LinkedIn Uploads Slideshare

LinkedIn and Slideshare

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The takeover and initial public offering (IPO) season appears to be in full swing in technology market and following Microsofts dive into Barnes and Noble we now have LinkedIn’s acquisition of Slideshare and Facebook’s share price for its upcoming IPO being set at at between $28 and $35 per share, which values the company at between $85bn-$95bn (£52bn-£59bn).

The Facebook IPO is now set to become the largest internet share offer topping Google's 2004 valuation of $23bn. News Corp must be kicking its heels that it got it so wrong with MySpace who were number one only a few years ago and are now slipping into obscurity.

LinkedIn is the biggest socil network for professionals and is the place to not only connect to your business network but to find people and jobs. It is like a gaint Roldex and who’s who of the business world, hosting discussion groups and connecting business people to business people. It not surprising that they have now acquired Slideshare for US$118.75m. Slideshare is what it says on the tin a place to share slides which as everyone knows are used everyday by business people and in business conferences. SlideShare users have uploaded more than nine million presentations and had nearly 29 million unique visitors last March.

So we now have the social giant Facebook which is reshaping how we share and communicate in communities and with friends and LinkedIn which is starting to reshape how business people connect, reconnect and expand their networks and knowledge. LinkedIn has still got some places to go and could still have some parts of the jigsaw to plug in but is clearly destined to grow further. An ex collegue said to me recently that he didn’t get LinkedIn until he lost his job and now he gets it 100%.

The new LinkedIn will now enable professionals to also discover people through their presentation content and that starts to open up significant avenues for further growth as well as becoming an effective store and archive of business content. Imagine if LinkedIn next bought the likes of Wattpad? 

It's Good To Talk Socially

So is it cut and dry that Facebook rules and the rest remain ‘also rans’? It’s true that the more we invest our time and capture our information the harder it is to wean us off our favourite social network drug.

Social networks now matter to business not just to spread the word and promote their service offers but in building communities. Therefore all businesses must view these as essential communication channels and invest accordingly. The business that fails in the future may well be the one without network communication.

As consumers, we have often demonstrated as liking for joined up thinking and tightly integrated applications. Amazon, Microsoft and many others have proved that the best product doesn’t always win over that which is user friendly. Amazon’s ‘one click’ is a perfect example of something small and simple that is both attractive and compelling to many. We have also seen earlier social network service leaders stumble as users demand more joined up services and as the boundaries of the network and service functions expand.

As we master one new service we soon want it neatly joined to the rest. One of Amazon’s smartest moves was their affiliate programme which built their brand through others. The ‘one stop shop’ will continue to be attractive to many.
So what is so attractive with the social network of Google+?

Some things such as the contact ‘circles’ would appear neater but much off it looks and feels very similar to others.

However there are differences.

Conference calls have long been a essential business tools and the "mobile hangout" feature, allows Google+ users to also now enjoy video chats with groups of friends. Whilst "Hangouts on Air" would allow anyone with a video podcast to broadcast it to the widest audience. Google has not only developed the hangout service but are set to demonstrate it through the rapper star to promote his very own hangout and new medium.

So is Google+ now developing social networks and starting to compete not only Facebook, but also the likes of Skype. It certainly has the potential to adopt a holistic approach and recognise that users use search, maps, youtube, etc and wrapping them in their own social world may be more effective than presented them disparately in others.

However the 64 dollar remains- will users move their community service to others or remain with their current investment and also is any technology lead sustainable in today’s highly integrated world?

LinkedIn to Float

The business and professional social network site LinkedIn is to float on the New York stock exchange valuing the company at over $3bn. LinkedIn, has some 100 million users and achieved a profit of $15.4m on $243m revenues in 2010, is expecting to raise $146m with its flotation.

