Archive for September, 2009
By Ben Haber
Yesterday Facebook launched Facebook Lite, a new site that has a much simpler and cleaner look. After taking it for a spin, the site appears similar to its look for a few years ago, when the news feed, highlights and other features weren’t yet active or were in their beginning stages.
This is a very smart move for Facebook, as one of reason many people didn’t like MySpace was because it was deemed to be cluttered. By cleaning out the site and allowing people to have a simple version to access, it will appeal to those that don’t want to be overwhelmed by content. Also, as TechCrunch notes, Facebook Lite runs much faster as well.
Facebook Lite follows Google’s recent announcement that they would be launching an upgraded version of their site, called Google Caffeine. This site will improve the speed, accuracy, size and comprehensiveness of Google search
September 11th, 2009
By Molly Galler
This afternoon on Mashable, a guide to all things social media, writer Ben Parr quoted Facebook engineer Tom Occhino and announced that Facebook will now be adding an @mention capability to its existing status update feature.
Twitter, the originator of the @mention, or @reply, allows its users to mention another member, and that mention is hyperlinked to the user’s profile. This way, if you are following a particular person on Twitter, i.e. @mollygaller, and I mention another user, i.e. @bhaber602, you can click on @bhaber602’s mention in my tweet, and link directly to his Twitter profile. This is a great way to be introduced to other Twitter users whose tweets you may be interested in following.
Although you can already link your Twitter account to your Facebook account and allow your Twitter updates to also appear as your Facebook status, Facebook itself is now going to allow a similar, public conversation feature.
If you wish to mention a Facebook friend in a status update, you will type the @ symbol and then begin to type their name. A drop down list will appear and you can select the friend you wish to mention.
The @mention feature not only works for Facebook friends, but groups and fan pages as well.
Will non-Twitter users care about this new feature? Will the new @mention feature encourage individuals strictly using Facebook to dip their toe into the Twitter pond?
September 10th, 2009
By Ben Haber
This week’s #Follow Friday recommendation is Amalie Benjamin from the Boston Globe. In light of the NFL’s recent crackdown on social media (and the forthcoming policy from the NBA), Amilie (@AmalieBenjamin) sticks out as the perfect sports reporter on Twitter. She provides her followers with the very latest information and insight about the Red Sox, such as in-game updates, player comments, roster moves and other interesting MLB tidbits. If you’re a Red Sox fan, Amilie’s updates are a great source of information during the day, or if you’re out and about during a game. She also truly understands Twitter, taking advantage of hash tags, replying to her followers, and providing great context around the links that she posts.
September 4th, 2009
By Ben Haber
Following the NFL’s “media-friendly” Twitter policy announcement, the NBA’s commissioner, David Stern, told Yahoo! Sports yesterday that the NBA will soon be issuing Twitter and social media guidelines of their own, which will be modeled after the NFL’s. Stern told Yahoo! Sports:
“Obviously, there is a happy medium between tweeting before the game and tweeting from our bench during the game. You want to make sure that pop culture doesn’t intrude on what brought us here, which is the game, and that we show the right respect for the game.”
“We just need to make sure when it’s OK to Tweet and when it’s not OK to Tweet so it at least focuses around the game. It would look unusual for a guy sitting on the bench to pick up his cell phone, and I think we can agree that he probably shouldn’t be writing e-mails. It’s not about Twitter, it’s about the line of communication. That’s what we’re focusing on.”
Last season, RaceTalk was one of the first to reporter that former Milwaukee Bucks player Charlie Villanueva was using Twitter during halftime of his game against the Celtics. This did not go over well with his coach, and many teams began making their own Twitter policies following that news.
The NBA has some of the most active and interactive athletes on Twitter, such as Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Bosh, and Ray Allen. However, other NBA players have pulled some embarrassing social media stunts this off-season, such as former Boston Celtic Stephon Marbury, who filmed a live 24-hour webcast of himself during which he consumed Vaseline for a sore throat and admitted to smoking marijuana. Miami Heat player Michael Beasley also brought some of his problems public when he posted a picture with what appeared to be marijuana in the background and wrote “Feelin like it’s not worth livin!!!!!!! I’m done.” It was learned that Beasley was admitted to rehab soon after this incident.
As I mentioned, if the NBA did not plan on instituting social media and Twitter guidelines, every NBA team would likely have made their own policies anyway. However, if players were able to provide fans with a quick comment about the game during halftime, it would still takes less time then an ESPN sideline interview.
September 4th, 2009
By Molly Galler
Both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal are reporting today that Google Inc.’s YouTube is negotiating with several major Hollywood movie studios to begin offering users access to full-length films on the website (for a small fee, of course).
The average consumer visits YouTube to surf free video clips or upload personal videos to share with family and friends. If you could also utilize the site to stream newly released movies, why wouldn’t you?
Both YouTube and several Hollywood studio giants are banking that you will.
For YouTube itself, these kinds of partnerships represent a chance to move out of the red and head down the path toward profitability. The New York Times reports, “. . . much of YouTube’s audience visits the site to watch a random mix of clips generated by amateurs, which advertisers view with trepidation. As a result, YouTube has been on a long quest to obtain more professionally produced video that it can use to generate revenue and offset the enormous cost of streaming billions of free clips.”
