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Kickstarter Panhandling: I’m sure you’ve seen posts on your friends’ Facebook walls or on Twitter about their latest business idea or creative endeavor that they are working on, but they just need “x” amount of dollars to make the first prototype or to pay for the marketing, and then they need “x+x” dollars to pay for the airfare and hotel to research a, b and c; and they need “x+10x” to reach their ultimate goal of getting whatever their project/business is off the ground and running. And how can you help your dear friend/acquaintance/colleague/stranger out with this winning plan of theirs? Why you can donate to their project on Kickstarter, of course! As Ryan Tate points out in this Gawker article, it seems that “online panhandling” has gone too far. It’s not that Kickstarter doesn’t help a lot of great projects get funding, but it’s made it all too easy for just about everyone to start hawking their harebrained schemes online. People don’t have to go the traditional route of approaching professional investors anymore. As Tate puts it:
Enter Kickstarter! Suddenly it’s OK to beg from your social circle. It’s not like you have to look anyone in the eye and utter words like “ask” or “need” or “money.” Now you can just fill in a template, push a button, and solicit facelessly and en masse via blog, email, Facebook, whatever.
Are you as sick of Kickstarter pleas for money as Tate is? Gawker
Twitter as TV Distribution Platform: The Sundance Chanel is ahead of the curve on this one: The network is offering the first episode of the new season of its show “Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys” on Twitter before the actual season premier airs this Friday. For a show that already has a pretty large social following on Facebook, taking Twitter is the next step in spreading the word and getting more fans. We’ll see if other networks and shows follow suit and start offering episodes on Twitter. Mashable
Video of the Day: Obviously, we live in the year of the cat! What hot viral video or meme doesn’t involve a cat? That’s why this catvertising agency is going to make bank. Ask yourself: “What can cat videos do for your business?” Adweek
A Wrinkle in Time via Twitter: Alwyn Collinson , a 24-year-old Oxford history graduate, has started a Twitter account that tweets the events of WWII in “real-time”? As the Twitter account description explains, “The Second World War, as it happened on these dates and times, 72 years ago. The year is 1939, times are local.” Collinson is apparently committing to tweeting the full six years of the war. Wow. That’s some real dedication to history and to Twitter. Take a trip back to 1939 and feel like you are living during WWII by following @RealTimeWWII. The Telegraph
Tumblr of the Day: Diva or down to earth? Just British Prime Minister David Cameron doing some average Joe, everyman things because he’s just like us! He even shops at IKEA! (Do you think he uses those huge, blue plastic Ikea bags for the Laundromat too?) David Cameron Pretending to be Common
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