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In mid-2009, all-things-social-media blog Mashable surpassed TechCrunch as the top tech blog in terms of traffic. Now, Mashable is rumored to be on its way to becoming an AOL property.

In late 2009, AOL revealed its new strategy away from Time Warner. That strategy is content, content, content, and that is something there is no shortage of from Mashable.

Gawker’s Valleywag appears to be the source of the rumor after hearing from "a source at the Internet conglomerate" that AOL was interested in buying Mashable. Mashable owner Pete Cashmore has since told the publication:

"We don’t comment on speculation, but we do hold our writers in high regard and pay a competitive salary for their tireless efforts."

However, since then, famed tech blogger Robert Scoble has posted the following tweet:

It’s still only a rumor at this point, but it will be quite interesting to see how this one unfolds. Valleywag thinks the only hold up might be negotiations.

Mashable certainly fits the profile of what AOL is trying to do these days. They cover a wide spectrum of topics (horizontally, if you will), while staying somewhere within the realm of social media, for the most part. One has to wonder if the writers would stay the same if such a deal were to go through.
 

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The tech industry was abuzz about a new phone from Google over the weekend. After months of speculation, it was discovered that Google does indeed have a new smartphone, and now more details and images have surfaced.

The phone is being called the Nexus one (so far, at least), and will run the Android operating system. The hardware comes from HTC. Most details about the phone are only speculative at this point, as the only people that have access to them are Google employees. The company has given a number of its employees the device to mess around with over the holidays. Mario Queiroz, Vice President, Product Management writes on the Google Mobile Blog:

At Google, we are constantly experimenting with new products and technologies, and often ask employees to test these products for quick feedback and suggestions for improvements in a process we call dogfooding (from "eating your own dogfood"). Well this holiday season, we are taking dogfooding to a new level.

We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities, and we shared this device with Google employees across the globe. This means they get to test out a new technology and help improve it.

Queiroz also said that Google cannot share any specific product details, but that hasn’t stopped the leaks of photos. Engadget dug the following one up on Google’s Picasa Web Albums photo sharing site:

Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land has a source, who he says is not a Gooogle Employee, that claims to have held one of the devices and messed around with it. He said that the resolution on the phone is "at least twice as good" as the iPhone. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google designed the entire software experience on the device, which makes it unique from other Android phones.

Apparently people will be able to purchase the phone directly from Google, rather than a carrier, and according to Pete Cashmore at Mashable, users will be able to choose their carrier from a menu, once they receive the phone. He says the phone will be "sold online and unlocked," and that Google is partnering with T-Mobile to push the phone. He says Verizon declined.

Some rumors suggest that the Nexus One could be released to the public as early as next month. That could just be wishful thinking, but whenever it does come out, it will be quite interesting to see how the public responds.
 

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We knew Twitter lists were going to be big for Twitter. We knew they were going to greatly increase the usefulness of the service, and for many, even the enjoyment. What we didn’t know, however, was that right out of the box, we would see so many different uses for them, providing a window to the potential that they really do hold not only for Twitter itself, but for any business or individual who uses it. Let’s look at a few of those ways that Twitter lists are being used.

Tell us how you are using Twitter lists.
1. Organization and Noise Reduction

When Twitter first made the announcement that the Lists feature was coming, my first thoughts were about how great that would be to organize the Twitter stream. It has worked out as such. It’s a great way to separate the people you follow into groups.

For example, if I want to keep marketers, news organizations, sports stars, musicians, and my actual real-life friends all separate from one another, I can do that. It’s a great way to reduce the "noise" that has commonly been associated with Twitter. You can look at a custom-made list and simply get tweets related to a certain category. It’s very much like organizing a feed reader into different folders.

2. Changing the News

Mashable’s Pete Cashmore wrote a pretty interesting piece for CNN about how Twitter Lists are already transforming online journalism. Journalists are using friends to filter massive amounts of data through lists. Again, it’s about noise reduction.

Vadim Lavrusik also discusses ways news organizations are using Twitter lists. He looks at how different publishers are creating staff directories, recommending "tweeps" and specific information, using lists for curated real-time steams, and to follow events.

