5 Entrepreneurial Mistakes That the "Now Employed" Make

Below-Market Pricing

Many first-time entrepreneurs are looking for any and every way to become competitive. Some think they will get a competitive advantage by lowering their prices below market rate. However, what many entrepreneurs fail to see is that most potential customers know little-to-nothing about their business. When this is the case, a potential customer will immediately associate price with quality.

A company that offers low prices often get no revenue, no matter how much they lower prices. Low prices are associated with products that are understood as being cheap and of poor quality. The cheap get no revenue while pricier vendors consistently and quietly take business away. Vendors equate quality with price. Your lowest price should be equal to the market rate, but have the courage to price higher. You'll see the results.

Investing Time Searching for Venture Capital Money

Universities have created entire majors and lesson plans devoted to the art of becoming an entrepreneur. Students spend years being taught and brainwashed that there is a methodical way to become successful, and many believe that with enough notes and classroom strategies, they will one day earn big money.

It's not true. Entrepreneurship is an intangible subject, and the art of owning your own business takes intuition and hard work. In taking too much time listening to venture capital firms, and glorifying a possible $50,000 - $100,000 pay-off, you will miss countless opportunities to get into the field and have a hands-on learning experience. Stop wasting time pursuing venture capitals and dive into your intended career field.

Skimping on Advertising, Marketing, and Exposure

A tell-tale sign that an entrepreneur has not thought out their business plan is their choice to forego advertising, marketing, and exposure in order to save money. This is not the place to cut corners. Do not make cold-calls, because they annoy the customer and weaken the entrepreneur's brand. There is no ROI in hitting the phones, only embarrassment and frustration. Also, do not invest in pay per click ads. The average bounce rate on these ads (if you're lucky,) is 50%, meaning half of the people that land on your page switch to another website immediately.

A company must market themselves in a methodical way, and control their own exposure. Pay for the type of marketing and advertising that will brand your company as a competitive leader in your field. If an entrepreneur is not careful about keeping the bounce rate low, they will lose the web surfer's attention. Even worse than that, you will increase your Amex bill and lead to the demise of your company.

Doing Business with Friends

Starting a business is not a party. A business is exactly what it sounds like - A business. The first-time entrepreneur must gain a work ethic and focus that is going to allow him/her to not only penetrate a market, but also eventually dominate it.

Every now and again, you hear about two or so friends getting rich off a dual business venture. While it sometimes works out, this route more often leads to distractions and arguments that wear friendships and do not help to build a business. Choose your colleagues wisely, and build your business through your employees. Think of your company first, and your friendships afterwards.

Investing in Consultative Selling

Consultative selling attempts to asks the right questions, but the many annoying questions often lead to a lackluster close attempt. The fact of the matter is that most incoming prospects say they know what they want, but are typically wrong or confused. Don't sell them what they want. Sell your customers what they need, and what you can successfully give you.

The entrepreneur must view himself as an expert, one that does not only sells dreams, but honest results. Do not let your customer take control of you. Provide a set number of options (thereby creating cognitive dissonance,) and position your company as a leader in the field. Skip consultative selling, and sell your company through your own hard work.

Ken Sundheim runs KAS Placement executive search NYC recruiting firms Chicago a recruitment firm in NYC helping sales and marketing job seekers Ken's job search articles as well as entrepreneurship articles

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How To Get In To TechStars, The Startup Accelerator That's More Competitive Than Harvard

David Tisch began investing in startups when he was a teenager. He took his bar mitzvah money, invested it in eBay's IPO, and saw a 15x return.

Since then he has started two companies. He is currently the managing director of TechStars NYC, a 3-month startup mentorship and accelerator program. Tisch has also made 43 angel investments.

He told us how he picks 12 companies out of 1,000 applicants for TechStars, which types of companies he personally invests in, and about the most memorable pitch he's heard.

Tisch also told us about biggest investment mistake he's ever made. Hint: he passed on a tech company that's about to IPO.

Produced By: Kamelia Angelova and Simone Foxman

Don't Miss:

* Privately, Investors Admit There's Big Bubble In Tech Startups

* The 10-Year Shakeout In The VC Industry

* Suster: Group Texting Companies Are Doomed

* Mark Suster: Here's How Entrepreneurs Should Be Raising Money Now

* David Pakman On A Possible Tech Bubble: "There Is A Lot Of Bad Behavior"

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See Also:
The 10-Year Shakeout In The VC Industry
Privately, Investors Admit There's Big Bubble In Tech Startups
Mark Suster: Group Texting Companies Are Doomed

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Vivino helps you find that wine

"Wine is, in truth, the only antidote to the bane of whiskey" said Thomas Jefferson. Vivino helps you identify and locate your favorite antidote for future consumption.

Use the Vivino app to take a photograph of any wine label. Vivino uses image recognition to match the label against its database of 450,000 wines and return you all the information available about the wine including, hopefully, where you can buy it locally. The app saves the details of all wines you have matched and you can also record whether you liked a particular wine or not. The business model is based on a revenue share with wine distributors.

"We're the bridge between tasting a great wine and buying it" says Vivino co-founder Theis Sondergaard. Songergaard and co-founder Heini Zachariassen claim to reflect their target audience quite accurately. "We really like wine, but we don't know that much about it. We know what we like, when we taste it, but we don't have a wine-cellar, just a row of bottles in the kitchen." continues Sondergaard. "We use the Vivino app to educate ourselves a bit about the wines we drink, remember what wines we've enjoyed and want to try again, and the ones to avoid. "

Swiss company Kooaba provides the image recognition technology. Kooaba can match against an image-set of 2 million labels in less than a second. Wine labels shot from different angles or in different lighting conditions can be matched; an important feature when dealing with images taken in restaurants or low-lit rooms.

Currently Vivino can automatically match 60 percent of wine labels and the company aims to get up to 80 or 90 percent. When a label can't be matched Vivino's data team goes into Sherlock Holmes mode and tracks down the details within 24 hours to make a manual match. The most common matching error (2-4 percent of matches)  is the vintage since this is often in small font on the labels. The data team also checks every automatic match to correct such errors. Vivino plans to combine object character recognition, basically a form of text recognition, with Kooaba's image recognition to improve matching further.

Copenhagen-based Vivino isn't alone in this space. Social wine review site Snooth launched its own wine recognition app in September, 2010. Snooth has a larger database of wines than Vivino and has a complementary and well-established review web site. However, it is very focused on the U.S. market. Snooth's app is also only available for the iPhone whereas Vivino also supports Android, Blackberry and Windows 7. For an Android-owner who lives in Amsterdam, where Vivino lists several locations to buy the wines it identifies, there isn't much contest.

"Nobody has really claimed the top spot for being THE wine app." says Sondergaard. Being the top global wine app is Vivino's goal. Vivino's most comprehensive coverage of wine outlets is currently in its home market of Denmark. Sondergaard told me that the Danish market is relatively complex, with many small players and exclusivity deals, making it a good test market.

I asked Sondergaard about Vivino's global ambitions. "This is a global concept but we need to roll out the business market by market like Groupon. Unlike Groupon we acquire customers via our free app. We start by creating the order and then figure out how to fulfill it (via local wine distributors)". Vivino is already a global company in that the development and data teams are located in Ukraine, Macedonia and India. According to Sondergaard "Being based in Europe gives us a certain advantage in European markets". Every European country has a different language, taxes, shipping options and even currency. European developers have to internationalize from day one.

However, Vivino's next big target is the U.S. where it plans to roll out the "buy" feature in the next few months. The angel investment it recently received from Skype co-founder Janus Friis will help. "In 2002, Heini and I, along with Morten Lund, founded BullGuard, a consumer internet security company. Back then, we partnered with Kazaa, and even though Janus was no longer involved in Kazaa at that time, we got to know him. So when it was time to get an angel investor for Vivino, we knew who our first choice was."

Cracking the U.S. market is the company's biggest goal for the next year. New features like special or group buying offers, based on which wines are popular in particular markets, are also on the agenda. But it won't be all work and no play. "We want to drink some amazing wine and have a blast while we do it" concludes Sondergaard.
Filed under: Business and Technology, mobile, VentureBeat

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Which Tech Giants Birth The Most Successful Startup Founders? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook all compete for top talent. In doing so, they lure and acqui-hire the brightest minds in tech who, unfortunately for them, later go on to trade these cushy jobs for the rough-and-tumble life of a startup founder.

