As Turntable.fm has shown, a new era of social music may be upon us, one that is less about scaling wide, but more about going deep. The third era of social music is about immersion as sites add more immediacy and intimacy to the experience. Read more »
Twitter and Facebook are great tools for reporting on world events — but what happens when we turn those tools on one another? We got a glimpse of that in Vancouver, and it was a glimpse of a future that some would rather not see. Read more »
Descuento Libre is a daily deal site catering to Latinos in the United States. While Groupon emphasis new adventures, this year-old site is staking a claim with family-friendly activities and household goods and services and a different model for attracting businesses. Read more »
Appsfire and others have helped tackle the issue of app discovery by bringing new social and sharing tools to bear on the task. Now, Zwapp, a new start-up is trying to go one step further by building essentially a social network around app discovery. Read more »
The BBC is adding new ways for iPlayer viewers to share what they’re watching with their friends and social networks, with a new share button. In addition to standard networks like Facebook and Twitter, iPlayer users can now send videos to Delicious, Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon. Read more »
Media guru Clay Shirky once famously said that the problem of the modern age isn’t information overload at all, it’s “filter failure” — and many new services have been built to help with that. But Eli Pariser says the cure could be worse than the disease. Read more »
Kayak kicked off 2011 with major sales growth in the run-up to its planned IPO, according to a regulatory filing. The travel search company made $52.6 million in the first three months of 2011, representing a 43.4 percent increase over the same period in 2010 Read more »
Raptr, a social network for gamers, is showing some interesting ways in which it’s using what it knows about its members to create tailored experiences that cut through a lot of noise. And it’s showing how social networking can evolve to be even more personal. 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 »
New York Times executive editor Bill Keller says he is concerned that Twitter is decreasing our attention spans and generally making us stupid — but he misses the crucial point that Twitter and other social media are just tools, and that their benefits outweigh their disadvantages. 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 »
LinkedIn is upping its expectations for its much-anticipated IPO, which it now believes can pull in as much as $274 million. The company this morning released the pricing for its IPO and is now prepared to offer 7.84 million shares at $32 to $35 each Read more »
More than almost any other national brand, the Gap has been on the cutting edge with its marketing trials, working with Facebook, Groupon, Foursquare, Visa, JiWire and others to figure out how to craft its image and message for a much more social and mobile audience. 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 billion-dollar business? Possibly. But it already faces stiff […] Read more »
Online social networks have been around for years, but most of them still make the same basic — and utterly incorrect — assumptions about the way we interact with each other. Whose fault is that, and how exactly do we fix it? Read more »
The first quarter of 2011 saw plenty of competition between various web companies — and some heated tension, too. Content farms generated the most debate, with Demand Media’s IPO attracting attention and controversy and Google making a major change to its ranking algorithm. Facebook, meanwhile, maintained its heavyweight status online, but this time the social network’s impact was centered on social search, unified communications and comment systems. And Facebook’s ongoing dominance raised the question, Is there room for more than one social network? If niche networks like Quora and Color are any indication, the answer is “yes.” Additional companies mentioned in this report include Twitter, Groupon, Microsoft, LinkedIn and MySpace. To see the full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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 »
Google’s launch of its new +1 feature is an attempt to add social signals to search, but it’s also an attempt to jump-start the company’s social-networking efforts, and that seems to have less likelihood of success. Why? Because people don’t go to Google to be social. 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 »
Social commerce involves businesses using online collaborative tools — social networks, real-time feeds and user-generated contributions, for example — in order to sell products and services to consumers. The space is now more dynamic than ever: Hundreds of startups like Groupon, Zynga and CrowdStar have emerged, and it’s also attracting the attention — and cash — of online giants like Google, Amazon and Apple. This report examines the factors propelling the sector’s growth, how it will evolve over the next one to three years and what that means for those companies involved. We also examine factors inhibiting the growth of social commerce, and the likelihood of fragmentation as more local markets emerge. Companies mentioned in this report include Groupon, Foursquare, Gowalla, Playfish and LivingSocial. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
RedRover, a social location-based network for parents, helps them connect, plan play dates and discover new kid-friendly locations. The service, which launched this week as an iOS app, speaks to the power of niche social networks that play to specific demographic and privacy needs. Read more »
MySpace today confirmed that it is shedding close to half of the company, or about 500 employees, including virtually the entire international operation, in a dramatic restructuring that is aimed at saving the ailing social network. But the reality is, Facebook has won. Read more »
I’ve been looking at Quora to see if it might be valuable for web workers. I’m skeptical that sites powered by the public can provide fast and reliable information. But here are some things you can do to improve exposure for your questions. Read more »
Once an isolated world dominated by network operators and their manufacturer partners, mobile is now a space where “outsiders” are some of the most powerful players. In 2010, companies like Google, Apple, MetroPCS, Huawei and Foursquare were among those who made the most impact in mobile ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
No set of fearless year-end predictions would be complete without setting expectations for what won’t happen in the coming year. Social media won’t replace search, nor will a single, dominant social media platform emerge. Meanwhile, will the government finally solve the privacy puzzle surrounding social media? ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Blame cord cutting, at least in part, for the drop in cable subscriber numbers in 2010. Looking towards 2011, we expect this trend could gather further steam thanks to bundled subscription offerings from players like Microsoft and Apple. We also expect a new iteration of the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Last week Google showed off its progress on Chrome OS. It introduced an apps store in support of it, and offered up a pre-release hardware trial program as a concession that real machines wouldn’t ship till mid 2011. But it’s likely all for naught. Google CEO ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Michael Birch, the founder of Bebo, is returning to where it all began, signing on as an investor and advisor to the social network he built and later sold to AOL for $850 million. Read more »
Bebo, the once high-flying social network is getting ready to be sold – again! This would be the third time the company started by Michael Birch and Xochi Birch is getting buyer attention. Who’s interested? Large media companies, for starters, who are interested in the social network. Read more »
Groupon is growing faster than virtually any other tech-related company in history, including Google and Facebook, and is expected to close the year with revenue of more than $500 million. What then, are the lessons retailers and other companies can learn from the such incredible ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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 ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
This holiday season, 28 percent of U.S. shoppers will use a mobile either for price checking or for product recommendations from friends — all while in the aisles of a traditional retail store, says IDC. Are consumers finally ready for advanced mobile payments and digital wallets? Read more »
Hashable, a New York startup in private beta, looks to create and facilitate introductions and interactions. But CEO Michael Yavonditte sees a much brighter future for the venture as a way to encourage more real world engagement, measure social relationships and create a decentralized social network. Read more »
How big is big enough? When do new consumer technologies really start to catch on? What happens when they do? These are questions of critical mass, and there’s plenty of historical evidence to point at the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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 ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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 »
New, private 3G networks in India combined with mobile adoption and Google’s march towards powering inexpensive smartphones in the Asia-Pacific region could bring half a billion more people to the mobile web in India by 2014. Is this the perfect storm for small, upstart handset makers? Read more »
Marketers have been lured by how easy it is to set up Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for their brands, but according to a new report, their content often doesn’t get through, because Generation Y users are overwhelmed with Facebook friends and Twitter messages already. Read more »
Just about every company online should add some social spice to its site, but in Yahoo’s case, an aggressive dose could help the former Internet giant maintain its huge audience and advertising leadership ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Nearly one-third of Facebook’s 500 million members are using their phones to engage with friends via the social network. For Facebook to fulfill its potential in mobile, though, it will need much more than just a branded ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
