Derek E. Baird, M.Ed.

Inc. Magazine Names Immersive Youth A Top Youth Marketing Blog

Our Immersive Youth team got some exciting news! Inc. Magazine has named us one of the Top Youth Marketing Blogs to watch in 2016! Needless to say, we are pretty excited to be in such great company with other digital youth firms like Ypulse and YouthBeat! 

The Inc article cites our Gen Z and Millennial Youthvine platform as a key differentiator from other digital youth agencies:

"What sets the company apart is Youthvine, its proprietary online community. Youthvine is a forum driven by young administrators.

It is coordinated to allow owners to communicate with next ­generation buyers. IYM's agency establishes the relationships, but Youthvine creates a unique experience to engage the new age."

Thanks to Dave Kerpen and Inc for including us on this list! And check out some of our work for a few of our clients, like Walt Disney World, Disney Yellow Shoes Creative Group and Funny or Die! And if you have a Gen Z or Millennial project you need help with, give us a shout out!

Mike Schmid Wants Kids to 'Let it Out' [INTERVIEW]

Earlier this week my interview with musician Mike Schmid was published on Ypulse.com!

Mike is a talented singer-songwriter and highly sought-after musician who has worked with some of the biggest acts in the music business.  

In addition to playing keyboards and touring with Miley Cyrus, Mike has played with the Jonas Brothers, Billy Ray Cyrus, Sheryl Crow, Kenna, Chantal Kreviazuk, Ed King, Jeffrey Steele, Van Hunt, Aly & AJ and the Corrs as well as many independent singer/songwriters, such as Connie Kim, Right the Stars and Rob Giles.

His songs have been featured on the TV shows “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Flashpoint,” “The Real World,” “All My Children,” “The Bad Girls Club,” “Felicity,” “The Black Donnellys” and others.

His new album, ‘Let it Out’ is all about expressing yourself in every possible way: dancing, dreaming, painting, singing. The album is for the kids (and kids-at-heart). It is about being yourself in every situation, a message that is resonant to children and adults alike.

• You can read the entire interview, Mike Schmid On Miley, Fame, Twitter, And Music For Kids, over on Ypulse.

• You can buy his new album for kids, 'Let it Out' on Bandcamp, CD Baby, Amazon MP3 Store and, of course, iTunes.

• Mike on Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and his website.

Call for Nominations: Ypulse Seeking 10 New Youth Advisory Board Members

Ypulse.com is excited to once again be putting out the call for new members to join the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board.

After the success of bringing together our original board with a crew of new teens and twentysomethings (see all their bios here), this year Ypulse is looking to even further expand the YAB network and broaden the scope of young voices that give Ypulse Readers an authentic glimpse into youth culture today.

For the 2010/2011 term Ypulse is opening up 10 slots to youth between the ages of 13 and 24. We're looking for diversity in age, race, geography and experience, but most importantly strong opinions about youth culture that will inform and challenge the ongoing discussion around media and marketing here on Ypulse.

We offer the YAB quarterly incentives, along with, of course, the opportunity to publish on Ypulse (building a body of published work and having your photo/bio on the site), network with other advisory board members, and the potential for college or career references and recommendations. There may also be opportunities to attend conferences or other events as "press."

The board meets on a virtual platform once a month and regularly corresponds over email to discuss editorial ideas, multimedia projects and other contributions.

To qualify as a full member and receive those aforementioned incentives, we ask members meet a few eligibility requirements (5 editorial and/or multimedia contributions per year-long term and a maximum of 3 missed meetings, unless there are extenuating circumstances). Nothing too unreasonable since we know most are students and/or working.

If you are between the ages of 13 and 24, apply here now. Or, if you know a great candidate (especially younger teens as we're looking to balance out the under 18s with the over 18s), please send them this post, and have them fill out this short application.

