Magnet Media Films, Inc.

The Viral Spiral: A-Ha! My Little Pony’s Musical Super Bowl

Debbie Saslaw, Editor/Motion Graphics Artist — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:38:11 +0000

Well, ladies and germs, it’s Friday. And that means it’s time for Magnet’s “resident Internet culture expert” Debbie Saslaw to run down her picks for the week’s best (and most bizarre, in many cases) viral videos in “The Viral Spiral.”

Best Off-Off-Off Broadway musical

I’m desperately trying to remember how I found this video of a real, live My Little Pony singing the theme from Dreamgirls, but nothing is coming to me. All I know is that I’m glad to live in a world where this exists.

Best Viral Advertisement Super Bowl Commercial

In the dreary days before YouTube, I used to watch the Super Bowl solely for the commercials. Thankfully, they’ve already been posted and re-posted countless times, so the only reason I’ll be tuning in is to catch Madonna’s performance at half-time. Hopefully I’ll also catch Matthew Broderick’s playing an older, wiser Ferris Bueller in full television-quality HD.

Best Baby Steps

Watching these English bulldog puppies take their first steps will literally melt your heart. They are like two living, breathing squeaky toys crawling across a carpet. SO #CUTE.

Best Electronic Music Made Using Actual Electronics

Someone mixed a track using all the bleeps and bloops and clicks of our electronic devices and it’s surprisingly catchy, if you’re into that sort of thing. However, I received a text message while watching this and got extremely disoriented.

Best Oddball from Across the Pond

This woman can tell the future just by looking at a stalk of asparagus. I think I’ve said enough.

Best Mental Breakdown

If you’ve been on the Internet at all this week, you’ve probably already seen Kristen Bell crying over sloths. I really, truly did not want to re-post it in this week’s spiral, but I can’t ignore something so adorable.

Best Video to Show Your Mom When She Asks Who “Lana Del Rey” Is

One of my favorite things on the Internet is NMA.tv, a hilarious animated news series from our friends in Taiwan. This week, they try to make sense of the musical train wreck that is Lana Del Rey. I cant decide what I love more about this video—the music critics hitting her album cover with frying pans or her backup band of flannel-clad violinists.

Best Mildly Offensive Sarah McLachlan Parody

This lipdub of Sarah McLachlan’s depressing ASPCA commercial had me falling over in my chair. If you don’t believe me, ask Ryan Swearingen, since I forced him to watch it with me. [Editor’s note: The editor claims no responsibility for any offense taken to this video… - RS]

Best Form of Nostalgia

The Human Jukebox covers songs from the 90’s for over 6 minutes using a Melodica. And yes, I had to Google this instrument to find the correct term for what I thought was a keyboard harmonica.

Even Better Form of Nostalgia

Just when you thought you’ve heard enough covers of A-Ha’s “Take On Me,” a group of accordion players from North Korea uploads one more. Is there really enough room in this world for another 80′s cover band? The answer is yes.

**BONUS VIDEO** (Because we go to 11…)

Best (and First!) Viral Spiral Repeat Offender

In last week’s spiral, we met Alana, the Toddlers and Tiaras terror. She’s back with a vengeance on Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers, chugging her special juice and spinning in endless circles of insanity. I suspect that Alana will be viral forever, or at least until she suffers from a Mountain Dew-induced diabetic shock.

Any other great videos you discovered this week? Let us know in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our free newsletter.

Debbie Saslaw makes up 1/2 of Magnet Media’s post-production staff and doubles as the company’s resident expert on Internet culture. She also edits a weekly supercut for Slacktory and her viral videos have garnered more than 1 million hits after appearing on sites such as Buzzfeed, HuffPost Comedy, Uproxx, MSNBC.com, and The Daily What.

Infographic: Everything You Need to Know About Facebook’s IPO

Ryan Swearingen, Managing Editor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:45:13 +0000

You can’t step outside this week without hearing chatter about Facebook’s IPO filing with the SEC yesterday, which is likely to value the 8-year-old social network somewhere between $5-100 billion. We stumbled across this fascinating infographic, which was actually created prior to the actual filing near the end of 2011, but is still filled with compelling stats.

Of particular note…

Facebook’s filing is the biggest in tech history
If valued at $100 billion, that places Facebook well beyond even Disney at $60 billion
Higher online display ad revenue than Yahoo, Google, or Microsoft.