LinkedIn has a professional demographic which makes it very appealing to advertisers looking for high spenders and decision makers. It now joins a group of highly valued internet sites such as Skype, Groupon, and Zynga, which all aim to raise huge money with their flotations in the next 12 months. LinkedIn also has both a free basic offer to members as well as a premium services aimed at the corporate market. Its revenue is made up from; Job listings and recruitment contributed (41%) of net revenue, Advertising revenue (32%) and paid subscriptions (27%).

LinkedIn clearly has huge potential in the area of search and selection recruitment and this itself can fund subscriptions, the need to belong and be seen and connect.

Half The UK Registered on Facebook!

Experian Hitwise’s latest report claim that social networks are the UK’s favourite online destinations. Facebook and Twitter registered 2.4bn Internet visits in the UK in January and Facebook claim that it now has 30 million registered users in the UK alone which equates to half the population!

This comes at the same time that the BBC released its latest stats for the iPlayer, which reveal that more people than ever, some 125 million hits, were streaming live content through over the service. They also claim 2.1 million requests were delivered to the iPad alone in February. The total hits in the month was down from 162 million to 148 million but interestingly some 23 million of these were from Virgin Media iPlayer TV requests.The BBC also claim that there are proportionally more daytime and late-peak users of the service and the majority of users are under 55.

The blurring of the entertainment and social services is seen as one of the main drivers in UK traffic. Sites such as Facebook are increasingly hosting content from entertainment sites and this is driving more social interaction and stimulating more take-up. This in term attracts more businesses to advertise, promote and generally position them on the social map.

There are still strong calls, especially in the EU to tighten security on the social networks and EU law and directives. The main EU thrust today remains focused on "the right to be forgotten", letting users "withdraw their consent" to their data being held. It is felt that service providers should prove that they need to keep the data, rather than individuals having to prove that collecting their data is not necessary.

So we are now clearly seeing a step change from the vertical web services of email, blogs, flikr, youtube etc to one which overlays these within a social network construct that is wider in its appeal and deeper in its richness. Mobile technology such as tablets and smart phones are enablers that now are increasingly permanently connected. It doesn’t mean that the verticals disappear it merely means that these become the feeds that are consolidated through the likes of Facebook.

With half the UK population apparently signed up it clearly now says that we are starting to socially communicate, interact with media, express ourselves and collect and share content and opinions.

Are You Linkedin?

Facebook is for friends and family, whereas Linkedin is for business and contacts and Skype for international VOIP. That’s the way we use the three social networking sites with Twitter often a mere distraction and something does less and less of.

Now Linkedin has announced an initial public offering which could value it at some $3bn.This may be tiny in comparison to Facebook’s $50bn valuation, but it marks a maturing of these social sites and if successful, could lead to others such as Twitter, Skype and Groupon following their lead. It also shows the high valuation of these companies in comparison to their revenues and profit, (Linkedin generated $161.4 mill revenues and $10 mill profit mainly through its premium subscription service in the first three quarters of 2010).

Facebook today claims some 600 million members to Linkedin’s 90 million users, but both are growing at a significant pace, both globally and within communities. Facebook being more personal attracts a different advertising and sometimes demographic profile that the business focused Linkedin. Here Linkedin can score with members with high disposable incomes and often large business budgets. Linkedin can also literally connect new business opportunities and even, stimulate job changes and advancement.

These new social giants are interestingly now competing for our attention whilst not competing in their offer. Its more a case users finding the right ‘horses for the right course’.

Lillian Teaches Us New Social Tricks

In the past we have written about Ivy Bean who died at 104 earlier this year. She wass a very active user of twitter with tens of thousands of friends who shared her every thought. Now we read about another centenarian, who it is claimed, is the oldest Faceboook user.

Lillian Lowe, uses Facebook to communicate with a few dozen friends but since she was dubbed Facebook’s oldest user she has been inundated with friendship requests from around the world. Lillian, a retired hotelier and businesswoman from Tenby, is only 103 and uses the service twice a week to keep up to date with family. She said she has heard of Twitter but does not know what it is.