Deadline for the 2010/11 Youth Advisory Board applications is Friday, September 17 by 5 p.m. PST

Network With Youth Brands at the 2010 Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup

The 2010 national Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup is where today's top brand, corporate and social marketers, media professionals, educators and non-profit organizations gather to share best practices, research and latest strategies on marketing to youth with technology.

This is the event where you'll find out what leading-edge technologies youth are using today – and will be using tomorrow. You'll also get an insider's view into youth-focused tech and media startups and learn how to leverage social media, gaming, virtual worlds, mobile and more to authentically reach youth.

The Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup will be held on May 24-25 in San Francisco! You still have time to register, so come join us!

Event Program | 2010 Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup

Weekly Wrap: iPad Demographics, Geolocation Wars, Twitter + Blackbird Pie, Facebook Privacy Translated, TED TV, Nintendo DS Glucose Meter, iPad Apps for Kids & More!

Apple iPad User Analysis: Just a week after the iPad’s launch, we began to analyze the behavior of the first iPad users on the Yahoo! network. While some of the findings were expected, there were a few surprises that popped. Related: US Twitter Demographics & Stats [Yahoo! Mobile] [Barking Robot]

Facebook Set to Add Geolocation Features: Watch out Foursquare, information has leaked that Facebook is set to roll out location-based features for users and brands as soon as this month. According to Advertising Age, users could see location options any day now. [Mashable]

What is Twitter Really Up to With Blackbird Pie?: Following a bit of online buzz yesterday around embeddable Twitter quotes for online publishers, Twitter Media made it official today by unveiling a new tool dubbed 'Blackbird Pie'. [Social Media Today]

Facebook-to-English Translator: Despite the voluminous buzz, many commentators have missed the most confusing announcement of all — new Facebook jargon. So, in the interests of helping users understand what's going on, we've put together a rough Facebook-to-English translator. Think of it as a handy phrase-book that could help you navigate through the more common situations you'll find yourself in. [Electronic Freedom Foundation]

Kids Blood Glucose Meter Attaches to Nintendo DS: Every time a kid uses Didget to check his blood glucose level, it awards points that can be used to buy items and unravel new game levels within an associated game. The idea behind Didget is to encourage kids manage their diabetes by rewarding them for regular blood glucose testing. [BoingBoing]

Why Does the BBC Want to Send Its Readers Away?: The BBC aims to double the number outbound clicks from its site by 2013. That’s double the number of people sent away from the BBC site — intentionally. [Nieman Journalism Lab]

TED TV: The new initiative will allow television broadcasters around the world to air the talks for free as well as create programming around them. One of the primary goals behind the project is to extend the reach of TED’s idea-spreading mission into the developing world. [JED] 

Millennials Tech-Dependent, But Not Necessarily Tech-Savvy: One of the biggest myths about Millennials is that they are all digital natives, blogging and tweeting their way through life.  The truth is a bit more nuanced. Related: The Myth of the Digital Native [Millennial Marketing] [Barking Robot]

Teenage Homelessness on the Rise: In Minnesota, the number of 18- to 21-year-olds in shelters more than doubled in the past three years. [StarTribune.com]

Top 10 Entertainment iPad Apps for Kids: Sure, the new gadget isn’t perfect, but not to worry—techie geniuses have been up since its release, working through the kinks and quirks. Nothing left to do but the fun stuff; grab your kids and try out some of the latest entertainment apps, adapted or created for the iPad. [Kideos]

2010 Totally Wired Teacher Award: After listening to feedback from our friends in the educator community, we've made some important changes to this year's Totally Wired Teacher Award provided by Dell. Please help us spread the word to any public school teachers you are in contact with. [Ypulse]

Weekly Wrap: Facebook Social Plugins, How to Create Foursquare Events, Apple Shutters Lala, What is Facebook Saying About You, Social Metrics Tools & More!

