A Social Media Diva Reveals Her Formula for Winning The Influence Project

Visitors to The Influence Project have no doubt seen the tiara wearing, turquoise phone-wielding, beatific smile bearing Mari Smith. But who is she and how did she emerge as one of the front-runners in this project? Her bio says she's a "Social Media Speaker & Trainer, Chic Geek & Facebook Passionista!, author of @FacebookMktg and Spiritual Truth-Seeker." We spoke last week and discussed her YouTube tutorial for The Influence Project, Twitter hijackers, and how she went about dispatching her influence campaign.
Mark Borden: One week in, you've kept your place in the front row. What made you decide to participate in The Influence Project?

YouTube’s ‘Leanback’ Wants to Friend Your Television Remote

• By Eliot Van Buskirk

YouTube Leanback already knows I love the YouTube video of Stereolab playing 'French Disko' on live TV, so it serves it up -- no searching or keyboard required (link below).

Google didn’t mention set-top boxes in Wednesday night’s announcement of YouTube Leanback, a beta version of the site designed to be viewed passively — as in couch potato — rather than actively — as in computer nerd. But clearly, YouTube has your TV set in mind with this high-definition version of the service, designed for use with any remote control.
The YouTube Leanback beta works with a regular QWERTY computer keyboard, but other than the search function, the interface uses only five buttons: the arrow keys and the enter key. You may not even find yourself wanting to search the service at all, because it links up with your YouTube subscriptions and videos your friends have recently shared on Facebook, in addition to a wide selection of categories, in which case those five buttons are all you need to use it.
The television remote, that quintessential component of the lean-back viewing experience, includes the same five buttons, of course. This YouTube Leanback Beta works with your computer now, but when it emerges from beta it could provide the backbone of a Google TV version for couch potatoes who want to keep their cable or satellite provider and use the same remote. YouTube and Dish Networks were reportedly testing an Android-based satellite television set-top box earlier this year.

161 of the Best Videos on YouTube

 We spend a lot of time here at Mashable finding the very best videos that the Internet has to offer. It’s a tough job wading though hundreds of thousands of videos, but we’re committed to finding the ones we think are truly deserving of your viewing attention.
If you don’t already have plans to see friends, family or take in the great outdoors, then this is the perfect reason to spend the weekend with your computer. So sit back, relax, and enjoy not just the best, but the best videos on YouTube ().