Which of these four mega powers in tech (at one point or another) has produced, and hence pushed out, the top talent in the industry? A little analysis of the startups that have come from the former employees of these tech heavy-hitters, and a look at the funding these startups have raised, might shed some light on the answer.

TopProspect to the rescue. The startup, a site that helps you get hired through your social network friends, fashioned the infographic below after analyzing data, dating back to 2006, from its users and their social connections that pool includes more than 3 million folks mostly in the Silicon Valley area.

"We only focused on companies founded in the last 5 years," the startup explains of its data analysis. "Second, we made sure that the companies had at least 10 employees in our network (a pretty good sign that they're legit, and well-connected). Finally, we only included companies with publicly available funding information."

Google is birthing the most successful founders, if you measure success by funds raised (which isn't always the best measurement of success). The search powerhouse-turned-social-media company has spawned 13 qualified founders in five years who've started companies including Foursquare, Color and Qwiki. Together, these startups have raised a whopping $309 million in funding.

Lowest on the totem pole, at least for now, is Facebook. Its offspring includes seven founders altogether raising more than $65 million who have gone on to found startups such as Quora, Path and Asana.

Surprised by the results? Check out the full infographic below and share your thoughts with us in the comments.

Image courtesy of Flickr, satanslaundromat

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7 Ways Google+ Users Are Getting More Out of Their Circles

Already using Google+? Follow Mashable's Pete Cashmore for the latest about the platform's new features, tips and tricks as well as social media and technology updates.

Organizing your circles in Google+ can be the most confusing part of the new social network. Yet people are learning to embrace and even optimize their circles for better productivity, filtering and privacy.

We spoke with some Google+ mavericks about how they've corralled their circles to be more effective. Below, they share their clever tricks and best practices so you can learn from both their mistakes and their successes.
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1. Sourcing
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Technology writer +Mike Elgan will directly address people that circled him. He'll reach out with a personal question like "Where do you live?" Not only do Elgan's polls help him get to know his followers, but he often uses the feedback from his circles as a resource. His "What should Google users be called?" poll, for example, generated 181 responses. "I've crowdsourced some issues for columns I work on and taken polls to get a finger-on-the-pulse idea of what people are thinking or doing," Elgan says.
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2. Learning
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+Steve Rubel, EVP/Global Strategy and Insights for Edelman has organized his circles to focus on early adopters and thus access valuable feedback and information. He uses Google+ as a virtual "Junto," named after Ben Franklin's original discussion forum. Rubel's circles are organized by persona, for example, "Pluserati," "CEOs" and "Clients." From there, he shares "semi-private posts just to ask questions we can explore the issues of the day, much as Franklin did."
---------------

3. Deeper Interaction
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Many Google+ early adopters are curious about their followers. Because Google+ doesn't require mutual friend acceptance like Facebook, many users have gained hundreds and even thousands of followers in the first few weeks of registering.

Mashables +Ben Parr regularly asks his public circles for responses and insight. One recent request, "What's the name of your favorite Google+ circle?" received funny replies including Purgatory, The Circle Of Trust, The Party Posse, Inbreds, Ppl I've Kissed, Ppl I Want to Kiss, People I NEVER want to Kiss, Tila Tequila Wanna-bes, Guys Who Pissed Me Off in High School, Scoblized, People I Call When I'm Dying or Arrested, More Bacon Than the Pan Can Handle, Muggles, and of course, Ubergeeks.

Google+ users are finally able to put faces to their followers and interact with them in meaningful (and sometimes hilarious) ways.
---------------

4. Filtering
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Google+ users are two to three times more likely to share in specific circles than in public, according to Bradley Horowitz and Vic Gundotra, Google's vice president of products and senior vice president of social, respectively.

Google+ circles encourage user etiquette, sparing certain members of your network from updates they can't relate to or flat out don't care about. "You share each item with only the people who deserve to know. And simultaneously, you spare the masses from seeing news of no interest to them," wrote David Pogue of The New York Times.

Technology journalist +Steven Vaughan-Nichols divides his circles into three basic categories: personal, work and interest. He warns about proper circle etiquette on ZDNet's blog. "Just keep in mind that if you want to keep people reading your words, show some sense about what you post," he advises. "For example, I can already tell you that a lot of Google+ users are already sick and tired of animated GIF graphics, no matter how cute they are."
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5. Personal Memos
---------------

Advanced Google+ users have discovered a way to use circles to save personal memos, drafts or articles to read later. Think of it as a type of Google+ reader, especially when articles that you've "+1d" don't make it to your profile.

Creating a circle-of-one (just your own profile) can function as a type of scrapbook, a history of interpersonal notes or private memos. Blogger +Charo Nuguid created a circle only composed of herself. "I created two private' circles, one for private messages and another for my notes-to-self," she writes. "So far it's worked out well. The posts show up in the circles. I finally have a way to keep track of my notes and the messages I post."
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6. Organizing
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Technologist and startup advisor +Christopher Allen explains his method for organizing his circles (seen above).

Although Google+ is not yet offering sub-circle organization, Allen figured out a way to organize circles within circles. For example, under "1.0 Kin," he's added sub-circles called "1.1 Immediate Family" and "1.2 Extended Family." All in all, Allen has created 42 circles. It may sound daunting but it does allow him to better target his posts to specific audiences.

Still, that's a lot of sorting to do especially if you already have a lot of followers. Allen suggests reviewing a few circles every day: "I do so by going to Manage Circles,' then selecting People in your Circles' and sorting by last name. I choose that letter of the alphabet that corresponds to the day of the month and hover my mouse over each name If they're in the wrong Circle, I move them."
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7. Preparing for the Future
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Many Google+ users have already begun to think about future uses for circles. Although Google is still tight-lipped about additions, our early adopters have certainly been chiming in with suggestions.
Search: Mike Elgan suggests that "standard search, plus a lift on the limit of people in circles (something rumored) would enable me to follow a gazillion people without actually seeing the full stream generated by that gazillion — only the most relevant items."
Organization: "I would love to be able to organize my circles any way I want (alphabetical, most used, etc.). I also would love to color code them," says indie film producer +Adam Cohen.
Topics: Steven Vaughan-Nichols writes, "At the moment, Google+ circles aren't ideal for interest circles. For example, if you were to follow me in a dog-lovers circle, I might only mention pups once every other day or two. It's my understanding though that Google intends on making it easier to post by topics. I certainly hope they do."

Google+ circles have surprised and stumped the world's greatest technology leaders. Hopefully these quick tips will help you optimize your own circles and become a Google+ master.
---------------

More About: Circles, Google, Google Plus, social media, tips

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Personal Finance 101: Startup Offers Affordable Access to Financial Planners

When Learnvest CEO Alexa von Tobel landed a job in finance after college, she was struck by the irony of her situation. She was working on Wall Street, but she didn't know what a credit score really was or how to deal with taxes.

Though few skills can be as consequential as a basic understanding of personal finance, few schools teach how to balance a checkbook or save for retirement. Learnvest, which von Tobel later dropped out of Harvard Business School to found, is a collection of resources and tools for learning this sort of basic financial knowledge.

Since it launched in December 2009, the startup has raised $19 million in funding and amassed more than 100,000 users, most of them women.

Now it is expanding to offer not just email-based courses, financial tools like a manual budget planner and articles related to money management, but also affordable access to certified financial planners and a free money-managing tool that's similar to Intuit's Mint.

Starting Tuesday, Learnvest will add human personal investors to its mix of content and tools. For a $4.99 daily fee or a subscription for either three months or one year, users can ask certified financial planners who work full time for the startup an unlimited number of questions. No matter how you slice it, that's much less than someone would pay for access to a financial planner in a traditional context. Users who pay the fee can also enroll in video-based courses.

Obviously emailing questions and taking online courses is not the same thing as hiring professional money help. But von Tobel hopes to target the vast majority of people whose net worths don't excite money managers.

"Money is something that everyone in America has to deal with," she says. "Financial planning should not be a luxury. This shouldn't be something that you are lucky if you get advice on it. Arguably the less money you have, the more you need advice."

Both Mint and Learnvest ask users to connect their financial accounts to keep track of their spending and set a budget, and both companies' tools offer fairly similar functionality. The main difference is the format. Learnvest's tool works almost like an email account in which every transaction made is an email and spending categories work like folders. You can drag and drop all purchases from Walgreens, for instance, to the "health" folder. If you have set a budget of $20 for that category and have just spent $10, the folder will show $10/$20 on your main page. Mint keeps transactions, budget and trends separate.

