Best wishes for 2012! And some glimpse into the future of social media too…

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Stefano

2012-future-blogging-social-media-marketing-infographicIt’s 2012!
Best wishes to everybody!

Excellent blogger Chris Voss relesead this great social media future infographic!
Any 2012 glimpse into future?

[Via Chris Voss]

Posted in Business, Infographic, Social Life, Social marketing, Social Media, Social network, Social news, Social survey | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Social Media world in 2011 by numbers – a video infographic with a lot of amazing data!

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Stefano

2011 is about to end so, all people using social networks (any kind) may be asking “how much has social media grown this year (and changed our lives)”?

The answer: this video infographic shows all the latest facts & figures about social media.

Watch it and learn the social media world by numbers!

  • How many Ferraris sold in 2011? How many Facebook fans on Ferrari’s page?
  • How many users from iPhone for Facebook?
  • What’s the percentage of users spending time on social media while in the bathroom? (!)
  • How many human beings on Facebook?
  • How many Tweets per day? How many Tweets per second??? (Answer: 1736!!!)
  • Who’s the pop star with the largest social media fan base?

And a lot more!

[Via VideoInfographs.com]

Posted in Brand, Business, Business Model, Case Study, Digital life, Digital media, Digital photography, Digital video, Facebook, Google, Google Plus, Google+, Infographic, Mobile gaming, Report, Social gaming, Social Life, Social marketing, Social Media, Social network, Social survey, Twitter, User Engagement, User experience, User survey, Video, Youtube | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Google story, 1996-2011: a six-minutes video unfolds 15 years of development of one of the biggest company ever

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Stefano

google 1996 first pageOk, six minutes are too little to explain what really happened in the past 15 years – especially when it comes to Google!

(The image right shows Google’s very first search page, for those who are too young.)

I do recall the very first time I learned about Google and used it.
I barely remember all the other search engine I used back then: Altavista, Lycos, Alltheweb, AskJeeves… Yahoo, maybe.

Most of those search engine are now history: Google, instead, made history – from any point of view you take it!

This video features some Google Fellows that explain how a research project started in 1996 has become a major player in global economy 15 years later (even before, IMHO) and a worldwide recognized brand.

Today, it’s also a lot more than a simple search engine: it encompasess Google Maps (which is synonymous with GIS – geographic information systems), Youtube (which is synonymous with video streaming), Google Docs (cloud storage and live documents), Google Reader, Gmail, Adsense, Adwords…

Some things weren’t so successful either and never really lift off: remember Buzz, Orkut… and the Google+ thing is still struggling against strong competition (an F-letter company, namely).

Enjoy the video and the story of these guys.

What about you? Do you remember your first search engine?

[Video by Google on Youtube – which is Google owned]

Posted in Brand, Browser, Business, Business Model, Case Study, Cloud computing, Digital life, Digital media, Economy, Entrepreneurship, Gmail, Google, Google Plus, Google+, History | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Math lessons and e-learning support on Facebook? Students in Venice, Italy, say ‘I LIKE IT’!

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Stefano

Matemates University Venice Facebook 2011 StefanoPaganini.comFacebook turned into e-learning support in Venice: a great case study where Math lessons meet social networks – and students too!

For sure it’s not the first time I read about Facebook being leveraged as a learning-support tool in university (or college-grade classes as well).

This time, the news come from Italy (some pride about it intended), Cà Foscari University where a Facebook Page is being used as a great – and easy – learning support tool.

Professor Paolo Pellizzari built the Matemates Page, which is now used by more than 400 first-grade students, at first as a common repository of lessons hours, book list, bibliography, and then a full-featured place where students can interact, question and – definitely – learn about math lessons in a completely new way.

As reported by local newspaper Corriere del Veneto, Professor Pellizzari stated that “shy students may take advantage of the Facebook community and participate in lessons’ activities”.

A questionnaire, available here, shows which level the users (AKA students) engagement has reached:

  • 80% thought the page was useful and thinks that Facebook is an innovative learning tool
  • 55% answered that the Facebook Page is “a quantum leap” regarding conventional learning
  • 37% even said that this tool may get them better grades (!)

A great way to leverage Facebook as more than just a social game.

Social learning anyone?

[Via Corriere.it (italian language only) and Matemates]

Posted in Case Study, Collaborative Work, E-learning, Educational, Europe, Facebook, Facebook Pages, Italy, Social initiatives, Social Life, Social Media, Social network, Social news, Social survey, University, User Engagement, User survey | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Louis CK’s record: 1 million dollar in 12 days for his show – thanks the ‘Net

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Stefano

You may (or you may not) know Louis CK, an outspoken, 47 yo stand-up comedian.

