Reality series “Summer Break,” scheduled to premiere on Monday, is taking a nontraditional approach by distributing its content exclusively via social media sites such as Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram. Producer Peter Chernin of the Chernin Group sees the future of entertainment in social media and his new show will test this theory, targeting a younger audience he hopes will turn to their mobile devices to follow the unscripted stories. Continue reading Summer Break: Reality Series Exclusively for Social Media

While Yahoo’s planned $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr drew all the headlines yesterday, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer also unveiled a new Flickr experience for desktop and Android users. During Monday’s press event in New York City, Mayer announced that in addition to a redesign, an impressive terabyte of storage is coming to Flickr users. Yahoo purchased the photo-sharing site in 2005; today it touts more than 8 billion photographs. Continue reading Will Flickr Upgrade by Yahoo Help Calm Tumblr Concerns?

Yahoo announced early this morning that it has agreed to pay $1.1 billion for Tumblr, the six-year-old blogging site that touts more than 100 million users, but little in the form of revenue. While Tumblr users have already expressed concerns that the site could end up cluttered with ads, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer promises “not to screw it up.” The deal marks the largest social acquisition in years, surpassing last year’s $1 billion purchase of Instagram by Facebook. Continue reading Yahoo Announces $1.1 Billion Acquisition Plan for Tumblr

Social giant Facebook is in discussions to acquire mobile navigation service Waze, according to people familiar with the matter. The purchase price has been reported by some outlets as high as $1 billion, which would rival the amount Facebook paid last year to purchase mobile photo-sharing service Instagram. The Waze acquisition would provide Facebook with the opportunity to efficiently deliver local ads and content to its 1.1 billion users. Continue reading Facebook in Talks to Purchase Mobile Navigation Startup

The Chernin Group is producing an unscripted reality series that plans to skip television distribution in favor of a new social media model. The series will be distributed entirely via social platforms including Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Tumblr. The concept is a bold experiment that hopes to target younger viewers on the devices and platforms that have replaced their traditional television viewing. Continue reading Reality Series to Play Out Entirely on Social Media Platforms

Jenna Mourey, better known as Jenna Marbles, has reached over one billion views on her YouTube channel. The 26-year-old digital entertainer has developed an impressive following of fans (especially teenage girls) with her collection of five to eight minute videos. As she rants, performs impressions, creates parodies and pokes fun at celebrities, she may also end up becoming a pioneer of a new genre of online entertainment. Continue reading Jenna Marbles YouTube Channel Draws One Billion Views

Facebook’s newly unveiled Home is the social networking giant’s attempt at making the transition to mobile. Home is not the long-rumored Facebook Phone, but a suite of apps that turns any phone into a Facebook device. Even with the lock screen on, users can see photo streams and friends’ activities, as Home puts people front and center. Updates also appear on the home screen. Home places an emphasis on Facebook as a primary communication tool.  Continue reading Mobile: Mark Zuckerberg Talks Facebook Home with Wired

Led by the popular photo-sharing app Snapchat, a number of startups are challenging the belief that everything one posts online is destined to be online for eternity. Even social networking giant Facebook recently released a Snapchat-like feature called Poke, which enables users to send notes, pictures and videos to their friends that dissappear after an allotted amount of time. Continue reading Snapchat and Fleeting Messaging Apps Grow in Popularity

Twitter hosted an invite-only, closed-to-press developer event this week. According to angel investor Dave McClure, founder of business incubator 500 Startups, Twitter is expanding its Card options for developers to help build features for its site and apps. The Cards will allow developers to display photo galleries, media players and deep-links to apps within an individual tweet. Flickr, Path and Foursquare expressed their support at the event. Continue reading Twitter Cards Enable Developers to Display Media Content

Intelligent Content is developing along with the evolution of digital technology and in relation to how humans interact with it. As the analytics and visual design of written content both take on an increasingly large role in how people consume information, we are about to experience an era in which information design and delivery changes in real-time in direct response to how readers are consuming the content. Continue reading Intelligent Content: Will Your Media Soon Know You Best?

A recent study by collaborative media platform Wikia, in association with market researcher Ipsos MediaCT, indicates that YouTube is among the most popular sites for the younger generation, known as “Generation Z.” The study surveyed 1,203 13-to-18-year-old participants about their Internet and social media habits. Not surprisingly, the findings also point out an increase in use of mobile devices throughout the day by the same age group. Continue reading Study Shows Teens More Connected, Shift in Social Habits

Startup gazeMetrix uses computer vision and machine learning to recognize brand logos in photos posted on Instagram and other social media sites. Co-founder and CEO Deobrat Singh leads his company as it tries to analyze images for marketing and advertising purposes. The end goal is making it easier for companies to track and promote brands online and targeted ads. Continue reading Startup gazeMetrix Tracks Brand Images on Social Sites

Facebook acquired Instagram in part because Instagram’s success on mobile challenged Facebook’s subpar mobile application. The purchase helped improve Facebook’s mobile presence, and now the social network has helped redesign Instagram to serve desktop audiences with the launch of a full newsfeed for browsers. Now Instagram joins Facebook as a complete Web entity. Continue reading Instagram Launches Full Image Feed for Desktop Browsers

Twitter recently acquired Vine, an easy-to-use new app that allows users to share six-second looping video creations with friends on social networks. “Instead of the standard video-sharing experience, you record videos by holding your finger on the screen. By lifting your finger, you can momentarily pause the recording, making it possible to create a miniature narrative out of multiple scenes,” explains Wired. Continue reading Twitter Acquires Vine, Hopes To Spark More Video Sharing

Facebook’s new Graph Search feature may benefit from upcoming upgrades. When Graph Search was first released, the feature relied primarily on “likes” and check-ins to provide results, but these are ineffective tools since most people do not check-in when they go to places they like, and others like pages ironically rather than honestly. But bringing in further analysis of comments of posts could help improve the accuracy of Graph Search. Continue reading Facebook: Struggling Graph Search Feature May Be Improved