Created by: Accounting Degree Online

Taming the Dragon: How to Work Successfully with a Mobile App Developer

Alexandre Rogers — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:56:33 +0000

(Image via thefadedline.com)

It’s not a challenge for the faint of heart. Entering the den of the mobile app developer, looking the beast in the eye, and describing the app you’re after takes courage and clear vision. St. George may have slain his dragon, but your mission is to partner with yours—and ultimately, by working together, create the killer app of your dreams.

Be Sure You Come with a Plan

The key to a successful partnership is a written plan; a detailed description of your mobile app. Put it in a document accessible on your smartphone, perhaps via Dropbox or Documents to Go. Keep it ready to whip out in an instant should you suddenly discover yourself in the presence of the Jabberwock of developer dragons.

Your mobile app plan describes:

What you want your app to do.
Who you want to use it.
How it will feel to the user.

Following advice from Lou Dubois, Philadelphia-based Social Media Editor for NBC Universal’s local news affiliate WCAU-TV, your plan should show how the mobile app you have in mind makes life cheaper, easier, or more fun.

This clear and concise outline is sometimes called a “requirements” document. It could be as basic as a bullet point list, a flow chart, a mind map, or jpg mock-up, even a hand-drawn sketch. But the more specific and thoughtful you can be, the better. And the more cost efficient, too.

Remember: app developers in the United States charge upwards of $100 an hour. A small app can cost around $3000 to $8000. Good communication and a concise mobile app plan can help keep the project on budget.

You must share the same specifications with each of the developers you ask to bid on your project. This ensures that each developer is bidding on the same functionality, security features, design, and business requirements.

Creating a Wireframe to Save Time and Money

According to the Make App Ideas Team the best way to do an app plan is to draw every screen and even draw flow charts showing how each screen leads to another. These screen drawings are called “wireframes.” But don’t be intimidated by the lingo. Spencer Schmerling at Evolutionate, Inc. www.evolutionate.com, explains how to do this in a white paper: The Six Biggest Mistakes people make when developing mobile apps. Here’s a summary of how Evolutionate suggests you do a wireframe:

Draw a rectangle representing the phone screen. Above the rectangle write the name of the screen (like Main Menu). Next, one-by-one add the elements that will make up that screen. Don’t worry how it looks or if it all fits—your designer will take care of all of that. You just need to get all those elements on paper.

If there is a lot of text on the screen (like a help file), just write the words “Lorem Ipsum” followed by three dots. That’s a common abbreviation indicating some text in that area—but at this stage actual text isn’t needed.

Off to the side of the rectangle, write down a brief description of what each element on that screen does. You can skip explaining obvious items, like a button that says, “delete.” Mark other buttons with a symbol, like a star or triangle, and then note on the side what buttons with that specific symbol will do.

(Image via Gliffy.com)

Now repeat that process for all the screens and you have yourself a wireframe of your new app!

But Wait! There’s an App for That

If you really want to impress a developer dragon, there’s a Free App you can download at www.gliffy.com/examples/wireframes that will help you draw a wireframe and give it polish and presence.

Gliffy makes it easy to put your ideas into a wireframe format that the whole development team can share and even revise and improve as you go along. This will streamline the process when estimating costs and clarifying details while helping Coders, Writers, Graphic Designers and Testers to do their jobs efficiently.

Whether you have a series of hand-drawn app screens or a fully developed wireframe, the app plan is the most important tool for making your mobile app a reality. All the time you put into it will pay you back. And best of all, it assures a developer, whether it’s an agency, a boutique, or a dragon, that you’re ready to talk business.

What are you thoughts on app development? Have any tips to share? Sound off in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our free newsletter.

Alexandre Rogers, former Tokyo ex-pat from Boston now transplanted to New York’s Hudson Valley, writes about technology, business and horticulture.

No related posts.

Working with Brands and Content Creators: IAWTV Awards Panel at CES 2012

Ryan Swearingen, Managing Editor — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:56:33 +0000

As technology pushes us speedily down new highways, old models for content distribution—and the advertising that’s traditionally supported them—are continually being retooled and reinvented.

Brands are learning that producing branded content is a great way to reach—and engage—consumers with their products and services. Branded entertainment, and specifically web video, is proven to engage viewers with brands’ products more successfully than traditional advertising models. The key lies in creating something that actually entertains or provides something useful. If that goal is met, then audiences are happy to partake. It’s a new way of thinking that is growing in acceptance as traditional content providers learn to adapt their thinking to new models.

