Bebo Files Voluntary Bankruptcy Petition
June 11, 2013
Looks like the social networking company Bebo is caught in a tangled web. The TechCrunch article “Social Network Bebo Has Filed A Voluntary Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Petition” talks about the messy battle between the majority shareholder Criterion Capital Partners and the minority shareholders which include co-founder Michael Birch, Hecker Consultancy and SV Angel. In lieu of this Bebo.com Inc filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. An initial judgment was filed in February of this year by some of the smaller shareholders for the court to appoint a receiver to control the company because they felt it was being mismanaged by Criterion. Bebo was once a flourishing and profitable company but lately has been headed in a downward spiral.
“Once a fast-growing social network that was particularly popular in the UK and Ireland — in the UK in 2008 (when Facebook was much smaller) it claimed to have 40 million users who spent an average of 40 minutes each on the site. Bebo was bought by (TechCrunch owner) AOL for $850 million in 2008 but then sold to Criterion for $10 million only two years later.”
Adam Levin was the CEO in February but his future as the chief executive office at Bebo hangs in the balance as accusations of mismanagement swirl around. As stronger players such as Facebook entered the scene Bebo seems to not have been able to keep up with the competition and its popularity and overall business name faltered. With such initial success one must wonder if popular sites such as Facebook and MySpace could follow down the same path and one day be replaced by the next big thing.
April Holmes, June 11, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
LinkedIn is Not Linked In to the Changing Times
June 5, 2013
Benedict Evans talks social network for professional connections service, LinkedIn in a recent posting on LinkedIn. The service recently bought an iPad news aggregator. You can use it as a publishing platform and it also makes money by selling resumes to recruiters.
However, this post discusses what the author finds challenging and disappointing about using LinkedIn. There are no network preferences that would enable privacy features a la Google+ Circles and furthermore there is no list available of contacts that have changed jobs recently.
The article continues:
“Now, I entirely understand that the LinkedIn business model is to sell my CV to recruiters, not give me useful tools to manage my network. I also understand that all the mediocre me-too news-aggregation is a way to try to get me to spend more time on the site, rather than visiting every month or two. But really, it needs to get the basics right. It needs to give me useful tools. Right now it’s a not-very-good CV database with an interface that would be second-rate a decade ago, that I have no reason to stick with if something remotely, you know, useful came along.”
LinkedIn is most commonly used as a marketing and job hunting service. Functionality and user-friendly features might not be something to expect from such a service.
Megan Feil, June 05, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Facebook Losing Ground with Teens
June 3, 2013
Oh, oh. Is Facebook falling down? The wildly successful creation of the young Zuckerberg is beginning to show its age, and teenagers are now refusing to be seen with it. The Motley Fool informs us, “Facebook No Longer Home to Teens.” Writer Mark Holder argues that recent media attention on Facebook’s mobile Home app and its Graph search misses an important part of the picture—the site’s shrinking audience among young people. The article reveals:
“The bigger issue not generally addressed is that all the new revenue monetization issues won’t matter if Facebook follows the path of all other social networks. Eventually users tire of the service and move onto the next hot social network. The new set of teens aren’t as interested in following the footsteps of the teens from 5 years ago akin to a nightclub typically having a limited length of popularity.”
The write-up goes on to present a chart of “estimated reach” statistics from Facebook itself, and notes:
“The chart shows that the 18-24 year old group lost the largest amount of users in the last 3 months at over 2 million. The second largest group was the 25-34 year olds at nearly 2 million users. Ironically the only group to gain was the 65+ year old group that likely diminishes the younger groups desire to stay on the site. It’s one thing to deal with a nosy parent, but showing your wild party pics to your grandparents is a whole different issue.”
I suppose. Whatever the reason, Holder takes investors to task for ignoring reality in favor of Facebook’s shiny-new innovations. Perhaps, though, the social leader can find a way to turn the trend around, or to minimize its impact. Stranger things have happened.
Cynthia Murrell, June 03, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
LinkedIn Finds Friends You Did Not Even Know You Had
May 29, 2013
In the article titled LinkedIn: The Creepiest Social Network on Interactuality, the strange connections pushed on users is discussed. The author seems very surprised to see certain relations and old friends suggested on the People You May Know bar when first logging into LinkedIn. These included his girlfriend’s stepfather, a Twitter follower he had never met, and his high school girlfriend. The article explains,
“After perusing my LinkedIn settings, I found three different areas where Privacy Controls are listed. If you go to your Settings page and click on Profile, you will see privacy controls for a variety of profile related issues. If you click on the Account tab, you can adjust privacy controls for advertising. However, I hadn’t noticed (mainly because I didn’t think to look for privacy controls in more than one place) the privacy options under the Groups, Companies & Applications tab.”
However, the article also mentions that a partnership with Twitter and/or Facebook is not mentioned in any of the privacy setting options for any of the three sites. How LinkedIn knows to suggest certain acquaintances is still a mystery, since even after contacting customer service the article’s author only received an emailed reiteration of the sites blurb. So is LinkedIn creepy? No more so than any other person centric online services focused on marketing, data and revenue.
