Subject: Social Software and Tagging

• No Love from the Bunny

  August 31, 2006

• That Girl Is Top Eight Material

  April 25, 2007

• Sex Offenders on MySpace? No Way!

  June 14, 2007

• Remembering Jimmy "T-99" Nelson

  July 31, 2007

• Miss Pop Rocks: Do You Know Who I Hate? The Olly Girls.

  August 31, 2007

• You’ve Got a Friend in Drenched

  November 6, 2007

• Navigating MySpace’s Musical Wilderness

  December 28, 2007

• Cover Story: Saving Lobo from Montgomery County's Animal Control Department

  February 7, 2008

• MySpaced Out: A MySpace Mixtape

  February 29, 2008

• SXSW Day 1: Tricks of the Trade

  March 12, 2008

• Twitter This

  April 28, 2008

• Facebook Responds to the Texas Attorney General's Office

  May 13, 2008

• Twitter Is Very Important!

  July 14, 2008

• In the Shade: News on the March to play around 3-ish

  August 3, 2008

• Sole of Houston: Strip Mall Taverns on the Southwest Side

  August 12, 2008

• Miss Pop Rocks: Special Hurricane Ike Edition

  September 19, 2008

• Facebook Lawsuit Has A Houston Connection

  September 30, 2008

• Artist of the Week: Miss Mykie

  October 1, 2008

• The Secret World Of Dan Patrick, Via Twitter

  Dan Patrick -- hyperbolic talk-show host, slightly unhinged state senator -- has joined the Twitter world.Normally, that wouldn't be too exciting, as his Twitter page proves ("Getting ready for the 81st Texas Legislature session").But the decision gave his compadres at Lone Star Times the chance to come up with what Patrick should be Twittering, if only he just said whatever came into his mind (Wait, he doesn't?) The result is a pretty funny deal called "Dan's Secret Tweet" and includes som

  December 18, 2008

• Artist of the Week: Miss Buffy

  Each Wednesday (barring holidays), Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com. We're pretty good about coming up with goofy and unnecessary classifications for the music that we listen to so as to make us sound intelligent: alt-indie-Texana, grungey-electronica-rock, rolling-bebop-ra

  January 2, 2009

• Tweating Out

  Twitter, the microblogging and social media tool that's become increasingly popular among the technologically hip, both young and old, has literally thousands of applications.  How any one person (or company) uses Twitter is unique unto them.While some people (also called Twitterers or Tweeple) use Twitter to keep in touch with friends or to share useful information, others use it as a business tool or marketing platform.  Still others use it primarily for networking.  Foodies,

  January 6, 2009

• Burger King Urges You to Abandon Your Friends for Whoppers

  I have to say, I wish Burger King's food was better. Because their marketing department is evidently full of interesting people who, unlike other companies who balk at any controversy whatsoever, simply do not care whose feelings get hurt. Burger King has announced the implementation of the Whopper Sacrifice promotion, which is an application you add to your Facebook profile. Once you've added it, for every ten friends you delete, you get a free Whopper. If I liked Whoppers more, I'd call it

  January 9, 2009

• Sole Of Houston: Airline Drive, Part 1

  The longest walk in the history of the Sole of Houston requires the longest piece. This being a blog and all, we have decided to break it up into three installments. Coming today, tomorrow and Thursday in this tale of 22-plus miles of concrete, mud, and fairly cold weather: The fending off a potential psycho killer and the drunkest crack dealer who ever lived, the most sinister strip mall in all of Greater Houston, a sprawling, festive Mexican mercado, a drink in a historic off-the-radar nigh

  January 13, 2009

• Sole of Houston: Airline Drive, Part 2

  The longest walk in the history of the Sole of Houston requires the longest piece. This being a blog and all, we have decided to break it up into three installments.This is part two. Yesterday's is here, and we'll wrap it up tomorrow.In this installment, we venture west down Aldine-Bender from Aldine Westfield to Airline Drive.Aldine Bender is cockfighters and 8-liners deluxe, an intensification of the sparse version of same way up north.One of the prime attractions, for us, anyway, of its east

