Social Networking Insider

Social Networking Insider #188, February 27th, 2012

The SNW/SMC Industry Insider is the weekly news summary for the social networking industry
______________________________________________________________________

~ MOBILE SOCIAL MEDIA CONFERENCE & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE ~:

Next event will be held in Beverly Hills and is scheduled for June 20-22 2012.  The event will focus on mobile social media. Register by March 2 and save $675!

http://www.socialmediaconference.com
______________________________________________________________________


:~ TOP SOCIAL NETWORKING WATCH NEWS ITEMS ~:

The Top Viral Video Campaign, Updated February 23rd, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/adcampaign148
_______________________________________________________________________


Facebook Faces Nationwide Class-Action Lawsuit

READ WRITE WEB - Feb 23 - A Baltimore law firm filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against Facebook, claiming the social network "repeatedly ignored" warnings from a user who noticed Facebook continued to track users' activities on the Internet even after they had logged off. Facebook finally confirmed the practice in September and promised to make corrections within 24 hours.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/facebook-faces-nationwide-class-action-lawsuit.html


Facebook Launching Mobile Ads Next Week?

ZD NET - Feb 21 - Facebook could announce a mobile advertising platform as soon as February 29, 2012, and then start rolling out mobile ads in early March, according to the latest rumors. It’s really no surprise Facebook isn’t saying what it plans to announce. On the other hand, Facebook did just partner with Bango, a company that provides billing and analytics for app stores, mobile apps, and websites. The last rumor suggested Facebook is planning on inserting Featured Stories into people’s mobile feeds in March.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/facebook-launching-mobile-ads-next-week.html

_______________________________________________________________________

Accept multiple currency payments through Optimal Payments. Fraud prevention tools, custom reporting, and premier customer support. For more information visit www.optimalpayments.com
_______________________________________________________________________


TeamBuy Raises $5 Million

IT BUSINESS - Feb 23 - Toronto-based social buying company TeamBuy has closed a $5M round of financing. The proceeds, raised from existing shareholders in the private company, will be used to shore up Teambuy's newly launched services targeting shopping categories for homes, kids and babies. The money will also go towards expanding TeamBuy's existing deal categories: local, products and travel.

http://www.dailydealsobserver.com/daily_deals_observer/2012/02/teambuy-raises-5-million.html


Sugar Acquires Social Network For Mothers Circle Of Moms

TECH CRUNCH - Feb 22 - Sugar Inc., a media company that caters exclusively to women, is acquiring Circle of Moms, a social network for moms and moms-to-be. Financial terms were not disclosed. Circle Of Moms has a community of ~6M moms connected around news and advice on parenting/mom topics. Sugar, which just raised $15M in new funding last year, will operate Circle of Moms as an independent subsidiary.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/sugar-acquires-social-network-for-mothers-circle-of-moms.html


Lifecrowd: Do New Things In Real Life

WIRED - Feb 21 - New social network Lifecrowd uses a social media model to arrange in-person group experiences of things members have always meant to do. Every activity is created by a “host” (a user on the site) who organizes the event, sharing skills and interests with the other users. So far the most popular activities have been “indulgence” activities, like beer-tasting, chocolate making and wine pairing.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/lifecrowd-do-new-things-in-real-life.html


_______________________________________________________________________

Increase your online revenues the easy way! With paysafecard your customers pay fast and secure on your website. Without bank account or credit card. And that’s how you reach new target groups.
_______________________________________________________________________


Yandex Is Twitter’s New Real-Time Search Partner

TECH CRUNCH - Feb 21 - Yandex, Russia’s search giant, today announced that it will carry Twitter data in all of its search results. Yandex describes this as a licensing deal. The terms of it were not disclosed but Microsoft reportedly paid Twitter $30M for a similar search agreement. The Yandex agreement is similar to the real-time Twitter search that used to be offered by Google, a partnership that ended last year around the time that Google was launching its own Google+ service.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/yandex-is-twitters-new-real-time-search-partner.html


Facebook Wins Lawsuit Against Power Ventures Over Login Data

BUSINESS WEEK - Feb 19 - Facebook sued Power Ventures in December 2008, saying Power.com offered users the ability to retrieve their Facebook messages and other information from Facebook’s computer servers without permission.Power Ventures is based in the Cayman Islands, according to court papers. Power.com is up for sale on the Internet. “Facebook has established a dangerous precedent for the future of users rights to own and control their data,” said Steven Vachani, chief executive officer of Power Ventures, in an e-mailed statement. “We intend to aggressively continue this fight.”

