KaKoo

We’re delighted to announce the launch of a new Events Board, which aims to bring together event organizers and the Mashable community.

We have long recognized that one of the great challenges for the Mashable community is that it’s difficult to discover all relevant regional, national or international events for one’s industry or profession. ??Likewise, event organizers have had a similar challenge of making their events discoverable to a large-scale, relevant audience. Based on our success at bringing together employers and job seekers through our Job Board, we feel that we can also help solve similar challenges of bringing together audiences and organizers for industry events.

We’ve done our best to make all features of the Events Board simple, easy and accessible. The Events Board was designed and developed by MyUpcoming, a Belgian-based company, which has been a great partner in helping Mashable create this new product for our community.

Event seekers will enjoy quick, social and easy engagement with the Mashable Events Board.

• Easy access to event details: Each event listing includes the top-level information to quickly assess and connect with an event. We’ll provide a brief event description, Facebook and Twitter URLs for each event, and a link to the event website.
• Social sharing: Event listings can quickly be shared to Facebook, Twitter and Google+, giving our Mashable community additional ways to share an event with their social networks.
• Filters and sorting options: The Events Board has filters, so you can easily search and sort openings by location (for both U.S. and non-U.S. events), event date, event category, among other options.

Event organizers will have a variety of tools to maximize their exposure on the Mashable Events Board.

Key details about an event listing

• Brief description about an event that the Mashable community would find relevant.
• Direct links to an event’s website and key contact information for potential attendees and sponsors to connect with an event organizer.
• Logo that best represents the event and adds visual appeal on the Events Board.

Social reach

• Each event listing allows event organizers to add links to their event’s Facebook and Twitter profiles.
• Event listings can quickly be shared to Facebook, Twitter and Google+, giving our Mashable community additional ways to share an event with their social networks.

Promotional features with listing an event

• The Basic Listing includes all of the above features and remains on the Events Board until the day of the event.
• The Highlighted Listing adds promotion at the top-right of the main Events Board page.
• The Featured Listing adds promotion in the most premium spot at the top center of the main Events Board page.
• Finally, both Highlighted and Featured Listings are included in our Event Listing Module that lives on every Events Board and Event Listing page.

For more information and to get started, click below!

We hope you enjoy this Events Board! We look forward to enhancing it with additional features based on your feedback. Please let us know what you think in the comments below!

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, RonTech2000

More About: Events, networking, Social Media

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Mashable’s largest conference is returning to Orlando, FL from May 3-5, and this year we will explore the future of digital with some of the brightest minds in the industry.

Why attend Mashable Connect? The real value in attending our signature conference is more than just content sessions. Here’s what you get when you purchase a ticket.

• Unique and creative networking opportunities with digital leaders. Networking activities at Mashable Connect go beyond your typical wine and cheese reception. We offer our attendees a one-of-a-kind experience not found at any other conference. Last year, this included a scavenger hunt with attendees, a private viewing of spectacular firework displays and behind-the-scenes access to one of the most popular and thrilling rides in Orlando. This year will be filled with surprises.
• Compelling content sessions with top level speakers. An array of digital leaders will be speaking on topics ranging from new digital business models, mobile networking, digital campaigning and social TV.
• Connecting with Mashable editorial, community and business teams. The Mashable team will be in full force at Connect, interacting with attendees throughout all aspects of the conference. We’re just as excited as you to be in Walt Disney World.
• Opportunity to gain new perspective away from the traditional conference setting. We are hosting Mashable Connect at the Contemporary Resort at Disney World because we wanted a setting where people could spend time together away from the distractions of day-to-day schedules and meetings. This is the perfect location for people to come together and share ideas, in a unique, novel and seasonally warm setting.
• Exclusive access to pre-event and post-event online networking. When you attend Mashable Connect, you are invited to join our exclusive Mashable Connect Facebook group, which includes members from last year’s and this year’s conference. This is a great opportunity to form lasting relationships with digital leaders.
• Three-night stay at the iconic Contemporary Resort with gourmet meals and refreshments. Disney’s Contemporary Resort is a deluxe, modern resort that combines stylish designs with the latest in comfort. The Contemporary Resort includes a marina, pools, restaurants, recreational facilities, a health club and tennis courts.

