Quick Hits — January 14, 2009

Step back, this is gonna be a big one — with some amazing articles.

• Haiti Quake LiveBlog: LiveStream key news source; World Vision grabs Google Ad; PicFog live images. C.f. Red Cross Utilizes Text Messaging for Aid After Haiti Quake, Red Cross’ Communications Innovation in Haiti Disaster Relief Effort, Texts Raise $1.2 Million for Haiti, In Aftermath of Haiti Earthquake, Reports and Donation Appeals Flood YouTube, and Haiti and the (Blog) Politics of Disaster. Finally, Three ways to help Haiti.
• Google threatens to leave China after attacks on activists’ e-mail. C.f. Google May Exit China After Ending Self-Censorship, Google’s Threat Echoed Everywhere Except China, Timeline: Google’s Rocky Road Into China, Q+A: What’s Driving China’s Latest Web Crackdown, What’s at Stake With Google’s Threat to Withdraw From China? and Google v. Baidu: It’s Not Just about China. From the horse’s mouth: A new approach to China.
• The Capitol Hill Twitterverse.
• The Supreme Court blacks out the YouTubing of the gay-marriage trial.
• [Republican] Scott Brown’s [Massachusetts] money bomb, as the Race to Replace Kennedy Gives OFA an Opening. C.f. OFA Under Fire.
• Charlie Crist’s Blocked Videos.
• How Much to Spend Online, and Other Tips from the McDonnell Campaign.
• On “Bloody Ashura,” Iran’s Wired Opposition Hits Refresh.
• Why You Need to Download the Real Time Congress App for iPhone now. C.f. Three iPhone Apps that Every Nonprofit Needs to Know About, A Couple of Do-Good iPhone Apps, (Candidate) Chuck DeVore iPhone App Review, and Mobile Apps Economy: A View On South Africa.
• My dad really likes this site — digs the usability and function.
• How can we counter educated, eloquent, well-connected Islamists?
• Not Just Drones: Militants Can Snoop on Most U.S. Warplanes.
• CIA Bomber Got His Start as a Jihadist Troll. C.f. CIA bomber as “cyber activist”, via Slate.
• The Mind of the Underpants Bomber, as seen through his online posts.
• Hoekstra Opponents Register PeteHoekstra.com, via Henry Coppola.
• What the Sunday Shows Need is a New Media Makeover. Nice work, Nisha!
• Going nuts over Facebook in The Great White North: Misplaced Doubts About Facebook Advocacy, Harper underestimates Facebook at his own peril and Facebook “Activism”. More news from Canadia: End of The Beaver (culture magazine changes its name; TeaBaggers next?), via A Reader Who Had Rather Not Be Named.
• 10 Musts for Marketing to Women on Facebook.
• Race and Social Network Sites: Putting Facebook’s Data in Context.
• [Conservative] Blogger Charles Johnson Got Threats After Breaking With the Right, and Relocated.
• Think-Tanks and the Reporters Who Heart Them.
• Illinois Political Campaigns Turning to New Media, via this guy C.f. New technology no “political silver bullet” in South Carolina and NJ Governor’s Race Yielded Small Online Spends.
• Fall Of The Republic – The Presidency of Barack H. Obama. Perhaps a bit over-done?
• Lowlights of a Downer Year, by Dave Barry. C.f. This Modern World’s 2009 Takedown.
• The Year That Was 2009, Texas Political (Online) Videos Edition, plus Top 20 Social Media News Stories of 2009.
• Best (Issue) Campaigns of 2009.
• The best viral video of the decade, and Atomic dogs: The making of an internet sensation.
• How Big Is Your Audience? Kind of a personal question, dontcha think?
• Raytheon adapts Sidewinder for air-to-ground mission. Random news from the world of missilery.
• New U.S. Foreign Policy: Building Social Networks.
• What Pepsi Ditching the Super Bowl Signals for Online Brand Advertising. C.f. Social Marketing Gone Awry: Pepsi Refresh Needs To Refresh Its Security Settings.
• Interactive strategies that will flourish (or flop) in 2010.
• Casey Johnson’s grief tweets.
• Arianna Huffington’s latest online crusade, plus a critique.
• Transitioning to a digital news world.
• Top 10 Recommendations from a New Media Manager.
• When journalists go native on the Net.
• Rhett & Link Turn ‘Local Commercials’ Into Internet Love.
• Blogger’s Twitter Account Implicated in TSA Leak Hunt, while TSA Withdraws Subpoenas Against Bloggers.
• China Blocks Wired.com With ‘Great Firewall’.
• Did the RNC Launch a URL Shortener? Turns out, nope.
• The Madness of Crowds and an Internet Delusion.
• Matrix: Breakdown of Advocacy Marketing.
• Vote Now: Send a YouTube Activist to Davos to Meet with World Leaders.
• The Art of Retweet Birthday Party: Enlist the Help of Your Top Retweeters.
• Facebook to Surpass MySpace in Ad Revenue Sooner than Expected, as YouTube Helps Vevo Overtake MySpace Music In The U.S., Friendster Strikes Deal With Yahoo Southeast Asia, and MySpace Replaces Embedded Imeem Playlists With Ads.
• Listening Posts: The Six Free Listening Tools You Cannot Do Without.
• (fake) McCain and Obama Pound Each Other on Twitter.
• Study: How British MPs Really Feel About the Web.
• Leveraging Social Media for Online Advocacy.
• Web 2.0 Managed News?
• Is Your Nonprofit Ready for Facebook Currency?
• Guides to Sharing Content via Social Networks.
• Political Campaign Tweets: Twitter, Candidates & Elections.
• The Ideal Internet Candidate?
• Why You Shouldn’t Accept Every Facebook Friend Request.
• How to Avoid a Facebook Photo Tagging Fiasco.
• Russia Plans to Save Earth From Rogue Asteroid; ‘No Nuclear Explosions,’ Space Chief Promises. This won’t end well.
• Barack Obama’s Facebook Feed: Christmas, health care, and what’s next for the underpants bomber.
• Dig this reader addition to a comment thread: apparent sizes of the planets when seen from Earth.
• Non-random fact of the day: Divorce Rate Higher in States that Ban Gay Marriage. Hey gays, no need to keep trying to undermine the institution of marriage — straight people have that totally covered.
• “Real improvements in human societies almost always come inch-by-inch, without any grand map of a perfect world. If you demand perfection, you can only be disappointed; if you demand improvement, you can succeed — and build enough hope to fight another day.” (The Casanova of Causes).
• “Time to state the obvious: Never before in the history of our country have there been more outlets for really stupid people with a lot to say. Blogs, Twitter, radio shows, talk shows, news shows — a million and one blowhards pile on to the same story du jour, and our confederacy of dunces is dumber and louder than ever.” (Palin: Crazy like a Fox News pundit).

– cpd