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/facebook-wins-lawsuit-against-power-ventures-over-login-data.html


Groupon Acquires NYC-Based Startup Hyperpublic

TECH CRUNCH - Feb 17 - Groupon has just acquired Hyperpublic, a NYC-based startup that’s spent the last two years building technology related to geo-location and the layers of information. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed, but CEO Jordan Cooper describes it as a “huge win for our team and our investors”. Hyperpublic raised $1.15M in 2010.

http://www.dailydealsobserver.com/daily_deals_observer/2012/02/groupon-acquires-nyc-based-startup-hyperpublic.html

______________________________________________________________________

:~ TWITTER ~:

Get the Social Networking Watch newsfeed delivered straight to your Twitter account: http://twitter.com/social_news

______________________________________________________________________

:~ 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

______________________________________________________________________


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

Social Networking Insider #187, February 20th, 2012

The SNW/SMC Industry Insider is the weekly news summary for the social networking industry
______________________________________________________________________

~ MOBILE SOCIAL MEDIA CONFERENCE & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE ~:

Next event will be held in Beverly Hills and is scheduled for June 20-22 2012.  The event will focus on mobile social media. Register by March 2 and save $675!

http://www.socialmediaconference.com
______________________________________________________________________


:~ TOP SOCIAL NETWORKING WATCH NEWS ITEMS ~:

The Top Viral Video Campaign, Updated February 16th, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/adcampaign147
_______________________________________________________________________


Twitter Opens Self-Serve Ad Platform Widely To Small Businesses

MASHABLE - Feb 17 - After making the platform available to just a few advertisers in November, Twitter will expand its self-service ad product to all small businesses next month. Twitter is partnering with American Express for the initiative, which offers preferential treatment for American Express cardmembers. Such cardmembers will be invited first and AmEx will give $100 in free advertising to the first 10K businesses to sign up.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/twitter-opens-self-serve-ad-platform-widely-to-small-businesses.html


Zynga Wants To Cut Dependency On Facebook

READ WRITE WEB - Feb 17 - Zynga is the largest game developer on Facebook and raised $1 billion last year in an IPO of its stock. But investor enthusiasm has been lackluster since then, in large part because the company, which credits 90% of its sales to Facebook, is seen as being too dependent on social networking giant. Facebook takes a 30% cut of virtual wares sold in Zynga games. Zynga is now set to launch a publishing program in March that will let other game developers advertise their games on a separate Web portal. Zynga would keep a percentage of sales for games sold through its site.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/zynga-wants-to-cut-dependency-on-facebook.html

_______________________________________________________________________

Accept multiple currency payments through Optimal Payments. Fraud prevention tools, custom reporting, and premier customer support. For more information visit www.optimalpayments.com
_______________________________________________________________________


Twitter Under Fire Post Mobile Privacy Row

TELEGRAPH.CO.UK - Feb 16 - Twitter has acknowledged that it has copied the content of peoples’ entire address books from their mobile phones and stored the information on its servers, without many of its users realising. Twitter has promised to update its privacy settings to ensure it is more explicit about what personal data people are sharing when using Twitter on their smartphones. When people download the Twitter app on their mobiles, and click the ‘Find Friends’ option in bid to see who of their contacts are already using the service, they often do not realise that the service then has access to their entire address book. Facebook came under fire last year after making a change to its developer terms, which meant users may have had to share their phone number and address in order to access a third party application. However, it subsequently reneged on this modification after a backlash from privacy campaigners.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/twitter-under-fire-post-mobile-privacy-row.html


