Social Networking and Ad Revenue: Trending Down
February 9, 2012
Google Plus or Google+ (yikes, a name with a reserved character) is supposed to be the new Google. Well, Google depends on ad revenue. Some Googlers will insist that the 95 percent of the revenue is NOT from advertising, but I don’t believe them. Sorry.
Social networking accounts for one of every five minutes spent online, making it the most popular online activity worldwide. Media Post recently reported on the financial impact that social media is having on ad spending in the article “Social Networking Lags in Capturing Ad Spend.”
According to the article, a new report from comScore found that social networking sites lead all content categories in the number of display ads delivered, accounting for more than 1 in 4 U.S. display ad impressions. Despite this fact, it is not attracting ad dollars.
The article states:
The 17% of time spent online using social media is roughly comparable to the 15% share of display ad dollars. Furthermore, much of the marketing on Facebook comes in the form of earned or owned media via brand pages and apps, rather than through paid advertising. Much of the paid advertising on Facebook is small, low-cost ads from long-tail marketers rather than high-cost campaigns from big brands.
Facebook and Twitter are the leading social networking sites and they are becoming internationally popular and a phenomenon that is enjoyed by all age groups. If this report is correct, then the ad industry should strike while the iron is still hot. If social ad revenue does not hit the lofty targets required to keep billion dollar babies in diapers, trouble may arrive quickly.
Jasmine Ashton, February 9, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
NASA and Innovation
February 6, 2012
Short honk: Navigate to “USA Kills Mars Missions.” Now NASA once suggested innovation, boldness, and a try-and-try-again approach to quality control. Remember O rings? If the news story is accurate, NASA is pulling out of another possibly bold adventure. The story said:
The American space agency looks set to pull the plug on its joint missions to Mars with the European Space Agency. Nasa has told Esa it is now highly unlikely it will be able to contribute to the endeavors, which envision an orbiting satellite and a big roving robot being sent to the Red Planet.
To make the story more important, there was a quote to note; to wit:
"I cannot pretend the situation is not grim," commented Dr David Parker, director of science, technology and exploration at the UK Space Agency (UKSA).
Now one must ask questions about other innovations; for example, the search and content processing system in use at NASA. Bold or mousey? The good news is that this pull out is an example of exogenous complexity, which dooms an action due to considerations beyond a manager’s control.
Stephen E Arnold, February 7, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Adieu, Google Code Search
February 6, 2012
Russ Cox, former Google intern, is getting a little misty eyed at Google’s retirement of Code Search. Back in 2006 Cox helped to build the application, which searched for open source code throughout the Web. Now he has posted “Regular Expression Matching with a Trigram Index or How Google Code Search Worked” to mark the occasion.
The write up gets into some detail about the processes behind Code Search’s Indexed Word Search, Indexed Regular Expression Search, and Implementation. Check out the article for details. Cox summarizes:
Despite all their apparent syntactic complexity, regular expressions in the mathematical sense of the term can always be reduced to the few cases. . . considered above. This underlying simplicity makes it possible to implement efficient search algorithms like the ones in the first three articles in this series. The analysis above, which converts a regular expression into a trigram query, is the heart of the indexed matcher, and it is made possible by the same simplicity.
Hmm, we thought trigrams are patented by Brainware. Interesting use of this technology.
Though Google Code Search is no more, Cox recommends investigating some standalone programs for localized indexed regular expression searches, like the one found here.
Cynthia Murrell, February 8, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Hot Company Financial Performance Graphic
February 4, 2012
Check out the informative graphics in Mashable’s “How 9 Tech Giants Traded After Going Public [Infographic].” On the heels of Facebook’s initial public offering, this write up examines the fates of other tech companies who have gone public. Writer Matt Silverman explains:
Given the hubbub (or the hullabaloo, if you really want to get technical), we thought it might be wise to look back at the history of tech companies that have gone public. The IPO is all very well, but how valuable did they remain once the stocks start flying? “The results, as our friends at Statista have compiled below, are mixed.”
Yes, some companies like Yahoo, LinkedIn, and eBay shot up in the first day, while others picked up speed more slowly. The graphs of stock performance in the first fifteen days demonstrate those differences.
Long-term success is another matter, though. The second set of graphs show how much $100 invested on that first day would be worth now. The big winner: Microsoft. Er, Microsoft? Well, that company is the oldest on the list, dating back to 1986. It has had a while to climb.
Cynthia Murrell, February 4, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
New CEO at Yahoo Axes Customer Support
February 4, 2012
Digg asks, “Under New Leadership, Will Yahoo Find Its Way?” Our view: nope. The CEO shuffle doesn’t seem to have helped the waning company the last three times they tried it.
Installed January 9, Scott Thompson is Yahoo’s newest captain. The article reports:
Thompson, who was previously president of eBay’s PayPal unit, might be Yahoo’s last hope for becoming relevant again as a player in online display advertising, a market which the media company once dominated. Private equity firms and others — such as Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.com — had recently been showing an interest in buying Yahoo, which had been evaluating a number of strategic options.
The company’s challenges revolve around an identity crisis, asserts the write up. Could the frequent leadership turnover has anything to do with that?
With his technical background, Thompson is a unique choice for the Yahoo CEO chair. Perhaps that will help him succeed where others have not. A priority for the new boss, he has said, is to balance customer and merchant needs, something he worked on at PayPal.
