Welcome to Remedial Web Trends 101

Links to Rick Astley feed in official tweet

(NEWSER) - OK, so they may be a year or two (or three) late from the peak of the trend, but the White House Twitter feed got in a little "rickrolling" action today. In response to this tweet from someone complaining that the press briefing was a little dull, the White House responded : "Sorry to hear that. Fiscal policy is important, but can be dry sometimes. Here's something more fun." The link led to Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up video. If you need to relive the Astley glory, follow the Huffington Post link for the video. Or click to watch one of the more imaginative rickrolling examples. More»

(NEWSER) - So why did Tweets fall silent for much of today? One leading theory traces the problem to the unlikeliest of places—the conflict between Russia and Georgia, CNET reports. It goes like this: A pro-Georgia blogger with accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and the other sites affected by today's slowdown attracted the ire of foes. "It was a simultaneous attack across a number of properties targeting him to keep his voice from being heard," says Facebook's security chief. More»

(NEWSER) - Television is still churning out Michael Jackson-related content, but Web surfers quickly lost interest after his death, Jeff Jarvis writes for BuzzMachine. “We had consuming interest in Jackson when the news came out but that quickly faded,” Jarvis writes, citing Blogpulse and Google Trends data on Jackson traffic. “Yet cable news and the network morning shows especially are still ODing on MJ.” More»

Says volume of feedback would be impossible to monitor

(NEWSER) - The British government has tried to harness the power of the Internet, but for Gordon Brown, the Web’s been prickly: a video of him picking his nose, for example, has been viewed far more often than recent policy address. Now the prime minister’s team has disabled comments on its YouTube portal, saying that moderating them would be a mammoth task, the Times of London reports. More»

(NEWSER) - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom made his candidacy for California governor official today with nary a word, the Chronicle reports—except on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Though Newsom plans to publicize his run with in-person appearances, an adviser called the old sort of announcement “passé.” The state’s Democratic convention is just days away, with many potential office-seekers still unannounced. More»