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Event Information

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Our annual destination conference, Mashable Connect, brings our community together for three days to connect offline in an intimate setting at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World®. Registration is now open.

Held in a unique location away from everyday distractions, Mashable Connect is a rare and valuable opportunity to be surrounded by digital leaders across industries. You’ll spend time with Mashable’s passionate and influential community, hear from top speakers who will provide insight into the the technologies and trends that are shaping the next era of digital innovation, and get to spend time with the Mashable team.

To keep Mashable Connect as intimate as possible, only a limited amount of tickets are available.

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A Look Back at Last Year’s Mashable Connect

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1. Mashable Connect Race Powered by Gowalla

Team members check in to a race location at Magic Kingdom during the Mashable Connect Race powered by Gowalla.

Click here to view this gallery.

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Supporting Sponsors

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Sponsorship Opportunities

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A limited number of sponsor opportunities are available for Mashable Connect. This is an excellent opportunity to get in front of Mashable’s passionate and influential audience. Contact sponsorships@mashable.com for opportunities.

More About: digital, event, Marketing, mashable connect, networking, Social Media

For more Social Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Social Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Our largest conference, Mashable Connect, is returning to Orlando, Fla., from May 3-5, and this year we will explore the future of digital with some of the brightest minds in the industry.

An array of digital leaders will be speaking on topics ranging from new digital business models, mobile networking, digital campaigning and social TV.

There are still a limited amount of tickets available to the public. They include three nights at the Contemporary Resort, compelling content sessions, unique networking activities, connecting with Mashable team members and special events within Disney Parks.

We’re pleased to share a sampling of content sessions delivered by our premier Mashable Connect speakers. Stay tuned for the announcement of a complete agenda in the coming weeks.

• Predicting the Future: Duane Bray, partner at IDEO, will assess our current digital tools, mobile apps and social networks to get a sense of what the future will really be. He’ll explore how the role of collective intelligence, multi-threaded narratives and new literacies will shape the next digital landscape.
• After SOPA/PIPA: What Winning (One) Means: Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, will share his vision on the future of digital creativity and technology innovation in a post SOPA and PIPA world.
• The Truth About Online Reputation: Joe Fernandez, Founder and CEO of Klout, will sit down with Mashable to discuss the truth about online reputation. How much influence does your reach online affect you in the offline world? What does your Klout score really mean? There are just a few of the questions that we’ll ask Joe Fernandez during our fireside chat.
• How to Reinvent the Web: Roger McNamee, Managing Director of Elevation Partners, will talk about why the concepts of the “web” and the “Internet” are increasingly obsolete in the face of the new app-centric model. He’ll discuss how to reinvent the web to preserve the spirit of openness that has defined the current generation and examine the role of mobile technologies and their influence on how we navigate digital content.
• Why Sound Will Be Bigger Than Video: What will be the dominate form of media? Alexander Ljung, Founder and CEO of SoundCloud, will explain why sound will be bigger than video.
• Mobile-first Social Networking: Meghan Peters, Mashable’s community manager, will lead a discussion on mobile-first social networking and ask the question: are these the communities of the future?
• Web 3.0: Curating Big Data is Future of the Web: Burt Herman, co-founder of Storify, will look at how humans and algorithms, along with media and technology, are all coming together to help us make sense of the world in this age of information overload.
• The Evolution of the Second Screen: Christina Warren, Mashable’s entertainment editor, will moderate a panel with Umami, Discovery Digital Media and TVPlus to discuss the evolution of the second screen. This discussion will look at the impact the second screen is having on how content is produced and the huge potential for marketing to this type of engagement.

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Event Information

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Our annual destination conference, Mashable Connect, brings our community together for three days to connect offline in an intimate setting at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World®. Registration is now open.

Held in a unique location away from everyday distractions, Mashable Connect is a rare and valuable opportunity to be surrounded by digital leaders across industries. You’ll spend time with Mashable’s passionate and influential community, hear from top speakers who will provide insight into the the technologies and trends that are shaping the next era of digital innovation, and get to spend time with the Mashable team.

To keep Mashable Connect as intimate as possible, only a limited amount of tickets are available.

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A Look Back at Last Year’s Mashable Connect

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1. Mashable Connect Race Powered by Gowalla

Team members check in to a race location at Magic Kingdom during the Mashable Connect Race powered by Gowalla.

