Bigmouthmedia Search Engine News: /affiliate-marketing/

Groupon founder admits his failings

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 02:01:00 GMT

Groupon founder and CEO Andrew Mason has admitted his team made a "bush-league mistake" in the lead-up to the company's IPO filing last November.

The daily deals monger was forced to revise its filing papers after reporting that it generated $713.4 million (£466.3 million) - the Securities Exchange Commission said revenue figures should have been $312.9 million (£204.5 million) - a considerable discrepancy.

"Smart people can get this stuff wrong," Mason said in an interview.

"We're inventing a new industry. Like, if we were smart, evil people, we would be more cunning and subtle in our evil ways."

Although Groupon's share prices beat analyst expectations following its IPO filing - the bargain hunter had the strongest debut of any internet company since Google - share prices have cooled off, while competition has continued to heat up.

Groupon struck the right chord with users initially - more than 150 million users are signed up to receive daily deals to their inboxes.

However, as competitors like Google and PayPal are entering the ring, Groupon may have no choice to revise its business model - the young company has yet to turn a profit, and retailers are beginning to shy away from Groupon arguing that they lose money as they struggle to retain new customers.

"I think if there's any difference between me and a traditional CEO, it's that I've been unwilling to change myself or shape my personality around what's expected," Mason said.

"Am I as experienced or as mature or smart as other CEOs? No, probably not. But there's something useful about having the founder as a CEO."

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New Facebook feature lets users "Listen With" friends

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:48:00 GMT

Facebook has launched a new feature that lets users rock our with their friends in cyberspace and to listen to songs with each other in real-time.

The social network has rolled out the "Listen With" button - letting users of music services like Rdio and Spotify share the song they're currently listening to with their Facebook friends. Both parties, however, will need to be registered users of the music service.

"With music services on Facebook, there's a new way to listen with friends," said Facebook product designer Alexandre Roach on the Facebook Blog. "This feature lets you listen along with any of your friends who are currently listening to music. You can also listen together in a group while one of your friends plays DJ."

The service works through a chat bar that highlights current listening opportunities with a music note icon. To listen, Facebook users hover their cursor over their friend's name and then click the "Listen With" button. The chat bar feature also allows friends to discuss the music being played with each other.

For those concerned about admitting they're jamming out to that particularly embarrassing track, users can control who sees when they are listening to a song.

"Only the people you've shared your listening activity with can see when you're listening with a friend," Facebook said in its help centre.

"You can control privacy settings in music apps when you install the app or on your app setting page after you've installed the app. You can also remove songs you listened to from your timeline on your private activity log."

The new feature began rolling out yesterday and will be available to all Facebook users over the next couple of weeks.

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Justin Timberlake brings MySpace back

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:01:00 GMT

Justin Timberlake is bringing MySpace back.

In the final moments of Panasonic's press conference at the CES conference in Las Vegas, actor-musician Timberlake took to the stage to announce a revamp of the fallen social network and a new partnership with Panasonic.

"The TV, long before the internet, was our supplier of true word of mouth, our originator of water cooler talk, and now with this exciting partnership of MySpace and Panasonic, we're ready to take television and entertainment to the next step - by upgrading it to the social networking experience," Timberlake said.

By partnering with MySpace, Panasonic is hoping to provide an integrated experience where users can watch TV and interact on the social platform simultaneously through a new app it calls 'MySpace TV'.

"We're giving you the opportunity to connect your friends to your moments as they are actually happening," Timberlake said.

"This is the evolution of one of our greatest inventions - the television - and no we no longer have to crowd around the same one to experience it together."

MySpace TV will give users the opportunity to see what their MySpace friends are watching and will allow users to post comment through the television with the use of smartphone and tablet devices.

Even with the announcement, details on the service remain vague - Panasonic gave no indication of timing or pricing beyond saying the service would be available in "early 2012".

"Historically, social has been about what you have done, possibly what you're doing right now - the future of MySpace is about what you're going to do, about who you're going to become. MySpace TV is the first foray into that future," Timberlake said.

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Google demotes itself after paid-blog fuss

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 08:13:00 GMT

Google has fallen on the proverbial sword - demoting itself in search rankings after a Chrome ad campaign violated the company's own policies.

Google has found itself in hot water following the revelation that a Google Chrome ad campaign did exactly what the company has specifically banned in the past - paying bloggers for links to pad out search results.

To add insult to injury, the posts were of such low quality that they embodied the kind of "thin" content that Google has been working to eliminate from its search results.

So, to make amends it appears the search giant will be turning to a little self-flagellation of the corporate kind.

"We've investigated and are taking manual action to demote www.google.com / chrome and lower the site's PageRank for a period of at least 60 days," the company said in a statement from Mountain View.

