Facebook and Myspace have peaked....

The WSJ points out a so-called seasonal flattening of Myspace and Facebook's traffic...

Both MySpace and Facebook lost visitors in September, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, a Web-tracking service. The number of unique U.S. visitors at MySpace fell 4% to 47.2 million from 49.2 million in August, and the number of visitors to Facebook fell 12% to 7.8 million from 8.9 million.

I think this is the beginning of the end... The two sites are huge, and their traffic is still there, but there is a rot in the foundations: the users who built the sites - the college kids and young adults who made all the user generated content, created the popularity, and built the buzz, are no longer part of the community.

It is these early adopters, the keystone of the two sites, that are leaving for greener pastures. Turned off by commercialism, perverts, and just plan mainstream-ification of the sites, they are deserting.

Nearly 3,000 Facebook users have joined a group called "Official Petition to Keep Facebook Limited to Students." A note on the group's page reads, "Facebook just opened its doors to everyone on the internet. That means your mom, your boss, and every stalker in the world can now make an account."

Of course, that won't stop Yahoo! from buying Facebook for billions. Sigh.

think or feel

People think or feel?

People feel, not think. - Rochelle (Shelly) Lazarus, Chairman & CEO, Ogilvy & Mather Inc.

My questions are,
what kind of people feel while the others think? And vice versa?
when people feel? And think?
how we can be better off, to think or to feel?
why we are encouraged to think but rarely urged to feel?

Let's Go! Second Life

Wired has a great set of articles about Second Life for tourists...

Reuters opens Second Life news bureau

Reuters, one of the (real) world's largest news organizations, has announced that it will begin publishing news in the online video game, Second Life.

Reuters' Second Life News Center will report on events in both the virtual and physical worlds, and especially their intersection - for instance, Congress's probe into the taxation of virtual economies; and the Linden Dollar/USD exchange rate (see chart below).

As we have discussed in class, there are a host of other large corporations conducting business in Second Life, including Bank of America, Starwood Hotels, and Toyota. How long will take for advertisers to begin buying ad space in the Reuters' newspaper? And how threatened is the writer (blogger) of the Second Life Herald?

Here is a link to my source article from Wired News...

YouTube - Keys to Success

Hello,

I'm just preparing for my interviews by reading some recent releases of the FT. The issue from Monday, October 9'th contains an interesting article detailing some of the reasons YouTube succeeded while so many other videocontent sites failed.

The article starts by noting that Video has long been a "graveyard" for Internet startups, ever since the browser transformed the net into a mass-market medium. It then proceeds to explain that YouTube learned lessons from companies such as Google, and then included them in its model. The main points presented are:

1.) Ease of Use: YouTube placed high priority on ease of use. The solution was completely "web-based" and did not require the installation of special SW on the computer.

2.) Technology: YouTube was one of the first sites to use a format that was compatible with the ubiquitous flash player, found on virtually all PC's. It also made it easy for users to grab a segment of video and place it on their own site, thus extending reach considerably.

3.) Community: YouTube lets users decide which videos are worth watching. In the past, other video sites made the decisions for the community. With YouTube, the community decides.

Cool stuff. It all sounds a lot like what we discussed in class to me.

Regards
Jack

You Tube and Big Media

Hello,

As discussed in Class, YouTube is under the microscope of big media. Todays WSJ has an interesting article. Check out the trailer for the article:

+++++++++++++
Media giants are exploring the legal implications of YouTube's unauthorized use of copyrighted material -- days after Google reached a deal to buy the video Web site.
+++++++++++++

I'm sure they will find someway around all this, but in the near-term YouTube might be in for a bumpy ride.

Jack

Yahoo! enters the photo sharing space?

Well not exactly, but this seems like a nice idea. In our love affair with free information whenever and whereever, Yahoo is trying a new model - holding information back.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/15735032.htm

The plan for Yahoo! time capsule is to collect 5 terbytes of data from users and such and seal it up!
No one will be able to view it until Yahoo's 25 anniversary in the year 2020.

I think it's a nice idea. I mean, think about VH1. Why is "I love the 80s" so popular? It's memorabilia. I think this shows some reallysmart forward thinking.