3. Directories

Mike Butcher points out that Simplezesty is creating lists of Twitter users in entire countries. This is a concept that could be taken by anybody to run wild with, particularly with regards to niches. Lists are essentially an organization tool, so anything can be broken down into categories.

Let’s say you are a restaurant critic. You could create separate lists for the best pizza places, the best burger joints, the best bars, the best Mexican restaurants, etc. This could be applied to virtually any industry.

Shameless plug: Of course our own Twellow.com has served a similar purpose and more for quite some time, and it’s already pretty well-established, so you if you’re looking for people to follow by industry, I suggest checking that out.

4. A New Way of Interaction

Look at what the NHL had done. Jennifer Van Grove points to a Tweet from the National Hockey league, which called upon fans to tweet @NHL their favorite team with a specific hashtag. The purpose was to create lists fans by team.

I can see a lot of potential for this type of thing too. I could see such a thing being turned into a game, or being used by businesses for promotions, contests, etc.

5. Popularity Contests and Paid List Spots?

I would have to imagine that people are going to covet spots on certain lists. It’s potentially going to be a great way to get new followers, so people are going to want to appear on the lists of influential Twitterers.

Could this lead to paying for spots on Twitter lists? I’d actually be shocked if this isn’t already going on to be honest. It’s not much different than the old-fashioned paying for a link. Only in this case, Google isn’t there to keep you out of search results, because here you’re trying to be found on Twitter, not Google.

That actually raises some more questions, however, as Google (and Bing) has recently made a deal with Twitter, which will see Tweets make their way to the search engine. We don’t know yet exactly how this will go, and whether or not lists will ever factor into the Google part of things. Could being on more lists be taken as a sign of authority? I’m only speculating.

6. Exploitation and Spam

Inevitably, Twitter Lists will also be exploited and used for spam purposes. It’s on the Internet and it’s a chance to gain exposure. It pretty much stands to reason than spam will follow. Why would this be any different than any other tool? Valleywag thinks Ellen DeGeneres is already engaging in such tactics. That’s an interesting read.

Are Twitter lists going to change how we get our news? How we find information? How we market our businesses? What do you think? Share your thoughts.

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> Twitter Expands the "Lists" Feature

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No, this is not about God using Twitter so if you have any issues around that please put them aside now. This is actually about a service that some airlines are putting in place that utilizes Twitter and Facebook to update those who care where you actually are while flying from point A to point B. Just another update on every minute of everyone’s life brought to you by social media.

Mashable reports:

We’ve seen Tweets posted by plants, a space shuttle and even a house, so we shouldn’t be particularly surprised to hear that commercial jets are now Tweeting and posting Facebook messages (sorta). In fact, we think the idea is ingenious.

Admittedly, it’s not the plane itself doing the Tweeting: it’s the airline. Lufthansa has set up a new service named MySkyStatus that automatically posts the current position of your flight to Twitter or Facebook so your friends can follow your travels (and your friends living in those cities can look up!).

Here’s a look at the information that ‘you’ are giving your friends etc.

As a father I think this is pretty cool because the kids can play along while Dad travels. Heck, they might even learn something about geography (Twitter as geography teacher, will that be a source of revenue for Biz and boys?). As it relates to loved ones this is pretty neat because it is another touch point in a personal relationship. So for just telling the world where you are, it seems to me to be more unnecessary noise in an already noisy world. There’s self promotion and then there is self indulgence. I honestly only care that you landed safely not that you are still hanging in the air at 30,000 plus feet above the Azores with nothing keeping you safe but mysterious forces that don’t tweet. Of course, this is simply my opinion and if you think differently then that’s cool too.

Now, to the point of this being a marketing tool, this quote from Pete Cashmore makes sense and I certainly can see this value from a marketing standpoint.

I stumbled on the service because one of my Facebook friends was on a United Airlines flight today. Clicking the link in the update, of course, directs you to the Lufthansa MySkyStatus page with a Google Map of the flight’s position, meaning that Lufthansa is getting free social media promotion from people traveling on all airlines. Pretty smart.

