Articles of the Day
Domain Sellers Party Like Its 1999 - The domain after-market is nearly as old as the internet itself. From domain and typo squatting through to legitimate ownership, the market for domain names has risen and fallen in line with the overall market. 1999 was regarded by many to be the peak of Web 1.0 and likewise 1999-2000 was the previous peak of domain sales. News June 21 that Business.com is on the market for $400million shone the spotlight on the domain sales marketplace again. For domain sellers it’s a party again like 1999.
Readers Are Key Ingredient as Virtual Kitchen Heats Up - Food and recipe sites have ratcheted up their competition in recent months, with publishers like Epicurious, Martha Stewart, Time Warner and others introducing new features and redoubling offline promotional efforts to attract visitors. The reason, executives said, is simple: recipe searches are among the most popular online endeavors for women, and major advertisers want to be there to greet them.
LinkedIn To Open Platform In Response To Facebook - LinkedIn is moving to provide API’s that will open its platform to developers in response to Facebook’s rapid growth. Dan Farber reports LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman saying that the move will occur in the next 9 months. LinkedIn helped define the professional networking space, and yet today it faces the real risk of long term irrelevance as Facebook becomes the social networking platform of choice for professional networkers.
AOL, Yahoo Ad Efforts Fail to Dent TV Upfront - Despite caveats from Yahoo and AOL that they weren’t directly challenging the dominance of the broadcast and cable upfront market with their respective ad industry presentations over the past few months, it was clear the intent was to siphon off at least some of the $9 billion going towards the fall TV season.
Yahoo Ad Sales Reorg Signals Platform-Agnosticism - By combining its search and display ad sales teams under one executive leader–search side’s David Karnstedt–Yahoo is catering to what its customers want, but in a platform-agnostic fashion. It also lays the groundwork to become a leader in auction-based media, says one observer.
Wright Unveils Olympic Plans, Calls for Telco Cooperation on New Ad Models - Bob Wright, in a keynote role as vice chairman and executive officer of General Electric, last week chose a new Chicago conference organized by the telecom industry as the forum to show off NBC Universal’s plans for the “first-ever broadband coverage” of the Olympics.
Millard Off, Running To New Challenge: Martha Stewart - Wenda Harris Millard’s first priority when she gets to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia will be to look at ways to expand the digital opportunity. As for Yahoo: “I love what we built. We had been left for dead.”
Microsoft Taps Interpublic’s Reprise As Search Agency - Microsoft has tapped Reprise Media to manage search marketing across its product and brand portfolio, just two months after Reprise was acquired by the Interpublic Group.
Online Banking, E-Commerce Use Linked - People who bank online are far more likely to engage in e-commerce activity, according to a study from Moda Solutions, a company which links the two by bringing online banking to the virtual checkout.
Ziff Davis Sheds Enterprise Group, Revamps as Web-Focused Publisher - Ziff Davis divested both print and online titles, as well as selling a valuable database of biz technology users. Over the last five years, the company reformulated itself as a Web-focused publisher–and finally returned to profitability. But the takeaway may be that magazine companies that move to online-centered models will be smaller, and more profitable, after the transition.
Plaxo Creates Private Social Networks - The rise of social networks has pushed providers of organizing software to the margins somewhat. These sites also provide tools like calendars and bulletin boards, so friends can keep themselves up-do-date. In light of this consumer shift, Plaxo, one of these address book organizers, is fighting back. On Monday, the 6-year-old company created a new Web-based program which lets users open up their online datebooks to build their own social networks.
Facebook Is Network For Overachievers - New research from the University of California-Berkeley shows there’s a pronounced class divide between those who frequent the popular social networks Facebook and MySpace. According to the report, Facebook users are more likely to be white, come from wealthier homes and attend college, while MySpace users tend to get jobs after finishing high school instead of continuing their education.
News Corp. Looks Online, Could Offload MySpace - As Rupert Murdoch patiently awaits Dow Jones’ decision about News Corp.’s takeover offer, analysts — expecting that deal to happen — estimate that the media giant would allocate the expected $5 billion to further Internet acquisitions. “Rupert has a shopping list. Dow Jones is at the top of it, but it’s not the end of the list,” a source told the Financial Times. Near the top of that list, perhaps, is a deal that would involve the sale or a possible merger of its massive social network MySpace. At an estimated value of $10 billion, some feel News Corp. has gotten all the mileage it can out of MySpace, which skeptics say is fading in light of the resurgence of rival Facebook.