Demon Wife blogs going beyond the web

An article from the Wall Street Journal titled" How Demon Wife Became a Media Star...", described how a business man created a blog that discussed the actions and mentality of his domineering wife. The mystery spouse has become a household name in Japan, and has inspired the main character of movies , plays, books, and other media content, which is now know as the"Demon Wife Diaries".

Not only are blogs taking over the internet, but they are providing content for nespapers, magazines, books, movies and other forms of media. This "demon wife" example demonstrates the diversity and expressivenss that blogs cultivate. Now, creative people from jounalists to authors to the daydreaming teenager can inspire stories and inspire feeeback from other bloggers. This is more than an internet trend, but a new form of self expression. The "collective intelligence" created by these blogs will have a profound impact on media content world wide

Online Fantasy Games

Last Thursday's Wall Streeet Journal had an article titled "The Knights of Networking" which describes a online video game that allows users to play while communicating and socializing with one another. It is becoming a much more popular trend in social computing. RuneScape is an Englich based company, which is a free service and is very easy to download. These capabilities make it very popuular, esspecially among teenagers. Teenagers compare it to an alternative version of MySpace. The game has dull graphics, but adds an interesting and fun alternative to social networking.

This is yet another sign of the trend in social computing. As many consumers and advertisrs are looking for more targeted sites, Runescape is an example of an alternative that not only targets a new group, but engages socialization in a totally new way. There may be and should be other ways besides simply creating profiles to network with others. Maybe this approach is only interesting to yonger consumers, but that day may change. With online video interaction and online phone calls become more frequent and cheaper, there will be more "real life" ways to interact.

Started here at Columbia

A current Columbia student started a new search website called Zotspot. This new site differentiating point is that it shares revenue with you. You can in turn keep the earning or donate them to a cause. The site facilites the opportunity to continually increase your monthly earnings by referring your friends to the service.

You earn money in 2 ways - by either using Zotspot as your search engine or by referrals. Zotspot in return makes money through advertisements.

Zotspot's mission is to allow the consumer to benefit from the search industry and to secondly help benefict charity and other social organizations.

Started here at Columbia

A current Columbia student started a new search website called Zotspot. This new site differentiating point is that it shares revenue with you. You can in turn keep the earning or donate them to a cause. The site facilites the opportunity to continually increase your monthly earnings by referring your friends to the service.

You earn money in 2 ways - by either using Zotspot as your search engine or by referrals. Zotspot in return makes money through advertisements.

Zotspot's mission is to allow the consumer to benefit from the search industry and to secondly help benefict charity and other social organizations.

http://www.zotspot.com/

Preteens shopping on-line

Hazard Ahead: Preteen Fashions

The NY Times article, “Hazard Ahead: Preteen Fashions” relates exactly to what we were discussing in class last week. In the article it states “In retail stores, there’s only so much space for merchandise,” Ms. Brunelle said. “But online, we have more flexibility to offer a wider assortment, maybe even a couple of pieces not in the stores, like flower-girl dresses available in two to four colors, instead of just one.” She is referring to J-Crew’s Crew-Cuts, its line designed specifically for children. Traditional brick and mortar retailers have been able to greatly expand their collections due to on-line sales and marketing. On-Line stores are virtual, and thus do not have major space constraints. Therefore, retailers are able to offer a much larger variety of merchandise. This has completely changed how traditional retailers operate, and how consumers shop for clothing. This wave has not only hit the adult market but has also penetrated the children’s clothing market.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/fashion/12Online.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=login

Mosquito Box

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_east/5382324.stm

Interesting article that speaks about a company that designed the ‘mosquito box’ – a device that emits high-pitched noise!

To see what this has to do with our ‘little class on the internet’ read the article. But, long story short, this high-pitched noise emitted by the mosquito box is audible to youngsters and not to adults. And now, this has been used to create a ringtone that will allow young mobile owners to know their phones are ringing without the adults knowing. Also full-length tracks are being created. This is also a perfect example of how a technology went from being used for alarms to keep teenagers out of stores to now targeting them as consumers!

I can’t help wonder if this ‘exciting’ product has the potential to be put to any good use in the business school. It will be especially useful in a class setting – no more upsetting professors due to ringing phones! But the thought of kids sharing subliminal messages amongst themselves seems scary, though!

