Mirror, mirror – which social network is the greatest of them all? — Customer satisfaction ratings

For the third year, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) asked 70,000 people how they feel about the top social media sites. And Google+ and Wikipedia are the winners – from Marketing Land: Google+, Wikipedia – 78 points YouTube – 73 Pinterest – 69 Twitter – 64 Linkedin – 63 Facebook – 61     …

Have you heard of Social Advertising? — It’s the next big thing in online ads

A possible shift in the advertising landscape? From an email Jonah Peretti, the CEO of Buzzfeed, sent out to employees and investors:   This same lucky shift made our business model work for the first time.  A couple years ago, we were trying unsuccessfully to sell social advertising to a market that only wanted to buy …

Tug of War, once a part of Ancient Olympics, was also once a part of the modern Olympics

Tug of war was contested as a team event in the Summer Olympics at every Olympiad from 1900 to 1920. Originally the competition was entered by clubs, which meant that one country could win several medals. This happened in 1904, when the United States won all three medals, and in 1908 when the podium was occupied by three British teams. Sweden was also among the top …

Meet the ‘bots’ of Wikipedia

ClueBot NG, as the bot is known, resides on a computer from which it sallies forth into the vast encyclopaedia to detect and clean up vandalism almost as soon as it occurs. It is one of several hundred bots patrolling Wikipedia at any given time. Its role in repairing the Supreme Court article illustrates how …

Wikimedia Foundation votes to start a travel guide – as Wikitravel implodes

The Wikimedia Foundation has decided to create a travel guide in the mold of its non-profit, user-written and search engine results-hogging Wikipedia. The foundation’s board of trustees on July 11 approved a proposal to launch an advertisement-free travel guide and noted that 31 of the 48 administrators of the Internet Brands-owned Wikitravel have pledged to join forces with the Wikimedia Foundation’s …

Progress in the Middle East – if you measure by the number of Facebook users

There are growing signs of progress in the Middle East, if you measure by the total number of Facebook users. That number has skyrocketed since 2010, going from 15 million to near 40 million. Of those users, a growing number are starting to prefer using the site in their own native language, Arabic. Of the …

Google takes a big step towards becoming a (smart) encyclopedia – look out Wikipedia!

“We’re in the early phases of moving from being an information engine to a knowledge engine” – Google That’s a quote from the video below where Google explains a new panel they are adding to search. Called the ‘knowledge graph’ it is basically a mini-encyclopedia. See the panels in the images below.     This …

The benefits of raised bed gardening

It’s springtime and I’ll be out doing some planting today. Yesterday, at the farmers market, I picked up four seedlings: Pepper, Heirloom Tomato, Thai Basil, and Mexican Squash. Before getting started I looked up what a ‘raised bed’ was. I had been hearing a lot about them and was wondering why they’re so popular. Turns …

Wikimania 2012 is in Washington, D.C.

The Wikimania 2012 conference will be held July 12-15, 2012, at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Meet the wiki community in Washington. Join a gathering of experts, enthusiasts, and those who are just curious, in a center of academia, culture, and technology. Engage at the official annual conference of Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. …

Bees are in peril – and so are most of our major foods

Bees are nearing a “crises,” prompting the government to spend millions on a massive data base and asking beekeepers on March 27 for advice on how to save them and prevent the nation’s agriculture from collapsing. Honeybees are critical in agriculture. The value of crops in U.S. agriculture that depend on their pollination is $19 billion, according …