Posts filed under 'Fortune'
By Molly Galler
Of all the companies looking for a fearless leader to head their social media operations, I have to say this company is an unlikely choice. Not only do they dominate their primary industry, but they’ve branched out into several new frontiers on what seems like a weekly basis. Who is this hyper successful innovator?
None other than web giant Google. No, you didn’t misread that. Google, the number one search engine (sorry Bing, no matter how many products placements you do on Gossip Girl or the Rachel Zoe Project we still can’t be swayed), the creator of the increasingly popular Gmail, the blogging site Blogger and the photo sharing site Picasa is seeking to ramp up their social media presence in two major ways with the help of a new hire.
First, Google wants to build a social media offering uniquely their own. The launch of Google Buzz was met with extreme consumer discontent, and Google doesn’t want to continue playing second fiddle to Facebook and Twitter in the social media space.
Secondly, Google wants to improve the way it incorporates social media into its existing services. Seth Waintraub of Fortune’s BrainstormTech blog wrote, “Google has tried to play ball. They penned a deal with Twitter to embed a feed of related Tweets in its search results, among other moves.” While Google has this one collaboration with Twitter underway, there are a multitude of other options for strengthening their social media capabilities even within their existing services.
Sounds like a serious undertaking for Google’s newest employee. In her piece for GigaOm, Liz Gannes shares the job description being used by Google’s recruiter to find this diamond in the rough:
“This is a new and very strategic position, as Google knows it is late on this front and is appropriately humble about it. In Google’s view, conceptually, there are two ways to tackle social, each impacting who may be successful in this senior post: 1) building an innovative offering specifically in this area; or 2) developing the capability and integrating social into Google’s existing portfolio.”
While Google is on the hunt for this head of social media, there is also the possibility that Google could acquire an influential company in the social space and have that former CEO or president morph into this new set of responsibilities.
What do you think? Can Google find the right candidate to steer them towards social media domination?
May 11th, 2010
By Molly Galler
RaceTalk posted on Tuesday about the Apple/Gizmodo conflict involving a break in at the home of Gizmodo editor Brian Chen to recover an iPhone prototype. Jon Stewart of the Daily Show’s take on the situation (which aired last night) is a hilarious, sound bite filled segment titled “Appholes.”
Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Fortune’s BrainstormTech blog wrote in a post today that his favorite Stewart rant was, “Apple, you guys were the rebels, man, the underdogs. People believed in you. But now, are you becoming The Man? Remember back in 1984, you had those awesome ads about overthrowing Big Brother? Look in the mirror, man!”
RaceTalk’s favorite segment gem asks, “The cops had to bash in the guy’s door? Don’t they know there’s an app for that?”
Enjoy Stewart’s plea to Apple to return to innovation, and step away from the home invasions.
April 29th, 2010
By Kyle Austin
The iPhone-leak saga rolled on today as news broke that the home of Gizmodo editor Brian Chen was raided by California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT – couldn’t make this name up) last Friday night. According to Chen’s account of the story, the team broke down his front door without him present, seizing four computers and two servers, in serving a warrant issued by the Superior Court of San Mateo.
The warrant and the ensuing confiscation of Chen’s computers hinges around the investigation into if Chen, Gizmodo and its parent company Gawker Media committed a felony by paying $5,000 for a lost, iPhone prototype. Was picking up the lost iPhone in a bar, asking around a bit and then selling the iPhone to Gizmodo a felony? Was the subsequent purchase of lost goods a felony? John Gruber thinks so.
Meanwhile, Nick Denton and Gawker seem happy to see this saga continue (free marketing and publicity). In fact, they’ve taken the issued warrant and seizure to propose that the Shield Law protects Brian Chen from the search and seizure as a journalist (full Gawker memo below). Denton proposed via Twitter that this case may finally give us the answer to the age old question – Are Bloggers Really Journalists? He may be watching too many old newspaper movies.
The Shield Law was established to protect journalists from having to give up sources that may have committed a crime, which would likely not apply in this case. Especially, if prosecutors are basing the search and seizure on the premise that Chen has committed a crime himself in this case. Therefore, while the reality is that California has been clear in defining bloggers as journalists (especially those working at a media company such as Gawker), the statue may simply not apply.
To make matters even more interesting (for conspiracy theorists) — many bloggers are pointing out that Apple serves
on the steering committee of REACT.
Just another day in Silicon Valley.
