Now that Hurricane Irene is attacking the East Coast in earnest, it’s time to keep a close eye on current hurricane conditions — that is, if you’re lucky enough to still have some sort of Internet connection.
In addition to the 12 ways to track the storm we’ve already offered you, now we bring those up to date with added video sources and more.
Even if you’re not riding out the storm on the East Coast, you might want to watch that white spinning monster from a safe distance, keeping tabs on what’s happening every minute:
The Google Crisis Response dashboard is an excellent way to keep track of Irene, giving you a variety of overlays with which to visualize the storm. Using data from the National Weather Service, it not only shows you wind speeds and storm tracks, but can also predict where storm surges might be at their worst.
Here's the proverbial horse's mouth of hurricane information, right on Facebook. If you're looking for a concise "just the facts" report, the NOAA NWS National Hurricane Center posts its updates every three hours on its Facebook page. After all, this is where most of the other weather service providers are getting a lot of their data.
Our friend Ray Wert, who also is a car expert who edits the site Jalopnik, is holed up in the middle of the evacuation zone A in the Manhattan Financial District, weathering the storm while live blogging about his experience. Ray tells us he's stocked up with plenty of batteries, flashlights, food, 20 of his closest friends, and yes, liquor, to last through the duration, which is expected to span all the way into Sunday afternoon. he's been venturing outside from time to time to get a first-hand look at weather conditions, but we're hoping he'll stay inside once the winds start picking up.
Along with Ray's live updates, get a visual fix on the scene with this live stream from midtown Manhattan. This camera is on the 16th floor of LiveStream's New York headquarters:
You'll see a lot of personal tweets at this #irene hashtag, as well as impressions and opinions about the storm, comments and noise.
Buried within is lots of information and pictures of the hurricane from a wide and unpredictable variety of sources. Join in the free-for-all by adding that #irene hash tag to whatever you tweet.
If you don't have access to cable TV or a fast streaming video service, this is your next best bet. There's data galore and it's all up-to-the-minute. Better yet, if you have faster Internet service, don't miss the Weather Channel's live stream on Facebook (requires Windows Media Player plugin). If you don't mind waiting through all the commercials, it gives you the same content you get on cable TV.
The weekly roundup is back and, as usual, Mashable has been working hard compiling the latest features and news analysis to fuel your social and techie adventures.
Whet your appetite with a list of Google’s top 10 most expensive acquisitions. Move onto an appetizer of MySpace memories. Have a second helping of back to school iOS apps. Finally, satiate your sweet tooth with a history of online activism. And be sure to come back for seconds next week!
Editors’ Picks
8 Tips for Small Business Homepage Design
People do judge books by their covers — and your website’s homepage is the modern bookcover. Here are 8 design tips for your homepage.
6 Creative iPad Uses for Small Retailers
Read on for some creative implementations of the iPad — we spoke to a nail salon, a cupcake shop, a restaurant and more to learn how they use iPads to improve the customer experience and help their business.
HOW TO: Build Your Brand on Tumblr
As Tumblr’s reach continues to grow, more brands are adding the blogging platform to their online marketing mixes. Here’s a guide to help you start tumbling.
5 Years of YouTube Politics [INFOGRAPHIC]
If a politician does anything important, wonderful, stupid or wonderfully stupid on camera — it is likely YouTube has the video.
A Brief History of Online Activism
For as long as there’s been online communication, there have been political movements in the making. Here’s a look back at the history of social media activism.
Who’s Winning the YouTube Town Hall? [INFOGRAPHIC]
A while back, YouTube launched an online town hall to get the public interested and voting on the issues that matter most, and now the video site has released an infographic showing some of the results.
4 Ways Non-Profits Can Jump Into Google+
If you and your non-profit have steered clear of Google+ during its “people only” phase, now is a good time to reconsider. Here are four ways to get involved.
HOW TO: Properly Use Badges To Engage Customers
Badges can be powerful tools in one’s engagement arsenal. By following these four steps, you can avoid the slapdash approach that undermines successful gamification.
5 Free iPhone Apps to Send a Photo Postcard
Don’t be forced to choose from cheesy printed postcards at your vacation destination — use your own iPhone photos with one of these fabulous, free apps that create electronic postcards you can email.
