Marketers targeting people who don't exist?
One of the most popular concepts in the world of social media marketing is that of 'Influentials'.
As their name implies, they are trendsetting individuals that supposedly have the ability to "influence" others into purchasing products.
Forrester: Blow your money on social marketing
Last week, I was pointed in the direction of an article entitled: “Online Social Media Cheap Alternative In Face Of Recession”.
It describes how Forrester Research is advising marketers to “spend more on online social media as a cheap, efficient way to advertise during tougher economic times.”
Given the fact that it’s increasingly becoming clear that marketing on social networks is ineffective for the vast majority of marketers who have tried it, and is losing money for even the Googles of this world, Forrester Research’s 'research' seems to be quite contrarian to say the least.
The Web Week in Review
The past week was again dominated by big topics driven by the economic landscape.
From Microsoft's attempted buyout of a struggling Yahoo to Cisco's disappointing financial outlook, it's clear that the Fun Train has left the station and the Reality Train is on its way.
The coming dramatic decline of online video startups
I predicted that while online video would remain a hot space in 2008, this year would start to see the beginning of the end for many online video startups.
Big Media to web firms - all your money belongs to us
Big Media's checkmate over many of the internet companies that were supposed to put it out of business has been inevitable.
But that inevitability is just now becoming clear to some internet idealogues as they recover from their kool aid-induced stupours.
As such, I thought it'd be worthwhile to look at three recent stories that exemplify how Big Media is slowly but surely starting to demonstrate its strength over many supposed internet threats.
Social Networks - is the novelty wearing off?
The biggest challenge for popular social networks thus far has been finding sustainable ways to turn their massive audiences into massive piles of cash.
That could be the least of their concerns very soon, however.
Facebook's leaked financials reveal leaky business
Kara Swisher reported last Thursday that Facebook spilled the beans on its finances during an all-hands company meeting.
While it is very possible that this was some sort of intentional leak, it's still interesting because it gives an insight into a company that has been given a $15bn valuation by investors such as Microsoft and Li Ka-shing.
The Web Week in Review
The economy continued to dominate the news this week. The US Federal Reserve took aggressive action to fend off a worsening economic crisis, while Google's disappointing year-end results may have put an end to the myth that everybody's favorite internet company is immune from reality.
Big Money, Recession and Etsy's $27m
There seems to be an increasing number of large funding rounds taking place in the consumer internet space.
Five areas where opportunity lies in 2008
Apparently some people think I'm a cynical, negative individual. I have no idea how this impression could have been created since I’m usually always laughing and smiling (kind of like Buddha).
The truth is that I do believe there is opportunity on the internet - even in the space called Web 2.0.
The problem is simply that many of the real opportunities are being overlooked by hordes of wannabe entrepreneurs trying to get rich quick copying already-successful services like MySpace, YouTube and Digg.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