April 27th, 2010
By Molly Galler
Yesterday in San Francisco Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg rolled out some big plans for his baby at the company’s 8th developer conference, f8. After combing through all the tech round ups, here are the major take aways:
Facebook global domination, one thumbs up at a time: The most notable announcement at f8 was that Facebook’s “Like” feature will now be available on any website that wishes to add the cheery sign of approval to its site. You can indicate your favor for anything on the web – a song, a recipe, a celebrity gossip post – all with one click.
While many support this web-wide expansion, others have strong concerns. John Sutter of CNN writes, “A consequence of these “like” buttons will be that your friends’ Facebook profile photos will start showing up all over the web. If you see your friends’ smiling faces online, it’s an indication that they have clicked a “like” button on the website you’re visiting. In a way, they’re recommending it to you.”
While those concerned with privacy issues are shrieking and scrambling in horror, marketers are smiling and planning ways utilize this public display of brand loyalty to move the sales needle.
Log in, plug in: In addition to the “Like” feature on websites outside of Facebook itself, the company is also going to allow sites to show Facebook user preferences without needing to log into that specific site. For example, if you frequent the music site Pandora, you will be able to see your friends’ music preferences based on their Facebook music preferences. Miguel Helft at the New York Times dives deeper with Pandora CTO Tom Conrad:
“It makes it really, really easy to ring your friends into Pandora and discover the music they’re experiencing,” Mr. Conrad said. Mr. Conrad started listening to a band and a picture of one of his Facebook friends who likes the same band showed up. With a click on that picture, we were able to see all the other bands that his friend also liked.
The features also allow Pandora to know which bands users have included in their Facebook profiles and begin playing music from those bands. That makes it easy for Pandora to begin playing music for new users without requiring them to type in their music preferences.
“Pandora is finally social,” Mr. Conrad said. And he said that Mr. Zuckerberg deserved all the credit for the changes. “You get a personalization with no clicks, and that was Mark’s idea.”
My friends and I already share Pandora station and Grooveshark playlist recommendations and this takes out the need for a third party mode of sharing. Tech and social media guru Robert Scoble tweeted this morning to his 121, 500 plus followers:
@scobleizer: OK, I’m sold on the new Facebook stuff. The new Pandora is FREAKING AWESOME.
So what does it all mean? In his keynote address at f8 Mark Zuckerberg explained, “The Web is at a really important turning point now. Most things aren’t social, and they don’t use your real identity. This is really starting to change.” This new expansion of Facebook preferences into the broader web begins that transition from stagnant to social on the broadest of scales.
These moves are not altruistic, of course. Facebook is opening the door to a whole new set of tactics from marketers and promoters, as well as increasing new opportunities for their own revenue stream.
Jon Swartz of USA Today wrote, “If successful, these functions could help Facebook gain valuable insights about millions of consumers and help it sell more advertising in its escalating rivalry with online ad leader Google.”
You hear that Google? Mark’s coming for you.
Former Fortune writer and author of the soon to be released book The Facebook Effect, David Kirkpatrick, summed it up best in a tweet today:
@DavidKirkpatric: Facebook’s f8 yesterday represents a sea change for the company–now the world clearly sees the scope of its ambition.
April 22nd, 2010
By Molly Galler
Today is the first day of the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, TX. From all corners of the earth musicians, film makers and techies join forces for a week of round the clock events and celebrations.
This year, taking center stage on the tech side are GPS based social networks. If you are an active Twitter user, you have seen these updates in your feed. Perhaps a friend has announced they’ve become the mayor of Starbucks thanks to Foursquare. These social networks are becoming more popular and their hope is to become widely adopted by the end of this week.
Caroline Waxler wrote a piece today for Fortune magazine’s Brainstorm Tech blog in which she explains that two heavy hitters in the location-tagging social network space, Foursquare and Austin based hometown hero Gowalla, are viewing South by Southwest as the perfect venue to show their network’s superiority. On the head-to-head match up she writes:
“This is so closely watched at South by Southwest not because people feel like they’re witnessing magic but more for two reasons: One, everyone loves a good rivalry and two, South By Southwest attendees by definition love to geek out. (It’s affectionately known as “spring break for nerds.”) And, what better way to do that than to compete over who is the top visitor to the various venues associated with it? Foursquare is even giving out temporary tattoos to commemorate those achievements.”