Magnet Media CEO Megan Cunningham recently participated in an IAWTV Awards (International Academy of Web Television) panel at CES 2012 entitled Working with Brands and Content Creators, which covered this very topic. The panel lineup, moderated by IAWTV Chairman Paul Kontonis, was made up of players from the content creation space including including Andrew Budkofsky (EVP Sales and Partnerships for Break Media), Avi Savar (Founding Partner of Big Fuel), Carter Mason (Founder/CEO of JTS.TV/Just the Story), and Mike Henry (CEO of OpenSlate Studios).

The primary thrust of the panel’s discussion was that content is indeed king. And while web video and other original branded content provide fertile ground for reaching consumers, in order to truly engage an audience, that content must first and foremost be entertaining or useful.

Megan points out in the session video above that most brands would understandably be content to continue with business as usual, if it weren’t for demand (and slipping success rates for traditional models) forcing them to stand up and take notice. As she so eloquently puts it, “Brands are interested in content because audiences are interested in content.”

Thanks to IAWTV for video of the session above.

What do you think about brands creating original web video content? Is it a less disruptive channel for brands to reach consumers in a genuine way to which they’re more likely to respond? Let us know in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our free newsletter.

Ryan Swearingen is Managing Editor of the Blog Network at Magnet Media and co-founder/editor of Stated Magazine.

Case Study: Good Technology Holiday Video

Ryan Swearingen, Managing Editor — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:14:15 +0000

It’s always a pleasure to work with clients on projects that allow the Magnet Media production team to flex their artistic muscles.

This recent holiday season, Good Technology—a leader in multi-platform enterprise mobility solutions—contracted Magnet Media to create a short, holiday-themed video greeting. Good was looking for something upbeat and stylish that could be geared primarily toward existing and potential customers and could be used both externally and internally. They wanted to create a message that would reflect Good’s brand vision and value proposition, while avoiding specific holiday or weather imagery, such as Santa Claus or snowmen.

Magnet and Good came up with a concept that fit the parameters and presented Good’s value proposition in a fun and high-concept approach. Magnet cast, produced, directed, and shot the spot with professional actors to capture Good’s product value in a unique visual presentation.

Good was overwhelmingly pleased with the final video, with many in the company—including the CEO—envisioning the video as a potential TV spot. Good posted the piece prominently on its website homepage and in the few weeks since, it it’s already earned over 1,200 views on YouTube. It’s been so well received that a campaign of further videos exploring the same concept is in development.

At the risk of bragging, we can’t keep these generous comments from Kirk Donnan—Director, Marketing Communications and Brand for Good Technology—to ourselves…

“We couldn’t be happier with Magnet. Smart. Intuitive. Strategic. Creative. Focused. Prompt. Dependable. Slick. They’ve been able to visually stimulate our brand and value proposition like no other trans-communications agency I’ve worked with.”

“Trans-communication agency.” Now that’s a description we can get behind.

We’d love to hear from you! Please give us a shout in the comments and join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our free weekly newsletter.

Ryan Swearingen is Managing Editor of the Blog Network at Magnet Media and co-founder/editor of Stated Magazine.

Video SEO: Optimize Your YouTube Videos for Search (Magnet Minute Video)

Amy Schmittauer — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:40:46 +0000

Today on the Magnet Minute, Amy shares some great advice on video SEO to help you optimize your YouTube video for search. Follow these tips to help the video community find your content and grow your presence on YouTube:

1. Fill out video information thoroughly with keywords

Get straight to the point when you are creating a title so that people who find your video in search results won’t have to spend a lot of time reading to know you have the information you’re looking for. Also, reiterating that information and expanding on it in the description will help the likelihood of your video showing up near the top of the results. So share as much info as you can there. Make sure all the important keywords are in the title and description, as well as in the tags for the video. And always make sure your video is in the right category so searchers aren’t disappointed when your video shows up in the wrong place.

2. Engage the YouTube community

Subscribe to channels that are relevant to you and have an audience similar to the one you are trying to attract. Comment on their videos and engage with the video makers and their audiences to increase the likelihood of creating relationships. Anytime you can link one of your videos as a video response, or even create one specifically in response to a certain video, take that opportunity. Video responses are few and far between in comparison to text comments and will often get approved by the video maker, helping you get face time in front of their audience. Also remember to respond to comments on your own channel. No one likes video makers who don’t have time for their community.

