Today is a sad day for both the music industry and the world. Whether you were a Michael Jackson fan or not, you had to respect the man as a performer and personality. Everyone has a Michael Jackson song that brings him or her back to a moment in their lives. (As someone who attempted to memorize the dance moves in thriller, I've got a couple of those).

As you might imagine, Magnify has quite a few Michael Jackson related channels. But when I took a look last night, I was taken aback by the sheer number of channels dedicate to Michael Jackson on the Magnify Network. There are channels that cover every part of his music and life and beyond. As a tribute, we are going to shar...

Politics and Magnify

By Ben Joseph (Content Curation Expert, Video Artist and Intern at Magnify.net)

In our world, we are faced with an incessant amount of political news. In just the past few weeks, we have seen unprecedented violence as Iranians have taken the streets to protest the re-election of President Ahmadinejad.  In Iraq, further aggression has continued as the U.S. withdrawal deadline quickly approaches.  In northwestern Pakistan, soldiers have been relentless in their fight against the Taliban.  Even in national politics, we have seen a new President face a wide range of social and economic challenges.

Searching for political news, in a sense, can be an incredibly overwhelming task.  While major news publications, blogs and RSS feeds can supply filtered and updated information, a person is oftentimes left wanting more.&n...

We are really excited about teaming up with Etsy.com to power the first "Handmade Moment" video contest -  allowing Etsy users to submit short videos for a chance to win thousands of dollars in prizes. Etsy has an amazing community of users and the entries for the contest so far are blowing us away. Amazingly creative, interesting, passionate, funny and more. Go to the site and watch some of the entries now. And if you are a content creator, get involved!

As you might expect, the contest has already been getting a good amount of attention. See the official release below for more information on the contest and Etsy.

Etsy.com Announces Online Video Contest, Offers Aspiring Videographers Cash Prizes and Unique Exposure

Artists and Filmmakers are invited to share their inspiration by creating promotional videos for the world's leading handmade marketplace

Brooklyn, NY - June 18, 2009 - Etsy.com is announcing its first video contest, aimed at celebrating t...

Over the next couple of days, The Open Video Conference will be taking place at New York University (June 19-21st). Magnify is an official sponsor of the conference and we can't think of a better organization to throw our support behind. The conference is getting together industry leaders to discuss the open video movement, the future of online video, public policy and innovation in the space. It is a really exciting event and we urge everyone in the area to come by, listen to a few of the panels and say hello (we'll be the guys behind the table with a bunch of Magnify signs and free gear!). There are also parties, hacker get togethers, food and more!

For more information on the conference such as schedule and speakers, check out the website.

You can also follow the conference on Twitter. (#openvid)

Get your Twitter Story published LIVE, on screen - at the 140 Character Conference (#140conf) -  and get your Tweet On! 

Tune In Here:   www.140conf.tv - you can watch videos and submit your own. 

Register to attend at http://www.140conf.com/register  use discount code:  "magnify"  for significant savings

The 140 Character Conference  will be taking place at 340 W. 50th Street at New World Stages in New York City on June 16/17.

MONDAYS'  TWITTER QUESTION:      "What's Your Best Twitter Story?"  

Love stories.  great intro's.  discoveries.  etc.  Se...

We want to extend a warm welcome to everyone joining Magnify from ChannelMe and Vidiac (and of course welcome to everyone who came from other places as well). We have already been overly impressed by the variety and quality of the channels you have created on the Magnify Platform and are excited to watch as new channels pop up each day.

We know the transition or change to a new platform can at times be stressful. We are here to help and make it as easy as possible. Have a question on implementing a feature? Wondering about advertising or making money on your channel? Ask! Nothing makes us happier than showing new users all the cool and valuable tools on the Magnify platform. Think of us as your video sherpas.

We also want to let you know about the support and community resources at Magnify:

Forums – Read questions and answers from other users and join in the conversation.
Video Tutorials – A full set of st...

Curate The Cloud

By Steve Rosenbaum (CEO of Magnify.net)

Article orginally appeared on JackMyers.com

There's a storm brewing. A huge, noisy, thunder and lightning storm of content, community and chaos. But there's good news too - there's a silver lining in the Cloud.

And now - with the announcement that the Apple iPhone will in fact become a video recording device, we surely can see that the content creation chaos is only going to increase in the months ahead.

This is good news. Great news if you're a publisher, blogger, or advertiser.

Okay, I know it doesn't feel that way now - but let me take you on a journey into the future. Not the far future, the future just around the bend - to a time when news finds you. To a time when publishing is effortless. When content contribution is expected and e...

Magnify's best-of-breed video tools to power Vidiac channels

New York, NY. June 9th, 2009. Vidiac, the leader in enthusiast video verticals and Magnify.net, the web's fastest growing video curation and publishing platform, announced today a partnership which will enable Vidiac hosted sites to transition to a video 2.0 discovery platform.  Magnify.net will power the new sites, giving Vidiac.com access to a wide array of new features and services.

Vidiac was one of the early innovators in the channel creation space, building a solid and fast growing network of enthusiast sites and verticals. Vidiac is currently seeing almost 4 million unique visitors each month, reaching core verticals including Anime, Automotive, Entertainment, Film/TV, Hobbies, Men's Lifestyle, Music, Sports and Video Games.

Magnify will assume responsibility for the creation and management of all future channels created at Vidiac.com.  

For Vidiac.com channel builders, some of the great new features available include a custom filtered Twitter feed, 20-plus new page templates, Google Maps Widget, and seven ad...

Today is a big day in Magnify history. Magnus, the Magnify mascot, is celebrating his first birthday. He is getting a lot of love from the Magnify community and NYC on his big day. Magnus' origins are still a cause of great debate (another planet, Bruce Willis' love child, Steve Rosenbaum's 3rd son) but we are keeping our mouths shut! We love the little orange guy and to celebrate we took him out to Time Square in New York City. Below is the video of what happened.

We have a great team of interns at Magnify and decided it was time to take them out of their cages and introduce them to the Magnify community. You might have seen a couple of them at tech events, volleyball matches, motorcycle races or in New Jersey. All joking aside, we are really fortunate to have such a good group and we rely on their hard word and creativity everyday. Here they are in their own words.

Hi, my name is Filip Szymanski.  You might know me from the Magnify tutorial videos posted here.  This past December I graduated from The University of South Carolina (GO COCKS!) with a degree in Psychology and Business Administration.  Despite having a major that has almost nothing to do with online video, I live for the Internet!  Every minute you see me; I'm on the Internet in some form or another.

...

April Chapple is the creator of Vovidvo; a Magnify channel dedicated to showcasing volleyball videos from around the world. The site is a great example of a dedicated user focused on creating a viable business based on video curation in a niche vertical. April was one of the first users to take advantage of Magnify's Quick Start Package and has impressed us with her devotion and curation skills. If you are a volleyball fan or interested in utilizing video curation for your business, this is a must read!

Magnify: When was the idea for the channel first conceived? What was the motivation?
April: The idea for an international volleyball video site (Vovidvo) was in my business plan for more than four years. The motivation was based on two observations:
a) That almost all existing volleyball video sites promoted their own videos and rarely those of others and b) I saw the need for one central fuss free site where volleyb...