Good morning, it’s Thursday, April 22, 2010, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

At its third annual f8 developer’s conference, Facebook unveiled new tools to help spread its influence across the web by allowing third party sites to customize what users see based on their Facebook profiles the tastes of their friends. Content sites are already lining up to embed Social Plugins on their sites to allow visitors to share what they “Like” on their profiles to recommend the content to others. Meanwhile, recommendation tools will allow first-time visitors to sites such as CNN.com to see what their friends have been reading and liking without having to log into the site. Another example CEO Mark Zuckerberg threw out was that new visitors to Pandora could listen to songs of bands friend have “liked.” It’s not clear whether or not Facebook will face a backlash from users who will suddenly see their information shared so broadly. But the volume of information and insights to be learned from the information could be staggering. Facebook now has 400 million users who share 25 billion “things” a month, according to Zuckerberg, and that the site is growing faster than it ever has before.
 

 
The following content sites announced plans to embrace Facebook‘s new platform:

• CNN.com and CNNMoney.com launched site-wide integrations including offering a unified activity feed, the ability to recommend articles, videos, blog postings and iReports as well as the ability to sort NewsPulse-filtered content by how many times it’s been shared via Facebook Connect
• USA Network will integrate Social Plugins and introduce a new Character Arcade feature allowing fans to challenge their friends using Facebook Connect
• ESPN.com will utilize the Social Plugins to power applications such as “fLike” within the revamped 2010 NFL DraftCast product. Facebook users will be able to mark the picks of players they like as they are updated across the top of the page, as well as teams they like under the DraftTicker. Fans will also be able to update their status about the draft
• NHL.com is utilizing 5 Social Plugins including the Like Button, Recommendations and Activity feeds. The NHL says playoffs ratings and digital usage numbers are way up this postseason, with video starts up 140%, mobile page views up 185% during the first 6 days of last year’s postseason and Game Center Live playoff subs up 24%
• Dailymotion will add the “Like” button and utilize Facebook’s Open Graph to feature the platform’s most popular videos using a new recommendation engine; Users logged into Facebook will have the ability to see which videos their friends have liked both on the Dailymotion player page and homepage
• Latin America publisher Terra, the first portal to implement Facebook Connect in Brazil, will embed “Like” buttons initially on the Terra Listas news ranking site with deployments coming soon on Terra News, Terra TV and Terra Sonora

 
myLifetime.com will post new video and photo content documenting the progress of each Project Runway finalist heading into tonight’s season finale. Video streaming to the Project Runway site, a Webby Award nominee for best TV website, is up by 38% from last season according to the network.
 

 
Netflix reported positive earnings during Q1 with revenues of $493 million (up 25% y/y) as the company added a record 1.7 million subscribers to close the quarter with nearly 14 million customers. Netflix says 55% of its users tried its Watch Instantly streaming service during the quarter, up from 36% a year ago.
 
Dave Morgan’s Simulmedia has closed on an $8 million round of Series B financing led by Time Warner Investments with participation from existing investors Avalon Ventures and Union Square Ventures. Simulmedia is a marketing company helping TV networks improve program ratings by using set-top data to improve the effectiveness of their tune-in spots.
 

 
The Travel Ad Network announced that spa media, marketing, and gifting company SpaFinder has joined its portfolio of more than 300 travel websites. TAN will represent inventory on its website, e-newsletter and blog.
 

 
Enterprise cloud computing company Salesforce.com has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Jigsaw for $142 million in cash with additional incentives. San Mateo, CA-based Jigsaw specializes in crowd-sourced data services in the cloud allowing community members to share common contact data found on a business card.
 
NATPE set a date for its 4th annual LATV Fest, to be held this year July 12-15 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
 

 
Online revenue for local TV stations is growing at a faster rate than newspaper site revenues, according to a new report from Borrell Associates (viewable here at the TVB site.) Station site revenue totaled $1.15 billion last year, an increase of 10% from 2008, as TV sites captured an 8.7% market share of local online ad spending. Borrell is forecasting a 21% uptick for TV web revenues this year and a 13% jump in 2011. The average TV site had $711,000 in online sales last year. Small-market stations generally made about $400,000, while large-market stations averaged $1.4 million. Growth was uneven across markets, as per-site revenues for stations in Top 20 markets were virtually flat while smaller markets enjoyed better growth. Also, best-practice web sites in individual markets generate up to 12 times more revenue than average, helping to boost individual market rankings.
 
Average Per-Station TV Web Revenues By Market Size, 2007-2009
Market Size    2007          2008          2009
1-20          $825,279 $1,365,505 $1,374,629
21-50        $726,507    $702,655    $794,309
51-100      $317,175    $425,360    $491,074
101-210    $203,162    $266,663    $302,664
Source: Borrell Associates
 
TV Sites’ Share of Local Online Advertising by Market Size, 2009
Market Size Avg. Share of Local    Top Share of
                      Online Advertising  Local Online Adv.
1-20                          0.5%                    3.1%
21-50                        0.8%                    4.9%
51-100                      1.2%                   12.5%
101-210                    1.5%                   18.0%
Source  Borrell Associates Inc. n=492
 

 
The newest Android phone to hit the market will be the Droid Incredible from HTC, launching April 29 for $199 after a $100 rebate and a two-year contract with Verizon. It’s organized around HTC’s “Sense” user interface and features a robust 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor, a 3.7 inch 480×800 pixel screen and an 8 (yes, 8) megapixel camera.
 
