Welcome to life as a public company: Facebook stock has dropped to around $20 a share, almost half its IPO price. It’s a rough time out there for social-networking stocks, including game maker Zynga, but Facebook’s slide is eye-popping. Read more »
Facebook’s second quarter earnings report – its first since going public in May – just matched Wall Street analysts’ expectations. The company also said it had 955 million monthly active users as of the end of June. Read more »
Remember when Friendster was the hot social network, publishers doubted that ebooks would ever sell, and Netflix thought DVDs in red envelopes was the future? We do — that was that state of digital media when paidContent launched in 2002. Read more »
Organizations are coping with the challenge of processing unprecedented volumes of data. However, the processes involved with using a large cluster to run applications like Hadoop are error-prone. So IT managers are turning to cluster-management solutions to automate tasks associated with cluster creation, management and maintenance. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple and Google still dominate the smartphone space, but look out for Microsoft, which finally has some muscle behind its mobile strategy. Meanwhile mobile-browser developers went head-to-head with native apps, and Facebook continued to buy mobile expertise via acquisition. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Social TV is any application, website or software that allows viewers to interact with television programming and share that interaction with others. Startups in this space hope to combine ubiquitous second-screen technology with well-established audience behavior to drive new value around shows. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Twitter announced in a blog post today that it overhauled the mobile version of the site, simplifying the screen and making it easier for tweets to load, among other changes. Read more »
Under the gun to show that it can make big money in mobile, Facebook is reportedly planning to unveil a new product that will target ads based on the apps a consumer has on his phone. Read more »
The latest rage in mobile social apps are private networks built for couples. But are lovers eager to commit their lives to each other through an app? Between, a couples app, thinks so. It just hit the 1 million download mark after launching in November. Read more »
As more banks flirt with social media, StockTwits rolls out a redesigned website that makes it easier for investors to follow the information and people connected to the companies they care about. Read more »
After the CEO of social gifting company Wrapp said he wanted to take on Germany’s notorious Samwer brothers, the business is finally delivering by launching in Germany and taking on the copycat kings on their home territory. Read more »
Facebook announced Tuesday that it is partnering with GE to launch a health app, called HealthyShare, that lets people add health and fitness goals to their timelines and uses positive social pressure to help them follow through. Read more »
Microsoft’s reported deal to buy Yammer for its enterprise social networking savvy isn’t done yet, but the move — despite what many see as a too-hefty price tag — could make sense. Pairing Yammer with the Microsoft Office juggernaut could be a winner. Read more »
The social network said Wednesday that it plans to launch Facebook Exchange, a real-time bidding platform, in the next few weeks. Read more »
Between Pinterest and Fab and Fancy and Svpply and Wanelo and Lyst and many other similar startups, the social-meets-design-meets-commerce space is nothing if not crowded. But a couple of former MySpacers believe they can push through the pack with Uncovet, an e-commerce site rolling out to the public today. Read more »
It might take a trip to the local post office to get started with the social network Nextdoor, but the startup is seeing success by taking an old-school, privacy-based approach to creating online communities for neighborhoods. Read more »
Sceptics have raised concerns recently about Facebook’s ability to show continued revenue growth, particularly in the mobile market, but the social networking giant just got a big boost in that area from Apple, which has integrated Facebook’s features into the new version of its operating systems. Read more »
Four years ago German Facebook clone StudiVZ rejected a buyout offer from Mark Zuckerberg. Now the evidence is mounting to suggest that the company — founded by notorious copycats the Samwer brothers — could face its critical moment. Read more »
In this era of ever more social networks, it is hard to connect with one another. Pipe hopes to fix that. It sifts through your social graph and encourages you to get in touch with one person on your list. The rest is up to you. Read more »
In this busy new world of multiple social networks and recommendations tools, the discovery process itself is being disrupted by innovation and by the changing ways in which consumers now interact online. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In the run-up to Friday’s big IPO, here are 10 startups that owe (at least part of) their success to Facebook. Read more »
Ross Levinsohn has a lot of new responsibilities as interim CEO of Yahoo but one of the most important roles is as salesman-in-chief. He not only has to pitch the media company to advertisers — he has to sell the image of what Yahoo does right. Read more at paidContent »
If drawing is the universal language, Doodle.ly wants to be the app for that. But first it has to solve a problem: A lot of people are pretty bad at drawing. Read more »
The latest data from Nielsen’s State of Media: Advertising and Audiences report. Read more »
Two years after it was off-loaded by AOL, Bebo’s founding Birches and fellow current shareholders sue the social network’s current owner, alleging financial mismanagement and more. Read more at paidContent »
Facebook gave investors something to ponder ahead of its mid-May IPO, when it filed an amended S-1 to report lower quarterly revenue and net income for the first three months of 2012. Read more »
There are 25 billion apps in Apple’s App Store, 450,000 in Google Play and 82,000 in Microsoft Windows Phone Marketplace. Making a successful app that stands out means looking beyond the popular gaming market toward areas like weather, news and productivity apps. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Media issues like advertising and discovery along with commerce dominated the activity in social and real-time Web technologies during the first quarter. Google raised some hackles, Facebook responded to demands from traditional advertisers, and Yahoo got a new chief executive. Read more in the full report. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Google-co-founder Sergey Brin recently said he believes the future of the “open Internet” is at risk. Then why is the company trying to build its own closed network? Because the open vs. closed debate is more complicated than it first appears when it comes to Google. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In the first quarter of 2012 all eyes were on the screen, both big and small. Apple’s new Retina display pushed video streaming, and broadcast-TV streaming service Aereo’s launch was quickly followed with litigation. These events and more are discussed in a new quarterly report. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Tumblr CEO David Karp said the company is looking to make its mark by enabling creators to express themselves. It’s also in a bid to start monetizing the service. But Karp believes these two goals can converge, with Tumblr making money by empowering creators. Read more »
With $32m in the bank, French professional networking site Viadeo is expanding internationally — and the head of its Chinese operation says that the company is expecting to go head to head with Reid Hoffman and LinkedIn. Read more »
Facebook’s social-media prowess has allowed it to move into a stored Silicon Valley office building as it awaits the riches that will accompany a huge IPO around the corner. But Facebook wants more: it wants to be seen as a leader among mobile software developers. Read more »
Pinterest’s recent changes to get on the right side of copyright law highlight how the legal system continues to lag behind what the Internet makes possible. Until that issue is resolved, virtually every Internet-powered content-sharing service is at risk. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Five key technology sectors are enabling the smart city: smart grids, smart transport, smart water and waste management, smart building systems, and the enabling ICT platforms for the smart city. Key players like IT companies, telcos and utilities must learn how to harness those technologies, and quickly. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Germany may be Europe’s biggest economy, but Twitter has relatively low take-up there. So why does the company appear to be preparing to set up shop in Berlin? Read more »
A key objective of online social media marketing is to reach influential consumers and get them to pass the word. But marketers and advertisers have to find those influencers ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
As Salesforce.com trots out the integration of its social networking-oriented HR tools into CRM and Chatter, Microsoft is touting new research about why companies need to have workplace-oriented social tools. One problem: Some of these tools are more annoying than useful. Read more »
Start-up Pixykids is emerging out of stealth and is hoping to become the Facebook for kids with a platform that blends social networking, virtual worlds, video chatting and self-expression and invites the entire family to participate in a child’s activities. Read more »
After attracting attention last summer for social commerce initiatives with Foursquare and Facebook, last week American Express announced a new coupons hook-up with Twitter. Amex has the potential to be a powerhouse in social commerce, but so far that potential remains ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
