When you’re new to the social media scene, the number of sites you need to monitor may feel overwhelming. Fortunately, Mashable has a great post about free tools that will have anyone up and running with online reputation monitoring on blogs, blog comments, Twitter, message boards, and more. Definitely worth a look!

Twitter has been pretty stable lately, and the Fail Whale hasn’t made an appearance for me for what seems like at least a month. Even though the service has made great strides recently, and has attracted a lot of mainstream attention from news outlets such as CNN, @biz and @ev are concerned with the service’s “sustainability,” which is understandable. Although when I use ad-supported Twitter programs like Twitterrific for the iPhone, it makes me think that Twitter could include in-feed ads, charge for premium accounts (maybe with a raised follow limit?) or throw banner ads up without upsetting the user base.

Still, I appreciate that Twitter is devoted to getting its act together before figuring out how to make money. But with swelling numbers of users and investors breathing down their necks, how long can they afford to do so?

“The Quietus kept our article up the longest and, as no non-disclosure agreement had been signed, [was] not prepared to remove it merely due to the demands of Metallica’s management,” Turner continued. “We only eventually removed the article earlier today to protect the professional interests of the writer concerned (the piece was written anonymously).”

Metallica has a long history of alienating their biggest fans, and clearly fears digital media, but this feels clumsy and ham-fisted even for them. If the album mix wasn’t final, they shouldn’t have invited writers to listen to it and then act shocked when they, you know, wrote about it.

Blog It would be very cool if it allowed you display all of your information on one page as well as update it all from one page, which would in essence “eliminate the middle man” of the various social media sites and make it extremely convenient and less time consuming for users to update and display their info. I can’t imagine the Twitters, YouTubes and WordPresses of the world would be too pleased with this service, but really, it’s only a matter of time, isn’t it?

The most apt description for MySpace I’ve ever heard is that it’s like a terrible club with gaudy decorations, expensive drinks and awful music – but your friends hang out there, so you find yourself hanging out there, too.

Today was “International Delete Your MySpace Account Day.” I understand the reasoning here, but for me, it’s hindered by one important fact: MySpace is the most popular social network in the world. It’s important to understand MySpace because of its size and popularity. Like it or not, MySpace isn’t going anywhere, a fact that becomes especially evident when you compare it to the technically-superior competitors that have come and gone as MySpace has thrived.

So, although I was tempted to delete that rarely-visited, poorly-maintained private profile of mine, I ultimately decided to keep it. I’ll endure the drawbacks and hope MySpace gets its act together as other networks catch fire.

I remember the first entry on the list, JenniCam, being quite controversial back in the late 90s – a fact that seems quaint in light of what’s available online today. Still, it’s an interesting look back on how online video has evolved over the last decade.

In the 90′s it seemed like everyone had a personal home page with pictures, interests and links to other pages they liked. The social network has largely replaced the home page, and many people maintain blogs and accounts with any of the countless Web 2.0 services that compete for our attention.

I would really like to figure out how to include all of this information on one page, with each aspect featuring its own RSS feed. Facebook has come the closest to this idea since it opened up its API, but users there are still stuck, in many ways, within a walled garden. Web widgets are also progressing in this direction, but don’t offer the essential ability to customize.

Looks like I have some research to do.

New regulations require soldiers to clear content of blogs and e-mails with a superior officer, Wired said. The directive, issued April 19, could lead to the end of military blogs — known within the military culture as ‘miliblogs’ — observers told Wired.

Military officials have wrestled for years with striking a balance between the need for discretion in wartime and the benefits of allowing troops in the field to connect personally with the public, the magazine said — especially since the troops are often seen as among the most effective advocates for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I understand that some of the information coming out of the war is extremely sensitive, and the military needs to ensure confidential information isn’t accidentally distributed. In the real world, though, the majority of superior officers will simply not have the time to go through each and every blog post for approval, and blogging will shrivel up. It’s a shame, because most milbloggers strongly believe in their mission and are able to articulate their hopes and successes. They’re a rare source of positive PR in the war.

I would have really liked to have seen the military adopt a blogging policy similar to some large companies (such as IBM) which outlines what you can and cannot say, what information is confidential, and so on, and possibly require milbloggers to simply alert their superior officers to their blog’s presence. They would have the best of both worlds in terms of accountability and freedom, and I’d still be able to look forward to stories from the front lines.

The power of Web 2.0 is in full effect over at Digg, where users are revolting over Digg’s decision to pull a story (that netted over 15,000 diggs) and reportedly boot a user for posting the HD-DVD AACS Processing Key number, which would allow someone to crack the copy protection on an HD-DVD. The front page (along with two and three) of Digg consists entirely of stories flaunting the number or criticizing Digg for its actions.

I’ve been following this to some extent, and it’s really quite remarkable – Every story description includes the HD-DVD AACS key, usually incorporated in a very creative way. (The screencaps at Gizmodo are worth a thousand words.) Unfortunately, it’s also made Digg more-or-less worthless as a resource for finding interesting news stories. Sites that rely heavily on user-contributed information have really revolutionized the way the Web is used, but as we see here, it’s a double-edged sword.

UPDATE: Founder Kevin Rose posts his thoughts (along with the AACS key).

Let’s break down the offending photo: It’s a woman in a pirate hat. She’s drinking from a large yellow plastic cup, which obscures most of her face. The caption reads, “Drunken Pirate.”

Presumably Millersville University has more of an issue with the caption than the actual photo, because they justify their actions (according to Snyder) by claiming they believe Snyder’s photo encourages underage drinking. That may hold up when high school students are photographed with bottles of beer in their hands, but this photo shows no evidence that any alcohol is actually being consumed. And there’s also the little detail that Snyder is over 21, so even if there is alcohol being consumed, she’s doing nothing illegal.

When we hear stories of people getting fired or punished for their online activity, they usually deserve it. This, however, is a gross example of over-reactive behavior on the part of the university, and Snyder is rightly suing. We should remember, however, that if she were fired from a job over this photo, she would have no recourse. It’s a reminder that we need to err on the side of extreme caution when we put anything online for public consumption, since we never know the sensibilities of who’s viewing it.