Video Post: It's a Blog Eat Blog World

Traditional journalists often criticize bloggers for plagiarizing content from actual news outlets, but that doesn't mean the "old" media isn't immune from taking liberties with the work of others. In fact, cooking magazine Cook Source has been raked over the coals recently for publishing a blog post without the blogger's permission. I look into the controversy and its impact on today's video post.

Making Sense of a Manic Monday

Whenever Facebook unveils a new feature, you can be sure everyone will take notice.

If Google launches a new service, it's going to dominate headlines.

When Apple announces any updates, a frenzy hits the news and blogosphere.

But what about when all three online giants make announcements on the same day? Besides being inundated with updates in my RSS feed, I was left struggling to decide which one to cover in today's post.

So instead of prioritizing, I'll give a brief rundown of what all three companies announced on Monday.

Thinking outside of the (in)box.

Facebook unveiled a revamped version of their messaging system. While rumors flew that this was designed to compete with Gmail, Facebook claims this new messaging system is not an email killer.

The new messaging focuses on being a social inbox with seamless messaging and a conversation history. Users will also receive an @facebook.com address based on their username. Other features include off-site emailing, compatibility with other systems, and integration with SMS and mobile Web apps, all of which will take place on this new message platform.

Turning up the location-based heat.

Google is once again venturing further into the location-based arena with Monday's release of Hotpot, a Yelp-style recommendation engine. Hotpot takes all of their existing Google Places features like reviews and ratings with a friendlier user interface. Hotpot allows users to link and recommend services directly from their account, as opposed to aggregating the data from outside services like Yelp or Gowalla.

Beatles and iTunes come together.

After years of going back and forth, the families of the Beatles have finally agreed to sell the back catalog of songs to iTunes. Rumors had been swirling that the Beatles would finally be landing on the music service, and those rumors were proven true with Apple's announcement Monday. And if you go to iTunes, you'll notice that Beatlemania has taken over iTunes both musically and visually.

So as you can see, it was a very busy day for anyone covering the latest tech and social media news. Hopefully, this gives sheds some light on a very busy Monday.

Video Production Internship

It’s official! Axiom Productions, the video department of Axiom Marketing Communications, is looking for a new video production intern. With the explosive growth of online video, now more than ever we are in need of new talent to help out with the video production process from start to finish.

Responsibilities

The video production internship will encompass all components that go into a professionally produced video. From initial concept creation to on-set directing, this internship offers a variety of opportunities for the up-and-coming video pro. Not only will the intern help produce and edit client works, the video production intern will spearhead the Daily Axiom Vlogs you see here on a weekly basis.

Qualifications

• Must be a college graduate with a degree in mass communication, video production, broadcast journalism, or related field

• Must have experience with video production editing software, specifically Final Cut Pro

• Must be able to multitask and coordinate several video projects simultaneously

• Must be detail oriented and have the ability to work both independently and in a team environment

How to Apply
If you think you’ve got what it takes and are interested in joining the Axiom Productions team, send an email to Creative Director Dave Sniadak with a cover letter, resume and three samples that highlight your video production/editing experience.

To see some of our award winning video work, feel free to check out our YouTube and Vimeo pages. Questions? Let us know below, or find us on Twitter.

The Path of Least Resistance

The big social media news today revolves around the launch of Path, a startup formed and funded by a bunch of big name players in the online development community. But what's most interesting about this new addition to the social sphere is how un-social it really is.

On its surface, Path is a photo-sharing service. The catch, however, is that you are limited to sharing with 50 friends...maximum.

Obviously, this is a very different approach than Twitter, Facebook or Flickr, where there's that race to build up followers and friends. This anti-social network isn't necessarily a deterrent, because I'm sure there is a market for a more personal photo sharing service like this.

And while limiting network size is refreshing, there are a couple of potential obstacles in the path that Path has taken.

1. Photo-sharing standards thrown out the window.

• No ability to comment or like any photos on Path.
• No editing ability or filters, a major draw for current popular photo-sharing apps like Instagram.
• Limited tagging allowed. With Path, there are three categories to tag with each picture (People, Place, and Thing), but you can only create one tag for each category.

2.  Doesn't play nice with others.

• No external social media integration, which means you can't share Path photos to Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Currently only available on iPhone. Sorry Android fans, you'll have to wait a while before trying it out (on your phone at least).

3. Exclusivity is the name of Path's game.

• You can't view someone's Path profile unless you are friends with them.
• You can invite people who aren't on Path to join, but email notification settings can't be adjusting outside of "muting" a friend whose updates you don't want to see.

Path has dubbed itself as "The Personal Network" for your close friends and family. It's good for those of us who share lots of inside jokes or you-should-have-been-there pictures on larger social networks like Facebook and Twitter and are afraid of confusing the rest of our friends/followers with pictures that aren't meant for them.

So yes, Path's limited network can be difficult to wrap your head around, especially if you're used to Twitter and Facebook. But if you're looking for this kind of anti-social network, Path may be worth a look.

However, given the lack of features and integration, I personally won't be taking this particular Path.

Facebook Friday: Gloves Are Off Against Google

I've touched on the Google-Facebook digital arms race before, mostly in reference to the constant changes both companies were making updates to gain as much ground as possible in the online space.

The key phrase there is "arms race" because it was purely a competition for innovation. We didn't see Facebook and Google taking direct shots at each other publicly, instead focusing their energies on new features and products. But that seemingly-good natured race is over, given the feud that's been boiling over the past week.

For those who missed it (or are just confused by the barrage of headlines), here's basically what happened:

• Nov. 4: Google changed their terms of service to prevent Facebook from importing Google contact data without allowing Google to do the same with Facebook's data.

• Nov. 8: Facebook hacked their way around Google's data protection effort, letting them keep their access to Google's data without giving up their own.

• Nov. 9: Google takes a shot at Facebook, in response to Facebook's what's-mine-is-mine-and-what's-yours-is-also-mine approach to data access, saying how "disappointed" they were that Facebook would do something like that.

• Nov. 9: A Facebook engineer shoots back at Google, stating that "[data] openness doesn’t mean being open when it's convenient for you." He went on to claim that Google has flip-flopped on data openness in the past, while Facebook has remained consistent with their policy.

• Nov 10: Google retaliates by sending users trying to import their Google data to Facebook to a jump page warning that Facebook is guilty of data-trapping: 

You have been directed to this page from a site that doesn't allow you to re-export your data to other services, essentially locking up your contact data about your friends. So once you import your data there, you won't be able to get it out.

So there it is, the feud between the two biggest online titans revolves around data portability. And while most people are pondering who won this fight, it's pretty much a split decision. Google has seemingly won the moral high ground, painting Facebook as data-hogging bullies. However, the fact is that Facebook is still the one with all of the data.

That being said, it's hard to tell whether this is a win-win or a lose-lose situation for these two digital giants. What we do know, however, is that their battle for Internet supremacy got a lot more personal.