3. Encourage action with Calls to Action (CTA’s)

You can’t get viewers to act if you don’t give them direction on how to do so. If you want more subscribers, ask them to subscribe. If you want more “likes” on your video to increase exposure, ask for more “likes.” If you want people to visit your website, give them the address. It’s small reminders like these that people are happy to act on if you tell them to.

4. Show people what to expect in the first 15 seconds

Many people will watch your video for a few seconds to see if it’s what they are looking for so, make sure you are using that time wisely and giving the viewer a reason to stick around. Make sure the focal point of the video shows up first, and branding appears after. Don’t let the theme song take over your video’s chances!

Do you have more ideas on how to optimize video for search? Sound off in the comments! And check out all of our Magnet Minute videos on YouTube.

Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our free newsletter.

Amy Schmittauer is the Founder & Face of Savvy Sexy Social. She is a social media frenzy working as a freelance video blogger, writer, and social relations consultant. Connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +.

“This Video Needs to Go Viral. How About Cats Playing With an iPad?”

Debbie Saslaw, Editor/Motion Graphics Artist — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:00:09 +0000

Cats. They do the darndest things.

“We want this to go viral!”

Whether you’re an advertising giant or a boutique agency, you’re probably hearing this phrase from your clients more often than not. It can be a frustrating request for marketers, because brands want their campaigns to instantly “go viral” without appearing silly. And as we know, most viral videos are little bytes of Internet magic. In a world where a video of a frog playing Ant Crusher on a Droid smartphone can reach almost 10 million viewers in less than a month, how do you parlay our inherently trivial sense of humor into an effective marketing strategy?

#Humblebrag warning: A recent supercut I edited reached over 100K views in less than a week. While compiling the content, I noticed several videos related to a marketing campaign that Friskies developed called “Games for Cats,” which seemed like a pretty foolproof idea. In May of 2011, Friskies hired a team to develop three iPad apps based on how cats react to different stimuli. According to their website, which is little more than a splash page, Friskies claims, “the colors, movement, and game play have been researched and tested for maximum feline fun.” The initial video featured several cats pawing at animated pebbles of Friskies’ cat food, so It’s no surprise it was re-blogged by the usual curators of viral culture: Mashable, Huffpost, and of course, I Can Haz Cheeseburger. As a result, their introductory promo reached more than one million viewers a few months after its release.

Few things slip through my digital grasp, especially if they involve heavy amounts of cuteness. So why hadn’t I heard of these apps until now? I even went back to see if I had forwarded it to my kitty-crazed roommate and her boyfriend, who owned an iPad long before anyone else. No dice.

The answer is simple: Friskies did not offer the option to share the results attained by this adorable focus group. They developed a branded YouTube channel that features over 100 cats playing with the Friskies apps, but only about 25% of these videos feature the brand name in the title. Because the videos are uploaded by individual YouTube users, the channel serves as a hub rather than a source for original content. As a result, PurinaFriskies’ YouTube Channel is barely reaching 1,100 subscribers. Compare this to Maru’s audience. This amazing Japanese wondercat has almost 200,000 subscribers and these videos have reached more than 100 million people across the world.

Let’s be serious for a second. Obviously a cat isn’t going to demand a specific brand of cat food just because they played with a branded iPad app. BECAUSE CATS CAN’T TALK. But there is a lot to learn from the stunted growth of this campaign. A well-executed video can go viral, but without some sort of user interaction the idea is a one-off. Their splash page invites users to like the Friskies’ Facebook page but since the ‘Games With Cats’ section is nothing more than a replica of the website, the excited user hears those familiar crickets upon clicking the ‘like button.’

The brands who have parlayed viral videos into multifaceted campaigns are the bane of every agency’s existence. Everyone wants to be Old Spice, but the challenge is to come up with a way to continuously engage users after the initial launch. Friskies is doing a nice job interacting with their existing audience, and they no doubt learned from this experiment. Their initial strategy might have snowballed into one of the above ubiquitous marketing triumphs with a few tweaks. For example, if Friskies offered a contest where the most popular cat gets a month’s worth of free product, this would encourage users to upload content that Friskies would then own. From there, they could create branded supercuts, promos for new apps, even a television commercial—which would have continued to build on the success of that first introductory video.

