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Onion Ring More Popular Than Justin Bieber in Latest Facebook Meme

Forget doppelgangers and Urban Dictionary definitions, the newest Facebook meme is, undoubtedly, “Can this [Insert random thing] Get More Fans Than [Insert Famous Person]?” The latest victim? Pop singer Justin Bieber, who is apparently much beloved with the young folks (and their mothers). The victor? An onion ring.

The fried food thoroughly trounced the Canadian pop star on February 6, according to the fan page, which was created by Facebook user Toby Brittan.

Bieber Fan Count: 1,648,758 fans

Onion Ring Fan Count: 2,152,536 fans

Brittan founded the page on February 1, and according to The Independent, the 16-year-old — who is the son of British businesswoman Sharon Brittan — has even been approached by advertisers wanting to strike up some business on the page.

Similar pages and spin-offs are already in abundance. In fact, the onion ring soon went on to beat out Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Despite these political aspirations, the meme mostly targets pop culture figures such as Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers, as well as the Twilight films. The challengers? Everything from purple monsters to sausage rolls. My personal favorite? “Can This Pickle Get More Fans Than Nickleback [sic]?” The answer? Dear God, I hope so.

Reviews: Facebook, twilight

Tags: facebook, humor, justin bieber, memes, pop culture

Dunkin’ Donuts Wants You to Create Its Next Donut

Last year Dunkin’ Donuts’ “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut” contest was a huge success, generating more than 130,000 donut submissions and 174,000 votes. In celebration of its 60th birthday, Dunkin’ Donuts is doing it all over again.

Through March 8, 2010, anyone can create their own custom virtual donut — with imagination and available ingredients being the only limitations.

Donut submissions will be judged based on use of ingredients, donut name and the story behind the creation.

The Contest

Just like last year, contest hopefuls can build their donut using Dunkin’ Donuts’ donut-building website, creating the breakfast foods from scratch by selecting its shape, dough, filling, frosting and toppings. This year, however, you can actually save your creations and find them in the My Donuts section, download versions for your desktop or favorite social sites, and share your creations more easily with friends via social media sites.

After the submission deadline, donuts will be judged internally, with the company selecting the top 12 finalists, whose donuts will be put up for vote online beginning in April. Each of the 12 finalists will also get a $1,200 cash prize, a year’s worth of donuts, a Flip HD camcorder and a trip to Dunkin’ Donuts University to bake their donuts and meet with chefs. The grand prize winner takes home $12,000 and will have the honor of seeing their donut sold in stores for a limited time.

What’s in it for Dunkin’ Donuts?

While the company wouldn’t share exact costs around the campaign, we did learn that the costs associated with such a massive undertaking — especially in building and maintaining a site to handle the hundreds of thousands of submissions — is quite significant.

David Tryder, manager of interactive and relationship marketing, told us that there is a “substantial commitment and investment involved with the building of site, marketing, and media,” but that last year’s contest, “met expectations on the business side,” and the company, “saw a healthy response in donut sales during the promotion period.”

The bottom line is that online initiative translated to offline sales. Obviously Dunkin’ Donuts is banking on a bigger and better response to this year’s contest. We definitely expect that to be the case, especially given that Facebook is now 400 million members strong and the company reported 25,000 donuts posted to the social networking site alone last year.

Speaking of last year, let’s take a look at more stats from last year:

- 130,000 “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut” donut submissions

- 218,000 total donuts created

- 25,000 donuts posted to Facebook

- 174,000 votes

- 269,000 more donuts created after the promotion was over

That last stat is especially interesting and proves that even without the promise of a big prize, the company has hit on something that its customers absolutely love to do.

More Screenshots

Reviews: Facebook

Tags: dunkin donuts, Food, MARKETING, social media

The Top 10 Most Watched Web Series, January 2010

Each month, our partner Visible Measures compiles a list of the top ten most popular web video series, and we share those results with you and provide analysis.