How does the new Yahoo CEO deal with sagging revenues? Navigate to “Flickr Lays Off Highest Level of Customer Support.” We learned:
Yahoo has laid off at least five employees at Flickr, including the highest level of customer support: the people who fix bugs like the mistake that obliterated power user Mirco Wilhelm’s 3,400-odd photos last year.
Thompson will have to take more substantive action if the company hopes to catch up with outfits like Facebook and Google. Investors and users are unhappy, so the great turn-around may have a narrow window.
Cynthia Murrell, February 4m 2912
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Is Google Ad Revenue Softening?
February 3, 2012
Google could be in trouble, as Business Insider illustrates in “This Chart Shows How Christmas Never Arrived at Google.” The company’s 2011 fourth quarter numbers show its revenues only increased by 25%. Writer Jim Edwards points out that, compared to all other ad-based businesses, that’s actually a good showing. However, the market seems to disagree; Google stock dropped almost nine percent when the news was released.
Edwards has noted a pattern in Google earnings, wherein the company tends to grow little during the first quarter, but makes up for it at Christmas time. Last year, the December surge never occurred. This could be worrisome for Google stakeholders.
There are several possible reasons for the tepid performance. For one thing, the per-click ad rate has been sliding downward. Also, search for the mobile arena, which is still growing and bound to take over the world sooner or later, has provided a lower ad revenue than regular search. Finally, shoppers are now more likely to go directly to a shopping site like Amazon than to Google their potential purchases.
In summary, Edwards observes,
All of the foregoing explains Google’s sudden interest in newspaper advertising, PR stunts such as the Google+ event with David Beckham, and its continued enthusiasm for Google Wallet. . . . Google needs to get Christmas back on track in 2012 — and that means reminding consumers to use its products for shopping.
Hmm. Reminding and enticing are two different things. Can Google do either?
Cynthia Murrell, February 3, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Thomson Reuters Get Social
February 2, 2012
If you don’t association Thomson Reuters and social, you are not alone. Fresh from the innovative print magazine for the consumers at the World Economic Forum, Thomson Reuters is going social. You can check out the service at the Reuters Social site. According to “Introducing Reuters Social Pulse,”
Today we launched Social Pulse, our new social media hub on Reuters.com designed to show you the most talked-about news, companies and influencers across the Web. The first thing you’ll see on the page is the news most popular in Reuters social network.
Interesting. One question comes to mind, “How will this generate money to get the $13 billion dollar outfit growing and producing enough cash to pay dividends, debts coming due, and the costs of innovations like the social site and, of course, the consumer magazine for Davos types?”
Stephen E Arnold, February 3, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Cracking Technology Start Ups
February 1, 2012
Quote to Note: If you have an MBA and are dreaming about making big money in technology start ups, you will want to read “New Identified Research Reveals Engineers Far More Likely than MBAs to Build and Run Companies.” My interest is search, which is a spectacularly complex technical process. I have watched companies run by MBAs crash and burn. An English major with a knowledge of medieval Latin would probably have done an equally poor job. But MBAs!
Here’s the quote I noted:
We culled through 36 million professional profiles in the Identified database and found 3,337 founder/CEOs have an advanced engineering background compared with 1,016 MBAs. The ratio of undergrad business and engineering founders/ CEOs is about even (9,461 versus 9,334), a significant shift occurs in the number of leaders who have advanced degrees.
Not all will succeed, of course, and you will want to read the entire document which is available at this link. I don’t know for how long, however.
Stephen E Arnold, February 1, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
The China Market: Apple and Google
January 30, 2012
Quote to note: I read the Fast Company story “Apple Could Sell 40 Million iPhones In China…” The guts of the story is an estimate—probably crazy—that Apple will sell beaucoup iPhones in China. Here’s the snippet I jotted down in my paper notebook:
Apple will seek out tie-ups with China Telecom and China Mobile to sell up to 40 million iPhones in China alone in 2013.
Underneath this estimate I wrote, “Are these 40 million phone sales which Google has lost?” Interesting question related to the notion of getting a nation state to change how it runs its railroads. I think some of them crash, but 40 million is an interesting number, if accurate. Can Google get back into China? One hopes.
Stephen E Arnold, January 30, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
RightNow Takes the Oracle Money
January 29, 2012
Good idea in our opinion.
RightNow joins Endeca as a billion dollar baby, as revealed in TechCrunch’s “RightNow Stockholders Approve $1.5 Billion Merger with Oracle.” The vote was nearly unanimous; the $1.5 billion deal represents a per-share value of $43.
What will the customer experience management company bring to Oracle? What Writer Robin Wauters wrote:
RightNow’s solutions help companies handle customer interactions across a multitude of channels, including call and contact centers, the Web and social networks. Its products are used by nearly 2,000 organizations across the globe, the company says. With the acquisition, which is still subject to regulatory approval, Oracle will thus be adding a robust cloud-based customer service offering to its own Public Cloud solution.
RightNow has been around since 1997, and is driven to bring order, efficiency, and good will to customer interactions. For its part, Oracle needs to get its revenues back on track. Maybe, with Oracle magic, customer support and search will do the trick? However, Oracle faces legal set backs with regard to its Oracle litigation, open source threats, and the challenge of making those big search investments pay off in real money.
Cynthia Murrell, Janaury 29, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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