Moshi Monsters are everywhere from the children’s online community to the pages of the best-selling magazine (and now they’re entering the music business with the launch of the label Moshi Music. After the company’s success with its first artist, Lady Goo Goo — who’s single will soon be available on iTunes — Moshi Music signed other talent including Dustbin Beaver, Broccoli Spears, 49 Pence, and Avril Le Scream. We can’t wait to hear all their hits!) (Kidscreen)
More young adults than ever before are moving into their parents’ place (because of the tough economy. According to the Census Bureau, 5.9 million 25-to-34 year olds lived with their parents in 2011, which makes them more financially dependent on mom and dad, and in turn, hurts the economy since they aren’t paying for housing or consumer products to fill their own homes. However, many Millennials wouldn’t be able to support themselves otherwise…at least until the economy turns around) (WSJ)
Happy 13th Birthday Google! (The search engine turned Internet giant has entered the teenage years. We can’t imagine what the Web would be like without Google and YouTube, and we’re eager to watch Google+ grow. Clearly Facebook likes Google Circles since it’s adding smart friend lists, which are basically the same thing with a small twist. But perhaps even more important are the best friends and acquaintance lists which users create themselves. If they place someone as a best friend, they’ll always receive news about that person, but if they classify someone as an acquaintance, they’ll only be informed of their important news. We’re not sure how we feel about this…wouldn’t someone know what their best friends are up to anyways?) (Mashable) (TechCrunch)
Brands are becoming increasingly present on college campuses (thanks to students who serve as their brand ambassadors. Such students can gain marketing experience, and often cash, discounts, or products, if they help promote a brand through events and experiential marketing. Who better than students to know what their fellow students and friends think is cool? Speaking of college kids, students ranked their top technological devices based on which ones they couldn’t live without. Given their desire to be constantly connected, laptops just barely edged out mobile phones as the most important, with TVs, MP3 players, and gaming consoles rounding out the top 5) (NY Times) (MediaPost)
Common Sense Media has joined the long list of companies to create campaigns about cyberbullying (but unlike most of the efforts we’ve seen already, this one is aimed at parents and teachers. “Stand up, Don’t Stand By” praises kids who stand up to bullies and provides tools to instill this behavior in their kids and students. The national campaign includes online and interactive content to help parents and teachers discuss this issue with students of all ages and end the ongoing problem) (Businesswire)
Americans are officially addicted to Facebook! (No seriously, they spent over 53 billion minutes per month on the site in May, which is more than they do on Yahoo! or Google. Clearly brands should be active on the social network since that’s where consumers are) (Techland)
Apple already offers Starbucks shoppers free songs and apps each week (but now the tech empire is expanding its “Pick of the Week” program to include free eBooks! Starting this week, Starbucks customers can take a card for a free eBook, which they can redeem at the Apple iBookstore or with iBooks on iOS devices. Hopefully this promotion will boost interest and sales for digital books in the future) (GigaOM)