In January, the threshold for entry into the list was the highest it’s ever been, but viewership for the top 10 shows dropped 26% as compared to the record-breaking month of December.

If you’ve been keeping track in previous months, you won’t be surprised to see that Fred and Happy Tree Friends have again topped the list. Also notable: CollegeHumor and video game-themed shows collectively took up half the list. There weren’t any new series on the list in January, but a couple that dropped off in the past made a comeback. We also learned that the majority of viewers for the top 10 shows were male.

Here’s the complete chart with video clips included for each series. We provide some deeper analysis below.

The Chart: January 2010

Rank

Last Month’s Rank

Title

Studio

Genre

True Reach View Count

% Change in Views

Sample Episode

1

1

Fred

n/a

Comedy

24,719,556

-28%

Play

2

2

Happy Tree Friends

MondoMedia

Animation

17,697,316

-15%

Play

3

4

Smosh

Deca TV

Comedy, Sketch

13,151,356

13%

Play

4

5

The Station

The Station

Comedy

4,317,575

-24%

Play

5

Back On Chart

POV

CollegeHumor

Comedy

4,146,733

Back On Chart

Play

6

10

Hardly Working

CollegeHumor

Comedy

3,562,906

32%

Play

7

9

Jake & Amir

CollegeHumor

Comedy, Sketch

3,275,001

6%

Play

8

Back On Chart

Red Vs Blue

Rooster Teeth

Animation, Comedy

3,224,802

Back On Chart

Play

9

8

The Guild

n/a

Comedy, Gaming

3,209,027

-17%

Play

10

7

Key Of Awesome

Next New Networks

Comedy, Music

3,150,905

-39%

Play

*The Visible Measures Top 10 Webisodes Chart focuses on digital studio-driven Web series that appear on Internet video-sharing destinations. Each Web series is measured on a True Reach™ basis, which includes viewership of both studio-syndicated video clips and viewer-driven social video placements. The data are compiled using the Visible Measures Viral Reach Database, a constantly growing repository of analytic data on more than 100 million Internet videos across more than 150 video-sharing destinations.

Note: This chart does not include vloggers, interviews, how-to series, news shows, or product review shows. View-count results are incremental by month.

To notify Visible Measures of an upcoming Web series, or for an end-to-end assessment of your campaign’s overall performance, please contact us directly.

If you’re interested in exploring this data further, go to visiblemeasures.com/mashable.

initVisibleMeasures();

Consistently On Top: Fred

The teenager with the high-pitched voice has topped the list again, and he managed to do it even though he only put out one new video in January. That new episode garnered 1.7 million views, so the rest of the 24.7 million were all thanks to old content that people are still discovering or re-watching.

You can’t fault Fred completely for dropping from his December high of 34.2 million views; he didn’t have topical holiday content to work with this time. It’s still impressive that a 16-year old actor with a webcam is beating each and every show from web TV networks like Next New Networks and CollegeHumor.

We mentioned earlier that the majority of top 10 show viewers are male; it’s interesting to note that Fred has the highest ratio of female viewers at 45%.

CollegeHumor’s Mark Is Hard to Miss

CollegeHumor is straight up mainstream now thanks to two cable TV deals in the works with MTV, and its online performance is as impressive as ever. It’s the only network with three series on the list — POV, Hardly Working, and Jake & Amir. They’ve all appeared on the list before, and together they racked up just shy of 11 million views.

All three of these CollegeHumor series saw growth since last month; POV didn’t appear on the December chart at all, but now it’s back. Hardly Working is actually working hard; it cranked out several new videos in January and grew 32% as compared to last month. Jack & Amir experienced a modest 6% growth.

The Guild and Red Vs. Blue: The Gamer Niche

Video game-themed programming has always been a significant genre in web TV. Because web series are usually cheaper to produce and viewership expectations are lower than would be the case with over-the-air shows, web series find it advantageous to serve a deep and narrow niche. Gamers are a great audience because there are just enough of them, and because they have their own dedicated ecosystem of social media and blogs to spread the word.

