In Nov. 2011, The NAACP launched its own social network, NAACPConnect. The networking site while giving members a way to connect with each other, also offers written and multimedia content, skills training, micro-mentoring aimed at educational and professional development. To compliment that they have launched a new project called NAACPConnect Digital Collective.

Those accepted into the Digital Collective will have the opportunity to learn social media and the latest Web 2.0 strategies from the NAACP New Media Team. In gaining these skills Collective members will also generate written and multimedia content for NAACPConnect. In addition, selected members will work closely with local NAACP units and college chapters, for an opportunity to highlight the work of young people in the field and build on their own personal brands.

“This initiative was developed because we have always envisioned NAACPConnect as a site that is supported and managed by NAACP staff, but completely run and inspired by the young people of the organization. ,” says NAACP project specialist, Courtney-Rose Harris.” The Digital Collective will help this become a reality.”

Overall the program will encourage young African-Americans to strengthen and use the new media skills they already have towards their own projects and possible employment opportunities in the future.

Apply here for the  NAACPConnect Digital Collective 

Just about all record labels are doing online marketing and distribution nowadays. It’s safe to say that Watch the Throne hit the online world by storm which contributed to the success of the album and the anticipation leading up to the tour that kicked off this weekend.

Although Watch the Throne is one of the biggest albums of the year by two of the most respected artists in hip-hop; the online tools they used were basic things we use every day that independent artists can also use to promote their projects.

Here are a few online tools used to push Watch the Throne that you can too:

1. YouTube

Before the release of the album Jay-Z and Kanye West dropped their first visual for the single “Otis” online. With majority of consumers watching videos online it makes sense to promote the video on video sharing sites like Vevo, YouTube, and Vimeo to get the most people to view your product.

1. iTunes

Selling your song on iTunes is a must if you’re an artist. Watch the Throne was No. 1 iTunes in 23 countries. They also strategized by offering “Otis” as a free download for those who pre-ordered the digital copy. Many artists are putting their albums out on iTunes well before they put it in stores as Jay-Z and Kanye did.

1. Blogs

Blog Love. There are a million and one blogs out now, they work as promotion and advertisers for arists. Once something hot hits the web every blogger is posting it to their site. This works for both blogger and artists because the blogger will see traffic and the artists will get their music heard by a large audience. It was via a blog, not a major entertainment site or show that most people found out about Watch the Throne.

1. Twitter

What better way to get people talking about something than Twitter? Watch the Throne was a trending topic on Twitter along with different tracks from the album. Even if you can’t get yourself trending, having a presence on Twitter is imperative because of the amount of users on the social network each and every day. It’s one of the fastest ways to relay information and make yourself and brand visible.

The Washington Post Company’s African- American news and commentary site, The Root has been bringing quality online news to the African-American community since 2008 and since then have continued to grow.

The Root has been ranked the number one black news site for four straight months, with an average of 1.7 million unique visitors and 13.5 million page views per month,  according to comScore.

As more African-Americans have gravitated to online news, The Root has been growing steadily and has seen a year-over-year increase in its audience size of 35%.

The recent increase could be the result to the changes The Root has underwent in that past several months.

They have redesigned their site with a homepage that is easier to navigate which is essential for maintaining readers. They also have launched The Root DC, a local Washington edition, as well as a platform catering to college students called The Root U, attracting a younger audience.

As The Root continues to be the number one black news site, their focus over the coming year will be to focus on the 2012 elections, providing in depth political news they offered during the 2008 elections.

Well, we got through another year of the VMAs. Of course year after year MTV tries its hardest to integrate the show with as many digital aspects as possible.

This year on the not red, but black carpet, the awards show incorporated their twitter tracker for the second year in a row. The twitter tracker tracked tweets coming in about the show and ranked who was being tweeted about the most.

Something new MTV brought to this year’s awards is incorporating mobile apps. The MTV News App for iPhone and Android users kept fans updated almost immediately of the winners as they were announced and also enabled them to send messages to winners and share their thoughts online including their excitement about Jay-Z and Beyonce’s announcement.

By the end of the night there was no competition. Beyonce definitely took the award for most tweeted about when she announced on the show that she was indeed pregnant.

