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Is There a Social Media Tech Bubble? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Is There a Social Media Tech Bubble? [INFOGRAPHIC]
Valuations of social media companies are starting to remind us of 1999. But are they overvalued? Now that Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion, LinkedIn's IPO valued the company at $8.9 billion after its first day of trading, and Facebook's estimated value is pushing $100 billion, you might be starting to wonder if buying into user numbers rather than revenue is a good idea. Social media site G+, a community of professionals, entrepreneurs and academics, put together this detailed infographic that lays it all out in front of you. (Click here for enlargement) Infographic courtesy Gplus.com

Infographics: 10 Beautiful Social Media Data Visualizations What's happening in the world of social media? That's not a simple question to answer, as this space is quickly becoming one of the busiest, most interesting aspects of our digital lives. However, if we had to choose the best way to present the wealth of recent information on social media — how companies are using it to improve their business, how individuals are interacting with its many facets and how it's affecting our lives — the simplest way would probably be to showcase the best social media infographics from the last few months, and that's exactly what we did. We've gathered 10 amazing infographics, which are still quite fresh and contain very relevant info.

Groupon Files For IPO While Google Offers Could Be Its “Next Billion Dollar Business” Google took its first daily deal baby steps yesterday with the launch of its first Google Offer in Portland. It was reportedly a hit for the business owner and a success for Google. According to CNET and ClickZ the first customer hit Floyd’s Coffee Shop within about 10 minutes of the offer going live. Overall, ClickZ reported that 1,708 vouchers out of a possible 2,000 were sold. Today’s Google Offer (a billiards club) has sold 432 out of 500 possible. Meanwhile just about 2,000 miles away Groupon, the bellwether for the daily deals segment, just filed its S-1 form supporting the company’s forthcoming IPO. Revenue Growth Amazing The Groupon S-1 numbers are really big: $713 million revenue in 2010 but $420 million in losses$645 million in revenue in Q1 2011 with $117 in losses This year Groupon is on track to do nearly $3 billion in revenue. Offers Google’s “Next Billion Dollar Business”? Offers could easily become Google’s “next billion dollar business” a couple of years from now.

Human Brain Limits Twitter Friends to 150  Back in early 90s, the British anthropologist Robin Dunbar began studying the social groups of various kinds of primates. Before long, he noticed something odd. Primates tend to maintain social contact with a limited number of individuals within their group. Then he did something interesting. Since then, various studies have actually measured the number of people an individual can maintain regular contact with. What’s more, this number appears to have been constant throughout human history–from the size of neolithic villages to military units to 20th century contact books. But in the last decade or so, social networking technology has had a profound influence on the way people connect. So it’s easy to imagine that social networking technology finally allows humans to surpass the Dunbar number. Not so say Bruno Goncalves and buddies at Indiana University. But how to define friendship on Twitter. Instead, there has to be a conversation, an exchange of tweets.

The Real Cost Of Social Media  What’s the real cost of social media? Last week we looked at an interesting infographic on the value of social commerce and today we wanted to share another interesting infographic on the cost of social media. So how do your social media costs compare? These stats, which have been aggregated by Focus.com, show some good insights into how much brands are paying, on average, for their social media strategy and activities. The second half of this infographic shows some good stats on the benefits of social media, including a comparison of what an average Facebook fan will spend on certain brands compared to a non-fan. Be Sociable, Share!

Google Is 10 Years Old? Finding The Real Google Birthday The AFP has clearly been waiting for September 15, so it could trot out today’s “Google is 10 years old” story. But the company itself doesn’t count tomorrow as its 10th birthday. In fact, knowing exactly when Google’s birthday is depends on your point of view. NOTE: See Google 10th Birthday Site: Interactive Timeline, Project 10×100 To Improve The World & Share Your Google Stories for news of the official Google 10th birthday site launched since this was written. Google The 12 Year Old January 1996 This is when Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin started working on BackRub, what later become Google. Google The 10 Year Old Sept. 15, 1997 This is when, as the AFP reports, Google registered google.com. Google The 9 Year Old Sept. 7, 1998 This is when Google may have officially incorporated. Google The 9 Year Old Sept. 27, 1998 (Current Official Date) Back in 2005, Google declared that Sept. 27 was its birthday. Things got resolved by Google doing some PR. Previously, it had said:

How Yelp Crushed Citysearch & Yahoo Local … & Why Google Is Stealing Yelp’s Playbook A fascinating study published last year compares the reviews and reviewers at three local business websites: Yelp, Citysearch and Yahoo Local. And, in explaining how Yelp overtook the other two, it also hints — in my opinion — at how Google is trying to beat Yelp by using Yelp’s own playbook. Citysearch and Yahoo Local were the two dominant websites for online business reviews early in the 2000s. Why has Yelp succeeded where the others have failed? Zhongmin Wang, an economics professor at Northeastern University, looks at that question in his study, Anonymity, Social Image, and the Competition for Volunteers: A Case Study of the Online Market for Reviews (PDF download, 320k). [They] “made minimal attempts to attract reviewers. On the other hand, Wang says, Yelp enables and encourages reviewers to establish a social image or reputation. The results of Yelp’s social focus are impressive. Yelp Reviewers Are More Productive It’s not just about overall review quantity. No Anonymity Friends