Click here to view this gallery.

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Supporting Sponsor

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Sponsorship Opportunities

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A limited number of sponsor opportunities are available for Mashable Connect. This is an excellent opportunity to get in front of Mashable’s passionate and influential audience. Contact sponsorships@mashable.com for opportunities.

More About: Conference, disney world, education, event, mashable, mashable connect, networking, Social Media, technology

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• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Social Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Badoo Project in New York City

Multilingual social network Badoo is making a push into the U.S., signaling its official launch this week with entertainer Nick Cannon and a massive public photo shoot in New York City dubbed the Badoo Project.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images for Badoo

Click here to view this gallery.

Multilingual social network Badoo is making a push into the U.S., signaling its official launch this week with entertainer Nick Cannon and a massive public photo shoot in New York City dubbed the Badoo Project.

The London-based company, which first released its network in London in 2006 and has 140 million registered users in more than 180 countries, already has 6 million registered users in the U.S. Badoo claims 35 million monthly active users worldwide.

The three-day Badoo Project that started Thursday involves four fashion photographers, who will give 1,000 New Yorkers new online profile pictures. Twenty-four of the best portraits will appear on billboards and taxi-tops across NYC from April to May. Facebook “Likes” on the project’s website will determine the winners.

Badoo‘s chief marketing officer, Jessica Powell, stressed the importance of having a standout profile photo, which is especially important for Badoo users because the social network is about meeting new people and not mingling with existing friends.

Cannon, host of America’s Got Talent and chairman of TeenNick, was among the first to go through the Badoo Project experience and get his portrait taken (see pictures in the above gallery).

“Your image online is the most important thing — it’s like a business card in a sense,” Cannon told Mashable at the event, where he wore Louis Vuitton and Gucci and encouraged participants to show their personality.

“Most people use Badoo for friendship, chatting, dating and making new contacts,” Cannon added. “I travel a lot for work and use sites like Badoo to find out about new clubs or bars from people that might share my interest in music, or simply connect with my fans.”

At the event Thursday, participants lined up to get their makeup and styling done before getting their portraits snapped by one of four fashion photographers — Kenneth Cappello, Dan Martensen, Brooke Nipar and Danielle Levitt — who have collectively worked with celebrities and brands such as Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and GQ and Vogue.

Nipar, who shot Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore’s portrait for Fast Company this year, says that having four photographers shooting portraits all day at once is rare and that a project like Badoo’s is important: “People like to look good.”

After the photo shoots, each participant got to pick his or her five favorite portraits. Badoo immediately uploaded them to each person’s Badoo profile.

“We’re not a normal tech company,” Badoo’s Powell said, “because our users are not early adopters, but they’re still young, diverse and social. That’s why we chose New York to officially launch Badoo.”

SEE ALSO: Badoo Unveils Features to Help Shy Users Flirt

Badoo, which snatched up $30 million in funding in 2008 when it had just 12 million users, is available as a browser service, iOS app, Android app or Blackberry app.

At the Le Web conference on Dec. 7, Badoo founder Andrey Andreev discussed the company’s growth, including the U.S. expansion and its 400 employees. The company is profitable and monetization is built into the site. A feature that lets users pay money to have their profiles featured higher in the app is one way Badoo brings in money.

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What is the Badoo Proejct?

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More About: Badoo, dating, networking, Nick Cannon, photography, Social Media

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How often do you get the chance to spend three days away from everyday life, surrounded by leaders in digital, tech and social media? It’s a rare opportunity to find yourself in this situation, unless of course you’re attending Mashable Connect.

Mashable’s largest conference is returning to Orlando, Fla., from May 3-5, and this year we will explore the future of digital with some of the brightest minds in the industry.

There are still a limited amount of tickets available to the public. They include three nights at the Contemporary Resort, compelling content sessions, unique networking activities, connecting with Mashable team members and special events within Disney Parks.

Get your tickets now before they sell out.

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Or better yet, persuade your company to buy your ticket. Here are seven compelling reasons why attending Mashable Connect 2012 is a valuable investment for you and your organization.

1. Digital leaders: At Mashable Connect, you’ll hear from premier speakers across a range of industries and expertise, who will be participating throughout the conference in all kinds of activities.

