In the midst of the 2013 Google I/O developer conference currently being held in San Francisco, Google CEO Larry Page received a formal letter from eight-members of congress addressing Google Glass privacy issues. The letter from Congress outlined eight specific areas of concern, asking specifically: Does Google have plans to prevent Google Glass from unintentionally collecting data about the user/non-user without consent? (After referencing  Google's agreement to settle charges in 2010 for collecting information from encrypted wireless networks without permission.) What proactive st [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Glass | Google: Legal | Google: Privacy | Legal: Privacy | Politics | Top News

Along with co-author and foreign policy expert Jared Cohen, Google Executive Chairman is doing the rounds on radio and TV in support of their new book The New Digital Age. This evening, both were interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered program. I don't have an advance copy of the book and haven't read it. But, the interview made me curious. If it's any indication, there's considerable time spent on the darker political and social implications of the Internet and the way it may play out differently in various parts of the world. Schmidt and Cohen appear to have a very balanced -- one m [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Business Issues | Google: Privacy | Politics | Top News

Twitter has shared stats saying that the volume of tweets during tonight's 2013 State Of The Union address by President Barack Obama was almost double that of 2012. Here's the chart of tweets per minute (TPM) during the speech and until the end of the Republican response (click to enlarge): The chart shows the overall volume like this: 2012: 766,681 tweets 2013: 1.36 million tweets Top Moments: Middle Class, Gun Control & Education The chart shows top moments this year as follows: 24,000 TPM: happened at 9:52pm ET, in response to middle class opportunities & m [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Politics | Top News | Twitter | Twitter: Statistics

US President Barack Obama is set to give his State Of The Union speech tonight at 9pm ET, and from the mountains of Twitter, to the prairies of Bing, to the oceans of Google, to the official White House site itself, things are getting social. White House's Enhanced Broadcast The White House's State Of The Union site is promising an "Enhanced Broadcast" with charts, stats and other data being presented along with the speech. The site is encouraging people after the speech to part in a live panel by tweeting questions on Twitter using the hashtag of #WHChat. Twitter & #SOTU For Com [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Features & Analysis | Politics | Social Media Marketing

You simply couldn't escape it. The social media turnout in #Election2012 was as impressive as the actual voter turnout across the country. So much so that it broke Twitter records for a US Political event: With 20 million tweets, Election Day just became the most tweeted about event in US political history. #election2012 — Twitter Government (@gov) November 7, 2012   Twitter tapped out at 31.7 million election-based Tweets that maxed out at 327,452 Tweets per minute at some points. Notable election moments according to Twitter: 327,452 TPM - 11:19pm ET - Networks call Ob [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Politics | Social Media Marketing | Statistics: Social Media | Top News | Twitter | Twitter: Statistics

It's election day in the United States, and there's plenty of internet-related activity going on related to today's polls. Below, a recap of things being done by Google, Facebook, Bing, Foursquare, Yahoo and other companies, as well as what people themselves are doing. Where To Vote & Voting Hours One of the current hot topics on Google Trends is "where do I vote," generated by all those people who are trying to figure out where to cast ballots: Similarly, lots of searches are happening related to "what time do polls open." One easy way to find out is to go to Google and cl [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Features & Analysis | Politics

Voting today in the US elections? Check-in on Foursquare, and you'll get a special badge. Checking-in also powers a special map that Foursquare is offering showing voting in real time. If you're checking into a designated polling place, the badge should just appear for you after your check-in. Here's what I received today: If you don't find a designated polling place listed, or if you want to be absolutely positive of getting the badge, just check in and use the #ivoted hashtag. Foursquare explains more in its blog post here. All the check-ins are also being used to power a special "I V [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Foursquare | Politics

Facebook is trying to get out the vote in the US elections with prompts encouraging people to say they voted, then uses that data to chart "votes per minute" and the locations where ballots are being cast. When I logged into Facebook today, I saw this message at the top of my news feed: "It's Election Day," the message begins, then encourages those seeing it to "tell friends you're voting" with a "I'm Voting" button. Pushing that brings up a confirmation message: The confirmation thanks you for voting and shows the current number of people on Facebook who are voting, with a link to a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Facebook | Politics

When it comes to political activity online, Democrats are more likely than Republicans and Independents to say that social networking sites are important. And they're also more likely to say that they've become more active politically because of their interactions on social media sites. Those are some of the findings in Politics on Social Networking Sites, a new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Overall, 74 percent of those who call themselves liberal are using social networking sites, compared to 70 percent of moderates and only 60 percent of conservatives. And thos [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Features & Analysis | Politics | Social Media Marketing | Statistics: Online Behavior | Statistics: Social Media | Top News

Buzz is one way that political campaigns measure their marketing success, and Facebook has teamed up with CNN to reveal how much buzz the two major parties are getting as the U.S. presidential race heats up. This morning they've launched a site called Facebook & CNN Election Insights. It offers a snapshot of how much discussion is happening on Facebook about the Obama and Romney campaigns -- and, more specifically, about each of the four presidential and vice-presidential candidates. As of this morning, Facebook discussion of Republican Mitt Romney was up 14 percent over the past thr [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Facebook | Facebook: Insights | Politics

Who's ahead in popular opinion in the US presidential race? Plenty of third-parties have tried to measure this in the past using tweets. Now Twitter is doing the interpretation directly through its just-launched Twitter Political Index. Twitter blogged about the new service today, saying that it's based on analyzing two million tweets per week and built in conjunction with the data analysis team at Topsy and two polling firms, The Mellman Group and North Star Opinion Research. The index is updated each day (after 8pm Eastern Time) and tries to evaluate the "sentiment" expressed i [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Politics | Top News | Twitter