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Twitter Makes It Easier To Find People To Follow

Jul 30, 2010 4:16 PM

Twitter’s latest move to keep users engaged on its site: a new tool that suggests other members users might want to follow “based on several factors, including people you follow and the people they follow.”  The launch comes as Twitter has taken other steps to make itself more accessible and…

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Posted In: Social Media, Community, Nanopublishing, Companies, Twitter

The Morning Lowdown 07.30.10

Jul 30, 2010 7:30 AM

Some of the stories people are talking about this morning:»  The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO) is desperate to unload Newsweek magazine—but not desperate enough sell to Avenue Capital Group because of worries related to the hedge fund’s plans to partner with the publisher of the National Enquirer. [WSJ] » …

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Posted In: Features, The Morning Lowdown, Entertainment, Music, Legal, Marketing, Media & Publishing, Magazines, TV, Cable & Telecom, VOD, Social Media, Companies, Amazon.com, Kindle, Virgin, Virgin Media, Washington Post

Forbes’ True/Slant Prepares To Sign Off

Jul 29, 2010 4:19 PM

As expected, Forbes is shuttering the True/Slant site this weekend, according to the posts of several contributors. As Fishbowl NY noted, all of the reader farewells penned by T/S contributors say that they hope to working on a new “undisclosed” project. The not-too-well-veiled hint is that it will be on…

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Posted In: Media & Publishing, Magazines, Online News, Social Media

Industry Moves
MySpace Sales Exec Courtin Returns To MTVN

Jul 29, 2010 4:05 PM

MTV has reorganized the heads of its Integrated Marketing Group with the return of MySpace (NSDQ: NWS) sales executive Angela Courtin to the Viacom (NYSE: VIA) company. Courtin will serve as SVP, MTV Integrated Marketing. In conjunction with the new hire, MTV also promoted Jeannie Scalzo to SVP, MTV Integrated…

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Posted In: Advertising, Industry Moves, Entertainment, Media & Publishing, TV, Cable & Telecom, Social Media, Companies, News Corp., Fox, Fox Interactive Media, MySpace, Viacom, MTV

YouTube Now Offers Uploaders Full 15 Minutes Of Fame

Jul 29, 2010 12:51 PM

If you’ve ever tried to upload a video to YouTube and found it rejected for being more than 10 minutes long, you may be pleased to learn YouTube is giving you five more minutes of video time. Why, after years of complaints, is YouTube extending the length of uploaded videos…

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Posted In: Social Media, Video, Companies, Google, YouTube

Confirmed: Zynga Raises $150 Million From Softbank

Jul 29, 2010 1:55 AM

Zynga is confirming this evening that it has indeed raised $150 million in funding from Japanese internet and telecom firm Softbank. Reports that the social gaming giant had raised the cash first surfaced several months ago, although Zynga would not comment then.

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Posted In: Entertainment, Gaming, Money, M&A & Venture Capital, Venture Capital, Social Media, Community, Companies, Zynga, softbank

Facebook-Backer DST May Go Public Next Year

Jul 28, 2010 5:38 PM

Will Facebook backer Digital Sky Technologies go public before Facebook? The Russian internet investment group, which has accumulated a five percent stake in the social network, has hired Goldman Sachs, along with two other investment firms, to explore an IPO next year, according to a report in the WSJ. If…

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Posted In: Money, IPO, Social Media, Companies, Facebook, digital sky technologies

Facebook (Finally) Debuts Its Q&A Service

Jul 28, 2010 4:10 PM

Facebook, which has been testing a new feature that lets users pose questions to the entire Facebook community and answer others, is finally launching the product, which it is calling Facebook Questions. The company says it will be including “ask question” as an option in the status box at the…

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Posted In: Social Media, Community, Companies, Facebook

News Corp.‘s IGN Launches A Gamer-Focused Social Network

Jul 28, 2010 2:25 PM

IGN, the News Corp.-owned video game site, is launching a gamer-focused social network called My IGN. On the social network, which launched in beta today, users can “follow” games in order to see the latest news about them in a Facebook-like news feed. They can also communicate with other My…

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Posted In: Advertising, Media & Publishing, Social Media, Community, Companies, News Corp., ign entertainment, my ign

PeerIndex Tries Ranking Opinion Formers With Social Crawling

Jul 28, 2010 1:47 PM

Digital investor and former Reuters (NYSE: TRI) innovation head Azeem Azhar has shuttered his recently-launched Viewsflow site for identifying the most insightful news commentary, but fed the learnings in to PeerIndex, a service which attempts to rank people according to their authority on subjects.