In Brazil, Google Paves Facebook's Path To The Top

IB TIMES - Feb 15 - Facebook said its number of active users in Brazil had nearly tripled in 2011, finally placing it ahead of Google Inc's Orkut service as the No. 1 social network in the country. Much of the credit for that may belong to Google, analysts say. While a growing economy and easier credit gave Brazilians the ability to purchase computers and broadband connections, Google's Orkut gave them a reason to do so in the first place. "Until Orkut came along in 2004, Internet use in Brazil was stagnant," said analyst José Calazans of market research firm IBOPEnielsen in Sao Paulo. Now many of those people are moving to Facebook." Orkut's failure to innovate in line with users' expectations created an opportunity for Facebook to step in, offering new apps and games, as well as the ability to connect with people beyond Brazil.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/in-brazil-google-paves-facebooks-path-to-the-top.html


Twitter Won't Be Ready For IPO For "A Couple Of Years"

READ WRITE WEB - Feb 14 - Don't expect IPO of shares of Twitter anytime soon. The company has placed restrictions on employees who hold shares, forcing them to keep 80% of the shares they own. It helps keep Twitter under 500 shareholders. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo sent out an email explaining the policy and the main reason for it. "We don't want to be public until we have very predictable quarterly earnings growth," Costolo wrote in his August email. "We're not ready to be a public company for a couple years."

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/twitter-wont-be-ready-for-ipo-for-a-couple-of-years.html

_______________________________________________________________________

Increase your online revenues the easy way! With paysafecard your customers pay fast and secure on your website. Without bank account or credit card. And that’s how you reach new target groups.
_______________________________________________________________________


After Zynga Settlement, Layoffs Hit Vostu

TECH CRUNCH - Feb 14 - Brazilian social gaming giant Vostu is laying off an undisclosed number of employees. Vostu, which has raised $46 million from Intel Capital, Accel Partners, General Catalyst, and Tiger Technology Global Management, is one of the largest social gaming companies in Latin America. The gaming company was founded in 2007 by three Harvard classmates: CEO Daniel Kafie, chief scientist Mario Schlosser, and Joshua Kushner. It’s unclear what’s caused the layoffs but Vostu is fresh off of a settlement with Zynga over copyright issues.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/after-zynga-settlement-layoffs-hit-vostu.html


Myspace Gains 1 Million Users

CNN - Feb 13 - Maybe Justin Timberlake and friends weren't so crazy after all. Myspace added 1M new users over the past month, according to the company. A team of investors bought out Myspace in June for the fire-sale price of $35M. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. paid $580M for it in 2005. The new owners, most notably pop star/actor Timberlake, have effectively stopped trying to compete with Facebook and other social sites, instead focusing on Myspace's superior platform for posting and listening to music. Monday's release from Specific Media credited the site's new music player, with access to more than 42M songs, as offering the Web's biggest collection of free music. But with Spotify beginning to limit the number of songs users with free accounts can play, it seems possible there could be space for a new online music player serving up similar content for free.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/myspace-gains-1-million-users.html


LinkedIn Set To Introduce Mobile Advertising

ECONOMIC TIMES - Feb 12 - LinkedIn has planned to introduce mobile advertising through its apps across the Apple's and Android's operating systems. Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn, gave no indication of timing for launching mobile ads. The news comes soon after Facebook announced that it would introduce mobile adverts as soon as next month.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/linkedin-set-to-introduce-mobile-advertising.html

______________________________________________________________________

:~ TWITTER ~:

Get the Social Networking Watch newsfeed delivered straight to your Twitter account: http://twitter.com/social_news

______________________________________________________________________

:~ 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

______________________________________________________________________


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

Social Networking Insider #186, February 14th, 2012

The SNW/SMC Industry Insider is the weekly news summary for the social networking industry
______________________________________________________________________

~ MOBILE SOCIAL MEDIA CONFERENCE & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE ~:

Next event will be held in Beverly Hills and is scheduled for June 20-22 2012.  The event will focus on mobile social media. Register by February 14 and save $675!

http://www.socialmediaconference.com
______________________________________________________________________


:~ TOP SOCIAL NETWORKING WATCH NEWS ITEMS ~:

The Top Viral Video Campaign, Updated February 2nd, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/adcampaign146
_______________________________________________________________________


