Social Networking Watch
no ads, no fluff, just social networking news summaries and social media ceo interviews
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Loopt Acquires GraffitiGEO
TECH CRUNCH - Oct 20 - Loopt, the New Enterprise Associates and Sequoia-backed mobile social network, has acquired GraffitiGEO. GraffitiGEO, which launched just a couple of months ago, combines mobile social networking with reviews and games. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCHSee all posts on Loopt
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Teen Virtual World Meez Sees Profit
CNET NEWS - Oct 20 - Meez, a start-up that expanded last year from an avatar creation service into a full-out virtual world for teens, has been profitable since April and "every month is better than the last month," CEO John Cahill told CNET News. Right now, Meez has about 13M registered use …
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Social Networks Baffle East Europe Media
BUSINESS WEEK - Oct 20 - As Facebook and other social networks explode in Eastern Europe, traditional media outlets are struggling to cash in on the trend. In September, Facebook had 271,000 users in Romania, but Hi5 boasted 2.3M users in a country of 21M. In the Czech Republic, the number o …
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Friendster Launches Virtual Currencies
PCMAG - Oct 20 - Friendster continues to roll out new features. The newest Friendster feature is the Facebook-like introduction of virtual goods, payable with "Chips" and "Coins." Coins can be purchased through PayPal. Chips are earned through advertising offers, according to Inside Social G …
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Loopt Launches "Loopt Mix"
READ WRITE WEB - Oct 19 - Loopt is introducing a new iPhone app called Loopt Mix. The new app is actually a spin-off of Loopt's "Mix" feature, which lets you browse the Loopt profiles of those around you within its original mobile social networking app. Although the company is not specifical …
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Kaixin001 Go Mobile
SYS-CON MEDIA - Oct 19 - Kaixin001, the largest and fastest-growing social network site in China, are joining forces with Ericsson to develop mobile apps that will help millions of users access the site wherever and whenever they want. Launched in March 2008, Kaixin001 already has ~50M subsc …
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Face-to-Face Socializing Starts With A Mobile Post
NY TIMES - Oct 18 - A combination of friend-finder, city guide and competitive bar game, Foursquare lets users “check in” with a cellphone at a bar, restaurant or art gallery. That alerts their friends to their current location so they can drop by and say hello. Just seven months old with ~6 …
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Linden Lab CEO On Second Life's Growth
IDG NEWS - Oct 16 - Linden Lab, the parent company of Second Life, has released figures showing increased usage of the virtual world, and a near doubling of the size of the in-world economy. Here is the interview with Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon. Q: By official estimates, we're nearly two …
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MySpace Close To Spinning Off Photobucket
TECH CRUNCH - Oct 16 - News Corp., via MySpace, acquired photo/video sharing site Photobucket back in 2007 for $250M, plus a $50M earnout. We’ve now learned that MySpace is in the process of selling at least a majority interest in Photobucket to Disney-backed Ontela. Photobucket has grown s …
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The Top Viral Video Ad Campaign For The Week Of Oct 13, 2009
Brand: EvianCampaign: Live YoungAgency: BETC Euro RSCGSource: VisibleMeasures.com
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Twitter Founder Insists On Independence
NY TIMES - Oct 16 - “Twitter is not interested in being acquired by a bigger company, we want to build an impressive company on our own,” said Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter. Deal rumors have been hovering around the start-up, with chatter that companies like Apple and Google were pote …
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Facebook Sees Ad Potential Bigger Than Google Search Ads
REUTERS - Oct 16 - Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg said that Facebook was targeting a bigger ad market than the search ad market that has made Google rich. Sheryl Sandberg also told a group of high-tech specialists that revenues were growing so fast that it turned cash positive recently, inst …
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Mobile Web Visitors Spike With Teens And Seniors
RESEARCH BRIEF - Oct 16 - According to Nielsen, web visitors using a mobile device increased 34% YOY, from 42.5M mobile Web visitors in July 2008 to 56.9M in July 2009. Overall, YOY growth among the 13-17 and 65+ age groups outpaced the growth of the total mobile Web audience, with a youth i …
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YouTube On The Path To Profitability
TECH CRUNCH - Oct 15 - YouTube is now monetizing over a billion video views a week. Last week, YouTube announced that it was serving over 1 billion video views a day, so it means that YouTube is monetizing one every seven video views. The company also noted that 90% of the top 50 advertisers …
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Twitter Launches Japanese Mobile Site
ASSOCIATED PRESS - Oct 15 - Twitter has launched a Japan-based mobile version, hoping to penetrate a country where other U.S. social networks including Facebook and MySpace have failed to capture much ground. Twitter teamed up with Tokyo-based Internet firm Digital Garage Inc. in early 2008. …
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Quepasa Launches New Dating Application
PRESS RELEASE - Oct 15 - Quepasa, one of the world's fastest-growing Latino social networks, launched its Papacito dating application. The launch of the Papacito app is part of Quepasa's overall monetization strategy which will focus on distributed social media and applications tied into Quepa …
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Twitter Adds 110 Million New Users In India
MASHABLE - Oct 14 - As of today, 110 million new people from India can tweet via SMS. Twitter had secured an SMS deal with India’s largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel. Receiving SMS updates from Twitter will be completely free. FULL ARTICLE @ MASHABLESee all posts on Twitter
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Rumor: EA Acquires Playfish For $250 Million
MASHABLE - Oct 15 - This is in the rumor stages right now: video game mega-corporation Electronic Arts may have already bought social gaming company Playfish a few weeks ago in what inside sources claim was around a $250M deal. With expected revenue of $75M this year Playfish shows how adver …
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Virtual Goods To Reach $1 Billion In 2009
ONLINE MEDIA DAILY - Oct 14 - Virtual goods are turning into a real business. A new study estimates that the total U.S. market size for virtual goods will hit $1 billion this year, twice the 2008 amount. The report by Justin Smith, editor of InsideFacebook.com and Charles Hudson of Serious B …
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LinkedIn Surpasses 50 Million Users
MASHABLE - Oct 14 - LinkedIn saw a 5.7% growth in traffic for the month of September, according to Compete. In a blog entry today, LinkedIn reports that it now has over 50M users worldwide. It took ~16 months for LinkedIn to reach its first million users. The last million took only 12 days. …
Social Networking Watch
