SpeedPlexer Blog

2010 was a big year for the internet and all that can be done with the magic of internet speed.  Yahoo has done A Year in Review that lists topics like: Top 10 Searches, Survivor Stories, Good Sports, Natural Disasters, 10 Obsessions of 2010, Burning Questions  and Inspiring Acts. 

“Since 2001, Yahoo! has been tallying up the top searches of the year, providing a snapshot of a culture in motion,” they explain. This year was “the first time that a news story has taken the No. 1 slot.”  Perhaps the internet is growing up.

In second place, “South Africa, the first African nation to host the FIFA World Cup, welcomed 32 nations in a global tournament of men’s soccer. People took an online crash course in the sport, learning about the rules of the game, the major players (and outrageous referees), the octopus oracle, and native horns that just wouldn’t quit.” Perhaps the internet is becoming even more international!

In other categories, you’ll learn about the top 10 Obsessions of 2010, which included the iPhone, Lindsay Lohan, iPad, and “Glee”. Burning Questions seem to indicate people’s need to find a good job: How to Tie a Tie, How to Lose Weight, How to Write a Resume. But eternal questions also found a place, like How to Kiss, and What Is Love?

But the last category is one that can fuel the future:  Inspiring Acts. For more, visit Ripples of Kindness at kindness.yahoo.com. “As more people take action and encourage others, your ripple of kindness might become a wave of change. That’s how good grows.”

It’s just a few days before Christmas and perhaps you haven’t had a chance to send Christmas cards the good ol’ fashioned snail mail sorta way. But with internet speed, there’s still PLENTY of time to send greetings, gifts and more!

You can send something as simple as an e-mail, maybe with a photo attached, or even a video.  You can also choose from among the many, many websites that offer e-cards for every taste – funny, pretty, inspiring, interactive—you name it, there’s something for everyone. You can send individual e-cards that are personalized and tailored to fit each person and relationship, or you can choose one that really reflects your personality and feelings about the season and send it to everyone at once.  This blogger recommends Care2 e-cards because “e-sending FREE Care2 eCards generates donations to great organizations.”

If the season of giving already has you thinking of those who are less fortunate, you can make donations on the behalf of your e-card recipients and include that information in your message.  Here are some ideas from Christmas Daddy.com and you can also check out our previous post about Making Online Donations.

If you’re getting increasingly worried about the looming deadline to have your gift list fully checked off,   online gift certificates may be your saving grace. Check out Amazon.com, iTunes,  Gift Certificates.com, Gift Card Mall.com, Give Anything.com, Gift Cards.com, or just do a search! Of course, you can also check out our previous posts for more information: Holiday Greetings with Internet Speed and Last Minute Gift Giving.

Until tomorrow, December 15th, you can vote once a day per category to help determine the winners of the 4th Annual Mashable Awards. “The Mashable Awards celebrate major innovations and achievements in the digital and social media landscape by companies, people and projects via an open, multilingual, international, community-nominated voting platform. Millions of votes will be cast in 25 categories….”

Goals of the Mashable Awards
• Create conversations around technology and innovation
• Encourage engagement within the Mashable Audience
• Set the standard for innovation around competition
• Identify and celebrate the best of the best!

Categories include:

Best Internet Meme
Best Location-Based Service
Best Music Discovery Service
Best Online Game
Best Web Video
Breakthrough Website Design
Entrepreneur of the Year
Most Creative Social Good Campaign
Most Creative Social Media Campaign
Most Influential Social Good Champion
Most Promising New Company
Must-Follow Brand
Must-Follow Non-Profit
Must-Follow Personality

To vote, you sign in with Twitter or Facebook, but even just looking at who has been nominated gives you an idea of where to find the best and brightest, or the most popular. Here’s a sampling:

• Best Internet Meme - Sad Keanu , #fridayreads, F-U guy, Bed Intruder, Double Rainbow (we covered him in August!) Learn about them at Know Your Memes.com and see what else the kids on the interwebs are into these days.

• Best Music Discovery Service - @dkpopnews, Fizy , Last.fm, Pandora, Tracksfor.com

• Breakthrough Website Design – Flavors.me, TheKillersMusic.com, McKinney.com, Clicker.tv, Twitter

• Most Creative Social Good Campaign - @Twitchange, CSR Cooperative, @ProjectDog, @Browncoatsmovie, @letsfcancer

• Most Influential Social Good Champion - @UnCultured, John Cena, @hardlynormal, charitybuzz, Chris Hughes

Makes you wanna look and learn with internet speed, doesn’t it?

A new campaign is asking users to change their profile picture to a photo of a favorite childhood cartoon, apparently to raise awareness of child abuse. Mashable reports that according to a Facebook Page that appears to be promoting the profile pic switch, this is the Campaign to End Violence Against Children – Childhood Cartoon Faces.

“Until Monday (Dec. 6), there should be no human faces on Facebook but an invasion of memories. This is for eliminating violence against children,” the page says. The undisclosed campaign creator asks Facebook users to change their profile pic and share the above statement in their status.

The origins of this campaign remain a mystery, as it doesn’t seem to be affiliated with any official organization, but the Childhood Cartoon Faces campaign is catching on.

A Forbes blogger, in a post entitled Facebook, cartoons, pedophiles and a friend-sourced future mentions that he received a message on Facebook saying that the group that told everyone to change their pictures was a group of pedophiles with their own ulterior motives. But that doesn’t make a lot of sense either. He points us to another blog post that quashes the pedophile rumor, and points out we should all really do a little search and research before spreading fake campaigns or misinformation of any kind. 

Really though, due to the fact that this cartoon campaign has caught on with internet speed, perhaps people creating real campaigns can study it for clues on how to make the most of social media in a way that captures the hearts and minds of the people they want to reach.