"We strive to enforce Google's webmaster guidelines consistently in order to provide better search results for users... we can find no remaining violations of our webmaster guidelines, we believe Google should be held to a higher standard, so we have taken stricter action than we would against a typical site."

Google notoriously dislikes companies trying to game search results by paying other sites to link to them, and is partly blaming the advertising companies it partnered with for the fracas.

"Google never agreed to anything more than online ads," said the company. "We have consistently avoided paid sponsorships, including paying bloggers to promote our products, because these kind of promotions are not transparent or in the best interests of users. We are now looking into what changes we need to make to ensure this never happens again."

Searching for the keyword "browser" on Google will no longer bring up the Google Chrome home page anywhere in the top results, with it reportedly currently ranked in position 50.

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Zynga's IPO as popular as its games

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:12:00 GMT

Zynga Inc. is raising more than virtual livestock these days, having pulled in $1 billion (£643 million) in its initial public offering.

The social games developer responsible for time-consumers like FarmVille, Words with Friends and Mafia Wars announced late Thursday the sale of100 million shares of Class A common stock at the top of the marketed range - coming it at $10 (£6.40) a piece.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, Zynga's offering is the biggest by a U.S. internet company since Google raised $1.9 billion (£1.2 billion) in its IPO in 2004.

And, at $10 a share, it appears that investors are very interested.

Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co. in San Francisco, said, "Zynga and its games are becoming consumer brands and there is a lot of recognition for growth potential. My guess is that the shares will be well-received."

The share pricing gives the internet gaming company a market value of approximately $7 billion (£4.5 billion).

Zynga Inc. was founded in 2007, building the company by charging small amounts of money - from a few cents to a couple of pounds - for virtual items in "free-to-play" online games.

Their "free-to-play" business model assumes most people won't want to pay anything to build virtual castles in CastleVille or take down rival mob bosses in Mafia Wars. But, by cultivating a large enough player base with a few loyal spenders, Zynga was able to earn a net income of $90.6 million (£140 million) in 2010.

This success is due in large part to their partnership with Facebook. Between July and September, 93 per cent of Zynga's revenue was generated through the social network giant, and this week announced Zynga's games had more than 223 million monthly users on Facebook.

However, with the popularity of mobile phone games like Words with Friends - a game actor Alec Baldwin felt strongly enough about to be kicked off an airplane - Zynga is also focusing on mobile gaming as a way to expand beyond social networks and snag as many shareholders as it has users.

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PayPal takes aim at Groupon

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:25:00 GMT

Daily Deals monger Groupon may have to brace itself for rough waters ahead as internet payment giant PayPal announces its intention to enter the daily deals market.

With more than 103 million users worldwide, PayPal hopes to leverage its database of consumer information into targeted e-coupons and daily deals that will prove more relevant than the ones currently being delivered to their inboxes by competitors like Groupon and LivingSocial.

According to Bloomberg News, the eBay owned company will make its foray into the land of daily deals in early 2012.

PayPal will also work to edge out the competition by offering deals to users' smartphones based on their location. For example - PayPal will alert users to available offers as they near a store or restaurant.

PayPal president Scott Thompson is hoping by targeting user location and buying habits the company can close in on its target revenue goal of $7 billion (£4.5 billion) in 2013.

"The experience is going to be completely different than anyone else's through and through," Thompson said.

"We'll only give you something that we think fits the category of unique and relevant. Everyone else is going to bombard you."

Following its initial IPO filing, Groupon shares jumped before swiftly sinking several weeks later.

Though Groupon and LivingSocial still hold the lions share of the daily deal's market, newer competitors like Google Offers and PayPal's yet-to-be-launched initiative could pose a serious threat to the company moving forward - particularly if new competitors can leverage the wealth of consumer information effectively and offer tailored offers to consumers.

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Mac App Store reaches 100 million downloads

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:24:00 GMT

Whether you're a PC or a Mac, people have certainly been app happy this year.

Apple announced yesterday that the Mac App Store has sold over 100 million apps in less than one year, coming on the heels of Android's own annoucement last week that the Android Market downloads have reached the 10 billion mark.

Apple launched its online Mac App store in January, building upon the extraordinary momentum generated by its App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod devices.

The original App Store revolutionized the app industry, now offering more than 500,000 apps for Apple's smartphones and tablets. Customers have downloaded more than 18 billion apps and continue to download more than 1 billion apps per month.

"In just three years the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

"With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world."

The Mac App Store offers thousands of free and paid apps in various categories, including Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity and Utilities. Users can browse for apps in the online store and then buy them using their iTunes account.