Every pet parent thinks their pet is the cutest thing that has ever crawled the earth, but cat people in particular clearly go to disturbingly great lengths to make their cats famous. Friskies was on the right track. They just needed a little extra boost of ingenuity. Just like this little guy.

—

[Added bonus... No discussion of viral cat videos is complete without john st.'s brilliant "Catvertising" piece from last fall. You're welcome.]

Have you seen a branded video that’s effectively gone viral and engaged its viewers? Let us know in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our free weekly newsletter.

This Week’s Events In Video, Social Media Marketing, and Tech: Jan 30th – Feb 3rd.

Stephen Fotiu — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:59:23 +0000

It’s a new week, and that means there’s a whole new list of great events in video, social media marketing, and tech taking place in the coming days (via GarysGuide). Here are a few events worth checking out this week.

January NYC Marketing Mixer Networking Happy Hour
Mon, Jan 30, 6:30 PM @ Gstaad
43 W 26th St
New York, NY
$5 per person

BIGDATA MXM ( MediaCrossMedia)
Tue, Jan 31, 5:30 PM @ Empire State Building
350 5th Avenue, 60F
New York, NY
$35

The 2011 Crunchies Awards
Tue, Jan 31, 7:30 PM @ Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA
$100 per person

Making Startups Work – Optimizing the Front End
Tue, Jan 31, 7:00 PM @ Refinery29
30 Cooper Square, 4th Floor
New York, NY
FREE

Legal Issues in Social Media
Wed, Feb 01, 6:30 PM @ New Work City
412 Broadway, Floor 2
New York, NY
$5

Remember to share your experiences at these events, or any other video, social media, and tech events, in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google +, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our weekly newsletter.

Stephen Fotiu is a Marist College graduate with a B.S. in Business/Marketing. Prior to working in Magnet Media’s marketing department, he interned with Conde Nast’s Brides Magazine and served as Relix Magazine’s Marketing Coordinator.

The Viral Spiral: Zebras, Tacos & Backflips

Debbie Saslaw, Editor/Motion Graphics Artist — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:47:45 +0000

Each week, Magnet’s “resident Internet culture expert,” Debbie Saslaw runs down her picks for the best viral videos of the week. We call it “The Viral Spiral.”

Best Surprise Meme-Revival

I honestly dare you to watch this without smiling. And if by some strange chance you get bored of this oversized dancing zebra, keep watching for the sake of the reveal.

Best Hipster Mockery (In A While)

This indie cover of “Ice, Ice, Baby” is pretty good, but the mini-doc surrounding its inception is genius. This writer is biased, however, because some may place her in the category of “hipster.”

Best Party Feeling for Your Friday

This one comes by way of my colleague/partner in crime Sara Kinney, who sent this last Friday at approximately 11am. We may have watched it every hour, on the hour, until we left the office.

Best Way To Ruin Your Political Career

When asked what he can do for the town’s latino community, this budding presidential candidiate says that he might “eat tacos for dinner.” And then he proceeds to spiral down the political shame spiral for 4 whole minutes.

[ View video at Hartford Courant website ]

Best Apocalypse

Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel “The Road” gets the sad panda treatment.

Best Random Act of Internet Kindness

One of our interns here at Magnet came over and claimed he was making a submission for this week’s Viral Spiral. Not only had I seen this video two days prior, but I had already put it in my spiral queue. Try again next week, David.

Best Reason To Flee This Country

I try to refrain from posting segments from reality shows, but I need to make a rare exception for Alana, the “Toddlers and Tiaras” sensation. Technically this meme has been lurking around the Internet for a while, but this “best-of” compilation is too much for words. All I can say is: this girl was born to go #viral.

– Watch More Funny Videos

Best Real-Life High School Musical

Unfortunately, Lady Gaga has not released a video for “Hair,” an anthem for anyone who has ever been bullied. These high schoolers took matters into their own hands and made one themselves, and the results are pretty epic. To make things even more awesome, this video supports the “It Gets Better” project, which is one of the most inspirational viral videos in Internet history.

Best Winner

A dad tells his son that if he does a blackflip every day for one year, he will give him $100. Not only did the kid document his quest via tumblr, but he created this music video set to a dubstep remix of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.” Take that, Dad.