The money management tool is just one corner of Learnvest. The focus of the site is education content that Mint has only dabbled in.

Photo courtesy of istockphoto, nautilus_shell_studios

More About: finance, Learnvest, mint, mint.com, money, personal finance

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How Much Time Do You Spend On Facebook? This Browser Plug-in Knows All

How many hours did you lose to social media last week? Is online gaming or ESPN dampening your productivity? A new service makes answering this kind of question much easier by tracking your browsing habits the same way sites like Mint.com track your finances.

Voyurls private beta version was a recommendation engine based on friends' and the general community's online activity, as collected by a plugin they installed. When you added a friend, you could see what new sites he or she was visiting. You could also see what sites the community visited most often.

Two other companies are making products that share browsing data, but it still isn't widely accepted. Voyurl founder Adam Leibsohn says the service has a tendency to "freak people out" and was difficult to use effectively. Even so, beta users logged 4 million URLs using the product.

The new version of Voyurl still relies on clickstream data gathered with a similar plugin, but keeps the pages you visit completely private. Instead, it uses the data to make recommendations without asking for active feedback no stars, no ratings, no thumbs up or down.

A curated list of recommendations is created based on what sites you visit and how you behave on them. Factors like scrolling and mouse hovering are taken into account to decide what you like.

Users who install the Voyurl plugin also get a detailed description of how they use the web, including how much time they spend browsing, the sites they spend the most time on and their browsing patterns. You can also compare your behavior to the average user.

"You're looking at yourself in a mirror you didn't know existed," says Leibsohn, who used rent money to finance the startup while he found accommodation on couchsurfing.org for a year. "You say, oh, I didn't know I spent that much time on Facebook."

Voyurl is still in private beta, but Mashable readers can try it out by following this link.

Image courtesy of istockphoto, photosipsak

More About: analytics, clickstream data, recommendation engine, voyurl

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The History of Advertising on YouTube [INFOGRAPHIC]

The Social Ad Series is supported by LoopFuse, which provides forever-free marketing automation software that closes the loop between sales and marketing with smarter lead capture, scoring, and nurturing plus Salesforce.com integration. See how lead management with LoopFuse increases revenue.

YouTube, the world's most popular video-viewing platform, sees 2 billion hits per day. Fortunately, the Google-owned company has figured out a few ways to monetize all of those video views.

From pre-roll which Google CEO Eric Schmidt was originally "not a big fan of" to promoted videos and its 10,000 brand partners, YouTube's growth has helped Google shares soar. The site is monetizing more than 2 billion video views per week, and 70% of its traffic comes from outside the U.S. Now that mobile is exploding, so too is YouTube mobile it's the most-trafficked video-viewing mobile website, garnering 7.1 million unique visitors each month.

Take a look at the infographic below to see how the site and its advertising strategy has evolved since its founding in 2005.

Infographic design by Emily Caufield.
---------------
Series Supported by Loopfuse
---------------

The Social Ad Series is supported by LoopFuse. Loopfuse provides of forever-free marketing automation software that closes the loop between sales and marketing with smarter lead capture, scoring, and nurturing plus Salesforce.com integration. LoopFuse helps marketers build better pipelines, run more efficient marketing operations, and support more effective sales teams leading to increased revenue and reduced costs. Learn more about lead nurturing with LoopFuse.

More About: advertising, ONLINE VIDEO, online video advertising, pre-roll, Social Ad Series, video, youtube

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Are You An Influential Photo-Sharer? Find Out With Photorank

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Photorank.me

Quick Pitch: Photorank.me aims to help people determine their influence as social photographers.

Genius Idea: Klout for photo-sharing.
---------------

Modern web and mobile users have become perpetual photo-sharers. Perhaps, then, it should follow that this social media side dish behavior (that we all seem to enjoy) demands its own ranking and influence system.

New site Photorank, a product of crowdsourcing photo startup Olapic, puts this theory to the test. It measures photo-sharers' activities across Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instragram and Picplz to spit out an influence score à la Klout, but specifically focused on photo-sharing.

Simply grant Photorank access to your photo accounts to see how your digital shots stack up against your friends or the greater photo-sharing community at large.

Photorank scores range from 0 to 100 and place a strong emphasis on your activity in the past 21 days. Reactions to your photos, such as "likes", favorites and comments, will affect your overall score. The final score is a summation of your reach, the frequency of your photo-sharing activities and the quality of the photos you share.

Photorank, explains Olapic co-founder Luis Sanz, is a consumer spin on an algorithm the New York-based startup first built to rank the user-generated photos being submitted to client sites.

"At Olapic.com, we have to deal with large amount of user generated photos, and we found that being able to identify the best pictures was really important to create a good user experience," Sanz says. "We also found that the reputation' of the people uploading the pictures was the best proxy to identify them, and that's how we started developing an algorithm to measure it."

"We were talking about it with a couple of friends that are into photography and they asked us to photorank' them, and they loved the idea," he explains. "After that, we developed a site where everyone can link their photo-sharing accounts and get their own photorank."

The problem, as the startup sees it, is that with so many photos being uploaded to the web everyday, it's hard for folks to find the best pictures and the most influential photographers.

Photorank, in theory, will help those fascinated with photography (businesses and consumers alike) track down the top photographers with online influence. Plus, with the growing popularity of Instagram and its top iPhoneographers, businesses might have an interest in using marketing campaigns or special promotions to target popular photogs just as many companies are starting to do with Klout scores.

Still, as a user, Photorank is limited in scope and purpose. You can connect your photo accounts and see how you rank, but that's about it. Only when a Photorank user can take his score and do something with it elsewhere on the web (or in the offline world) will the measurement take on additional meaning.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ODV
---------------
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
---------------

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

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What Twitter Can Learn From Facebook [OPINION]

This post reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Mashable as a publication.

Tom Anderson is the founder and former president of MySpace. MySpace sold in 2005, and Anderson left the company in early 2009. You can find him on Google+, Twitter or Facebook.

Sometimes when you follow a trend, you fall flat on your face.

Early adopters of Google+ have declared that Twitter is now "obsolete" and that they are "bored" using Twitter. Most suggestions for improvement are a list of Google+ features that Twitter doesn't have.

Yet, even while Twitter's own CEO, Dick Costolo, has maintained that Twitter will remain simple, the company's founder and executive chairman Jack Dorsey recently let go four key product people from Twitter, indicating some kind of change is in the works. So what's @Jack to do? What does the future of Twitter look like?
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Taking Measured Risks
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Facebook is actually instructive on this front. One of the things that founder Mark Zuckerberg and crew have done exceptionally well is to know what and what not to incorporate from competitors. They've evolved their vision, but instead of jumping on every trend, they've found ways to expand by incorporating the best innovations of their competitors into a holistic vision that's kept Facebook growing.

When Facebook had 12 million uniques thanks to nearly every college user in America using the service and MySpace had 80 million uniques (what seemed like "everyone else" at the time), it was a bold move to open up the site to the outside world. In hindsight, it may have seemed risk-free, but it could have killed the entire feel of Facebook. They moved slowly, adding companies, high school students and eventually went fully public. It wasn't a given that this wouldn't destroy the closed, private and wonderful service Zuckerberg had created for college students.

When Twitter became a significant force, Facebook tried to acquire the youngish company. A deal was never reached and Facebook ended up up incorporating the status update into the newsfeed which really made the newsfeed more interesting than it ever would have been otherwise. Again, a great move that fit in with the evolving vision of Facebook as a "sharing platform" (before that, Zuckerberg used to talk more about "efficient communication").

But it's also instructive to look at the things Facebook did not do. To compete with MySpace, lots of people thought Facebook should offer some level of profile customization (definitely controversial), but even more thought they should launch a music service. Facebook toyed with the idea by briefly allowing users to put some apps on their profile pages, and they gave priority status to iLike, a music service that let you create playlists. I'd heard rumors at the time that Facebook had actually built a full customization platform for profiles that they never launched. Just this month, Facebook decided to allow users to put images and videos into comments (something that probably would have been too MySpace-y back in the day). Facebook knew when to add feature at the right time. And that music service? Well, it may still be coming.
---------------

What This Means for Twitter
---------------

So what does this teach us? It's difficult to extract a lesson or set of rules from these examples. It's hard to know how to evolve your service, and it's hard to say what Twitter should do to continue its growth trajectory. I think the answer lies in trying to step back and understand what's the real value you provide to your users. How can your service evolve to realize that mission without following every trend that rules the day?

