Beginning with this week’s issue which you can find below, I’ve decided to start making my Comedy Business Digest available for free!

The Comedy Business Digest is a collection of quick links to news and information about the comedy industry that I think you need to know. I hope if you find it interesting/useful, you’ll take a moment to share it with your friends on Facebook or Twitter. Thanks!

Now on to this week’s digest…

In case you missed it, here’s the 20 Most Popular Articles I Wrote On Connected Comedy this year.

Comedy Central’s 2012 development slate is full of projects from comics who first got attention on Twitter, YouTube, and through their own websites.

Yahoo is launching a new comedy channel with a little help from Bill Maher.

Here’s a lengthy 7-part video interview with George Carlin, one of the last he gave before he died.

The OC Weekly magazine has named its 5 comics to watch out for in 2012.

These 5 Tips On Getting A Label, Sponsor, Or Booking Agent are well worth a read if you’re interested in any of those things.

Here’s some helpful (if slightly obvious) tips for how to use YouTube to drive traffic to your website.

Chortle presents an interesting UK-flavored take on why you need to build your own comedy career.

I laid out my guess for the 5 Comedians Most Likely To Be The Louis CK of 2012 the other day.

What’s more valuable to you: a Facebook Like or a YouTube view? This article tries to answer that question.

Social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk has recently posted a couple of video rants that are worth a look – check out his take on why there’s no such thing as social media and his rant on what everybody’s doing wrong on Twitter.

Splitsider has a nice overview of The Year In Comedy Podcasts.

These 11 Guaranteed Ways To Get Others To Retweet Your Content aren’t exactly guarantees, but they definitely will help your chances.

Every once in a while, somebody comes up with a creative new approach to making YouTube videos. The latest to catch my eye comes from the Ramsey Bros., who are getting a ton of views right now for a series of their old home movies which they’ve posted with funny DVD commentaries.

New York Times columnist David Carr has a great analysis of some of the lessons learned so far with regard to how technology is changing the entertainment business.

Facebook is launching direct messaging capabilities for fan pages – here’s the details.

Mediaite tries to make the case that conservative comedy will never work.

Here’s an in-depth look at the state of women in comedy, with a particular emphasis on female comedians at Syracuse University.

I don’t know much about it, but Gig Salad looks to be a new site you may want to check out if you’re looking to book more gigs.

Facebook ads, which I’m a huge believer in, are about to get even more powerful as sponsored stories are about to start appearing in your news feed.

A couple comedy-related talents including Donald Glover made Forbes magazine’s recent 30 Under 30 power list.

You might be amused by the questions that people asked of this amateur stand up comedian on Reddit.

If you need a little inspiration for your writing, check out this Advice To Writers site.

Don’t forget to please share this post with your friends if you’ve found it helpful!