Owning a car can give you a great sense of freedom… then you have to figure out where to park it! More and more tools are popping up on the Web to help you locate both long and short term parking. Here are 15 services that cover everything from free spots to event parking, long term parking, and more.

Do you use the Web to find parking? If so, tell us about your experiences in the comments.

Parking Comparison Sites

AboutAirportParking.com - Has listings for over 400 parking lots near over 100 international airports.  Can add optional services like valet, car wash, mechanics and more.  You can read more about this site in our Startup Review.

BestParking.com - Allows you to compare parking rates of various garages in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.  Also offers a mobile version.

ParkingAnytime.com - Locate garages, lots, free parking and more for a given area.  Limited to Chicago, IL during their beta phase.

ParkingCarma.com - See real-time data of available parking spaces.  If you register, you can reserve parking spaces in advance.  Serves multiple US cities.

PrimoSpot.com - Gives you information on parking conditions in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and will show you the actual parking rules for a specific space.  The service plans to include more cities. You can read more about PrimoSpot here on Mashable.

Streetlinenetworks.com - Not operational yet, Streetline is putting monitors in 24,000 San Francisco metered parking spots so people will know where spots are available.  Read a summary of Streetline’s services here on Mashable.

Parking Spot Rentals

CraigsList.org - As with just about anything else you can sell or rent, CraigsList has numerous listings for parking spaces.

ParkAtMyHouse.com - Specializes in renting out parking spaces around sporting venues, airports or just about anywhere.  Available in Australia, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK and the USA.

ParkingHunter.com - Lists available spaces to rent in cities such as Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Vancouver and more.

ParkLet.co.uk - Offers listings of thousands of parking spaces available for rent all over the United Kingdom.

ParkingSpotter.com - Helps you locate parking spots for major events, airports or everyday use.

Parkingspots.com - Parking spot rental connections for those who own them, and those who need them, in the USA and Canada.  You can find a more detailed review of Parkingspots here.

ParkWhiz.com - Offers parking options around airports, sports arenas, daily & monthly parking and some more tools for those who need a place to park.

SpotScout.com - Parking garages list their inventory and then you can look them up on the Web or your mobile device.

YourParkingSpace.co.uk - A site to help connect people with spare parking spaces in the UK with those who are looking for them.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:ParkingHunter is Just a Google/Craigslist Map Mashup. Yawn.At Least ParkingSpots.com Has a Good Domain NamePlan Ahead with About Airport Parking (The Startup Review)Learn NYC’s Street Parking Landscape With PrimoSpotWeFi Finds Friends from Their WiFiInfield Parking to Launch NASCAR Social NetworkOrbitz Launches Incentives for Traveler Update Service

Source:Mashable!

Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

STARTUP DETAILS:

Company Name: toksta

20-word Description:  toksta brings IM and chat (text, voice, video) to social networks and websites. 100% free, hosting included + worldwide revenue share.

CEO’s 100 word description: toksta brings real time communication to your social network or website by providing free (or white label), hosted IM and chat solutions featuring text, voice and video chat. Our goal is to prevent users from leaving your community to chat via external applications like Skype, MSN or ICQ. Add a cool new feature for your users within minutes and benefit from our worldwide revenue or ad view share. All solutions are design customizable with a facebook-like chat bar and deeply integrated with your community (friends list, ignores, profile pictures etc.).

Mashable’s Take: There are many ways to add communication tools to your site these days such as instant messaging with a Meebo widget or an audio/video message forum via UserPlane. toksta is offering a fully customizable real-time text, audio and video chat system for your website. You can add your own logo, change colors, fonts and the background image.  

The toksta IM runs directly in the Web browser and users can chat via their own profile no matter what other IM service or social networking site they are connected to at the time.  Best of all, no installations or additional logins are necessary which is a big plus for your website visitors.

What’s the catch? toksta can offer all this for free because it is financed by advertising, but the ads are not as huge or as pervasive as with other ad-supported services. As a matter of fact, the ads are only displayed during what they call waiting time as things load on the screen. toksta also offers a Revenue Sharing program that will allow site owners to share some of the earnings. They do offer a white label service that will allow you to remove all ads or even add your own advertisements. 

