via CNN If anybody wonders whether the considerable “legs” of Facebook justify a valuation now set for $83 billion, have a listen to a terrific BIA/Kelsey webinar on Facebook’s IPO, featuring Trada CEO Niel Robertson Wildfire CEO Victoria Ransom and…
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…
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…
Facebook and Yelp are downsizing their separate deals initiatives after launching them with some fanfare. Facebook is now limiting its deals to users who check in to businesses, and Yelp is sharply reducing the number of deals it features, while…
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…
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…
We’ve been focused so much on deal a day that we sometimes forget it is just part of the mix when it comes to successful SMB promotions. Seth Gardenswartz of SpaBoom, a provider of promotion services for spas and restaurants,…
Businesses should post on their Facebook page three times a week. That’s the word from Emily White, Facebook’s director of local. In an interview with USA Today, White says: "The general rule is, you're in pretty good shape if you're…
BIA/Kelsey projects that total U.S. social advertising revenues will surge from $2.1 billion in 2010 to $8.3 billion in 2015, growing at a 31.6 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Driven by Facebook, social networks will command a majority share…
Facebook today launched its Deals product as an "alpha" in five markets: San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Austin and Atlanta. The effort plays up Facebook's social connectivity, making it simple to "like" and share deals, and promote throughout the site.…
Facebook Head of Groups Justin Shaffer told attendees at Where 2.0 that one of Facebook’s goals is to develop the largest database of “interesting” places. The collection of places has “really been the focus" of his division for the past…
Eventbrite Director of Marketing Tamara Mendelsohn told us at SxSW Interactive that because "events are inherently social," the online events organizer and ticketing exchange in uniquely positioned to leverage social media to allow literally anyone to post and share events. But Mendelsohn's…
There are gobs of research supporting social media's evolution into a mainstream marketing vehicle for businesses of all sizes. BIA/Kelsey's Local Commerce Monitor Wave 14, for example, found that 48 percent of SMBs already operate a Facebook page. However, there's…
Facebook created quite a stir (again) with the recent projection that its global revenues could surpass $4 billion in 2011 ... the majority coming from small businesses that are self serving. Now Twitter is abuzz, as eMarketer predicts that top-line income will triple…
It's been an active week for The Washington Post Co. First, it added to its portfolio of vertical sites with the launch of Service Alley. Now, it is hatching a subsidiary brand -- SocialCode -- to act as a full-service Facebook…
Many national retailers have operated Facebook pages for years, and now local businesses are on-boarding at an alarming rate (BIA/Kelsey’s LCM 14 survey revealed that 48 percent of SMBs already have a dedicated page). These stats augur social shifts 2011:…
Facebook sees strong potential in local advertising and will develop an aggressive local strategy, according to Facebook Local Leader Emily White, a Day 3 keynoter at ILM:10. White, who left Google four months ago, said businesses are always being told…