  January 14, 2009

• Facebook Hamstrings Whopper Sacrifice Application

  It was easy to guess that Burger King's somewhat mean-spirited Whopper Sacrifice Facebook application was going to draw some kind of fire; less easy to guess was that the fire would be drawn from Facebook itself, because the application, to put it bluntly, worked too well. In the world of Whopper Sacrifice, ten friends de-friended equaled one Whopper. Part of the ingenuity of the Whopper Sacrifice application was that when one de-friended people from one's Facebook, the application sent them a

  January 15, 2009

• A Call for More Honesty in Facebook Status Updates

  I'll admit it...I'm as self-absorbed as the next person when it comes to writing Facebook status updates. I know no one really cares if I'm watching Larry King or filing my nails or whatever, yet for some reason I choose to update my status line constantly. Have you noticed that very few people seem to have negative Facebook status updates? Everyone on Facebook is happy, or looking forward to a new day, or taking a bath, or reading a great novel. The Facebook status line is the new designer

  February 5, 2009

• Slideshow: Houston Twestival at Caroline Collective

  Last night at Caroline Collective, hundreds of Houston Tweeters gathered for charity, conversation and music. Mark C. Austin brought back plenty of photos. Follow us on Twitter here.

  February 13, 2009

• Follow Friday for Foodies

  The group collective on Twitter, the increasingly popular micro-blogging and social networking platform, has developed a recent tradition called Follow Friday.  Follow Friday is part circle jerk, part honest and helpful advice from your Twitter friends on who to follow if you're new or simply looking to expand your circle of friends and acquaintances.  Every Friday, those who participate in the weekly routine send out a Tweet or two with suggestions of influential, interestin

  February 13, 2009

• A New Way to Crawl

  Lennie Ambrose, events and marketing director at Saint Arnold and @saintarnold on Twitter.Any Houstonian who's fond of beer is familiar with Saint Arnold, our hometown hero microbrewery.  And anyone familiar with Saint Arnold has been on at least one of their famed pub crawls through Rice Village, Galveston, Midtown or any number of other locations (even Austin!). As of late, the pub crawls had become enormous, the hordes of people careening from location to location like a tida

  February 19, 2009

• Dept. Of Good Ideas: Transtar Is Twittering

  Transtar, the umbrella agency that coordinates traffic on Houston roads, is entering the Twitterarium, or whatever the kidz be calling it these days.Go to their main link and you can get individualized Twittering for all of the area's main roads."Twitter is a great way to give travelers the quickest, simplest news about what's going on with the roads they travel most often," Jack Whaley, Director of Houston TranStar, said in a release. "When it's rush hour, getting through an entire traffic upda

  April 7, 2009

• Twitter With The Rockets

  Photo by Rudy E. Escoto(Note: This post is by our Rockets writer Ben DuBose. We're efforting, as they say in TV/radio, to fix the byline glitch.)Last Thursday, I told a friend I didn't understand the Twitter obsession and what it offered that, say, a traditional Facebook status did not. Less than 24 hours later, I relented and joined the masses.So, for the Twitterers out there reading, here's another real-time Rockets feed from your resident Rockets' beat guy: http://www.twitter.com/BenDuBose. Y

  April 13, 2009

• Local Guy's Suit Against Pat Robertson Helped By Racism From Pat Robertson's Students

  New evidence may help a Spring man prove the freedom of expression case he's filed in federal court claiming that Regent University, founded by televangelist Pat Robertson in Virginia, unconstitutionally kicked him out of school for posting a picture on the Internet of Robertson scratching his face with his middle finger extended. Former Regent University law student Adam Key made national headlines when, the lawsuit claims, he was banned from classes in 2007 after he posted the picture of Rober

  April 14, 2009

• Musicians on Twitter

  Is the "microblog" Internet phenomenon the next leap forward or just a tweeting waste of time?