Why all the fuss over this one conference? Jenna Wortham of the New York Times wrote on today’s Bits blog:
“For start-up hopefuls, capturing the fancy of the attendees is almost as important as checking out the panels and parties. The high concentration of tech savants supplies a rare opportunity for companies to woo the eyes and clicks of early adopters and influential Twitter users and bloggers capable of elevating their sites and services out of obscurity.”
SXSW runs today through Sunday March 21st and in that time frame Foursquare and Gowalla hope that the heavy hitters in tech will not only adopt their social networks into their daily lives, but spread the word to the masses. One location at a time.
March 12th, 2010
By Molly Galler
Don’t forget to make a wish!
Today Facebook turns 6 years old. While most 6 year olds are navigating the perilous world of first grade and still learning to dress themselves, Facebook is a prodigy.
It’s hard to remember a time when Facebook wasn’t a part of our every day lives. Now when you meet someone new, you “friend” them. When you want to keep someone from knowing what’s happening in your life, you “defriend” them. When you take pictures at a celebration or on vacation you exclaim, “Don’t worry, I’ll tag you!” When you want to wish a friend a happy birthday, you post to their Facebook wall, maybe you even send a Facebook gift (maybe you even rely on Facebook to tell you when their birthday is).
It’s hard to recall those early days when you had to be a Harvard student to access the site. The gates slowly began to creep open allowing other Ivy League students, and finally anyone with a college email address. Now people of all ages, across the globe need only their email address to access the world’s most talked about social networking site.
What is perhaps the most surprising development in the past 6 years is the way Facebook has impacted business. If you are a consumer facing brand and you do not have a Facebook group or fan page, you do not exist. Consumers are searching for companies and services via Facebook because that is where they spend most of their time online. Businesses have begun to push out major news via Facebook, drive traffic to their Facebook page via television commercials, and even offer special Facebook-only promotions.
Technology writer Jessi Hempel wrote a superb piece for Fortune Magazine, “Facebook Turns 6!” on the six ways Facebook has dramatically impacted our lives.
What is your topic pick for how Facebook has changed the game?
February 4th, 2010
By Kyle Austin
On Tuesday the Publishers Information Bureau released its 2009 year-end magazine advertising report. Not surprisingly the report revealed that ad pages during the Media Meltdown of 2009 were down 25.6 percent for the industry, while estimated revenues closed at $19.45 billion, a drop of 18.1 percent.
Compare this with the 11.7 percent in ad pages that dropped from 2007 – 2008 and the 17.5% percent drop in revenue during that time period.
Looking closer at key news and business magazines (the ones that still remain in print and open for business), it was a dreadful year in revenues and lost ad pages for their print businesses. BusinessWeek, which changed hands to Bloomberg’s control in 2009, was one of the biggest losers in-terms of ad pages for business magazines with a 33% drop-off. U.S News, which cut back on print to bi-weekly and then monthly in 2009, was the biggest loser in ad pages for “news magazines” with an 81% drop. Newsweek, which tried to become more like the Economist to push off its eventual death, dropped 25% in ad pages. This was worse than its 19% ad page drop as a true “news weekly” in 2008, but alas it was also during a far worse market.
Forbes more than doubled its ad page drop, increasing to 30% in 2009 from a 14% drop in 2008. Fortune had an even worse year as it prepares to shrink the number of issues it releases down from 25 to 18 in 2010. While its ad pages were nearly even between 2007 and 2008, it witnessed a 36% drop in ad pages for 2009.
The Economist, which somehow managed to actually grow ad pages by 4.4% in 2008, wasn’t immune this year either. Its ad pages dropped more than 20% as well in 2009.
All of this is very interesting, but the larger question is how long will these numbers even matter? 2010 will undoubtedly be the year that the pay-wall returns to Internet and larger revenue percentages shift from print to online. Soon the numbers here will only be a footnote, or perhaps non-existent, as print operations cease across the industry. So how will we calculate? Digital eReader ad pages anybody?
January 13th, 2010
By Kyle Austin
In his typical fashion, David Carr of the New York Times eloquently sums up in today’s Media Equation column why coverage of business isn’t following the business rebound. Or as he mixes words much better than I, “Business is a Beat Deflated.”