For the movie studios, a deal with YouTube means a much wider, global audience for their films, which is critical as the sale of DVDs continue to plummet. The Wall Street Journal agrees, “Though many studios now sell and rent movies online through services such as iTunes and Amazon.com, that has yet to produce meaningful revenue. By cutting a deal with YouTube, which had nearly 428 million global visitors in June, according to comScore, it can potentially reach a much wider audience.”
While both YouTube and the proposed Hollywood studio partners stand to gain substantially if this deal gets the green light, other entertainments outlets such as Netflix, will need a new game plan to keep up.
Currently, Netflix has adapted to the changing media landscape by offering streaming video to its customers in addition to shipping the hard copy DVDs. As the demand for streaming video continues, will a site with only that one function be able to stand its ground?
If you are a Netflix subscriber, would you cancel your membership when videos become available for purchase on YouTube?
September 3rd, 2009
By Ben Haber
The NFL has had a few image problems this summer, ranging from Donte Stallworth’s driving incident to Plaxico Burress’ prison sentence and Michael Vick’s return to the football field.
Maybe that’s why they’re taking such a hard policy on Twitter:
“Coaches, players and football operations personnel are permitted under league policy and with club permission to use social media on game day during specific time periods before and after games… up to 90 minutes before kickoff and after the game following media interviews.”
Well, maybe not…
It seems like this policy has been set up to keep certain (media) parties happy, many of whom have paid a LOT of money to broadcast NFL games. In reality, a player taking 45 seconds at the end of a half to do a sideline interview is a lot more disruptive them posting a message to Twitter, as a player can’t control the questions during an interview,. However, a quick 140 character tweet to say “Played a decent first half, but we need to make some plays to win the game” would be pretty simple.
The other key to this policy is that Twitter is banned until after the post-game interviews. Clearly, the NFL does not want players conducting their own press conferences with fans immediately following the game via Twitter, and wants the first post-game thoughts and analysis to be given directly to the media covering the game.
While you can’t blame the NFL for having a distinctive strategy here, it’s important for the NFL to remember that connecting with fans directly is extremely important, especially during a time when many high-profile players are having trouble with the law (not to mention the enormous contracts that some players are receiving).
What do you think of the NFL’s Twitter policy?
September 1st, 2009
By Kyle Austin
Some folks I talk to still despise the “Silicon Alley” term to describe the New York technology scene. The connotation that New York City’s second fiddle, technology innovation only occurs in the “alleys” of the Flatiron District is outdated and inaccurate in their eyes. Others, obviously embrace what the Alley has become.
However, the question remains as we begin to come out of the downturn: Can New York City’s technology scene grow out from behind the “Valley’s” shadow? Could it even rival the the Valley’s leadership position as an innovation hub?
As others have mentioned – the Valley still appears to be shuttered, stuck in a cycle of hesitation, negativity and despair. There isn’t hard statistics to back this up, but everyone that has set foot in the Valley over the last several months seems to point out that the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming. The gloom, contagious.
The lone bright-spot over the last several months was Valley-based OpenTable executing on a successful public offering. However, the IPO-love has been less contagious.
The mood on the East Coast, although not overly bullish, seems to be better. The door appears to be open for New York City’s technology entrepreneurs to take a leadership position, along with some of the glow, from the Valley.
As Chris Dixon, a long-time personal investor and current co-founder of Hunch.com, notes – the New York City investor ecosystem is alive and well:
Union Square Ventures is one of the best VC’s in the country, with early stage investments in companies like Twitter and Etsy (that were followed on by top West Coast VCs at significant markups). Bessemer is an old firm that has a managed to stay relevant with investments in Yelp, Skype, and LinkedIn among others. There is also a new wave of scrappy Boston firms spending a lot of time in New York City – specifically Spark, General Catalyst, Flybridge, and Bain Ventures. First Round Capital out of Philadelphia is extremely active in early stage investing in New York.
However, as Chris alludes to with Union Square’s investment in Twitter, these VC’s may spend a lot of time in New York, but that’s not necessarily where they are investing. In fact, according to ChubbyBrain (via SAI), which aggregates investor data, only 10% of the $2 billion invested by New York venture firms in the first half of 2009 went to New York City-based startups. Where did the majority of their money go to? You guessed it – The Valley.
Maybe they also believe, like Marc Andreessen, that startups outside the Valley are typically 3-9 months behind? Whatever the case may be, one could strongly argue that this will have to change if New York City is ever to challenge the Valley as the leading tech hub.
The other area to look at is the number of people working in tech within New York City, and the quality of hires the Alley can steal from the Valley and other sectors. Perhaps that is why Mayor Bloomberg is woo-ing Jack Dorsey of Twitter to move East (not actually Twitter, but his next, yet-to-be-named startup).
According to an industry report from a year ago the Alley currently surpasses the Valley in hi-tech jobs. This is pretty remarkable given the fall in these jobs after the Web bubble burst and 9/11. Now it’s time to attract the best talent in the business. As Chris also notes, and Fred Wilson of Union Square also references, the scaling back of hedge funds and Wall Street firms should make it easier for New York tech firms to attract the top talent.
With top talent streaming in and still-private startups like Etsy, Thumbplay, TheLadders, Vibrant Media and Meetup all growing within the Alley – there is some definite hope in NYC challenging the Valley as the hub for technology innovation. The VC’s and the $$$ will likely follow. They usually do.
September 1st, 2009
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