Chelsea Kerwin, May 29, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Twitter Needs To Watch Its Tweets Google Plus Is Catching Up
May 29, 2013
When Google joined the social networking circle, users bemoaned it was too late to join the ride, simply hanging on the coattails of Facebook and Twitter. Quite the opposite appears to be happening, however, according to the Business Insider article, “Google Plus Is Outpacing Twitter.” GlobalWebIndex reports that Google Plus has outranked Twitter as the number two social media service. Google Plus continues to add users at a high rate, the reason is most likely due to Google streamlining its services—you log into one and you are signed into all.
Google Plus has become more of a social meeting environment, like the AOL chat rooms of days of yore. Facebook is better to use to maintain connectivity with established friends. Google is taking advantage of this offering and hopes to expand its offerings:
“’We’re extremely happy with our progress so far, and one of our main goals is to transform the overall Google experience and make all of the services people already love faster, more relevant, and more reliable,’ Google said.”
Not many people have Google Plus accounts, yet everyone seems to have a Facebook account. Google Plus is still in that phase between societal acceptance and select-few usage. Give it another year and time for Facebook to go down the tube more and it will catch on. Twitter may have reason to fear, but not enough to stop chirping.
Whitney Grace, May 29, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Demographics and an Another Daunting Challenge for Search
May 22, 2013
I read “Pew: 94% Of Teenagers Use Facebook, Have 425 Facebook Friends, But Twitter & Instagram Adoption Way Up.” The main point is that Facebook has what I would call a monopolistic position when it comes to teens and their friends. I am not sure Facebook is the home run play in places like rural Chile, but where there is money, infrastructure, and gizmos, Facebook is on top.
The point which struck me is, “What happens when an outfit is on top?” Revenue accrues and so does attention.
The research which the write up summarizes contains an interesting factoid or two. For example, teens are, if the data are correct, are shifting from online services which use words to online services which use pictures. (Will video be far behind?) Here’s the passage I noted:
Twitter and Instagram are far behind Facebook, but both have made impressive gains. Twitter was used by only 12% of teens in 2011 but more than doubled that to 26% in 2012. with usage of 26% and 11%. Instagram doesn’t appear to have been measured in 2011, so surveyed growth can’t be determined. But it comes in with an impressive third place at 11%.
Several observations are warranted.
First, search is somewhat of a disappointment when one tries to locate specific information in text form. Last night at dinner, a prominent New York attorney said, “It may just be me but I am having more difficulty finding exactly what I am looking for.” The comment bedevils quite a few people. I suggested that the prominent attorney hire a legal researcher. The prominent attorney replied, “I suppose I will have to.” Lesson: Finding information is getting more difficult, not easier. Keep in mind that the problem exists for words. Search is a challenge for some folks, and vendors have been trying to crack the code for 40, maybe 50 years.
Second, what information is embedded in digital images? What “metamessages” are teens sending when a snapshot is launched into the Twitter or Instagram world? More important, what search system is needed to locate and figure out the information in an image? My view is that geocoding and personal information may offer some important clues. But do we have a search system for these content repositories which works for the hapless attorney, a marketer, or a person looking for information about a runaway teen? In my view, not yet, and not by a long shot.
Third, is the shift from text to images by the teen demographic in the study sample a signal that text is losing its usefulness or relevance? The notion that those entering the workforce in a few years wedded to Tweets and snapshots may be an important cultural shift in some parts of the developed world.
The big question remains, “How will one find information to answer a question?” Text search is a problem. The brave new world hinted at in the Pew study poses more findability challenges. I am not sure the current crop of search and content processing challenges can resolve the problem to my satisfaction. The marketers will assert the opposite. The reality is that findability will remain a central problem for the foreseeable future.
Search is most easily resolved by ignoring its problems or reducing the problem to predictive algorithms in a “mother knows best” approach to information. That may work for some, but not everyone.
Stephen E Arnold, May 21, 2013
Sponsored by Augmentext
Demographics and an Another Daunting Challenge for Search
May 22, 2013
I read “Pew: 94% Of Teenagers Use Facebook, Have 425 Facebook Friends, But Twitter & Instagram Adoption Way Up.” The main point is that Facebook has what I would call a monopolistic position when it comes to teens and their friends. I am not sure Facebook is the home run play in places like rural Chile, but where there is money, infrastructure, and gizmos, Facebook is on top.
The point which struck me is, “What happens when an outfit is on top?” Revenue accrues and so does attention.
The research which the write up summarizes contains an interesting factoid or two. For example, teens are, if the data are correct, are shifting from online services which use words to online services which use pictures. (Will video be far behind?) Here’s the passage I noted:
Twitter and Instagram are far behind Facebook, but both have made impressive gains. Twitter was used by only 12% of teens in 2011 but more than doubled that to 26% in 2012. with usage of 26% and 11%. Instagram doesn’t appear to have been measured in 2011, so surveyed growth can’t be determined. But it comes in with an impressive third place at 11%.
Several observations are warranted.
