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Michael Geist

If 2006 was the year of YouTube, 2007 has been Facebook’s year. The growth of social media, led by Facebook, has taken the world by storm. Since January, Facebook has added 250,000 new users each day. Canadians have led the way, accounting for about 8 million of the site’s nearly 60 million global users.

The hyper-growth does not tell the whole story, however. Facebook has also garnered considerable attention regarding its user privacy policies, online marketing strategies, and the short-sighted decision of some companies and governments to block employee access to the site.

While these issues have shone the spotlight on some of the challenges of social media, the lasting lesson of Facebook may come from a series of events that unfolded over the past two weeks. They demonstrate that Facebook is far more than just a cool way to catch up with old friends; rather, it is an incredibly effective and efficient tool that can be used to educate and galvanize grassroots advocacy, placing unprecedented power into the hands of individuals.

Read More At The Toronto Star
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The BBC has launched a massive online service allowing people to download some 400 hours of recent programming.

The service, launched Friday, will give viewers a choice from 70 per cent of the British broadcaster’s output, including popular programs such as EastEnders and Doctor Who. Programs from the previous week will be made available.

“Our vision is for BBC iPlayer to become a universal service available not just over the internet, but also on cable and other TV platforms, and eventually on mobiles and smart hand-held devices,” said the BBC’s Ashley Highfield, director of future media and technology.

Highfield said the BBC’s new service is a response to the popularity of video-sharing sites such as YouTube as well as competition from other U.K. networks such as Channel 4.

He says the audience is tiring of fixed TV schedules and viewers want the option of watching programs whenever they want to.

The service is free and is only available to people living in Britain with computers running the Microsoft XP operating system. It takes about 30 minutes to download an hour-long show.

Programs will be automatically deleted after viewing or after 30 days. Copyright protection software prevents the copying of shows.

CBC

For those of you in Great Britian who can take advantage of this service, check it out here.