On Strategy and Google
I am not an expert strategist, but I’ve picked up a few tidbits over time. In school I learned that strategy leaves a trail - You can divine a company’s strategy by the products it launches, partnerships it forms, and companies it acquires. When I moved on to Booz-Allen, I learned that when you are [...]
Top 10 Facebook Feature Wishlist
After using Facebook, attending a developer conference and speaking to advertisers, I’ve built a Facebook roadmap. Not an application, widget or API wishlist, it’s a wishlist for Facebook platform functionality. To be sure, Facebook has initiatives focused on growing site and “ecosystem” functionality. They encourage app development through the fbFund. They encourage partner interfaces through [...]
Facebook’s Social Revenues
Articles on potential Facebook revenue models run the gamut. Comments following those articles span the galaxy. The consensus on Facebook revenues falls into two general categories:
They’re like Google - They’ve got oodles of traffic and oodles of ways to monetize it.
They’re like eToys - They’ve got an unsustainable business model, users prone to flip and [...]
Selected Stories, 8-Nov
The Playmaker's Tools - Competitve Market Communications
The Playmaker’s Table – Students of competitive strategy will appreciate this “periodic table” of communications strategies. Used in conjunction w/ The Playmaker’s Process (http://snurl.com/58nwy), it presents cogent tools for formulating communications strategies in competitive markets. Originally developed in Washington D.C., the table and process are increasingly relevant to PR-heavy, [...]
Applications on LinkedIn, Niiice
On October 28th, 2008 LinkedIn took a big step forward by announcing the launch of “Applications on LinkedIn” (or InApps) and officially joining MySpace, Facebook, Google and Apple’s iPhone in the “platform” business. However, unlike other open platforms, LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman focused attention on ten applications by eight companies. It appears LinkedIn is going [...]
Top Stories, 25-Oct
Wassup 2008 - Charles Stone III
W/ tongue placed firmly in cheek, this ad makes visual the top stories of the day and links them directly to the fundamental message of change put forth by the Obama campaign. Like or dislike Obama, director Charles Stone has created a visual, concise and emotive political ad that will [...]
Why Revenues Matter, Twitter
In a time when ad budgets shrink and startup revenue targets fade, much todo was made last week about Fred Wilson’s statement regarding Twitter in Wired:
“It’s like the stupidest question in the world: How’s Twitter going to make money?,” said Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson, another investor. “It’s like ‘How was Google going to make [...]
Top Stories, 22-Oct
John Battelle - TweetSense
Musings by industry leader John Battelle re: potential search-based business model at Twitter. John suggests that search may be used as a proxy for data and pattern recognition. Bit out there if you're not an algorithm buff, but some of the comments that follow are insightful.
(tags: battelle search_advertising twitter)
Let's Be Serious: Online [...]
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Tweets (@MichaelDowns)
- Bill Gross' "Ring of Fire" was my favorite investment article last week. Debt, deficits and 2010 investment - http://bit.ly/8OBTjT
- Brand New's "Most Relevant Identity Work of the Decade" is a thoughtful collection of what works - http://bit.ly/4Y9l8K
- I supported Gwendolyn Strong Foundation by voting for them to win $1m with #chasegiving - http://bit.ly/4ILNPV