GOP Uses Social Media to Respond to Obama 2012 Campaign Launch

Via mashable.com

If the Republicans’ response to President Barack Obama’s campaign launch Monday is any indication, social media will play a major role in the 2012 election.

Shortly after Obama’s first video for the campaign went up, Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor and potential GOP candidate for the 2012 presidential race, released a YouTube retort. The video (below), which has the urgent music of an action film, features Pawlenty responding to an Obama sound bite, by asking, “How can America win the future when we’re losing the present?” Pawlenty concludes, “In order for America to take a new direction, it’s going to take a new president.”

Since its release Monday, the video has gotten about 53,000 views, compared with 168,000 for Obama’s. Pawlenty also released the video on his Facebook Page, which has 81,000 fans. Obama has close to 19 million Facebook fans.

Massive Email Breach Exposes Data From 50+ Major Retailers, Including Target

Via Mashable.com

Massive Email Breach Exposes Data From 50+ Major Retailers, Including Target

A huge security breach has exposed the names and email addresses of customers of major brands, including Target, Best Buy, Walgreen’s, Capital One and more.

UPDATE: Apparently, a slew of hotel chains’ rewards programs have also been hit by the Epsilon breach; affected chains include Hilton, Red Roof Inn, Ritz-Carlton and Marriott.

While most of these companies are understandably mum on how many customers might be at risk, it’s not inconceivable that millions of users’ information may have been accessed by an unauthorized party.

Epsilon, a digital marketing firm that does a fair amount of email marketing, notified its clients Friday that “an unauthorized entry into Epsilon’s email system” had occurred. The firm stated at the time that the compromised data “was limited to email addresses and/or customer names only. A rigorous assessment determined that no other personal identifiable information associated with those names was at risk.”

How to land a job at Facebook

(Mashable) -- So you want to work at Facebook, one of the world's hottest companies -- what do you have to get your foot in the door and get noticed?

It's not going to be easy -- you have competition.

Facebook received 250,000 job applications last year and is consistently rated as one of the best places to work. And with Facebook's IPO around the corner, the competition for jobs is only going to heat up.

There are plenty of ways to get noticed and stand above the crowd, though. I chatted with Thomas Arnold, head of recruiting for the social network, on what the company looks for and what it takes to get a job at Facebook.

What jobs are available at Facebook?

Top 10 Uses for Twitter (That Aren’t Self-Indulgent)

Whitson Gordon — Since Twitter's inception, it's been looked down upon as a place for self-centered technophiles to share the mundane details of their lives. We at Lifehacker know better than that, though—here are our favorite ways to turn Twitter into a useful tool, without becoming one yourself.

We've shared some of our non-breakfast related Twitter uses before, but over the past few years Twitter has evolved, grown more popular, and we've just discovered more clever and productive uses for it. Some of these you may recognize, but even the ones we've discussed before may have been updated, so be sure to check them all out if you're looking to upgrade your Twitter usage.

Top 5 Facebook Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

While Facebook marketing is on the rise among small businesses, many are still struggling to master the basics.

“Many people have difficulty with just the basic Page set up,” says social media marketing consultant Nicole Krug. “For example, I still see people setting up their business as a profile page instead of a business Page. I have other clients who jumped into Groups when they came out and have divided their fan base.”

Here are five more common Facebook marketing mistakes to avoid:

DNJournal.com Cover story

Great cover story by Ron Jackson on the state of the Domain name industry.

State of the Industry Too: Optimism Back in Style With Record Breaking Crowd at DOMAINfest Global

Domain Name Registration - The ONE Mistake Commonly Made when Registering a Domain

You found the perfect domain name for your business and it's available. You're free to register it, right?

WRONG!

While the name may be available on domain registries, it could easily be owned by another party on the trademark or common-law levels. Prior to registering your domain name, it is strongly advised that comprehensive research be conducted.

It is every business owner's responsibility to ensure that the name they're using is truly available. Don't assume that the name is available simply because you're able to file for the domain.

Comprehensive research includes searching the:

• pending and registered Federal trademark files;
• registered State trademark files;
• national Common-Law files, which includes DBAs, incorporations, product announcements, newspapers, company directories, etc.

Comprehensive research should also include a search of names that are similar in Sound, Appearance or Meaning! This entails searching synonyms, word placements, spelling variations. It's not just exact names that could be a problem for you; similar names matter too!

Another important area that should be paid attention to is the industry. Completely different industries with the same or similar names should not be an issue to one another. But, of course, like with so many issues dealing with names, there are grey areas and each situation differs from the next.

While there are some free preliminary sites you can search, it's best to leave the comprehensive research to a professional search company or a trademark attorney.

Don't make the mistake of assuming no one else owns your domain name – only comprehensive research will tell you that!

Shannon Moore is the General Manager, East Coast for TradeMark Express. Since 1992, TradeMark Express has met the needs of their clients with comprehensive research, application preparation, attorney referrals and trademark consultation. For further details, please visit us on the web at TradeMark Express or call Shannon directly at 800.340.2010.

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