Samsung is launching its new “Samsung Reality” handset today also on Verizon Wireless, a phone with a horizontal slide-out QWERTY keyboard that features “TouchWiz” customizable widgets that allow users to remake their start-up screen with social networking and photo/video sharing tools. The phone is retailing for $79.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a 2-year commitment with Verizon.
 
The New York Times Co.’s About Group launched its first iPhone/iPod Touch app for its Calorie Count website. The ad-supported diet tool allows users to track and manage weight as well as search and log nutritional data, popular exercises and healthy recipes.
 
The new Slapstick application utilizes PixFusion’s photo-personalized video technology to enable users to personalize their photo to resemble their favorite pro athletes. The NHL’s Washington Capitals is the first team to utilize the app.
 

 
Syfy Digital has upped Shara Zoll to VP/Operations, Syfy.com. She will continue to report to Craig Engler, SVP/GM, Syfy Digital in New York.
 
San Diego-based Platformic has hired Greg Gossler as Director of Business Development. He is charged with developing and executing the sales strategy for the software platform provider.
 
Online pop culture publisher BuzzMedia hired former AOL News Editor-in-Chief Mike Porath as SVP/Programming, a new position, and MSN Wonderwall founder Alex Blagg as Executive Editor of Celebuzz. Both positions are based in Los Angeles.
 
Marcus Geduld has been named Senior Flash Developer at New York-based digital media services company Zeitbyte. Joining Marcus is Jules Levitt as Sales Manager and Anthony Nguyen as Lead Designer.
 
Media & Entertainment Strategy Advisors announced that Paul W. Noglows has joined the New York-based media and entertainment merchant bank as Managing Director.
 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM THE ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES ™

 
More on Facebook‘s ambitious plans and the pace at which the site’s influence has spread around the web:  In the words of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook is “building a web where the default is social.” Facebook Connect, which allows users to register and connect to 3rd party sites using their Facebook profiles, has been a major driver of usage and user gains for the sites who have embraced it. The CEO of FriendFeed, recently acquired by Facebook, says new users who signed up via Facebook Connect were 4 more likely to become active users. Now think of the new Social plugins as Connect on steroids. The redesigned Graph API will allow developers not only see connections between people but connections groups have around shared interests. Gathering such data will give publishers (and – soon – advertisers) the opportunity to direct content and marketing messages to groups of users who have demonstrated a proclivity toward something, whether it’s a genre of programming, a political point-of-view or a certain look or style. As it drifts toward this social universe, the whole world wide web becomes an interconnected recommendation engine with Facebook at the center of these information transactions. Impressive? No doubt. Scary? You Bet. The key for Facebook going forward will be to communicate to its users exactly what it is doing with the information. Note to Mark: Don’t wait for the lawsuits to unfurl to practice full disclosure.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Later – Wayne
Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
[email protected]
04.22.10

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JOB OPENING: VP, STANDARDS & PRACTICES/MTV Networks/NY: 8+yrs Oversee stdrds policies, Supv apps of TV content ratings systems, Strng exp in media ind. High level of responsibility/accountability Apply www.mtvnetworkscareers.com (4/29)

JOB OPENING: VP SERIES DEVELOPMENT/VH1/NYC: 10 + yrs exp TV Prod &/or Dev; Strong understanding of the VH1 brand, programming and creative reinvention req.; EOE/M/F/D/AAP www.mtvnetworkscareers.com (4/29)

JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR, DEVELOPMENT/MTV/NYC: 5+ yrs exp writing/dev short form content; 2+ yrs branded entertainment in ad agency, network, cable co. EOE/M/F/D/AAP www.mtvnetworkscareers.com (4/29)

JOB OPENING: SEGMENT PRODUCER/MTV News/NYC: 2+ yrs exp Entertainment TV; 1+ yrs exp writing & producing news segments. Exceptional writing skills a must. EOE/M/F/D/AAP www.mtvnetworkscareers.com (4/29)

JOB OPENING: ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE/Hauppauge, NY: Seeks AE for local ad sales.1-3 yrs ad sales exp. pref cable TV, radio, e-media adv.  Valid NY DL.  See full posting and apply to www.cablevision.jobs req 11119BR (4/29)

JOB OPENING: ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE/Oakland, NJ:  Seeks AE for local ad sales.1-3 yrs ad sales exp. pref cable TV, radio, e-media adv.  Valid NJ DL.  See full posting and apply to www.cablevision.jobs req 10909BR (4/29)

JOB OPENING: CREATIVE DIRECTOR/2C Media/Miami: Dvlp promo campaigns for major nat’l networks. Strong writing, conceptual, editorial, & 3-5 yrs cable, studio, or ntwrk promo exp. Co info @ 2cmedia.com. Contact: [email protected] (4/29)

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JOB OPENING: DIR, PRODUCTION/Oxygen/NYC: Serve as the brand-mngr & executive producer on all current shows, acting as a liaison to the marketing, publicity, ad sales, & digital teams. Please apply – nbcunicareers.com; #1170171 (4/27)

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SUMMER INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: Trylon SMR ( www.trylonSMR.com), a NYC PR agency, is seeking a Summer intern that has familiarity with the media industry and tech sector, and strong writing and internet skills. [email protected] (4/28)

SUMMER INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY:  PROD INTERN/NAHB PROD GROUP: Seeks orgnzd, resourceful & confident Intern- looking for hands on training at busy prod group. Good PC skills & tech knwldg +. Min 12 hr/wk. Cover-letter & resume: [email protected] (4/24)

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SITUATION WANTED: DIGITAL JOURNALIST (NY): Extensively trained by NBC News to shoot in HD & SD, edit in FCP & Avid, write, track and report. Hardworking and eager to be part of a great news organization. [email protected] (4/24)

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