The future of open source

An article presenting the extract of study by IDC about the future impact of the "open source" movement.

http://ce.tekrati.com/research/News.asp?id=7614

To those familiar with Linux by virtue of having used it either at university or in a small business environment, all of the claims in the article will resonate with your prior experience. The crux of the argument is that open source by virtue of its nature brings enormous pricing pressure on existing enterprise software products. However, softwares that are products of this movement are often more innovative, robust and quite simply better than those canned by software companies. However IDC claims in its study that the impact that the movement has on innovation far outweighs that on pricing pressure.

This is especially true in an economy that is more geared towards generating revenues from services. As companies move from acquiring new customers to sell their products to, to retaining existing customers, the emphasis shifts from product development to delivering innovative services. It is in this environment that having an "open source" paradigm where users have the ability to not just use the product but also improve it and let all other users benefit from the improvement. By making continual user community-driven improvement the very core premise of its existence the open source movement has not only survived the might of giant companies such as Microsoft but continues to prosper.

Can Yahoo! be classified as a slowpoke? (Sorry, Hootan!)

A recent New York times article notes that Yahoo! may be losing speed and innovation relative to its competitors.

Yahoo! was interested only a few weeks ago in buying YouTube, but deals fell apart in the 11th hour, and Google swooped in and closed the deal quickly.

According to this article, this may be a sign that Yahoo!'s enormous size and scope may be preventing it from moving as fast as its competitors.

"Yahoo has lost the favor it enjoyed a year or two ago,” said David Cohen, a senior vice president of Universal McCann, a media buying agency of the Interpublic Group. He said his clients were reducing the share of their budgets they allocate to Yahoo in favor of newer sites, like MySpace, and sites developed by big media companies like Viacom.

“There are more players in town, and the others are closing the gap relative to the things Yahoo is good at,” Mr. Cohen said.

One of the main reasons that Yahoo has slowed down is due to the freezing of its text advertising business, which is being held hostage due to implementation of a new software system. The upgrade is more than a year late and the delay has sucked up the company’s engineering resources and prevented it from developing new advertising products. Yahoo’s system produces much less money from every page than Google, a handicap in bidding for advertising deals.

Moreover, Google has so much cash and market value that it can afford to take riskier acquisitions than Yahoo!

It will be interesting to see how the horserace between Google and Yahoo! plays out. On one hand, Google's cash-rich state and innovative platform make it look very attractive. HOwever, Yahoo still retains the most users on the web - and in a world of social networking, users are key. Hopefully Yahoo can use recent acquisiton of myspace to help build an innovation platform and move forward.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/technology/11yahoo.html

Can Yahoo! be classified as a slowpoke? (Sorry, Hootan!)

A recent New York times article notes that Yahoo! may be losing speed and innovation relative to its competitors.

Yahoo! was interested only a few weeks ago in buying YouTube, but deals fell apart in the 11th hour, and Google swooped in and closed the deal quickly.

According to this article, this may be a sign that Yahoo!'s enormous size and scope may be preventing it from moving as fast as its competitors.

"Yahoo has lost the favor it enjoyed a year or two ago,” said David Cohen, a senior vice president of Universal McCann, a media buying agency of the Interpublic Group. He said his clients were reducing the share of their budgets they allocate to Yahoo in favor of newer sites, like MySpace, and sites developed by big media companies like Viacom.

“There are more players in town, and the others are closing the gap relative to the things Yahoo is good at,” Mr. Cohen said.

One of the main reasons that Yahoo has slowed down is due to the freezing of its text advertising business, which is being held hostage due to implementation of a new software system. The upgrade is more than a year late and the delay has sucked up the company’s engineering resources and prevented it from developing new advertising products. Yahoo’s system produces much less money from every page than Google, a handicap in bidding for advertising deals.

Moreover, Google has so much cash and market value that it can afford to take riskier acquisitions than Yahoo!

It will be interesting to see how the horserace between Google and Yahoo! plays out. On one hand, Google's cash-rich state and innovative platform make it look very attractive. HOwever, Yahoo still retains the most users on the web - and in a world of social networking, users are key. Hopefully Yahoo can use recent acquisiton of myspace to help build an innovation platform and move forward.