Facebook’s New Social Plugins: 50,000+ Websites in One Week: Phase one of Facebook’s strategy for world domination: complete. Facebook announced that more than 50,000 websites have integrated Facebook’s new social plugins in just one week. The plugins are a core component of the company’s new Open Graph initiative. [Mashable]

Apple To Shut Down Lala: In a brief message that was just posted on the Lala.com website, Apple has announced that the service will be shut down on May 31st, 2010. Does this mean we can start raising our hopes for iTunes in the cloud? [TechCrunch] 

What is Facebook Saying About You?: Yee’s tool shows you exactly what data a developer would get when it asks Facebook for info via the API, such as your name, birth date, location, etc. and also any public information such as your “likes”, your photos and so on. [GigaOm]

Summer Music Watch: Jennifer Lopez Does a Cover of Donna Summer's "On The Radio" [Ryan Seacrest]

The Future Of The Web is HTML 5: Did we mention that 2010 would be a big year for HTML5? Apple and Google are pushing it big time, and now so is Microsoft. When Internet Explorer 9 comes out, it will support HTML5 and help make it more common across the Web. [TechCrunch]

Millennials: This generation is diverse, educated and plugged-in: Gio Acosta says that on any given day there are only two hours in which he is not texting, doing something on his cell phone, or on Facebook, or playing games on his laptop or PS3. Acosta is exactly what Kaiser Family Foundation recently found in a study: That to say today's young people are wired is an understatement. It’s an integral part of their daily lives. [PennLive.com] [Barking Robot]

Edelman Digital Social Metrics Tools: Last week Suzanne shared a few tools to help you find new folks to follow on Twitter to kick-off a new focus on tools and resources for online engagement. I wanted to continue this trend by introducing you to a few blog analytics tools! [Edelman Digital]

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Teen Driver Program: NHTSA has developed a multi-tiered strategy to prevent motor vehicle-related deaths and injuries among teen drivers: increasing seat belt use, implementing graduated driver licensing, reducing teens' access to alcohol, and parental responsibility. Related: Get the 'No Phone Zone' Lesson Plan [NSTSA] [Barking Robot]

Guide to Creating Foursquare Events: There are some reasonable and relatively simple ways to incorporate Foursquare and encourage audience participation at your next event. [Tradeshow Insight]

Texting Poetry Inspires Kids: Once considered a disturbance in the classroom, cell phones, texting devices and other wireless technology are being embraced by some of the very same people who used to malign them: teachers. [Record Online]

End Bullying Now: Here's the link to the Josh Shipp & Brooks Gibbs 'End Bullying Now' Teleseminar! [Barking Robot]

2010 Totally Wired Teacher Award: After listening to feedback from our friends in the educator community, we've made some important changes to this year's Totally Wired Teacher Award provided by Dell. Please help us spread the word to any public school teachers you are in contact with. [Ypulse]

Weekly Wrap: Oprah's Mobile Apps, Facebook Open Graph 101, Mobile Gaming Soars, Foursquare Marketing, Teen Texting Stats, Youth Media iPad Apps & More!

Oprah Launches Oprah Mobile Apps: The application, available for the iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm Pre and Google Android platforms, offers video clips and previews from Winfrey's talk show, ticket alerts, weekly polls, and articles and photos from Oprah.com, The Oprah Magazine and Oprah Radio.

I have no doubt that Oprah's legion of smartphone carrying fans will make this app a hit! [Venture Beat]

Publishers Guide to Facebook Open Graph: Whether we like it (pun intended) or not, we have to understand what this move means. It impacts users, publishers, competitors and, of course, Facebook itself. In this post, we summarize what Facebook announced and ponder the impact this will have on everyone. Related: Facebook Social Plugins [RWW] [Facebook Developers]

Youth Media iPad Apps to Know: With more and more magazine, publishing and TV execs exploring the potential of creating interactive, social apps for the iPad, we thought we'd point to a few of those getting an early start for our latest Ypulse Toolbox. Related: 5 amazing iPad e-books for kids  [Ypulse] [CNET]