The Guild and Red Vs. Blue aren’t performing as well as they used to, but the gamer audience is still obviously alive and well since these gamer shows take up two of the top 10 spots. Red Vs. Blue just started airing new content, so it returned to the list after a hiatus. Conversely, The Guild is off-season so its numbers have declined.

A greater portion of Red Vs. Blue’s audience is male than any other show on the list. That should be no surprise since the series is based on the science fiction action shooter Halo.

Reviews: video

Tags: monthly top webisodes, video, visible measures, Web TV, web video

5 Insightful TED Talks on Social Media

The 2010 Technology Entertainment Design conference will be kicking off tomorrow in Long Beach, California, bringing the leading minds of many fields together to talk shop about innovation, change, and what the future holds.

As social media has become a game changer for industries across the board, you can bet the experts at this year’s TED conference will have their sights set on peeling back the hype and getting at the core of what social technology has in store for this year and beyond.

Perhaps the best part of the TED conferences is that videos of the talks are archived and free to view right on the organization’s website. Given the wealth of insight we’re sure to see tomorrow, we thought we’d whet your appetite by highlighting a few recent and exceptional talks from TED’s past, with a focus on social media.

1. Alexis Ohanian: How To Make a Splash in Social Media

We’ll start things off with a real-life social media parable about how the biggest and most effective forces on the web usually take shape by accident. Alexis Ohanian of Reddit.com tells the quick and hilarious story of how the social web provided some unexpected help to Greenpeace in halting the Japanese whaling industry. Internet marketers take note: The meme is all powerful, and it cannot be controlled.

2. Clay Shirky: How Social Media Can Make History

In this talk, consultant, professor and author Clay Shirky discusses the unprecedented immediacy of real-time citizen journalism made possible by social media and the nearly ubiquitous access to mobile web technologies. From the election crisis in Iran to the massive earthquake that shook China in May of 2008, Shirky discusses how media is made on the ground, as-it-happens, via the social web.

3. Evan Williams: Listening to Twitter Users

With a couple of anecdotes building the ultimate social media case study, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams discusses how a little side project called Twitter became a game-changing phenomenon with the help and input of the very users who made the service a success. From innovative marketing uses to core functionality, Williams provides the evidence for what we knew all along: Users know best.

4. Stefana Broadbent: How the Internet Enables Intimacy

As social media changes our social lives, speculation has abounded for years on how the web may be disconnecting us from intimate interactions in favor of meaningless quests to rack up followers and “friends.” Not so, says Stefana Broadbent, who explains that social networks function the same way online as they do in real life. While we may have lots of friends, we only really communicate regularly and meaningfully with a handful of them, and social technologies like e-mail, texting, and tweeting allow us to do so more often across time and space.

5. Seth Godin: The Tribes We Lead

From professional sports mascots to balloon animal makers, some communities are so extremely niche that they could only properly thrive on the Internet. So argues blogger and author Seth Godin, who believes that our revolutionary new connectedness has brought human culture back to its roots, and that tribes (groups of people mobilized around a shared interest) are the present and future of all web content.

What are your favorite TED talks about social media? Which did we miss? Let us know in the comments.

Reviews: Iran , Twitter, reddit.com

Tags: future, List, Lists, social media, social networks, technology, TED, TED Talks, twitter, video

New Update to Give Droid Multitouch

There’s some good news and some bad news. First, the good news: sources tell Engadget that multitouch browsing will be added to the Motorola Droid in its next software update.

Multitouch was one of the most requested features on Android, at least until the Nexus One gained multitouch browsing last week.

The bad news: the update won’t add the ability to install live wallpapers, a coveted feature of Android 2.1 seen in the Nexus One.

The point of live wallpaper is essentially to let your homescreen behave like an application, making it animated and interactive. Live wallpapers have the same access to the platform functionality that apps do, giving your homescreen the ability to change dynamically and to bring relevant information to the background of your phone. There’s no word on when or even if the Droid might support live wallpaper, but it looks like it won’t be included in this upcoming update.

