Obama Dials Up SMS Blitz

Scooped text is nation's 'largest mobile marketing event'

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama's cell phone text to supporters naming Joe Biden as his running mate reached 2.9 million people, according to Nielsen—enough for a $290,000 bill at normal text rates. The statistics company ranks the message the nation's "single largest mobile marketing event" to date. More»

Being in the room with someone doesn't mean they have your attention

(NEWSER) - In the seemingly unending onslaught of "best" and "worst" of 2010 stories, a declaration that's a mix. Writing for USA Today , Sharon Jayson dubs 2010 "the Year We Stopped Talking to One Another." The upside: We're Facebook BFFs with Kimmy from high school. The downside: We check email on dates. Writes Jayson, "Our days are filled with beeps and pings—many of which pull us away from tasks at hand or face-to-face conversations. We may feel that the distractions are too much, but we can't seem to stop posting, texting or surfing." And experts say it's time to give our behavior a cold, hard look. More»

Racy pics, suicide threats get would-be cops dumped

(NEWSER) - Law enforcement agencies are probing potential recruits’ digital lives for information that might make them unfit for the job, USA Today reports. More than a third of police agencies look into applicants’ social media presence, says a new report conducted for police executives. Reviewing postings to sites like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube, some agencies require applicants’ online passwords, or want to see their text-messaging and email records. More»

(NEWSER) - The White House is now tweeting, Facebooking, and showing off President Obama's hoops skills on MySpace, the Washington Post reports. Following a election run that relied on social networking sites, the Obama administration is attracting online friends and followers with regular updates. As of this writing, nearly 80,000 are following White House missives on Facebook about the Supreme Court and swine flu. More»

Alaska governor went zooming up search charts in '08

(NEWSER) - Every year, Google releases its analysis of the global zeitgeist based on billions of searches around the world. Newsweek reports the highlights:

• Sarah Palin: "Obama" was the most searched for term overall, but the Alaska governor grabbed the top spot on the fastest-rising list.
• Beijing 2008: The world was understandably electrified by the spectacle of the Olympics in China.