THE SOCIAL MEDIA DYNAMO

All the social media news worth knowing about! Get these reports on Twitter as well: @SMDynamo -- Ricardo Guerrero (@ggroovin)

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Posting your panoramic landscapes to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social networks is fun: nothing beats the instant gratification of praise and thumbs-up from friends and family. But one thing that probably won’t happen is any sort of financial renumeration. No, you’re not in it for the money — but extra cash to put toward a new camera card or lens or storage drive is always welcome. Klink, a new photographic social networking platform, aims not only to get you that critical commentary from viewers, but throws a few bucks into the mix. Its new iOS app, which has just emerged… This story continues at The Next Web

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 Imagine the Snapchat selfie Lens above branded with Iron Man 4. How much would Marvel pay to let Snapchatters Iron Man themselves and send these pics and videos to friends the weekend the movie opens? Apparently as much as $750,000 for one peak day like a holiday, according to a report of an upcoming new Snapchat ad format from the Financial Times. And imagine how much more Marvel would pay… Read More

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A new study by the Pew Research Center finds digital tools play a significant role in maintaining relationships of young teenagers. Nearly two-thirds of teens say social media makes them feel more connected to what's happening in their significant other's life.

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The fake Facebook privacy notice is once again spreading like wildfire. Here's why people still fall for it, over and over again.

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The folks behind Peeple, the app being hailed as "Yelp for people," seem to have stumbled on a new judgy niche wherein real people are rated the same way restaurants are.

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The computing cloud we have created supports much of our day-to-day office and leisure activity, from office email to online shopping and sharing holiday photos. Even health, social care and…

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From now on, if you really, really, really, really like someone on Tinder you'll be able to swipe up.

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Facebook , Twitter, and LinkedIn (NASDAQ: LNKD) represent the leading publicly traded social network stocks. While Facebook’s valuation appears to be be expensive as compared to Twitter and LinkedIn, the company’s long-term growth fundamentals still justify a higher market price, in our view. On the other hand, Twitter’s current market price reflects the challenges being seen in the company’s business model and in the long-delayed selection of a permanent CEO. However, we think Twitter could be fairly valued at a much higher price, considering its real-time strategic advantages and its product road-map ? both of which could re-invigorate the stock in the coming future. LinkedIn’s valuation looks fairly priced, considering the recent downward movement in its stock mirrored unrealistic market expectations to a higher degree, as compared to a fall in its business outlook, in our view.

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 When YouTube first launched its dedicated “Kids” app earlier this year, parents welcomed the opportunity to be able keep their children away from the more adult content found on the larger YouTube network, thanks the new app’s curated selection of kid-friendly videos. But the app soon came under fire from consumer watchdog groups who claimed YouTube was not doing enough to… Read More

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By now you're probably familiar with the narrative pushed by some ISPs that they are somehow owed a cut of advertising and content revenue simply because content company traffic touches their network. The idea that ISPs should be allowed to double dip in this fashion was an idea first floated by former AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre, who truly set off the net neutrality fight in the States back in 2005 by proudly and stupidly declaring that Google shouldn't be able to "ride his pipes for free." The narrative is still often used here in the States by net neutrality opponents, usually with Netflix portrayed as the hungry, selfish bogeyman. The idiotic belief that content companies should be charged an additional "telco tax" to fund network upgrades has since wormed its way into pampered, duopoly telco board rooms worldwide. The latest case in point: Caribbean and South Pacific ISP Digicel has started blocking Google and Facebook ads from appearing on the company's mobile network in the apparent belief that the service provider is owed a slice of these companies' ad revenues. In a notice posted to the Digicel website, this move is framed as something that was motivated purely for altruistic, pro-consumer reasons:

"(Digicel is) deploying ad control technology at the network level on its networks across the globe to ensure a better experience for customers and to encourage the likes of Google, Facebook and Yahoo to help connect the 4.2 billion unconnected people across the globe. Ad control technology benefits both consumers and network operators alike. With ads using up as much as 10% of a customers’ data plan allowance, this move will allow customers to browse the mobile web and apps without interruption from unwanted advertising messages."