From all first impressions, toksta seems to be worth a look if you’re considering adding a live communications platform to your site and don’t mind intermittent advertisements. It’s easy to install and the price is right.

Sponsored by Sun Startup Essentials

Owning a car can give you a great sense of freedom… then you have to figure out where to park it! More and more tools are popping up on the Web to help you locate both long and short term parking. Here are 15 services that cover everything from free spots to event parking, long term parking, and more.

Do you use the Web to find parking? If so, tell us about your experiences in the comments.

Parking Comparison Sites

AboutAirportParking.com - Has listings for over 400 parking lots near over 100 international airports.  Can add optional services like valet, car wash, mechanics and more.  You can read more about this site in our Startup Review.

BestParking.com - Allows you to compare parking rates of various garages in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.  Also offers a mobile version.

ParkingAnytime.com - Locate garages, lots, free parking and more for a given area.  Limited to Chicago, IL during their beta phase.

ParkingCarma.com - See real-time data of available parking spaces.  If you register, you can reserve parking spaces in advance.  Serves multiple US cities.

PrimoSpot.com - Gives you information on parking conditions in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and will show you the actual parking rules for a specific space.  The service plans to include more cities. You can read more about PrimoSpot here on Mashable.

Streetlinenetworks.com - Not operational yet, Streetline is putting monitors in 24,000 San Francisco metered parking spots so people will know where spots are available.  Read a summary of Streetline’s services here on Mashable.

Parking Spot Rentals

CraigsList.org - As with just about anything else you can sell or rent, CraigsList has numerous listings for parking spaces.

ParkAtMyHouse.com - Specializes in renting out parking spaces around sporting venues, airports or just about anywhere.  Available in Australia, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK and the USA.

ParkingHunter.com - Lists available spaces to rent in cities such as Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Vancouver and more.

ParkLet.co.uk - Offers listings of thousands of parking spaces available for rent all over the United Kingdom.

ParkingSpotter.com - Helps you locate parking spots for major events, airports or everyday use.

Parkingspots.com - Parking spot rental connections for those who own them, and those who need them, in the USA and Canada.  You can find a more detailed review of Parkingspots here.

ParkWhiz.com - Offers parking options around airports, sports arenas, daily & monthly parking and some more tools for those who need a place to park.

SpotScout.com - Parking garages list their inventory and then you can look them up on the Web or your mobile device.

YourParkingSpace.co.uk - A site to help connect people with spare parking spaces in the UK with those who are looking for them.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:ParkingHunter is Just a Google/Craigslist Map Mashup. Yawn.At Least ParkingSpots.com Has a Good Domain NamePlan Ahead with About Airport Parking (The Startup Review)Learn NYC’s Street Parking Landscape With PrimoSpotWeFi Finds Friends from Their WiFiInfield Parking to Launch NASCAR Social NetworkOrbitz Launches Incentives for Traveler Update Service

There are two major pursuits that lead people to plant their butts in front of computer screens and pound on keyboards for hours without pay. One group of people loves social media in all forms, shapes, and sizes: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, FriendFeed, blogging, etc. The other group loves to play around in massively multiplayer fantasy worlds based in magic and technology. These two groups are more alike than unlike, with one key difference. The second group usually realizes that they are playing a game; the first group usually doesn’t.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) are a popular pastime where people immerse themselves in fantasy worlds. Players spend many hours in games like World of Warcraft (WoW), amassing gold, experience, and property while making an uber-powerful character. Other online games like Everquest, Entropia Universe, and EVE Online project the same allure as WoW, while simpler brethren like Kingdom of Loathing, Gothador, and Adventure Quest have their own loyal players. This isn’t a new phenomenon either: MUDs (Multi-User Dimensions) and MOOs (MUD Object Oriented), earlier forms of online games with a heavy reliance on text have been around since the late 1970’s.

It’s pretty clear that you’re in a different world when you’re playing a MMORPG. You can explore that world on your own, but it’s often profitable to partner with other players to help beat down your foes and become stronger. Sometimes your foes are just products of the game. In other cases you battle other players like yourself in order earn wealth, fame, and bragging rights.

Do you see some parallels with social media?

