Radio Free Feedback is our musical experiment, featuring musician friends, up-and-comers we can help highlight, observed acts of musical lunacy and more. We will occasionally feature musicians in our offices as well as out on the road, sometimes themed and sometimes just jamming. If you’re interested in being featured or hanging out, contact us through the info at the bottom of the page or click here.

Radio Free Feedback 1: Featuring Dave Tinney!

Thanks to everyone who tuned in live and in-person! The recorded show is in full below, check out and fan our Facebook Page for video clips, photos and more:

-Dean (@dbrowell) on behalf of the Feedback crew, old and new

Here are my picks of the week:

10 Billion Tweets:

Late Thursday night, Twitter hit, and has now surpassed, 10 billion tweets. That’s a lot of Tweets. Other milestones: Twitter broke 1 billion Tweets in November 2008 and 5 billion Tweets just four months ago.

Social Media In Dollars & Cents:

Staying on the topic of billions, my second pick of the week is how much different social media networks are worth. According to SharesPost, Facebook is worth $11.5 billion, Twitter is worth $1.4 billion, and LinkedIn is worth $1.3 billion.

YouTube Captions:

YouTube automatic captions are now available on ALL English language videos. Google’s translation technology also makes it possible to translate captions into over 50 different languages. Google noted that there will be over 700 million people who will suffer from hearing impairment by 2015, so this will be a great tool to help address those needs.

ShareThis Gets More Social:

Share buttons are getting more social. This week, one of the largest sharing button networks, ShareThis, has introduced Share Stream, a site that shows you what your Facebook friends are sharing across the web. Soon, your Twitter followers will be included in this new share stream as well.

Facebook: Larger Photos:

Facebook has officially launched resized photos. Facebook has increased photo image size by almost 20%, giving users a higher quality photo. As AllFacebook mentioned, “While on the surface this isn’t a big deal, Facebook runs the largest online photo storage product which means this is a relatively substantial technical feat.”

-Anna (@alucas9)

Often people ask: “But Feedback, how come you don’t trumpet every new client or have a giant client list clearly displayed on your website?”

The answer is simple: It’s not about us. We generally don’t publicize our clients because often we are working behind the scenes. We have all sorts of relationships with agencies, firms, consultants and even a few direct clients. And while with some we are incredibly visible, in others we’re not. In our company’s life so far we have worked with a roster of national and international clients as well as firms of all shapes and sizes (located in major cities around the US as well as many here in our home state of Virginia). We have taken on many different industries such as healthcare, automotive, education, craft brewing, technology, incredibly localized communities and more. We’re able to share some names and will if you’re interested, just drop us an email (contact at feedbackagency.com) or call (804-893-3437). But for now we’ll just be us engaging with all of you on here  thankyouverymuch.

All that said, every now and then we’ll tease out some good vibes as we grow. The great thing is, this wasn’t even the only good news this week. We’d like to thank all of our amazing partners, friends, fans and followers as well as warn them: Hold onto your hats, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

-Dean (@dbrowell) on behalf of the Feedback crew, old and new

Do you have time to search the web everyday to find the newest and coolest social media tools? If the answer is no, then you have come to the right place. (& if the answer is yes, leave a comment with your favorites). I have searched the World Wide Web for social media information all week, and stumbled upon a few favorites along the way.

Here are my picks of the week:

Facebook Pages & Google Real-Time Results:

This week, Google has started including Facebook Pages in their real time search results. Google announced this via status update on Wednesday, stating that “Public status updates from Facebook Pages now in real-time search: http://bit.ly/6YpCdy More about Facebook Pages: http://bit.ly/aYnAxf 04:10 PM Feb 24, 2010.” As of now, Facebook’s public user updates are not displayed on Google, but Twitter and MySpace updates are.

Rickroll Removed—and Brought Back:

This week, the original Rickroll video was removed…and then brought back. Earlier this week, the original “rickroll” video was removed from YouTube due to a copyright violation. The removal of the ever so popular (with over 30 million views) video of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” caused a bit of a stir over the internet. But not to worry…it’s back! It was mistakenly flagged by someone and is back of for your viewing pleasure…or displeasure

Facebook Patents the News Feed:

Facebook has patented the news feed! The patent, which was awarded to Facebook on Tuesday, gives Facebook executives the rights to “dynamically providing a news feed about a user of a social network.” This could have serious implications for other social networks. Read more about the patent and what it could mean in this ReadWriteWeb article.

