The 100 must read social media blog posts from 2012.[resource / inspiration / trends]Simply Zesty is one of my go to sources when it comes to news from the digital world – and they’ve pulled together an epic list highlighting posts you’ll recognize and stuff you’ve probably also missed. Great to bookmark for winter reading or for future inspiration. Some previously undiscovered favorites include: If Hackers Didn’t Exist, Governments Would Have to Invent Them (from The Atlantic in early July); Careful, Twitter – Remember what happened to MySpace and Digg (GigaOm, June); Why Windows Just Can’t Win (Wired, October.) High-res

The 100 must read social media blog posts from 2012.
[resource / inspiration / trends]

Simply Zesty is one of my go to sources when it comes to news from the digital world – and they’ve pulled together an epic list highlighting posts you’ll recognize and stuff you’ve probably also missed. Great to bookmark for winter reading or for future inspiration. Some previously undiscovered favorites include: If Hackers Didn’t Exist, Governments Would Have to Invent Them (from The Atlantic in early July); Careful, Twitter – Remember what happened to MySpace and Digg (GigaOm, June); Why Windows Just Can’t Win (Wired, October.)

Mary Meeker’s 2012 Internet Trends.
[technology / culture / resource / inspiration / trends]

As someone who sent this around at work said: Mary Meeker is smarter than you. Or at least she spends more time doing research. Last week she released her 2012 trends deck, which is pretty fantastic if you look past the design. After covering the bases with stats on everything from tablets to mobile to smartphone, Mary then re-imagines certain industries or themes and the ways they’ve changed as a result of technology. While some of the “re-imagination’s are a bit more obvious, the good stuff comes after slide 59 when she explores the sharing economy.      

Why millennials don’t want to buy stuff.  Josh Allan Dykstra explores why the concept of shopping has “shifted from owning stuff to buying into new ideas,” at least for millennials. For digital natives who have grown up in the borrowing economy, owning doesn’t carry the same weight as it once did. Abundance breaks more things than scarcity, says Clay Shirky. And ownership was abundant. The value has moved elsewhere, argues Dykstra.  High-res

Why millennials don’t want to buy stuff. 

Josh Allan Dykstra explores why the concept of shopping has “shifted from owning stuff to buying into new ideas,” at least for millennials. For digital natives who have grown up in the borrowing economy, owning doesn’t carry the same weight as it once did. Abundance breaks more things than scarcity, says Clay Shirky. And ownership was abundant. The value has moved elsewhere, argues Dykstra. 

How to make a viral hit in four easy steps.  This Slate.com story shows just how Buzzfeed conjures up their viral magic. As for how they do it? It’s pretty much what you would expect: they find content elsewhere. I’m all for remix culture and love the rabbit hole that is the internet, but when I read this article, it made me a bit sad & quite angry. I want to root for Buzzfeed, but I also want them to give some credit to the people who they’re copying. Especially since they’re making money off of other people’s ideas! As writer Farhad Manjoo summed up his article, “The secret to its viral success is to find stuff that’s already a minor viral success and make it better. Repeat the process enough and you’re bound to get a few mega-hits. That’s not genius. It’s a machine.” High-res

How to make a viral hit in four easy steps. 

This Slate.com story shows just how Buzzfeed conjures up their viral magic. As for how they do it? It’s pretty much what you would expect: they find content elsewhere. I’m all for remix culture and love the rabbit hole that is the internet, but when I read this article, it made me a bit sad & quite angry. I want to root for Buzzfeed, but I also want them to give some credit to the people who they’re copying. Especially since they’re making money off of other people’s ideas! As writer Farhad Manjoo summed up his article, “The secret to its viral success is to find stuff that’s already a minor viral success and make it better. Repeat the process enough and you’re bound to get a few mega-hits. That’s not genius. It’s a machine.”

Why women still can’t have it all.  Anne-Marie Slaughter gives us an in-depth look at why the work-life balance is hard to, well, balance. After reading her essay, I couldn’t help but think that this wasn’t just about women - but also men. It’s about societal shifts and struggles that if we haven’t encountered yet, we’ll likely encounter in the future. A lengthy but worthwhile read.  High-res

Why women still can’t have it all. 