Social media sites are normally grounded in reality (The Sims and Second Life straddle both pursuits), but everyone’s playing a character when they join these communities. Most of the time people try to be themselves, but they may use an alias or avatar to represent themselves. Goal attainment can be a big part of social media as it is part of MMORPGs. Socialization and communities flourish, in different forms, in games and social media.

Let’s compare these two pursuits:

Friends/Contacts vs. Allies – some social media users have army-size followings. A number of social media users have attracted thousands of followers, particularly on sites like Twitter, Facebook, and FriendFeed. Similarly, MMORPG players try to build alliances with some of their fellow players. The more famous players may gain followings similar in size to Twitter followings. They’re fan clubs by other names. The likelihood of direct interaction with someone with that many followers: minute, unless you already have some kind of connection to them.

Stats and Skills/Experience – MMORPG players want to make their characters stronger, smarter, tougher, and faster, so they play often to gain skills, while using equipment and performance enhancing stuff to make themselves even stronger. The social media user works on increasing comparable stats. If they are a blogger, they want to increase page views, subscribers, comments, and inbound links. They want to get recommendations and endorsements, get added to blogrolls, or otherwise gain social proof. Followers in social networking is another statistic that seems to show one’s strength.

Quests/Deeds vs. Accomplishments - games often require characters to complete a series of tasks in order to win some prize, e.g. go kill fifty goblins to get a pouch of gold, a potion, and a new sword. Similarly, social media users may participate in contests to win social credibility by doing things like:

* Hitting the front page of social news and bookmarking sites

* Winning awards from peers or authority figures

* Compete against other social media users for recognition

Property/Territory vs. Publications – some people like to personalize their stomping grounds in MMORPGs to show ownership. They buy land, put dwellings up, and add distinctive furnishings. Similarly, websites, books, eBooks, articles, online courses, consulting gigs, and more are the ways that social media users can make a more lasting mark on the Web.

Entrepreneurism - both MMORPG players and social media experts can sell their skills to help other users with their goals. They often bend the rules while doing this, but there’s as much a market for getting uber-skilled characters and MMORPG wealth as there is to getting Digg front pages and high exposure in other social news and bookmarking sites. Gamers sometimes sell their characters and equipment at a profit while some people sell blogs, websites, and applications to make money.

You might think that these are superficial comparisons that cast both pursuits in negative lights. That’s quite understandable, because I’ve focused on the selfish and materialistic aspects of these games. Both MMORPGs and social media sites do have a number of positive characteristics that they share.

Both pursuits have a social component. They allow people from different cities, countries, ethnic backgrounds, and other demographic categories to interact. You learn a lot by interacting with people, even if it’s over the Web. Good friendships have been made through both pursuits, sometimes culminating in real-life friendships and romantic relationships whether it’s via Facebook, Twitter, or a Ning group – the same can happen in games. Both games and social media sites also allow us to maintain existing relationships when friends move away. Social media sites have a professional networking and career building component. I can’t say for certain that MMORPGs have the same, but who knows? You can also use both types of applications to explore worlds, real or imagined, as a way to satisfy creative, recreational, and social needs.

The bottom line is that MMORPGs and social media site are far more alike than unalike. They can both be used for serious pursuits, but they have a huge recreational component. When taken to competitive extremes, the pursuit of social media goals and MMORPG character power can have damaging effects on the user’s personal life. Moderation is a key survival skill. In both pursuits, if things get too intense or obsessive, it’s best to remember that they are mostly recreational pursuits.

In other words, don’t forget that they are just games.

Mark Dykeman is a former Everquest, Entropia Universe, Kingdom of Loathing, and Gothador player who (mostly) switched his addictions to social media. You can find him building up his social media character at Broadcasting Brain, on Twitter, and at FriendFeed.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Save the Date - Social Gaming Summit: June 13, 2008GamerDNA Platform Launch: Profile Aggregator for Gamers?GameStrata Launches Online Gaming Community: 250 Invites for ReadersDisney to Launch Social Network for Nintendo GamersNew GameSpot Application for FacebookGreystripe iPhone 3G API Lets Game Developers Earn Ad RevenueBe a Digg Rockstar with Social Media Firefox Extension

Despite statistics indicating that many users who migrate over to the new Facebook design are reverting back to the old, all signs point to the imminent launch of redesign. Yesterday, the company wrote on its developer blog that “over 30 million people have checked out the new profile, and many are using it as their profile full time. We’re nearing the time where we’ll switch over remaining users by default. We expect most of this to take place over the next week.”

