• Most Facebook Ad Clicks Come From Bots, Start-Up Claims
    Boy, it just hasn't been Facebook's summer: a high-profile dumping by General Motors was followed by a busted IPO in May, and its stock continues to sink -- trading at $21.77 at the time of writing, down 43% from the IPO price. Meanwhile, a new eye-tracking study has cast (even more) doubt on Facebook's ability to monetize mobile traffic through advertising. But the most damaging news may come courtesy of a New York-based start-up, Limited Run, which claims that 80% of the clicks on its Facebook ads came from bots.
  • GPS Fails at Olympics, Twitter Blamed
    The [International Olympic Committee] says social media users helped cause problems for traditional broadcasters during the first big event of the London Olympics. Because of a glitch with GPS signals on Saturday during the men's cycling road race, broadcasters were unable to provide television viewers with much information about the location and timings of riders on the 155-mile course. -- Associated Press
  • Timber! Facebook Stock Topples Over
    Investors are sharing their feelings about Facebook following the company's first quarterly earnings reports since it went public, and they are not happy: the stock price tumbled from a high of around $29 earlier this week to $23.06 at the time of writing - a 20.5% drop over four days, with most of the decline coming in the last day or so.
  • Jobs Filled via Social Connections Tend to Be Higher-Paid
    Social networks can offer up career opportunities, but your chances of switching jobs are better if you're a well-paid professional, according to a new study from North Carolina State University, where researchers studies the role of social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn in so-called "informal recruitment" -- meaning when someone who isn't looking for work is recruited for a new job.
  • Social Media Revenue Booms, Led by Ads
    Social media is blowing up (in a good way, meaning monetization) according to Gartner, which predicts that total global social media revenues will increase from $11.8 billion in 2011 to $16.9 billion in 2012 -- then continue to grow to $34 billion in 2016. That's 43% increase from 2011-2012, and a cumulative annual growth rate of nearly 20% per year from 2012-2016.
  • NextDoor Raises $18.6M
    One of the most interesting growth areas in social media, in my humble op-ed, consists of hyper-local, place-based social networks that provide (virtual) forums connecting people who actually, like, live near each other. One such startup, NextDoor, got a big boost this week in the form of an $18.6 million investment from a group of investors including Greylock Partners, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and Shasta Ventures, among others.
  • NBC Taps Twitter as "Official Narrator" for Olympics
    In a move which might be described as a foregone conclusion, NBC has tapped Twitter to be, well, Twitter for the Olympic games in London. That is, NBC is making Twitter the "official narrator" for the games, according to the Wall Street Journal, which includes tracking Olympics-related tweets and putting the spotlight on tweets from athletes, sports reporters, and of course a multitude of loyal fans around the world.
  • Please Leave Marissa Mayer Alone
    Is anyone else tired of the "can women have it all" debate? Before someone calls me sexist and insensitive, let me explain why I wouldn't mind a moratorium on discussion of this issue. The controversy over whether women can indeed "have it all" -- meaning, some elusive, perfect balance of work and family life -- encapsulates everything that is wrong with contemporary media. Firstly, the very framing of the question creates an unrealistic, unreachable ideal, which most women will naturally fall short of, in what amounts to a self-fulfilling prophecy; second, it takes advantage of (and possibly even encourages) women's …
  • Is Social Media Approaching a Plateau?
    Some interesting data from the Association of National Advertisers shows that the proportion of marketers who employ social media is leveling off, leading some observers to conclude that social media is reaching a "plateau." But it would probably be more accurate to say it's reaching its saturation point. The ANA data shows that the percentage of marketers who are using social media edged up just 1% over the last year, from 89% in 2011 to 90% this year. That's a noticeable slowing in the growth rate, following enormous leaps in the preceding years, when the percentage increased form just 20% …
  • Social Media Can Cause Anxiety
    If social media has ever left you with that ambient feeling of unease about your own circumstances, you're not alone: it turns out social media can indeed make users feel anxious and insecure, according to a new study by the U.K.'s University of Salford sponsored by Anxiety UK, a British non-profit. The University of Salford's Business School surveyed 298 Brits about their social media habits, and found that slightly more than half -- 53% -- said that the advent of social networks had changed their own behavior. Within this group, 51% (that's 27% of the total) said the changes have …
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