Social Software and Tagging

Meet Josh Tucker: The Man Behind the Dodgers' Twitter Feed

He's got a quarter of a million Twitter followers, but you don't know his name. He's talked about on social media more positively -- and is responsible for more smiles from fans -- than the Dodgers' Luis Cruz, Ted Lilly and Juan Uribe combined. He's baseball savvy, he's creative and he's the man beh ... More >>

The Crucial Mistake Most Bands Are Making With Facebook

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you ... More >>

We're Partnering with Foursquare: A Badge More Fun With Mario Batali!

So you know how you check in on Foursquare to tell us all where you are and thus what you're probably eating, or at least what you're about to take a picture of. (Which is how Mario Batali seems to spend an inordinate amount of time. Cheers, Mario.) And you know how we publish all kinds of Best Of l ... More >>

Texting During Yom Kippur Services? How One L.A. Rabbi Is Bringing Social Media to His Synagogue

Congregation Or Ami's Rabbi Paul Kipnes is the type of plugged-in religious leader who peppers his sermons with references to Star Trek and jokes about the NFL's replacement refs. Standing on stage at the Fred Kavli Theater at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza this past Wednesday, with a vibrant pu ... More >>

LA Weekly Web Awards 2012: Javier Guillen, Best Instagram Account

Best Instagram Account Javier Guillen @goeastlos Javier Guillen didn't set out to become a social media maven. The 31-year-old East L.A. native was just fooling around with his iPhone — and trying to finish his degree at Cal State Northridge after a seven-year hiatus. But it didn't take long t ... More >>

LA Weekly Web Awards 2012: Mark Horvath, Best Online Do-Gooder

Best Online Do-Gooder Mark Horvath invisiblepeople.tv By 1995, Mark Horvath's L.A. dream life as a successful TV executive had turned sour. He was broke and homeless, living on Hollywood Boulevard. With the help of the Hollywood Dream Center, Horvath managed to leave the streets, start a flourishing ... More >>

A Swedish Chef (Not the Muppet) Takes Over @Sweden

If you've been following the country of Sweden's Twitter account, you no doubt already appreciate this grand experiment in which a very particular kind of personal restraint meets the power of social media: Each week, a Swedish citizen (a "Curator") is given full control of Sweden's Twitter account ... More >>

L.A. Likes Twilight, S.F. Likes The Big Lebowski, and Other Differences From StumbleUpon's Study

L.A. likes Twilight and S.F. likes The Big Lebowski? So says a graphic put out by the social networking site StumbleUpon, analyzing the cultural differences between the two cities. "You can see a lot of things that actually aren't surprising," says StumbleUpon data analyst Tim Abraham, who conduct ... More >>

America's Next Top Waitress: 2013 Hooters Calendar Girls

The search for America's next top bikini-clad waitress is on. The Hooters bus has hit the road to search for its 2013 calendar girls. Its mission: "To provide our customers with something beautiful to look at every single day of the year! We provide over 200 girls in each of our calendars." Over the ... More >>

Twitter Parties Are The Rage With Teens, LAPD Chief Beck Warns

Concerned, apparently, by last weekend's Project X-style house party in Holmby Hills, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck expressed concern about teenage "Twitter parties." That's right, in the gang capital of the nation, where serial killing is sport, the big crime problem is teens' raging in unoccupied homes ... More >>

Project X-Style Party in Holmby Hills Swarmed by 500 Teens, Busted by Riot Cops

A massive, Project X-style teen party in Holmby Hills was busted by police over the weekend. The Twitter account LAScanner reported that as many as 500 people gathered at a home in the 1300 block of Holmby Avenue Saturday night, drawing officers from across the LAPD's western divisions. Arriving ... More >>

Shaima Alawadi, SoCal Iraqi Muslim, Dies After Possible Hate-Crime Beating

The death of a Southern California woman from Iraq over the weekend set off a national furor, mostly via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old Muslim woman, was beaten in her El Cajon home east of San Diego last week and died in a hospital Saturday, according t ... More >>

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Twitter: 10 of Our Favorite Food-Related Tweets

Twitter turned six years old this past Wednesday, which means six years of communicating via intermittent bursts of 140-character sound bytes and six years of convincing ourselves that even the most mundane of thoughts are worthy of a megaphone. According to the official Twitter blog, there are now ... More >>

A Facebook Divided: 1 Out of 5 Americans Unfriend Over Politics

A new survey says nearly 1 out of 5 of you have "blocked, unfriended, or hidden" a social networking pal because you found their politically oriented posts offensive, arguable or disagreeable. In other words, many Facebook users are thin-skinned. According to a just-released Pew Internet & Americ ... More >>

Facebook Emotions Are Contagious, and You Just Might Be Bringing Your Friends Down

You know that Debbie Downer friend on Facebook who posts each day about being unable to sleep well, stand the pain or, worse, find true love? Oy vey. Turns out she's bringing everybody down with her. New research presented in Southern California recently concludes that "emotional contagion" can go ... More >>