So as with all things there are pluses and minuses. I suspect that the minuses for this one don’t come close to outweighing the plus side for airlines so expect more tweets from the sky soon.

Comments

Update: Tr.im has apparently had a change of heart, and decided to remain functional. On the company blog, Tr.im’s founder says:

We have restored tr.im, and re-opened its website. We have been absolutely overwhelmed by the popular response, and the countless public and private appeals I have received to keep tr.im alive.

We have answered those pleas. Nambu will keep tr.im operating going forward, indefinitely, while we continue to consider our options in regards to tr.im’s future.

Either way, Tr.im has managed to bring a seemingly important subject into the spotlight, and it is still one worth thinking about.

Original Article: Shortened URLs come in quite handy when you want to share a link, but the URL is simply too long. Twitter’s rise to popularity has carried the popularity of such services right up with it. Naturally, when you have a 140-character limit, such a tool becomes much more in-demand.

Over the weekend, URL shortening service Tr.im announced that it was closing down shop. This is by no means the most popular service of its kind. But the big story here is not that we’re losing Tr.im. It’s that the idea of losing Tr.im brings up a much broader issue in what happens to all of those shortened URLs?

Tell WebProNews readers what you think about the situation.

"When these services go away, tens of thousands of links on the web simply stop working," says Mashable’s Pete Cashmore. "Some sites will lose hundreds of inbound links, and the traffic that comes with them."

"If Tr.im shuts down its servers, millions of links will simply die," says Mashable’s Ben Parr separately. "Poof, just like that. Someone could even buy Tr.im and redirect all the links to spam, porn, or malware."

Tr.im says in its announcement that all of its URLs will continue to redirect until December 31. Parr thinks someone will buy Tr.im before the end of the year. Bit.ly, Twitter’s go-to shortener has a project called 301works, (which archives URLs) told the publication that they offered to host Tr.im’s URL mappings, but it is not clear yet if anything will come of that.

But once again, the issue lies on a much larger plane than that of Tr.im. If more of these sites fail for any reason or get hacked, the web could turn into link bedlam. "Millions upon millions of links could suddenly vanish, leaving users confused and a possibly uncleanable mess," says Parr.

How Big is the Problem Really?

Or perhaps we’re sensationalizing this a little bit. There’s no question that there are many, many shortened URLs out there in circulation, but if they all stopped working, what would happen? Let’s look at where they’re being used – Twitter. In a hypothetic scenario where no URL shortening service works any longer, people will stop using them from that point on. That eliminates the further spread of problem-links.

That leaves you with all of the ones out there that people have posted in the past. That means while they are out there to be clicked on, they will become more and more buried as time goes on. Twitter Search is after all about what is happening "right now."

I don’t mean to play down the issue too much. It is definitely an issue, and there would still be some hiccups experienced by many webmasters. Twitter does drive a lot of traffic for a lot of people. But most of that traffic I would guess comes from fresh tweets, rather than tweets that are days or weeks old that would carry broken links.

I fully acknowledge that Twitter is not the only source of URL shortened-links, but it is easily the largest. Links could stop working at many places around the web, but it’s not going to be a mass web apocalypse. Google results aren’t going to stop offering legitimate links.

Is the 140-Character Limit Bad for the Web?

If anything, the issue casts yet another shadow of vulnerability on Twitter, and at a time when it has already received mass media attention over a Denial-of-Service attack. Without functioning links, Twitter becomes a lot less useful for many users. Does Twitter want to depend on third party services for such functionality as it continues to grow? Is rethinking the 140-character limit in order?

Twitter does have a relationship with Bit.ly, which is alive and well, but maybe Twitter just needs its own such service, just so it (or its users at least) doesn’t have to rely on others. But what would happen to all of those if Twitter had its own shortener? Without such high demand, would they continue to thrive? If not, they could add to the problem with that many more compromised links.

I don’t know. I don’t claim to have the answers. The whole thing does raise some important questions about the web though. If Twitter is to become a long-term major player in communication on the web, some things are going to need to be addressed. Any thoughts on the situation? Please share them.