Vlogs

The annual conference, hosted by the women-focused blog and advertising network of the same name, was held at the San Diego Convention Center last weekend. In the same venue that Hollywood took over a few weeks ago to court the geek crowd at Comic Con International, companies like Jimmy Dean, Twizzlers, and HTC erected large booths, held cook offs and other events, and handed out schwag by the bagful.

Much of what Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is doing and saying points to solving the expansive online video monetization challenge by logical progression rather than a leap of faith. Facebook's new visual calling and messaging service, through the already broad-based Skype, has implications beyond the obvious threat to wireless voice carriers, especially as premium paid functionality is added.

Something is stirring deep within the technology incubator Betaworks: A personalized news service called News.me that is being developed in collaboration with The New York Times.

Foursquare and other moso networks' popularity relies on the overinflated sense of self importance many people possess in the age Facebook and Twitter. People want to know where I am, people want to know what I'm doing. In other words, it's a tool for feeding ego, or perhaps a receptacle for the excess.

Facebook has added face detection technology to all uploaded photos, reports All Facebook. "Now when you upload photos to various areas of the site, including the homepage, you should be able to instantly tag your friends without clicking on them in the actual photo."

As blogs take their place alongside traditional media, their writers must grapple with how to take advantage of moneymaking opportunities, steer clear of federal regulations — and remain their ornery independent selves. The promise of a blog lies in its unfiltered voice. Yet the lure of profit is no less powerful for the Web-only writer than for the print reporter.

Avi Savar, founder and CEO of Big Fuel Communications, has a lot of experience with online video advertising. In a recent Adotas article, he offers his advice for successful online video advertising. Number one and most important is that you need to tell a story. Number two, add an element of surprise. Number three, make them laugh, make them cry, elicit some kind of emotion. Read on for more tips in this insightful article.

Hulu has become the media darling for free repurposed entertainment. Users can watch repeats of favorite TV shows (often within hours of their network broadcast), select movies and trailers. While the appeal of electronic distribution of video content is growing, is anyone actually making money delivering it? Or is electronic distribution more about establishing a foothold in a market that has yet to be defined?