In Twitter's case, is the 140 character constraint really a benefit or is it a leftover relic of the text-message infrastructure that smart phones have replaced? As pundits and users, we can all make our demands about what we want from Twitter, but that probably only tells us about our own personal biases. Twitter will undoubtedly do better to analyze its own data to understand its own user behavior.

Then they can look at those numbers in the context of competitors' numbers that are public. Who's driving more engagement, where and how?

You might say, you and I don't know jack about Twitter. Only @Jack knows jack about Twitter.

Depending on what he learns, he'll make the tough decision of what to change and what to keep the same. Maybe he'll test, iterate, analyze and revise. He's already decided he needs a new product staff, so change seems to be coming.

No answers here, but hopefully they're the right questions.

Editor's note: This post was adapted from a post originally published on Google+.

More About: facebook, Google, myspace, Opinion, twitter

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Facebook Investor Roger McNamee Explains Why Social Is Over (AAPL, GOOG, MSFT)

Elevation Partners and Facebook investor Roger McNamee, who is also a rock musician, gave an amazing talk recently where he goes over some of the biggest trends affecting the technology industry.

The talk was spotted by our friend Dan Frommer at SplatF.

McNamee's bottomline? Everything is changing.

More specifically, a few big themes:
Microsoft is toast because we're moving to a post-PC era;
HTML5, the new web standard that allows to make interactive web pages, is going to revolutionize the media and advertising industries;
Social is "done", it's now a feature, don't go do a social startup.

Here's what we thought were the most interesting points and assertions from the speech (quotes are paraphrased):
Microsoft's share of internet-connected devices has gone from 95% to under 50% in 3 years;

Windows no longer provides measurable ROI to enterprises, who will shift spending to other products and services; this is a huge opportunity;

Google is a victim of its own success: its search has become polluted by SEOs. What shows that Google has failed is all those "non-search" services that really solve a search problem, like Match.com or Realtor.com. If you add them all up, they account for 50% of searches.

HTML5 is going to change everything. "In HTML5, an ad is an app, a tweet is an app, everything is an app." "It's a blank sheet of paper, and creativity rules again."

For example, "my band is putting out a full HTML5 site. You can watch all of our shows on an iPhone, live." It's very cheap and it changes the game because they don't have to pay anyone anything.

In HTML5, you don't need to have display ads: Amazon can have a section of its store as an ad. So if you're reading a book review, you can buy the book right from the page.

Because HTML5 can make sites rich and interactive, engagement on a site can go from seconds to minutes.

So a site could say: we have 5 sponsors today, which one would you like, and the sponsor follows you around throughout your experience on the site. "The fact that you can create and satisfy demand in the same place is only true in infomercials today, but it will be true on the web." This, in turn, is highly disruptive to TV advertising.

"The iPad is the most important device since the IBM PC."

"Apple will sell a hundred million internet-connected devices this year. That's two thirds of the PC market." If you add the other non-PC internet devices, that's more valuable than the PC market.

The iPad is the training wheels for HTML5. iPad apps show us what we need to beat in terms of creating a better experience on HTML5.

Apple is an unstoppable freight train. In terms of tablets, it has no competitors and will probably end up with iPod-like marketshare. "It's like IBM in the 60s; I can't predict what that means; you need to find a way to play with it, but you also need to find a way to play over it" with HTML5.

The fact that most people now have more than one device means the cloud is vital, because you want to have all your stuff on all your devices. It also means the old PC paradigm is dead, because the old PC paradigm means everything stored on one device, instead of everything in the cloud synced to many devices.

In terms of keeping your stuff in the cloud, "Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple have completely failed to get the mobile experience right." (We'll let McNamee stand by that statement.)

"Facebook has decided that they're Twitter on steroids".

Currently Facebook Connect is free; eventually they'll charge for it because it's access to their social graph which publishers need, and that's how they'l make money.

Don't try to be "social": the big social platforms are created. You can't create a social company, it's just a checkbox. "The last 500 social companies funded by the VC community are all worthless. I'm serious."

But this creates an opportunity: while everyone is focused on social distribution, there's a huge opportunity to get content right with HTML5. "Let's create a new product, the way music videos were a new product."

Apple makes more gross margin per iPhone than most Android phones make in gross revenue, McNamee says.

"Television is the last protected media business," but it's going to get disrupted. For one, once televisions are computers, analytics of who watches will get more accurate than Nielsen panels. "Everyone knows that if we go to actual measurement, ad rates will collapse because the numbers aren't as good as Nielsen makes them look."

McNamee also had a few words about the economy: "we're about 40% of the way of deleveraging the global economy, but we're only 10% of the way of deleveraging the US consumer...I don't care what your politics are, removing government demand from the economy when it's struggling is ridiculous." And to prop things up, the Fed is printing money and inflating bubbles, "but for us, that's great!": capital is very cheap; consumers are acting like the party's on, so there's lots of opporutnities.

McNamee says he does "full contact investing": he proves the concepts of what he invests in by trying them out with his band. So he knows HTML5 is going to work because it works for his band. Then he added, to audience laughter: "You're going to say it's a dipshit little band, yeah, it is, but we like it and our fans like it" and it works.

And here's the whole video, interesting throughout:

Don't Miss These Crazy Facts About Apple's Business

Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story

See Also:
Now Apple Is Talking About Buying Hulu
Google Is Blasting Business Profiles From Google+
Microsoft Is Redoing Bing To Look More Like The New Windows Design

http://www.businessinsider.com/roger-mcnamee-video-2011-7

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Article: The DNA--People, Processes, And Philosophies--Of Innovative Companies

The DNA--People, Processes, And Philosophies--Of Innovative Companies
http://www.fastcompany.com/article/innovators-dna-clayton-christensen-jeff-dyer-hal-gregersen

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Article: Multiple APKs: More Freedom or More Headaches?

Multiple APKs: More Freedom or More Headaches?
http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/07/multiple-apks-supported-in-android-market.php

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Article: Why I sold my startup, Sparkbuy, to Google

Why I sold my startup, Sparkbuy, to Google
http://www.danshapiro.com/blog/2011/07/why-i-sold-my-startup-sparkbuy-to-google/

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Article: More Evidence There’s No Bubble: VC Investments Were Flat in Q2

More Evidence There's No Bubble: VC Investments Were Flat in Q2
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/22/more-evidence-theres-no-bubble-vc-investments-were-flat-in-q2/

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How the Digital World Is Changing the Way Agencies Do Business

The Modern Media Agency Series is supported by IDG. The smartphone is quickly overtaking the cellphone and tablet use is growing. Those statistics were found from the 14,000 that participated in the IDG Global survey . To view the worldwide survey with slides, click here.

Social media has fundamentally changed the way agencies work. In a recent interview with Mashable, Razorfish's Grant Owens predicted that agencies will become much smaller hiring more generalists and less specialists.

As the technology and client expectations continue to advance, agencies PR, marketing, media and advertising will continue to evolve. Will companies become leaner or will they need to staff up? What does that mean for campaign costs and hiring trends? We asked three people from different types of agencies to offer their viewpoints:
Rachel Kay, president, RKPR
Todd Defren, principal, SHIFT Communications
David Griner, director of digital content, Luckie Company

Though we're already working harder, longer and faster, some experts predict agencies will become leaner because companies will hire people who can execute multiple aspects of a campaign. Do you agree with this assessment? Why or why not?

Rachel Kay: A decade ago agencies were much more focused in their service offerings, so wearing multiple hats within an organization was a lot less common. As PR people, we created the communication, the creative agency did the artwork and the media buying agency handled the ad buy. Today, agencies are finding it's more lucrative to own as much of a campaign as possible, and having talent who can take ideas through fruition is definitely more coveted. In addition, there's a lot more grey area in terms of where things like social media content development reside. It's really up for grabs if your agency has the talent to execute. So, I'd argue that brands are becoming leaner in terms of resources, while agencies are actually expanding the breadth of their service offerings.

Todd Defren: I see little evidence of this concept. While it's true that we're working longer/harder/faster, the number of people required to execute across varied campaigns has only grown. Quite honestly, the more success a company has in social media, the more ambitious they become and the higher the expectation from consumers. Thus, we see demands for more community managers, more writers, more producers, etc.

David Griner: Personally, I think this is a golden age for mid-sized agencies, which were said to be dying just a few short years ago. Agencies like ours have never had the luxury of abundant staffing, so we've had to focus on assembling a team big enough to manage all our client work, but cross-talented enough to leave plenty of room for growth. But larger shops could definitely shed some weight as "specialized" fields like social media marketing become standard marketing practices.

