#CantDoNothing: Milana Vayntrub on the Syrian Refugee Crisis

"The great thing about being an influencer is you can have a message and spread it to a lot of people."

Kaley Cuoco Makes A Big Bang At The SAG Awards In A Cutout Dress

Kaley Cuoco sure knows how to make a statement.

The "Big Bang Theory" actress stepped out in an off-the-shoulder dress by Romona Keveza with a perfectly placed cutout. Cuoco finished the look with strappy Jimmy Choo heels, a slicked-back top knot and a single statement earring. The head-turning ensemble was certainly not to be missed. 

What do you think of this daring dress?

 

 

 

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This Sexy Model Will Send Your Unsolicited Dick Pics to Your Girlfriend!

Respect women, and be careful what you do with pictures of your junk.

Why Duplicating Tweets is a Good Strategy

How many of your Twitter followers read every tweet you send? The number is probably smaller than you think. Reading all of a brand's tweets requires users to either A) Log in and read tweets extremely frequently… or perpetually, or B) Constantly visit the Twitter profiles of the brands they want to hear from. And as much as it would be great if your tweets were so engaging that they pulled all of your followers over to your profile, the hard truth is, they aren't. And they don't.

No matter how witty, interesting, or how much value your tweets contain, most of your audience will likely "luck" onto them – they will only see them if they happen to be online right around the time you tweet.

So if you've got a compelling message, how do you ensure more of your audience sees it? You duplicate your tweets.

Now, when we say "duplicate tweets," that doesn't mean copy and pasting tweets word-for-word and spamming your followers' timelines. Instead, we're using the term loosely, to mean tweeting the same meaning using different words, phrases, calls-to-action and multimedia.

So when is duplicating tweets a good idea? Here are some situations where it works:

1. When you've created a killer piece of content. After all, why tweet it once and then let your audience forget about it (or, for many of them, not see it at all)?


2. When you're running a time-sensitive promotion, deal, contests or event. Tweeting before, during and after will help keep it top-of-mind.


3. When you want to get your stuff on someone's radar. Tweeting to them once might be easily ignored – but ten times? That should get some attention.

But, as we discussed, duplicate tweeting isn't just a matter of highlighting some text and hitting copy + paste. To be successful, it takes finesse.

You have to keep your entire audience in mind when duplicating tweets. Some of them will have seen the first tweet, and might be turned off if they see an exact copy an hour later. In fact, they might even think it's spam, and click the dreaded "unfollow" button.

So, you've got to flex your creative muscles and write brand new tweets – but tweets that contain the same information as the original.

Let's say you're promoting an upcoming event, and you're offering an early-bird special of 20% off ticket prices. Here are three tweets that get the same information across, but that won't alienate any audience members who see more than one:

"Get your tickets to TheGreatEvent before the end of the month, and save 20% with our Early Bird special!"

"Tickets to TheGreatEvent are selling fast – and if you get in on the action before the cutoff date, you will save yourself a cool $100."

"Only a few more days left until ticket prices for TheGreatEvent go up! Get yours today to save $$."

Sending these tweets hours, days or even weeks apart will result in more eyeballs on the content, and more potential event signups. And since each tweet is unique, they act more as reminders – rather than spam – to anyone who sees more than one in their timelines.

Do you use duplicate tweeting as part of your Twitter marketing strategy? Let us know in the comments below.

Jessica Jones: 9 Things That Should Happen In Season 2

Kilgrave's dead, so what's next?

Rounds Launches Booyah Group Video Chat App on iOS

Social communication platform Rounds has announced the launch of its Booyah video chat app on iOS. The app was designed to be a companion to WhatsApp, and allows users to make free group video calls with their contacts.

Booyah supports video calls for up to 12 users. Once a user begins a call, they can tap a button to invite their WhatsApp contacts into the call. However, the app doesn’t limit itself to just WhatsApp users, as users can invite others to live video chats by sending invite links through email or text message, or posting invite links on Twitter and other platforms. When responding to invites, new users are prompted to downloaded Booyah before joining the call.

Booyah doesn't require users to create an account before joining or starting a call. In addition, the app does not share content back to WhatsApp, or save content on users' devices.

In a statement, Dany Fishel, CEO of Rounds, commented:

WhatsApp is the pioneer in group messaging, and therefore was the natural choice as the primary companion to Booyah. We took it one step further, and brought Snapchat’s ephemerality to group video chat, making these live conversations easy and casual. Ultimately, it’s our job to do all the labor intensive steps, and all you need to do to join a group chat is show up—and Booyah!

Booyah is available to download for free on the iTunes App Store. The app is coming soon to Android.

Farhad and Mike’s Week in Tech: Lessons From Earnings Season

Analysis on Apple’s iPhone sales, Microsoft’s rebound, Amazon’s profits and Facebook’s success with mobile advertising.