Other tidbits from the new build — based on Android 2.1 version 1 — include pre-installed Google Goggles experimental visual search, and versions of the news and weather widgets first included with the Nexus One.

The official word on the street from Motorola is that the new update will roll out this week, so it won’t be long now before Droid users finally get to enjoy the multitouch browsing experience their Nexus One counterparts have been privy to since last week.

Reviews: Android

Tags: android, android 2.1, droid, live wallpaper, Motorola, multitouch, verizon

Music Ownership Beats Music Subscription in Reader Poll

In last week’s Faceoff Series we asked about music consumption models: Do Mashable readers prefer to own their entire music collections or do some of you gravitate toward subscription services?

One week later and the results are in: Ownership wins the day at a full 50% of the vote. Of all our past Faceoffs, though, this edition had one of the highest “tie” votes constituting people who really like both models. The music subscription model still came in second place behind ownership at 28% of the vote, but the “Tie: I like them both!” option was very close behind at 22%.

The results seem to indicate both a growing contingent of folks warming up to the idea of music subscription services, and the idea that there could be room in the market for both approaches to be sustainable business models. Which option got your vote in our poll, and why? Let us know in the comments!

Who would win in a fight: Music subscription, or music ownership?(poll)

Tags: music, polls, social media, subscription, web faceoff

Bandize: Manage Your Band Like a Business

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Name: Bandize

Quick Pitch: Online DIY organization and management business tools for musicians, bands, band managers and record labels.

Genius Idea: Bandize, which will be unveiled at South By Southwest, is an idea so sharp that you’re likely to wonder why it hasn’t already been done. And to some extent, it has; many of its features have appeared in web or desktop apps before, but not in such a complete and cohesive package.

Managing an independent music act (like, say, a punk rock band) is like owning a small business. Bandize helps managers and band members collaborate on all the critical data related to their work, from merchandise sales to event schedules to important contact information.

If you already know the world of online workplace collaboration tools, think of it as a Basecamp or Backpack for bands. Tasks can be assigned to band members and you can track their productivity to make sure every one is pulling his or her weight. And if someone pitches in a little extra — like if he or she lends the band some money for gas — you can keep track of that and make sure that person is compensated.

The obvious features are all here, of course. You can schedule tour dates and track how much money you’ve made with merchandise sales. But one feature that sets Bandize apart is the ability to track how well each piece of merchandise is selling at each venue. You can see if one T-shirt tends to be more popular than another when your band plays in Austin so you can plan to bring more of that same merch the next time you have a date there.

You can also use Bandize to manage your contacts. If someone is associated with a particular venue, you can tag him or her with that venue, and when you print out day sheets at each venue, his or her contact info will be included. If you already have a lot of contacts, you can import them from various sources like Outlook, Google Contacts or a vcard. There are a bunch of other smaller features like poster printing, file storage, and more accounting and contact management tools.

Bandize is currently in beta testing, and you can get a 30-day trial for your band right now. After the trial, it will cost $15 each month.

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest– use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”

Reviews: PHP

Tags: bandize, bizspark, music, startups

Foursquare Inks Deals With Major Media and Entertainment Brands

Hello, Hollywood. On the heels of the Foursquare-Bravo TV deal, news of several additional major media partnerships involving the location-based social networking app have dropped this evening.

According to various reports, Zagat, Warner Bros., HBO, the History Channel and ExploreChicago have all been added to Foursquare’s media and entertainment mix. Here are the partnerships that appear to be live or coming very soon:

Zagat

The New York Times is reporting that Foursquare has signed a deal with trusted restaurant review service Zagat. Zagat’s official Foursquare page is already live and includes official Zagat rated tips and recommendations that users can add as to-do’s to their Foursquare experience.

Zagat is calling the partnership, “Foodie Love,” and there’s even a new accompanying foodie badge. What’s also interesting is that Zagat.com is extending the partnership beyond Foursquare and starting a “Meet the Mayor” online interview series that will feature discussions with prominent Foursquare mayors.

