The SNW/SNC Industry Insider is the weekly news summary for the social networking industry
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:~ SOCIAL NETWORKING CONFERENCE & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE ~:
Next social networking conference will be held at the Holiday Inn Lesnaya Hotel in Moscow, RUSSIA and is scheduled for September 29-30 2011.
Speakers include Odnoklassniki, Mail.ru, Moneybookers, Kiwi, Megaphone, professionali.ru, livejournal.com, erTelecom.ru, IQMan.ru...and others.
Register before July 15 and save $455!
http://www.socialnetworkingconference.com/register-moscow-2011.php
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:~ TWITTER ~:
Get the Social Networking Watch newsfeed delivered straight to your Twitter account: http://twitter.com/social_news
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:~ THE DAILY DEALS OBSERVER ~:
Daily deal sites like Groupon and Living Social are storming along. We thought it would be nice if there was a news illumination blog for the daily deals industry. So we created The Daily Deals Observer. We hope you like it, and it's useful for you.
http://www.dailydealsobserver.com
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:~ TOP SOCIAL NETWORKING WATCH NEWS ITEMS ~:
The Top Viral Video Campaign, July 2nd, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/adcampaign113
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As Zynga Files for $1B IPO, LinkedIn and Pandora Stocks Pop
TECH CRUNCH - July 1 - Zynga filed for its much awaited $1 billion IPO this morning, revealing some impressive revenue and profit numbers. Pandora and LinkedIn are seeing some major increases in stock value in morning trading after a rocky few weeks. Over the past few days, LinkedIn stock has climbed upwards, closing at $89.94 yesterday. And today, stock reached as high as $94.99 this morning, giving LinkedIn a $9 billion valuation. Pandora’s stock rose as high as $21.20, giving Pandora a $3.4 billion valuation.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/07/as-zynga-files-for-1b-ipo-linkedin-and-pandora-stocks-pop.html
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Friendster Goes Live as Social Gaming Network
PC MAG - July 3 - Friendster has gone live as a social gaming portal. The new Friendster uses Facebook Connect; users can either sign in via their own Friendster logins or use Facebook Connect. Friendster was acquired by MOL late last year, and the company warned users that their data would be deleted by May 31, when it would be refocused on "entertainment and fun". That beta version of the gaming site has now expired, and the site has been re-opened to all.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/07/friendster-goes-live-as-social-gaming-network.html
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iTelebill is offering mobile recurring billing which leads to higher conversions at no additional cost to site. Perfect for members where credit cards are not possible. Visit www.itelebill.com.
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LivingSocial Eying $1 Billion IPO
CNET NEWS - June 30 - Daily-deals provider LivingSocial could be nearing an IPO valued at $1 billion. $1 billion IPO, LivingSocial's valuation would range between $10 - $15 billion. Earlier this month, Groupon announced its own IPO plans that could see the company raise $750M on a valuation of between $15 - $20 billion.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/06/livingsocial-eying-1-billion-ipo.html
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MySpace Acquired, CEO Out
TECH CRUNCH - June 30 - MySpace CEO Mike Jones just sent out this mass internal email and press release confirming the company’s sale to Specific Media earlier this morning. Kara Swisher is reporting that the sale was for $35M. Mike Jones will be leaving the company and is currently on a two month transition plan. Specific Media is a digital media company driving viewership for content owners, engagement for brands and relevance for consumers.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/06/myspace-acquired-ceo-out.html
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Don't make your registrants wait for their photos to be manually reviewed. OculusAI uses machine vision technology to automatically scan photos in seconds. This will save you human review costs, improve site quality and boost your registrant to paying member conversions. For more information visit www.oculusai.com.
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Can Google+ Dethrone Facebook?
COMPUTERWORLD - June 30 - If any company has the chops to take on Facebook, it's Google, analysts say. On Tuesday, months of speculation about whether Google has been working on its own social network were put to rest when the company revealed the Google+ project. The new service, which mirrors Facebook to a good extent, enables users to post status updates, upload pictures and share links -- just like people do on Facebook. It could also appeal to enterprise users.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/06/can-google-dethrone-facebook.html
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MySpace Expected to Lay Off 150 Employees
TECH CRUNCH - June 28 - MySpace expects to lay off ~150 of its 400 employees tomorrow (37.5% of its staff). Another group of 150 employees will be put on a transition plan, where they will still be laid off but can work with pay for a few weeks while they search for another job.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/06/myspace-expected-to-lay-off-150-employees-.html
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Accept multiple currency payments through Optimal Payments' secure credit/ debit card payment processing solutions. Fraud prevention tools, custom reporting, and premier customer support are just a few of the merchant benefits with Optimal Payments. For more information visit www.optimalpayments.com
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GSV Capital Buys Facebook Stock at $70 Billion Valuation
TECH CRUNCH - June 27 - Everyone is trying to get pre-IPO Facebook shares any way they can. Some investors purchase shares on secondary markets like SecondMarket and SharesPost. Others broker private sales. Today, GSV Capital, a publicly traded investment management company, has purchased a small number of shares (225,000) at a price ($29.28) which would give Facebook an implied $70 billion valuation.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/06/gsv-capital-buys-facebook-stock-at-70-billion-valuation.html
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Foursquare Closes $50M at a $600M Valuation
TECH CRUNCH - June 26 - Foursquare is raising $50M, and all of it will go towards building out the company. The valuation had been rumored to be as high as $1 billion, but our sources say it settled out at $550M pre-money, $600M post.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/06/foursquare-closes-50m-at-a-600m-valuation.html
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Social Networking Conference
The business conference for the social networking industry @ SocialNetworkingConference.com
Industry Message Boards @ mb.socialnetworkingonference.com
Conference Organiser
Marc Lesnick,
marc@lesnick.net,
212-722-1744
Media Relations
Press, please contact Mark Brooks
mark@socialnetworkingwatch.com,
212-444-1636
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Social Networking Watch
www.socialnetworkingwatch.com or snw1.com
Editor: Mark Brooks,
mark@socialnetworkingwatch.com,
212-444-1636
