While there’s still few details and no official announcement, AOL is shutting down its AOL Music news properties and is firing their employees, according to tweets from the official AOL Music site Spinner’s account and some staff. Poor performance due to competition from independent bloggers may be to blame. However, reports indicate Winamp, SHOUTcast, and flagship music blog Spinner may survive. AOL Music operates a variety of music news websites for different genres, the SHOUTcast Internet radio site, and the historic Winamp player it acquired in 2009 along with Spinner in a $400 million acquisition of Nullsoft. Here’s how the pink slips flew this morning. First, Spinner tweeted: ” @Spinner : All of AOL Music is shutting down Read more »
Backed By General Catalyst Partners & First Round Capital, Chloe & Isabel Offers A Modern, Tech-Savvy Take On Direct-Selling
When many people think of direct-selling, they envision Tupperware parties or pink-suited women lugging cases of cosmetics door-to-door. New direct-selling companies, however, are using social media to disrupt the industry. Chloe & Isabel is part of the new wave of startups currently re-defining direct selling, and giving people with an entrepreneurial bent–in particular young women–a way to leverage their social medial contacts into a business. Launched in 2011 by Chantel Waterbury and based in New York City, Chloe & Isabel stands out with a strong focus on branding, a selling platform with data analytics that integrates social media networks, and a business model that gives the company’s hand-picked merchandisers opportunities to move into management roles. Waterbury’s first experience with direct selling was during her freshman year of college when she sold Cutco knives door-to-door to pay her tuition. She became one of Cutco’s top sales representatives on the West Coast, selling almost $30,000 worth of knives in three months, and kept the gig for three years Read more »
Facebook’s Riskiest Bet Yet. Can It Uproot A Billion People’s Behavior?
“Fortune Favors The Bold” reads a 20-foot-tall poster in the room where Facebook unveiled its redesigned news feed . It’s possibly the most looked-at page on the Internet, and if we don’t like the changes, traffic and ad revenue could plummet. Despite a slow rollout where it will watch for our reactions and make tweaks, Facebook’s never put it all on the line like this. Panicked erupted when Facebook first overhauled its homepage with the launch of the news feed in 2006. But in the end, Facebook won that bet. We all realized the feed didn’t violate our privacy. It just collected what we could already see on Facebook, and we discovered that constant stream of information was highly addictive Read more »
Pew: Twitter Is A Mainstream Liberal, But A Conservative Wonk
Twitter’s liberal bias is no shocker to anyone who saw “Binders Full Of Women” at a Halloween party last year . Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s slip-of-the-tongue during a presidential debate instantly became a Twitter sensation , fueling discussion of conservative gender bias for weeks after the event. Now, delicious new survey data from Pew reveals just how liberal the Twitter universe is. And, perhaps more interestingly, when it’s also more conservative than national opinion polls. When it comes to mainstream political issues, such as President Obama’s favorability or gay rights, Twitter is decidedly liberal. Read more »
Data Shows Online Buzz About Snapchat Is Skyrocketing After The Launch Of Facebook Poke
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, which is nice and all — but for businesses, flattery doesn’t exactly pay the bills. However, when said flattery comes along with massive amounts of new attention from millions of potential new users, a high-profile copycat could actually help more than it hurts. Such may well be the case with ephemeral photo sharing app Snapchat and its newly-launched doppelganger Facebook Poke. Data from social media and web analytics firm Topsy indicates that mentions of Snapchat have skyrocketed since Facebook rolled out its Poke app last week. Hat-tip to Bloomberg social media director Jared Keller for who pointed out the shift in a Tweet this morning. Here is the graph of Snapchat mentions and web searches compared to those of Facebook Poke over the past month: This seems to indicate that awareness of Snapchat overall is now hitting that “hockey stick” phase that startups and their investors so often dream about. And the buzz is translating into downloads: Today, Snapchat holds the #4 ranking for all free apps on Apple’s iPhone app store, while Facebook Poke is way down at #70. But of course, it’s way too early to crown winners and losers here, as it’s anyone’s guess as to whether this immediate traction will translate into more actual long-term use for Snapchat and, most importantly, financial gain for the startup (Facebook has the money thing pretty well covered already, so any initial lag in user response to Facebook Poke is not exactly a huge material failure for the company.) But right now it looks like that cheeky “welcome” message Snapchat’s co-founder issued to Facebook last week at the launch of Poke — and the startup’s reported refusal to sell to Facebook earlier this year — may turn out to make a lot of sense Read more »