Social Media Brings New Engagement to TV Social media is bringing dramatic changes to nearly every aspect of the TV business. Viewers are using Facebook and Twitter to comment about shows before, during and after they air. Television networks, grappling with the fragmentation of their audience, are experimenting with mobile apps, Twitter promotions and branded social networks in an effort to bring viewers back together. And a variety of other stakeholders are getting in on the social action as well. “Experimentation still rules the day,” said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report, “Socializing the TV Experience.” The many players involved are chasing a small but growing user base. But the youngest respondents in the 24/7 and Harris survey—those ages 18 to 34—were significantly more likely than older respondents to have made the social/TV connection. When it comes to socializing TV in real time, Twitter has emerged as the leader. To purchase the report, click here.

How Younger Adults React to Brands on Social Networks Older social media users have grown more likely to follow brands on social media sites as they’ve gained more experience interacting on them, but younger adults still outnumber them in this activity. Millennials’ enthusiasm for making friends with brands, though, may not be too far above average. The “American Millennials” survey, conducted by Barkley in advance of September’s Share.Like.Buy conference, found that over half of millennials, defined here as consumers ages 16 to 34, liked checking out brands on social media sites. That compared with just over a third of older adults. The survey, fielded in partnership with the Service Management Group and sponsored by Boston Consulting Group, also found that a third of millennials like brands more if they use social media. That was nearly double the percentage of older adults who said the same. The Barkley survey did find that millennials were more likely than older adults to “like” a brand on Facebook, and did so more often.

history – Company Our company has packed a lot in to a relatively young life. We’ve captured some of the key milestones in Google’s development. Larry Page and Sergey Brin meet at Stanford. (Larry, 22, a U Michigan grad, is considering the school; Sergey, 21, is assigned to show him around.) According to some accounts, they disagree about almost everything during this first meeting. Larry and Sergey, now Stanford computer science grad students, begin collaborating on a search engine called BackRub . BackRub operates on Stanford servers for more than a year—eventually taking up too much bandwidth to suit the university. Larry and Sergey decide that the BackRub search engine needs a new name. Back to top August Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim writes a check for $100,000 to an entity that doesn’t exist yet: a company called Google Inc. September Google sets up workspace in Susan Wojcicki’s garage at 232 Santa Margarita, Menlo Park . Google files for incorporation in California on September 4. December February April

How did Groupon build a 2,000+ person salesforce in 2 years Does Social Media Have A Return On Investment? Médias & Publicité : Facebook lance ses «bons plans» en France Sept marques participent au déploiement de «Facebook Deals» dans l'Hexagone, permettant aux internautes de bénéficier de promotions lorsqu'ils visitent une enseigne. Par petites touches, le projet Facebook prend forme. En septembre 2010, le réseau social avait lancé dans l'Hexagone son service «Lieux» qui permettait à ses huit millions d'utilisateurs mobiles de signaler leur présence dans un endroit - restaurant, salle de cinéma, lieu public. Ce service était le préalable nécessaire au service publicitaire «Deals» ou «Bons plans» que Facebook déploie ce lundi à travers cinq pays européens, dont la France. «C'est une extension naturelle pour que les marques et les distributeurs puissent récompenser les utilisateur, générer du trafic en magasin, fidéliser les visiteurs mais aussi générer du bouche à oreille à travers les notifications sur le mur des utilisateurs», explique Damien Vincent, directeur de Facebook France, au Figaro.

Facebook - The Complete Biography An in-depth profile of Facebook, written by Mashable contributor Sid Yadav and edited by Pete Cashmore. Image credit: Bryan Veloso. Facebook is the second largest social network on the web, behind only MySpace in terms of traffic. The Facebook Phenomenon First, let's start by looking into Facebook in a broad spectrum - as the network, the phenomenon, the company, and its brand. History Originally called thefacebook, Facebook was founded by former-Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg (while at Harvard) who ran it as one of his hobby projects with some financial help from Eduardo Saverin. Before he knew it, Mark Zuckerberg was joined by two other fellow Harvard-students - Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes - to help him grow the site to the next level. Availability Unlike its competitors MySpace, Friendster, Xanga, hi5, Bebo, and others, Facebook isn't available to everyone — which explains its relatively low user count. Surveys & Studies Hey Facebook Users! Business & Funding Lawsuits & Concerns

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