Why Your App Must Comply With Child Privacy Regulations
A leading mobile app developer recently settled with the FTC over allegations that it was collecting personal information from minors in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. Here’s why this sort of practice will only cost you in the long run.
17 Web Resources for Improving Your Design Skills
Whether you’re looking to get a grip on design basics, or you want to sharpen your advanced skills, web resources can help you construct the perfect creative (and flexible) curriculum.
For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
5 Reasons Your Product Documentation Is a Marketing Asset
As a CMO, there is no more high-margin initiative you can undertake than strategic documentation. Here are five reasons to pay closer attention to this under-appreciated task.
PPC Marketing: 10 Killer Tips for Better ROI
If the tedious nature and large time commitment required to run a successful — or even unsuccessful — PPC campaign has got you down, check out these 10 tips.
5 Handy Apps for Small Business Finance Management
Invoicing and expense reports are arguably the least fun part of business — here are five apps that will make it easier to stay on top of your business’ finances.
4 Traits of Better Business Software
There’s a lot to consider when building enterprise software, but these 4 tenets should always be at the heart of your development process.
QR Code Marketing: 5 Tips for a Successful Campaign
As mobile barcodes crack the mainstream, they have enormous potential to present brands with brilliant results. Here are five best practices for your next campaign.
Athletes competing at the 2012 Olympic Games in London are free to tweet during the competition, the Olympic Committee said.
The athletes are actively encouraged to “take part in social media and to post, blog and tweet their experiences,” the guidelines from the Olympic Committee (AOC) say, as long as it’s not for commercial purposes.
There’s a couple other stipulations, too: tweeters must steer away from curse or vulgar words, use “first-person, diary-type formats,” and they shouldn’t report on events in the manner of journalists. On the other hand, “accredited media may freely utilise social media platforms for bona fide reporting purposes.”
As far as photos go, anyone who takes one is welcome to upload it to social media site, but is not permitted to sell it or distribute it in other ways. During the last Olympics, held in Beijing in 2008, uploading photos taken at venues was prohibited.
Broadcasting audio or video taken inside the venues will stay prohibited in the 2012 London Olympics. Breaching the guidelines could mean getting banned from the competition.
A handful of not very descriptive top level domains, such as .com, .net, .org, as well as country-specific TLDs are what the web is currently made of, but this is about to change drastically.
The Board of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the international authority over top level domain names, has approved the expansion of generic TLDs which will allow companies and organizations to create top level domains for their brand (such as .coke) or simply create generic names (such as .car or .green).
The option won’t come cheap, though: the application fee alone is $185,000, and the annual fee is $25,000. Still, we can imagine a number of large corporations spending millions on these very soon; if you’re in the business of making phones, owning a “.phone” TLD sounds like a great idea – if you can afford outbidding other phone manufacturers.
“ICANN has opened the Internet’s addressing system to the limitless possibilities of the human imagination. No one can predict where this historic decision will take us,” said Rod Beckstrom, President and Chief Executive Officer of ICANN. We can fairly safely predict one thing: lots of legal disputes over company trademarks with regard to new TLDs.
Applications for new generic TLDs will be accepted from 12 January 2012 to 12 April 2012; we should see the first of the new domains within a year.
The 2011 Webby Awards are about to swing into action. Who’s going to be taking home the awards for the best of the web?
We’re live from New York, where Friends, Bandslam and P.S. I Love You star Lisa Kudrow is hosting the festivities for the 15th annual Webby Awards show.
The nominees were announced back in April and include such entities as the Old Spice Guy, Angry Birds, Justin Bieber and the YouTube hit, “Bed Intruder Song,” featuring Antoine Dodson.
Mashable is at the event, and we’re going to live blog the whole thing. Check out our commentary below:
Producers are working around the clock ahead of the Royal Wedding live broadcast, which is set to begin at 4 a.m. ET on most stations. But they aren’t just prepping TV coverage; they’re also working to extend their broadcasts and engage users across as many channels as possible.
It’s these viewers — the ones that Mark Ghuneim, the founder and CEO of marketing agency Wireset and social media monitoring tool Trendrr, calls the “hyperactives” — that network producers and digital strategists are pursuing ahead of tomorrow morning’s broadcast.