Foursquare’s relationship with Zagat is clearly an answer to Yelp’s introduction of check-ins, especially given the trusted and prestigious nature of Zagat content.

Warner Bros.

Earlier this evening we received some intel in our inbox about a Warner Bros. partnership with Foursquare around the studio’s upcoming movie, Valentine’s Day. Per Foursquare’s other big media partners, the deal includes content in the form of tips and to-dos, but these are themed around romance and Valentine’s Day activities. Of course, it wouldn’t be Foursquare without a badge to go with the campaign.

The Valentine’s Day Foursquare page includes text that reads, “Visit and check-in on Foursquare at any of the locations on our Valentine’s Day inspired list of the most romantic places in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston to get a Valentine’s Day badge! Then go see the movie, in theaters on February 12!”

HBO

We found HBO’s Foursquare How to Make it in America page via AdAge. The series premieres on February 14th, and although HBO isn’t ready to go on the record about their Foursquare relationship, a page packed with show-related tips is already live. The deal appears to be structured in a similar fashion as the others, and includes the addition of show-specific badges for “Culture, Living, Cocktails, and Nightlife.”

The idea seems to be that viewers can turn fiction into reality and live like the show’s main characters, Ben and Cam, who are “two enterprising Brooklyn twentysomethings as they hustle their way through New York City, determined to achieve the American Dream.”

More Major Media Deals

AdAge is also reporting that the History Channel is exploring similar options with Foursquare, and thanks to a tip sent in via email, we uncovered an ExploreChicagopage that is reminiscent of Metro News’ relationship with the location-based game.

ExploreChicago happens to be Chicago’s official tourism site, and the deal includes three Chicago-themed Foursquare badges (which we believe to be the ones above) that users can unlock by checking-in across the city.

Tags: entertainment, explorechicago, Film, foursquare, hbo, MARKETING, media, social media, tv, warner bros, zagat

An XM
TOUCHDOWN: Google Runs Super Bowl Ad

The rumors were correct: Google took the bold step of running a Super Bowl ad in the third quarter of the game today, marking its first major push into TV advertising and a new frontier of marketing for the company that has triumphed in online ads above all else.

CEO Eric Schmidt’s Tweet hinted at the ad yesterday, reading: “Can’t wait to watch the Superbowl tomorrow. Be sure to watch the ads in the 3rd quarter (someone said ‘Hell has indeed frozen over.’)”

Blogger John Battelle was also correct at guessing which ad would run: “Parisian Love” (below).

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Willard

Reviews: blogger, iStockphoto

Tags: Google, Super Bowl, Superbowl, trending

An XM
Super Bowl Ads 2010 [VIDEOS]

YouTube delivered on its promise to upload all the Super Bowl Ads as soon as they aired today, with users voting to choose which one will grace the YouTube front page on Thursday.

The tech and web ads were a mixed bunch: Both the established GoDaddy “Too Hot for TV” schtick and Motorola’s decision to put Megan Fox in a bathtub stuck to the “sex sells” mantra, while Monster.com returned with a “Fiddling Beaver.” Intel went for a quirky “lunch room” ad while Vizio chose star power in its Beyonce commercial. We don’t know what inspired Boost Mobile’s ad, meanwhile, but the humor appears to miss the mark [Update: Commenters say it's a remake of the "Chicago Bears Super Bowl Shuffle"].

Our favorite: Google’s sentimental made-for-web ad — it was promoted to Super Bowl status after its success on YouTube. FLO TV’s retrospective on American media is also a very memorable attempt. Which ads are your faves?

