Tag Archives: social media network

Twitter No Longer Syncing with LinkedIn

Twitter has ended its two and a half year partnership with LinkedIn to share conversations on both platforms. For users, this means tweets will no longer be displayed on LinkedIn. LinkedIn users will still be able to post updates and press a button to share on Twitter, but the reverse is no longer an option.

In an official Twitter blog post by Michael Sippey, the consumer product chief emphasizes “providing the core Twitter consumption experience through a consistent set of products and tools…developers should not ‘build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience.’ That guidance continues to apply as much as ever today. Related to that, we’ve already begun to more thoroughly enforce our Developer Rules of the Road with partners, for example with branding, and in the coming weeks, we will be introducing stricter guidelines around how the Twitter API is used.” Continue reading “Twitter No Longer Syncing with LinkedIn” »


Google+ One Year Later

Today marks the one year anniversary of the launch of Google+. On June 28, 2011 Google rolled out its social media platform Google+ to rival Facebook’s dominance in the social media category. However, one year later Google’s “next big thing” is being called a ghost town. 170 million people have signed up for Google+, compared to over 900 million people on Facebook. comScore released a report earlier this year showing users spent an average of 3.3 minutes on Google+ in the month of January, compared to 7.5 hours on Facebook in the same month. Another report by RJ Metrics showed that even among active users on Google+, their average time between posts was 12 days and 30% of people who post once never return to the social media platform again. In contrast, 53% of Facebook users and 33% of Twitter users engage with the platforms daily according to a report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

While there is a small loyal following that swears by Google+, it’s safe to say that the social media platform’s popularity has yet to trump that of Facebook. Continue reading “Google+ One Year Later” »


Will Facebook trump Google after its IPO?

Facebook IPOThere has been a lot of speculation since Facebook filed for initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on February 1, 2012.  The social media network will soon join the ranks of fellow Silicon Valley tech giant Google. The Facebook IPO will likely be the largest internet IPO in U.S. history, seeking to raise at least $5 billion. The Menlo Park-based company has an estimated $100 billion valuation. By putting 5% of its Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange, Facebook was obliged to reveal some company information to the public.

Continue reading “Will Facebook trump Google after its IPO?” »


Guess Who? Over 100 Million Fans and Valued IPO at $3 Billion

Which social media platform has over 100 million fans and valued IPO at $3 billion? If you guessed professional social networking website LinkedIn then you’ve guessed right! On May 9, 2011 LinkedIn announced it would offer 7.84 million shares of stock priced at $32 to $35 per share in its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. That makes the IPO valued at $3 billion. After taxes and fees, LinkedIn is expected to raise approximately $146.6 million towards sales and marketing ventures and business operations.

Currently the majority stockholder is LinkedIn Chairman and Co-Founder Reid Hoffman, who owns 21.7 percent of the company. His share of stock is valued at $667.3 million. LinkedIn’s early venture-capital investors, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners now collectively own shares valued at $1.22 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported the breakdown of the social media company’s new millionaire executives.

Jeffrey Weiner, CEO:
Shares: 2.3 million
Value: $81.3 million

Steven Sordello, CFO:
Shares: 907,327
Value: $31.8 million

David Henke, SVP operations and engineering:
Stock: 336,458
Value: $11.8 million

Dipchand “Deep” Nishar, SVP products and user experience:
Shares: 498,958
Value: $17.5 million

LinkedIn currently employs over 1,000 people. As of March this year, the social network reached 100 million members. Compared with other social media network values, the highly anticipated Facebook public stock offering predicted for 2012 is estimated to be valued at anywhere between $20 to $80 billion. Yesterday Microsoft announced it will acquire the leading internet communications company, Skype, for $8.5 billion. Skype maintains 170 million connected users and provides real-time communications which will support Microsoft’s devices like Xbox, Kinect and the Windows Phone.


Facebook Rolls Out the Send Button

Users have been hitting the Like button for interesting updates on Facebook, and now they have the option to share those updates with individuals privately, with the social media platform’s new Send feature. Facebook rolled out the Send button a few weeks ago to replace the old “Email to a Friend” feature. By clicking on “Send”, a pop-up box appears allowing you to send to friends, groups or email addresses, making it easier to share content on the social media network.

