I see a little silhouetto of a clam.  No…no, wait that’s just the Social Media Roundup.

This week, the Muppets helped YouTube’s recent rollout of 1080p HD video with a fantastic rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.  Since that one’s already making the rounds, I thought I’d kick off the roundup Beaker-style.

The Invasion of the YouTube Directors from Mars
Following in the footsteps of short-film to big-screen District 9 director Neill Blomkamp comes the latest YouTube sensation to catch the eye of Hollywood: Federico Alvarez.  $300, 6 months, a few friends and 50 extras came together to produce a stunning apocalyptic 5 minute short and now his phone is ringing off the hook.  Proving once again that if you want to be noticed, you should do something worth noticing.

Wikipedia is the Most Influential Site in the World [citation needed] RWW is once again checking in on ://URLFAN to bring us this year’s “Most Influential Sites” with Wikipedia leading the way for the second straight year.  While an interesting metric, I’m not sure I’d count “Number of mentions on blogs” as my sole descriptor of “Influence.”  YouTube (URLFAN’s #2 influential site) probably wouldn’t be my first stop if I were looking to buy a new lawnmower, for instance.  However, Wikipedia’s top spot is doubly interesting given the recent stats showing their editors are fleeing in herds.

Photoshop this Unlikely Corporate Partnership [Photoshop] Sponsorship is not a new idea for blogs and the like, and Fark has been no exception.  There was the Yardbarker Sports tab, the Blender on Fark Showbiz tab, and now the Geek tab brought to you by…USA Today?  Leaving aside for the moment the fact that both of the prior sponsorships are now defunct, a glance at the approved articles in the Geek tab for the past week shows not a single USA Today sourced link.  This should end well.

Vee Haf Vays Uff Dealink Mit Google.
Worried about personal privacy, government officials in Germany are looking to ban the use of Google Analytics. Key to the argument is Google’s storage of personal data in the US, so expect the big G to purchase a small German city for server storage in the near future.