If agencies do become more streamlined, what does this mean for campaign costs? Will brands be able to capitalize on an economy of scale because teams will consist of a few people who can "do it all" instead of having a larger group of people with specialized skill-sets?
"Today, agencies are finding it's more lucrative to own as much of a campaign as possible."

Rachel Kay: In this new landscape, brands and companies are able to enjoy reduced campaign costs because agencies are able to offer more in terms of skill. For example, we are a PR agency, but we've run significant Facebook advertising campaigns for our clients that we can fold into an affordable retainer that complements our existing communication efforts. That way, our clients aren't at the mercy of hiring a separate agency to handle something that is very communication-based in nature. In addition, companies are choosing more online-driven campaigns, which tend to be less costly than something like an extensive street team effort.

Todd Defren: Again, I see little evidence of this trend. Those smaller teams you suggest are being created will not be scalable to help more than one or two clients. Thus the perceived economies of scale are lost, as agencies of this type are forced to charge more, along the supply and demand curve.

David Griner: I personally doubt that clients will see a noticeable amount of savings if agencies streamline. A 100-hour project will still take 100 hours, whether it's being done by five people or 25 people. Where you'll see noticeable improvement is in the level of interaction you're able to have with agency staffers assigned to your project. Having fewer people assigned to your project means better day-to-day workflow and institutional memory, but the downside is obviously the loss of potential expertise.

What kinds of people are today's agencies hiring: generalists or specialists? What other trends are you seeing?

Rachel Kay: I think larger agencies have the ability to hire more specialists as opposed to smaller agencies, which need people who can operate across multiple tactics. I really prefer employees who can think about communication strategically, but have the knowledge to execute multiple elements of a program, ensuring every part of the campaign is cohesive and integrated. However, it's definitely clear that many agencies are choosing to separate traditional and digital departments. I can see this shift continuing for the next several years, but as more and more marketing moves online, those gaps will have to close once again, as everyone will need to be dialed into the digital and mobile spaces.

Todd Defren: More generalists are being hired in great numbers, but there will always be niche opportunities for specialists. One issue for specialists: Technology is getting easier and easier, and expectations of quality are getting lower. Thus a project that might have required a professional videographer may now be covered off by a generalist with an iPhone or FlipCam and some cheap editing software. "Depth" is expensive, and to your earlier point, clients tend to look for economies versus sophistication.

David Griner: Generalists or at least the truly multi-talented will always be in high demand as strategists, content creators and agency leaders. They're insatiably curious, eager to experiment and 'media neutral' enough to avoid getting stuck in a rut.

How is your agency changing? Let us know in the comments below.
---------------
Series Supported by IDG

---------------

The Modern Media Agency Series is supported by IDG. IDG Global Survey Finds Smartphones and Tablet Use Rising Rapidly. Consumers are ditching their traditional cellphones for smartphones. An IDG Global Solutions (IGS) survey found that smartphones are used by more than two-thirds of the almost 14,000 participants worldwide. Tablet ownership overwhelmingly the iPad has reached 20%. Click here to find out the mobile momentum.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, francisblack

More About: ad agency, Agency, Luckie and Company, Modern Media Agency Series, Razorfish, RKPR, shift communications, social media agency

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Google to Offer Credit Card to AdWords Users [REPORT]

Google plans to offer a credit card with a low interest rate to its AdWords advertisers, Reuters reports.

The credit card will be issued by MasterCard and will come with no annual fee and a 8.99 percent annual percentage rate, but customers will only be able to use it for buying AdWords ads.

The purpose of the card is to help small and medium businesses ramp up their sales with intensive ad campaigns when needed - before holidays, for example - something many of them normally wouldn't be able to do due to lack of funds.

"They are resource-constrained and they are often cash flow-strapped. Many of them are trying to grow a business without the kind of means that, say, your classic company has", said Claire Johnson, vice president of global online sales at Google.

Google wouldn't say to whom, exactly, it plans to offer the card, but claims that the maximum credit line will vary by cardholder. Select customers should get an invitation to start using the credit card in a "beta test" as soon as Wednesday.

How do you like this idea? Would you consider using Google's credit card? Please, share your opinions in the comments.

Image courtesy of Google

[via Reuters]

More About: ad, ads, advertisers, advertising, Adwords, credit cards, credit-card, Google, google adwords, mastercard

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Article: Ticketmaster For BlackBerry Beta v2.0 Available Now For Beta Zone Members

Ticketmaster For BlackBerry Beta v2.0 Available Now For Beta Zone Members
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/18/ticketmaster-for-blackberry-beta-v2-0-available-now-for-beta-zone-members/

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Article: Clever Sense Launches Alfred: Personalized Local Recommendations With A Single Tap

Clever Sense Launches Alfred: Personalized Local Recommendations With A Single Tap
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/18/cleversense-launches-alfred-personalized-local-recommendations-with-a-single-tap/

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Article: JOOR Raises $2.25 Million For Private Online Fashion Marketplace

JOOR Raises $2.25 Million For Private Online Fashion Marketplace
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/19/joor-raises-2-25-million-for-private-online-fashion-marketplace/

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Article: New Robot Touch Sensor Paves The Way To More Lifelike Humanoids

New Robot Touch Sensor Paves The Way To More Lifelike Humanoids
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/19/new-robot-touch-sensor-paves-the-way-to-more-lifelike-humanoids-video/

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Article: Vroom! The BlueDrone Is An R/C Car You Steer With Your Android Phone

Vroom! The BlueDrone Is An R/C Car You Steer With Your Android Phone
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/19/android-bluedrone-remote-control-rc-car/

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5 Ways Journalists Are Using Google+

Already using Google+? Follow Mashable News for the latest about the platform's new features, tips and tricks as well as our top social media and technology updates.

Social networks have proved to be incredible distribution platforms for real-time news and continue to fascinate journalists as communication tools. It's no surprise that many media professionals have jumped quickly on the Google+ band wagon to explore its potential for journalism.

Some are updating personal accounts while others have created profiles for their organizations. They're in experimentation mode, testing out which features are most beneficial for messaging and engaging with their audiences.

Google+ has yet to be defined. For the news industry, it will become what the early adopters of the field make of it. Here are a few ways we've seen media professionals using the platform and what that might mean for the future of Google+ in journalism.
---------------

Talking About Google+
---------------

It's no surprise that Google+ users want to talk about Google+ and journalists are no exception. Many have been posting tips and tricks for using the platform, such as how to get a more accurate circle count and ways to bring your Facebook stream into your G+ stream.

Even conversations about Twitter and Facebook seem to steer right back to Google+. For example, Matthew Ingram of GigaOm started a discussion about ads hitting Twitter feeds. While some responses stayed on topic, many started talking about whether Twitter users would run to G+ or if Google would begin including ads in streams.

As journalists continue to join the platform, further discussion and collaboration around Google+ as a communications tool will shape the way it's used for creating and distributing news content.
---------------

Hosting Audience Hangouts
---------------

Sarah Hill, an anchor for KOMU-TV in Columbia, Missouri, has been inviting her Google+ fans to join her in Hangouts, the network's video chat service. KOMU hosts a Hangout during the 5 p.m. newscast to give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the newsroom. She then interviews people in the Hangout on-air about their reactions to the day's news.

"G+'s video chat feature is turning into KOMU's own version of a satellite window," Hill said. "It's free. The video and audio are of air-able quality no lugging gear to 9 different places to get 9 different opinions. You simply invite 9 viewers to your Hangout and the news comes to you."

One chat brought in people from Pakistan, New Zealand, Orlando, New York, LA, Missouri, Iowa and England. Hangout participants were floored by Hill's ability to multitask.

"It was quite amazing. There's Sarah broadcasting on live TV with one earpiece listening to us folks on G+, the other to the TV station folks; she's probably reading a teleprompter as well," wrote Christopher Scott, a viewer from New Zealand who joined in. "She even welcomes new folks to the Hangout and chats to them like she's home enjoying a drink with friends. I was seriously impressed."

Only 10 people are allowed in a Hangout, so spots fill up quickly and some commenters are bummed when they miss out. Still, Hill's experiment illustrates the reach of the Google+ community.

"It's like we have viewers from around the world on a video speed dial," she said.