What Not to Do with a Twitter Account:

If you’re going to invite people to follow your company on Twitter, you might want to make sure you give them the right Twitter handle. As Mashable reported this week, Denny’s Restaurant Chain made this mistake on their eat-in menus by inviting customers to “Join the Conversation” and follow @dennys on Twitter. The problem? @Dennys is the Twitter handle of a Taiwanese Twitterer named Dennys Hsieh, not Denny’s official restaurant account. Oops!

Who’s Using Social Media?

Well the largest 100 of Fortune 500 companies are. As Mashable reported, a new study completed by PR firm Burson-Marsteller, found that 79% of Fortune 100 companies use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or corporate blogs. 2/3rds have a Twitter account, over 50% have a Facebook fan page, 50% have a YouTube channel, and 33% have a corporate blog. The article also stated that There are a bunch of other interesting stats in the study — including proof that consumers actually do like to engage with companies via social media, making all those channels worthwhile.

-Anna (@alucas9)

Every generation might arguably exclaim that technology in some way defines them, especially in eras following massive booms in industrial progress (cars, planes, plastics, microchips). What we need to be careful of is stopping the introspection there (and to be fair, it’s the rest of this article, from , “It’s Not Just About Gadgets” onward that does better service). It’s how Millennials USE technology and how it affects their perceptions and behavior that truly defines the unique traits. It’s not as though other generations aren’t utilizing the same technology. (Arguably, “technology” shouldn’t be the unique trait of a generation at age 25 unless that kid was born in a vat and their parents weren’t.) I know 30 and 40-something executives that are as much a slave to their Blackberry and iPhone as any teen is to their texting phone.

Also, be careful to note they say the Millennial is anyone born after 1980- that’s a huge 30-year swath… I’d say 1980-2000 and be cautious enough to note that there are some radically different concepts of authenticity and privacy among those being brought up now vs. those 30 years old right now.

-Dean (@dbrowell)

Robble Robble:

One of the funniest critiques of the Foursquare “check in” craze we’ve seen… As people Tweet that they are at a location, PleaseRobMe.com aggregates those check-ins to make the point that you just admitted you aren’t home.

Facebook #2 in Visits, #1 in Attention/Engagement:

Maybe this whole social media thing is just a fad… But probably not. Looks like it’s truly becoming what the web just is in some ways. Facebook just overtook Yahoo for the #2 spot for website with the most visits and if you’re looking at pure attention and engagement it’s already #1.

PR vs. Social Media:

Kevin Smith’s embarrassing Southwest Airline problem turned into a he-said-she-said that proved doubly embarrassing for the airline who not only erred in their original judgement against Smith, but in multiple attempts to clean up their mess online. It exemplified the power of the Tweet and the helplessness of PR spin when up against social media. Need a better example? Richmond has it’s own going on right now.

Simple Tourism on Foursquare:

There’s a great article on how destinations can use Foursquare to market themselves. I love the one about helping visitors fulfill their “bucket lists” in particular.

BONUS - Facebook | New Privacy Controls for Your Applications:

Facebook might be a bit of a mess right now, but at least we can keep our friend’s Farmville Zombie Mafia Ninja’s out more effectively.

Don’t have any sympathy for Anna, she’s where the photo above was taken. We’re busy putting her mouse in a jello mold.

- Dean (@dbrowell) &  Jeff (@ideaman)

for Anna (@alucas9)

The big three in question, Apple, Google and Facebook, all had relatively good news to share (iPad, Buzz, and a new look for Home, respectively), reasons to be happy and new products and features. There was no Toyota-like tail to tuck between legs and no reason to think that by traipsing out in front of the crowd that there would be anything but cheers. That is, unless they had actually asked anyone outside their company ahead of time about what they were about to do. Maybe then they’d have a glimpse of the near-future.

Underestimating Your Undercut
The reception to Apple’s iPad has oscillated between wide-eyed wonder and, “you’ve got to be kidding” with a dash of, “looks cool but I’m reasonably sure that’s for old men.” But this story is not about the iPad itself. In fact while you still get some mainstream media Twittering on the tablet, the real critique is going on about the Flash debate. Both onstage and off Apple has been sharpening its sword to go after the Adobe Flash issue, swearing by the constant crashes and closed system it presents, hoping to migrate the universe (or at least Apple-controlled space) toward a Flashless existence. However by trying to point at that pot the kettle can also be seen and the closed-system of Apple’s world, combined with their want to control everything has been on a different stage for all to see. It’s been the theater equivalent of the curtain opening too early and seeing the director strangling a dramaturge.

