America Online owns quite a few very popular and very profitable music, teen, and gossip sites, TMZ for instance, that we marketing and PR professionals and uber-geeks scoff at. Well, I think AOL makes good investment devisions. I also think that they do a good job of not over-branding their possessions as being AOL. Bebo is another one of those super-popular but under-coveted Social Networking Services that are probably under-valued (cheap at $850 million) and more stable, less fickle. The opposite of Facebook, which, which popular, is over-valued, under-profitable, and could implode in the model of MySpace. Here’s the poop about the purchase, via c|net.
In an unexpected move, AOL has acquired social-networking site Bebo. The price tag: $850 million in cash.
Rumors had floated over the past few months that Bebo, which has over 40 million members, was up for sale. Reports suggested a $1 billion price tag, but there were few hints as to potential buyers. Though Bebo had already partnered with AOL’s AIM messaging client to facilitate friend-invite interoperability between the two services, even the most creative blogger speculation didn’t seem to point to AOL eventually buying the social network.
No Comments » Posted on March 13th, 2008 by Chris Abraham
Filed under:
Abraham Harrison LLC,
Advertisements,
Advertising,
Attention Data,
Attention Marketing,
Attention Profiling,
Behavioral Targeting,
Facebook,
Facebook Apps,
Facebook Beacon,
SNS,
SNS Marketing,
SNS Strategy,
Social Meda,
Social Network Services,
Social Networking,
Social Networks
I dunno about the rest of you but Facebook certainly took a wrong turn, at the wrong time of year, and is pissing off a lot of people. There are several blog posts on this blog dealing with much of this issue, and there are many more floating around on the web.
I just read two articles: Speaking of Facebook as an underground intranet… and I’m Ready to Bail on Facebook - the New Face of Evil.
Both these articles deal with Beacon and the issues of privacy. You see, this is the funny paradox about the web, and the part that fascinates me on one level, about our reaction to the “loss” of privacy. The internet, by nature is an open system, it is how it thrives and is what makes it so powerful.
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2 Comments » Posted on December 2nd, 2007 by Saul Wainwright
Filed under:
Blog Strategy,
Corporate Blog,
Corporate Blogging,
Flugpo,
Marketing Blogs,
Promotional Blog,
SNS,
SNS Marketing,
SNS Strategy,
Social Network Services,
Social Networking,
Social Networks
Flugpo, an SNS that’s a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll — and one of our favorite clients, just launched its new blog, Flugpo.com, a blog on your favorite classifieds site!
Creating a corporate blog as a place to both inform your user base as well as to promote your brand is essential. Why? Well, because blogs are more textually-rich and topically-focused than social networks. Why? Well, because Social Networks are not about their own brand, they’re an agnostic platform dedicated to the glory of the users.
Flugpo.com has been too selfless and its nice to see them launch a blog that is all about them. Luckily, it is also all about us at AHLLC, too, because they blogged about us, Marketing Conversation Gives Rave Reviews!, in response to the article that Kevin Donlan wrote for us, Flugpo Brings Community to the Social Network.
No Comments » Posted on November 8th, 2007 by Chris Abraham
Filed under:
Blog Counter-Messaging,
Blog Messaging,
Blog Strategy,
Blogger Effect,
Cluetrain Manifesto,
Controversial Marketing,
Marketing Blogs,
Marketing Conversation,
SNS,
SNS Marketing,
Social Meda,
Social Network Services,
Social Networking,
Social Networks,
WOMMA,
Word-of-Mouth,
Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Once in a while the FT makes me so happy with an article that I need to excerpt it in full so that I can make sure that the Financial Times doesn’t do some loser thing like make an article private. You can’t stop them talking is such an article. Here’s my favorite quote — and the most true, too:
‘Not all companies will find it easy to establish a blog on their own turf, and will have to play instead in terrain they do not control. Tread carefully, says Ciaran Norris of the agency Absolutely Digital. “The key is to have absolute respect for the forum you’re in.”‘
To be honest, most companies have a problem removing their armor, opening their kimonos, becoming transparent, and being authentic. They’re understandably risk-averse — there is so much to lose.
Another of the great excerpts uses GM as an exemplar for how to counter-message:
‘Last year the New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman launched a withering attack on General Motors. GM demanded the right of response, but found itself embroiled in an e-mail dispute with the paper over the words it could use. So it gave up, and published the entire e-mail thread on its blog, FYI.’
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3 Comments » Posted on October 6th, 2007 by Abraham Harrison
Over the past couple months, AHLLC has been devoting a good portion of its efforts towards the up-and-coming social network site Flugpo.com. With a combination of profiles, groups, discussions, and classified, Flugpo.com demonstrates the opportunity to socialize and network while simultaneously catering to more specific interactions.
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1 Comment » Posted on October 3rd, 2007 by Kevin Donlan
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