The Importance of “Hyperactives”
Unlike “massive passives,” which make up the majority of the television-viewing audience, hyperactives are actively discussing, endorsing and engaging with TV content on different networks in real time, and encouraging their friends to do so as well.
“If someone you trust says, ‘Oh my god, that’s really cool, I’m watching this,’ in real time, you want to go check it out,” says Ghuneim. “Because your social graph is made up of people you trust, when they recommend something, you’re more likely to take a look. The social web thus acts as a funnel in which friend recommendations are prompting tune-ins on TV and online in real time.”
Given that 2 billion viewers are expected to tune in for the Royal Wedding, networks are going all-out to create more engaging and more accessible experiences by streaming their coverage on as many devices as possible, as well as maintaining an active presence on Facebook and Twitter.
ABC News: A Cross-Channel Strategy
Of all the networks we spoke to, ABC News is pursuing the most aggressive cross-channel strategy. The network will be livestreaming on ABCNews.com, its apps for iPhone and iPad devices, Hulu, Yahoo and on Facebook.
ABC News correspondent David Muir will be interacting directly with followers on Twitter and Facebook throughout the day. The network will also keep track of trending conversations in order to bridge online and on-air discussions, ABC News Digital executive producer of innovation Andrew Morse tells us.
ABC is also asking Twitter users to tweet in comments throughout the day using hashtags #ROYALMESS and #ROYALSUCCESS, and to the big moment with #ROYALKISS, a strategy Ghuneim says is especially effective for increasing Twitter conversation about a broadcast.
“What we’ve come to realize more and more through major events — elections, major celebrations, breaking news events and tragedies — is that the two-screen experience is becoming more and more ubiquitous,” says Morse. “More people are interacting, watching while using their tablets and their iPhones, and we want to create the richest two-screen experience we can.”
CNN: Uniting TV, Mobile & Social
CNN will be monitoring Twitter commentary tagged with #CNNtv during the live broadcast, and display selected tweets in a “slow stream” alongside video coverage. Tweets and Facebook status updates from so-called “relevant influentials,” such as celebrities and friends of the Royal Family, will appear in the lower-third banner of the broadcast. Viewers are also encouraged to check in on GetGlue to unlock a series of Royal-Wedding themed stickers.
Most unusually, two-dimensional barcodes will appear on-screen throughout the day, prompting viewers with smartphones to scan the code to load additional CNN coverage on their smartphones.
AP Live, CBS News, ET TheInsider.com and the UK Press Association will all be hosting live broadcasts on Livestream, whilst the BBC will host its own livestream and live blog. Royal correspondent Peter Hunt will be taking questions on Twitter leading up to and on the big day.
Why Now & What’s Next?
We have seen heavy multimedia and cross-channel coverage during past global events, but never on this scale before.
The reason, Ghuneim says, is because many networks are beginning to understand the importance of an engaged audience across multiple channels, and have had the advantage of months of planning ahead of the broadcast.
The challenges involve understanding how consumers use different kinds of devices, and how to optimize the experience for each device.
For more information about how to follow the Royal Wedding online, please see our comprehensive guide.
Disclosure: CNN and ABC News are Mashable content partners.
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.
The path to YouTube marketing success can be littered with potholes that budget- and time-strapped small businesses can’t afford to fall in to.
We’ve spoken to three top experts in the video marketing arena to get professional advice about the common mistakes that small companies make on the video-sharing platform so that you can avoid making those same errors.
For your viewing pleasure and enlightenment, we’ve also included a few successful YouTube videos that were produced by small businesses.
1. Having Unrealistic Expectations
Some businesses mistakenly believe that they just need to upload a video to YouTube and wait for viewers to watch by the millions. According to Sarah Wood, founder of social video distribution and engagement company Unruly Media, this rarely happens.
“Yes, there is a massive appetite for online video content, but there are 35 hours of video content uploaded to YouTube every minute, so the competition for eyeballs is intense,” says Wood.
You need to manage expectations when it comes to the success of your YouTube content. There are a ton of high-quality, company-made videos on YouTube that never manage more than a few thousand views.
