Digital dating is nothing to scoff at; it’s a big business, and it’s changed a lot of lives — mostly for the better. Yet, while dating has seen enormous progress during the Digital Era, there’s still a lot garbage out there, and the space is still mostly dominated by a handful of old names. A gaggle of dating sites and apps have appeared over the past five years, but few have had real staying power, and many have gone the way of the dinosaur. While it’s still too early to make any pronouncements, it’s looking more and more like Tinder could buck the trend. Created by Hatch Labs — an LA-based startup backed by IAC , the same Barry Diller-led digital media giant that owns Match.com and OKCupid — Tinder has grown like a weed since it launched in October. A crazy, dating weed. Read more »
How 3 Brands Use Agile Marketing Tactics
This article was written by Elana Varon, and a version of it originally appeared on the Adobe-owned site CMO.com . For more information about BrandSpeak, click here . Agile management methods, experts say, provide a framework for making better decisions and improving overall productivity. "One focus of agility is understanding the relative value of the initiatives you want to work on and prioritizing them," said Barre Hardy, senior director with marketing consultancy CMG Partners . "A lot of companies are not great at doing that today." But there's potential for big improvements to how CMOs manage marketing initiatives, if the results from software development, where the methodology originated, are any guide. Read more »
Alcohoot Brings Quantified Self to BAC
The Launchpad is a series that introduces Mashable readers to compelling startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here . Name : Alcohoot One-Liner Pitch : Alcohoot is a breathalyzer that attaches to your smartphone. Why It's Taking Off : The device fits comfortably in a pocket or purse and accuracy is comparable to police-grade devices, plus, a companion app ensures you're empowered to make safer choices based on your blood alcohol content (BAC) While serving in the Israeli military, Jonathan Ofir and Ben Biron would drive by a sign outside their base that read "X soldiers killed from drunk driving" and the number steadily increased Read more... More about Startup , Iphone , Business , Startups , and The Launchpad Read more »
Nutella Sends Cease-and-Desist Letter to Its Biggest Fan
Nutella, the chocolate hazelnut spread brand, has soured many of its social media fans by cracking down on a superfan who has helped spread the word in social media for more than seven years. Ferrero SpA, the Italian owner of Nutella, has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Sara Rosso, the creator of the 7-year-old World Nutella Day. On Ferrero's orders, Rosso is pulling the plug on the holiday, which had been celebrated on Feb. 5. "The cease-and-desist letter was a bit of a surprise and a disappointment, as over the years I’ve had contact and positive experiences with several employees of Ferrero, SpA., and with their public relations and brand strategy consultants, and I’ve always tried to collaborate and work together in the spirit and goodwill of a fan-run celebration of a spread I (to this day) still eat," Rosso wrote on her blog Read more... More about Facebook , Marketing , Business , and Nutella Read more »
Fred Wilson: Yahoo Will Put Tumblr on Same Level as Facebook, Twitter
One of Tumblr 's earliest investors, venture capitalist Fred Wilson, says the Yahoo deal will lead to an influx of advertising on the platform and bring it to the level of Facebook and Yahoo in advertisers' minds. "Tumblr has been pushing their native advertising system into the marketplace for the past year," Wilson told interviewer John Battelle Tuesday at the CM Summit in New York. "It's a beautiful system. They say to a marketer, 'Create a Tumblog. Post what you want to the Tumblog and that could be imagery, it could be video it could be GIFs, it could be anything and then we will allow you to promote that throughout the community, much like the way Twitter does.'" Read more... More about Yahoo , Tumblr , Fred Wilson , Business , and Media Read more »
Yahoo Unveils ‘Awesome’ New Look for Flickr
Yahoo has announced a brand new Flickr experience for the desktop and its Android users. Unveiled at a press event in New York City Monday, the new look aims to breathe new life into the once struggling brand. It's move is so big, in fact, a terabyte of storage is coming to Flickr. This is enough room for each person take 537,731 photos and more than 2,000 in each country. "You can take all the pictures ever taken and upload them to Flickr... and there would [still be room]," Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said. Mayer emphasized event had nothing to do with the Tumblr acquisition announced Monday morning Read more.. Read more »
Report: Yahoo Board Approves Tumblr Acquisition
Yahoo's board of directors has approved a $1.1 billion acquisition of blogging platform Tumblr , according to a breaking news alert from The Wall Street Journal . The deal is reportedly an all-cash acquisition, according to WSJ , and Tumblr will maintain control of its operations. Tumblr and Yahoo have not released any official statements. There were rumors circulating Friday about the Tumblr acquisition , which stated Yahoo's board, under the direction of still-new CEO Marissa Mayer, would discuss the potential over the weekend SEE ALSO: Does Tumblr Lose Its Cool If It's Acquired? According to a report from AllThingsD , Mayer was interested in the platform's younger-skewing user base, and had been in talks with the board about Tumblr for the last six weeks AllThingsD also reported no other parties made bids on Tumblr. Read more... More about Yahoo , Tumblr , Business , and Media Read more »
Why Internships Are Worth It
Internships are becoming an increasingly popular way to differentiate yourself from the hoi polloi; in fact, interns are 70% more likely to be hired as full-time employees with a company than candidates with no experience at the company. Not only are interns getting hired more often — but there are companies that offer incredible perks and incentives to attract strong candidates. For example, Amazon interns earn $5,366 as a monthly salary, and Disney interns get free admission to all parks and resorts. SEE ALSO: 10 Creative Social Media Resumes To Learn From The following infographic offers a brief history of the internship, and why it is worth your time to pursue one Read more... More about Careers , Internship , Infographic , Job Search Series , and Business Read more »
How Facebook Has Changed Since Going Public 1 Year Ago
"Facebook was not originally created to be a company," CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in his SEC Registration letter a little more than three months before Facebook went public on May 18, 2012. "It was built to accomplish a social mission — to make the world more open and connected." In the year since the Facebook IPO, some things haven't changed: Zuckerberg still sports his trademark hoodies, employees still rate their company and their founder highly, and Facebook still talks about its grand mission to make the world more open and connected. But the era of Facebook operating or being perceived as anything other than a corporation seems more distant with each passing day Read more... More about Mark Zuckerberg , Facebook Ipo , Business , and Facebook Read more »
Grubless? Online Takeout Giants GrubHub And Seamless In Talks To Merge
Today, thanks to the maturation of the web, digital tech, and smartphones now in seemingly every pocket, startups are finding it easier than ever before to build scalable solutions to finally address the many inefficiencies in our food manufacturing, production and distribution systems. As interest in food tech balloons, one area in particular appears to already be at the tipping point: Online and mobile food delivery. Over the last few days, we’ve hearing about a merger between two of the largest companies in the space. Rumor has it that “arch rivals” GrubHub and Seamless are in talks which could see them join forces as part of a merger. While our sources tell us that the talks are serious, the terms of the merger are not yet clear and, of course, any potential deal could fall through. Furthermore, it’s not yet clear what kind of synergies would take place, how management of the new entity would be structured or even what the new business will be called. The two companies would not confirm on the record on any of the above. Read more »