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Posted In: Marketing, Social Media, azeem azhar, peerindex

Earnings
Search And Dating Dollars Help Boost IAC Revs

Jul 28, 2010 7:44 AM

Maybe IAC (NSDQ: IACI) isn’t so crazy to think that its Ask.com search business can compete in a Google (NSDQ: GOOG) world. Higher search ad dollars as well as help from dating site Match.com helped send revenues higher in Q2 for the company. Profits were impacted negatively by the sale…

EPS* Rev. vs Q209 Net Inc. vs Q209
IAC Release Beat Analysts' Estimates Revenue Indicator 19% Net Income Indicator 67%
* vs. Analysts' Estimates: Beat Analysts' Estimates Beat Met Analysts' Estimates Met Missed Analysts' Estimates Missed
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Posted In: Advertising, Marketing, Money, Earnings, Social Media, Companies, IAC

The Morning Lowdown 07.28.10

Jul 28, 2010 7:30 AM

»  Steve McPherson has resigned as president of ABC (NYSE: DIS) Entertainment Group to concentrate on his wine business and a “new media venture”; he’s being replaced by Paul Lee, who is promoted from ABC Family. [Deadline Hollywood] »  Just as the ink dries on Disney’s Playdom acquisition, Google (NSDQ:…

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Posted In: Advertising, Entertainment, Gaming, Marketing, Media & Publishing, Newspapers, TV, Broadcast, Social Media, Video, Companies, Disney, ABC, Google, TheStreet.com, Washington Post

Playdom’s Pleasants And Disney’s Wadsworth On The Deal

Jul 27, 2010 6:50 PM

So, why did Disney (NYSE: DIS) decide to buy Playdom? Disney Interactive Media Group President Steve Wadsworth told paidContent in a joint interview with Playdom CEO (and now Disney EVP) John Pleasants that Disney is on a “fairly aggressive mission to build a high-growth interactive media business.” He said the…

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Posted In: Entertainment, Gaming, Animation, Money, M&A & Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions, Social Media, Companies, Disney, john pleasants, playdom, steve wadsworth

Disney Buys Playdom For Up To $763.2 Million

Jul 27, 2010 4:12 PM

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) is making a big move into social games, with the purchase of fast-growing social game developer Playdom for up to $763.2 million. The deal includes a “total consideration” of $563.2 million, in addition to a performance-linked earn-out of up to $200 million. In a release, which…

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Posted In: Entertainment, Gaming, Money, M&A & Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions, Social Media, Community, Companies, Disney, playdom

GameStop Buying Social Gamer Kongregate

Jul 27, 2010 10:46 AM

Retail chain GameStop is acquiring Kongregate, the San Francisco, CA-based game community, as the company looks for ways to expand its online presence. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close next week, were not disclosed.

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Posted In: Entertainment, Gaming, Marketing, Money, M&A & Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions, Social Media, gamestop, kongregate

360i: Only 12 Percent Of Consumers’ Tweets Mention Brands

Jul 27, 2010 9:40 AM

Marketers still don’t get Twitter, a report from interactive shop 360i shows. Not only are advertisers hardly being mentioned by Twitter users, but the categories of those brands who do prompt discussions on the microblogging service are fairly limited to social nets, entertainment and technology companies.

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Posted In: Advertising, Marketing, Research & Metrics, Research, Social Media

The Morning Lowdown 07.27.10

Jul 27, 2010 7:30 AM

»  What does it mean that Wikileaks is the world’s first stateless news organization? [Pressthink, CJR] »  Gawker’s Nick Denton is getting profiled in The New Yorker. [Village Voice] »  A bankruptcy investigator finds that The Tribune Company may be too weak to survive, creating another hurdle to the publisher’s…

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Posted In: Advertising, Marketing, Media & Publishing, Money, Bankruptcy, Social Media

Triangulate Gets Cash From Playdom Chairman, Others For Facebook Dating App

Jul 27, 2010 3:00 AM

Triangulate, a startup trying to build an online dating business on Facebook, has raised $750,000 from Trinity Ventures and Playdom Chairman Rick Thompson. Triangulate is the latest so-called “social dating” site to attract interest from investors; Zoosk, the most established player in the market, has raised more than $40 million,…

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Posted In: Money, M&A & Venture Capital, Venture Capital, Social Media, Community, rick thompson, triangulate, trinity ventures

Ask.com Searches For A More Human Touch With Latest Relaunch

Jul 27, 2010 12:01 AM

IAC’s search site Ask.com has tried numerous incarnations to capture some of the traffic and advertising gold possessed by Google (NSDQ: GOOG). Last year, it tried coupons. Before that, it promised more relevance, more engagement and less clicks. This time, it’s going back to its “Ask Jeeves” roots, with answers…

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Posted In: Advertising, Marketing, Search, Social Media, Companies, IAC, ask.com, doug leeds

Crowdgather Acquires Forums Host Lefora

Jul 26, 2010 8:33 AM

Community forums publisher CrowdGather has bought forum host provider Lefora, its fourth acquisition in less than a year. The acquisition is for San Francisco, CA-based Lefora’s technical assets. The details of the transaction weren’t disclosed, but Crowdgather did say the deal involved an all-stock purchase.

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Posted In: Advertising, Marketing, Money, M&A & Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions, Social Media, crowdgather, lefora

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