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Most Facebook users don't click on ads

Wed, 16 May 2012 02:36:00 GMT

Most people do not click on Facebook ads according to a new survey by CNBC and Associated Press.

Figures show 57 per cent of Facebook users never click on or use any of the commercial content on the site, as well as another 26 per cent stating that they rarely do so.

This is a blow to the social networking giant as its commercial plan for public flotation is mainly based on users responding to adverts. The CNBC/Associated Press report comes on the same day as General Motors announced they will no longer advertise on Facebook, due to the lack of impact their ad campaigns had had on users.

GM is the third biggest advertiser in America and their abandonment of Facebook as a platform shows up a major flaw in the social network's flotation strategy.

"This does highlight what we are arguing is the riskiness of the overall Facebook business model," said Brian Wieser, Internet and media analyst at Pivotal Research Group, to the Daily Telegraph.

"It is not a sure thing. It sure looks likely that it will be one of the most important ad-supported media properties, but it's not certain because there will be marketers who are challenged to prove the effectiveness of the marketing vehicle."

GM will carry on maintaining its free Facebook pages, using them to promote products and services.

Facebook will reportedly start trading on the Nasdaq on Friday. Despite the advertising strategy and revenue problems, there is strong investor demand with its offering increased by 25 per cent to raise $15 million.

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Twitter reaches 10 million UK users

Tue, 15 May 2012 02:01:00 GMT

The UK now has the fourth biggest number of Twitter users in the world after the US, Japan and Brazil. These figures were released on the one year anniversary of the opening of Twitter's London office.

According to Twitter, it now has 140 million users worldwide, with Britain having 10 million users of the service alone. 80 per cent of these users access Twitter through their mobile phones, whereas only 55 per cent of users do so worldwide. Despite the growth in Twitter use, the site is still small compared to Facebook, with 30 million UK users and 800 million users worldwide.

However, despite being smaller than its social networking competitor, Twitter has come in for some controversial press over the last year. Firstly Ryan Giggs was named on Twitter as the man in a court case covered by an injunction, and then later in the year, the website was cited as a tool for rioters across Britain.

There were claims rioters were arranging meeting points and times using Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger. Suggestions that police could be given powers to block social media during times of unrest were also tabled.

As a result, Twitters UK general manager Tony Wang has announced the company will be hiring a public policy manager to work more closely with Parliament and the Police.

Mr Wang told the BBC they are looking to work with "the government, various ministries, members of parliament as well as law enforcement.

"There are a number of different needs that they have - and there's a lot of very unique ways that they're using Twitter."

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Google profits jump

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 01:24:00 GMT

Google has reported a jump in profits and sales for the first quarter, proving the sun still shines on Mountain View.

The search giant reported net income in the first quarter shot up 60 per cent from the same period last year - rising to $2.89bn (£1.8bn). Quarterly revenues exceeded $10bn (£6.2).

"Google had another great quarter with revenues up 24 per cent year on year," Google CEO Larry Page said.

"We also saw tremendous momentum from the big bets we've made in products like Android, Chrome and YouTube. We are still at the very early stages of what technology can do to improve people's lives and we have enormous opportunities ahead. It is a very exciting time to be at Google.

"We are still at the very early stages of what technology can do to improve people's lives and we have enormous opportunities ahead."

Google, in its 2012 Founders' Letter, also announced it will create a new class of non-voting capital stock, which will be distributed to all existing shareholders by means of a stock dividend. The owner of each existing share will also receive one new share of non-voting stock.

The move, according to the company's founders, will preserve Google's corporate structure and allow the company to remain focused in the long term.

"We have decided that maintaining this founder-led approach is in the best interests of Google, our shareholders and our users," Larry Page and Sergey Brin said.

"Having the flexibility to use stock without diluting our structure will help ensure we are set up for success for decades to come."

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Apple reigns supreme as king of tablets

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:24:00 GMT

Apple's iPad is expected to retain a tablet market share of more than 45 per cent until 2016, according to a new report.

While the company's grip on the market is loosening with the emergence of new competitors - the iPad accounted for 83 per cent of tablet sales in 2010, and only 73.4 per cent in 2011 - according to Gartner, Apple will reign supreme as king of tablets for the foreseeable future.

"Despite PC vendors and phone manufacturers wanting a piece of the pie and launching themselves into the media tablet market, so far, we have seen very limited success outside of Apple with its iPad," Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner, told the Telegraph.

"As vendors struggled to compete on price and differentiate enough on either the hardware or ecosystem, inventories were built and only 60 million units actually reached the hands of consumers across the world. The situation has no improved in early 2012, when the arrival of the new iPad has reset the benchmark for the product to beat."