“Remind yourself that having a video go viral is a notable success, not the norm,” says Matt Smith, director of strategy at digital agency The Viral Factory. Smith counts Blendtec’s “Will It Blend?” series (see above) as one such success.
“Blendtec happens to be one of the most brilliant viral marketing campaigns ever, and it’s the exception rather than the rule,” he says.
No matter how good your content is, you can’t just upload a clip, sit back and wait for people to come to you — you need to have a promotion and distribution plan.
“You need to think through why you’re on YouTube and what you want out of it, then tailor the content and the delivery strategy appropriately,” says Smith. “Putting content on YouTube is step one, step two is getting out there and promoting it.”
Justin Gonzalez, social media strategist for creative video agency BARS + TONE agrees that videos won’t go viral on their own — you must allocate time and resources to seed it properly.
“Try using social networks like Facebook and Twitter to get your social strategy started — then promote your video using those vehicles. At the very least, friends and family are a great way to get a video to start circulating,” says Gonzalez. “After all, you put money into making the video, so you better do it justice and get it in front of the right people.”
2. Thinking Small
Although expectations need to be kept realistic, don’t think that viral success is totally out of reach just because you’re a small business.
“There are plenty of small brands that think they need to be a Nike or an Adidas to be successful in social video,” says Wood. “This is simply not true! Any brand, large or small, can score a hit in social video.”
And Wood has a great example of a small business with a successful video: Alphabet Photography’s Christmas Food Court Flash Mob (see above). The clip was one of the surprise hits over the holidays last year, garnering more than 30 million views and almost 773,000 shares on Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere, according to Unruly Media’s Video Viral Chart.”
3. Treating a Viral Video as a Commercial
YouTube is new media, it’s social, it’s about engagement. Don’t sign up for the platform with a limited, old media perspective.
“When you go into online video with the understanding that it can do more than just sell a product or service, you’re already ahead of the game,” says Gonzalez. YouTube is a social channel where people want to consume and share fun and engaging content, so don’t hit them over the head with a sales pitch.
“YouTube requires as much thought as any other social media channel and shouldn’t be looked at as a dumping ground for marketing videos,” says Gonzalez. “Everything you post should represent your brand’s personality and inspire some type of reaction from your viewers -– whether it’s provoking thought, laughing out loud or making a purchase.”
4. Putting All Your Eggs in the YouTube Basket
It’s certainly the biggest, but don’t forget that YouTube isn’t the only online video platform, and it may not offer the best chance of success for your brand. Vimeo, for example, could be considered a more credible platform for creative professionals.
“Businesses that want to leverage the word of mouth potential of social video need to focus away from just YouTube and explore the world of social video that exists beyond YouTube, Twitter and Facebook,” says Wood.
Wood also names action-sports site Mpora and comedy site Funny or Die as effective outlets for hopefully-going-viral videos because they can “deliver high-quality video engagement to a more targeted and niche demographic.”
5. Basing Success on View Counts Alone
Too often, businesses produce videos and hope to get 1 million views. On today’s social web, success isn’t always counted with stats or measured in view counts — meaningful engagement is what matters.
“At Unruly, we place a greater emphasis on brand engagement, so we also look at the number of times a video has been shared on various social media platforms, time spent with the video and uplift in relevant brand metrics,” says Wood.
Gonzalez thinks this is a particularly important point for small businesses, which have limited resources and must decide from the outset what they hope to gain from YouTube.
“Sometimes marketers get bogged down in looking at the metrics and trying to determine whether the number of video views really made a difference in the bottom line, or whether it was just enough to build buzz around the product or service,” says Gonzalez. “When you can clearly define why it’s necessary for your business to be on YouTube, you’re ready to move on to the next steps.”
BONUS: Don’t Underestimate the Power of Cats
And finally, Smith chimes in with the most insightful and important point of all that will help any brand on YouTube — regardless of size or industry.
“Don’t ignore cats. Failure to put a cute or funny cat in your YouTube marketing material will cost you dearly in terms of exposure, credibility, sales and reputation,” he opines. “Everyone will know you are a failing business, and they’ll hate you and your product.”
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.