Web and Tech Super Bowl Ads 2010

Megan Fox Motorola Ad

FLO TV: My Generation Ad

Monster.com Fiddling Beaver Ad

GoDaddy Super Bowl

Boost Mobile Ad

Google: Parisian Love Ad

Intel Lunch Room Ad

Go Daddy: News

Vizio Beyonce Ad

Cars.com Ad

Other Super Bowl Ads 2010

Snickers Super Bowl Ad

Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains Ad

Hyundai Sonata Ad

Doritos Ad

Robin Hood Spot

Doritos: House Rules Ad

NCIS /CBS Ad

Coca-Cola / Simpsons Ad

Undercover Boss Ad (CBS)

Doritos Casket Ad

Wolfman Ad

The Good Wife

Emerald Nuts: Awesomer

Hyundai Soata / Brett Favre Ad

VW Punchdub

Budweiser Bridge Ad

Denny’s Chicken Birthday Ad

Denny’s Chicken Warning

Alice in Wonderland

Skechers

Homeaway Vacation Ad

Dr Pepper / KISS ad

Select 55 Ice Bottle Ad

Michelob Ultra – Little Bumps Ad

Budweiser Clydesdale Fence Ad

Late Show Ad

Bud Light Asteroid Ad

Reviews: Google, YouTube, beyonce

Tags: ads, MARKETING, Super Bowl, Super Bowl ads, Superbowl, trending

Rumor: iPhone 4G Will Be Taller Than Predecessors [PICS]

iPhone repair shop iResQ claims that it has the front panel component of the next iteration of Apple’s iPhone, and it has posted a few photos to demonstrate a couple of ways the handset will differ from its predecessor.

If these pics are legit, then the new iPhone will actually be one-fourth of an inch taller than all of the previous three models. Presumably this is to make room for a new component — or more than one new component.

iResQ also observes that the front panel has a “reflective, mirror-like surface” near the top of the phone, and speculates that this is a relocated proximity sensor. The current iPhone’s proximity sensor is used to detect when you’re holding the phone up to your ear. If you are, it shuts off the screen to save battery life and to avoid blinding you with light.

If the reflective surface is the proximity sensor, then Apple might be planning to use the sensor for other functions as well.

If Apple is planning to launch a new iPhone this year, it will likely be announced at WWDC this June. We’ll have to wait until then to see if these photos are real. Take a look at the photos below, but remember that it’s best to pile this in with the rest of the rumors for now.

[via MacRumors]

Tags: apple, iphone, iphone 4g, trending

Netflix Instant Streaming Goes 1080p This Year [Updated]

Update: Netflix contacted CNET and retracted its statement regarding plans for 1080p streaming, saying it has no plans for 1080p this year. However, the company stood its ground on the 5.1 surround sound plans, so you can still keep your ears open for that upgrade.

–

Netflix plans to bump the video quality of its Watch Instantly streaming service up to 1080p on some devices, CNET claims. It will also roll out 5.1 surround sound support. Both upgrades will occur by next year.

Currently, Netflix Watch Instantly is available in 720p HD on the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and some set-top boxes. 1080p is a much higher resolution, and the existing devices don’t stream Netflix content with 5.1 surround sound.

Netflix’s CEO has in the past predicted that streaming will overtake DVD-by-mail as the company’s main business. The library keeps on growing — for example, the Criterion Collection just contributed a ton of art-house and foreign films — and the number of devices you can watch the content on is growing too.

No time frame for the upgrade has been given, but the core technology that powers Netflix Watch Instantly — Microsoft Silverlight — got the capability last year. You can already watch 1080p streams on the Xbox 360 through the Zune Marketplace using Silverlight.

In some ways, streaming stole HD’s thunder. While the high definition digital video disc format Blu-ray was counting on viewers’ interest in quality, it turned out that more users have been interested in the convenience of watching content when and where they want. That has meant a sacrifice in resolution among other things, but 1080p Netflix is a first step towards closing the gap between quality and convenience.

The highly compressed 1080p streams that are possible over the United States’ broadband infrastructure are still not high enough on the quality scale to beat Blu-ray head-to-head, but they will still be better than most people are used to.

Reviews: Blu, Netflix Watch Instantly

Tags: 1080p, netflix

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