What sweethearts. Of course, the notice then proceeds to make it clear what this is really about. And that's Digicel and billionaire owner Denis O'Brien's belief that they are owed a cut of content company ad revenue simply because content company traffic touches their network:

"Companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook talk a great game and take a lot of credit when it comes to pushing the idea of broadband for all – but they put no money in. Instead they unashamedly trade off the efforts and investments of network operators like Digicel to make money for themselves. That’s unacceptable, and we as a network operator, are taking a stand against them to force them to put their hands in their pockets and play a real role in improving the opportunities for economic empowerment for the global population.”"

O'Brien's been mentioned by Techdirt previously for attempts to sue satirists for so much as joking about him, so hopefully he doesn't take offense when I note that both he and Digicel are utterly full of crap here. The cornerstone of the ISPs' flimsy entitlement argument almost always involves claiming that companies like Google, Netflix, and others get a "free ride" on ISP networks. We've debunked this idea time and time again, even going so far as to urge these folks to pay Netflix's bandwidth bill for a month if they truly believe content companies don't pay for bandwidth and transit. Strangely, we've yet to be taken up on the offer. Of course, the idea that Google, which is spending billions on wireless service and fiber to the home, "puts no money in" is laughable. Not only do these companies pay plenty for bandwidth, they own half-a-planet's worth of transit and content delivery networks at this point; and that's before you even get into their last-mile broadband efforts, where they're busy exploring everything from 3.5GHz wireless experiments to broadband by hot air balloon and drone in a quest to expand their global ad empires. Of course, many of these efforts challenge the stranglehold legacy telecom companies have enjoyed for a generation or more, and the predominant response to this new economy evolution has been not to compete -- but to pout. Indeed, O'Brien's tirades are little more than the crying of a pampered child who is -- obviously for the first time in a long while -- being told he's not able to eat the entire carton of ice cream in one sitting. Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

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Twitter’s official app is better than it used to be, but recently I’ve grown weary of the endless A/B testing. Over the years I’ve tried every third-party Twitter app imaginable, with little success pulling myself away from the official one. Tweetbot 4, which is out today, finally changed that for me. My biggest problem with most third-party Twitter apps is that you’re mostly forced to use the social network through this void of not knowing what interactions you’re receiving without push notifications enabled. Previously, apps have been disallowed by Twitter if they showed an ‘activity’ view, as it replicates functionality of their… This story continues at The Next Web

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Lobster, the platform for licensing user-generated content on social networks, has today announced their biggest partnership to date by way of YouTube. Now, users can request a license to download and use YouTube videos from their contributors for a flat, one-time fee. As it stands now, media, creative and advertising agencies are stuck using creative commons content (that, let’s face… Read More

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 Third-party Twitter client Tweetbot is back with a new major version. Developed by two-man development studio Tapbots, Tweetbot has been a long-time favorite of iOS Twitter users who were dissatisfied with the official versions of the Twitter apps. With this new version, Tweetbot secures this position thanks to a few great new features, starting with a huge iPad update. Read More

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Users can swipe up once a day to indicate they're extra into someone in a new Tinder feature launching around the world Thursday.

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Alternative payment methods and technologies give consumers and small businesses a lot to think about. Where is the technology heading? Who will be the biggest industry players? What are the security and potential fraud implications? FORBES is hosting one of our #AskForbes Twitter chats today with FORBES Technology Editor Bruce Upbin [...]

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Facebook is giving its profile pages a facelift. Here are the biggest changes.

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Gone are the days of just swiping left or right on Tinder. On Thursday, the popular dating app unveiled a new feature that allows users to swipe up if they have a higher level of interest in a person based on his or her profile. The new option—dubbed "Super Like"—launched in Australia [...]