[Posted by Kristin HambeltonSenior Director of Marketing, Neolane, Inc.] Since we just kicked off the second day of our user conference, Neolane Evolution, I would like to do a quick wrap up of the first day. We had a lot of people using #NeoParis to tweet during the conference, I thought it would be best [...]

[Posted by Mathieu HannouzSenior Product Marketing Manager, Neolane, Inc.] We’re here in beautiful Paris, France at Neolane’s global customer conference – Neolane Evolution 2010. Neolane’s own Manager of Market Intelligence Francois Laxalt presented a particularly popular session today, ‘Best Practices for Measuring Cross-Channel Campaign Effectiveness and ROMI.’ With a brief retrospective on the history of [...]

Social World Cup

With the football matches in South Africa dominating the Twitter streams, HootSuite is here to help you stay on-side of the global chatter as the social web carries the conversation up-field for a goooooaaaaallll!

This fresh release of the HootSuite mobile social media dashboard for iPhone features localization for Arabic and Korean plus OAuth security migration, push notifications and deeper conversation browsing.

“Salam and Annyong Haseyo”

Building upon the localizations added in the last release of HootSuite iPhone, two more languages join German, Spanish, Japanese and Portuguese to (almost) round out the top 10 worldwide Internet languages. Now, the dozens of Arabic-speaking countries, along with the voracious Internet user population of Korea, can enjoy full interface elements in their familiar language.

سلام

Use of Arabic language on the web increased 2,297.7 % from 2000-2009 compared to world average of 399.03 %. The total adoption was led by Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Algeria.

HootSuite’s new Arabic localized version reads right to left and will be a communication boon for over half a billion people who speak Arabic as a first or second language in the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere around the world.

안녕하세요

As an early Internet adopter, South Korea was the 5th country to join the 30 club for over 30 million Internet users in 2004 (following US, China, Japan and Germany). South Korea remains in the top ten of total Internet users per country and boasts the highest Internet penetration rate of any top 10 country at 77.3 % (as of end of 2009).

Though Korean is a top 10 language on the web, scant statistics are available for Internet use in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (AKA North Korea) aside from a ranking of 227th in the “Internet Hosts” category by the CIA Factbook.

Push Notification

Fresh from the HootSuite Labs comes baked-in push notifications via Boxcar. This integration will alert you with a noise, buzz or pop-up whenever a new messages arrives. Tune it to receive @ replies, DMs or your whole home feed, and you’ll have one less reason to miss any mention of your name, brand or keyword.

Deeper Conversation

In the previous release, we added a threaded conversation view. Now we’ve made the conversations interactive allowing you to drill deeper into the back-story to quickly grasp context.

This update allows you to dig back into the stream to send replies and follow links from previous messages in the thread.

Avatar Zooming

Wondering who that stunning new follower is? Does that face look familiar? What’s your friend holding in that picture anyhow?

Zoom in on their profile pic to see their face in a full screen view. Handy at conferences and bars alike.

Security Migration

This release stays in step with Twitter’s evolving systems with a migration to the OAuth security protocol.

After installing the new version of HootSuite iPhone App, simply follow the prompts to upgrade your authentication scheme to OAuth which is: “An open protocol to allow secure API authorization in a simple and standard method from desktop and web applications.”

Keep in mind, you must update your app to OAuth before July 1st 2010 to keep your HootSuite app happily hooting with Twitter.

Owl-ized Addresses from Safari

Want to shorten a link quick while browsing the web? Just add “owly://” (no quotes) to the start of the URL in the Safari browser bar to instantly create a message in HootSuite including the short URL.

Kick Off

Get Hooting with HootSuite for iPhone by downloading from the iTunes App Store – all new features are released in both the Full ($2.99) or Lite (no-cost) versions and upgrades are FREE.

More Stats

Many nuggets of information for this article came from http://www.internetworldstats.com – thanks!

Related posts:

1. HootSuite iPhone Update: Language Localization, Instapaper and Email Languages, Email and Instapaper Hoot hoot! We’ve listened to your...
2. Zen of Socializing ~ New HootSuite iPhone Release Helps Clear your Mind Designed to Simplify HootSuite keeners likely noticed a handful of...
3. HootSuite for iPhone Update with Translation, Facebook & Geo-location Built for Socializing HootSuite adds more tools to the iPhone...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The Platform team is always excited to see developers' creativity in building cool applications using our APIs. To showcase new and interesting applications built on the Twitter Platform, we're going to periodically feature great apps on our blog. For our first post, we'd like to highlight the @kosmix TweetBeat World Cup site. For all of the World Cup fans out there, you are seriously missing out if you haven't checked this out yet!



The TweetBeat site provides real-time updates from and around the World Cup. You can follow what is being said about the whole tournament, or focus on a specific team and even follow what's happening with its opposition. Not only that, but their Popular Tweets sidebar keeps you informed of what everyone else is talking about and, during matches, which team has the most Tweets.

TweetBeat uses the Twitter Firehose to cluster similar tweets into real-time stories from all across Twitter as they happen. You can use the speed slider to slow down or speed up the flow of Tweets and stories down the page. They have also integrated @Anywhere so that you can retweet the best tweets or follow your favorite Twitter users right from the site, without having to come back to twitter.com.



If you know of other cool uses of the Twitter API, tweet about it and mention @twitterapi or me (@themattharris) and we'll check it out!

Keeping the media reports rolling out with another round-up of recent article about HootSuite. This time, the focus is on business users with a batch of tips, rankings, reviews and soliloquies about saving time, keeping an eye on assets and giving a hoot.

Settle in for a read to learn how to save time while increasing results in your social promotion campaigns.

As always, follow along with HootSuite’s social bookmarks and/or @hootwatch for the full news view as it happens.

Financial Post – Keeping tabs on your brand – see also: CBC

Matt Hartley writes: In essence, Hootsuite users can track who’s talking about their company who’s passing around links related to promotions and news and what services they’re using to do so.

“That’s kind of the Holy Grail of what Hootsuite does,” Mr. Holmes said.

“Social media marketing didn’t really exist as a job title prior to the last couple of years, but we’re really building this as a tool for them and also traditional marketers that are looking for tools,” he said.

Mashable – HootSuite Gives Groups More Twitter and Facebook Tools

Jolie O’Dell writes: We’ve noticed that HootSuite has been cranking out major upgrades consistently over the past several months. In terms of team collaboration and CRM social media tools, this company seems to be en fuego. Last week, HootSuite added Facebook support and geolocation features to its iPhone app.

A month ago, HootSuite integrated Foursquare and MySpace capabilities — a surefire path to the hearts of marketers and recording artist promoters. You can use HootSuite from your Android phone and you can use it to update your WordPress blog. Clearly, this team is focused on making a robust and competitive application in a very crowded space.

American Express OPEN Forum – How to Get the Most Out of Social Media Using Hootsuite : Technology

By Zachary Sniderman via Mashable: Managing a million different social media sites is a headache for even the most seasoned social media-ites. But what happens when your business is expected to maintain a Twitter account, a Facebook Page, or a WordPress blog?

Updating all those sites takes time and energy, but social media hubs like Hootsuite can help any small business efficiently manage their social media presence. Hootsuite is a free website that allows users to update, post, monitor, and track a range of popular social media services.

Like other social media hubs, Hootsuite’s hub can be customized to suit your needs. Whether you’re tracking one or multiple accounts across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more, Hootsuite might be an efficient, secure way to stay on top of all of them. Below are five quick ways to maximize Hootsuite … Read on …

SUITE101 MEDIA – Suite101.com Releases Its Second Annual Index Of Most Visited Canadian Web Sites

Suite101.com, a global content site that provides trusted and reliable information to consumers today released its second annual readership index of Canadian-owned Web sites, entitled “Where The Online Readers Are.” The second annual index reveals that the top sites remain largely content sites, and social media activity by the top-trafficked sites has increased substantially.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    2   Ow.ly            http://ow.ly/                468   new   URL shortener
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    7   HootSuite        www.hootsuite.com            877   new   Marketing

VentureBeat – Foursquare declares platform-dom with launch of App Gallery

Camille Ricketts writes: Mobile location application Foursquare is diversifying itself into a platform of its own today by launching an aggregation of third-party applications built on top of its core service. It’s calling it the App Gallery.

{snip}

Currently, the featured apps include HootSuite (a service to share your favorite locations with your friends), Kickball (a new interface design), FourFace (a creative interface changer) and Mob Zombies (a game that plays on the zombie apocalypse meme).

The Rise To The Top – Why Entrepreneurs Should Give A Hoot About Hootsuite

David Garland writes: There are streams everywhere. Facebook. Twitter. Plus more. Information coming at you at a crazy pace. Now add in the fact, that many of us entrepreneurs are creating our own valuable content and promoting it. And keeping tabs on when our business pops up in a conversation. And ...

Hundreds of developers and first Seesmic plugins from French services in Paris for the Microsoft Remix 2010 for developers, the annual conference on the new Microsoft platform for Web applications, Rich Media and Mobile.

The conference (and video) was presented in French, but here's a quick summary:

Loic presents the latest plugin features for Seesmic Desktop 2, such as the Foursquare venue and Translate feature (Developed by Tim Heuer), as well as social networks such as, Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, MySpace, LinkedIn.

Loic also introduced other plugin partners/developers that went through the details of the ease of creating a Seesmic Desktop Plugin. One of the plugins was an interactive weather plugin that showed the weather of a geo-location message. Another awesome plugin was a network called Hellotipi, A  family sharing website to share your best moments of your families' life. One other important feature is the customization option of Seesmic Desktop 2, such as backgrounds. 

Loic is followed by Toufik Lerari and then Cyril Giacopino of Tequila Rapido. François de Rochebouët, of HelloTipi, who presented his service also introduced Christophe Rousee, the developer for the plug-in featured in Seesmic Desktop 2.  This is yet another proof that the creation process is not al all difficult with the correct skills and engagement, Christophe mentioning the entire process he went through, which has only taken him no more than three days.

For more information on how to develop a Seesmic Desktop 2 plug-in and how to reach the development team, please go to http://devwiki.seesmic.com/Getting-Started-with-the-Desktop-Plugin-SDK. If you have any questions, please use the mailing list to ask us technical questions, provide feedback and any other items you'd like to bring up with us.

We're looking forward for more suggestions. You can download the Seesmic Desktop 2 app and let us know your thoughts on the Feedback Page. 

What is the whole of the UK talking about right now, apart from Vuvuzelas...?

Of course, its Big Brother!

This year's BB is not only the last ever, but the biggest ever, with more twists than a curly wurly.

So we are delighted, in conjunction with Channel 4, to be able to offer a Big Brother version of TweetDeck, decked out in full BB style, and sporting all the bells and whistles you will need to keep your finger on the pulse from this huge final series.

Download the Big Brother TweetDeck from www.TweetDeck.com/bigbrother and you will be able to follow all the news from the house via the dedicated Big Brother columns.

You can read what's happening right now with the Big Brother live Twitter feed, get the lowdown from the presenters, and check out the latest news from the BB web site, all within your Big Brother-themed TweetDeck.

If you love Big Brother, put your old client up for eviction and slip into the hot-tub with your new best friend for the summer - Big Brother TweetDeck.

 

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Following up on our recent Adobe AIR 2 runtime availability announcement, we are pleased to also announce that the Adobe AIR 2 SDK is available for download! To help developers quickly get up to speed on the latest capabilities of this release, we are making a number of resources available including release notes, documentation, articles, videos and sample applications.

Release Notes

First, be sure to review the AIR 2 Developer Release Notes where you will find additional information about the latest features, tips and tricks and known issues. This document is an excellent resource for learning about the release. The developer release notes are also available in Japanese and Chinese as well.

Documentation

Links to the Adobe AIR 2 documentation can be found on here.