Mobile Gaming Soars on Smartphones: Mobile gaming is more than ever a tale of two devices: feature phones and smartphones. The U.S. population playing games on regular mobile phones fell by 35% last year to 29.5 million, while the number of smartphone gamers shot up 60% to 21.4 million, according to a new comScore report. [MediaPost]

7 Quick Steps to Foursquare Marketing: Marketing using Foursquare is beneficial because although a small user base, they are loyal.  It also takes up almost no time, so the ROI can be high. Foursquare marketing is most appropriate for brick and mortar businesses (people physically walk into your store to make purchases), but anyone can be taking advantage of Foursquare. [Real Time Marketer]

Millennials Want Social Sites to Delete User Data: Debunking the oft-repeated assertion that young people don't care about privacy, new research shows that Web users between the ages of 18 and 24 are highly protective of certain information about themselves. [Online Media Daily]

Mom’s Guide to Those Facebook Changes: What do these changes mean? And what should you do if you don’t like the prospect of automatically sharing your activity with everyone you know on Facebook? Related: Facebook Safety Resources for Parents, Teachers & Teens [GigOm] [Barking Robot]

Teen Texting Stats: Anne Collier, author of the must read NetFamilyNews blog and co-founder of ConnectSafely, has a great analysis of the Pew Internet report on teen texting. [NetFamilyNews]

One iPad Per Child: Seton Hill to Give All Students iPads

Remember textbooks? Yeah. Forget about textbooks. Students at Seton Hill University are all getting iPads and access to all their textbooks on the iBook store. I’d say it’s one of the biggest changes in pedagogy since the move from the one-room schoolhouse.

Check out Seton Hill’s website. It states, in no uncertain terms, that “Beginning in the fall of 2010, all first year undergraduate students at Seton Hill will receive a 13″ MacBook laptop and an iPad.”

Can you imagine? I remember I was about to go to Clarkson University in New York back in 1993 because they were giving out laptops. But a MacBook and an iPad? That’s like getting a pony and a unicorn.

via www.crunchgear.com

Related: Announcing The 2010 Totally Wired Teacher Award Sponsored By Dell

Call for Nominations: 2010 Ypulse Mashup Totally Wired Teacher Award

2010 Ypulse Mashup Totally Wired Teacher Award on Prezi

Ypulse is teaming up once again with Dell's Edu4U community The 2010 Totally Wired Teacher Award to be presented at this year's Mashup event. The application is now LIVE so help us spread the word to teachers you think should apply. 

The Totally Wired Teacher Award is inspired by Ypulse.com founder Anastasia Goodstein’s book, Totally Wired: What Teens & Tweens Are Really Doing Online, and the challenges she observed when teachers tried to integrate technology into their public school classrooms.

The goal of the award is to recognize a teacher who has overcome these challenges and is inspiring to both students and other educators. This year Ypulse is asking applicants to upload a 60-second video tip or advice they would like to share with other educators related to integrating technology into the classroom.

Learn more about The Totally Wired Teacher Award and get all the details over on the Ypulse Mashup site!

DML 2010: Four Things Youth Marketers Can Learn About Youth & Digital Media

Today I've published a guest post over on Ypulse and shared some of my thoughts on the 2010 Digital Media & Learning Conference (DML) which was held last week at the University of California at San Diego.

The post, Four Insights for Youth Marketers from DML 2010, highlights some of the key things I think marketers can learn from the academic community when working with youth and digital media. The post also highlights some of the most current youth media research going on around the world.

Thanks to Meredith and the rest of Team Ypulse for the opportunity to share my insights from DML with the rest of the Ypulse youth marketing community.

Weekly Wrap: Slacktivism, Open Source Social Innovation, Boomers & Social Media, Helping Google Get Social, Sundance 2010 Round-Up, Texting Party in the USA, Steve Jobs' Wardrobe & More!

