The American Society of Magazine Editors announced nominations for their annual National Magazine Awards last week, and for the first time included a brand new category: Magazine of the year. The official press release from the Magazine Publishers of America, defines the new award as, "honor(ing) publications that successfully use both print and digital media in fulfilling the editorial mission of the magazine." Let's take a look at the first time honorees: The Atlantic; Fast Company; Glamour; Men’s Health; and New York. (more...)

If you are one of Facebook's more than 350 million users and have logged in since last night, you were greeted by an open letter from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg outlining a sweeping set of changes to the site. Regional networks are officially dead and gone (though Mashable called their demise a while ago). And privacy settings are getting a major shakeup. The comments on Zuckerberg's note tend towards favorable, but one, somewhat unrelated question keeps popping up: where's the dislike button? (more...)

Esquire is teasing its upcoming December issue as a new "living, breathing, moving, talking magazine," using 3-D technology and augmented reality to integrate real images and graphics with both its articles and advertisements. With Robert Downey Jr. as its cover star, the issue (to be released November 9th) features six interactive "boxes" and at least one Lexus ad in which readers can use their computers to see bonus three-dimensional features. (more...)

The Twitter "retweet" is the method by which tweets are replicated and responded to, thus passed on to more and more followers, using the user-generated lingo "RT," and has become one of the most important aspects of the social networking service. As part of his upcoming The Social Media Marketing Book, viral marketing scientist (yes, in 2009 this job title exists) Dan Zarrella has compiled a 22-page report called "The Science of Retweeting" after "nine months analyzing roughly 5 million tweets and 40 million retweets," according to a blog post from Fast Company. Though the full report is set for release tomorrow, Zarrella offered Fast Company's Dan Macsai a preview of his findings, including the "nine most effective ways to get retweeted on Twitter," thereby ensuring viral viability. (more...)

In anticipation of his new book Viral Loop about "the interconnectedness of today's socially networked society" and the way things grow online, Adam Penenberg (Fast Company, Wired) has commissioned the design of an eponymous Facebook application to test his thesis. Described as part "infographic, game, and research project" Viral Loop estimates what slice of Facebook's billions are all thanks to you, based on your friends list and site activity. But in a meta twist, the application also functions as an advertisement for Penenberg's upcoming tech book. (more...)

Yesterday, MSNBC.com announced its plans to buy EveryBlock, an upstart young website that aggregates newspaper articles, blog posts, Flickr photos, and public records like restaurant inspections and crime reports city block by city block to create so-called "hyper-local coverage" in fifteen cities. Since it was founded two years ago, the site had been running on a grant from the Knight Foundation, which recently expired. EveryBlock's founder, Adrian Holovaty, told journalism.co.uk that in its current form, the site only does "five percent of what we want to do with it" and that it will "expand profoundly" with MSNBC.com's backing. (more...)

Before the Web, magazines were immediate, relevant and "dripping cool," Jim Gaines, veteran magazine guy and former editor of Life, People and Time, told Fast Company. These days, however, magazine websites are none of those things (don't believe me?). Enter the online multimedia magazine Flyp, Gaines' attempt at synthesizing the dripping cool, the gripping narrative and the masterful design of magazines for the Web. Flyp comes out in "biweekly issues" and is full of content designed to reel you in — a Web version of magazine features' magnetism. (more...)