The social world of twitter and Facebook may be seen by many as belonging to the young generation but it is clear that they offer new opportunities for the older generation to communicate with people they can’t get to see. It is certainly something that social groups should note and is a clear way of helping people to keep their brains active, friendships alive and create new communities.

Well done Lillian.

Kobo Goes Social

Kobo Introduces Reading Life from Kobo on Vimeo.

Social reading is about creating an engaging experience that we as readers what to share and engage with. It is not just about social it has to be linked to buying and provide added value that people want. Many have tried to brand themselves as a social site and then sell books or devices bit that isn’t the way it works and is why those have struggled.

Amazon were one of the first to engage with readers and let them add their reviews and they were one of the first to understand selling books was about selling books; old, new, used whatever. They built a community based first on service and have continuously pushed that envelope.

Now Kobo, one of the real contenders in the market, have upped the stakes with their "Reading Life" app, which extends ‘social’. It includes sharing, a personal "book cover," statistics, social network check-ins and much more. Users can monitor reading habits and track the number of books and pages read, even down to pages per minute and the frequently of the reading. There is quirky achievements such as the "Once Upon a Time" achievement for opening the first book, 'The Twain' for daily reading and 'The Witching Hour' for night readers. Importantly they use services such as Facebook and don’t compete but compliment the community and share highlighted text via Facebook or Twitter.

Can it be copied –yes, but they have hammered a stake in the marketplace which will change it going forward. This may appear a bold statement, but just like when Amazon pushed the jacket and changed bibliographic, or when they stared their Search Inside programme and changed sampling books, or started to sell used books, or started reviews and changed internet buying, Kobo have made a significant social move.

MySpace Going One Way And It's ....

MySpace was the social network and then came along Facebook. Some would suggest Murdoch bought the wrong one, others that he bought the right one and that is why today its in different position.

It looks like MySpace has finally realised that it has lost the battle with Facebook and now seeks to reposition and redesign itself from the world's largest general-purpose social network to one focused at musicians and music lovers.

Artists with flare and some design can visually convey their personalities more on MySpace than through Facebook's corporate colour and presentation and as long as the artist is there the fans will be there too. Artists will get three choices of design; the old- MySpace design, a magazine-like format, or a video format with mobile versions to follow later this year.

Meanwhile, Facebook still has its growing user community which in true social trems creates even greter growth. So the question is whether musicians want to live in a ring fenced social network or project themselves to a bigger community. If the later then MySpace is going only one way and that isn’t up.

The interesting question is what MySpace will do with all the user information from those who drop of their new site?

Social Network Demand Grows

So which countries would you expect to be top of the social network usage and who would you expect to have the greatest number of friends? What do believe will be the result of mass adoption of social networking on our trading relationships and communications?

Reseach firm TNS has interviewed 50,000 consumers in 46 countries and drawn some interesting findings.

They found that Malaysian users have the highest average number of friends (233) and also spend the most time on average per week on social networks, some 9 hours. In Russian, users spend an average 8.1 hours per week online and Turkey some 7.7 hours a week on social networks. The average number of friends second place goes to Brazil (231) followed by Norway(217) and at the other end of the table we find Japanese users with just 29 and China with 68. however, it not clear whether the different cultures lead some to have fewer, but closer friendships, whilst others have wider and open ones which embrace more friendships.

The research concluded that for some 61% of the online population around the world, digital sources are now overtaking TV, radio and newspapers as the media channel of choice. This clear presents a great opportunity for some but also a significant shift in behaviour and potential to move into an ‘on demand’ culture.

The study also found that consumers now spend more time on social networking sites, than even using e-mail. The trend is also to access social networks via mobiles with a third of US online users expect to be accessing social networks via their mobiles in the next year and with the increasing to 50% in Sweden.

Finally, the study also claims that 80% of users in China, compared to 32% in the US, have written their own blog.