A Time and Place for 'Slacktivism': Slacktivism; (v.) action 4 social change w/o much effort beyond a click/text. Known causes: social media, cellphones. [Ypulse]

Baby Boomers Get Connected with Social Media: Boomers are turning to social media, where they keep up their offline social connections and make new ones. Online marketing messages that help them build on their connections—and foster other online relationships—will get their interest. [eMarketer]

Lady GaGa's Lessons for the Music Business: Underneath Gaga's haystack wigs is a case study of what it takes to succeed in the music business today. Gaga, 23 years old, has made shrewd use of new digital platforms, while still leveraging the clout of a major label, an institution deemed obsolete by many proponents of DIY culture (Thanks Ypulse!). [WSJ]

Conan O'Brien's Fate a Sign of the Times: While the "Tonight Show" ratings fell under O'Brien's tenure as a whole, ratings amongst the younger demographics were better than those of Jay Leno's "Tonight Show." According to the New York Times, the median age of "Tonight Show" viewers fell by 10 years, from 55 to 45, in O'Brien's first month alone. [Colorado Daily]

Social Media Marketing, How Pepsi Got it Right: Social media marketing campaigns are proving to be goldmines rich with customer engagement and insight that companies wouldn’t likely have otherwise. Companies like PepsiCo are going to extensive lengths to foster this type of collaboration with fans, and the payoff has been big. [Mashable]

Will Creating a SWAT Team Help Google Get Social?: As successful as Google has been with plenty of other things — including a little thing called search-related advertising — it has struck out big-time in virtually every attempt at the social side of the web. [GigaOM]

Reflections from the Sundance Film Festival: Lois Vossen, ITVS vice president and Independent Lens series producer, shares her reflections on this year’s festival, which wraps up this weekend. [Beyond the Box]

College Students Hate Email: In fact, the student joked that she only uses her email to “communicate with her boss and adults.” She uses Facebook as her preferred method of peer-to-peer communication – she has had a Facebook thread running between the three of them for three years now. [Off Campus Media]

Tweet O' the Week: Can someone please buy Steve Jobs a new outfit! The man has more money than God and Oprah! A simple button down will do!" (via Scott Nevins) [Twitter]

Americans Sending 4 Times as Many Texts as Brits:There was a turning point a couple of years ago when it was suddenly undeniable: It was either text message or be left behind. If you were paying for it by the message, you suddenly had to find a plan, because you started having more and more friends that wouldn't talk any other way. Well, we're wondering if it has finally reached that point in the U.K. - or if it's yet to come. [ReadWriteWeb]

Teen Drinking May Cause Irreversible Brain Damage: For teenagers, the effects of a drunken night out may linger long after the hangover wears off. A recent study led by neuroscientist Susan Tapert of the University of California, San Diego compared the brain scans of teens who drink heavily with the scans of teens who don't. [NPR]

Open Source Social Innovation: Last week Bill Gates entered the digital publishing world by establishing the Gates Notes - an online evolution of his now annual January letter sharing his thoughts on the progress of the issues central to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It’s interesting and symbolic that the next chapter of his life story would include an “open source” platform for sharing IP on social innovation. [Cheskin]

Study: Facebook and MySpace Enhance the Positive Relationships Kids Already Have

When the Morgan Stanley Report on Youth Media Consumption was released last summer, it unleashed a flurry of media reports on the plague of "internet addicted" youth.

Since the Morgan Stanley report, we've continued to see a steady stream of news reports on internet addiction and youth. So it wasn't too much of a surprise that last weeks release of the Kaiser Family Foundation 'Generation M' study was met with a variation on the internet addiction theme.

While there are indeed negative aspects to digital media, along with kids who spend way too much time playing video games and texting, there are also lots of young people using social and digital media in positive and inspiring ways.

As Meredith at Ypulse points out, most media outlets and parenting guru's focus solely on the negative effects of digital and social media. More often than not, the positive effects of social and digital media in the lives of tweens, teens and twentysomethings are left out of the 'youth and digtal media' conversation. I couldn't agree more.

