Social Media

LinkedIn has been a public company for roughly two weeks, but its brief history on Wall Street should give the people running other social media companies a lot to think about. The biggest question to ponder is whether they should go public now -- or as soon as they can convince an investment bank t...

I have a love-hate relationship with social media. I love platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn that let me keep up with people I truly value as friends and colleagues, even as we move on to new stages in our lives. I hate social media's potential for baring intimate details of your life with people y...

After much rumor and speculation, Twitter and TweetDeck announced what many had already concluded: the popular third-party client has been acquired by Twitter. The terms of the deal were undisclosed but various news reports put it between $40 million and $50 million. Of perhaps greater interest, at ...

LinkedIn's doubled stock price after its IPO on Thursday has many wondering if this could be the start of another tech bubble. LinkedIn initially offered 7.84 million shares at $45 each. Within minutes, the shares doubled in price and eventually peaked at $122.70 each. The price lingered around $100...

With more than 600 million members and counting, Facebook is the world's largest social networking community. Lately, however, a lot of people have concluded that this community is too large for their tastes. That has created an opportunity for a number of startups that are promising users a much mo...

Looks like Facebook wanted to mount a dirty tricks campaign against Google, but so far all the mud is clinging to the social network and its PR goons. Burson-Marsteller was hired to run a negative campaign against Google's Social Circle, aka Social Search, according to reports. Facebook confirmed it...

Online video has come a long way in a short period of time. In the last year alone, the use of video on websites has moved from an interesting anomaly to a critical feature that boosts search engine result standings, increases stickiness and improves conversion rates. The number of companies making ...

Social networking technology has found a solid niche in the business world. Facebook and Twitter are proving to be powerful -- and cost-effective -- tools for connecting with customers and promoting products and services. Major corporations like Pepsi and Procter & Gamble have been so happy with...

Has there ever been an easier time to reach an international customer base? And has there ever been a more complex time to optimize for global reach? Certainly, the Web and social media platforms make it easier for brands to reach prospects in virtually every plugged-in region of the world. However,...

Groupon is likely to select Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to be the principal underwriters for an initial public offering later this year that could value the company between $15 and $20 billion. J.P. Morgan Chase is expected to have a co-manager role in the IPO, and at least two other banks want...

2010 was the year of social media: Mark Zuckerberg was named Time's Person of the Year, "The Social Network" seemed poised for Oscar glory, and Facebook exceeded Google's daily traffic. Certainly there were hiccups along the way -- privacy settings, ease-of-use and the Google Buzz debacle -- but no...

Social shopping site Groupon clearly had bigger aspirations in mind when it spurned Google's $6 billion acquisition offer last year. The company is in discussions with Goldman Sachs about going public -- at a $25 billion valuation -- according to a Bloomberg article citing unnamed sources in the kno...

IBM unveiled a new service on Monday that will help companies market and sell their products online. The new division, called "Smarter Commerce," offers IBM customers real-time marketing analytics and brand assessment tools for Facebook and Twitter. Smarter Commerce also offers consumer-behavior ana...

Microsoft's search engine, Bing, added a Facebook integration feature on Thursday that will let searchers see which results their Facebook friends have liked. After users connect Bing with their Facebook account, pictures of friends will appear below any relevant results generated in a search. They ...

Numerous sites supporting some form of mobile photo sharing have popped up over the past few months, ushering in the next big social media trend. While the press coverage of these sites generally has been positive, they also have been subject to a fair amount of criticism in online forums. The commo...