Data: Online, Iranians turning to Facebook during crisis

Data: Online, Iranians turning to Facebook during crisis

All the recent media coverage about Twitter’s central role in covering Iranian political news got me wondering — on Twitter, of course — how many people are actually using the service inside of Iran. I got a couple responses, in the form of anecdotal statistics… Continue Reading

Clearspring acquires AddThis, moves towards universal sharing widgets

Clearspring acquires AddThis, moves towards universal sharing widgets

Widget creation platform Clearspring has acquired AddThis, a bookmarking and sharing button, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition moves Clearspring closer to becoming a service that lets users share content from any website.

AddThis will initially remain its own service. Clearspring reports that the two services… Continue Reading

A step in the right direction: Widget company Clearspring passes ad audit

A step in the right direction: Widget company Clearspring passes ad audit

Widget companies may have widgets that get hundreds of millions of page views and visitors, but measuring their traffic has been tricky. Comscore and other third party services are still refining their methodologies, and have been criticized for undercounting the traffic of some companies.

Widget syndication… Continue Reading

Widget infrastructure company Clearspring raises $18M

Widget infrastructure company Clearspring raises $18M

Questions continue to swirl around the viability of businesses built around widgets. Sure, there are hundreds of millions of people who interact widgets on social networks and other sites, but how can you make money on all that engagement?

Clearspring is working hard to answer that… Continue Reading

Clearspring launches widgets for Madison Avenue

Clearspring launches widgets for Madison Avenue

In the latest evolution of this fast-paced but not yet lucrative world of widgets, Clearspring, a leading widget company, has launched an ad network for widgets (sample widget left).

It comes at a time when advertising agencies on Madison Avenue are finally getting comfortable with the… Continue Reading

Quantcast becomes latest widget traffic tracker

Quantcast becomes latest widget traffic tracker

Updated

More and more publishers and retailers rely on so-called “widgets,” little boxes placed on other web sites, to deliver their news, entertainment and product advertisements.

So measuring Web traffic to those widgets is important for deciding what content to deliver, and what sites to deliver it… Continue Reading

Roundup: USA Today stiffs Google, and Google gossip, Reuters, Geni, Rockyou…

Roundup: USA Today stiffs Google, and Google gossip, Reuters, Geni, Rockyou…

Updated

Here’s the latest action:

USA Today launches new social networking features, but stiffs Google — The newspaper has offered an array of new features, letting registered readers have their own profile pages, where they can recommend articles, solicit comments — and there’s more. Alas, the new content… Continue Reading

Widget company, Clearspring, says it leads market, and raises $5.5M

Clearspring, a company in Arlington, Virginia that provides a way for content owners to syndicate and track their content through widgets placed on other Web sites, has raised $5.5 million in its second round of financing.

The round was led by Phil Bronner of Novak… Continue Reading