A new study in the January issue of Developmental Psychology conducted by psychologists at the University of Virginia suggests that well-adapted youth with positive friendships will use social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to enhance the positive relationships they already have.

Researchers assessed the friendship quality and popularity of 172 13- to 14-year-olds, and then, eight years later, "friended" the study participants on their Facebook and MySpace pages to examine their interactions and friendship quality in those domains.

The entire report is locked up behind a pay wall (but well worth the 11 bucks), but here are some of the key findings:

• The research team found that the youths who were better adjusted in their early teens were more likely to use social media in their early 20s, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or parental income, and that, overall, the patterns of friendship quality and behavioral adjustment as early teens continued into early adulthood;

• The interactions young adults are having on their Facebook and MySpace pages are more similar to than different from the interactions they have in their face-to-face relationships;

• Parents of well-adjusted teens may have little to worry about regarding the way their children behave when using social media. It's likely to be similar positive behavior;

• 86% of the youth in the study used the social media sites like Facebook, MySpace or Twitter, which parallels the national average;

• Use of Facebook and MySpace is really pervasive among this age group, so it's understandable that young people would want to be connected with their peers in this way; it's an extension of the relationships they already share;

• Parents should try to stay involved with their children and make an attempt to understand their online world in the same way they would want to understand any other aspect of their lives.

2010 Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup Registration Now Open!

The registration is now officially open for the 2010 Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup in San Francisco!

The Ypulse Mashup is being held May 24-25 at the Hotel Nikko in SF where for the fourth year running it will bring together the top brand, corporate and social marketers, media professionals, educators and non-profit organizations to share best practices, research and latest strategies on marketing to youth with technology.

For more information on the event as well as sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities, go to the Mashup site.

Related: Ruminations on the 2009 Ypulse Mashup Boston

Weekly Wrap: BBC Digital Revolution, Creating Word of Mouth Buzz, 2010 Online Community Predictions, Perpetual Beta, Robots Attack & More!

5 Triggers for Creating Online Word of Mouth: Word of Mouth is clearly one of the fastest growing sectors in marketing. PQ Media’s recent study has it growing 14.2% in 2008 to $1.54B and expects it to reach $3B by 2013.

Powering that growth are social technologies that have made it increasingly easier for individuals to grow their sphere of influence and quickly spread content to their expanded social networks online. [WOMMA]

BBC Digital Revolution: Digital Revolution (working title) is an open source documentary, due for transmission on BBC Two in 2010, that will take stock of 20 years of change brought about by the World Wide Web. Sorta Related: Oprah's Film Club. [BBC] [Barking Robot]

13 Year Old Runs Up 22K Cell Phone Bill: A father is hoping his cell-phone service provider will cut him a break after receiving a bill for nearly $22,000 in charges made by his teenage son. [KTLA]

Streaming Will Never Stop Downloading: Far from being a cure for the industry's woes, substituting streams for downloads wastes bandwidth, reduces privacy and slows innovation. [Guardian UK]

Listen Without Prejudice: Dan Coates from Ypluse.com shares how to use the power of music to connect youth with the emotions that they feel as they discover themselves and the world around them. Also Related: For Gen Y, Music is Oxygen. [MediaPost: Engage Gen Y] [Barking Robot]

2010 Community Management Predictions: What will online communities look like in 2010? What will community managers be talking about? What legal changes are bubbling away? We asked some fantastic community managers for their 2010 predictions, and if their thinking comes true, 2010 is going to be a very exciting year. [Fresh Networks]

Beware the Youth--They May Think Your Marketing is 'Evil': The youth today is savvy; intelligent; and importantly, powerful. Powerful? Yes. Looking at demographics; purchasing power; and the extent of influence to set trends, this is a group to be admired; respected (yes, they ain’t no fools); and targeted intelligently. [MediaUpdate]