Hangouts could be a great way for journalists to get audience reactions to news events in real time or find story ideas by asking Hangout participants what's important in their communities.
---------------

Engaging Readers
---------------

Despite Google telling brands the platform isn't ready for them yet, media organizations have quickly jumped on board. Like many of the early adopters from the journalism world, Canada's top news source CBC has been posting links to stories with prompts that solicit reader feedback. They truly tested the engagement waters with a caption contest. The contest was also posted on Facebook, Twitter and the CBC website.

"We've noticed that there's a bit of a competition to be witty right now on Google+," said Kim Fox, senior producer for community and social media at CBC. " We figured our daily photo caption challenge would play into that, and it has, outperforming other platforms."

Fox said she's seen smart dialogue and a deeper level of engagement with the content on Google+. She and her team plan to avoid replicating their Facebook and Twitter posts, and figure out what works for the Google+ community specifically.

With the natural enthusiasm for engagement and intelligent conversation, Google+ could become a place for journalists to generate solid feedback from their audiences. It's important journalists grasp the full potential of the platform. From there, they can optimize its features to create a social dialogue around news content.
---------------

Analyzing News Coverage
---------------

Google+ is fostering rich conversation about journalism. It's cultivating a community of thought leaders who rely on each other for feedback about their opinions on news events and the media industry.

When tweeting news commentary, a journalist is limited to 140 characters. Unless the discussion has a hashtag, it's tough to see the full scope of the conversation as respondents may not be following all involved. With Facebook, conversations on journalists' personal profiles don't take off because many don't friend professional contacts. Even if the journalist has a public page, his or her discussions are competing with updates from their fans' friends and other pages because of the news feed algorithm. Google+ brings conversations back to the top of a stream when new comments arise. Though Facebook has a number of groups self-organized by journalists, grouping and sharing to professional contacts is more intuitive on Google+.

It also seems Google+ posts inspire more engagement than those on Facebook. For example, Mashable started discussions on both platforms about a study that claims 34% of iPhone users think they have 4G. The posts were published at roughly the same time and had similar prompts, posing questions about the study's results. On Facebook, there were 57 likes and 40 comments, while the Google+ post had 183 +1s and 116 comments. Granted this is only one post of many, but it's still quite telling.

Though starting discussions about the news and their analysis of the news is nothing new for journalists, Google+ seems to be a more natural platform for these conversations.
---------------

Showing Personality
---------------

The media industry's focus on journalistic objectivity makes some reporters more apt to withhold their opinions, beliefs and other details about their lifestyle. But Google+ is about people and has become a place where journalists can let their personalities shine.

Amidst the news links and discussions, streams are peppered with jokes, photos and anecdotes about life. Not unlike his Twitter feed, Jeff Jarvis is making people laugh with zings like "LAX Continental terminal isn't 3rd world, it's 5th or 6th. Expect to see pigs and goats running through." Others are re-sharing posts from followers they can relate to, such as Evonne Benedict of Seattle's KING-5, who was touched by a story from a fellow University of Washington alumnus.

We sometimes forget that journalists are people too. Google+ is a good reminder that for media professionals, there's more to life than the news.

Overall, the future of journalism on Google+ has yet to be determined. What are some other ways you've seen media professionals using the platform? What effect might it have on the news industry?

Image courtesy of Sarah Hill.

More About: features, Google, Google Plus, journalism, journalists, media, news industry, trending

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Imagine Apple with an MBA at top, no Steve Jobs

Apple would probably cease to exist if it was run by a cutthroat MBA texbook-thumping executive. Innovation and product risk-taking just isn't in their DNA.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20079893-64/imagine-apple-with-an-mba-at-top-no-steve-jobs/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

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Article: The Endless Bubble Debate: Kedrosky Vs. Wadhwa

The Endless Bubble Debate: Kedrosky Vs. Wadhwa
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/15/bubble-debate-kedrosky-wadhwa/

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Article: Fighting Ticketmaster, The Edge Invests In Ticketing Startup

Fighting Ticketmaster, The Edge Invests In Ticketing Startup
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/15/fighting-ticketmaster-the-edge-invests-in-ticketing-startup/

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Article: 5 Ways to Create Thoughtful Content on Facebook, Twitter and Your Blog | Blog Marketing Tips | Alex Mandossian's Blog | Internet Marketing Online | Starting an Internet Business | Make Money at Home Online

5 Ways to Create Thoughtful Content on Facebook, Twitter and Your Blog | Blog Marketing Tips | Alex Mandossian's Blog | Internet Marketing Online | Starting an Internet Business | Make Money at Home Online
http://www.alexmandossian.com/5-ways-to-create-thoughtful-content-on-facebook-twitter-and-your-blog/

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How to Meet People at a Networking Event Without Seeming Needy | Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/networking-without-neediness/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=networking-without-neediness

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Zing! Larry Page Calls Out ‘Competitors’ (aka Facebook) For Lack Of Social Data Portability

At the end of yesterday's Google earnings call, CEO Larry Page made a very interesting comment about data portability, Google+, and competitors (aka Facebook). In the call, an analyst asked Page what the most compelling reasons are to switch from existing social platforms to Google+ or if the company sees a future where people can be a part of multiple social networks and platforms (paraphrased, at the 57 minute mark in the call).

Page responded with this statement on Google+ and switch costs: We are really excited about about Google+ improving the overall social experience and making it more like how you would share in real life. That's different than what's out there now. We are getting rave reviews for that. People really like being able to share with more discreet groups in an easy more intuitive way. There's a lot of magic built into the product that causes thatGoogle as a company believes in users owning their own data and being able to easily move it out of Google. Some of our competitors don't believe in that. We think users will eventually move to services that are in their best interests and that work really well for them.

Clearly, Page is referring to Facebook in his statement above, which has notoriously been uber-protective (bordering on restrictive) around exporting data from its network into clients like Gmail. And for some time now, data portability has been a heated battle between Google and Facebook.

Facebook recently blocked a number of contact-exporting tools that aimed to take data out of the social network to import into other services (i.e. Google+). And how could we forget the infamous Facebook-Google back and forth over sharing contacts.

Last year, Google began blocking Facebook API access to download Google contacts. Facebook hacked its way around that, and Google subsequently issued a statement that they were "disappointed". Facebook Platform engineer Mike Vernal then responded in the comments of one of our blog posts about the slap fight, defending Facebook's policy and calling it "consistent". Shortly afterwards, a new chrome extension  that allowed you to scrape your Facebook contact information into Gmail was blocked Google.

The key part of all this is reciprocity—Google feels that since they are providing the ability to export Gmail contact data to Facebook, Facebook should allow Gmail users to do the same. And they don't.

With Google+, the search giant is offering a data liberation product called Google Takeout, which gives you the option to download all of your profile data, stream data, photos from Picassa, Buzz data, Circles and Contacts. You can download it and do what you want with your data.

Facebook also allows you to download a zip file of your photos, friend lists, messages, and wall posts, but it is not in a format third party sites can use, which is why Page made the passive aggressive remark. There's no doubt that he was referring to Facebook when talking about competitors not having the same open data portability position.

There's no doubt that Google+ is growing fast in terms of usage, and its hard for Facebook to ignore this. In fact, Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg made his own Google+ dig at a recent press event.

Fast growth and engagement aside, data portability between Google and Facebook will continue to be an issue until both companies settle this and call a truce. The question is whether the battle has gone too far for a reasonable peace treaty to be made.

Photo credit/Flickr/dominiekt

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Zappedy Acquired By Groupon. What’s Zappedy?

An anonymous tipster tells us Zappedy, a company that offered various technology products for local businesses, has been acquired by Groupon, information that turns out to be correct according to a message posted on the former's website (which, sadly, hasn't been archived by the Wayback Machine).

There's isn't much information about Zappedy on the Web altogether, but here's what I've been scraping together thanks to my phenomenal Web searching skills:

Zappedy was founded in early 2010 and was backed by Innovation Endeavors, the investment firm founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. According to its AngelList profile, Zappedy was funded by IE's Dror Berman and Corey Ford, specifically.

Bling Nation co-CEO and founding partner of investment firm MECK Wences(lao) Casares also turns up. And according to their LinkedIn profiles, Innovation Endeavors' (and TokBox founder) Ron Hose and Project Slice co-founder Harpinder Singh Madan were also advising Zappedy.

This is how the startup is described on the Innovation Endeavors website:

Zappedy powers revolutionary applications that help brick and mortar merchants better understand, attract and retain customers.

Using data gathered from a mixture of direct feeds and credit card aggregators, Zappedy enables next-generation commerce, entertainment and mobile advertising applications that recognize customers' offline purchases as well as their online activities.