LinkedIn Hits 150 Million Members

MASHABLE - Feb 10 - LinkedIn has now 150M members in its network, a 20M increase over November. The company posted revenues of $167.7M, beating the analysts’ consensus of $160M for Q4. Adjusted profit was $0.12 cents per share, which beat analysts’ projections of 7c a share. LinkedIn’s stock was up more than 5% in after-hours trading.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/linkedin-hits-150-million-members.html


Facebook Teams Up With Bango For Mobile Payments

PC WORLD - Feb 9 - UK-based mobile billing and analytics company Bango has signed an agreement to provide payment services to Facebook. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. BlackBerry maker Research in Motion already uses Bango to enable customers to pay for apps through their operator contracts, saving them the trouble of typing in their credit card details each time they buy an app. Bango also struck a deal with Amazon in December.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/facebook-teams-up-with-bango-for-mobile-payments.html


Facebook's Saverin Agreed To Sell Shares To Russians

CNET NEWS - Feb 8 - Thanks to his depiction in the blockbuster film "The Social Network," Eduardo Saverin is one of the social network world's most famous co-founders. Facebook disclosed that Saverin cut a side deal to sell a chunk of his shares to Digital Sky Technologies in 2010. Facebook reported that Digital Sky, a Russian-based investment firm, and Saverin were involved in the transfer of shares as part of what it described as the "Saverin Agreement." It's unclear how many shares Saverin sold or what price he received. Digital Sky and its affiliates now owns 5.4% of the company's outstanding shares. But back on February 19, 2010, Digital Sky and a related party were said to own 8.2% of Facebook's outstanding stock.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/facebooks-saverin-agreed-to-sell-shares-to-russians.html

_______________________________________________________________________

Accept multiple currency payments through Optimal Payments. Fraud prevention tools, custom reporting, and premier customer support. For more information visit www.optimalpayments.com
_______________________________________________________________________


Facebook's Zuckerberg May Face $2 Billion Tax Bill

CNN - Feb 8 - Facebook's upcoming IPO will make founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg a billionaire -- but it will also stick him with an eye-popping tax bill that could reach as high as $2 billion. Zuckerberg currently owns almost 414M shares of Facebook, but he also holds options to buy another 120M shares at the bargain price of 6 cents a piece. Zuckerberg plans to exercise those options and will sell some of his shares during Facebook's initial offering to cover the tax bill. The type of options Zuckerberg holds are taxable as ordinary income when they're exercised, even if the shareholder hangs onto the shares and doesn't sell them. That means Zuckerberg will owe taxes on the difference between what he pays for his Facebook shares -- 6 cents -- and their market value the day he exercises the options. Facebook said in its IPO filing that it values its shares at $29.73. At that price, Zuckerberg's options windfall would be worth $3.6 billion.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/facebooks-zuckerberg-may-face-2-billion-tax-bill.html


LinkedIn Picks Up Rapportive For Around $15 Million

TECH CRUNCH - Feb 8 - LinkedIn has bought contact management startup Rapportive. The startup, which aggregates and displays the social networking accounts of the people you contact through Gmail, was backed for $1M by seed investors Charles River Ventures, Paul Buchheit, Scott Banister, Jason Calacanis, Gary Vaynerchuk, Dharmesh Shah, Shervin Pishevar, Roy Rodenstein, Kima Ventures, Zelkova Ventures, 500 Startups, Michael Zirngibl, Ashish Soni and David Cancel.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/linkedin-picks-up-rapportive-for-around-15-million.html


More Than Just Great Firewall Awaits Facebook In China

REUTERS - Feb 8 - Facebook said last week it was contemplating re-entering China, the world's second biggest economy, after being blocked nearly three years ago. But its offering would likely face intense competition, political meddling and little commercial success. "It's actually a bit late for Facebook," said Hong Kong-based CLSA analyst Elinor Leung, who added that the market was already quite saturated with local players such as Sina Corp, Renren Inc, Kaixinwang001 and Tencent Holdings. Facebook first launched its Chinese interface in 2008 but was blocked by Beijing in mid-2009 following deadly riots in the western province of Xinjiang that authorities say were abetted by the social networking site. Facebook would face same the factors that have led to the failure of many foreign internet companies in China: nimble local competition, murky government regulation and bureaucracy, and difficulty in adapting to local tastes. Facebook would have to manage and censor content heavily in order to gain Beijing's blessing for entry.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/more-than-just-great-firewall-awaits-facebook-in-china.html