Apple's most formidable competitor in the tablet realm, Google's Android, could begin to pose a serious threat to the company's market share in the coming months - the company is expected to release a host of new Google-branded, Android-powered tablets later this year, and could begin selling directly to consumers in an online store.

Microsoft, too, is expected to bring some renewed competition with the release of Windows 8 - which has been specially designed for both tablet and desktop computers.

"It appears that this year competitors have waited to see what Apple would bring out - because there were very few announcements of new media tablets at either the Consumer Electronics Show or Mobile World Congress," Ms Milanesi said.

Still, Gartner predicts that while other competitors may encroach on Apple's territory, the iPad will still retain the lion's share of the market. In 2012, worldwide tablet sales are expected to total 118.9 million - a 98 per cent increase from sales in 2011.

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RIM to stick to what it knows after quarterly losses

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 07:36:00 GMT

Flagging BlackBerry maker RIM has announced it will stick to what it knows and return to its initial focus - business users.

The announcement came after the company posted $125 million (£78 million) net quarterly losses, compared with a $934 million profit a year earlier. In the wake of the news, longtime RIM executive Jim Balsillie is leaving the board, along with chief technology officer David Yacht.

"We plan to refocus on the enterprise business and capitalise on our leading position in this segment," chief executive Thorsten Heins said.

RIM's shift in strategy will see the company pull back from trying to compete with Android and iPhone and focus its efforts on building on its strengths and catering to business users, the niche where BlackBerry devices have always been the most successful.

"We can't do everything ourselves but we can do what we're good at," Mr Heins continued.

"We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we tried to be everybody's darling and all things to all people. Therefore we plan to build on our strength."

The company has been struggling in the past year after a series of PR disasters - including the BBM blackout and PlayBook launch - led to a slump in profits. Continued pressure from investors eventually prompted co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis step down.

"I have assessed many aspects of RIM's business during my first 10 weeks as CEO. I have confirmed that the Company has substantial strengths that can be further leveraged to improve our financial performance," Mr Heins said in a press release.

"The business challenges we face over the next several quarters are significant and I am taking the necessary steps to address them."

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Android services set to overtake Microsoft by 2016

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:24:00 GMT

A new report from the IDC suggests smart connected devices like Android and iOS powered tablets will take a bite out of Microsoft's market share as users turn away from traditional PCs in favour to 'smart devices' like tablets, smart phones and PCs instead.

The IDC has predicted that between 2011 and 2016, the Windows platform - consisting of PCs running a Windows operating systm on any x86-compatible CPY - market share will slip from 35 per cent to a more modest 25 per cent.

In contrast, the number of Android-based devices running on ARM CPUs will grow from a 29 per cent share in 2011 to an estimated 31 per cent share in 2016. Apple iOS devices will see growth from a 14 per cent share to a 17 per cent share in 2016.

"Whether it's consumers looking for a phone that can tap into several robust 'app' ecosystems, businesses looking at deploying tablet devices into their environments, or educational institutions working to update their school's computer labs, smart, connected, compute-capable devices are playing an increasingly important role in nearly every individual's life," Bob O'Donnel, vice president of clients and displays at IDC said in a recent press release.

The reports follow on from suggestions that users enjoy having multiple devices, having access to the internet on their mobile phone but also from home, making the tablet ever more popular with technology lovers who are constantly on the go. In a bid to keep up with competition, Microsoft are set to release their 'tablet friendly' version of Windows next year.

"Android's growth is tied directly to the propagation of lower-priced devices," said Tom Mainelli, research director of mobile connected devices at IDC.

"So, while we expect dozens of hardware vendors to own some share in the Android market, many will find profitability difficult to sustain. Similarly, we expect a large percentage of application developers to continue to focus their efforts on iOS, despite the platform's smaller overall market share, because iOS end users have proven more willing to pay for high-quality apps."

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Apple to pay dividend

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:37:00 GMT

Apple has announced it will finally tap into its $100 billion (£63bn) cash pile, putting money back into the hands of shareholders through a dividend programme.

The profitable Mac makers plan to initiate a quarterly dividend, paying $2.65 per share starting in the fourth quarter of the 2012 fiscal year, which begins in July. This is the first time Apple has decided to pay a dividend since 1995.

"We have used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure. You'll see more of all these in the future," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a press release.

Additionally, Apple's board has authorized a share repurchase program and will buy back up to $10 billion (£6.3bn) worth of its own shares in the next fiscal year, which begins in September.

"Even with these investments, we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program.

"Combining dividends, share purchases, and cash used to net-share-settled vesting RSUs, we anticipate utilizing approximately $45 billion of domestic cash in the first three years of our programs," Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said.