  February 12, 2009

• This One Time at BandCamp

  October 16, 2008

• Caught In The Net

  August 21, 2008

• “Lawndale Has Many Friends”

  Brian Piana creates an entire art installation to gain Top Friend status

  December 6, 2007

• Hard Like Satin

  January 5, 2006

• Big Show

  July 6, 2006

• Rev It Up

  Roaring engines, screaming guitars and...Net safety?

  July 13, 2006

• Move Over, MySpace: Not So Fast

  Local musicians aren't ready to write off MySpace just yet

  July 12, 2007

• Move Over, MySpace

  With friends like these...

  July 12, 2007

• Dan Hunter and the MySpace Race

  Can clicks become sales?

  May 17, 2007

• The Upside of MySpace

  How it's changed things for the better

  May 10, 2007

• Better Watch What You're Putting On Your Facebook Page

  Allegedly, more people use Facebook than e-mail, and during the last several months, Twitter became a verb. But for Corporate America, that could cause some problems, according to Houston attorney Chris Schaeper. "Twenty years ago, you might be having beers with an old frat buddy from college and have a conversation you probably shouldn't have, but who's going to find out?" Schaeper tells Hair Balls. "With Twitter, now there's a track record. It's out there forever."The problem lies in all those

  May 1, 2009

• Perverts, Beware

  May 28, 2009

• Social Media Smackdown: Facebook vs. LinkedIn

  They tell you landing a job via social media that won't trigger your gag reflex is a piece of cake. They share insider tips and tricks like Carrie and Samantha dishing blowjob techniques over Cosmos. They tell you to keep your nose clean, but if you can't, don't post photos of it online. So when it comes to making those cash money connections, who gives you The Big O? Uh, and "O" stands for "opportunity." Pervert. Euphemisms aside, which social networking site is gonna getcha the green? Whe

  June 26, 2009

• The 7 Most Obnoxious Twitter Users

  ​Twitter is faced with a looming problem these days. As it grows in popularity (and in users), Twitter backlash has grown alongside it. Non-Twitter users don't understand the social opportunities associated with using Twitter and how Twitterers can quickly become part of networks that were never previously available to them (or that they simply never knew of before). They don't fully understand the technology behind Twitter -- that is, that you don't just view a public timeline, but onl

  August 27, 2009

• Local Mayoral Campaigns Use Social Media, and Apparently That's News

  ​If you don't have eyes, ears, or a television set with that nonsensical converter box, you may not be aware that today kicks off early voting for stuff that's pretty crucial to the Houston political agenda. Not only can you stick your ballot in the box for City Council, City Controller, community college and public school boards and the like, but you can also plant your seed for change in the fertile soils of the Bayou City's mayoral race. So to speak. If you believe the Chron, Housto

  October 19, 2009

• Unfollowed & Defriended: Online Rejection Sucks

  ​The hefty bovine heartily clearing the moon had nothin' on you when you located your closest chum from elementary school on Facebook. The only glee rivaling yours was that of the dish skippin' town with the spoon when your hometown sports hero followed you back on Twitter. But months later, a Captain Planet episode -- featuring the lusty Planeteer Linka the Russian that you and Closest Chum salivated over after school -- jarred your brain back to that friend request. A friend request

  November 10, 2009

• Metro Rolls Out Facebook & Twitter Accounts To Zero Fanfare

  ​In a press release clearly launched from the Stone Age, the Bayou City's Metropolitan Transit Authority (that's Metro, if you're nasty) puffed up its chest and triumphantly declared today that it is "expanding the conversation by adding social media tools Facebook and Twitter to its communication portfolio."Oh goody gumdrops! Yes, folks, that's a bona fide quote, straight from the horse's mouth. We know you're trying to decide whether to yawn or vomit. Just remove your finger from your th

  November 17, 2009