Additionally, Apple lets Mac developers set the prices for their apps and keep 70 per cent of the sales revenue. They are not charged for free apps and do not have to pay hosting, marketing or credit card fees.

"We're using the Mac App Store to deliver new products and reach a growing base of new Mac customers," said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president of Platform Solutions and Emerging Business at Autodesk, whose products are in both the App Store and the Mac App Store.

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Groupon share price sinks

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:13:00 GMT

There are signs of trouble in the land of daily deals as Groupon shares continue to sink following its IPO filing on 4 November.

Shares fell another 9 per cent yesterday - despite the fact Nasdaq was up more than 3 per cent.

Initially, the coupon-clipping heavyweights beat analyst expectations after shares went to market at $20 (£13) each - the best debut of any internet company since Google.

Since going public, Groupon shares have continued to tumble - falling more than 41 per cent in less than a month.

The reason for this, according to CNET, is the bargain hunters are up against a sluggish economy with a flawed business model.

"There has been concern that the company's revenues are not sustainable amidst growing competition in the sector and a weakening economy that could have an impact on consumer spending," an analyst at Wall Street Equities Research said.

"Analysts also cite their business model might not be sustainable as customers analyse the ROI of using Groupon to market their products or services."

Even if Groupon can stop share prices from continuing to steadily drop, this may only be the tip of the iceberg for the daily deals-monger. Currently, the company is still in the midst of a 180-day lockout period, preventing employees from selling stock.

Once the lockout period is over, Groupon shares have the potential to plummet even further as employees and shareholders begin to cash in stock options.

Professional social network LinkedIn faced a similar problem after going public, forced to sell an additional 8 million shares in a second offering after company employees raced to liquidate stock options - a measure Groupon may also find it necessary to take.

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Facebook users like to clip coupons

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 03:24:00 GMT

Even in today's digital world, clipping coupons is still a time honoured tradition.

Dealmongers like Coupons.com are cashing in on this trend by offering social network based coupon platforms, and their recently launched Bancaster Social helps brands offer printable coupons on their Facebook pages.

According to a recent Ad Age/Ipsos Observer survey, coupons - rather than daily deals - are the top reason consumers "Like" brands on Facebook.

"Brands can always post a coupon on their Facebook page by dropping a link on their wall," said Coupons.com CEO Steven Boal. "What this platform extension does is embed a full user experience into your Facebook page automatically. It takes about 48 hours or less to make it happen."

Coupons.com is seeking to automate the coupon sharing process to make a better experience for consumers, such as removing a coupon automatically once it reaches its allotted print limit and alerting consumers to check back later.

Battery-maker Energizer tested the Brandcaster Social platform - the campaign resulted in 60,000 "Likes" and 75,000 coupons printed in two days - a 40 per cent increase to the battery company's fan base.

According to Serge Taylor, brand manager of communications at Energizer, the company hasn't previously had "the best experience" with Facebook; consumers are easily dissatisfied when they take the time to click on a coupon and don't end up getting one.

However, using an automated coupon platform made a difference. "We didn't have issues on the consumer side," says Traylor of his Brandcaster Social coupon. "There were built-in ways for consumers to ask questions. That really helped."

Even with the proliferation of daily deal discounts, many companies believe there is room to grow in the online coupon industry.

Boal explains coupons are the second most popular marketing tool for brands offline, but it is a fifth or sixth online tool because brands have struggled to measure the success of online coupons.

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Google+ welcomes business with open arms

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:00:00 GMT

Newcomer Google+ has invited businesses onto its social networking site, giving brands a new opportunity to 'build relationships' online.

Product Management Director for Google+ Pages Dennis Troper wrote in a blog post : "Since the initial launch of Google+ just a few months ago, we've welcomed over 40 million people and introduced more than 100 new features. For all these people, one important part is still missing - your business."

While corporate profiles have become an important fabric in other social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, until now Google+ has restricted access for business, focusing its attention on developing its social network as a consumer service.

"So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about - from local businesses to global brands - so today we're rolling out Google + Pages worldwide," Troper said.

Businesses will now be able to share information about themselves with other G+ users, and make use of features such as circles and hangouts to interact with customers.

More notably, Google will incorporate Google+ Pages into search results, and businesses will also have the opportunity to link their Google+ Page with their AdWords campaign - a feature that will make Google+ Pages an attractive option to businesses looking to raise their visibility online.

"Consumers will be able to see all the recommendations your business has received, whether they are looking at an ad, a search result on your page, meaning your +1's will reach not only the 40 million users of Google+, but all the people who come to Google every day."

Google also announced a new feature - Direct Connect - that, once in operation, will let users find Google+ pages quickly and easily through a search, adding a "+" in front of their query.

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