Notably, it looks like Zappedy participated in Startup Chile, a program of the Chilean Government to attract early stage entrepreneurs and sway them into starting their businesses in Chile.

You can find a short interview with Zappedy co-founder Na'ama Moran here (also embedded below).

From what I can gather, Zappedy basically enabled small local businesses to easily create a website and advertise online through social media and daily deal websites simply by sending emails. Groupon likely acquired the company for its team but possibly also for the technology (to be able to offer more tools for merchants who don't have a strong online presence yet).

Zappedy was co-founded by not only Moran but also Francisco Larrain, Daniel Pérez Rada and Ricardo Zilleruelo-Ramos (at least according to their respective LinkedIn profiles). Another interesting name that turns up when perusing LinkedIn is Brad Griffith, a former business developer at LOLapps and, before that, a senior financial analyst at Google.

I've contacted Groupon, Zappedy and Innovation Endeavors, but since it's weekend and not exactly the perfect time to reach people, I don't expect to get more information rapidly.

For a list of acquisitions by Groupon, check their CrunchBase profile (left sidebar).

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BII Tingkatkan Pembiayaan Usaha Ritel

Sebagai upaya memberikan nilai tambah bagi industri, Bank Internasional Indonesia melakukan pembiayaan rantai pasok supply chain management.

http://bisniskeuangan.kompas.com/read/xml/2011/07/17/20124349/BII.Tingkatkan.Pembiayaan.Usaha.Ritel

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Google+: One Hell Of A Trojan Horse

There's no shortage of Google+ in the air these days. Overeager pundits and soothsayers are hoping to be among the most visible voices on the net saying which service or company it's going to topple, why it's going to fail or succeed, and why it should or shouldn't be more like this or that.

It all seems awfully premature, considering Google+ is just getting started, and I don't mean in user numbers. We're all familiar enough with Google products to know that practically everything they've ever done was launched early and incomplete, whether it went on to succeed (Gmail, Android) or not (Orkut, Wave). Most if not all of the big talk surrounding the network right now will have to be adjusted in a month, six months, and a year from now. It's fun to speculate, but Google is always playing the long game. Google+ isn't just half-baked; they haven't even put it in the oven yet. Let's not judge the cookie by the dough.

Is it an alternative to Facebook? Yes. To Twitter? Yes. To Yammer, to productivity suites, to Skype, to Office, to Microsoft, to Apple? If it isn't now, you better believe it will be. Google is like a kind of Troll-Borg. You think they put out something that stands on its own, a "Facebook killer" or an "iPhone killer" but it's only later that you realize that the separation from the mothership was just an illusion, and the entire bulk of Google was right there the whole time. But it's too late — you've been assimilated. Problem?

I wrote a long time ago about how all these little projects of theirs would be connected and unified, the way the Romans unified their empire by joining all the little roads to their big roads. I thought it was going to happen with Chrome OS, but a tumultuous mobile market meant a late start there; Google+ is more of a clear step in that direction now.

The thing is, as I wrote then, you can't take the measure of Rome by looking at just one of their roads. And you can't take the measure of Google+ right now, because it's just the first mile. The best way to debut the connecting tissue of their web empire wasn't to make an OS — the market wasn't ready for that. So after an OS, what is the most popular and accessible platform? Mobile (check) then Facebook, around which there's growing enmity, distrust, and boredom. Iron: hot. Pile all the Google services into that big wooden horse and say "here's a nice, secure alternative for sharing things with your friends." Don't mention the fact that lurking inside it (waiting for a reveal a few months down the line) are a hundred ways of sucking users away from their existing services — in ways that neither Facebook, Microsoft, nor Apple can. Is it about social? Yeah, because that was the face Google needed to wear this week. Beware of geeks bearing gifts.

I suppose I've done what I cautioned everyone else not to do: speculate on a product that's barely even there. 10 million users is great, but the meteoric rise and fall of countless web services can bear witness to the fact that the first month is probably the least important in a service's lifetime. Around Thanksgiving we might be talking about how silly we all sounded talking up the ghost town that is Google+. Or maybe some of us will be calling an emergency meeting in the board room because Google just ate our business model alive.

Whatever the case, I feel confident in saying that Google's long haul plan for + is subtle, sinister, and far-reaching. Not evil, exactly, but cunning and ruthless. Sure, right now it seems like it's aimed at Facebook and to a lesser extent Twitter, but when the stakes are this high, you better believe they've got guns pointed at everyone in the room. Comparing features with its immediate competitors misses the point, and at any rate the landscape shifts so frequently that such comparisons are fleeting to begin with. Think big, and think sneaky. Eric Schmidt seems like a nice guy, but I sure would rather have Zuckerberg or Ballmer for an enemy. I guess we can continue to talk about it, but personally, I'm getting some popcorn first.

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Google+: The Complete Guide

Already using Google+? Follow Mashable News for the latest about the platform's new features, tips and tricks as well as our top social media and technology updates.

Google+: It's the hot social network on the block. In just three weeks, Google's competitor to Facebook and Twitter has amassed more than 10 million users, and its users are sharing more than 1 billion pieces of content daily. It's become a hotbed for early adopters, tech luminaries, marketers and businesses around the world.

Google+ isn't the easiest thing to understand, though. It has a lot of features that can confuse beginners. Even advanced users can miss a lot of the little gems and nuances that define Google+.

That's why we decided to dig into every aspect of Google+, from Hangouts to Circles, from Google+ for businesses to what's next for Google's social network. The result is an extensive guide on all of Google+'s key features, as well as an introduction to the service and the important things you need to know about it. We've included commentary, videos, photos and more in our in-depth guide. In addition, we will update this guide regularly with the newest information on Google's Facebook competitor.

So, without further ado, here is Mashables complete guide to Google+:
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What Is Google+?
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Google+ is the search giant's latest attempt to create a social network that rivals Facebook. Google launched Google+ on June 28, 2011 with a private beta. The project was led by Vic Gundotra, Google's SVP of social.

The social network is a collection of different social products. These features include Stream (a newsfeed), Sparks (a recommendation engine), Hangouts (a video chat service), Huddle (a group texting service), Circles (a friend management service) and Photos. We explain all of these features later in this guide. More features such as Games and Questions are expected to launch in the near future.

Google chose the name Google+ because it wants Google+ to be "an extension of Google itself," Gundotra explained to Mashable days before the launch. It's designed to be an improvement to all of Google, which is why the company also decided to change the iconic Google navigation bar to include a link to a user's Google+ profile, as well as a new icon that displays how many notifications a user has received, much like how Facebook handles notifications.

This isn't Google's first shot at dominating the social space. It has a long history in social media, including Orkut and its biggest success in social, YouTube. However, it's had two very big flops in social: Google Wave and Google Buzz.
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Screenshots: What Google+ Looks Like
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This gallery will provide you with a quick overview of what Google+ looks like. Keep reading this guide to learn more about how to use all of Google+'s features.

Google+ Logo

This is the Google+ logo.

Google+ Icons

The Google+ icons. Starting top left and circling to the right: Circles, Hangouts, Home, Sparks, Profile, Photos.

New Google+ Navigation Bar

All Google sites will sport the new Google+ navigation bar. It includes notifications, profile information and content sharing options.

Google+ Stream

This is the Google+ Stream, where users share content and see what their friends are sharing. It is similar to the Facebook News Feed.

Google+ Circles

Google+ Circles is Google's version of the Facebook friend list or the Twitter List. Users can select multiple friends and drag-and-drop them into groups. This makes it easier to send stuff to friends, family or the entire world.

Google+ Circles Editor

This is the Google+ Circles editor in action. Google has created unique animations for adding and removing friends through HTML5.

Google+ Sparks

Google+ Sparks is Google's content recommendation and discovery engine. Users can search different topics and find relevant articles, videos and photos. Users can then share that content with their friends.

Google+ Hangouts

Google+ has a unique video chat feature called Hangouts, which lets you chat with up to 10 people at the ame time.

Google+ Photos

Google+ allows you to upload and share photos with your friends. It includes photo tagging and a simple browser-based image editor.

Google+ Profile

Google+ Profiles are like most profile pages -- it includes basic information about the user like interests, occupation and profile photos.
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Why Should Someone Use Google+?
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Great, Google made a social network. Now you're probably asking yourself: Why the heck should I use Google+?

We aren't here to pitch Google+. Instead, we asked our Google+ followers a simple question: Why should someone use Google+?