Facebook is Here to Stay: Facebook is not only the overwhelming favorite social networking site (SNS) among college students; it may rapidly become the only SNS that matters, according to research by Anderson Analytics. [Yahoo! News]

Perpetual Beta | The Communications Pro of the Future: The Communications pro of the future must be a master of three important disciplines: Radical Listening, Social Influence, and Perpetual Beta. Within each are new practical skills that will define the true PR master – the next generation trusted advisor. [Digital Influence Project]

Unknown Filmmaker Gets $30m for Robot Movie: Fede Alvarez, an unknown filmmaker from Uruguay, has been given $30m by Hollywood studio bosses - to turn his $500 YouTube video of a giant robot invasion into a movie. [NewsLite]

Augmented Reality Makes Money: Augmented reality start-up AcrossAir, which makes apps that help you find nearby subway stops and restaurants, turned profitable last month and is launching a bar finder this week. Also Related: Augmented reality glasses have been developed, projecting real-time language translation directly into people's eyes, Terminator style. [Venture Beat] [Brand Republic]

Weekly Wrap: Shoppers Hit Social Networks, Future of TV, John Mayer & Internet Rule 17, InStyle Augmented Reality Issue, Entertainment Subscriptions Hold Up & More!

Mobile Will Become the Hub of Multichannel Consumer Relationship: Marketers seeking to sprint out of the recession need to become multichannel-friendly and completely consumer-focused, and get over themselves.

The need to construct data-rich profiles of customers, personalize responses to their needs and smartly play in their social, mobile digital sandbox are themes that resonated in the opening-day keynote addresses and discussions at Forrester Research's annual Consumer Forum in Chicago Tuesday. [MediaPost]

Making the Connection Between Social and Mobile: A recent study by eMarketer predicts the number of mobile users accessing social networks from their mobile devices will reach 607.5 million worldwide by 2013, representing 43% of global mobile Internet users. In the US, mobile users accessing social networks will total 56.2 million by 2013, accounting for 45% of the mobile Internet user population. [VisInsights]

Holiday Web Shoppers Hit Social Networks: Sixty percent of consumers who plan to use social media in their holiday shopping will be looking for discounts, coupons and sales, according to Deloitte, while just over one-half will research gift ideas and check out friends’ and family members’ wish lists. [eMarketer]

InStyle Tries Augmented Reality Too: Fresh off the heals of the Esquire augmented reality experiment, InStyle Magazine has decided to also give it a go. Can augmented reality save traditional publishing? Doubtful, but it sure is fun! [Fishbowl NY]

Despite Economy, Entertainment Subscriptions Hold Up: While fewer Americans subscribe to newspapers and magazines, the subscription model continues to either maintain popularity or grow in areas including television, music, games and mobile services, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group. [Digital Media Wire]

Future is TV-shaped, says Intel: By 2015 more than 12 billion devices will be capable of connecting to 500 billion hours of TV and video content, says chip giant Intel. It said its vision of TV everywhere will be more personal, social, ubiquitous and informative. [BBC]

Sundance Announces 2010 New Frontier Artists: A fully immersive media lounge environment will present a collection of digital art, film screenings, multimedia performances, site-specific installations and video presentations. [The Wrap]

Gossip Girl: A Real NYU Student Grades This Season: This season on "Gossip Girl," Blair, Vanessa, and Dan began their college careers at New York University. But from the very moment Queen Waldorf stepped into her dorm room, something felt a little off. As a seasoned (and current) student of school, I like to think that I know a little more about NYU than the TV producer. So let's review the truth behind the gossip. [Yahoo! TV]

Twitter, John Mayer & The Importance Of Internet Rule 17:  On my Facebook wall this week, a friend posted what, in my opinion, was probably the most pertinent album review I’ve ever read. The final line: Merely by existing, “Battle Studies” violates Internet Rule 17: Never let your Twitter account be more interesting than you are. [Ypulse.com]