• Facebook's Sequential Revenue Decline -- Or, Taking The Sense Out Of Seasonality
    Much has been said about the amendment to Facebook's S1 this week, but, for the Social Media Insider, it's still not enough. Something has been troubling me about the newly revealed numbers in the S1, and it has a name: seasonality.
  • 10 Lessons From 'The Hunger Games'
    When you read or watched "The Hunger Games," did you catch all the lessons for social media marketers? Any story about a post-apocalyptic society sacrificing 23 teenagers annually was clearly written with marketers in mind. Maybe that's not the case, but there's still plenty marketers can learn. Here are 10 lessons coming all the way from Panem, the nation featured in "The Hunger Games":
  • The Yin And Yang Of Facebook Ads
    So, today I'm trying to figure out Facebook. Not about whether I should invest in it when it goes public (I won't have the money), but about what the numbers on whether to advertise on it -- or not -- really mean.
  • Entering the Era Of Social Ennui
    As social media's popularity continues to reach new heights, with boys in short pants creating billion-dollar social businesses practically overnight, there seems to be a collective yearning to slow down the oversharing. Recent reports, blog posts, and editorials have expressed three general principles: we're sharing too much or too often; online relationships are not the same as relationships forged in person; and, there's a negative aspect to this that has either been documented or is theoretically worrisome.
  • To Catch (Or Report On) A Thief, Pick The Right Platforms
    Believe it or not, here, in this week that Instagram was bought by Facebook for a mere $1 billion, I've been struggling with the issue of what to write about. Partly this is because, as it is now several days after the acquisition, it has been covered to death. I've nothing to add. So, as I was mulling what to write about early this afternoon, I procrastinated by posting a comment on my local Patch site about a story discussing what platforms local authorities should use to give residents emergency notifications.
  • Facebook Acquires Itself
    There's no way you missed this week's tech news: Facebook spent $1 billion to acquire Instagram, the mobile photo-sharing application sensation. This may be a factually accurate description, but it misses the heart of the story. What happened was, Facebook spent $1 billion to acquire a piece of itself.
  • It's The Person, Not The Platform, Stupid
    Over and over, we've seen stereotypes emerge about digital media, with people making sweeping judgments about a particular social publishing platform without taking into account that it's the individual that dictates what goes on the platform, not the platform itself.
  • The Good Book Of Temptations
    The world is full of temptations. According to the Bible, that's how the world has been since week one. Today, temptation is more accessible than ever, so it's hardly surprising that some institutions are trying to regulate how their members use the Internet. Yet exceptions can be made, and in one prominent case, it was a brand that inspired a loophole.
To read more articles use the ARCHIVE function on this page.