shortformblog:

yahoo:

I’m delighted to announce that we’ve reached an agreement to acquire Tumblr!

We promise not to screw it up. Tumblr is incredibly special and has a great thing going. We will operate Tumblr independently. David Karp will remain CEO. The product roadmap, their team, their wit and…

Note to Yahoo: If you post images in text posts, they don’t look as good on the dashboard as straight-up image posts. You guys are new here, so we’ll give you some time to get used to things.

futurejournalismproject:

Likes Don’t Save Lives

UNICEF Sweden has a new ad campaign reminding people that while social media Likes are nice, what they really need is money to fund their vaccination campaigns.

As The Verge points out, “Facebook likes aren’t treated as currency in other commercial venues, so they shouldn’t be equated with charitable donations.”

And via The Atlantic:

In the beginning, organizations wanted you to like the heck out of their Facebook pages. Why? You know, community-building, awareness-raising, general “engagement”-upping…

…But one thing clicking “like” doesn’t do is, say, get malaria nets to African villages or boost funding for charity groups. And now that Facebook is nearly 9 years old and Twitter is 7, we’re seeing the inevitable backlash against social-media “slacktivism.”

Back to The Verge:

The campaign, created by ad agency Forsman & Bodenfors, takes a rather bold stance against the awareness campaigns that often spread across Facebook and other social media platforms. UNICEF officials acknowledge that such efforts can help introduce issues to a wider audience, though they fear that for most users, the action stops with the click of a button. To further stress this point, UNICEF Sweden released a bold poster alongside the video clips, saying that every like it receives on Facebook will result in exactly zero vaccinations.

That’s not to say “slacktivists” are a bad thing. Liking, sharing and reblogging do serve their purpose in bringing issues to a wider audience. But then what?

Last year, The Atlantic notes, Zeynep Tufekci, a sociology professor and a fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society, had this to say:

What is called commonly called slacktivism is not at all about “slacking activists;” rather it is about non-activists taking symbolic action—often in spheres traditionally engaged only by activists or professionals (governments, NGOs, international institutions.). Since these so-called “slacktivists” were never activists to begin with, they are not in dereliction of their activist duties. On the contrary, they are acting, symbolically and in a small way, in a sphere that has traditionally been closed off to “the masses” in any meaningful fashion.

The goal then for those working in social media is to simultaneously help the “slacktivist” set help you by building out ambient awareness of an issue through the messaging you create, while also giving activists and more consistently loyal proponents direct calls to action be it donations, volunteerism, network building, etc.

Meantime, if you’re moved to Like a cause, consider volunteering your time and/or other resources to it as well.

The other two commercials in UNICEF’s campaign can be viewed at The Verge. — Michael

brendenmulligan:

I think there are ways to do a launch correctly, but overall I agree that organic growth is far far far better than a buzzy launch.

Having been through multiple launches, seen companies launch at big conferences, and talked with many startups that have experienced the same effect, what I recommend – and what we’re doing at Origami - is not launching at all. Take the word launch out of your vocabulary – it’s a sign that you are gambling on your app and not building a long-term, sustainable company. Instead, put your sign-up page up or your app out because you need more feedback on your idea. Find an audience of passionate users, even if small, and reach out to their community through appropriate means. Try SEM and Facebook ads to find a target market. Experiment with business models and onboarding flows. Let the press come to you because they love what you’ve made.

(via joshuanguyen)

vividtimes:

China Has Overtaken The US as The World’s Top Market For Smart Devices

China has passed the U.S. to become the world’s top country for active Android and iOS smartphones and Tablets, a year after the country became the fastest-growing smart device market in the world. That’s the conclusion of a new report by Flurry Analytics, which tracks usage and device characteristics across a large number of mobile apps.

(via vividtimes.com)

(via emergentfutures)

emergentfutures:

CHART OF THE DAY: What Happens To Old Smartphones

Full Story: Business Insider

Interesting.

splatf:

Almost perfect. AOL vs. Netflix, 2002-2012.

(via felixsalmon)

fastcompany:

WHY FACEBOOK AND TWITTER ARE NOT MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES

The simplest reason Facebook and Twitter are not on this year’s Most Innovative Companies list: Neither produced innovations worth celebrating.

“Both companies have turned their focus away from users and toward shareholders to get bigger, not better. Revenue is great, but not at the expense of the product.”

[Image: Adam Simpson]

Mark Schaefer, Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions

Yes. As a recent Nielsen survey indicates: 23% of all social media messages contain links to content.

dbreunig:

Here’s the tension that drives the creation and failure of video social networks:

• Video demands full attention so advertisers are willing to pay.
• Video demands full attention so no one uses it.

Though the online transactions market is gaining ground in India, this is far less than China. And, according to Rajan Anandan (managing director, Google India) awareness is key to increase the online transactions market in India »

The Indian e-commerce market is pegged at $6 billion and is expected to reach $30 billion by 2015. While the e-commerce market in China has already crossed $100-billion with 180 million people transacting online. “India currently has 137 million internet users, of which only 25 million are involved in online transactions. The country has a huge potential in the segment, as apart from major cities, there is demand from smaller towns and Tier-II and III cities. Increase in awareness along with brand and trust building among enterprises will drive the growth in the segment,” he said.

Want to sell ads on your Twitter page? Get inspired »

Twitter, somewhat surprisingly, is fine with the arrangement. “The space is the user’s to customize, and we encourage them to be clear if they are promoting something there, for money or other consideration,” a Twitter rep told Advertising Age.