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 ~:
January 23-30, 2012 in Miami
Speakers include the Department of Homeland Security, UPenn, US Southern Command, Univ of Miami, Sanitas, Young & Rubicam and others.
Next event will be held in Beverly Hills and is scheduled for June 20-22 2012.
http://www.socialmediaconference.com/form-1-miami.php
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:~ TOP SOCIAL NETWORKING WATCH NEWS ITEMS ~:
The Top Viral Video Campaign, Updated January 20th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/adcampaign143
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Vevo May Switch Hosting To Facebook
CNET NEWS – Jan 20 – Knowledgeable sources today told CNET that music-video service Vevo has met with Facebook at least twice about possibly moving their hosting to the social networking site and away from Google-owned YouTube. Though Vevo still has another year remaining in their contract with YouTube, at least two meetings have taken place with Facebook, most recently within the last two weeks. If Vevo makes the move, Facebook could finally provide a compelling music service to its members that would keep them on the site longer. Launched in 2009, Vevo offers music videos from three of the four major record labels: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/01/vevo-may-switch-hosting-to-facebook.html
Google+ Reaches 90 Million Users
MASHABLE – Jan 19 – In a press release issued for Google’s fourth quarter, CEO Larry Page announced that Google+ now has 90M users globally, well over double the 40M announced in October 2011. Experian Hitwise predicts that Google+ may hit 400M by the end of 2012. Introduced in June 2011, Google+ has undergone massive growth, but still falls far short of the membership seen by Facebook, which one analyst predicts will hit 1 billion members by August 2012. Also announced in the press release were some impressive figures for Google – Q4 saw $10.58 billion in revenues and 250M Android devices are on the market, up 50M from Q3 2011.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/01/google-reaches-90-million-users.html
Twitter Acquires News Aggregate Summify
MASHABLE – Jan 19 – Startup social aggregation service Summify announced Thursday that it has been acquired by Twitter, though it remains unclear how the social networking site will integrate Summify’s business strategy into its own. Launched by two Romanian entrepreneurs, Summify collects and delivers the top five news stories being shared by friends on your social networks and delivers them in a daily summary. Terms of the deal have remained confidential, but Summify has already stopped new account registrations and will remove some of its key features in the coming weeks as it prepares for the merger.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/01/twitter-acquires-news-aggregate-summify.html
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Tagged Claims “Largest”, Forgets About Badoo
TECH CRUNCH – Jan 19 – Recently, Tagged VP of Sales and Marketing Steve Sarner claimed that other companies are only just catching on to 'social discovery' sites like Tagged and his site is "by far the largest" in that sector. Author Mike Butcher threw some numbers out to argue that while Tagged has been growing, Badoo has been around just as long and is boasting larger revenues. Tagged shows a revenue growth of 35% to more than $43M and through a roll up of companies such as Digsby, WeGame, Topicmarks and hi5, now has a registered user base of 330M with active users at 20M. London-based Badoo has 35M+ active monthly users, claims annual revenue of $150M+ and has been profitable for the last 24 months after 64% year on year growth.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/01/tagged-claims-largest-forgets-about-badoo.html
Orkut App Arrives On iPhone, iPad
MASHABLE – Jan 19 – Google-owned Brazilian social networking site Orkut has finally gone mobile, announcing its app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The app will allow users to post status updates, photos, and chat with others on the go. The announcement comes shortly after it was revealed that Facebook overtook Orkut as Brazil’s most popular social networking site in December. The app is now available for download in the Apple App Store.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/01/orkut-app-arrives-on-iphone-ipad.html
Zynga Acquires Four Mobile Gaming Companies
CNET NEWS – Jan 18 – San Francisco-based game maker Zynga announced today that in the last five months, it has purchased four mobile gaming companies, increasing its presence across multiple devices. Among the companies acquired by Zynga are German-based Gamedoctors (ZombieSmash), San Francisco-based Page44 Studios (World of Goo), San Francisco-based HipLogic, and New York-based Astro Ape Studios. Zynga declined to say how much it paid for the companies.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/01/zynga-acquires-four-mobile-gaming-companies.html
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YouTube Agrees To Modify Terms Of Service
GOVT TECH – Jan 17 – After nearly 18 months of discussion with the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), YouTube has agreed to modify its terms of service to help state government agencies with faster adoption and safer usage on the site. NASCIO has had recent success with getting Facebook to update its terms of service last year, and hopes to develop similar agreements with other social media sites, including Twitter. Under the new agreement, state agencies may skip over YouTube’s standard “click through” agreement and instead have the option to adopt the newly developed content license agreement. Under this new agreement, state agencies would not be responsible for paying legal fees in the event that YouTube gets sued.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/01/youtube-agrees-to-modify-terms-of-service.html
Facebook In Brazil Finally Pushes Past Orkut
TECH CRUNCH – Jan 17 – comScore reports that in 2011, Brazilian Facebook users increased by nearly 24 million to surpass incumbent Orkut in December, reaching a total of 36.1 million monthly uniques. Orkut did see some growth in 2011, from 32.7 million to 34.4 million in Brazil, but still fall behind Facebook. Other social networks that saw growth in Brazil include Twitter, Latin America-focused social gaming company Vostu, Google+, Tumblr and LinkedIn. comScore also noted that woman are now spending more time on the site than man, and younger demographics are more likely to be on than older ones.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/01/facebook-in-brazil-finally-pushes-past-orkut.html
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http://www.dailydealsobserver.com
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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
Social Networking Watch, www.socialnetworkingwatch.com or snw1.com
Editor: Mark Brooks, mark@socialnetworkingwatch.com, 212-444-1636
