AJ Vaynerchuk

Rumors are flying that Twitter is trying to raise some more funding. Here’s what Silicon Alley Insider had to say:

“Last summer, Twitter raised about $5 million at a $20 million valuation. This time, we hear its looking for about $15 million at about a $60 million valuation. We hear the company is talking to the “usual suspects” — we assume this means existing investors like Union Square Ventures and Charles River Ventures, as well as players like Spark Capital — and hopes to have a deal done soon.”

I know what I think, but I want to hear from you. Here are some suggested topics:

Do you think Twitter has a business model in mind?

Will Advertisements be enough?

Is Twitter worth more or less than $60 million?

Enough from me, what do you think?

Before I start, big big big thank you to Scott Beale and everyone who put together last night’s Laughing Squid Pre-ROFLcon drink up. It was nothing short of amazing!

Check out some of Scott’s and Steve Garfield’s pictures from last night on Flickr.

Now onto the live blogging…

12:03 PM

Made my way over to MIT in 10 minutes (finally a tech event where I don’t have to travel out to San Francisco!). After wondering around for a few minutes I managed to find my way to registration. Already have seen some familiar faces - Kenyatta, Jamie, and Andrew from Rocketboom, Tron Guy, and Scott Beale from Laughing Squid. My boy MSG just arrived.

12:34 PM

Just met Alexis Ohanian from Reddit. Alexis was going around grabbing signatures from ROFLcon speakers for a one laptop per child laptop, all proceeds are going towards charity, what a great cause! I will be uploading a video of Alexis showing off the laptop from MSG’s flip in a few minutes. UPDATE: Watch the Video Here

12:49 PM

David Weinberger is setting the tone for a great ROFLcon. Internet meme after Internet meme.

1:00 PM

The first panel is starting up:

YOU CAN GET PAID FOR THIS?: MAKING SOME BUCKS

Moderator: David Weinberger
Panelists: Kyle Macdonald (One Red Paperclip), Joe Mathelete (Joe Mathelete Explains Marmaduke), Ian Spector (Chuck Norris Facts), Andy Ochiltree (JibJab.com), Andrew Baron (Rocketboom), Alex Tew (The Million Dollar Homepage)

David Weinberger: “So are you still making continuous revenue from One Red Paper Clip?”
Kyle Macdonald: “Yeah, yeah, I wrote a book, I actually have a few in my backpack, want to buy one?”

1:17 PM

The panel started off slow, but now we are getting deeper into the background stories of the panelists. Interesting fact that MSG just pointed out: All the panelists are mentioning Boing Boing as a launching pad towards popularity.

1:21 PM

Ian Spector: “So it basically started as, it’s a Saturday night and I don’t know where my friends are.”

1:28pm

Alex Tew: “The Million Dollar Homepage was a 4 month story. I think that’s why people responded to it.”

1:37 PM

Joe Mathelete: “People will really pay you if the idea is clever, it’s amazing.”

1:38 PM

Ian Spector: “I try not to hype up what I’ve done, I mean, I’m still in college and may do important things in my life.”

1:50 PM

Sexism playing a role in a major conversation here on this panel. Lot of interesting points being brought up.

1:58 PM

The panel is coming to a close. Thanks to all the panelists and David Weinberger. Time for lunch!

2:48 PM

Still on lunch, but here is a link to a bunch of ROFLcon pictures on Flickr

3:36 PM

My good friend Patrick Ewing is in the house.

3:39 PM

PANEL: LOLCATS: I CAN HAZ CASE STUDY?

Moderator: Alexis Ohanian
Panelists: “Cheez” aka Ben Huh (I Can Has Cheezburger), Martin Grondin (LOLCat Bible), Ryan and Arija (LOLSecretz), Stephen Granades (LOLTrek), Adam Lindsay (LOLCode)

3:44 PM

Ben Huh: My parents think I am a doctor.

3:57 PM

Alexis Ohanian: How do you feel about the effect this will have on the English language?

4:04 PM

Ben Huh: You need to declare war on sleep.

4:07 PM

Ben Huh: Lolspeak is the only language created in written form first. The voice you hear is in your head.

4:18 PM

Audience Member: “You guys have made me LOL LOL LOL many of times.”

4:32 PM

Fun Fact: For the LOLcats book, the founders are skimming through 850,000 or so pictures. The estimate for pictures even worth considering? 2,000.