Feminism via Twitter

An Xiao, Man Bartlett and Petra Cortright Make Avatars the New Self-Portraits

Where to Catch a Social Media Disease

Facebook for Prisoners? California Officials Crack Down After Inmates Use Social Networking For Crime

CDCRHello, friend.​California is cracking down on prisoners who use Facebook from behind bars, especially if they turn to social networking to threaten people or to run criminal enterprises. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced the effort this week, stating that it "has ... More >>

Ejen Chuang Brings Cosplay in America to Anime Expo

Shannon CottrellEjen Chuang at the book release party for Cosplay in America, May, 2010​Check out Ejen Chuang's photography in "Cosplay in America: Ejen Chuang's Portraits from Anime and Comic Book Conventions." In 2010, Ejen Chuang self-published Cosplay in America, a photography book filled ... More >>

Gwyneth Paltrow Invades Twitter and Facebook

Gwyneth Paltrow , thinking of a master plan​The pieces of Gwyneth Paltrow's plan for world domination continue to snap into place: She announced this morning, via a self-made video, that she has joined Twitter and Facebook. "Hi," she says in the video, her only Tweet and FB post so far, "I'm ... More >>

[UPDATED, Again]: Pink Taco's Pink Donkey Angers Animal Rights Activists

[Update (May 11th, 1:30 p.m.): Through May 15th, the Pink Taco in Century City will be featuring a special margarita, the "PETA-rita," with 100% of the proceeds from going to PETA. And Friday, May 13th is "bring your pet to the patio day" from 3 to 7 p.m.] [Update (May 5th, 1 p.m.): Our sister bl ... More >>

Singer and Punk Pioneer Poly Styrene Dies

Early this morning, NME confirmed that Poly Styrene, also known as Marian Joan Elliott-Said, has died. Shortly thereafter, the following message was sent via the singer's Twitter. ​Poly Styrene, whose work with X-Ray Spex made her a punk rock legend, was 53 years old. She had been battling c ... More >>

Time's 140 Best Twitter Feeds: Marion Nestle, Michael Pollan, Harry Reid Lord Voldemort

If you only have 140 characters, they should be worth reading, no? Depends on whose Twitter feed you read. Time Magazine has just published a list (of course they did) of the top 140 Twitter feeds around the country. No, sorry, neither Charlie Sheen nor Kim Kardashian made it -- Neil Gaiman is #1, S ... More >>

Alice Waters Joins Twitter: The Food World's Charlie Sheen Moment

Happy Follow Friday. And guess who's just opened a Twitter account, in time for thousands of food-minded Twitter people to follow her? Alice Waters (@AliceWaters). As of this morning, she has not tweeted anything yet and is only following two people (predictably, @edibleschoolyrd and @chezpanisse). ... More >>

UCLA Researchers Surprised to Learn That Homeless Kids Use Online Social Networking to Find Sex

​How do homeless kids find someone to have sex with? According to researchers at the UCLA AIDS Institute, they do it the same way as kids with homes: on the web. That's right, they use computers, which access the web, which get them on social networking sites. And if this strikes you as a touc ... More >>

L.A. Facebook Lawsuit Pits Moms Against Zuckerberg: Quit Making Cash off Our Kids

Chill, Ma!​It was bad enough when the mothers and fathers of the world all started joining Facebook -- posting family portraits, friending our crushes and spelling out statuses in correct caps 'n' grammars like the Tweetarded calligraphers they'll forever be. But a lawsuit? Come on, Mom. Da ... More >>

LAPD Union Warns Cops That Bad Guys Watch What They Post On Facebook

Don't be an online cowboy: Think before you post.​We know you think of cops as robots behind mirrored aviators but if you've ever read Joseph Wambaugh you know they're real people with all the needs, emotions and, yes, urges the rest of us have. (Although LAPD Chief Charlie Beck really is a ro ... More >>

DealPop Offers Savings on Restaurants, Bars

Flickr/clevercupcakesDealPop is offering some sweet deals. ​ A new website, DealPop Los Angeles, will feature daily deals offering savings of up to 70 percent off at restaurants, bars and other businesses in the L.A. area. The site kicks off September 8 with deals from Seventeenth Street Café ... More >>

Delta Lets Passengers Book Their Flight On Facebook

​You can now book your flights on Facebook. Delta Air Lines announced on Thursday that it was launching a new feature on Facebook that would allow passengers to book fights from LAX and other airports directly via the social media website. The "Delta Ticket Window" can be accessed on the comp ... More >>

LAPD Ramps Up Use Of Social Media To Catch Suspects; Man Wanted In Lakers Unrest Spotted In Online Photo

​It used to be the criminals had to keep a lid on what they boasted. Now they have to watch what they posted. The Los Angeles Police Department is ramping up its use of social media in efforts to fight crime, reports USC's Neon Tommy this week. The latest caper involves a suspect wanted in th ... More >>