Whatever the specific findings, the research clearly demonstrates the impact that social networks are having globally and how they are changing how and who we communicate with. Building social communities is becoming big business and many are embracing it as the way to communicate on line. However for business to adopt, they have to recognise that it may take more effort to maintain relationships and that they are potentially going to be far more demanding than even email.

Ping: Social Music Networking From Apple

The world of social networking just got a new player. Apple has launched Ping, a social network based on the latest version of its iTunes software and focused on music.

Ping, builds networks of music lovers artists and aims to step into the musical shoes of MySpace. "It's a social network all about music," said Mr Jobs, on its launch in San Francisco."We think this will be really popular very fast because 160 million people can switch it on today," he said.

Apple believe that because they are already where many are buying music that Ping is a natural extension. The question however is whether the social aspect is better suited to music sharing and artists wishing to post material up to be found. Ping assumes Apple is music and this extension is a natural pull but they may be wrong Jobs billed it as a new way to discover music but maybe only if you want to buy it.
The service allows users to create their own profile on iTunes, lists friends lists and what they are listening to and concerts they attend. But is this what buyers want or is it assumption too far?

Ping will have to compete with not only Facebook, MySpace and You Tube but also the likes of Spotify and Last.fm. Not there businesses are about selling music so there may be some trick even Apple have missed.

Facebook Now Top of the Pops In US

Social networking website Facebook continues to grow and surpass all expectations. In the week ending 13th March it became the most visited website in the US, getting more hits on its home page than even Google’s search engine! This is a grow of some 185% over the same week last year compared to Google’s 9% grow over the same period. Facebook understandably reached the number one position over the Christmas holidays and the the March 6th and 7th weekend and is clearly on a roll.

Research company Hitwise.com also claim that Google and Facebook now account for 14% of all US internet access. The Hitwise figures for all Google sites which include Maps, YouTube, Gmail etc account for around 11% of US visist last week with Yahoo sites accounting for around 12% and 7% for Facebook.

This clearly demonstrated that the web is moving from a search and discover surfing tool into a more social networking one and Facebook has clearly taken the pole position over its many rivals. The question now is whether its popularity is sustainable. The effort its users are investing in posting their details, connecting and communicating would indicate that it can only grow. The investment in its growth is not from within but clearly from its members. Will such a service become a true social hub which usurps the twitters and negates much email as we know it today? Are we finally seeing the true social network evolve by organic means? Its interesting that we still see social networking as a service alongside and competing with others but not as the service supported by others. The one other question is what the relationship will be between the app world and the social network world?

Facebook is now beginning to cash in on its success and this year its estimated revenues are between $1bn to $1.5bn. This may appear to be very small in comparison to Google’s last year’s revenues of $23.7bn, but it’s a great start and heading only one way. Google has launched its own social network site ’Buzz’ but has already had many questioning whether its safe to put all your personal, social, search details into one company whose business is about exploiting information through advertising.

See comments for links to stories about MySpace

Twitter Sees Stella Growth

Twitter has gone from the 969th most visited UK website to the 38th, the 5th most-visited social network and Traffic to the site grew by more than 2200% from May 2008 to May 2009, according to web analysts at Hitwise. The stats even exclude people accessing their Twitter accounts via mobile phones and third party applications such as Twitterific, Twitterfeed and Tweetdeck.

Twitter has been the fastest growing major website in the UK over the last 12 months and given its high public profile certainly is one of the most talked about today.

Interestingly it is failing to drive sales and against Google’s 30% and Facebooks 15%, Twitter only gets 9.5% of its traffic clicking through to transactional websites. However, Dell, claims to have generated $3m in sales via Twitter, but appears to be the exception rather than the rule today.

Like others before them they now have to find the money and hold onto the eyeballs but they have already provided that YouTube news moment in getting news out of Iran and disciplining all to those all to few characters.

Social Space

Social networks can be like fashion they come and they go. How many social networks can one belong to?