2. Learn something new: Original content will be shared on stage, including the role of digital campaigns, the evolution of the second screen, what it means to live in a post-SOPA world, the future of sound, real-time info on the web, mobile networking and designing new business models. You’ll walk away with both inspiration and practical digital solutions to your business challenges.

3. Awesome and unique activities: Networking activities at Mashable Connect go beyond your typical wine and cheese receptions. We like to offer attendees a one-of-a-kind experience that’s not found at any other conference. Last year, this included a scavenger hunt through the Magic Kingdom, a private viewing of spectacular firework displays and behind-the-scenes access to one of the most popular and thrilling rides in Orlando. This year will be filled with surprises.

4. Lasting relationships: Spending three days away in a unique setting with like-minded digital leaders is the perfect opportunity to form lasting relationships. Thanks to our exclusive Mashable Connect Facebook group, you’ll be able to easily stay in touch with attendees, and meet new people from last year’s conference.

5. Spend quality time with Mashable staff: The Mashable team will be in full force at Connect, interacting with attendees throughout all aspects of the conference. We’re just as excited as you to be in Walt Disney World.

6. Inspiration: Mashable Connect is a transformative experience. From inspirational content sessions to in-depth conversations with peers and speakers, you’ll leave Mashable Connect with new ideas and information that you won’t find anywhere else.

7. You get a lot for one ticket: In addition to hearing from esteemed speakers and participating in valuable networking activities, you also get three nights at the Contemporary Resort and access to the Disney Parks for special events.

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Confirmed Mashable Connect Speakers

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• Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, and director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. Professor Lessig is a global pioneer and leading expert in the area of contemporary copyright law and Internet privacy.
• Roger McNamee is a co-founder of Elevation Partners, an investment partnership focused on the intersection of media and entertainment content and consumer technology.
• Duane Bray is a partner at IDEO, where he heads the firm’s Global Digital Business. He routinely explores the intersection of technology and people, revealing and elevating the emotional connections that we forge with digital media.
• June Cohen is executive producer of TED Media, and was responsible for bringing the TED Conference online, and growing its audience from 1,000 attendees to 150 million viewers worldwide. Previously, she was VP of content at HotWired.com, the pioneering website from Wired Magazine.
• Alexander Ljung is the founder and CEO of SoundCloud, the world’s leading social sound platform that enables anyone, anywhere to create and share originally created sounds across the web.
• Joe Trippi and his team pioneered the empowerment message and the online community tools that have become the basis of movement politics all around the world. Joe was heralded on the cover of The New Republic as the man who “reinvented campaigning.”
• Hilary Mason is the chief scientist at bit.ly, where she makes sense of vast data sets. Her work involves both pure research and development of product-focused features.
• Burt Herman is co-founder of Storify, a platform for creating stories with social media, and founder of Hacks/Hackers, a worldwide organization bringing together journalists and technologists.
• Adora Svitak is the author of three books and an international teacher, speaker and activist. Since the age of four, she has been exploring what she can do with the written word: everything from championing literacy and youth voices to guest blogging for Mashable, Edutopia and the Huffington Post.

These are only a few of the many prominent figures who will be speaking at Mashable Connect. You can see a full list of speakers here.

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Event Information

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Our annual destination conference, Mashable Connect, brings our community together for three days to connect offline in an intimate setting at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World®. Registration is now open.

Held in a unique location away from everyday distractions, Mashable Connect is a rare and valuable opportunity to be surrounded by digital leaders across industries. You’ll spend time with Mashable’s passionate and influential community, hear from top speakers who will provide insight into the the technologies and trends that are shaping the next era of digital innovation, and get to spend time with the Mashable team.

To keep Mashable Connect as intimate as possible, only a limited amount of tickets are available.

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A Look Back at Last Year’s Mashable Connect

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1. Mashable Connect Race Powered by Gowalla

Team members check in to a race location at Magic Kingdom during the Mashable Connect Race powered by Gowalla.

Click here to view this gallery.

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Supporting Sponsor

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Sponsorship Opportunities

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A limited number of sponsor opportunities are available for Mashable Connect. This is an excellent opportunity to get in front of Mashable’s passionate and influential audience. Contact sponsorships@mashable.com for opportunities.