Meanwhile, today users of the old Facebook are seeing the following message, indicating the switch over is near:

Previously, the only indication of the new Facebook (outside of the endless blog posts of course) to users still on the old version was the bar at the top giving them an opportunity to try it out. So far, about 35% of users haven’t been to the new Facebook at all, according to the Compete stats released earlier this week.

Clearly, Facebook is now doing everything they can to make sure all users know that change is afoot, in hopes of avoiding another user revolt like that they saw with the launch of News Feed and Beacon. Will it work? The group “people against the new Facebook” has more than 70,000 members, and our comments in posts about the redesign have been decidedly mixed.

Redesigns have caused chaos with the masses since the days of AOL 2.0, so you can almost guarantee plenty of angst when Facebook flips the switch. But at least the company has done a much better job of communicating its changes this time around. We’ll be watching closely when the new design goes live next week.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Changes To Facebook News Feed On The HorizonFinally, Facebook Clutter Cleaner Is ComingFacebook DownROCK YOUR FIREFOX: Firefox Launches Facebook ApplicationFacebook Wall to Support Video, MusicUnofficial Facebook IM Application in the WorksFacebook Now Supported on Mahalo Follow

Joost – one of last year’s hottest startups and so far one of this year’s biggest flops – is pulling a 180 in strategy. According to Om Malik, the video service will kill off its desktop client and replace it with a Web version that will utilize a “small plugin that would embed itself in the browser and allow you to grab files using the P2P technologies”

Although the required download was long one of the biggest criticisms against Joost, the company now faces another big challenge: content. While Joost has scored a number of deals with the likes of CBS and Major League Baseball, one look at the Joost homepage tells you the current state of the company’s catalog.

With all due respect to He-Man & Shera, there is no way Joost on the desktop or the webtop can compete with the likes of Hulu, which has thousands of recent episodes of hit shows like The Office, The Daily Show, and House, just to name a few. Considering Hulu is backed by News Corp and NBC Universal, it’s doubtful Joost will be able to do much to improve its catalog either, since Hulu’s huge competitive advantage is its access to content. Making things even worse, Joost’s own investor and partner CBS has many shows available on its website that are nowhere to be found on Joost.

While shifting to a Web-based product is a much needed move, it seems like too little, too late, unless the company also makes a radical shift in content strategy. At the moment, Joost – which has raised $45 million - has essentially become like a lower tier cable channel, which simply doesn’t work online because of the infinite number of alternatives.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Joost API, Joost Widgets!Joost To Launch Web Version This YearJoost to Stream March MadnessJoost Invitations: 2000+ SentJoost Gets Heavy.comJoost Acquires OnTheToob for Custom Show RSS FeedsJoost Invites Update

Source:Mashable!

Dipity has released some major new features, taking online timelines to another level with the launch of Dipity 2.0. The site has added a great deal of social networking  integration with services such as Digg, Twitter, Daylife, Flickr and many others. It has also added the ability to track not only what your friends are doing (ala Friendfeed), but also the topics that they are interested in. Dipity then presents all of this data in a more visually pleasing manner that’s impressive and easy to digest.

Many new points of view

There are four vastly different ways that you can view all of this information. There’s the default patent-pending Timeline view which displays the data in chronological order. There’s the flipbook which creates a dynamic photo album type of viewing experience. The List view is a traditional top to bottom list view and the Map view creates a Google Maps type of display of the information. So you can look at the same information from several different angles depending on your preference. No matter which one you choose, you’ll never look at these topics the same way again. Best of all, everything can be viewed in place without requiring you to leave the site. For example, you can view Flickr photos and YouTube videos right inside the timeline.

Seeing is believing

Here are some examples of what you can do with Dipity:

- Howard Stern uses Dipity on his website

- So does Billy Joel for his biography

- Here’s a mashup of Dipity with YouTube that they call TimeTube

- This is called Archaeologist, which is a mashup of Dipity and Digg

- Ticker is a mashup of Dipity and Flickr

When will Dipity 2.0 be ready for Prime Time?