Twitter went crazy when MTV tweeted first:

A pregnant Beyonce is now MTV’s avatar picture for their twitter account.

One of the main failings of Google’s new music service, Music Beta, was that it didn’t feature a store — it’s basically a music locker in which to store music that you already own. Well, it seems like Google is starting to take steps toward making the service more discovery-based with the launch of Magnifier, a music blog for users of Google Music Beta.

Google announced the existence of Magnifier via its blog, describing it as “a new music discovery site.” It features interviews with artists and bands, as well as free music you can add to your Music Beta account daily (you need to be a user in order to score the tracks).

Read the rest of this article at Mashable

Love technology? Love journalism? Well, the AP-Google Journalism and Technology Scholarship program might be right up your alley. The initiative, announced earlier this week, will offer $20,000 scholarships to six graduate or undergraduate students working toward a degree in any field that combines journalism, new media and computer science.

Geared toward aspiring journalists pursuing projects that “further the ideals of digital journalism,” the program also aims to encompass a broad swath of students from diverse ethnic, gender, and geographic backgrounds.

Read the rest of this article at Engadget

You don’t want a book recommendation from someone who hasn’t read the book. So why, asks a new project called BookLamp, would you want to rely on an electronic recommendation based on marketing data rather than book content?

BookLamp is launching a new kind of book recommendation engine today that scans the texts of its partner publishers to establish what it calls “Book DNA.”

Much like Pandora assigns specific qualities to music, BookLamp measures the story components of a book (characteristics like history, domestic environments, physical injury) and how it’s written (density, pacing, dialog, description, motion).

Read the rest of this article at Mashable

The O Music Awards (OMA) are back! MTV is preparing for the next big show only 5 months after the last one.

The first OMA’s took place in Vegas earlier this year with performances by Lupe Fiasco, Lil B, Philadelphia’s own Chiddy Bang that broke the world record for longest freestyle ever, and many others.

The OMA’s celebrate the artists making noise online and the new technologies you use to find music and everything in between. This is great that MTV created this show, acknowledging the cross of mainstream music over into the digital world.

Let’s face it, everything is online and that has affected music in a tremendous way. Although the industry has suffered a lot at the hands of the digital space, the OMA’s is a great way to celebrate the positive impact technology has had and continues to have on music and the entertainment industry as a whole.

The date and location has not yet been announced, but MTV is certain that it will happen before the close of the year.

The first OMAs were the second best live streaming event in MTV Music Group history, hopefully the next tops the last.

To keep up with the categories and nominees and even suggest your own, follow the OMA’s on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr

The Race to Close the Digital Divide is gearing up in California for its statewide campaign to promote computer literacy and internet use among under represented communities throughout the state. Working with faith based organizations around the state, the race educates families about economic, educational and social benefits of the internet and helps connect them to resources that break down the barriers of cost, equipment and literacy.

The campaign has attracted the support of prominent state and national officials, as well as community and faith leaders committed to closing the digital divide. Supporters include California Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, former Mayor of San Francisco Willie Brown, Congresswoman Doris Matsui and Mark E. Whitlock, II, Director of Community Initiatives for USC Center for Religion and Civic Engagement.

While the deployment and adoption of broadband technology is steadily increasing across the nation and within California, there still remains a vast difference in access among socio-economic groups, according to a 2011 Statewide Survey: Californians and Information Technology by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Sacramento area Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) has introduced numerous bills to promote internet adoption, including the Broadband Affordability Act, which would expand the Lifeline Assistance Program for low income telephone customers to those who subscribe to home broadband access.

The Race to Close to the Digital Divide targets five regions of California with the lowest rates of home Internet access: San Diego, Los Angeles, the Central Valley, the Bay Area and Sacramento, and tackles the common barriers to internet adoption by showing people where to go in their communities to find information about discounted internet service, computers and free computer literacy training.

Supporters believe by working through churches, the campaign can break through the barriers to internet adoption by sending information to community members from a trusted messenger.  Recognizing that we are now in a society that is reliant on technology and the internet for everything from gathering information, to finding jobs, organizations and campaigns such as this are imperative not just in California, but worldwide.

The Race to Close the Digital in California runs up until October 30 and to find out more information about the campaign and how to get involved visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/#!/RaceToCloseTheDigitalDivide