Tonight begs Angelenos to be social. After all, it is Social Media Week (SMW), and this evening's SMW event calls all local fashionistas to the Rockwell in Hollywood. Plus, Mindshare LA hosts its September night of social networking at the Los Angeles Theater Center. more ›

Compensate for the dreary daylight hours by getting out tonight, L.A. The Go-Go's rock a homecoming show at the Greek Theatre. Mindshare LA beckons intellectuals. The TAG Gallery showcases over 50 winning works of art. Belgian beer follows Belgian cinema. And The Taste gears up for its Labor Day foodie extravaganza with a Montage mixer. more ›

Celebrate the week's halfway point without your couch. Here are our top picks for tonight's local offerings. more ›

Friendster, a key evolutionary step in the creation of a social media species, fell victim to natural selection with the advent of MySpace which in turn drifted from favor in the shadow of its successor, Facebook. In an attempt to adapt to its new surroundings, Friendster will be transforming the site beginning with a total obliteration of existing user data as it morphs more fully... more ›

How big is Foursquare with smartphone users in the Los Angeles area? We're not exactly sure, but at tonight's West Hollywood Carnival we'll see if there are enough users to reach the the geo-location social network tools (if you're not familiar with Foursquare, it's the precursor to Facebook Places) latest swarm badges, which are novelty awards for completing certain tasks like checking in at at STD clinic or farmers markets. If 500 or more people check in, the new Super Duper Swarm badge can be earned. Better than that, the Epic Swarm badge will be awarded when the chcek-ins reach 1,000 or more. Also, there are Halloween badges to earn! more ›

What happens when you take publicly available data and mix it with your Facebook friends? It could be a recipe for disaster between friends. more ›

There’s a scene in Grosse Pointe Blank where Joan Cusack is heatedly negotiating for ammunition on the phone with some tough guys and then switches over to a call with a girlfriend with whom she was sharing a recipe for soup. She starts off sweet and then gets agitated and starts in with the same tone she was using for the ammunition phone call. “No, no… It’s not going to be a boring soup! That’s just the base… Carrots and celery are just the base of a soup!” I feel like I’m having that conversation when people ask me about the documentary film Catfish. “No, no… It’s not going to be a scary movie! That’s just the trailer (see it below)… The marketing has very little to do with the basis of this movie!” more ›

If you use Foursquare, you might enjoy the silly fun of trying to earn a new "merit" badge for your collection. One way to land a new badge is to find out if you have an STD. Seriously. Through the "It's Your (Sex) Life" campaign run via MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation, there's a Foursquare badge you can pick up while getting tested, explains CNN's health blog The Chart. more ›

If you're a Facebook user, you surely have noticed the targeted ads that appear on the sidebar of the site's pages. One of those ads that ran earlier this month was from Just Say Now, a group that is using the internet to grow support for the movement to legalize marijuana, explains the Huffington Post. more ›

The Facebook-based The Social Network, brought to us by Aaron Sorkin ("West Wing"), is due in theatres October 1st. And with such a great preview, released last month, it was only a matter of time before it was mocked. And no better to do with via The Twit Network. more ›

When a politician appeals for money on Twitter or Facebook, that action is not necessarily regulated by state like other reportable ones. That could soon change. A report released today by the state's ethics commission details recommendations on full disclosure of official campaign messages via social networking. more ›

No, this isn't a joke trailer. It's the real deal. The full trailer for The Social Network was released yesterday and... wow. As Gabe at Videogum exclaims, "Holy shit. How is it even possible that this looks SO GOOD?" And kudos to the use of Radiohead's "Creep" (Trent Reznor is writing the music score). The movie opens October 1st. more ›

For the oversharers out there, here's one reason not to tweet out your location, Foursquare publicly or otherwise locate yourself on various other social networks. NPR reports: "A new Web site called PleaseRobMe.com has drawn attention to the issue by repurposing posts from foursquare, a social networking site that lets people share the latest about their whereabouts. PleaseRobMe demonstrates that it's easy for anyone to find out you're not at home — and therefore, are presenting an 'opportunity' for burglary." more ›

It was one week ago that students at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas responded to a posting on Facebook by beating up at least 7 of their redheaded classmates as part of "Kick a Ginger Day," a pseudo-event thought to be inspired by a 2005 South Park episode. more ›

The lines were long--but moving--this weekend in the mobile food court section of the Abbot Kinney Festival. Posted along one branch of the annual street fair and community gathering were several of the city's trendiest restaurants, all on four wheels, among them The NomNom Truck, Get Shaved, and Coolhaus. In line to get some grub at the Border Grill truck, however, a friend leaned over to me and asked: "So, is it that all these trucks are started up and run by really young people just getting into the business?" more ›

Users of the business-oriented social networking site LinkedIn who are based in Orange County are sick of being considered part of "greater Los Angeles." One user, Laguna Niguel's Sven Johnston, has "spearheaded the campaign to get the O.C. recognition," apart from L.A. explains the OC Register's Jan Norman in a blog post. more ›

We're a city of many languages, but so often our icons of art and culture communicate in English-only. Now the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is reaching out to their Spanish-speaking (and reading) visitors and members by providing Twitter posts en Español, making them--as far as they or we know--the first museum to do so, according to their blog, Unframed. more ›