You’ve seen videos of people doing ridiculous things on the Internet. But you probably haven’t seen too many videos of small businesses sharing their good work. Web video is more or less the domain of the ridiculous — whether that means something cute or something painful. Even top ads and commercials have a touch of the absurd (Old Spice, Dos Equis, I’m looking at you).
So how does a small business compete with disturbingly low attention spans and a whole Internet of viral videos? Read on for five ways that small businesses can take advantage of web video without blowing their budgets and let us know your own success stories in the comments below.
1. Request User Submissions
“Going viral” is a frustrating term both for its elusiveness and effectiveness. Viral videos can quickly get your product and brand out to a wide audience, but there is also practically no guaranteed way to “make” a video viral. Save yourself the trouble and get your audience to do the work for you.
Ask your fans or customers to send in videos of themselves using your product. For some, this can be a guaranteed hit. Such is the case with Michael Di Pippo, inventor of Pen Fishing Rods, a telescoping fishing rod that collapses to the size of a large pen. If that didn’t spark your interest, check the above video of someone actually catching a fish with it. Di Pippo bet that the shock value of it actually working would inspire customers to take videos using his product. The result was a motivated user-base and free publicity.
You might not be selling something as unique, but you can still encourage your clients to send in videos of them using whatever you’re selling. It’s a good way of extending the relationship past the point of sale and building a community.
Alternatively you can try to create a viral sensation like Blendtec’s Will It Blend? series. Rather than testing their blenders on tomatoes and walnuts, they started blending strange products like glowsticks, an iPad, and a crowbar. As a result, the videos (and Blendtec’s product) received millions of views and all it took was a little creativity. And a crowbar.
2. Replace Content
Try making a video instead of writing out your business updates. It’s easier for people to click play on a ~5 minute video than read a 500-word news brief. It helps to have some experience with basic editing and a decent camera, but people will ultimately tune in because your content is interesting or useful. Try offering deals or discount codes through your videos, while also talking about your product or service.
Using video to share business news or deals will help your business feel more personable as customers get accustomed to seeing you speak. This choice isn’t for everyone and every business, but it can help make your updates easier to digest and give your homepage a boost of personality.
3. Teach Them and They Will Come
Product demos are fun, but may not work for every type of business. For example, it could be tough to do a “demo” if you sell quilts or home garden supplies. Instead think of ways to teach and give back to your customers while also using your product. Selling quilts? Try a “How To” video on how you sew your quilts. Garden supplies? Make a video on how to plant a variety of bulbs and seeds using the products you sell.
If you’re business isn’t based around a physical product, think about doing a webcast or video on how to use your advanced features or set up the service.
4. Make Some Face Time
If you’re a small business, you can make your size work for you with video services, like Skype or even video calling on Gmail. Huge corporations like PepsiCo and Virgin are constantly trying to make their outreach more personal by attaching real people and real names to their customer service and social sites.
To get even more personal, create a business Skype or Gmail address (or any other service that allows you to video chat). Let customers know they can call you for some digital face time if they have any questions about your product or need help troubleshooting it. Doing so will help you build a stronger relationship with your customers and make your business feel more approachable at the same time.
Giving people free stuff is a great way to convince them to do something, especially when they get that free stuff just by cutting down their energy bills.
Earth Aid is a web app that operates a lot like Mint.com for your energy bill. Signing up for the free service will allow it to read your meter and track your output over time, giving you an online energy budget. The more energy you save on your electric, water, and gas bills, the more points you earn. These points can then be redeemed for rewards from local businesses and big brands such as Starbucks and Dove. The goal is to help you decrease your energy use and save some cash month-to-month.
Earth Aid recently received more than $4 million in Series A funding and has partnered with major institutions like the U.S. Green Building Council. The council uses the web app to make sure LEED-certified buildings continue to maintain their eco-friendly standards.
But the app doesn’t just rely on outside funding. “We’ve been making money,” said Earth Aid CEO Ben Bixby. “We’re really serious about finding a sustainable way — not just environmentally but economically, to deliver these solutions and this opportunity to people.” Bixby explained that Earth Aid gets paid when it helps people save energy. It earns a commission when users choose certain rewards products or when the company’s partners get new customers through the app.