What has secrecy wrought?
In an era where people try and keep things tight-lipped, the iPad and Buzz were no real secret. We knew Apple and Google ether were or would drop something like these things at some point, but they obviously maintained a vice-like grip on details. Too bad, because once we got past the, “okay, that’s what we thought” stage, the internets converged on what was actually presented and pounced like a pack of wolves.

The death of the Beta Test?
And when Google reached a swollen, wounded hand up from the fray, what was so astonishing was that a company that should completely know better, that had usually teased out features to anyone who would have them via Labs for years, had been eaten completely by the crowd. How bad was it? A company like Google was having to make face-saving changes to Buzz before the ink had dried on their own press releases. There were performance problems, privacy flaws (serious ones) and more.

Look, when there’s even a reality show where the prize is to be a game tester (no matter how sad that concept is) there is at least a transparency now about the product development process that can and should include some amount of user beating before things go to market. Again, it’s not like these products were secret to begin with.

Great News! We All Use Your Service & Know How Bad It Performs
Which brings us to Facebook. Seriously. By now you should know better than anyone. Never mind that they eased in their new look complete with some very bizarre choices (Video is hidden under photo? Huh?), what was happening under the hood was even more disturbing. Debuting before the Super Bowl meant that the News Feed issues that accompanied the big game could be masked by the high-volume of users (right?) – but when the News Feed problems persisted into the week after, we all smelled an issue. Worse still, it looks like Facebook has been trying to monkey with the problem by adding a strangely draconian solution, the, “oh by-the-way-we-haven’t-been-showing-you-your-friends” revelation that most of us have been limited to seeing only a fraction of our friends in the News Feed lately – and Facebook picked which friends. Meanwhile administrators have noticed that some Pages have gone unpublished and then suddenly published again and we have all witnessed strange slowdowns in updates, views and communications with other services. Really Facebook? I know you’re big now, but this is an awfully systemic bunch of bugs. You never gave us a FailWhale to look at, you just make us think you’re working right until we notice things aren’t updating. At least I know when to leave Twitter alone.

Honorable Mention
Speaking of Twitter, you’re on notice too for falling down so much. What is it, 2008 again? Please go make some revenue so we can have more dependable servers and can see “Old Posts” again.

Solution?
I can’t believe this is something we should have to tell some of the most respected (and social) companies in the world but: LISTEN. Roll it out, stress test it. Privacy test it. Don’t just let mock-ups speak for you, let your product roll around in some hands. In some of these cases we’re talking about some very obvious issues: philosophies of privacy, basic volume-handling, old arguments with renewed ammo. We know the excuses. “But it crashes Safari!” “But it’s exactly what we need!” “But we’re free so don’t complain!” Screamed with all the rigor of Gollum’s, “It burns usss!” We appreciate you’re not thrilled with our response, but don’t pat us on the head, just listen and change.

-Dean (@dbrowell)

Foursquare & Zagat:

Last week, Foursquare teamed up with Bravo! TV. This week, they’ve partnered with Zagat (a restaurant review and rating website). Users can now follow Zagat on Foursquare, and get insider tips and reviews on restaurants located in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston. There’s also a Zagat foodie badge that can be earned by dining at Zagat rated restaurants.

Tweet Growth:

A month ago, we saw stats that Twitter wasn’t growing. This week, there’s new stats out saying it is. The newest study, done by Pingdom, looked at the amount of Tweets being generated, and took into account all Tweets, including those form third-party Twitter applications. There was the key findings of the study (via Pingdom):

• December 2009 was the first month Twitter processed more than one billion tweets (with 1.036 billion tweets)
• January 2010 had 16 times as many tweets as January 2009
• The activity on Twitter has doubled since August 2009
• January 2010 saw more tweets per day (39.5 million) than the whole of September 2008

Google Buzz:

Most of you have probably heard some buzz around the web about Google Buzz. This week, Google introduced Google Buzz, a new social tool that allows you to share updates, photos, videos, and more…all via Gmail. You can share items publicly with the world, or privately with friends, and you can also connect Buzz with other sites such as Picasa, Flickr, Google Reader, and Twitter. Watch this video to learn more about Google Buzz.

Google Buzz Kill?:

Not all the buzz surrounding Google Buzz is positive. Articles such as What’s Wrong and How to Fix it, Google Buzz Privacy, and Google Buzz? More Like Buzz Kill, shed light on some of the issues with Google Buzz. A major concern was that privacy settings were too complicated to change, so on Thursday, Google fixed that issue. As for Google Buzz in general? The verdict is still out on whether it will catch on.