Why Is Everyone So Mad at the Fine Brothers?

The Fine Bros are being blasted over a plan to make money from fan-made reaction videos.

Opportunities in Asia for WhatsApp (Infographic)

Latin America is a stronghold for WhatsApp, while North America presents a weak spot, but the biggest opportunity for the Facebook-owned messaging application may be in Asia.

GlobalWebIndex shared the infographic below showing WhatsApp usage by region, and GWI said in an email to SocialTimes:

WhatsApp has already made substantial progress in Latin America and the Middle East, where around two-thirds of internet users are now WhatsApping. In contrast, North America has always been a problem for WhatsApp, with Facebook Messenger being the dominant messaging service.

But it’s in Asia where WhatsApp’s free model could bring the biggest increases. Leaving aside China, where WeChat is in total control, WhatsApp can claim 35 percent usage rates across the rest of the region – a decent figure, certainly, but one that shows how much room there is for further expansion.

Obama’s Budget Urges a Deeper Commitment to Computer Education

The president seeks $4 billion to help states expand in an area he views as critical to young people’s success in a changing job market.

Conan O'Brien Tests His Boundaries With The TBS Censor

Every comic's worst enemy

This is Why You Should Use Emojis to Boost Engagement on Social Media Ads

Emojis have emerged as a new language in digital media. The medium, once dominated by text, has moved more toward visual media, with emojis as the means of communicating tone and sentiment on messaging apps and social media among consumers.

This emoji communication creates actionable data for brands, including improving on-site customer service experiences in real time. According to Larry Kim, founder and CTO of online advertising agency WordStream, emojis also have applications for advertising on Twitter.

Kim conducted an experiment where he explored the impact of emojis on engagement. He used the Twitter ad platform to isolate the isolate the audience and A/B tested two ads: one with emojis and one without. The emoji version of the Tweet got 25.4 percent higher engagement than the non-emoji Tweet. What’s more, the Tweet with emoji had a lower cost per engagement, Kim said:

The cost to advertise on [Facebook or Twitter] is inversely related proportional to the engagement rate of the thing you’re looking to promote.

Based on his finding, Kim said brands should use emojis in every tweet, paid advertisements or not. Here were some guidelines to consider:

• Learn the emoji characters. You can’t use emojis effectively if you don’t know what’s available to you. Kim recommended getting to know the emojis options and become fluent in the language.


• Make it relevant. Once you understand the language, you should have no problem selecting topically relevant emojis. The more relevant, the higher the engagement. 


• Communicate like a real person. Brands can use emojis in much the same way as consumers, to communicate sentiment. This gives the brand’s online presence a more personable and human quality.
  
  


• Use emojis for response. Instead of just “liking” or “favoriting a post on social media, respond with an emoji to communicate a specific emotion.

Behold: The 20 Most Expensive Keywords in Google AdWords – http://t.co/8H5Pqx6VUO pic.twitter.com/IU0W8mnAEw

— Larry Kim (@larrykim) September 14, 2015

Fake Online Locksmiths May Be Out to Pick Your Pocket, Too

Odds are good that when you search Google for someone to help you get into your home or car, results will include poorly trained subcontractors who will squeeze you for cash.

Barbie Announces New Body Sizes and Skin Colors

The iconic doll doesn’t have to be only blonde and thin anymore.

Apple Sets Its Sights on Virtual Reality

Apple has acquired an augmented reality start-up called Flyby Media and hired the former director of the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech.

Mobile Game Roundup: Super Phantom Cat, Merged and More

If you're looking for a new mobile game to play this weekend, you have lots of new options to try, like Path of War, a strategy game from Nexon and Envision Entertainment. The game takes players to the near-future United States, and allows them to join the rebel militia as they attempt to take back Washington D.C. from the government regime.

In addition, Bandai Namco Entertainment America released its newest game this week: Digimon Heroes. The match-three card battle game allows players to collect more than 1,000 Digimon from all eras of the Digimon universe, and upgrade their Digimon over time.

If you're looking for something else to try, here are more of this week's new releases.

Super Phantom Cat ($1.99 on iOS) – This side-scrolling platformer from Veewo Games asks players to complete levels and collect data shards to change into different characters, like a chicken or vampire, as examples. Players explore environments using buttons for movement and jumping, and can defeat enemies and discover secret areas as they play. Gamers can also collect sprites as they play, which may give them special powers. Players can collect three stars in each stage, and can replay stages to collect the stars they've missed.

Hero Forces (Free on iOS, Android) – From Playcube, this third-person shooter challenges players to save the world from an organization known as D.O.O.M. As players progress, they can unlock new gear and upgrade their weapons and armor to become stronger. Outside of the game's campaign mode, players can try survival mode, which features successive waves of enemies, and can also battle against other players in one-on-one or two-on-two matches. Finally, up to four players can team up to battle zombies in a cooperative mode.

