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 ~:
Next social media conference will be held in Miami and is scheduled for January 23-30 2012.
Register before December 15 and save $400.
http://www.socialmediaconference.com/form-1-miami.php
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:~ TOP SOCIAL NETWORKING WATCH NEWS ITEMS AND WEEKLY INTERVIEW ~:
The Top Viral Video Campaign, Updated December 1st, 2011
http://tinyurl.com/adcampaign136
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Twitter Launches Self Serve Ad Platform
SEARCH ENGINE JOURNAL - Dec 2 - Although it is in beta testing and currently only available to ~ 20 advertisers, Twitter has finally launched its self-serve ad platform. The new platform, which enables advertisers to use a self-serve system to purchase advertising without speaking to a human, currently allows the purchase of promoted accounts and promoted tweets. Twitter has indicated the new platform will be rolling out to a much larger group of advertisers in the coming weeks.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/12/twitter-launches-self-serve-ad-platform.html
Senzari Prepares To Take On Pandora
TECH CRUNCH - Dec 2 - Senzari, the new music streaming service, recently launched into private beta in the U.S. and Brazil, with plans to expand further into Latin America, Spain and Australia in the future. Where Pandora currently offers a catalog of 900K songs, Senzari has launched with over 10M. It also includes Facebook integration, including live chat with Facebook friends. The new startup is backed by $2M in funding from undisclosed angel investors.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/12/senzari-prepares-to-take-on-pandora.html
Zynga To Go Public At $10 Billion Valuation
CNET NEWS - Nov 30 - Zynga's highly anticipated public offering is expected to value the company at $10 billion, well below a recent analyst estimate. The game developer, which is expected file its IPO plans with regulators on Friday, intends to raise $900M based on a share price range of $8 to $10,
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/12/zynga-to-go-public-at-10-billion-valuation.html
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Twitter Teams Up With Japanese SN Mixi
ASSOCIATED PRESS - Nov 30 - Twitter and Japan's biggest homegrown social network mixi joined forces to strengthen their ground against a rapidly expanding Facebook. Japanese was Twitter's first foreign language platform, and it opened its first overseas office in Tokyo earlier this year. For mixi, the announcement couldn't have come at a better time. Data released this week from Nielsen NetRatings Japan showed that mixi stood in third place behind Twitter and Facebook in terms of unique visitors in October.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/11/twitter-teams-up-with-japanese-sn-mixi.html
Facebook In Talks To Open Platform For Real-Money Gambling In The UK
TECH CRUNCH - Nov 30 - According to eGaming Review, Facebook is engaged in exploratory talks with a number of UK operators to open its platform to real-money online gambling, maybe even as soon as in the first quarter of 2012. In the United States, online gambling is essentially considered to be illegal in most states, though legalization efforts are underway.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/11/facebook-in-talks-to-open-platform-for-real-money-gambling-in-the-uk.html
Flavors.me Spins Into A Social Network
NY TIMES - Nov 28 - Flavors.me started last year as a place where people with an array of social networking profiles could pull information from each of their accounts into one polished page. Flavors.me has attracted 750K users. ~6% of those have signed up for the $20-a-year version of the service, which offers additional features. The company has raised $4.5M from angel investors.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/11/flavorsme-spins-into-a-social-network.html
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Facebook Will IPO As Early As April 2012
MASHABLE - Nov 29 - Facebook will make its long-anticipated move to go public between April and June 2012. Facebook is considering raising $10 billion in an IPO that could value it at more than $100 billion.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2011/11/facebook-will-ipo-as-early-as-april-2012.html
SmartDate CEO Starts Daily Deals Site
DDO - Dec 4 - We've noticed quite a few dating company founders are foraying into the daily deals space. The latest addition is Fabrice LeParc, the founder of troubled (that's being kind) dating site SmartDate. Squarechic.com offers 2 for 1 deals, on "WHATever, and WHENever", starting with New York, London and Paris. An iPhone & Android app will give users a subscription based 'virtual pass' which pinpoints their exact location to show participating deals around them. The app is due to launch December 2011. Fabrice has teamed up with Daniel Kershaw who was formerly country manager for the UK based electronics retailer Dixons. Great business model, but a lousy name. 'WHATever, WHENever' is amusingly laissez-faire. Hopefully this business will fly more smoothly, and contractors and employees will get paid.
http://www.dailydealsobserver.com/daily_deals_observer/2011/12/smartdate-ceo-starts-daily-deals-site.html
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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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