John McCain. She is not currently following @BarakObama and me.

AOL launches PoliticsDaily.com, a different kind of political website (they say)

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AOL is bringing in top-tier political writers to provide in-depth and informed reporting, analysis and opinion of the US political landscape with the launch of PoliticsDaily.com. The site is led by former New York Times Washington correspondent Melinda Henneberger, who serves as Editor in Chief. PoliticsDaily.com dubs itself as different from other political sites by way of focusing on original reporting, regular fact checking of stories, and long-lead reporting and writing in a one-stop-shop for political arguments across the spectrum (the others out there are not fact-checking your stories?).

In addition to Henneberger, PoliticsDaily features:

  • Walter Shapiro, former columnist for USA Today and former Washington bureau chief for Salon;
  • Jill Lawrence, former national political correspondent for USA Today and columnist for the Associated Press;
  • Carl Cannon, previously Washington bureau chief for Reader’s Digest and White House correspondent for the National Journal and the Baltimore Sun;
  • Lynn Sweet, blogger and Washington Bureau Chief of the Chicago Sun-Times, as well as a regular guest on MSNBC, CNN and FOX;
  • Patricia Murphy, founder of Citizen Jane Politics, a non-partisan website for women.

Amanda Congdon goes mobile with FLO TV

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FLO TV Incorporated is collaborating with Amanda Congdon (remember her?) to create original made-for-mobile content and broadcast segments of her video blog “Sometimes Daily” on FLO TV.

Through this partnership, Congdon’s “Sometimes Daily” segments will be shown on FLO TV, along with original, made-for-mobile reports. FLO TV is available to AT&T subscribers as AT&T Mobile TV and through another major wireless carrier in more than 68 major metropolitan areas nationwide, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and Washington D.C.

Just under half of Americans have Facebook or MySpace account

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All the news and personalities that we see using Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace makes us think that everyone is into it. The Harris Poll, however, revealed that half of Americans (51%) do not use Twitter or have a MySpace or facebook account. Just under half (48%) of adults have either a MySpace or Facebook page with 16% of adults updating their page at least once a day. Only 5% of Americans are currently using Twitter.

The nationwide survey of 2,220 U.S. adults surveyed online between March 31 and April 1, 2009 by Harris Interactive also revealed that:

  • Three-quarters of those aged 18-34 years old (74%) have a Facebook or MySpace account but this quickly drops off the older one gets. Just one-quarter (24%) of those 55 and older have an account;
  • Tweeting is also slightly more prevalent among the young, but not by much; 8% of 18-34 year olds use Twitter, 7% of those 35-44 use it, 4% of those aged 45-54 and just 1% of those 55 and older;
  • While men and women use Twitter at the same levels (5% each), women are more likely to have a Facebook or MySpace account (52% versus 45%); and,
  • There is also an educational difference in usage of social networking sites. Two in five people with a high school degree or less (40%) have a Facebook or MySpace account compared to 55% of those with some college and 52% of those with at least a college degree.

USA Today blogs and online communities now on Amazon Kindle

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USA Today is making a selection of its blogs and online communities available for Amazon Kindle. Would you pay for it though?

The blogs and online communities from USA Today featured on the Kindle include: Cruise Log, with the latest news and trends in the world of cruising; Game Hunters, an online community with a focus on video games and “interactive awesomeness;” Lifeline Live, your ticket to celebrity and entertainment news; OnDeadline, offering breaking news and must-read stories; Game On!, covering the latest sports news; The Oval, an online community dedicated to tracking the Obama administration; Pop Candy, unwrapping pop culture’s hip and hidden treasures; and Today in the Sky, delivering the latest news and analysis about airlines, airports and air travel.

Agan, would you pay for something that you can get for free? It’s $0.99 for blogs and $1.99 for online communities.

Worms strike Twitter and no one sent me a twit

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How did I miss this over the weekend? No one sent me a twit about this. I’m talking about the different worm attacks on Twitter that started Saturday and until Sunday.

Michael “Mikeyy” Mooney, the 17-year-old creator of StalkDaily, has admitted creating the worms that exploited a cross-site scripting vulnerability in the Twitter service to infect user profiles.

“At about 2 a.m. on Saturday, four accounts were created that began spreading a worm on Twitter,” co-founder Biz Stone announced in a blog post. “From 7:30 a.m. until 11 a.m. [Pacific time], our security team worked on eliminating the vectors that could identify this worm. At that time, about 90 accounts were compromised. We identified and secured these accounts.”

The company also said that they would review its coding practices. I suggest that they hire Michael “Mikeyy” Mooney.

Skype for iPhone hits Apple App Store

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PD*26729633Skype’s highly anticipated application Skype for iPhone is now available via the Apple App Store. The app also adds Skype calling and instant messaging to any second generation iPod touch with a compatible headset and microphone.

Skype for iPhone requires a Wi-Fi connection to make the free Skype-to-Skype calls or regular calls to mobile and landlines. Users will not be charged by Skype for making and receiving Skype-to-Skype calls using an iPhone or iPod touch.

(What excites me more with this service is that it allows my iTouch to become a mobile phone in itself. Who needs an iPhone now… I still want it though)

DogTime Blog Network grows to 320 pet bloggers with reach to 1.2 million visitors

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dogtimeDogTime Media, a vertical media community in the pet market reaching over 9.6 million unique visitors a month, revealed that its DogTime Blog Network has grown to include 320 pet bloggers. The aggregated reach of these bloggers is seen at 1.2 million unique visitors.

Bloggers are joining the DogTime Blog Network to benefit from the additional traffic, revenue and content tools that are available to them via DogTime Media. These tools include a Media Center that delivers entertaining, informative and engaging videos, photos and articles, and is easily integrated into their blogs. Also popular is DogTime’s Blog Widget that allows bloggers to share traffic with one another.

“Our blogger community has more than doubled since we launched it in October,” said Trevor Wright, CEO of DogTime Media. “When combined with our unique set of content distribution and user engagement tools that are already deployed across our community of more than 250 pet publisher sites we are in the unique position to support our advertiser’s marketing objectives throughout the entire consumer purchase cycle.”

How about getting coupons via Twitter

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logo_coupons4twitterIf you’re using Twitter, it would be nice to know that you can stay up to date now with the latest offers from Coupons.com (especially at this time where we need all the discounts we can use). Simply follow Twitter.com/Coupons and you will automatically receive offers as they become available. The tweets will include links to the printable coupons for quick printing.

“Twitter offers an opportunity to reach an increasingly broad and rapidly growing population of digital coupon consumers who can now get up-to-the minute notification when new coupons are available,” said Steve Horowitz, CTO of Coupons Inc.

In recent months, Coupons.com launched a Facebook application and acquired the mobile grocery shopping application Grocery iQ to integrate digital coupons into the shopping experience.