More About: Conference, digital, disney, education, event, learning, mashable connect, networking, professional development, Social Media, training

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• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Social Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Buying someone a drink in person is a nice gesture, but buying someone a drink via Twitter is, well, not something you do often.

Online networking app Tweet-A-Beer hopes to change that and make paying for other Twitter users’ drinks more of a habit. The web tool officially rolls out at South by Southwest.

Here’s how it works (flip through the gallery below for a visual tour): Tweet-A-Beer uses Chirpify — an ecommerce platform that lets you buy, sell and donate money — to sync your Twitter account to your PayPal account. You can safely send beer money in $5 allotments.

Oregon-based agencies Waggener Edstrom Worldwide and tenfour brewed the app for public consumption in six weeks, just in time for SXSW where networking is known to stem from quaffing alcoholic beverages.

Use Twitter Handles to Send Beer Money

Networking app Tweet-A-Beer lets you send beer money in $5 allotments via tweets by syncing your Twitter and PayPal accounts.

For example, I sent $5 to Mashable colleague Sarah Kessler.

Click here to view this gallery.

Users have already bought more than 500 beers to incite in-person meetups or wish SXSW attendees good luck. For example, I sent $5 to Mashable colleague Sarah Kessler, who will be at SXSW reporting on all things dealing with startups. I personalized my transaction with a message, which was tweeted to my followers after I hit, “Send Beer Money.” The app also allows you to add your current location and a meeting location to drink beers together.

Pay @sarahfkessler $5 for a beer on me – Enjoy SXSWi! Hope you find the next big startup ? bit.ly/yin0PZ #tweet_a_beer

— Brian A. Hernandez (@BAHjournalist) March 8, 2012

Another Twitter user shows some love for a SXSW-goer:

Pay @mattmcginnis $5 for a beer on me – Since I can’t make it to SXSW, I guess I can buy … bit.ly/z79al1 #tweet_a_beer

— kdagg (@kdagg) March 6, 2012

 

“Given how large the conference is, the best way to track where the hottest spots are and where to meet up face-to-face is via Twitter and location-based services,” Kent Hollenbeck, Waggener Edstrom senior vice president of global corporate communications, told Mashable. “We’re launching it at SXSW Interactive festival — it’s the perfect venue to help foster real-life connections.”

SEE ALSO: 7 Hot Apps to Watch at SXSW | 6 Ways to Up Your Networking Game at SXSW

Waggener Edstrom will also introduce at SXSW a Windows Phone 7 app called News of the Day, which displays a real-time stream of top news and topics as well as trending stories on Twitter. Last year at SXSW, the company launched Hot Spots, an app that showcases popular hangouts in Austin.

More About: Beer, Chirpify, mobile apps, networking, paypal, sxsw, sxsw 2012, trending, Twitter

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With only a few days before SXSW, one of the most memorable festivals in tech, now’s the time to populate your calendar with every event, panel and party you want to attend while visting Austin, TX.

By popular demand, Mashable is bringing back one of the biggest parties in Austin: the Mashable SXSWi House, plus a few other fun surprises that we’ll be announcing soon.

Join Mashable and our sponsors Dice.com, 3M and Nature Valley on Sunday, March 11 from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. for an exciting evening of music and networking, with an open bar.

Joining us will be San Francisco-based DJ duo A Plus D of Bootie, who will be spinning their world famous mashups at the Mashable SXSWi House. Think Lady Gaga meets Bob Marley or Will Smith meets Daft Punk, mixed together under one roof. A Plus D, creators of Bootie, the biggest mashup bootleg party in the world, will rock the party with their musical concoctions and creative song combinations.

A Plus D will be taking requests via Twitter at the Mashable SXSWi House. Follow @Bootiemashup so you can request your favorite mashups live, or tweet your favorite artists or songs, and Bootie’s A Plus D will mash it up whenever possible.

This week we’ll be announcing special surprises we’ve planned for the SXSWi community, and we’ll share where to find Mashable and its editorial team in Austin, so stay tuned!

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Details

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Date: Sunday, March 11, 2012
Time: 9 p.m. – 2 a.m.
Location: Buffalo Billiards, 201 6th Street, Austin, TX
Socialize: Follow #MashSXSW on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Plancast and Instagram

RSVP Policy
The event is open to all 21+ SXSWi badge holders. Please RSVP on Eventbrite.

