The SNW/SMC Industry Insider is the weekly news summary for the social networking industry
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:~ SOCIAL MEDIA CONFERENCE & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE ~:
*NEW*: VIDEO UPDATE ON MOSCOW: http://socialmediaconference.com/T/4.php (includes Visa Info)
MOSCOW EVENT (SEPT 29-30, 2011):
The next social media conference will be held in Moscow, RUSSIA on September 29-30 2011.
Speakers include Odnoklassniki, Mail.ru, Moneybookers, Kiwi, Megaphone, Sheremetevo Airport, professionali.ru, livejournal.com, erTelecom.ru, IQMan.ru...and others.
Please plan now for your travel.
Visa info: http://www.socialmediaconference.com/venue-moscow-2011.php
Register before August 31 and save $225!
http://www.socialmediaconference.com/form-1-moscow.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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:~ 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, Updated August 25th, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/adcampaign121
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Virtual Goods & Place Annotation Abandoned by Gowalla
READ WRITE WEB - Aug 25 - Gowalla, the location-based social network, is shutting down two defining features to refocus on what seems to be working. "Items," the well-designed virtual goods that users collected and dropped for each other at the various places they checked-in at, will be eliminated due to insufficient adoption. Virtual goods are expected, by many other people at least, to be a bonkers giant and lucrative part of the future of the mobile web.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/08/virtual-goods-place-annotation-abandoned-by-gowalla.html
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Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple
TECH CRUNCH - Aug 25 - Apple has confirmed that Apple COO Tim Cook will replace Jobs as CEO, following Jobs’ own recommendation. Considering that Cook has filled in for Jobs in the times of his medical leaves, this has been widely expected if and when it came time for Jobs to step down. Jobs has been elected as Chairman of the Board and will remain with the company in that capacity. Cook will join the Board as well.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/08/steve-jobs-resigns-as-ceo-of-apple.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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China's Renren Signs Agreement with Microsoft's MSN
REUTERS - Aug 24 - Chinese social network Renren has signed an agreement with Microsoft's joint venture instant messaging firm, MSN, to cooperate in areas of instant messaging and social networking. The two companies will cooperate on providing universal login access to both platforms and cross sharing of photos and status updates.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/08/chinas-renren-signs-agreement-with-microsofts-msn.html
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Facebook Killing Off Places
TECH CRUNCH - Aug 24 - It was almost exactly one year ago that Facebook launched Places, their location-based offering. Reading the press at the time, you would have thought it was going to be the Foursquare-killer. Foursquare recently raised a large round of funding valuing them at $600M. And Facebook is killing off Places. Places is being replaced by new “Nearby” area. Location sharing will also be tied to the more direct and simplified privacy changes Facebook outlined today.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/08/facebook-killing-off-places.html
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Halve your customer service team costs! Procall knows internet dating, and is ready to help you offshore your customer service center, and compete!
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MySpace Relaunch Will Put Its Focus Back on Music
READ WRITE WEB - Aug 23 - MySpace went through several attempts to reinvent itself before being sold by News Corp in June. Its new marketing head Al Dejewski will shift its focus more intently on music and try to compete against the likes of Spotify and iTunes. MySpace was sold to Specific Media in June for $35M, six years after News Corp bought it for $580M.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/08/myspace-relaunch-will-put-its-focus-back-on-music.html
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Social Networks for Investors
THE TELEGRAPH - Aug 23 - There are smaller, more focused sites that cater for traders and investors. Marketocracy - founded in 2000 and boasts 100K members. Each of its users can build up a track record of fictional investments through the site Collective2 - ~56K members who invest virtual portfolios. The site claims that ~$300m was invested over the last week alone. CollabInvest - a social networking tool used in conjunction with a software product, Personal Stock Streamer. Investors can build a network of friends, be alerted when they come online and share stock picks, research and annotated stock charts.
Covestor - Requires a minimum of $10K to open an account. Users can then see the investment strategies of leading managers and subscribe to "auto-trade" their money in a similar way. SocialPicks - Another community for stock market investors.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/08/social-networks-for-investors.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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Skype to Acquire Year-old Group Messaging Service GroupMe
TECH CRUNCH - Aug 22 - Skype will acquire group messaging service GroupMe. GroupMe was founded by Jared Hecht and Steve Martocci. The terms of the deal, including price, aren’t being disclosed. The company closed a $850K round of financing from Betaworks, SV Angel, First Round Capital, Lerer Ventures and a number of prominent angels. Early this year the company also raised $10.6M more from Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst and previous investors. GroupMe allows you to create on the fly private phone groups with others, and then send text messages throughout the group and set up free conference calls.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/08/skype-to-acquire-year-old-group-messaging-service-groupme.html
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Twitter Drew Record Numbers of U.S. Visitors in July
TECH CRUNCH - Aug 21 - Facebook and Twitter both saw record traffic in terms of U.S. unique visitors in July. Facebook saw 162M unique visitors, compared to 160.8M unique visitors in June, and 157.2M uniques in May. Twitter also posted record traffic in its five year history; with 32.8M unique U.S. visitors in July, up from 30.6M in June, and 27M in May.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/08/twitter-drew-record-numbers-of-us-visitors-in-july.html
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Social Media Conference
The business conference for the social networking industry @ SocialMediaConference.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