Best Kitty

Speaking of dubstep: I realize everyone loves to hate on this genre of music, but try hating on dubstep after seeing this cat DJ.

See any other great videos this week? Let us know in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our free newsletter.

Week in Review: Facebook IPO, Twitter Censorship & Teens Get Google+

Ryan Swearingen, Managing Editor — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:13:31 +0000

It was a busy week, but not nearly as weird as last. Here are a few of the week’s top stories in content marketing, tech, video, and social media.

Facebook Readies IPO Filing for Next Week
(The Wall Street Journal)

Just this afternoon, The Wall Street Journal broke the hugely anticipated story that Facebook would finally be filing its Initial Public Offering with the SEC next week. According to “people familiar with the matter,” that could be as early as Wednesday morning and with a value of $75 to $100 billion. Morgan Stanley is reportedly the frontrunner for the “lead left” position on the documents. According to Mashable, if it comes to pass, it would be the largest tech IPO in history, yielding about $10 billion.

Twitter Can Censor by Country
(The Wall Street Journal)

Twitter announced this week its ability to selectively choose what content can and cannot be shown based on geography. According to The Wall Street Journal’s report, “The move would make it possible for Twitter to expand into parts of the world with “’different ideas’” about freedom of expression as a human right,” said the WSJ. Unsurprisingly, the announcement is receiving a fair amount of criticism, particularly in regards to China, which many suspect is one of the key countries motivating the action. Active Tweeter and artist Ai Weiwei, who has been vocally opposed to Chinese policy, was quoted, “If Twitter starts censoring, then I’ll stop tweeting.”

Twitter to Roll Out More Brand Pages for Advertisers Who’ve Committed $25K
(Advertising Age)

Twitter unveiled its new Brand Pages in December when it rolled out sweeping interface changes to make the site’s native web interface arguably simpler to use, and thus more appealing to new users. However, not much info was forthcoming about Brand Pages specifically, other than announcing the group of 21 initial brands to use them, which included Disney and Coca-Cola. According to Cotton Delo on AdAge.com, Twitter will begin rolling out more brand pages next week to some brands and partners “…who have already committed to spending at least $25,000 on its ad products, including promoted tweets and trends.”

That’s a bit steeper than most would have expected, and will likely limit brand pages to early adopting premium brands, at least at first. Twitter did also announce they would be partnering with some charities and non-profits.

Google+ Now Open for Teens, With Extra Safety Precautions
(Forbes.com)

Having initially launched its social network with access restricted to only those 18 years and older, Google+ this week opened its doors to teenagers. Forbes.com quotes Bradley Horowitz, Google’s Product VP for Google+ as saying, “We want to help teens build meaningful connections online. We also want to provide features that foster safety alongside self-expression. Today we’re doing both, for everyone who’s old enough for a Google Account (13+ in most countries).”

Google+’s “Circles” feature, which allows for easy and targeted sharing of content, along with a notification feature to alert teens when they’re about to share something with the public or a wider audience, promise to help ease the minds of users’ parents and allow a measure of security. The move should help boost the relative newcomer’s growing active user numbers.

Vimeo Redesign Puts the Focus on Content
(Mashable)

Vimeo has begun rolling out a major update to its interface this week that’s designed to simplify the user experience and place more emphasis on video content. As Mashable’s Christina Warren reports, it’s the first major update to the popular video-hosting site since its 2007 launch. I can personally vouch that it’s indeed a cleaner, sleeker experience, albeit one that will take a bit of getting used to, but it’s a smart move to maintain the site’s position as a viable player in the video hosting space dominated largely by YouTube.

Stat of the Day: Mobile Phones Overtake PCs
(Advertising Age)

A recent Google study shared exclusively with AdAge reports that smartphone use is gaining quickly on “feature phones” without all the bells and whistles of smartphones. Even more compelling is the finding that more consumers in each of the markets sampled “now have Internet-connected mobile devices than have a desktop or laptop computer. In the U.S. the difference is nearly 10% more (76% to 68%),” reported Matt Carmichael.

What do you think about Facebook going public? Or Twitter censoring Tweets in order to continue its world expansion? Let us know in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our free newsletter.

Ryan Swearingen is Managing Editor of the Blog Network at Magnet Media and co-founder/editor of Stated Magazine.