JP Morgan Raises $1.2 Billion to Invest in Social Media by Erik Sass

Not long after Goldman Sachs raised a cool billion from private investing clients for Facebook, JPMorgan is getting into the social media game with $1.2 billion raised from its own private investing clients. In a sign of the huge interest in social media -- and more specifically, confidence in its profit potential -- the new JP Morgan Digital Growth Fund raised roughly twice the original target of $500-$700 million. While no specific investment candidates were named, press reports indicate it will only invest in social media businesses with proven business models (limiting the field considerably). ...Read the whole story

  • Combined Search, Social Creates Ultra-Personal Info by Laurie Sullivan

    In two years, 70% of consumers will rely on search and social combined -- up from 48% today -- when making a purchase decision, according to Chris Copeland, CEO at GroupM Search. The only reason the percentage may not skyrocket is if engines continue to integrate social, and social platforms like Facebook continue to integrate search, making both synonymous with the other, he says. ...Read the whole story

  • Social Media Data Works If Segmented To Key Groups by Mark Walsh

    Social media programs generate a torrent of data from fans to wall posts to rate of pass-along and poll results. But how should all that information be sifted and presented within an organization? Gear it to three basic online groups. ...Read the whole story

  • Study: Search, Social Create Interlinked Purchase Path by Laurie Sullivan

    Every action creates a reaction. Research from GroupM Search and comScore released Thursday reveals 40% of consumers using search in their path to purchase are motivated to use social media to complete their decision. Similarly, 46% of consumers who use social media in the purchase pathway are driven to use search to expand their knowledge about their likely purchase. ...Read the whole story

How the Internet Forgets: Before Egypt, '06 U.S. Immigration Protests Were Organized On MySpace by Rob Garner

The Internet may never forget, but clearly most people can't seem to remember much about network history past their last few status updates. Had we all remembered the historic U.S. immigration protests of 2006, largely organized through MySpace and other network media channels, perhaps Malcolm Gladwell may have never written (and would not still be attempting to justify) his essay from last October. ...More

  • Electronic Social Etiquette Influences Communication Success by Jack Loechner

    According to a new report from Exact Target and CoTweet, data from "The Social Break-up" indicates 18% of email users say they never open email from companies, and 77% of all US online consumers say they have become more cautious in the past year about giving their email addresses to companies. Consumers are also highly sensitive to the difference between permission-based emails from companies they know and trust and unsolicited messages from unknown companies. ...More

  • The Paradox of Social Media: The More Social it Gets, The Less Social We Become by Gord Hotchkiss

    I have teenage daughters. At least, I assume they're still my daughters. They hang around our house and eat our food. But, to be honest, it's been a while since we identified ourselves to each other. Between Angry Birds, SMS and Facebook, there's precious little actual conversing going on in the Hotchkiss household. I barely recognize their faces, lit up as they are by the cool blue digital light of an iPhone screen. I assume that, at times, there's a living being at the other end of their multi-texting, but I'm not really sure. ...More