Despite, positive news on the economic front, those that cover business continue to be hit with painful developments, which Carr references:
- Last week the Wall Street Journal closed down its Boston office, which had been a long-time staple of deep-dive reporting and investigative journalism. Although they noted that some investigative function will remain, the closing ended Bill Bulkeley’s multi-decade run at the Journal. Bulkeley had been with the Journal for 37 years, covering technology since 1979. He was, up until his exit, the main beat reporter of IBM and EMC, two Fortune 500 staples. (Update: Bill noted to me earlier this week that he was “blindsided” by the closing and was still trying to figure out what was next after 3 decades there).
- BusinessWeek, was sold after 80 year’s of ownership by McGraw-Hill for as little as $2 million a few weeks ago.
- Fortune announced last week that it will cut back from 25 issues to 18 issues a year. In addition, insiders believe that additional cuts will occur across TIME Inc. magazine properties by the end of the year.
- Forbes already announced last week that it will cut a quarter of its staff.
- Carr doesn’t mention that his own paper will shed 100 news room jobs by the end of the year.
Carr uses the data to outline his theory that: “While the business of business may be back, the business of covering it with heroic narratives and upbeat glossy spreads most certainly is not. And probably never will be.”
Its hard to argue against and even tougher to explain to clients (especially CEO’s) that have grown accustomed to associating PR success with their appearances on glossy covers. Peter Himler touched on this last week, when looking at Michael Bush’s piece for Ad Age:
“There remains a vast swath of corporate communicators and their bosses in the C-suite for which a Twitterfeed, company blog, YouTube or Facebook page takes a distant backseat to a prominent piece in Business Week or The Journal or an appearance on ‘Today’ or ‘Squawk Box.’ Believe it or not, even a client’s by-line in the world’s most popular (and conversation catalyzing) blog Huffington Post isn’t viewed by many as having the same value as a piece in The New York Times or the New Yorker.”
It’s not going to get any better. As we know, the business of business journalism is broken in the digital age. With business updates by the second, readership for past-tense features are rapidly dwindling. Therefore, ad dollars that still exist, are moving away from the magazines and into new digital channels. However, Carr hits on something much deeper than just the business being broken. He attributes part of the collapse to consumer resentment and being out of date / touch:
“It’s not that the public has lost its appetite for stories about handsome men in three-piece suits who clink whiskey glasses at the end of a long, not-so-hard day while talking smack about their female co-workers. But “Mad Men” pretty much sates that need. The businessman as Colossus is by now a nostalgic impulse.”
It’s a valid argument. Heck, TIME is trying to leverage the resentment as a way to make money on its business coverage (cover above). Unfortunately, that isn’t a good story for TIME’s colleagues at Fortune, the Bill Bulkeley’s of the world or CEO’s looking to get their name in print – or even Google searches. Those that consume business media consume, as Carr notes “hope and aspiration.”
The issue of Fortune on newsstands now, adorned with a digital image of Obama and Google glasses will probably be one of the best-selling issues of the year. Just like this Economist cover probably was. Therefore, when I look back a few weeks ago to Bulkeley telling me in advance of a briefing that he and the WSJ Boston office were kept away from Obama’s cleantech discussion at MIT “because DC owns all Obama coverage,” it was probably a bad sign on a variety of fronts.
There just isn’t much hope in business journalism these days, unless you’re working on cable TV.
November 2nd, 2009
By Ben Haber
This week’s #FollowFriday recommendations are Fortune’s green reporter, Olivia Zaleski, and ReadWriteWeb’s Fredric Lardinois.
When it comes to following green people on Twitter, Olivia Zaleski should be included on any list. Olivia is the host of Fortune’s “The Business of Green” video series, which looks at sustainability, the environment and how businesses are successful in those areas. While she interviews some of the most well-known and interesting business people, Olivia makes time to get her Twitter pals involved by taking questions that people would like to see answered and working them into her interviews. So if you’re passionate about the environment and looking for a journalist that will engage with their followers – Olivia is a sure follow.
His bio may limit him to Web 2.0 but Frederic Lardinois takes a look at much more than that. From Microsoft and Yahoo to eBay, Frederic weighs in on most major topics on and off the web. But beyond the breadth and quality of his reporting, Frederic actively follows and engages with over 3200 placing him amongst Twitters most active reporters. If you’re not familiar with Frederic, he’s definitely worth a look… and a follow.
Dan Walsh contributed to this post
August 28th, 2009
By Kyle Austin
Posted via web from kyledaustin’s posterous
July 23rd, 2009
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