_______________________________________________________________________

Increase your online revenues the easy way! With paysafecard your customers pay fast and secure on your website. Without bank account or credit card. And that’s how you reach new target groups.
_______________________________________________________________________


Google, Facebook Remove Content As India Threatens Lawsuits

ASSOCIATED PRESS - Feb 6 - Google India has removed web pages deemed offensive to Indian political and religious leaders to comply with a court case that has raised censorship fears in the world’s largest democracy. The action follows weeks of intense government pressure for 22 Internet giants to remove photographs, videos or text considered “anti-religious” or “anti-social.” For India’s ~100M Internet users, the government says, U.S. Internet standards are not acceptable.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/google-facebook-remove-content-as-india-threatens-lawsuits.html


Facebook’s Network In Offshore Tax Havens

THE SUNDAY TIMES - Feb 6 - Facebook has been funnelling hundreds of millions of dollars through its Irish operation in an apparent effort to reduce its tax bill. Facebook moved 15% of its global revenues through Dublin in 2010, according to the accounts for an Irish subsidiary. The accounting manoeuvre allows Facebook to exploit Ireland’s 12.5% corporation tax rate, against 35% in America. Facebook Ireland Limited (FIL) employed 151 people in its Dublin office in 2010, when it generated €229.6M in sales. It had a cash pile of €172M but paid only €232K in Irish corporation tax. Google saved about L2 billion in 2007-2009 by shifting profits through Ireland and Bermuda. In 2010 it paid L1.2M in British corporation tax on sales of L2.2 billion in this country. Facebook UK paid L397K in corporation tax in 2010 on profits of L1.1M. Facebook Ireland accounted for all its L15.3M turnover.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/facebooks-network-in-offshore-tax-havens.html

______________________________________________________________________

:~ TWITTER ~:

Get the Social Networking Watch newsfeed delivered straight to your Twitter account: http://twitter.com/social_news

______________________________________________________________________

:~ 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

______________________________________________________________________


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

Social Networking Insider #185, February 6th, 2012

The SNW/SMC Industry Insider is the weekly news summary for the social networking industry
______________________________________________________________________

~ MOBILE SOCIAL MEDIA CONFERENCE & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE ~:

Next event will be held in Beverly Hills and is scheduled for June 20-22 2012.  The event will focus on mobile social media. Register by February 10 and save $675!

http://www.socialmediaconference.com
______________________________________________________________________


:~ TOP SOCIAL NETWORKING WATCH NEWS ITEMS ~:

The Top Viral Video Campaign, Updated February 2nd, 2012
http://tinyurl.com/adcampaign145
_______________________________________________________________________


Groupon Basks In Facebook Light, For Now

REUTERS - Feb 3 - Groupon shares jumped to their highest level of 2012 Thursday as the daily deal company got a boost from social networking euphoria sparked by Facebook's IPO filing. Facebook filed to raise about $5 billion Wednesday in what would be the largest Internet IPO ever. Shares of LinkedIn hit $77.84, the highest level in almost three months. Groupon shares jumped 8.3% to $23.28. The stock hit $24.22 earlier, the highest since December 16. Such gains may be temporary, especially for companies like Groupon that have less of a direct relationship to Facebook.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/groupon-basks-in-facebook-light-for-now.html


Facebook Files For $5B In Biggest Internet IPO

BLOOMBERG - Feb 1 - Facebook filed to raise $5 billion in the largest Internet IPO on record. Facebook is considering a valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion. A $100 billion market capitalization would value Facebook at 26.9 times trailing 12-month sales, more than double Google’s valuation when the search-engine operator went public in 2004. Zuckerberg is the company’s top holder with 28.4% of the shares, the filing shows. He also has proxy agreements with fellow stockholders that potentially give him voting control over more than half the shares.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/facebook-files-for-5b-in-biggest-internet-ipo.html