Articles

If you are looking for tips on how to get started with AIR 2, visit the Adobe AIR Developer Center. Below are several new articles and videos related to AIR 2 that will help you get started with some of the new capabilities in the runtime.

• What's new about HTML, HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript in AIR 2 by Mihai Balan
• Using the AIR 2 NativeProcess API to create a screen recorder by Benjamin Dobler
• Writing multiscreen AIR apps by Christian Cantrell
• Communicating between Flash Player and Adobe AIR with sockets by Charles Ward
• Video: Creative Native Installers in Adobe AIR 2 by Serge Jespers

Sample Applications With Source Code

In addition to articles, our team developed a number of sample applications with source code available to help get your started on the new runtime features. Sample applications are available for Flex, Flash and HTML/JavaScript.

Several new sample applications, grouped by product area, that we are making available for AIR 2 include:

• Native Process API
  • SearchCentral (Mac only) - SearchCentral lets you search your desktop, Google, or Wikipedia from within a single application. SearchCentral takes advantage of the new native process API to communicate with the Mac OS X Spotlight feature. It also uses the open document API to open files when double-clicked.
• Networking
  • KeePIPE - a JavaScript-based application that lets users share files on the same network. The application demonstrates how the new networking capabilities can be used to create peer-to-peer applications. KeePIPE also demonstrates the new open document capabilities. If you use an application such as VMWare, you can use this application to transfer files between your VM and host computer.
  • HTTPeek - HTTPeek is a proxy which demonstrates the new ServerSocket APIs in AIR 2. It listens on a designated port, and proxies HTTP requests while displaying the both the request and response HTTP headers.
• Mass Storage Device Detection
  • FileTile - FileTile demonstrates two new capabilities in AIR 2: mass storage device detection, and opening files with their default applications. When running, FileTile detects when a storage device (such as a USB drive or a Flip video camera) is connected, and displays the contents of the files on that device. Right-click on images to preview them, or double-click to open files with their default application.
• Local Audio Recording
  • Microphone - Microphone records and plays back audio locally. It demonstrates a new feature in AIR 2 that lets you write audio locally without requiring a server. You can also speed-up or slow-down the playback speed of the recorded audio.
  • EchoExample - The EchoExample application records a sound, then plays it back simulating an echo using the new ability in AIR 2 to sample microphone data directly. It also demonstrates the use of the SoundTransform object to modify the sound dynamically before playing it back.
• Multi-touch & Gestures
  • PhotoPhysics - PhotoPhysics is a multi-touch application that includes a built-in physics engine. Note: PhotoPhysics requires a multitouch device such as an HP TouchSmart PC or a Dell Latitude XT2 running Windows 7.
  • GeoTest - GeoTest lets you throw images around the screen using a built-in physics engine. This application demonstrates how a user with a non-multi-touch system may tests multi-touch APIs. Note: GeoTest does not require a multi-touch device.
  • SpriteFract - SpriteFract demonstrates a mouse-compatible, direct-manipulation interface. It has a built-in physics engine and leverages the new multi-touch APIs. It also uses PixelBender to asynchronously process a large amount ...

Following up on our recent Adobe AIR 2 runtime availability announcement, we are pleased to also announce that the Adobe AIR 2 SDK is available for download! To help developers quickly get up to speed on the latest capabilities of this release, we are making a number of resources available including release notes, documentation, articles, videos and sample applications.

Release Notes

First, be sure to review the AIR 2 Developer Release Notes where you will find additional information about the latest features, tips and tricks and known issues. This document is an excellent resource for learning about the release. The developer release notes are also available in Japanese and Chinese as well.

Documentation

Links to the Adobe AIR 2 documentation can be found on here.

Articles

If you are looking for tips on how to get started with AIR 2, visit the Adobe AIR Developer Center. Below are several new articles and videos related to AIR 2 that will help you get started with some of the new capabilities in the runtime.