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Photo highlights from last year’s Mashable SXSWi House

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Pete Cashmore & Dennis Crowley

Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore interviews Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley during a featured Q&A at SXSWi.

Click here to view this gallery.

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Presenting Sponsors

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More About: Conference, event, networking, Social Media, sxsw, sxsw 2012, sxswi

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Mashable’s largest conference, Mashable Connect, is returning to Orlando, FL from May 3-5, and this year we will explore the future of digital with some of the brightest minds in the industry. We’re pleased to announce five digital leaders have joined our dynamic list of speakers.

Additional Confirmed Speakers

• Duane Bray is a partner at IDEO, where he heads the firm’s Global Digital Business. He routinely explores the intersection of technology and people, revealing and elevating the emotional connections that we forge with digital media.
• June Cohen is executive producer of TED Media, and was responsible for bringing the TED Conference online, and growing its audience from 1,000 attendees to 150 million viewers worldwide. Previously, she was VP of content at HotWired.com, the pioneering website from Wired Magazine.
• Alexander Ljung is the founder and CEO of SoundCloud, the world’s leading social sound platform that enables anyone, anywhere, to create and share their originally created sounds across the web.
• Joe Trippi and his team pioneered the empowerment message and the online community tools that have become the basis of movement politics all around the world. Joe was heralded on the cover of The New Republic as the man who “reinvented campaigning.”
• Adora Svitak is the author of three books and an international teacher, speaker, and activist. Since the age of four, she has been exploring what she can do with the written word: everything from championing literacy and youth voices to guest blogging for Mashable, Edutopia and the Huffington Post.

These are only a few of the many prominent figures who will be speaking at Mashable Connect. You can see a full list of speakers here.

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Event Information

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Our annual destination conference, Mashable Connect, brings our community together for three days to connect offline in an intimate setting at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World®. Registration is now open.

Held in a unique location away from everyday distractions, Mashable Connect is a rare and valuable opportunity to be surrounded by digital leaders across industries. You’ll spend time with Mashable’s passionate and influential community, hear from top speakers who will provide insight into the the technologies and trends that are shaping the next era of digital innovation, and get to spend time with the Mashable team.

To keep Mashable Connect as intimate as possible, only a limited amount of tickets are available.

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A Look Back at Last Year’s Mashable Connect

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1. Mashable Connect Race Powered by Gowalla

Team members check in to a race location at Magic Kingdom during the Mashable Connect Race powered by Gowalla.

Click here to view this gallery.

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Supporting Sponsor

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Sponsorship Opportunities

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A limited number of sponsor opportunities are available for Mashable Connect. This is an excellent opportunity to get in front of Mashable’s passionate and influential audience. Contact sponsorships@mashable.com for opportunities.

More About: Conference, digital, disney world, education, event, lecture, mashable connect, networking, orlando, speakers, technology

For more Social Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Social Media channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Have you checked out LinkedIn‘s mobile site yet? No, not the mobile app — the in-browser mobile site. It’s very powerful and very useful for connecting with LinkedIn’s 135 million users. After all, mobile page views account for over 11% of total visits to the social network for the professionally-minded.

LinkedIn released the updated mobile site (along with iPhone and Android apps) last summer. Mobile usage of LinkedIn has been growing quickly.

“We are seeing mobile grow at a very rapid pace, as high as 400 percent a year,” Joff Redfern, mobile product director at LinkedIn told The New York Times in August of last year.

Want to know more? Check out these five tips for using the mobile site.

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1. Share Useful Links and Information

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Did you just read an interesting article on your mobile device and you think that it’s something your LinkedIn contacts should see right away? That’s easily done with LinkedIn’s mobile site. The upper right-hand corner of the site has a speech bubble. Tap that, and you’re redirected to the update screen.

You can share a text update or drop in a link to content you’d like your contacts to see. Then, you can toggle whether or not that update will be sent out as a Twitter message as well. Finally, you have control of which of your contacts can see the update. That’s good, because you might want to send an update to your co-workers and not your entire network.