The official word is that Dipity 2.0 will be made available to the public in late September or early October. However, because you’re special and a devoted Mashable reader, you can join Dipity 2.0 right now by taking advantage of one of the 500 invites they’ve set aside for us. Simply go to the Dipity preview site, enter the invite code ‘MashableReader’ and click register once you are prompted with a login screen.

Conclusion

Dipity can be somewhat confusing at first glance, but think of it like FriendFeed on a timeline. You can view your friends’ activities on social networks on a timeline structure instead of the regular top to bottom method. You can also create the same type of timeline views for any topic that interests you or to display all of your social networking activity such as blog posts, Flickr photos, Twitter posts and much more.

After using Dipity 2.0 for a while it all starts to make sense. Viewing data in a more graphical way makes a great deal of sense, especially in this age of information overload where we’re all getting drenched trying to drink from the firehose of social networking. Dipity 2.0 certainly provides a unique, entertaining and useful way to look at things online via what could be called a social timeline.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Fire Eagle Now Available to All. How Will Yahoo Take Advantage?

Social.IM, a standalone Facebook chat application that bypasses certain restrictions of Facebook, has been acquired by iSkoot, a company that was so far into providing carrier-friendly mobile VoIP solutions. With this move, they plan to move into mobile Web applications arena, and Social.IM is definitely not a bad start, although it has lost some of its luster since Facebook launched its own in-browser chat.

iSkoot’s CEO Mark Jacobstein goes marketingese on the deal: ”Social.IM has served as an instant Web communications desktop platform and we see a clear consumer integration with iSkoot’s upcoming suite of Web to mobile push services. Acquiring Social.IM is a key step in our path to introduce later this year a groundbreaking new communications platform that will revolutionize the mobile landscape.”

The story is interesting because Social.IM seemed to be in a bad situation: it focused on one platform only, providing Facebook users a way to chat, and then Facebook launched its own chat (which has several flaws, one of which is the fact that it’s so damn unreliable), which usually means you can close shop and wave goodbye. However, iSkoot seems to have recognized Social.IM’s potential and will integrate it into its own set of services. Although the terms of the deal aren’t disclosed, it doesn’t sound like too bad of a deal for Social.IM.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Netvibes2Go, Last.fm-Viacom, Aggregate Knowledge, MySpace Blocked, itLinkz, AnimeOnline, Weather.com, iSkootAvoid Facebook App Regulations. Send Updates through Social.imViacom Still Buying Last.fm for $450 MillionLast.fm Partners with EMISGN Game Feed and Upcoming MySpace Game Bar9 Cool Instant Messaging ToolsINSTANT MESSAGING TOOLBOX: 90+ IM Tools

Metallica’s new album has leaked out a week or two early, unsurprisingly.  It isn’t surprsing because it’s Metallica, but that it happens to most every artist these days.  Some record store somewhere will sell a copy or two earlier than they should, one of those folks will share it with their friends, and lickety-split, it’s all over the Intertubes.

In this case, that’s almost exactly what happened, according to Blabbermouth

METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich has commented on the premature release of the band’s new album, ”Death Magnetic”, via a French record store. A shop in Paris reportedly sold a number of copies of the CD this morning well ahead of its official September 12 worldwide release date — with illegal ”Death Magnetic” MP3 files making their way online by this afternoon.

During a guest appearance earlier today on ”The Woody Show” on the San Francisco, California radio station Live 105 (KITS 105.3 FM), Ulrichstated about the French leak,

“Listen, we’re ten days from release. I mean, from here, we’re golden. If this thing leaks all over the world today or tomorrow, happy days. Happy days. Trust me. Ten days out and it hasn’t quote-unquote fallen off the truck yet? Everybody’s happy. It’s 2008 and it’s part of how it is these days, so it’s fine. We’re happy.”

This is the happy face that Metallica seems to be putting on this particular leak, and I’m not buying it for even a minute. Consistently since their role in the demise of Napster, they’ve maintained an adversarial role with their fans that continues to this day.  