While the Like button allows users to share content with all of their Facebook friends, the Send button allows them to send messages to a private group of individuals. Users may also add a personal message or post the update to a Facebook Group wall. This capability comes in handy for discussions about, say, what to gift a friend for their birthday.

“The Send button drives traffic by letting users send a link and a short message to the people that would be most interested. They don’t need to leave the web page they’re on or fill out a long, annoying form. Compared to the alternatives, the Send button has fewer required steps, and it removes the need to look up email addresses by auto-suggesting friends and Groups,” says Facebook.

The Send button is now prominent on news sites like the Wall Street Journal and The Huffington Post for readers to easily share articles with select individuals online. You can add the new Send feature to your website by getting the html code from the Facebook Developer’s page. You have a choice of a standalone Send button or both the Like and Send button next to each other. Just copy the code to your webpage and happy sharing!

 


Zynga Expands its Social Media Marketing

Anyone that enjoys the games and applications on Facebook knows the enormous popularity of Zynga’s games Farmville, YoVille and Mafia Wars. Nearly 64 million people play Farmville each month, which is how parent company Zynga brought in $490 million in revenue last year, according to CNET News.

Taking the Facebook games’ popularity and bankability one step further, Zynga has partnered with consumer goods company Green Giant and convenience store chain 7-Eleven in an innovative six-week marketing campaign that links product purchases to game redemptions. Beginning last month, consumers who purchase specially-marked products receive a redemption code that can be used for limited-edition virtual goods on one of Zynga’s popular games.

This means that consumers who purchase Green Giant frozen vegetables can use the code on the packaging to redeem Farmville Farmcash, the virtual currency in the game. 7-Eleven features a number of products that can be used for redemption of virtual goods on Farmville. For example, a pint of 7-Eleven vanilla ice-cream yields a Neapolitan Cow in Farmville. The purchase of a large 7-Eleven iced coffee is good for a virtual Coffee Cart, and cut fruit gives players a Chocolate Persimmon Tree.  Other clever product-redemption ties are available for Mafia Wars and Yoville.

“7-Eleven’s partnership with Zynga has launched one of the most unique campaigns in our company’s history,” says Rita Bargerhuff, 7-Eleven vice president and chief marketing officer.  “It gives millions of loyal fans, who regularly play Zynga games, access to incentives on more than 30 products in our stores. The Zynga universe of gamers is vast, and we knew we had to come up with a promotion fit for this demographic.” The unique campaign mixes social media marketing with traditional product marketing strategy. Also, ROI on the social media program can be directly linked to in-store sales. The promotion ends July 15, 2010 or while supplies last.

In other news for the gaming company, Zynga has released Farmville for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Apple users can access the game from their iOS device and Zynga even offers exclusive items only available to players on iOS devices. The application is iPhone 3, and yes, iPhone 4 compatible. The Farmville App can be downloaded for free from the App Store.


Facebook’s New Changes Will Affect Social Connections and Search on the Web

At Facebook’s f8 conference earlier this week, the company announced ambitious goals and new changes to the social media network. Three official new concepts introduced are the Social Plugins, which utilize a social graph and the “Like” button to connect users with similar interests. The Open Graph Protocol allows users to build their profiles through connections to what they care about. And the Graph API supports the new social graph concept – a simpler way for developers to use Facebook.

On the front end, many have noticed changes to their Facebook pages this week, with the site prompting users to update their likes and interests and to add them to pages. The next step is connecting users with a page that consolidates their “Likes”. Facebook can then use the information to connect people with similar interests. This capability is actually incredibly powerful. Facebook is creating new online communities around information that users supply, which is very valuable to brands and businesses.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced its integration with Pandora at the f8 press conference as well. Users can come to Pandora from Facebook and the music site will personalize their music interests according to their Facebook page. As songs are playing, the site will show each user’s friends that are enjoying the same type of music. This method makes Pandora social, says Tom Conrad, CTO of Pandora.

The new changes and integrations give Facebook access to updated user information and profiles, making the social media platform more valuable than ever to advertisers. Facebook said that more than 75 partners were participating already and Mark Zuckerberg predicted that there would be “One billion ‘Like’ buttons on the web within 24 hours after launch.” The new information will help Facebook to build new types of search experiences, integrating more personal social media marketing into its results.