Pridefest (Free on iOS, Android) – From Atari, Pridefest is a simulation game inspired by the LGBTQ community, which asks players to bring color and fun back to a city. Players can customize their own avatar, and are challenged to complete more than 40 quests to unlock new content. Gamers can customize shops and storefronts, and throw parades to bring happiness to their city.

Hoppy Naut (Free on iOS, Android; $0.99 on Amazon) – From shark apps, Hoppy Naut is a side-scrolling endless runner, challenging players to help an alien survive as long as possible in each game. The alien runs from left to right automatically, leaving players to tap once to jump, tap twice to double jump or tap and hold to glide while in the air. Players can collect coins as they run, which can be spent on new playable characters. Players are given additional coins as free prizes over time, and can earn more coins by watching video ads.

Hate Your Job (Free on iOS, Android) – From developer Thomas Sennett, Hate Your Job is a platformer starring Dom, a man who hates his job and wants to throw himself from the top of his office building. Players must help Dom climb to the top of the building while avoiding coworkers and office supplies. Each level includes a different arrangement of floors to climb and obstacles to avoid, and ends with Dom diving off of the top of the building. Gamers control Dom by swiping their finger on the screen to move and jump.

Adventure Cube (Free on iOS, Android) – This endless survival game from Ketchapp and Applava challenges players to help a cube survive by tapping on the left and right sides of the screen to move the cube forward on the path. The path is filled with obstacles, like spikes and pits, and the floor falls away behind the cube, challenging players to move quickly to survive as long as possible. Players can collect golden cubes as they play, and spend these on new playable characters. Gamers also receive free golden cubes as prizes over time, and can earn additional golden cubes by watching video ads when these are available.

Merged (Free on iOS, Android) – This puzzle game from Gram Games asks players to drag numbered blocks to the game board so three blocks containing the same number touch and merge. For instance, when three ‘one' blocks touch, they merge into a ‘two' block. When three ‘two' blocks touch, they merge into a ‘three' block, and so on, until players merge three ‘six' blocks into an ‘M' block. When players merge three ‘M' blocks, they explode and clear nine other blocks from the grid. Games end when players fill the board and run out of moves.

In addition to these new releases, here are some of the previously released games which have come to new platforms.

Puzzle Craft 2 from Chillingo and ATGames – Free on Android; previously released on iOS.

Punch Club from tinyBuild – $4.99 on Android; previously released on iOS.

Downwell from Devolver Digital and Ojiro Fumoto – $3.00 on Android; previously released on iOS.

Armadillo Gold Rush from AppAbove Games – Free on Android; previously released for $2.99 on iOS.

Chaos Battle Hero from Softmax and nterFun – Free on iOS; previously released on Android.

Coldplay And Beyonce Head To Mumbai In New Music Video

This "Hymn For The Weekend" is exactly what you need before you start yours

Programmatic Advertising is Skyrocketing: 66% of Advertisers Plan to Boost Ad Spend

Looking for the next big thing in social advertising? Programmatic, or automated, advertising is where the money is going.

According to a recent AdRoll report, 66 percent of advertisers polled said they plan to increase their programmatic ad spend in 2016.

Why? The report notes that 87 percent of marketers are seeing greater return through programmatic adversing compared to traditional media buying.

Adam Berke, AdRoll's president and CMO, commented on the findings in AdRoll's State of the Industry report:

Marketing is becoming an increasingly technology driven discipline, and practitioners are being held to higher standards of measurement and accountability than ever before. It therefore makes sense that marketers and business managers want their advertising efforts to be driven by the same innovations in data science, AI, and automation that have driven advancements in other parts of the modern enterprise. The results from this survey make it clear that 2016 is staged to be a massive year for digital advertising, and programmatic technologies will be the driving force.

Other findings from the report:

• 32 percent of marketers spent more than 50 percent of their budgets on programmatic in 2015


• Programmatic social ad buying is now 50 percent more popular than programmatic display for B2C marketers (75 percent of all B2C marketers polled are using programmatic)


• 1/3 of marketers are now using programmatic ad buying on mobile


• Retargeting jumped from 54 percent to 82 percent this year; 87 percent of marketers said they will spend more on mobile retargeting in 2016

While most advertisers polled really want to see retargeting come to eBay, social networks such as Pinterest and Snapchat are also where they're looking:

Readers: What are your thoughts on programmatic advertising?

Taxing Google and Other U.S. Giants Is Dividing Europe

European Union officials in Brussels want uniform rules, but many countries prefer to use tax policies to reward or punish big multinationals.