Is Twitter going paid for commercial accounts?
We've been talking a lot about Twitter lately. Everybody has. The popular microblogging service continues to grow rapidly in popularity and seems to be making the transition from a first-adopter favorite to a bona fide mainstream property.
But as it does so, the one topic that can't be avoided: Twitter's lack of a business model. Despite the fact that it has raised a lot of money from venture capitalists, at some point the legions of loyal Twitter users will want to see their favorite service fly under its own power. That means that a scalable and sustainable business model must be developed.
Is there a new Internet business model in town?
Yesterday I discussed how The New York Times is looking to subscriptions or some form of paid content once again to help it weather not only a tough economy, but a dire financial situation brought about by declining print revenue.
Paid content can be a great business model but it's not always easy to pull off, especially when you've been giving your content away for free. After all, why would someone start paying for something you were giving them at no cost just a week ago?
Please stop it with the APIs
As more and more web-based companies look for new ways to distribute their service and enable third parties to help them build out their services, the availability of APIs seems to grow larger every day.
It's now possible to develop applications for social networks like Facebook and MySpace, for retailers like Best Buy and just about everything in between.
Offering an API seems to be the internet equivalent of wearing the latest high-street fashion. And it needs to stop.
Is Twitter a viable loyalty marketing platform? Dell thinks it could be
Dell is one of the most prominent brands leveraging the popular microblogging service to interact with customers and potential customers and has a whole portfolio of Twitter accounts that are managed by real Dell employees who have names and personalities.
According to Dell, its use of Twitter has led to more than $1m in revenue. While that's a miniscule amount for a company that does billions in revenue every year, Dell has embraced social media like few other companies and deserves a lot of credit for making a real effort.
Facebook set to become a bona fide market research service?
In its short life span, Facebook has rapidly become one of the most popular destinations on the internet. That hasn't, however, translated to instant profits.
Despite its incredible metrics, Facebook has struggled with revenue and profitability. Hundreds of millions of dollars in capital have been provided to keep the company growing but thus far, Facebook hasn't developed a business model that appears to offer the promise of self-sustainability in the near future.
Yahoo hemorrhaging search ad market share in the UK
New Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz certainly has a lot on her plate.
Despite the fact that the company she leads still has considerable assets that can be built upon, Yahoo first has to get on the right path.
Google opens up AdWords Conversion Optimizer
Conversions are everything when it comes to paid search engine marketing. When it comes down to it, the health of your conversion rates and cost per conversion can mean the difference between success and failure.
Search marketers who don't track conversion data and incorporate it into their campaign management are tempting failure.
Is the unique visitor an endangered species? Duh
Metrics matter. Every online publisher and every digital marketer knows this.
In a new article, BusinessWeek's Sarah Lacy asks the question: is the 'unique user' metric an endangered species?
Yahoo responds to concerns over proactive campaign optimizations
We recently discussed the changes Yahoo had made to its Sponsored Search and Content Match Program Terms that gave the company the ability to proactively change advertiser campaigns in the name of 'optimization'.
Yahoo's changes caught many advertisers off guard, infuriated some and raised a number of thorny legal questions.
Report: click fraud continues its march
Click fraud has always been an issue for advertisers using paid search, but for many, it has been considered a cost of doing business.
So long as campaigns are profitable, worrying about click fraud hasn't always seemed like a priority.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
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Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