Earth Aid is in the midst of launching a new version of the web app that also works on mobile browsers. New features include ways to break up your energy bill so you can read it by calendar month or in smaller increments. By moving away from the convention of seeing an energy bill once a month, Bixby hopes that usage becomes a daily conversation rather than a monthly headache.
The app also includes group features, where you can challenge and converse with friends or take advantage of the “automated bragging” feature, Bixby’s affectionate way of referring to social network integration. Depending on personal proclivities, users can share all of their usage updates or just share when they show improvements.
One major problem with Earth Aid is that rewards are based on a personal baseline calculated from your own energy usage history. This means rewards are given based on personal performance as opposed to overall output. Someone who maintains a low output won’t get rewarded as much as someone who cuts back, even if they still use more energy. It’s a problem that Earth Aid is working to fix.
There is also the question of intent. If someone cuts their output just to win rewards, isn’t that sending the wrong message about sustainability? Bixby understands there are some people that will use Earth Aid just for the rewards and others that are actively trying to monitor their ecological footprint. “Whether it’s important for you to save energy and the rewards are a bonus, or if it’s important for you to just win awards, the outcome is the same,” Bixby said. “We’re trying to build an app that serves all people. Those that are green already and people that are just trying to save money for the fun stuff in life.”
Will you give Earth Aid a shot? Does it matter if social good occurs as a result of awards or do the ends justify the means? Sound off in the comments.
Notice something different in the air? No, it’s not hordes of people rushing out to buy Valentine’s Day presents — we’ve added a section to our weekly roundup.
We’re still bringing you all the tools and resources from the past week or so, but we’ve also combed through to pull out some of the best, most useful, or most interesting reads as collected by our editors. These include stories on the smart grid, a guide to Facebook privacy, and a break down of how 3D technology actually works.
Looking for even more social media resources? This guide appears every weekend, and you can check out all the lists-gone-by here any time.
Editors’ Picks
Facebook Privacy: 10 Settings Every User Needs to Know We’ve entered Facebook’s maze of privacy options and came out on the other side bruised, battered, but with 10 essential settings in our hands. Disregard them at your own peril!
HOW TO: Run a Global Charity Event From Your Laptop Twestival is possible thanks to a suite of online tools, a little missed sleep, and an enthusiastic team of global do-gooders. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how it all happens.
How Does 3D Technology Work? From films to TVs to gaming, 3D is big right now. But how does this technology get your brain to “see” a screen in three dimensions?
Guitar Hero Gone: What Went Wrong? The plastic guitar game just flamed out. Activision is set to shutter the division that created Guitar Hero and its sequels.
Why Fashion’s Top Brands Are Flocking to Tumblr A look at the Tumblr strategies of fashion brands and retailers, including Kate Spade, Oscar de la Renta, Alexander McQueen, Ann Taylor and ModCloth.
Top 10 Funny YouTube Videos About Twitter We’ve scoured YouTube to bring you 10 funny Twitter-themed videos. From parody to satire to the downright silly, click here for some LOLs from the Twitterverse.
#TypeNerdyToMe: Top 5 Valentine One-Liners [PICS] Mashable asked readers to submit their best nerdy valentine lines. We’ve chosen and designed the five best entries, which can be viewed in this gallery.
HANDS ON: HTC Inspire 4G Is a First For AT&T [PICS] The first 4G phone using the AT&T wireless network is about to arrive, and we have one here for testing. I’m impressed with the hardware, but not with AT&T.
10 Stunning iPhone Sports Photographs [GALLERY] For our latest iPhotography gallery, we’ve looked to the wonderful world of sport, with some action-packed snaps and some careful studies in texture and light.
Why Microsoft Is Nokia’s Last Best Hope [OPINION] Microsoft may have been Nokia’s only option, but it is far from a guarantee of success. Still, here’s why these two computing giants are a good fit.
For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
HOW TO: Be a Better Coworker When your offices mates are all working toward different goals and projects, the etiquette can get a bit muddled. Check out these proven tips for keeping the peace in a shared workspace.
HOW TO: Optimize Your Social Media Budget Inspired by Alitimeter Group’s recent report, check out this guide to budgeting for corporate social media programs, as based on a program’s maturity.
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