Among the myriad questions swirling around Facebook's imminent IPO (other than "when will it actually happen?"), the two most pressing are: 1) Can the social network actually support an assumed $100 billion valuation? and 2) How? BIA/Kelsey sought to answer…
Facebook's acquisition of mobile photo app Instagram earlier this week wasn't especially surprising (though the $1 billion price tag may have been). Mobile is a fertile, untapped channel for the social giant, but a growing risk factor the longer the…
What does a popular urban magazine franchise tailored to the digital world look like? New York Media’s GM of Digital, Michael Silbmerman, shared his vision at ILM East 2012, and it includes healthy doses of synergy (with the core print…
Long before daily deals surged, and now after they’ve peaked and pivoted, loyalty and rewards programs stand as beachheads in the evolving online promotions/commerce ecosystem. At ILM East 2012, three leaders in loyalty discussed how advertising and commerce are quickly…
Since its launch, Manta has been clear about its place in the fragmenting social media ecosystem. Whereas most networks are person-centric (i.e., Facebook for consumers; LinkedIn for job seekers) and many cater to brand advertisers (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), CEO Pamela…
By now, there isn't a single page of Facebook's S-1 filing that hasn't been exhaustively picked through and dissected in advance of the social network's spring IPO. But what about the metrics that were underreported or unreported altogether? Moreover, which…
By now, much of the connected universe, and certainly all of technolphilia, is aware of Facebook's IPO, which seeks to raise up to $5 billion (and perhaps eventually $10 billion) when its shares go public this spring. The net effect…
Dan Hess, CEO of deals aggregator and research company Local Offer Network, played mythbuster at ILM West, using data to set the record straight on where the market is moving…and where it isn’t. Hess is convinced that there is still…
When Bob Pittman launched his career in radio decades ago, he touted the virtues of advertising’s “big three” -- radio, TV and newspapers. All these years later, during his keynote address at ILM West 2011, Pittman was still bullish on…
Much of the focus at DMS ’11 centered on the acceleration of performance-based local ad models across new platforms to drive measurable results. Mobile is leading the way with its ability to geotarget intent-driven consumers and spur “secondary actions” (click to…
Just when the DMS ’11 audience thought it knew everything there is to know about group buying, Groupon Regional Sales Manager Brett Truka lifted the curtain a little higher. He also noted that the big G itself continues to gather…
For all the recent negative bluster in the deals space, including one report of its imminent demise, BIA/Kelsey has a decidedly different message for the dissenters: "We still like ’em." At DMS ’11, Marketplaces Program Director Peter Krasilovsky painted a…
What does digital transformation truly look like? And how far along the path to a new revenue model are directional publishers? Those questions were front and center at DMS ’11, as Dex One Chief Strategy Officer David Sharman, YP New…
In true McLaughlin Group style, Greg Sterling moderated the final session at Deals 3D -- “Deals: The Next Stage” -- more as a rapid-fire roundtable than a traditional panel. He dished, they debated. So, consistent to the theme, here are…
Facebook touts itself as a platform that allows and encourages partners to further build out its social graph. In Deals, it has now found its most significant partner yet, inking a deal with American Express to push socially curated deals…
Group buying is growing up…and growing more complex in the process. It has long-outgrown the Groupon-and-the-seven-dwarfs phase and has added new layers reminiscent of other, more mature digital sectors, expanding into vertical niches, attracting media companies and necessitating aggregators. Now,…
Writing about Google+ wasn’t an option. When an 800-pound gorilla makes a frontal assault on Facebook, Skype AND Twitter, sending the tech punditry into breathless buzz and sparking curiosity about the potential seismic effects on social networking, well, that warrants…
Not a day passes without the question "Can Google Get Social?" popping up in the tech punditry. After several ill-feted answers (Buzz, Wave), the search leader has a new social reply: Google+. Actually, it's the Google+ "project." VP of Social…
Over the past year, American Express has embarked on a series of initiatives centered on digital advertising intelligence for SMBs. These include SearchManager (via Clickable) for SEM and multiple social media experiments with Facebook and Foursquare. Now, its small business-focused…
Mentions, reviews, blog comments, tweets, posts and now check-ins. It's enough digital noise to lead local business owners to throw their hands up in despair. As Internet fragmentation accelerates, a host of reputation management providers have carved out an important…