Would you rather be a professor or a billionaire?

An article in today's New York times profiles the third founder of YouTube, Jawed Karim.

Karim first's (huge) internet success was the introduction of PayPal back in 2002. He "hit the jackpot" when PayPal was bought by eBay.

Karim then went on to develop and found YouTube with more famous friends Steven Chen and Chad Hurley. However, after they founded the company, Karim went back to Stanford to pursue a graduate degree in computer science. His dream is to become a professor.

As early as February 2005, when the site was introduced, Karim said he, Hurley and Chin had agreed that he would not become an employee, but rather an informal adviser to YouTube.

However, he does have a significant equity stake in the company. And, the purchase of YouTube is so significant, he stands to become incredibly wealthy regardless of his more limited involvement.

Karim notes that if another opportunity like YouTube comes along, he could pursue it even in an academic career.

Maybe he'll start teaching Marketing and the Internet next year?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/technology/12tube.html

How Does GoogTube "Change the Game?"

Link to an interesting blog with several postings on how Google's acquisition of YouTube could change the media/web landscape.

A few interesting ideas and predictions:

1) This serves as a wakeup call to mainstream media companies, who may have thought they were "safe" after the bubble burst. Start-ups are now "out-innovating" traditional media companies, and this will change the power dynamic in this industry.

2) YouTube will be able to speed up the process of monetizing content.

3) With Google behind them, YouTube will be able to start delivering search video content as a pre-roll.

http://www.paidcontent.org/goog-youtube-how-does-it-change-the-game

Lets hear it for the ladies!

According to recent research from M:Metrics, the number of ringtones downloaded has grown by 20% in the past year. However, the number of mobile games downloaded has remained relatively flat.

Perhaps the most surprising conclusion in the report, however, is that the number of females consuming ringtones and games grew by 27 percent and 21 percent, respectively, across the past year. Corresponding numbers for males were growth of 15.4 percent in males downloading ringtones and a decline of 11.3 percent in the number of males downloading games. Females now account for a clear majority, or 55 percent, of ringtone purchasers. While males still have a higher propensity to download games, the ratio of male to female game downloaders has dropped from 61 percent male in 2005 to 54 percent male in 2006.

Additionally, growth in the market is coming from older demographic groups. The 35-to-44-year-old segment has had the highest growth for games and ringtones, while consumption among teens has lagged, with the number of teen ringtone purchasers remaining relatively flat, while teens engaged in downloading games fell by 30 percent.

This presents interesting new challenges for marketers looking to promote ringtones and games - do they want to recapture their core market of teenage males, or do they look to expand the core to include women and 30-somethings?

http://rcrnews.com/news.cms?newsId=27482

US – tops in ringtones!

http://www.mmetrics.com/press/PressRelease.aspx?article=20060912-sept06benchmark

Since, we are so accustomed to hearing how the US lags Europe in mobile technologies and services offered over the mobile, it came as somewhat of a surprise to me when I read this
article.

As shown, the US leads Western Europe in all aspects of ringtone consumption. While it still lags in mobile music consumption – I think that this bodes well for the future of music consumption on the mobile phone here in the US. We are all aware of how the various competing standards and technologies have impeded a rapid growth of premium mobile services which are quite commonplace in Europe. But with new demands being placed on profitability in voice services, there are one of two ways that mobile operators can respond. Gain an early mover advantage in these new data and multimedia services and also lock in advertising revenues. Work in collaboration with each other to create a common platform that will allow users portability and flexibility and share profits based on quality of service as opposed to choice.

Obviously, from the consumer’s point of view the second option is the better one. This is how things have been in Europe, where the existence of a single GSM standard has made the user ‘king’ and the mobile companies more willing to be more innovative. But as the mobile users in the US become more discerning and demanding, the operators will be forced into one of the two above options. All early indications suggest that things are going down route 1. For eg: Apple iPhone is set to be launched as Cingular only. But it seems to me like this strategy is sustainable only in the short run. In the long run, there will be a definite convergence to single standard and interoperability, giving the consumer more choice and flexibility.