As media and entertainment went digital, many looked to the music sector as the canary in the coal mine. Digital comprises over 40 percent of consumer sales, but the whole market was worth only $5.9 billion in 2010. Even digital felt stagnant. But that’s changing. Read More »
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Long a big force in online media, Yahoo and its once-successful online portal business model is struggling. So we decided to ask GigaOM readers what they thought Yahoo should do, and we published the results in a flash analysis on GigaOM Pro. Read More »
Two weeks ago, Yahoo’s board fired CEO Carol Bartz, and now it may be looking to sell all or part of the company. Om thinks Yahoo’s board should fire itself and then look at some acquisitions. But what do you think? Here at GigaOM, we … Read More »
We surveyed 400 of the newest generation, the Millennials, ages 20 through 29, on their attitudes and behavior around at-work technology and tech support, communications preferences and problem-solving styles. Here are the trends IT needs to address to make these workers productive and avoid potential problems. Read More »
Microsoft’s online business lost $2.6 billion for its fiscal year, mainly due to its investment in search. Yet even with Yahoo’s outsourced search business, Microsoft barely cracks 30 percent in market share, according to comScore. Last week, a Reuters Breakingviews piece that was picked … Read More »
Yahoo reported another disappointing quarter, with core revenues down 5 percent to just over $1 billion. Its display advertising business was up 5 percent, but it appears to be losing share to companies like Google and Facebook. Yahoo is still one of the biggest … Read More »
Google revenues were up 32 percent, to a record $9 billion. Android activates 550,000 devices a day. Google+ had 10 million users in less than two weeks of limited availability. But Google can’t ease up on the accelerator. Though Google dominates search, U.S. query … Read More »
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GigaOM conducted a survey over the Fourth of July weekend of GigaOM readers regarding Google+’s chances for success, its competitive weapons and its likely impact on the competitive social media environment. Here’s a snippet of what we discovered about the prospects for Google’s latest social venture. Read More »
A month after its debut as a public company, LinkedIn isn’t resting on its laurels, and Wall Street is reacting positively. Several new initiatives unveiled this month suggest the professional social network might have the steam to compete with the Googles and Facebooks of the world. Read More »
Last week Om broke a big story on Facebook’s plans for music. But is music Facebook’s next billion-dollar business? It will be hard for the company to cash in big on music. Here are three reasons why. Read More »
Pandora finally went public last week, and with its focus on radio, the company has a better chance for mass adoption than most other digital music services. While it may be losing money now, here are a few steps it could take to raise revenues. Read More »
Groupon’s prospectus for an IPO started arguments over the company’s huge losses. Silicon Valley wants Groupon to look like a technology company, but right now it’s more or less in the Yellow Pages business. But by better applying big data analysis, Groupon could start seeing profits. Read More »
Last week, investors poured money into ShopIgniter and Milyoni, companies that build Facebook storefronts for merchants and retailers. Many are skeptical about that opportunity, but with thousands of merchants building Facebook stores, it’s worth examining the challenges and what could make those stores effective shopping vehicles. Read More »
Markets with network effects tend to have explosive growth, and part of the excitement driving LinkedIn’s IPO last week comes from investors associating social media with that principle. But assessing the competitive positions of social media companies depends on knowing which network effects are actually present. Read More »
Remember when social media was going to reinvent the entertainment business? Though past efforts made little headway in the social-entertainment space, announcements from Warner Home Entertainment and News Corp. suggest the space is far from dead. Here’s what companies looking to capitalize on it can learn. Read More »
Among reports that it was having trouble unloading $1 billion worth of shares at a very rich valuation, Facebook last week tweaked an existing advertising service and started testing its first home-grown social commerce product: Facebook Deals. Will that be Facebook’s next … Read More »
Last week, the bipartisan Kerry-McCain bill proposed legislation on a Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights that would put the FTC in charge of policing the online collection, sharing and use of personal information. That has far-reaching implications for the online media business. Read More »
Last week, LinkedIn unveiled an upgraded version of its platform to developers. The professional social network is trying to establish itself as the source for professional profiles, and with 100 million users and an upcoming IPO, what are its chances of finally sealing up this role? Read More »
Much of last week’s buzz surrounding the launch of Color was justifiably skeptical. Does the world really need another mobile photo-sharing app? But parts of the startup’s vision extend far beyond photo-sharing, and make the company worth watching as a potential indicator of social media trends. Read More »
Could Facebook’s social search patent mean that it is building an alternative to Google? If so, the social media giant will have to set itself apart in a field already crowded with big players and some innovative upstarts. Read More »
Facebook and search engine optimization are still useful marketing tools for online startups wanting to build audiences. Let’s examine how a startup making consumer apps or online services can get that much-coveted first million or two users as cheaply as possible. Read More »
Synchronous communications like mobile group chat are the latest battleground in the war over unified communications, and despite what the startups say, they won’t be contenders in the race to build a single, unified hub. Read More »
Human beings naturally belong to a variety of networks based on different contexts like shared interests, work, school, geography and the like. So it seems logical that there is room for specialized or niche social networks oriented around those specific groups or activities. Read More »
