Adam Sharp, Head of Government, News and Social Innovation at Twitter, is calling the 2012 presidential race “the Twitter election.” Given the plethora of digital ways of connecting and pulse-taking, it should more accurately be called the 2012 Socialection.

Let's start with Sharp's employer, which today announced its new sentiment analysis tracking of its users. The new Twitter Political Index is a social Gallup Poll, taking the daily pulse on users’ feelings towards the two candidates between now and November 2nd. Each candidate’s Index will be updated daily after 8 p.m. ET capturing the day’s trending conversations along with an historical chart, while partner Topsy will be posting its daily analysis, and USA Today has created the USA Today/Twitter election meter to run through the election. 

“More Tweets are sent every two days today than had ever been sent prior to Election Day 2008 — and Election Day 2008’s Tweet volume represents only about six minutes of Tweets today,” Sharp blogged. “For the first time, it’s possible to measure conversations that just an election cycle ago were limited to coffee shops, dinner tables and water coolers.”Continue reading...

Spotify, the free music sharing service that has gone viral over Facebook, just launched an embeddable Play Button so that any Spotify music can live on any website.

"Today we’re giving every blogger and web editor the ability to light up the internet with music. Adding a personalized soundtrack to your website or blog has never been this easy,” wrote chief product officer Gustav Söderström. “You want to give your fans access to any song, album or playlist of your choosing and in its entirety, while ensuring people stay glued to your site. The Spotify Play Button does all of this for free, while making sure artists get paid for every play."

In a strategy similar to what they did on Facebook, moving from mobile to stereo to social, jockeying for position as "the operating system for music" on all digital platforms, Spotify has now pushed its client web-ubiquitous.

“In many ways, the Spotify Play Button is akin to Facebook’s 'Like' button. It’s a way of integrating service across the greater web, while also offering users additional value," writes Mashable's Christina Warren. "This all brings Spotify one step closer to becoming the online hub for music.” Continue reading...