Take Me to Your Online Marketing Leader: BlueGlass' Tony Adam Talks L.A.'s New "It" Tech Conference for Entrepreneurs

Tony Adam​The other day while eavesdropping at brunch I overheard a man insist to his companion, "The Internet is the future." Seriously. In 2010. Well, sorry to ruin the anticipation dude, but forget the future, the Internet is now. And contrary to what our favorite purple-clad know-it-all, P ... More >>

50 Cent Loses 50 Pounds

50 Cent's Facebook page (via Billboard)​ Billboard reports that 50 Cent will be playing "a football player who is diagnosed with cancer in his upcoming movie, Things Fall Apart. To make the film more realistic, the once buff and brawny 50 (aka Curtis Jackson) lost more than 50 pounds to play t ... More >>

Adam Cooper: The Mayor's Twitterer

Kutmah's Immigration Woes Lead to #FREEKOOTZ Twitter Campaign

The #FREEKOOTZ hashtag began on Twitter Friday, when fans and friends of Justin McNulty, better known by his DJ name Kutmah, was taken into custody by immigration authorities. Details on the situation are vague, but sources told L.A. Weekly that McNulty, who was born in the U.K. and moved to Los An ... More >>

Your Next Facebook Friend Could Be An Undercover Agent

​The Electronic Frontier Foundation revealed this week that the FBI and other federal agencies work undercover on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites to shadow suspects and gather evidence in crime investigations. According to the Associated Press, Freedom of Information Act r ... More >>

Is Google Buzz Worth All the Buzz, or is it Shallow Wave?

​ Yesterday morning, after slurping up their morning coffee buzz, a number of Gmail users got their Google Buzz on, or they at least took a shot. Google's new social platform, which some say is the search engine giant's solution to Twitter and Facebook, is currently at the fore in tech talk. ... More >>

When Ordered, Twitter Monitors Tweet-Bangers For Authorities -- Report

​Representatives of Twitter and Facebook said they cooperate with authorities investigating gangs that use the social-networking tools to communicate about crime, according to a report. "Representatives from Twitter and Facebook say they regularly cooperate with police and supply information ... More >>

From Anti-Technology to Twittering Fool: Slash Talks Social Media Pros and Cons

Erin BroadleySlash accepts his golden floppy for "Best MySpace Music Page"​Partygoers look for several things when deciding whether to attend a Hollywood soiree: convenient parking, networking opportunities, beautiful women, an open bar, and perhaps the most important as of late, does the part ... More >>

Grammys' Social Media Rock Star Summit: Music Fans at the Forefront of Digital Culture

Melissa Jun RowleySocial Media Rock Stars: Digg's Kevin Rose and Mashable's Pete Cashmore​For more than half a century the Grammy Awards have been the pinnacle institution of American music. (But that doesn't mean the tone of the show and the brand itself have to be institutional.) While the ... More >>

Twitter Could Be Used To Quickly Measure Earthquakes; Other Warnings Possible

USGS​The U.S. Geological Survey is studying using Twitter to get fast data about the latest earthquakes, the USGS announced this week. In a separate announcement, the Survey said that separate technology could allow for warnings 10 seconds or so ahead of major quakes. First, Twitter: While th ... More >>

Gang Members Get Booked For Facebooking

Mario Rocha was identified and convicted as a gang member despite much proof.​It's something we reported on a few years ago: Gang members are using social networking sites to represent their neighborhoods, show pride in their sets and display their muscles, weapons and bravado. Today, authorit ... More >>

This Site's Dead Anyway: Twitter DDoS Overlooks MySpace, Does an Attack Signal a Site's Relevancy?

Yesterday, if you were searching for a short-form, self-indulgent way to describe what you had for breakfast, you were shit out of luck. Basically, the Internet's most popular social networking sites broke. Web sites that were down yesterday included: Facebook, Livejournal, YouTube, Google, and the ... More >>

Re-Tweet Legal: New Media Libel and the Law

Courtney Love and Mark Cuban gave Twitter an unwanted credibility boost last month. The ever problematic stars each found themselves on the wrong end of defamation claims and fines respectively, filed by angry Twitter users who believe they've been unfairly "tweet-ed" by Courtney and Mark.* Twitter ... More >>

LA People 2009: The “Tweethearts” — Laurie and Sean Percival

Meme Analysis: THE MOST WTF WEEK IN INTERNET HISTORY

Is it just us or did someone unleash Pandora's box o' crazy on the interwebs? Between the "Dude Where's My CNN?" run for Twitter Class President (Seriously guys, that "race" thing was like asking "Who is more popular, Coke or Eggs?"), our ex-boyfriend Anonymous finally joining Twitter (after all the ... More >>

Thurston and Kim Rather Rip Through MOCA

Plus, Lovers & Strangers at Hear Gallery, Mustache Mondays at La Cita and Dance at Arena

Shoot to Thrill

The ever-evolving photo booth

They Must Be High

Spacing out with Ben, Chris, Tom and Tom

Make New Friends

...but beware of Fakesters