We have seen Friends Reunited, BeBo, LinkedIn and many more come stutter and wane. Now it’s the turn of that one time leader of the pack MySpace to experience downturn. It no longer is in the prime slot which is now held by Facebook. It has announced it will cut staff by 30% to better compete.

So is cost cutting going to change the service, alter the consumer and market perception or is it just damage limitation?

They may appear more attractive to purchase now and get bought. They may reinvent themselves, or remain in downspin and become just another site with the hundreds of what2bes. Social sites come and go as fashion, people put enormous amounts of effort to climb there slipper poles and socialise but when crowds move they often leave empty spaces behind.

Facebook to Revisit Classified Ads

Facebook is to upgrade its online classified adverts by teaming up with Oodle to launch a new classified section that combines selling and the social world of Facebook.

Some 18 months ago Facebook launched a classifieds service, Facebook Marketplace. It now has decided to start again with Oodle whose platform supports AOL and MySpace communities. Facebook is rolling out its new classifieds page over a 60-day period.
Unlike the Craiglist, Gumtree models the service will attempt to place the advert within a social conversation. ‘I am moving house next week and need to get rid of some stuff – and here is the sofa iam selling.’ ‘Won the lottery last night so looking to sell the old car and buy a Ferrii – and up pops an ad of the old banger that is being reluctantly sold.’

Personally we believe a classified ad is a classified ad and trying to plant it inside something else could undermine the social conversation itself. Is it wise.com?

If Facebook Where a Country?

If Facebook were a country it would be the 8th largest on the planet and would be bigger than Japan, Russia, the UK and most of the developed world. Its 54.5m unique users a day is the equivalent of everyone in the UK logging on every day.

The rise of social networks is so far the phenomena of the 21st century but where are they going next? Where is the money? Can we all subscribe to many networks or do we focus just on one? Is there room for more or are we at saturation point? When does a generalist loose appeal to a specialist networked community?

The trick is obviously to turn the eyeballs into advertising revenues, but with such a large and diverse membership, are global brands the only ones that will work? Can list management offer sales based on preferences? Individual companies can mine into the community to promote themselves but can do this without paying the service provider, so again its down to how they make money?

The one thing that is certain the consumer is unlikely to pay to be a member so the money has to come from somewhere. Unlike countries Facebook and the other networks can't nationalise the Banks or print money.

Questia's Social Network

As social network sites go its hard to judge Questia’s new Research Wizard. In principle it make sense to link researchers into a community application that enables them to share thoughts but is it enough and is Questia the right centre? It has aligned the Research Wizard with Facebook which obviously adds an attraction to many and provides potential new subscribers.

Questia is a major online library, with over 67,000 full-text books, 1.5 million articles, and an entire reference set complete with a dictionary, encyclopaedia, and thesaurus. It provides materials in some 14 major disciplines and its new social site has further fragmented these into what they claim are 6,000 plus research categories.

Looking at the initial dialogue it appears far from a research site and more of a touch point with some weird and wonderful research subjects which will obviously appeal to the earnest researcher but is maybe too granular in its construct.
On first reaction the principle looks good but unless the traffic occurs across the many categories many may not find the experience sticky enough and a good idea may be lost through its execution.

DailyLit Gives Us Our Daily Fix

Sometimes you just stumble upon something and know its right and it was what you were looking for. Often when you do, you have to pinch yourself and ask why something often so simple is not universally known and used?

Today we received an email in a string about Keitai novels, instalment books, micropayment models etc. The email apologised that it was something of an advert as the writer wished to bring to our attention their business DailtLit. We were intrigued and before we could finish our coffee had signed up and received our first instalment.

