For online video publishers, Facebook and its newfangled sharing tools offered the promise of increased reach and promotion. As new data reveals, however, their expectations might have been overblown. “When Facebook made it easy to share what videos you were watching, companies like Socialcam, Metacafe, DailyMotion and Viddy rocketed up the app-charts and saw a sharp increase in the usage and downloads of these apps,” writes GigaOm’s Om Malik. “Of course, with this friction-less sharing actions came howls of complaints from Facebook’s users.” In turn, new AppData.com statistics show a sharp decline in the number of daily active users of these …

Though yet to scale in any meaningful way, investors still see dollars in digital Q&A site Quora -- $400 million, to be exact. That’s the pre-money valuation at which the startup just raised another $50 million from Facebook board member Peter Thiel, who invested with his own personal funds, and others. “Days ahead of Facebook Inc.'s initial public offering, the company's network of former executives and investors are doing their own deal making,” reports The Wall Street Journal, referring to Quora founders and ex-Facebookers Adam D'Angelo and Charlie Cheever. “[Thiel] understands these kinds of companies,” said D’Angelo, who …

In another dark twist to Scott Thompson’s fall, the exiting Yahoo CEO has reportedly been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. As sources tell The Wall Street Journal, that’s what Thompson told the company’s board of directors and several colleagues, last week. “The decision to step down from Yahoo was in part influenced by Mr. Thompson's cancer diagnosis,” WSJ reports, citing a source. The diagnosis apparently occurred only recently -- all while the board was investigating why Thompson’s academic record had erroneously included a computer science degree. Yahoo on Sunday said Thompson was resigning as CEO, and would be succeeded by Ross …

Still in damage control mode over his misleading bio, Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson tried to clear up the matter with employees, this week. Thompson apparently told the rank and file that before he was placed into a job at eBay subsidiary PayPal in 2005, he had an interview with an executive placement firm. “During this interview, Thompson says he did NOT say he had degree in computer science,” reports Business Insider, citing sources inside of Yahoo. After the interview, however, Thompson says this executive placement firm produced a document that said he has a degree in computer science. Even more …

Directly due to its mobile shortcomings, Facebook just amended its public offering prospectus to show that it is seeing fewer ads per user. “In March 2012, we began to include sponsored stories in users’ mobile News Feeds,” the new prospectus explains. “However, we do not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven. We believe this increased usage of Facebook on mobile devices has contributed to the recent trend of our daily active users (DAUs) increasing more rapidly than the increase in the number of ads …

Don’t look for him on TLC, but Mark Zuckerberg could soon learn a very costly lesson in “What not to wear.” Taking Facebook’s IPO roadshow to New York, this week, at least one analyst chided the young mogul for wearing his signature hoodie. “Mark and his signature hoodie: He’s actually showing investors he doesn’t care that much; he’s going to be him,” Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Securities, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “I think that’s a mark of immaturity. I think that he has to realize he’s bringing investors in as a new constituency …

Threatening many a publisher’s social strategy, new data suggests that consumers are not taking to so-called “social readers.” Take the Washington Post’s Social Reader -- an app that encourages Facebook users to read and recommend stories from the Post’s Web site. AppData.com is reporting that its monthly average users (MAU) fell from 17.4 million to 9.2 million over the past 30 days. “It would be hard to overstate the importance and centrality of the Social Reader to the Post’s strategy,” writes Forbes. “It’s in large part the promise of social-powered distribution that has induced Post chairman …

Stateside, LG Electronics is reportedly planning to launch Internet-enabled TV based on Google's platform before the end of the month. “The move reflects an aggressive push by the duo to defend against a potential threat from Apple Inc, which reshaped the handset market with its iPhone smartphone and is widely expected to unveil a full-fledged TV product later this year or early next year,” Reuters reports. As 9To5Google reminds us: “Google TV is a Google-branded smart TV platform that integrates the Android operating system and Chrome browser to create an interactive television user-interface that is overlaid …

With Facebook’s big day looming, Web watchers are dissecting the company’s IPO plans, its bold financial projections, and the risks that investors will assume. “Facebook is betting its growth prospects will persuade investors to pay 99 times earnings for its initial public offering, a higher multiple than 99 percent of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index,” Bloomberg points out. Indeed, Facebook will seek a market value of as much as $96 billion, offering shares at $28 to $35 each, according to a new regulatory filing. “It’s really, really expensive,” Bob Rice, managing partner at Tangent Capital Partners LLC, …

Sucking the life out of Yahoo, Microsoft has hired away 15 of its researchers to open an R&D lab in New York City. Along with Duncan Watts, the well-known social network researcher, “That includes algorithmic economist David Pennock -- who will oversee day-to-day lab operations -- and machine-learning expert John Langford,” AllThingsD reports. That Yahoo’s leading minds are exiting isn’t a surprise considering the company’s flagging fortunes. Just last month, Yahoo laid off about 2,000 employees across the board, including its research staff, CNet recalls. Microsoft, meanwhile, isn’t without its problems, but the software is clearly preparing for a fight …