CRUSH is a fast and fun weekly round-up of social media news – Join us on Facebook to keep up with all the latest.

What was this week’s theme among your favorite social networking sites? Change. Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook are all rolling out a handful of new features. Including Twitter’s addition of “most popular tweets” to its search capability, a new interactive layout for YouTube, and the introduction of language alterations and community pages from Facebook.

Facebook was especially busy, as it also acquired “Divvyshot”, a program that will allow users to tag photos by event. You can expect to see this application in the upcoming months. Music artist John Forte has already gotten a head start on how this might work, pausing mid-set during his latest tour stop in Boston to snap a photo for his morning Twitter feed.

More politicians are beginning to find audiences via social media. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is reaching out to his constituents on Facebook. He follows New Hampshire Governor John Lynch, who did a live stream chat courtesy of the Live Free of Die Alliance a few months ago.

But beware, the power of social media is a double-edged sword. Just ask the RNC, as the release of controversial financial records and activities have been blasted to the public by an army of bloggers, as well as a video mashup of RNC Chairman Michael Steele’s speeches to Fat Joe’s music video “Make It Rain”.

On a lighter note, April Fool’s Day did not go by unnoticed. Here’s a list of Mashable’s favorite pranks from this year.

And of course, we couldn’t resist pulling a prank of our own, which brings us to our CRUSH of the Week. Haven’t heard of a Rick Roll? Let us introduce you…

Post from: Social Media Vision

CRUSH: Rick and Roll

Check out this hilarious video about the Social Networking Wars. Just watch the Youtube video below and make sure you leave your comments below on what you think!

Social Networking Wars: SuperNews!

Myspace confronts a young fellow who may have been cheating on it with other sites. Soon facebook and others show up for a showdown. Let the …

Post from: Social Media Vision

Social Networking Wars

Video Pocket Cam War

I am actually in the market for a new pocket camera that is real easy to use, not too high-tech and for the right price.  Last year the Flip Video Camera killed the market making it popular to all consumers both tech savvy and non.

With the increase in Social Media Video Blogging especially cheesy Facebook birthday videos (LOL) Pocket Cams are all the lastest buzz.

This year it seems that the HD market is in play and the 3 names that kept coming up when doing comparisons were the..

• Flip Ultra-HD – The leading pocket camera maker that boosted its popularity last year with the cheap Flip Camera now with a ultra slick hd version.
• Sony Webbie-HD – Sony’s baby in trying to compete with the Flip market
• Vado-HD – Vado was Flips biggest competitor last year who was cheaper and better specs but because of the media and hype Flip got more attention.  This year though Vado is back with a vengenace.

So below are the Side-By-Side specs and features..lets see who the winner is just on specs alone and maybe ill do a follow-up blog

Flip Ultra-HD

The Flip Video Camera website http://www.theflip.com

• The Price: $199

• Recording Time: 2 hours

• Memory: 8gb

• Screen Size: 2.0″ (Diagonal)

• Weight: 6.0 oz

• Digital Zoom: 2x

• Video Resolution: 1280 x 720 pixels

• Battery Life: up to 2.5 Hours
  

• Battery Option: 2 AA Batteries Rechargeable

• Colors: 2 colors

Sony Webbie-HD

The Webbie Video Camera website http://www.SonyStyle.com/handycam

• The Price: $169

• Recording Time: When using 16GB Memory Stick PRO Duo^™ media (sold separately) up to 5 1/2 hours

• Memory: Requires Memory Sticks – up to 16 GB

• Screen Size: 1.8″ (Diagonal)

• Weight: 4 oz

• Digital Zoom: 4x

• Video Resolution: 1440x 1080 pixels

• Battery Life: up to 1 hour 25mins
  

• Battery Option: built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery

• Colors: 3 colors

Vado HD

The Vado Video Camera website http://www.Creative.com

• The Price: $229

• Recording Time: 2 hours

• Memory: 8gb

• Screen Size: 2.0″ (Diagonal)

• Weight: 3.5 oz

• Digital Zoom: 2x

• Video Resolution: 1280 x 720 pixels

• Battery Life: 2 hours
  

• Battery Option: rechargeable lithium ion battery

• Colors: 1 color

Winners

1.  Price – Vado HD $229

2.  Time – Webbie HD 5 hours

3.  Memory – Webbie HD 16GB

4.  Screen – TIE – Flip HD & Vado HD 2″ Diagonal

5.  Weight – Vado HD 3.5 oz

6.  Zoom – Webbie HD 4x

7. Resolution – Webbie HD 1440 x 1080

8.  Battery – Flip HD 2.5 hours

9.  Type Battery – Webbie HD built in rechargeable battery

10.  Color – Webbie HD 3 colors

Totals = Webbie the Winner with 6 out of 9 GOLD.

Specs alone show that the Sony Webbie is the best choice…but does that mean its still the best overall camera?

Hope you enjoyed the side by side!

Post from: Social Media Vision

Flip Ultra-HD vs Sony Webbie-HD vs Vado-HD for Video Pocket Cam War

Military Families Connect With Social Media Video TroopTube

Taking the same concept of YouTube, TroopTube is Military focused in helping military families connect and stay in touch with families who are out deployed overseas.

The Military has banned Youtube and other Social Media since May 2007 and military families were trying to find alternatives to video chat.  The ban was intended to prevent military Internet connections from being clogged with excessive bandwidth due to video clips.

TroopTube is accessible to 4 million members of the active military, National Guard, and reserves, as well as their family members.

Social Media has played a major role with soldiers in keeping up with family and friends through networks like myspace,facebook and youtube where share videos, images or stories about their daily lives.

Now the Military has a secure site to once again interact with families and friends through the use of video chat.

Website: http://www.trooptube.tv/home

Post from: Social Media Vision

Military Families Connect With Social Media Video TroopTube

Gmail New Video Chat

about

If you haven’t noticed already, check your Gmail account and you will notice at the top of your screen is a new feature called video chat.

Video chat is a plug-in you install when signed into Gmail.  In the Chat section of your Gmail, select the contact you want to call. If they have a camera icon next to their name, you can make a voice or video call to them; just click Video & more.

Playing catch up

Yahoo has launched webcam chat a long time ago http://messenger.yahoo.com/features/webcam/

Aim has launched Video IM a long time ago http://www.aim.com/help_faq/using/win/video_im.adp

It doesn’t matter really because everyone loves Google and most people are migrating over to Gtalk and with all the new people using Gtalk it only makes sense to add Video Chat.  This doesn’t come to a surprise, just look at Google Chrome, everyone wants a piece of the action.

Have fun with your Gmail Video Chat and if you don’t have a Webcam there are some promotional items on the Gmail Video Chat Link http://www.google.com/mail/help/videochat/learnmore.html

Post from: Social Media Vision

Gmail is catching up on video chat