DailyLit is based out of Mamaroneck, New York they started having seen the New York Times serialized a few classic works in special supplements and realised the model’s potential if combined to email. Today DailyLit sends daily e-mails or RSS feeds of instalments to over 1000 classic and contemporary titles to their readers. Some books are free, some are part free,others are on a Pay-Per-Read basis. You simply pick up your daily fix on your PC, Blackberry, iPhone, whatever and get a 5 minute read. If you want more, you can receive additional instalments immediately on demand.

DailyLit has gone further by creating reading forums around books and authors and a blog where readers can share tips. They even have a gift service where you can send a book to a friend by instalments with a personalised message from you.
This model makes more sense than some of the book social network sites, that we have seen come and go. The issue is content once again and getting all parties to accept a different model and one that is not DRM protected. It isn’t just about instalments of finished books. Charles Dickens wrote in instalments and here is the opportunity to do it again. Also the short story is another form that is perfectly suited to this model.

Hats off to DailyLit and we hope that you succeed and many thanks for giving many of us a surprise.

Sell Students Stuff

SellStudentBooks.com is one of those ventures that is simple and hits you like a brick when you see it. Set up as a student social network site it did what it said on the tin and sold students books. These were used text books and obviously were a hit. They also recognised that students had other needs, dating, meeting other students, accommodation and used laptops . The result is a first class example of what a social network site should be about – a community and their basic interests.

Its ironic that this week SellStudentBooks.com extended their reach with selling ebooks. Not downloads but online subscriptions. After all they can better meet the student’s needs and that’s what SSB is all about. Available via sellStudentBooks.com and SellStudentStuff.com the offer shows enterprise and flair.


The have even gone one step further in teaching others the basics in that they don’t store the files merely handle the transactions and the student interface. Today they have some 20,000 Taylor and Francis titles available to their audience via Digital Drop Ship.

At a time when misconceived social book sites stumble these guys are certainly remaining focused and demonstrating what social networks and commerce are about.
Well done.

A Lesson in Social Skills

AOL is buying BeBo the number three social networking site as they start to reposition their offer and see obvious need for a social network community.
Do all social sites need to be huge to offer potential? What drives a social network site? We know Facebook started as a college site and then morphed into a post graduate reunion site before young executives found it the hip place to be seen. We are aware that MySpace and Facebook have enjoyed a meteoritic rise and now have been bought for huge sums but what about the smaller want-to-bes?

An interesting site is www.sellstudentbooks.com . It does what it says on the can ‘sell student books’ enabling students sell their used books and importantly as they do so engage in a community site that offers shared communication not just on the books. It has all the right ingredients; a need (giving students extra cash for unwanted books), an audience (students) and value added as the students act as a validator of what books matter and which texts count. Just like the lecturers did before than they help qualify and rate the content.

We love the rouges gallery of ‘sexy sellers’ and it clearly appeals to many.
The really interesting thing is that they are continuing to push the site boundaries and stickiness and are now adding accommodation and laptops to their trading offer. This is one savvy set up and deserves to be a success.

Facebook Leaps Forth

At a time when all marketing eyes are either watching the move by the search engines into traditional advertising space or experimenting with social networks comes the latest figures on the later’s performance. It appears that not just the Labour party’s hopeful Deputy Leaders are using this channel.

According to a Hitwise report, MySpace still accounts for roughly 79% of social networking traffic. However, since the September 2006, Facebook has experienced a traffic increase of 106%! We must however note that they opened up their collegiate service in this time to all Internet users, so the increase may just be a blip.

Year over year growth is signioficant with Facebook 126% traffic increase and Bebo.com 184%. Again these figures look astounding but must be viewed in terms of their positions as relative new startups. The I nteresting insight is that MySpace accounts for roughly 24% of the traffic that hits sites such as Bebo, Facebook and Imeem. So social networkers are not satisfied with using only one platform and users appear to join all the new spaces as a way to meet even more people.

The message to online marketers is that the sector is growing and that there appears to be a clear need for users to maximise their reach to their ‘friends’. It will be interestingtoi see if this is that same with respect to other growing site Second Life.