4:38 PM

If you are going to do something that you think will be successful, buy the mispelt domains

4:42 PM

The next panel coming up at 5:00 PM -

PWNING FOR GOOD OF MANKIND

Moderator: Lana Swartz, Comparative Media Studies, MIT
Panelists: Dino Ignacio (Bert Is Evil), Leslie Hall (Gem Sweater), Justine Ezarik (iJustine), Ji Lee (Bubble Project), Eric Schoenborn (ACLU)

5:13 PM

Getting tired, nothing worthy to note. After today I must say, I don’t think I am in love with panels.

Introduction

In case you are living under a rock, Facebook launched Facebook Chat. Yesterday I spent a lot of time chatting with friends - most of that chat dealt with Facebook Chat itself. In general, I would have to say that I had a great first time experience. I conversed with friends that I would not normally reach out for simply because I did not have their AOL Instant Messenger screen names. The fact that Facebook eliminates this obstacle is a huge plus. That being said, there were a few issues I had with the usability of Facebook Chat, and I think that a Facebook Chat Desktop Client would make the Facebook Chat experience top notch. On top of that, a desktop client provides Facebook the opportunity to enter new markets.

Most Successful Instant Messenger Services Use Desktop Clients

AOL Instant Messenger, my personal instant messenger service of choice, is a great example of a desktop client succeeding. Most users are used to this type of setting, and even though there are services like Meebo, it is a normalized practice among most instant messenger services. Personally, if Facebook Chat came out with a desktop client, I wouldn’t even hesitate to make the switch away from AOL.

Possible Facebook Chat Desktop Client Killer Features

Integrating a Facebook Chat Bot

Every time you get a notification, wall post, event invite, group invite etc. (obviously you would choose these options) you would receive an instant message from the official Facebook Chat bot.

Choose Between Live Chat, Wall Posts, and Private Messages

When scanning through your buddy list a great option would allow for the users to have the ability to choose the type of message he or she is sending. Certain messages fall into certain categories, and it would be great to skip the process of opening up Facebook, searching for the friend, and then sending out the message. Off the top of my head, each chat box could have a small little drop down menu declaring the type of message you want to send.

Integrating Video Chat

Services such as Skype and AOL IM allow users to engage in video chat. Facebook has more users than both of these services combined (I think) and by adding this feature to an soon-coming desktop client would give Facebook another majority share in an interesting market.

What Do You Think?

What do you think about a Facebook Chat Desktop Client? What other features could be added to both improve the experience for the users and Facebook’s business?

The much awaited Facebook Chat launched today for all users (read more here). Now that all of you have had a few hours or so to play around with Facebook’s latest feature I was wondering what you think of it. Here are some suggested topics to cover:

Will Facebook Chat increase your usage of Facebook?

Do you like Facebook Chat’s features?

Will Facebook Chat hurt other instant messenger services (AIM, yahoo chat, ICQ and such)

Enough from me, what do you think?

Twitter Bots can make the Twitter experience that much more effective. Here is a random list of bots that you may or may not enjoy:

CNN Breaking News

CNN Breaking News (14,939 followers) - This twitter bot feeds you breaking news headlines from CNN. Unfortunately, the tweets come without direct links, so if you want to continue reading, head on over to CNN.com. If you are a news junky, this is a must follow.

ESPN Top Stories

ESPN (1,262 followers) - This twitter bot feeds you top story headlines from ESPN. Unlike the CNN bot, each and every tweet comes with a link to the full story. If you are a sports nut (like me) this is definitely a bot to follow.

Woot

Woot (6,919 followers) - This twitter bot notifies you of the Woot item of the day. If you are Woot regular you know how quick some items can sell out. Having this bot stops you from having to visit Woot.com 20 times a day, it even notifies you when the item of the day sells out! The only downside to this bot is the fact that it looks like it hasn’t been working for the last 8 days (otherwise it’s great!)

Answerme

Answerme (389 followers) - This twitter bot allows you to ask questions and give answers with the rest of the Twitter community. This is a great bot to use if you are looking to stir up interesting conversation, grab data from your followers, or if you are simply looking for answer to a complicated question. * Disclaimer: I am a part of the answerme project

LOLcats

I Can Has Cheez Burger (1,695 followers) - Everyone loves LOLcats, and this bot provides you just that. Every time a new cat is posted on icanhascheezburger, this twitter bot will let you know about it. All you have to do is click the link to see the cat.

Wondering how you can make your own Twitter bot? Check out this nice little guide to making twitter bots.