Facebook: 425 Million Mobile Users And No Money

PC MAG - Feb 2 - Facebook's mobile apps are frequently among the most popular downloads in the Android Market and Apple App Store. Facebook's Wednesday IPO filing revealed that the company had ~425M monthly active users during December 2011, or about half of its worldwide user base. But while that 425M number might be impressive, it's not making Facebook any money at this point. "We currently do not show ads or directly generate any meaningful revenue from users accessing Facebook through our mobile products", Facebook said.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/facebook-425-million-mobile-users-and-no-money.html

_______________________________________________________________________

Accept multiple currency payments through Optimal Payments. Fraud prevention tools, custom reporting, and premier customer support. For more information visit www.optimalpayments.com
_______________________________________________________________________


Facebook: Zynga Generates 12% of Our Revenue

MASHABLE - Feb 1 - Lots of interesting numbers emerged from Facebook’s IPO filing Wednesday — including that Zynga, accounts for 12% of the company’s revenue. Facebook generated $3.71 billion in sales last year; ~$445M of that came from its partnership with Zynga. Facebook made $1.97 billion in 2010.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/facebook-zynga-generates-12-of-our-revenue-.html


Snap Interactive: Facebook's Fast Growing Social Media Company

SEEKING ALPHA - Feb 2 - With Facebook going public in 2012, the mobile and social media revolution will come to the forefront of investors' attention. Snap Interactive is the leading provider of social dating and location-based apps built on Facebook. Their core dating brand "Are YOU Interested?" has ~55M user installations, 8M monthly active users. Since being founded in 2005, revenues have grown at a torrid pace. As of the last 12 months ended September 30, 2011, the company has recorded $16.5M in sales. Quarterly revenues hit $5.1M (+198% YoY) in September, which puts the company on pace for~$20M in sales for 2011. The total market size for online dating is now in excess of $1billion.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/snap-interactive-facebooks-fast-growing-social-media-company.html


Twitter, LinkedIn Will See Slower Revenue Growth

READ WRITE WEB - Jan 31 - Twitter and LinkedIn will continue to see strong advertisemnet growth, with Twitter's revenue expected to nearly double between 2012 and 2014, according to a report by eMarketer Digital Intelligence. Twitter gets 90% of its revenue from U.S. advertisiers, while LinkedIn depends more on foreign adverisers, with just 68% of its 2012 ad revenue expected to come from U.S. advertisers. eMarketer is projecting 83% revenue growth for Twitter this year, down from 233% in 2011, and 46.1% revenue growth for LinkedIn, down from 95% in 2011.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/twitter-linkedin-will-see-slower-revenue-growth.html


_______________________________________________________________________

Increase your online revenues the easy way! With paysafecard your customers pay fast and secure on your website. Without bank account or credit card. And that’s how you reach new target groups.
_______________________________________________________________________

Zynga Accused Of Ripping Off Another Competitor’s Game

TECH CRUNCH - Jan 31 - Last week, the developers at NimbleBit accused Zynga of copying them with its new game, Dream Heights. Now, it’s happening again. This time, the accusation comes from Buffalo Studios, which says Zynga copied its flagship title Bingo Blitz with its launch of Zynga Bingo. Bingo Blitz claims to have over one million daily active users.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/02/zynga-accused-of-ripping-off-another-competitors-game.html


Vkontakte IPO Likely To Be Delayed

BLOOMBERG – Jan 29 – The largest Russian social networking site has apparently put plans on hold for an initial public offering, according to two anonymous sources who have knowledge of the matter. Vkontakte began evaluating IPO plans in June 2011 but has not yet hired any banks to help sell its shares. The sources stated that the process may be restarted as soon as the market becomes favorable. Vkontakte is backed by Mail.ru Group and reportedly has 110M registered users, with approximately 70% of those residing in Russia. A Vkontakte spokesperson did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com/2012/01/vkontakte-ipo-likely-to-be-delayed.html

______________________________________________________________________

:~ TWITTER ~:

Get the Social Networking Watch newsfeed delivered straight to your Twitter account: http://twitter.com/social_news

______________________________________________________________________

:~ 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

______________________________________________________________________


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