online social networking

Bitcoins And The Future Of Business

Facebook is a license to print money.

As far as social media goes and the growth of online social networking, it’s hard not to have Facebook be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of new media, at this point. The company claims well over…

Is Marketing About To Get Really Creepy Or Really Good?

Apple acquired a company last week. It’s something to pay attention to.

There is still one slightly unchartered territory that will – without question – be the last mile in marketing. It is the ability for a brand to deliver contextual and highly targ…

Grow Your Company Or Be Active On Social Media?

Should the CEO blog?

It seems like a question rooted in 2008, but now that blogging could include things like tweeting, creating videos on YouTube, updating a Facebook profile or taking part in LinkedIn, it may well be high time to start asking these …

Finding Your Start

This week has been about starting.

The past few blog posts have been about finding the nerve to start or about thinking and acting like a startup (whether you’re just getting started or if you’re a lumbering giant in your industry). In the blog commen…

The Paradox Of Choice And Advertising

You can’t have it both ways.

Someone is going to have to break the bad news to the consumers. You can’t have it both (and every) way. Sorry. Yesterday, I Blogged about the "do not track" button that would stop media companies from tracking a…

Karma lets you send gifts by phone to Facebook friends

A new app from the founders of Tapjoy is emerging to combine mobile and social commerce on iOS and Android devices. The app, called Karma, makes gifting to friends a breeze, by integrating with a user’s social graph on Facebook and suggesting gifts for them.

Facebook plans to release a new premium ads product Feb. 29

Facebook is planning to upgrade its premium ads on February 29, with the goal of boosting performance by 40 to 80 percent, according to documents obtained by iStrategyLabs’ Peter Corbett.

Sky News joins the anti-social media brigade

A new policy from Sky News bars reporters from posting anything other than work-related content on Twitter, and even forbids them from retweeting anything that doesn’t come from a Sky account. As with so many other similar policies, this completely misses the point of social media.

Facebook filling the gaping hole in its mobile strategy

It looks like Facebook wants to address the big weaknesses in its mobile business model before it has to deal with nagging questions of its investors. According to FT, Facebook plans in March to include sponsored posts in its mobile news feeds.

Poll: The older you are, the more you hate Facebook Timeline

Facebook is in the process of converting all user profiles to the new Timeline design. But according to a new poll, the majority of people aren’t so keen on the new look. 70% of all respondents disapproved of Timeline, as did 90% of people over 65.

Facebook just revealed its Kryptonite: mobile

In its IPO filing Facebook mentions the word “mobile” 123 times but didn’t use the term in positive ways. In fact, Facebook’s S-1 filing is one big warning to investors: Its growth is being driven by user behavior that it has so far failed to monetize.

Facebook has nothing to fear, except itself

According to Edward Aten, founder of Swift.fm, Facebook is recreating and competing with nearly every significant Internet product of the last few years. It’s an unprecedented pivot that threatens Facebook’s core products and may eventually benefit the very same startups Facebook is trying to crush.

Facebook wants to rewire the way the world works

In the letter to shareholders included in Facebook’s IPO filing, co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes it clear his vision goes beyond just a social network — he wants to fundamentally rewire the way the world works, from interpersonal interactions to commerce and even government.

It’s here: Facebook files for $5 billion IPO

The most highly anticipated initial public offering in today’s tech world is officially happening. Facebook filed S-1 documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday afternoon to raise a maximum of $5 billion. According to the filing, Facebook made $3.7 billion in revenue in 2011.

Twitter begins larger rollout of enhanced brand pages

Twitter on Wednesday switched on enhanced brand pages for accounts owned by National Public Radio, NBC News, Volkswagen, and others. This is the first batch of premium Twitter pages from companies other than the handful of launch partners who unveiled enhanced brand pages in December.

Is Facebook’s IPO the start of something, or the end?

As everyone awaits the $100-billion Facebook IPO, the biggest question hanging over the offering is whether it marks the beginning of a new era for Facebook — or if it’s just a massive cashing-out exercise, a sign that this generation’s version of AOL has peaked?

Study: Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google+, nearly on par with Twitter

It’s clear that Pinterest is really hot, but a new study shows just how powerful the virtual pinboard company has become. Pinterest is now driving more referral traffic on the web than Google+, YouTube, Reddit, and LinkedIn combined, according to Shareaholic’s January 2012 Referral Traffic Report.

How much should we trust our new information overlords?

The news that Twitter will be censoring tweets has reinforced for many the fact that our freedoms exist at the mercy of the companies whose networks we are using — and being used by. How much trust should we have in these new information gatekeepers?

Uberpaper aims to kill the echo chamber of social news

Personalized algorithms and social recommendations are great for a lot of things. But when it comes to getting news, these technologies can create an echo chamber, where our existing beliefs are reflected back to us. Uberpaper, a new site from Dmitry Shapiro, wants to combat that.

1000memories integrates with Facebook to fill Timeline with old photos

San Francisco startup 1000memories has integrated its ShoeBox app for scanning and sharing old physical photos online with Facebook’s Timeline user interface. This means that people will be able to easily fill in the gaps on their Timeline between their birthdates and when they joined Facebook.