First, search is somewhat of a disappointment when one tries to locate specific information in text form. Last night at dinner, a prominent New York attorney said, “It may just be me but I am having more difficulty finding exactly what I am looking for.” The comment bedevils quite a few people. I suggested that the prominent attorney hire a legal researcher. The prominent attorney replied, “I suppose I will have to.” Lesson: Finding information is getting more difficult, not easier. Keep in mind that the problem exists for words. Search is a challenge for some folks, and vendors have been trying to crack the code for 40, maybe 50 years.
Second, what information is embedded in digital images? What “metamessages” are teens sending when a snapshot is launched into the Twitter or Instagram world? More important, what search system is needed to locate and figure out the information in an image? My view is that geocoding and personal information may offer some important clues. But do we have a search system for these content repositories which works for the hapless attorney, a marketer, or a person looking for information about a runaway teen? In my view, not yet, and not by a long shot.
Third, is the shift from text to images by the teen demographic in the study sample a signal that text is losing its usefulness or relevance? The notion that those entering the workforce in a few years wedded to Tweets and snapshots may be an important cultural shift in some parts of the developed world.
The big question remains, “How will one find information to answer a question?” Text search is a problem. The brave new world hinted at in the Pew study poses more findability challenges. I am not sure the current crop of search and content processing challenges can resolve the problem to my satisfaction. The marketers will assert the opposite. The reality is that findability will remain a central problem for the foreseeable future.
Search is most easily resolved by ignoring its problems or reducing the problem to predictive algorithms in a “mother knows best” approach to information. That may work for some, but not everyone.
Stephen E Arnold, May 21, 2013
Sponsored by Augmentext
Principles of Open Source and Social Media Align
May 13, 2013
One of the newest major paths of technology, social media, owes much to a well-established model, open source. Giovanni Rodriguez draws many similarities between the two technologies (and ways of thinking) in his article for Forbes, “What Social Media (And the World) Owes to Open Source.”
Rodriguez finds some application:
“First, the principles of open source are not just restricted to technology projects; they can be applied — and have been applied, even before the OS movement got its name — to almost any market that depends on an ecosystem of different players. Second — and this is something that so many tech-marketers and non-tech social media marketers ignore, forget, or never quite got: the principles don’t just apply to online engagement, but offline as well.”
At the beginning of the article, the author states he was inspired to write the piece after attending a conference. The event that the author references is Lucene Revolution hosted by LucidWorks. LucidWorks is a great example of how these two worlds collide. Their value-added software is based on open source Apache Lucene/Solr, and their devoted developers and users form a strong social community. These types of value-added solutions are strongest when reinforced by the principles of both social networks and open source innovation.
Emily Rae Aldridge, May 13, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Facebook Loses Social Media Traction
May 12, 2013
It still remains that if you are not on Facebook you might as well not have a digital identity, but according to Yahoo Finance, “Facebook Is Losing Millions Of Users In The Us And Other Mature Markets.” Facebook has been preparing to inform its investors on performance in the US, UK, and other major European countries and the data shows that users have peaked for these areas, despite a 36% revenue gain on last year. In the last six months alone, Facebook has lost 9 million US visitors and 2 million in the UK.
“’The problem is that, in the US and UK, most people who want to sign up for Facebook have already done it,’ said new media specialist Ian Maude at Enders Analysis. ‘There is a boredom factor where people like to try something new. Is Facebook going to go the way of MySpace? The risk is relatively small, but that is not to say it isn’t there.”’
As the newness wears off, many users are turning to alternative networks like Instagram, Path, Pininterst, StumbleUpon, etc. Americans may be keeping their Facebook accounts, but they are spending less and less time on the Web site. This has been linked to the growing usage of tablets and smartphones. Mobile is almost a quarter of Facebook’s advertising income in 2012 and there is a steady stream of continued mobile usage. To maintain its relevancy, Mark Zuckerberg is digging for new initiatives. MySpace and Livejournal tried the same thing. Does Facebook have the capacity to outlive the zeitgeist? For a little while anyway.
Whitney Grace, May 12, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
The Importance of Your Online Presence During the Hiring Process
May 10, 2013
An article on Executive Career Brand titled Social Proof: Where Online Presence Meets Personal Branding explains the distinct importance of your social media presence during the hiring process. We’ve all read articles about removing Facebook photos of nights out partying with friends, but this story argues that hiding your online-self from potential employees could be equally as devastating to your chance of getting the job you applied for. The article states,
“Did you know that an estimated 90% of employers used social networks and social media – known as “social recruiting“ – to find, assess and validate talent in 2012? Executive recruiters and hiring decision makers seek “social proof” to confirm you are who you say you are, and to learn more about you. Social proof – your social media activity and the information that resides online about you – is a personal marketing strategy”
Whether you are shy, private or apathetic to social media, there is really no escaping its significance to your career. One reason mentioned for the added standing of information found online on LinkedIn or another social media site is that you are more likely to be honest about your accomplishments when the entire world can see what you are saying about yourself, as opposed to a paper copy of a resume that you hand in during an interview. If you take anything from this article, it’s that you can now expect to be Googled during the hiring process.
Chelsea Kerwin, May 10, 2013
If you are interested in gourmet food and spirits, read Gourmet De Ville.
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