The response was overwhelming. We got more than 500 responses on the Mashable News account and my Google+ account. Since we can't post everybody's responses, we've chosen six we believe encompass why so many people are excited by Google's new social initiative:

"Google+ is a much cleaner way to selectively share data with others. As Google integrates more of their other cloud products, like Documents, Calendar, and Reader, you're going to see it become one of the primary means of absorbing the data streaming from the Internet and sharing it with others." ~ Jason Poggioli

"It's the combination of being able to share based on (hopefully!) mutual interests with the ability to get exposure to interesting people and ideas. The relationship doesn't really have to be two way, but it doesn't all have to be public." ~ Holly Henry

"For some reason, the level of engagement is higher. Commenting and resharing seems to happen at a higher rate here (so far.)" ~ Bill Shander

"I've had a Facebook account since 2003. It's time for something more grown up that gives me more control and has a more organic user experience." ~ Sean Cooper

"The clean user interface of Google+, combined with the lack of distracting elements, or so-called features (such as all of the add-on games and apps on FB that clutter up your stream), that I never use, attract me to Google+. This, combined with the Circles feature, choosing who you share with, are the primary draws." ~ Scott Davis

"If Facebook and Twitter had a baby, they'd call it Google+." ~ Olaf Wempe
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Getting Started
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At the moment, you need to be sent an invite by a friend to join Google+. While this restriction will eventually be lifted, it's best if you ask a friend to send an invite to your Gmail account. You must use a Gmail account to sign up for Google+. Google Apps accounts are currently not supported, though the search giant plans to add support for Google Apps email accounts in the near future.

Once you accept your invite, you are taken to a page where you are asked to create your public Google Profile. Fill in information like your name and your birthday, and you are taken to Google+. If you have already filled out a Google+ Profile in the past, you skip this step and are taken to Google+.

While we go through every single one of Google+'s features step-by-step in this guide, it's always smart to know the basic commands and syntax of Google+. To that end, we have included a Google+ cheat sheet that explains how to mention friends in your posts (like you can already do on Facebook or Twitter), how to bold your text and more.

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A Video Explanation of Google+
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The following videos, produced by Google, provide a quick introduction to Google+. Check these videos out, then keep reading our guide to learn more about each of Google+'s key features.

The Google+ project: A quick look

Google provides an overview of the entire Google+ project.

The Google+ project: Explore Circles

Google+ Circles is Google's take on the friend list or the Twitter list.

The Google+ project: Explore Settings

In this video, Google explores the different settings available on Google+.

The Google+ project: Explore Mobile

Google+ will launch with an Android app. In this video, Google explores the app's features.

The Google+ project: Explore Hangouts

Google+ comes with a group video chat feature called Hangouts. This video explains how it works.

The Google+ project: Explore Sparks

In an attempt to get users to share more content, Google+ includes a feature called Sparks. It provides recommended content based on keywords or topics.

The Google+ project: Circles

In this video, Google talks about the impact of friends and social groups.

The Google+ project: Hangouts

Google talks about spontaneous hangouts in this video.

The Google+ project: Huddle

Google introduces Huddle, the company's group-texting feature.

The Google+ project: Instant Upload

Google+ for mobile includes an instant upload feature for photos and videos. They're uploaded to a private album where they can then be shared from the desktop.

The Google+ project: Sparks

Google talks about exploring interests through Sparks in this video.
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Profile
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Once you have your Google+ account set up, the first thing you should do is fill in your user profile. If you've already created a Google Profile before, that data will automatically be imported to your Google+ Profile in fact, your Google+ Profile replaces it.

When you first join Google+, it will ask you to enter a few key details, such as your tagline (a brief description of yourself), your employment and your education. It will also ask you to choose a profile photo. Once you set these details, you will have the opportunity to populate your profile with a myriad of other profile details. These include "Introduction," "Bragging rights," "Occupation," "Places lived," "Relationship," "Looking for," "Other names," "Nickname" and "Search visibility." On the right-hand side, you have the opportunity to add links that relate to yourself. Most users add a personal website or blog, as well as their Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.

While you're on your profile page, you also have the opportunity to change some of your privacy settings. You can allow people to email you from a link on your profile, and you can set this to be public, private or somewhere between using Google+ Circles (explained below).

Your profile also displays who is in your circles, and who has added you to their circles. You can change the privacy settings on the left-hand side of your profile to make this data public or private.

Google+ Profiles

Once you arrive at this screen, click on the "Complete your profile" button at the bottom fo the page.

Filling in Your Google+ Profile

Quickly fill in information such as your tagline, your employment and upload your profile photo.

Google+ Profile Options

There are a lot of different fields you can fill out on your Google+ Profile, but you don't have to fill them all out.

A Completed Google+ Profile

This is what a completed Google+ Profile looks like (I used my profile as an example.
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Circles
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Understanding Circles is essential to mastering Google+. The search giant has opted not to let you simply "friend" your friends, like you do on Facebook, or "follow" different people as you would on Twitter. Instead, Google+ gives you more control over who sees your content.

Circles allows users to drag-and-drop their friends into different friend groups, which categorizes them. This allows you to put your mom in your "Family" circle, your boss in your "Business" circle and your best friend from college in your "Friends" circle. You can create as many circles as you'd like, though making too many becomes cumbersome and diminishes the usefulness of Circles.

To add friends to a circle, all you have to do is drag-and-drop them into the appropriate circle. You can add friends into as many circles as you want. You can also select multiple friends and drag them into a circle. It initially suggests friends based on who's in your Google Contacts, but it also lets you find friends by importing your address book from Yahoo!, Hotmail or your desktop. Removing friends from a circle is simple as well: just drag-and-drop from in the circle to outside the circle.

Clicking on a circle gives you more granular control over adding and removing people. You can also rename your circle, write a short description about it, view the stream for your circle, open your circle in a tab and delete your circle.

So why should you create circles in the first place? The answer is simple: You want to share different things with different friends. You may want to share a risqué photo with your close friends, but share a link about your company's newest hire with just your business network. Google+ Circles gives you the ability to have this kind of control over both what you share and what content pops up in your stream.

Google+ Circles

The Google+ Circles screen allows you to drag-and-drop your friends into different friend categories.

Drag-and-Drop Friends

When you drag a friend over a circle, the circle expands.

Google Explains Google+ Circles

This is the message you'll receive the first time you add somebody to a circle.

Inside a Google+ Circle

Clicking on a circle lets you look at all the members of that group, as well as change things such as the membership and the name of the circle.

Playing with Google+ Circles

Here's what Google+ Circles might look like after a few minutes of work.
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Stream Sharing Content
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Facebook users will instantly get the hang of Google+ Stream it's just a newsfeed of the latest content shared by your circles. This content can be anything from a status update to a photo.

There are a few differences between the Google+ Stream and the Facebook News Feed. Posts by your friends move back to the top based on which post has the most recent comment, though eventually older posts are eventually buried in the stream. Instead of "liking" a post, you can "+1 a post this is part of Google's push for the +1 Button. You can also share posts with your circles or mute a post if it's clogging up your stream.

Updating your status is a snap all you need to do is type some content in the "Share" box at the top of your stream and choose who to share it with. You can share it with the public (all of your followers) or just share it with certain circles. In addition to text, you can share photos, videos, links and your location. Like Facebook, Google+ automatically detects the content of the links you share and allows you to choose a thumbnail from that link.

The left-hand navigation includes a Stream option where you can filter your Google+ Stream. If you want to see posts only from your business network, you just have to click on that circle under the stream. Under the Stream option is a link to Google+ Sparks, which we explain later in this guide. There's also an option to activate Google Chat for your Google+ account.

The right-hand navigation includes a link to manage your circles and a Suggestions section, where Google suggests people to add to your circles, based on who is in your Google Contacts and who your friends are following. Google also lets you start a Google+ Hangout video chat from the right-hand menu (we explain this feature in another section). You can also invite your friends to join you on Google+ from the right-hand nav.
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Sparks
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Stumped about what to share first on Google+? Want to find more stuff about your favorite animal or band? Google has you covered with Sparks, a content recommendation engine that finds the most relevant and interesting articles and videos on almost any subject you can imagine. The Spark for Android, for example, contains links and thumbnails from articles about recent Android news.

Google doesn't publish how it determines which content is the most relevant, but we imagine it uses signals from search, Google News, Google+ and others to determine which content is the most relevant algorithmically.

Google provides a list of suggested
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