About 500 employees were slashed from MySpace's company roll call, CNET reported today. "Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company," Owen Van Natta, CEO of the News Corp.-owned social site, said in a release. "I understand that these changes are painful for many. They are also necessary for the long-term health and culture of MySpace. Our intent is to return to an environment of innovation that is centered on our user and our product." Van Natta was hired in April and used to be the Chief Operating Officer at Facebook. MySpace will continue to employ around 1,000 people in the U.S. more ›

Some would argue that trying to get a grip on the scope of the Los Angeles music scene is an impossible task. By the time you finished listening to every single band in Los Angeles county, half of them would be broken up and like a cacophonous hydra, a whole new generation of music would have sprouted while your back was turned. Few people attempt this daunting feat, and those who do seem to possess crazy, masochistic tendencies (myself included). Fortunately for you, we have one such editor who undertakes that insane quest daily (namely Mr. Joshua Pressman) but should Tonight in Rock not fulfill all your needs, and you want a radio station that plays all local Los Angeles bands all the time...Jon Hershfield has the the website for you. Founder of IsGoodMusic.com, Hershfield has set out to find the diamonds in the rough that are lying right under our noses. The website provides a social networking site for bands, a radio station with interviews, and a up-to-date calendar on all the local gigs that are worth catching. We caught up with Jon Hershfield recently and asked him how it was going. more ›

Young politicians have an awful lot of social networking and "new media" at their disposal to make reaching out to their potential constituents a lot faster and easier. Like many people in their 20s, Emanuel Pleitez, who recently challenged veteran politico Gil Cedillo for the 32nd Congressional District seat vacated by US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, made use of his personal Facebook profile to share news items and images with his "friends." more ›

This morning's Daily News raises an important question in the era of social networking: "What do you do if you're a local official on a political mission to Washington, D.C., but find there's no media there to cover your activities?" The answer, of course, is to use services like Twitter and YouTube to pass along short pieces of information a la minute to your followers and constituents. more ›

Just what we all need: One more social networking site to sign up for, one more profile to make, quirky picture of ourselves to upload, badge to import to our blog. Except Irvine-based Greenwala is a social networking site that gives something important back to the world with each new member. more ›

Let's face it: Celebrities are people, too. People who...Twitter. The wherefores and hows of the issue notwithstanding, sometimes a 140 or less character Tweet is worth a thousand words. Or, if you are Sandie Guy and a fan of Demi Moore, it's worth your life. more ›

They grow up so fast don't they? more ›

An article in today's Telegraph.co.uk touts the recent adoption of Twitter by British-based Tesco's Fresh & Easy grocery stores. Although the article focuses on the rarity of a Brit business using what's more popular with American businesses, F&E's web-watchers Fresh & Easy Buzz point out that the Tweets are coming from California, not England:

Fresh & Easy's presence on Twitter.com isn't being maintained by a Tesco Fresh & Easy company employee based out of its Southern California headquarters or by a Tesco PLC employee in the UK. Rather, the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Twitter site is maintained on a regular basis by SallieB, who is a social marketing expert with Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's public relation's firm, ABCO International.

Though perhaps not gripping correspondence, Twitter does help to establish loyalty by giving customers an active way of communicating with the company's management. [...] more ›

LA's Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is headed to the nation's capitol today where he'll meet up with other mayors from other large US cities and ask for monetary aid in the form of "federal grants, loans and other assistance." According to MyFoxLA, Villaraigosa intends to focus on implementing "a Main Street Economic Plan that invests in local infrastructure, creates jobs and boosts the green economy of Los Angeles." Although the Mayor is networking with other heads of cities, like Miami's Diaz, Chicago's Daley, and NYC's Bloomberg, LA Observed wonders when Villaraigosa will start to take advantage of social networking sites, like the Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr pages created for him, noting there's "not much happening yet on the mayor's social networks, but then they just started looking for a New Media director." more ›

Word spread like wildfire yesterday online about the arrests of Mark Oshiro and Rich Flores, who may be better known to you as Panasonicyouth and formerme--their online IDs for Twitter and other websites. more ›

The entertainment industry is arguably the most dynamic and kinetic facet of pop culture. While the Internet may have turned everyone into a critic, the blogosphere (by way of technology) has turned everyone into a producer, and for those who wish to tell a story can do so without worrying about high profile book publishers or intimidating movie studios. While the entertainment industry may not be as affected by the perils of the spiraling economy as others, there still has to be a degree of consideration when it comes to maintaining an edge, and one group of Hollywood veterans that have shied away from classic media seem to have their fingers on the pulse. In what started as a simple formula for a TV show about video games, the folks at Gamervision have used their industry expertise to take their ideas to the next level by fusing elements of classic entertainment with web 2.0 themes, creating what can only be described as "laissez-faire entertainment" at its very best. more ›

A study by a journalist from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on her personal blog shows that news agencies are finding Twitter more and more important to their work. Erica Smith (here's her Twitter) observes that CNN anchors and the Chicago Tribune have used the service to great success. more ›

The media has been reporting various small quakes over the last week. But is that really something to worry about? "It’s not uncommon for Orange County to experience several microquakes every week," Sciencedude Gary Robbins said at the OC Register in a brief about the three recent microquakes in Orange County. His statement goes for all of Southern California -- small quakes happen all the time. A daily viewing of the USGS' recent earthquake map shows this or event better, the agency has gotten hip to Twitter and publishes a feed called "socalquakes." They also publish "Earthquake News," which combines shakes worldwide and headlines. more ›