Lightbank Aims To Change The VC Game As It Expands Its Investments Beyond Chicago
There’s a lot of talk about disruption in the venture capital world. We’ve discussed at length the shift that many VCs are making from simply writing a check to serving as a hands-on, end-to-end service driven by seasoned operators and former founders. Chicago-based Lightbank , the VC firm started by Groupon seed investors Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, have a similar approach but with one major difference: the firm’s fund, which is around $200 million, is composed of mainly Keywell and Lefkofsky’s personal money, not that of LPs (NEA has put a small amount in the firm, but is not considered an L.P.). As Lefkofsky explains, he, Keywell, and fellow partner Paul Lee are attempting to build their own mini Berkshire Hathaway of the technology sector. “We’re looking for value anywhere where we can find it,” Lefkofsky says. What does that mean exactly? Basically nothing is off-limits Read more »
With $5.6M From Floodgate & Others, PixelFish Relaunches As Sightly To Bring Mobile Video To Local Advertising
When people want local information, more often than not, they turn to the nearest mobile device. In fact, Google reportedly announced in October that 50 percent of mobile search queries are for local information. Mobile devices are integral to how we interface with the world, especially when it comes to searching for and discovering local businesses and services while on-the-go. While consumers are there, most small businesses have yet to fully tap into mobile marketing to reach those customers. While SMBs are increasing their mobile marketing spend , they’re overwhelmed by all the options, don’t know whether to invest in search, social media, etc., and they feel like they’re forever playing catch-up. Sightly, which launches today, wants to help local businesses leverage what it believes is the most effective form of local advertising: Mobile video. Through its local video platform, the California-based startup aims to help SMBs get found and discovered by consumers on mobile phones and social media by way of video ad spots. These short promotional videos allow potential customers to see inside local businesses in a more dynamic, three-dimensional way, while offering a form of advertising that’s more revealing of what the business actually does, and thus potentially more compelling to the end user. To support its launch, Sightly is also announcing today that it has raised $5.6 million in venture capital, led by Moscow-based Bright Capital Digital. The round also included new investor, Foresight Ventures, as well as contributions from the startup’s previous investors, Floodgate, Tomorrow Ventures, Bullpen Capital, Mack Capital and 500 Startups Read more »
Facebook And Snapchat Go Toe To Toe: Why It’s Good For Both Companies
Facebook is building a standalone app to compete with the red-hot impermanent photo-messaging app Snapchat, as reported by AllThingsD’s Mike Isaac late last night. Facebook plans to launch its app by the end of the year, and it will function very similarly to Snapchat. It will allow users to take pictures or videos (up to 10 seconds long) and “snap” them to friends, found via their cell-phone number, Facebook account if connected, or Snapchat username. The recipient can then view the snap for 1-10 seconds, set by the sender, after they open it. It isn’t clear yet if the initial Facebook version will include video. Why It’s Good For Facebook It’s no secret that Facebook wants to be aggressive in mobile and considers pictures to be the core part of its service. When I think mobile and photo, Instagram and Snapchat immediately come to mind. It would be stupid for Facebook to not try to enter this space, as Snapchat, a company of five people that is less than a year old, now sees 50 million photos shared every day. However, I think Facebook will struggle mightily to make a major splash in impermanent data Read more »
Gillmor Gang: Meaningful Action
The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, Keith Teare, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — reeled along with the rest of the world from the tragedy in Connecticut. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and victims as well as our country as it grapples with the impact of our addiction to weapons of mass destruction. The contrast between what we fear is an insoluble problem and the stream of incredible technology has never been more stark. Read more »
Employers Banned From Asking For Social Media Passwords In California
A newly signed California law forbids employers and universities from asking employees and applicants for their social media passwords. The law was hastily developed in response to a string of reports last spring of employers coercing applicants to “voluntarily” allow businesses to snoop through their Facebook accounts as part of the interviewing process. The United States House of Representatives failed in an attempt to ratify a Federal ban, paving the way for states to take up the responsibility. Read more »