Jessica Alba and 10 other celebrities that invested in digital
Jessica Alba this week became the latest celebrity to try their hands at e-commerce, with the launch of Honest.
The own-label brand sells eco-friendly baby products, biodegradable nappies and organic skin care lotions.
Alba says it is aimed at busy mothers that don’t have the time to spend hours seeking out over-priced eco-friendly products.
Honest differentiates itself from the crowd by using an online subscription model to keep consumers hooked.
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace chide Google
Some of the social networking companies feeling left out after Google's Search, plus Your World launch may very well complain to regulators already gunning for Google, but they're not going to wait for Washington D.C. or Brussels to tell Google how to manage its SERPs.
Instead, engineers at Facebook, Twitter and MySpace took matters into their own hands with focusontheuser.org and developed a bookmarklet for Firefox, Chrome and Safari that adds a "don't be evil" button to the browser.
MySpace's decline sees StumbleUpon move into top 10 social networks
StumbleUpon broke into the top 10 of the most visited social networking sites this past November, exceeding MySpace for the first time ever.
This is the first time MySpace has failed to rank in the top 10 social networking sites, according to the stats compiled by Experian Hitwise.
Experian analyst James Murray said StumbleUpon owes its top 10 position to MySpace’s continuing decline rather than a boost in its own traffic.
Facebook profile pages get a big overhaul
Hundreds of millions of people around the world have set up a Facebook account, and with that account comes perhaps one of the most important pages on the internet: the Facebook profile page.
Given Facebook's popularity, which shows no immediate signs of waning, one might assume that Facebook would be content to leave the profile page as it is. As they say, if it isn't broken, don't try to fix it. But that's not Facebook.
MySpace can partner with brands. Without users, it doesn't matter.
MySpace may not have as many users as Facebook, but the company is trying to reposition itself (again) as a place where brands can find traction online.
The trouble is, brands usually follow users. Can MySpace flip that equation on its head and use great brand partnerships to attract users?
MySpace executives hope so.
Disney bets big on social gaming
Thanks to the rise of massive social networks, namely Facebook, and a multi-billion dollar virtual currency market, social gaming has become one of the hottest spaces on the consumer internet.
But there's another reason social gaming is so hot: it is putting the 'casual' back into the concept of 'casual gaming'. Through social games like Farmville and Mafia Wars, millions upon millions of non-gamers have become gamers. In the process, social games are potentially reshaping the gaming industry more broadly.
Publishers shouldn't worry about Facebook dragging down their CPMs
Is cheap social media advertising undermining the price point of online advertising? According to AdAge, "Social Networks Sink Online-Ad Pricing."
Overabundant inventory is a growing issue online. And there are more than a few advertisers and publishers who would like someone to blame for their ever sinking ad prices. But trying to blame Facebook isn't a good idea. Facebook ads may cost a lot less than other online inventory, but they work. Moreover, publishers don't need to worry about Facebook's prices. Unless they're not delivering the kinds of returns that Facebook gets for those rates.
Freedom to rock? Why the paywall must fail.
Content may well be king, but the internet offers a unique
opportunity for anyone to attain royal status, something which could
finally, fatally undermine Rupert Murdoch’s place at the top of the
media food chain.
MySpace has got 99 problems. And traffic is a big one.
News Corp.'s MySpace is currently suffering a traffic implosion that is ruining the site's revenue structure. The company is desperately trying to reinvent itself and increase views to the site, but the bid does not appear to be working. Unable to stave the bleeding, MySpace is on the verge of losing its search ad partnership with Google. That's $300 million the company won't be earning next year.
Worse, MySpace might be putting its music service behind a paywall soon. That's a good way to ensure that traffic won't be skyrocketing any time soon.
Five success factors for branded online communities
Most major brands are hip to Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. And many have built up an impressive presence on the web's most popular social hangouts.
But some of the more adventurous brands have also experimented with self-hosted communities of their own. Unfortunately, a large portion of them fail. Amongst the causalities are communities started by some of the world's biggest brands, such as Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart.