Bonnaroo:

If you know Dean Browell (@dbrowell) or follow him on Twitter or Facebook, you probably know the entire Bonnaroo line-up. Why? A.) because well…he loves Bonnaroo B.) Because Bonnaroo was very savvy about how they spread the word about their line-up. Bonnaroo used MySpace to slowly trickle out the news of whose performing at Bonnaroo. Announcements began and 12pm on Tuesday, and didn’t end till 9 pm, which meant people were abuzz all day about specific bands that had been confirmed. This kept Bonnaroo in Twitter trending throughout the day, kept people talking about Bonnaroo, and got everyone even more excited about the upcoming festival.

-Anna (@alucas9)

While it is cleaner and makes more productive use of the top bar (at the same time making it thinner) it tucks and tweaks some features. I won’t go as far as to say things have been made hard to reach, but rather placed in some locations that we’re not quite used to. In at least one instance I’ll point out though, one feature has been peculiarly hidden.

Here’s the new bar:

Note the icons now near the Facebook logo representing Friend Requests, Messages, and Notifications. (Try and look past the fact that the “Messages” icon is more reminiscent of what most iconography uses for “chat” functions.) These icons bring your Friend Requests and Inbox interaction to closer parity with Notifications, where a drop-down gives you a preview of what’s waiting for you and a red-number indicator of new items.

At all times you can still get “Home” and to your profile with the righthand links.

Right, but where did my “Friends” go?

This is a harder question to answer. In some ways, finding friends and seeing lists is simple, living in the lefthand column like this:

But very quickly those of you who use Friends Lists may notice that from here you can’t get to that page where your friends were all lined up next to your lists and you could easily edit who was in what lists, etc.

So, where is that page now? It’s accessible in the drop down on the upper right- under “Account.”

There you’ll find, “Edit Friends,” as well as all of your other preferences, settings, privacy options and more. Convenient that they are all grouped like that, but odd that I can do an awful lot with my friends as individuals and lists over on the left-hand except for access this one page.

Let’s look at that left-hand list again:

Some of these are redundant considering the same icons live in the top bar. But it looks like one big one is missing: where’s video?

Here it is:

It’s under… photos? This would be the most boneheaded navigation change in my opinion. As strange as the Apple/Mac reality that iTunes (a music program) plays video but iPhoto does not. Video needs its own icon. Period.

Strangely enough in this lefthand menu you can’t delete or move around every icon – only some of them. (I can get rid of Ads & Pages if I want, but not Games?)

All in all, most of the new changes make logical sense, but they’ll still take some getting used to.

-Dean (@dbrowell)

Super Bowl & Social Media:
This Sunday is marks the 44^th Super Bowl. & from a social media perspective, this Super Bowl is unlike any other. Pepsi decided to create a large social media campaign in place of a super bowl spot, companies, such as Coca Cola, are using social media to generate buzz around their Super Bowl spots and the NFL is even getting fans involved socially. The NFL created hashtag #SB44, and if you tag your Tweets and Flickr photos with this, it will show up on the official NFL site’s SB44 Page.

Facebook Redesign:

This week, Facebook began rolling out a major homepage redesign. Changes include:

• The notifications bar has moved to the top menu
• The left menu is now used to display friends content
• Search is being emphasized more
• Easier to view photos, send/receive messages, chat, and interact with gamesRea

Read more from the Official Facebook Blog.

Hovercards:

On Wednesday, Twitter began rolling out a new feature to help improve user experience. Named Hovercards, this feature allows you to see additional information about a user just by mousing..ehem..hovering over the username. You will be able to see the users bio, whether you follow them or not, and easily interact with them all without leaving the page you’re on.

Happy Birthday to Facebook:

On Thursday, Facebook celebrated their 6^th birthday. In Zuckerberg’s blog, he wrote: “Facebook began six years ago today as a product that my roommates and I built to help people around us connect easily, share information and understand one another better.” It has grown from that to a global, massively popular networking site. Today, over 400 million people use Facebook.

Bravo & Foursquare

Foursquare is teaming up with traditional media. This week Foursquare and Bravo TV announced a partnership. On Monday, Bravo began offering specialized Foursquare player badges for players who visit any of the 500+ Bravo locations (the locations are based on select Bravo shows.) Bravo also plans to offer incentives and prizes for viewers who participate. It will be interesting to see if other advertisers follow suit and how such badges will change the make-up of Foursquare.

-Anna (@alucas9)