• What’s new about HTML, HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript in AIR 2 by Mihai Balan
• Using the AIR 2 NativeProcess API to create a screen recorder by Benjamin Dobler
• Writing multiscreen AIR apps by Christian Cantrell
• Communicating between Flash Player and Adobe AIR with sockets by Charles Ward
• Video: Creative Native Installers in Adobe AIR 2 by Serge Jespers

Sample Applications With Source Code

In addition to articles, our team developed a number of sample applications with source code available to help get your started on the new runtime features. Sample applications are available for Flex, Flash and HTML/JavaScript.

Several new sample applications, grouped by product area, that we are making available for AIR 2 include:

• Native Process API
  • SearchCentral (Mac only) – SearchCentral lets you search your desktop, Google, or Wikipedia from within a single application. SearchCentral takes advantage of the new native process API to communicate with the Mac OS X Spotlight feature. It also uses the open document API to open files when double-clicked.
• Networking
  • KeePIPE – a JavaScript-based application that lets users share files on the same network. The application demonstrates how the new networking capabilities can be used to create peer-to-peer applications. KeePIPE also demonstrates the new open document capabilities. If you use an application such as VMWare, you can use this application to transfer files between your VM and host computer.
  • HTTPeek – HTTPeek is a proxy which demonstrates the new ServerSocket APIs in AIR 2. It listens on a designated port, and proxies HTTP requests while displaying the both the request and response HTTP headers.
• Mass Storage Device Detection
  • FileTile – FileTile demonstrates two new capabilities in AIR 2: mass storage device detection, and opening files with their default applications. When running, FileTile detects when a storage device (such as a USB drive or a Flip video camera) is connected, and displays the contents of the files on that device. Right-click on images to preview them, or double-click to open files with their default application.
• Local Audio Recording
  • Microphone – Microphone records and plays back audio locally. It demonstrates a new feature in AIR 2 that lets you write audio locally without requiring a server. You can also speed-up or slow-down the playback speed of the recorded audio.
  • EchoExample – The EchoExample application records a sound, then plays it back simulating an echo using the new ability in AIR 2 to sample microphone data directly. It also demonstrates the use of the SoundTransform object to modify the sound dynamically before playing it back.
• Multi-touch & Gestures
  • PhotoPhysics – PhotoPhysics is a multi-touch application that includes a built-in physics engine. Note: PhotoPhysics requires a multitouch device such as an HP TouchSmart PC or a Dell Latitude XT2 running Windows 7.
  • GeoTest – GeoTest lets you throw images around the screen using a built-in physics engine. This application demonstrates how a user with a non-multi-touch system may tests multi-touch APIs. Note: GeoTest does not require a multi-touch device.
  • SpriteFract – SpriteFract demonstrates a mouse-compatible, direct-manipulation interface. It has a built-in physics engine and leverages the new multi-touch APIs. It also uses PixelBender to asynchronously process a large amount ...

From a site stability and service outage perspective, it's been Twitter's worst month since last October.

What's the problem?
Last Friday, we detailed on our Engineering blog that this is going to be a rocky few weeks. We're working through tweaks to our system in order to provide greater stability at a time when we're facing record traffic. We have long-term solutions that we are working towards, but in the meantime, we are making real-time adjustments so that we can grow our capacity and avoid outages during the World Cup.

As we go through this process, we have uncovered unexpected deeper issues and have even caused inadvertent downtime as a result of our attempts to make changes. Ultimately, the changes that we are making now will make Twitter much more reliable in the future. However, we certainly are not happy about the disruptions that we have faced and even caused this week and understand how they negatively impact our users.

Should Twitter have been ready?
Record traffic and unprecedented spikes in activity are never simple to manage. However, we were well aware of the likely impact of the World Cup. What we didn't anticipate was some of the complexities that have been inherent in fixing and optimizing our systems before and during the event.

What's next?
Over the next two weeks, we may perform relatively short planned maintenance on the site. During this time, the service will likely be taken down. We will not perform this work during World Cup games, and we will provide advance notification.

How can I best keep informed of any future Twitter site issues?
For real-time updates on site outages or major issues, you can go to our Status blog. For most other problems that you may be having with Twitter, follow @Support.

Background on Twitter uptime from Pingdom
A month by month look: http://bit.ly/c3BPRS