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2. Get Updates

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When you open LinkedIn’s mobile site, you’re greeted with a scrollable list of your connections’ updates. The menu is easy to navigate. Upon clicking a shared article, you’re presented with a quick synopsis of that article instead of being launched to the article itself. You can also use the synopsis page to load the profile of the person who shared it.

That smart design saves precious mobile bandwidth (and money, for those not on an unlimited data plan). If you decide the article is worth loading, you can then decide to launch it in a new browser window. When you’re done enjoying the article, remember to share it!

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3. Connect With a New Acquaintance

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Swapping business cards is so passé. With LinkedIn’s mobile site, all you have to do is pop in a person’s name. If they’re on the service, there’s a profile chock-full of their employment and education information.

The mobile site takes users’ full-page profiles and compresses them into easy-to-read miniaturized versions. There’s no feeling of profiles being stuffed or crammed into place — it’s almost like profiles were designed with mobile browsers in mind.

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4. Spend Time With Your Groups

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Even your LinkedIn groups are easily accessible on the mobile site. Want to follow the discussion on your favorite groups while you’re on the go? That’s easy.

After clicking the LinkedIn logo on the top-left of the screen, then “more.” Boom, there’s your groups. Discussions are easily read, and adding your own comment is next to effortless. LinkedIn’s mobile site makes it easy to keep up with your professional organizations and societies.

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5. Get Invited

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Do you find yourself getting overloaded with invitations to connect every time you load LinkedIn? With LinkedIn’s mobile site, you can manage those invitations on the go.

The site’s interface makes it easy to see how many invitations you’ve got and learn more about who sent them to you. Just tap the LinkedIn logo, then the “inbox.” If you’ve got new invites, a notification will appear that lets you know how many new messages are in your queue.

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Going Mobile

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LinkedIn’s mobile site is found at http://touch.www.linkedin.com. Point your smartphone’s browser over there and dive right in. Do you think that LinkedIn’s mobile website helps with sharing? Let us know in the comments.

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More Small Business Resources From OPEN Forum:

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- Is it Finally Time to Ditch Your Paper Business Card?
- Social Learning Trends to Watch in 2012
- 6 Things to Know Before Starting a Business

More About: features, linkedin, mashable, Mobile, mobile networking, networking, open forum

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Mashable’s largest conference, Mashable Connect, returns to Orlando, FL this year from May 3 – 5. Our annual destination conference brings our community together for three days to connect offline in an intimate setting at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World®. Registration is now open.

Held in a unique location away from everyday distractions, Mashable Connect is a rare and valuable opportunity to be surrounded by digital leaders across industries. You’ll spend time with Mashable’s passionate and influential community, hear from top speakers who will provide insight into the the technologies and trends that are shaping the next era of digital innovation, and get to spend time with the Mashable team.

To keep Mashable Connect as intimate as possible, only a limited amount of tickets are available.

We have a stellar lineup of speakers, and will be signing on even more in the coming weeks.

Cindy Gallop, founder and CEO of IfWeRanTheWorld.com, will be speaking about new digital business models, and Duane Bray, partner of IDEO, will explore the future of digital tools and their impact on society.

Hilary Mason, chief scientist at Bit.ly, will reveal secrets of data, and Alexander Ljung, founder and CEO of Soundcloud, will provide new insights into sound.

Joe Trippi, founder and president of Joe Trippi & Associates, has been at the forefront of movement politics for nearly 30 years, and will speak about the impact of digital on campaigns.

Mashable team members will be leading discussions onstage about the evolution of the second screen and the future of mobile-first networking apps. And we’ll be sitting down with Joe Fernandez, founder and CEO of Klout, for a conversation about online reputation.

We’ll be announcing even more speakers and topics in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for some exciting updates about Mashable Connect.

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A Look Back at Last Year’s Mashable Connect

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1. Mashable Connect Race Powered by Gowalla

Team members check in to a race location at Magic Kingdom during the Mashable Connect Race powered by Gowalla.

Click here to view this gallery.

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Supporting Sponsor

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Sponsorship Opportunities

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A limited number of sponsor opportunities are available for Mashable Connect. This is an excellent opportunity to get in front of Mashable’s passionate and influential audience. Contact sponsorships@mashable.com for opportunities.

More About: Connect, disney, Events, learn, mashable connect, networking

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