Last week’s stories said that social game maker Zynga was raising $250 million at a valuation north of $7 billion. By week’s end, the company was close to raising twice that, at a $10 billion figure. But why would anyone think Zynga was worth that much? Read More »
Last week, market researcher comScore released its U.S. Digital Year in Review report that’s chock full of useful data for the industry. Implications arising from the numbers include Facebook’s ad value problems, communications platform evolution, and potential social commerce growth barriers. Read More »
The buzz around upgrades to Facebook’s nascent comments service makes it sound as if the social network is about to launch another world-dominating technology. In reality, that’s an unlikely scenario, since there’s still plenty of room for competitive innovation as far as comment systems go. Read More »
Demand Media may have announced a successful IPO, but that didn’t quite dispel the air of controversy surrounding the company. But while Demand’s business model may be a little shaky, it’s worth monitoring for lessons in content creation efficiency and targeting, and for potential partnership opportunities. Read More »
Facebook isn’t much of a platform for business, but BranchOut, which integrates with the social network, is applying tactics and techniques from social gaming to take on LinkedIn in professional career networking. Companies that want to build business apps on the Facebook platform should pay attention. Read More »
In the fourth quarter, Facebook dominated the news announcements of its Groups and Messages offerings, while Google’s Chrome OS somewhat confused the industry and privacy concerns, sparked by a somewhat breathless series of exposes, once more caught the NewNet space’s attention. Read More »
Q&A site Quora is lately being called the savior of search and the next Facebook. But is Quora worth all the fuss? But the company is far from alone in the Q&A space, and so the question arises, is Quora really worth all its hype? Read More »
Putting a value on Facebook is beyond many of us, but the social network is the most important player in social media. To better compete against, partner with or invest in Facebook, it’s worth evaluating its market positions, strengths and weaknesses. Read More »
Who will set 2011′s standards in NewNet technologies like social media and real-time feeds? In terms of growing user adoption, revenues and technology innovation and influence, there are the sure-to-be leaders like Facebook going head-to-head with mid-size companies with potential to disrupt. Read More »
No set of fearless year-end predictions would be complete without also examining the expectations for what won’t happen in the coming year, despite the hype certain trends might generate. In the world of social media there are a few milestones we’re not betting on for 2011. Read More »
Last week Google showed off its progress on Chrome OS, introducing an apps store in support of it and offering a pre-release hardware trial program. But making Chrome OS what CEO Eric Schmidt calls a “viable third choice” in operating systems looks doomed. Read More »
There’s talk of the future of media in the air, so much that even old-school newspaper companies are seeing the light. So let’s examine a few ways that NewNet technologies like social media and real-time feeds are helping to re-invent the business of modern media. Read More »
Marketing using location and social networking are like peanut butter and chocolate — they’re a perfect combination. Add mobile and you have a trio of hot technologies attracting capital from investors and big companies alike. Here are the revenue models to watch as these elements collide. Read More »
Facebook Messages isn’t about replacing email. What the social network is really trying to establish with its recently unveiled unified communications hub is presence management, and this new "modern messaging system" is more concerned with intimacy and immediacy, as opposed to formality, flexibility and history. Read More »
You may have heard, a company called RockMelt announced a browser last week, even calling it a “social browser.” Thanks in part to Marc Andreessen’s VC firm funding it, the product got a lot of media attention. Big deal. Browsers don’t matter anymore. Here’s why not. Read More »
When it comes to consumer technologies, how big is big enough? When do they really start to gain momentum, and what happens when they do? These are questions of critical mass — the tipping point when user adoption starts producing the hockey-stick growth that fosters sustainable … Read More »
In the realm of might-have-beens, Myspace shows more promise than Friendster. But unlike some former web leaders, it’s still salvageable. Myspace shouldn’t try to challenge Facebook for social network leadership, but it can remain a valuable consumer media business, if not a technology driver. Here’s how. Read More »
Privacy isn’t just Facebook’s problem. The whole consumer Internet and media industry had better devise a plan for facing the privacy issues fast, or get ready to face serious consumer backlash and, perhaps worse, government regulation. Here are a few steps social media companies can take. Read More »
For third-quarter social media and real-time technologies, most of the action was in consumer services, and much of it — from social gaming to location-based services and advertising dollars — was influenced by Facebook. Here is a brief look back at the NewNet action highlights from … Read More »
Even if you don’t believe real-time feeds will become the dominant content consumption paradigm, they’re clearly a growing force. Consumer-paid access to real-time feeds is largely for paid mobile apps, and advertising is the immediate payoff. So here’s how social media companies can best cash in. Read More »
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week called the newly introduced Groups feature a “fundamental building block of the social web.” If adopted widely by users, Groups could have a significant impact on communications and identity management — both inside and outside of the social network. Read More »
Just about every company online should add some social spice to its site. In the case of Yahoo, where turmoil is reaching crisis proportions, an aggressive dose of social networking elements could help the former Internet giant maintain its huge audience and leadership position in advertising. Read More »
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