He’s just scored two records at once.
On December 10th he launched a brand new idea – and a show too.
The idea: sell tickets for his new stand-up show online, directly (Paypal helped a lot) to his fans, for a quite low price tag – $5 (that’s right, five bucks).
He was going to produce high quality footage of some premium standup performances (giving details about the shooting, production costs).

People of Earth (minus the ones who don’t give a shit about this): it’s been amazing to conduct this experiment with you. The experiment was: if I put out a brand new standup special at a drastically low price ($5) and make it as easy as possible to buy, download and enjoy, free of any restrictions, will everyone just go and steal it? Will they pay for it? And how much money can be made by an individual in this manner?

On the fourth day, he reached $ 170,000…
On the 12th day he announced he reached one million dollars – that’s right!

As far as I know these are two hits in a row: never ever a comedian attempted such experiment, and never reached that much money.
It’s a social experiment of what may be called showbiz crowdfunding, he leveraged the web – and his fans, in a way that no one has done before.

On his website, Louis CK himself makes a public statement of what will happen of all that money: paying production costs, his crew, some charity and… his share (220K) that he’ll use for… well, that’s Louis’s business!

Kudos to Louis CK!

[Via Louis CK]

Posted in Business Model, Case Study, Charity, Collaborative Work, Comedian, Crowdfunding, Crowdsourcing, Funding, User Engagement | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A $25 computer? Meet the Rasperry Pi: that little device that could be the one!

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Stefano

raspberry pi $25 computerIt’s tiny, slow and cost $25 – yet it still runs Linux.
No, it’s not you grandfather ‘486 you’re so eager to revive with some fancy distro of Linux.

It’s the Raspberry Pi: the first – ever – attempt to build a $25 fully working computer.
Spec list?

This little guy runs a stripped down version of Linux, an open-source operating system. Here are the specs:

  • 700-megahertz processor (the iPhone has a 1-gigahertz processor)
  • 128 megabytes of RAM (the iPhone has 512MB)
  • SD Card slot for storage
  • USB port
  • HDMI Port

This are actually the spec for Model A, the smaller and priced at $25.
Model B raises the price tag up to a staggering $35 and gets 256 MB of RAM and Ethernet (!).

What’s a device like this for?
A set-top box? A DiVX player? A networkable media player? A game platform for Mame-like stuff? The internet-TV (browser, chat…) add-on your TV was missing?
Who knows…

More info on Raspberry web site and their Raspberry PI FAQ too.
Availability? Late 2011 or, more likely, early 2012!

[Via BusinessInsider]

Posted in Design, Development, DIY, Hacking, Hardware, Internet TV, Linux, Maker, Raspberry Pi, Tweaking | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Merry Christmas! (and a song too!)

Posted on December 25, 2011 by Stefano

Merry Christmas to everybody, everywhere!
This song is for you!

Posted in Video, Xmas, Youtube | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Google Christmas Doodle with music, animation: let the joy begin!

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Stefano

Google‘s Doodle for XMas sets a new standard for cool online gadgets!
google doodle xmas 2011 off

At first, you’ll have to press all buttons below the logo letters, then a Jingle Bells tune will begin along with colorful animation.

google doodle xmas 2011 on

A nice way to wish a Merry Christmas!

(It’s all done in HTML/Javascript… no Flash required)

Posted in Art, Christmas, Fun, Gadget, Google, Google Doodle, Xmas | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A cool infographics shows the journey of a Tweet around the social media world

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Stefano

Where do all those tweets go?

Better: from a social media point of view, where should all messages from Twitter be heading when the goal is to reach the widest global audience?

Although I don’t entirely agree on some arrows (and directions), I guess this is great masterplan and a cool visualization of what happens everyday.

complete graph of a tweet in social media world

[Via NGOnlineNews.com]

Posted in Digital life, Digital media, Infographic, Social Life, Social marketing, Social Media, Social network, Social news, Social survey, Twitter, User experience, User survey | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The very latest Google trick for Xmas time? “Let it snow” – literally!

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Stefano

google let it snow trick stefano paganiniGoogle tricks and pranks are well-known and sought-after.
Now that is almost Christmas time and Santa is coming (to town), all we need is snowflakes falling!

Fire up Google, type Let it snow and… snowflakes falling all around!

After a while your screen will be completely white and you’ll need the handy (centered on the screen) Defrost button which will restore your screen to a clear vision!

google let it snow defrost trick stefano paganini
Posted in Fun, Gadget, Google, Google Chrome, Google Doodle | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment