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The Effects of Social Media on the Top 100 Brands

posted on July 18, 2007

As some of you know – and now all of you know – I’m writing a book on online reputation management and a big part of that is about utilizing social media. So, I’m excited to share with you Immediate Future’s “The Top 100 Brands in Social Media” study of which brands are most benefiting from social media.

The study looked at the Interbrand Top 100 global brands for 2006 and then reviewed each for their involvement in social media channels such as:

  • The “blogosphere” as a whole
  • Social networks Bebo and MySpace
  • Video sharing site YouTube
  • Photo sharing sites Flickr and Photobucket
  • Social bookmarking sites del.icio.us and ma.gnolia 
  • Social editorial site Digg

Share of Voice

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NBC Placing "Multiple Bets" on Social Media – Do They Lack Focus?

posted on July 17, 2007

nbclogo NBC Universal’s not quite sure which social networking tools will have the stamina to stay the race, so it has decided to “place multiple bets,” says Beth Comstock, president of integrated media.

Coming this September, NBC.com will add social networking capabilities such as profiles, online communities, widgets, blogs, photos and video. Phew! That should take care of just about everything.

Reuters has a sneak peak of what you’ll see this fall…

On August 27, NBC will begin streaming episodes of “Conan” on the site. Daily episodes will be available the next day at 5 a.m. PDT.

Also in late August, NBC will unveil a corporate site for Dunder-Mifflin, the fictitious paper company at the center of “The Office.” Users will be able to log on to this site, join branches and complete challenges relating to the show.

The network will ratchet up the online presence of “Heroes” this summer, as well, presenting sites dedicated to specific characters. NBC also will introduce Season 2 characters from the drama on the portal.

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Facebook to Make $100M This Year

posted on July 16, 2007

Did you know that Marketing Pilgrim has recently been named the unofficial Facebook rumor blog by . . . okay, by us. (If this bugs you, don’t worry, it’s temporary—it’ll be over as soon as Facebook stops doing stuff.)

MediaPost reports today on Facebook’s growth in membership—and revenues. As we’ve mentioned before, Facebook’s recent stats show their visitors up 89% YOY. They also win an average of 20.6 visits per visitor.

But perhaps more importantly, MediaPost hits on the question we’ve all asked:

[O]bservers are asking anew about the site’s value.

Well, the posh social network is profitable, will post a positive EBITA, and will do well over $100 million in revenue this year, according to Jim Breyer, managing partner of venture capital firm Accel Partners–one of Facebook’s biggest investors along with Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital Partners. . . .

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Is Facebook Built on Stolen Code? Court to Decide

posted on July 16, 2007

While Facebook continues to attract media attention – with talk of acquisition partners or an IPO – it’s haunted by a three year old law suit that claims it is built on code stolen by founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The lawsuit, filed by brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra, accuses Zuckerberg, Facebook?s 23-year-old C.E.O, of stealing the source code, design, and business plan for Facebook in 2003 when he briefly worked in the Harvard dorms as a programmer for their own fledgling social-networking site, now known as ConnectU.

The plaintiffs have demanded that Facebook be shut down and that full control of the site – and its profits – be turned over to them.

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Facebook–Going It Alone or Goin’ Courting?

posted on July 13, 2007

Because it’s Friday, I briefly contemplated just writing “FACEBOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” in this post and publishing it, but realized that I like having a job. So, instead, I’ll secure our status as the unofficial Facebook rumor blog and give you a few more of this week’s Facebook rumors today.

Six Billion Dollars?
Rumors are flying that Microsoft offered to buy Facebook for $6 billion this week. Of course, they could have offered six bajillion—Zuckerberg just ain’t selling.

The original author of the rumor, Henry Blodget, makes the important observation:

$6 billion’s a nice fat number, but it’s only 1/25th of Google’s valuation, and the Facebook folks clearly think they’re worth more than that.

On the other hand, it’s 200 times $30 million, the estimated earnings for Facebook this year (as reported by John Batelle).

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Google Waiting for Facebook to Approach Them

posted on July 13, 2007

Thanks to Jordan’s excellent coverage, Marketing Pilgrim has become the unofficial Facebook rumor blog and today we have more to share. Despite some suggesting Google should go ahead and acquire Facebook, it appears Sergey Brin is not in a mad rush to snap them up.

“If they come to us, we’d certainly be open to talking,” Brin said, answering a reporter’s question at the 25th annual Allen & Co. media deal-makers conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. “But I think they’re building a great company of their own.”

Hmm. We could fill a couple of posts with analysis of what Brin’s statement actually means. My guess is that Google knows that if they make the approach, they’ll likely have to pay a premium for Facebook – especially as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg seems happy to throw wild valuations at any potential suitor.

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Facebook to Give Away Big Bucks

posted on July 12, 2007

I’m really, really, really sorry. I know that I totally slipped yesterday, and didn’t report anything about Facebook. But don’t despair, all. I found more Facebook news today!

Tuesday, VC firm Bay Partners launched a program to fund Facebook platform programmers. The E-Commerce Times reports:

Dubbed the “AppFactory,” the program will grant awards of US$25,000 to $250,000 to Facebook developers using a fast-track approval process. The company hopes to make up to 50 such awards, Salil Deshpande, a partner at Bay Partners, told the E-Commerce Times.

“We don’t know how it will go,” Deshpande added. “The only constraint will be our bandwidth in terms of the time and effort it takes to evaluate, manage and nurture these projects.”