Anne-Marie Slaughter gives us an in-depth look at why the work-life balance is hard to, well, balance. After reading her essay, I couldn’t help but think that this wasn’t just about women - but also men. It’s about societal shifts and struggles that if we haven’t encountered yet, we’ll likely encounter in the future. A lengthy but worthwhile read. 

The slow web. Like the slow food movement, the slow web has many definitions and articulations. In Jack Cheng’s own words, “Timely not real-time. Rhythm not random. Moderation not excess. Knowledge not information. These are a few of the many characteristics of the Slow Web. It’s not so much a checklist as a feeling, one of being at greater ease with the web-enabled products and services in our lives.” An interesting commentary on how we interact with the web today and what the future might hold.  High-res

The slow web.

Like the slow food movement, the slow web has many definitions and articulations. In Jack Cheng’s own words, “Timely not real-time. Rhythm not random. Moderation not excess. Knowledge not information. These are a few of the many characteristics of the Slow Web. It’s not so much a checklist as a feeling, one of being at greater ease with the web-enabled products and services in our lives.” An interesting commentary on how we interact with the web today and what the future might hold. 

Illegal: Why honor students around the country are being thrown in jail. 

An incredibly touching 5 minute movie that shows the difficulties undocumented children face. Many of these children didn’t chose to break the law when their parents brought them in 10+ years ago. But now they’re forced to deal with the aftermath as they try to apply for jobs or college only to be told they don’t have a social security number. 

Source illegalmovie.org

Watch It lets you create a universal movie queue. Here’s how my typical movie going experience goes: See trailer I like. Promise myself I’m going to see it. Save it as a note on my iPhone. Never again open or look at the note. See a movie list on the plane and realize how many I missed while they were in theater. But there’s a possibility for change! Watch It lets you save movies you want to see and reminds you when they’re coming out: You can get notifications based on when they’re in theatre, online, on-demand or on DVD. High-res

Watch It lets you create a universal movie queue.

Here’s how my typical movie going experience goes: See trailer I like. Promise myself I’m going to see it. Save it as a note on my iPhone. Never again open or look at the note. See a movie list on the plane and realize how many I missed while they were in theater. But there’s a possibility for change! Watch It lets you save movies you want to see and reminds you when they’re coming out: You can get notifications based on when they’re in theatre, online, on-demand or on DVD.

Has someone finally lassoed the dreaded apartment hunt?

“I can’t wait to start my apartment search!” is not the first thing out of anyone’s mouth. Ever. The solution, brought to you by my lovely colleague, Nicole Hering: “Nestio consolidates the process. Consider it your apartment search dashboard. Download a bookmarklet, drag in listings you see that you’re interested in. Nestio organizes these listings by price, neighborhood or personal preference.” Not only is it a great time-saving resource, but once Nicole found a place, they sent her a house-warming kit and 10% off a moving service!

Source nestio.com

Meet the tireless entrepreneur who squatted at AOL.  Read that sentence again. Ok, I’m with Steve Jobs when he says, “only the people crazy enough to think they can change the world do,” but this feels a bit too crazy! For two months, Eric Simons squatted at AOL since he “couldn’t afford to live anywhere,” while working on his startup. AOL is handling quite gracefully, though: Senior VP of Mail and Mobile for AOL told CNET, “It was always our intention to facilitate entrepreneurialism in the Palo Alto office — we just didn’t expect it to work so well.” High-res

Meet the tireless entrepreneur who squatted at AOL. 

Read that sentence again. Ok, I’m with Steve Jobs when he says, “only the people crazy enough to think they can change the world do,” but this feels a bit too crazy! For two months, Eric Simons squatted at AOL since he “couldn’t afford to live anywhere,” while working on his startup. AOL is handling quite gracefully, though: Senior VP of Mail and Mobile for AOL told CNET, “It was always our intention to facilitate entrepreneurialism in the Palo Alto office — we just didn’t expect it to work so well.”

Source CNET