If you remember, they were handed accolades in the blogosphere several months ago when they agreed to release their album free of DRM in digital format. Sean P. Aune wrote a post on his personal blog that at the time I thought was a little harsh, essentially saying the band was still clueless, and was nowhere close to “getting it.”

Their cluelessness a few days later was futher confirmed when they had their management issue takedown requests to all who reviewed the album based on invited advanced listenings.

I think our president once said something like “fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” With eloquence like that, you have to wonder, but I think even he would be a bit wary of Metallica’s true feelings on this.  

I’m guessing they aren’t going to get involved in another ridiculous lawsuit or criminal pursuit against the pirates of the world, but mark my words: if Metallica’s album sales aren’t simply spectacular, look for an irritated and enraged Lars Ulrich coming soon to a press conference near you to blame all the pirates of the world for preventing Metallica fans from keeping his private jet fueled up.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:RCMP Says: Piracy OK (for Personal Use)Metallica Has Smoked Themselves RetardedDon’t Download Illegally in France AnymoreDRM-free MP3s from Warner Music Now Available on AmazonStudy Confirms: Piracy Is Better Than The Real ThingHey, I Know A Way To Get Windows XP After June 30NBC Exec Heats Up Battle Against Piracy

Source:Mashable!

It didn’t take long for Second Life, a leader in 3D Virtual Worlds, to respond to There.com’s announcement of new features.The most compelling new feature There.com revealed was its innovative ThereIM which would allow its members to chat in 3D and 2D worlds at the same time. Not to be out-done by their competition, Second Life has announced their own instant messenger called SLim™ (Second Life Instant Messenger) that will work in the 2D and 3D worlds.

A whole New Virtual World

The thin client SLim™ will be a voice and text instant messaging client that will enable Second Life Residents to conduct voice or text conversations with members of their Second Life Friends list in and out of the virtual world. While the Second Life viewer will still serve as the primary communication engine, SLim is capable of running on any computer and offers users a voice-enabled instant messaging client that extends the value of the Second Life platform beyond the virtual world.

Breaking down the Barriers

Allowing communication between the virtual world and the regular online world is a major hurdle that has hampered wider acceptance of that platform. Taking down this barrier will be a boon not only for entertainment purposes but also for commercial and corporate endeavors. Enabling interaction between these two separate worlds will surely take 3D virtual worlds to the next level.

Additional features of the SLim client:

- Provides residents with access to their Second Life Friends list with real-time “presence” status updates

- Enables users to seamlessly migrate a text conversation into a voice call

- Allows SLim users to leave voice mails for offline friends

Availability

Linden Lab and Vivox will be demonstrating the benefits of SLim at this week’s Virtual Worlds Conference in Los Angeles, California. The official release date has not been made public.

Conclusion

The future of 3D virtual worlds looks brighter than ever thanks to the two announcements made by There.com and Second Life. We can all expect more innovation to come from this platform as it becomes more integrated with the rest of our online experiences.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Armani in Second LifeSecond Life Gets Identity VerificationThe Future Of Linden Lab Following Executive ShuffleSecond Life Teams Up With IBM for Virtual World InteroperabilitySecurity Experts Expose Costly Vulnerability in Second LifeNew App Merges Facebook and Second LifeDoes Second Life Need a Reuters Office?

Out of the hundreds of articles and posts out there on how companies should utilize social media and Web 2.0, CNN seems to be one of the few major corporations out there that have paid attention. CNN is one of the few broadcast networks with an expansive line of shining examples in the Web 2.0 space, from basic RSS and bookmarking options to embeddable videos, and its fully user generated content platform iReport.com.

What amazes me most about CNN has not been the millions of iReport submissions or the Web 2.0/social media, it’s that it seems CNN is now the first official broadcast network (not just news related) to start using Twitter and heavily promoting it on air. For instance, today I watched as CNN Anchor and Editor Don Lemon fished for Twitter replies after various segments. I’m sure this is only one of the many mentions to come and I’m sure we’ll see a large jump in his followers from here on out.

So, CNN gets it… What do you think about their on air Twitter plugs? Is there any other major company you can think of that’s an early adopter and getting it right?

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