"We are extremely confident in our future and see tremendous opportunities ahead."

Following the surprise announcement, Apple shares crept above $600 for the first time in the company's history, standing at $601.10 (£379.37) per share at the close of trading on Monday.

Apple share prices have been steadily rising for months- in contrast, Apple shares were trading at $403 (£254) the day before Christmas. Share prices have continued to climb thanks to the release of the new iPad - which sold three million units in its first weekend.

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Skype hits record 35 million simultaneously online

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:00:00 GMT

Skype is celebrating after reaching a milestone of 35 million people concurrently using its audio and video conferencing services.

The new record number of users for Skype was hit just seven days after the beta launch of Skype for Windows Phone and follows weeks of growth for the company - with 32 million users signing in on 23rd February, then 34 million the following week.

Skype released a message of thanks to its users via the Skype blog yesterday, playing on the figure 35: "According to a Wikipedia entry, 35 is a discrete semiprime (or biprime) (5 × 7); the tenth, and the first with 5 as the lowest non-unitary factor. The aliquot sum of 35 is 13 this being the second composite number with such an aliquot sum; the first being the cube 27. 35 is the last member of the first triple cluster of semiprimes 33, 34, 35. 85, 86, 87 is the second such triple discrete semiprime cluster.

"For those of you scratching your heads wondering what this all means, in simpler terms it represents 35 million, the number of concurrent users who were just on Skype, just one week after announcing our milestone of 34 million users concurrently online.

"We at Skype are so excited to see more and more people choosing Skype around the world every day, sharing special moments with friends, family and co-workers across borders. If you're one of the 35 million users who logged on today to take part in this milestone, share with us on Twitter how you used Skype by using the hashtag ILoveSkype."

Microsoft acquired the Voice over IP (VoIP) company in June for $8.5 billion (£53.8 billion) and the investment, which promises further integration of services with existing Microsoft products such as Windows Phone and Xbox 360, really seems to be paying off.

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Twitter unlocks its archives for market research

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 06:25:00 GMT

Twitter has partnered with DataSift to offer market researchers the opportunity to analyse Twitter updates dating back up to two years.

Until now, companies only had access to a 30-day archive, while users can only access posts from the last week.

DataSift's new platform - called Historics - allows companies to use past public Tweets to gather user data, which can then be filtered for demographic information, sentiment and online influence, among other things.

Twitter accounts that have been set to private or have been deleted will not be indexed.

"No-one's ever done this before," DataSift marketing manager Tim Barker told the BBC.

"It's a brand new service that we're bringing online - it's a massive technology challenge because of the amount of data that is pumped out every single day."

While the company has billed the platform as a way for companies to predict future events and harness online discussions, critics have been quick to raise privacy concerns.

"People have historically used Twitter to communicate with friends and networks in the belief that their tweets will quickly disappear into the ether," Privacy International executive director Gus Hosein told the BBC.

"The fact that two years' worth of tweets can now be mined for information and the resulting 'insights' sold to businesses is a radical shift in the wrong direction.

"Twitter has turned a social network that was meant to promote real-time global conversation into a vast market-research enterprise with unwilling, unpaid participants."

Responding to potential privacy concerns, Mr Barker said: "The thing with Twitter that it was always created to be a public social network - which isn't the case with Facebook which is more of a blended model.

"Twitter has been public from day one. I don't see that this creates any new dilemmas because this information is being pushed out socially right now."

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Twitter co-founder says excessive tweeting 'sounds unhealthy'

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:49:00 GMT

In a refreshingly straightforward statement, the co-founder of Twitter has told its users to stop tweeting and go do something else.

Biz Stone - one of the four men who created Twitter and the company's creative director - said that users should log in to find the information they want and then leave, because spending hours at a time on the site "sounds unhealthy."

Since the micro-blogging site's introduction in 2006, users have repeatedly complained that the site is incredibly addictive, with some users reportedly staying logged on for 12 hours at a time.

As an invited speaker at a conference for the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, Stone said: "I like the kind of engagement where you go to a website and you leave because you've found what you are looking for or you found something interesting and you learned something.

"I think that's a much healthier engagement. Obviously, we want you to come frequently."

The comment comes as Twitter reportedly reached the landmark number of 500 million registered accounts on the service.

According to Twopcharts, Twitter was declared to have had the 500-millionth user shortly after 1pm on Wednesday.

However, there are questions that surround those figures, as the site notes the numbers are based on registered but not necessarily active accounts - meaning it could include dormant, deleted or never used accounts.

Media experts speculate that if the number of Twitter accounts keep growing at the same rate, the site will hit 1 billion users in about a year and a half - or sooner if growth accelerates.

Twitter has made no official comment about the registered user milestone.

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