Categorie: social

How Twitter Is Pairing Its Interest Graph With Ads

advertising, interest graph, social, TC, Twitter

interest-graph-1With somewhat coincidental (?) timing, given this week’s Facebook Marketing Conference, a new article published today by Bloomberg Businessweek takes a deep dive into Twitter’s advertising’s business. Twitter is the other major social network after big brands’ ad dollars, and although its 100 million active members pale compared with Facebook’s 800 million+, there is the potential for a different kind of ad targeting arising on Twitter. The company is going after the “interest graph,” a concept we’ve covered in some detail before.

An interest graph is different than the social graph provided by Facebook, which looks at connections, likes, and detailed demographic data like hometown, age, education and more, in order to narrowly target specific groups with ads. Instead, the interest graph is about what you like, what you read, and, generally, what kind of person you are. But the question is, can Twitter get a better read on users’ interests and personalities than Facebook can?

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BumeBox Threw eBay A Social Media Party And 14M People Saw It

social, Startups, TC

image001 (1)Startup BumeBox throws social media “parties to help brands engage with their customers. Its latest success story: eBay.

Not that you actually need BumeBox to engage fans on social networks, but the service helps put together special, limited-time events, which can then be aggregated and embedded — so fans could participate directly on Twitter, or they could jump into the conversion from the company’s website.

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Led By Social, Gaming Investment & M&A More Than Doubled In 2011; Consolidation Looms

Games, Gaming, social, social games, Startups, TC

Animals-for-your-Farmville-Account-aYesterday, we took a look at the growing comfort consumers, specifically gamers, have with purchasing virtual goods and currency on the web and mobile devices. Virtual goods are becoming a booming market thanks to the growing maturity of gaming platforms, free-to-play models and the profusion of mobile devices.

Today, international investment firm Digi-Capital published its in-depth review of the global gaming space, giving us a sense of the size, breadth and activity of the very international gaming market last year that is contributing to the changing behavior around virtual commerce — as well as a glimpse into what we can expect from the industry over the course of 2012.

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Flipboard’s Latest Brings Cover Stories To The iPad, Plus A New French Edition

apps, Flipboard, ipad app, iPhone App, Magazine, mobile, social, social magazine, Startups, TC

flipboard-ipad-coverFlipboard is rolling out the first major update to its social magazine tonight since its December launch on the iPhone. The new release brings the iPhone app’s most popular feature, “Cover Stories,” to the iPad’s bigger screen. Now, iPad users will see a large, double-tiled pane on the first page of their Flipboard app. There, you’ll find a mix of stories popular among your friends, those that are popular across Flipboard’s network, as well as those that are uniquely relevant to you.

Also new in tonight’s release are a number of design tweaks, meant to give Flipboard a print magazine-like appeal, as well as a much-requested third page in Flipboard’s Table of Contents. And for international users, there’s even more big news: Flipboard just launched its first standalone European edition with the arrival of Flipboard in France, and is promising more localized editions to come.

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Study: U.S. Consumer Spending On Virtual Goods Grew To $2.3 Billion In 2011

Gaming, playspan, social, TC, virtual currency

virtual-currencyIt’s not exactly a secret that gaming has found new life on the web, social and mobile platforms. Of course, with it, especially the rise in free-to-play gaming, developers need to find ways to monetize their apps, or their browser-based games. Beyond mobile or banner advertising, there is the option of in-app or in-game purchases — the old in-game freemium model. Give your game away for free, sell new levels, armor, weapons, life for a buck or two. Lots of games have incorporated virtual marketplaces to hawk virtual goods of all kinds.

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Business Data Reporting In 5-10 Minutes, Not Days. Facebook Rolls Out Real-Time Insights

facebook, facebook marketing conference, social, TC

Real Time Insights Confirmed DoneFacebook has just confirmed my scoop from last week, announcing its business performance metrics tool Page Insights will start reporting data with a latency of 5-10 minutes, not two or more days. It will open new tactics for marketers such as amplifying a well-performing post’s reach with ads, or deleting one receiving negative feedback before it can trigger Unlikes or a PR crisis.

Insights Product Manager David Baser tells me real-time Insights will roll out globally over the next two weeks, and I think the way it ties to Sponsored Stories ads could boost Facebook’s revenues. Impressions, clicks, negative feedback instantly. Data wizards rejoice!

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Foursquare Is Doing Big Things, So Existing Investor Spark Capital Buys $50M Of Employee Stock

apps, Foursquare, mobile, social, Startups, TC, venture capital

photoFoursquare founder Dennis Crowley spent this afternoon in Barcelona, explaining his location company’s potential to Mobile World Conference attendees. Someone else didn’t need to hear the presentation, though. Existing investor Spark Capital is buying $50 million worth of its stock, according to sources, in a deal to provide at least some employees with liquidity.

The result is a valuation north of of the already-impressive $600 million from its last round, I’ve heard. This is even though the company continues to focus on product development instead of trying to maximize revenue.

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Your Average Facebook Post Only Reaches 16% Of Your Friends

facebook, facebook marketing conference, social, TC

Lonely On FacebookYou’re not unpopular, it’s just the nature of the news feed. Amongst all the business-related news at FMC, Facebook revealed that the average news feed story from a user profile reaches just 16% of their friends. Your actively shared links, photos, and status updates probably reach much higher than 16% of your friends, while more inane auto-generated posts about new friendships, wall posts, and articles you read may only be seen by your closest buddies.

Overall, this is actually a good thing, because the reduced visibility of irrelevant content makes room for what you want to see. But don’t be alarmed if your all your friends don’t like that awesome concert photo, they may just be offline.

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Tasted Menu Takes On Foodspotting With New iPhone App

mobile, social, Startups, TC

tasted menuThe team behind startup Tasted Menu thinks it has the technology to help you find the exact dish you’re looking for. The company is launching its iPhone app today (its website was already live), and it’s also expanding from its hometown of Boston into Austin — just in time for South by Southwest.

Of course, there’s already a popular iPhone app for food recommendations — Foodspotting, which said in January that it has nearly 2 million app downloads. However, Tasted Menu CEO Alex Rosenfeld argues that Foodspotting and similar apps “effectively amount to check-in apps for food,” whereas Tasted Menu helps the vast majority of people who aren’t interested in that, but “would love a product that helps them make better ordering decisions and discover new dishes and restaurants.”

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Enterprise Social Networking Platform Yammer Raises $85M From DFJ Growth, Khosla, And Others

social, TC, Yammer

yammerEnterprise social network and communications platform Yammer has finally closed that big round we and PandoDaily heard about earlier this year. The company has raised $85 million in new funding, bringing the total investment in Yammer to a whopping $142 million. DFJ growth and Social+Capital Partnership (who led Yammer’s last round) led this round. Other investors joining the round include Meritech, Khosla Ventures, Capricorn (the investment arm of Jeff Skoll), as well as existing investor Charles River Ventures, Founders Fund, USVP, Emergence Capital Partners. Founder and CEO David Sacks tells us that the company had over $30 million of insider investment in the round. We’ve heard the company’s valuation for the round was around $500-$600 million (Yammer wouldn’t comment on this)

Sacks says a number of angel investors also participated in the massive round including Sacks’ old PayPal colleague Max Levchin, as well as CrunchFund, Bill Lee, Ronnie Lott, and a few others. Randy Glein from DFJ Growth will take a board observer seat.

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