There’s been some hubbub lately about the potential tax implications of Yahoo’s planned spinoff of its 15% stake in Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba. Those shares, worth about $25 billion, would account for the lion’s share of Yahoo’s $29 billion market cap at close of trading on Monday. This math got me thinking about Yahoo’s other big acquisition … Continue reading Tumblin’ Dice
In 2013, Facebook tried and failed to create its own phone. Now Facebook has come back with a more considered vengeance, and announced today at F8, its developer conference, the inception of Messenger Platform, which will play nice with third party apps, and ultimately, I believe, achieve some of the results Facebook sought back in 2013. Facebook seems … Continue reading Facebook Messenger: The Trojan Horse
Facebook recently announced the rollout of a payments service which will be embedded within its popular Messenger app, leveraging its already-vast user base. This move was obviously a long time in coming, and it follows on the heels of Google Wallet, Apple Pay, and, most similarly, Snapchat’s Snapcash feature. I am certain that, down the line, Facebook … Continue reading Facebook Messenger, Now with Payments
Facebook has decided to shorten Warhol’s “Fifteen Minutes of Fame” to “Fifteen Seconds,” thanks to the new video functionality added to Instagram, which allows the user to take up to fifteen seconds of video – a full nine seconds longer than Twitter’s Vine app, and certainly one giant leap for mankind. That said, we would … Continue reading Fifteen Seconds
If Twitter partners with Amex to take on eCommerce, you can be sure that Facebook will make its own effort, too.
Yesterday, I bought a $25 American Express Gift Card for $15. The neat thing is, I did it on Twitter. I’m not sure if this sort of selling is necessarily going to be the next big thing in eCommerce, but it is certainly a compelling development in how Twitter – which recently raised the per-day cost of its “Promoted Tweet” to $200,000 – is seeking to monetize its product. Similarly, Facebook is experimenting with a ticket purchase option for some events, demonstrating Social Media’s interest – and need – to expand from simple advertising platforms to facilitators of consumer engagement – and purchases.
Facebook posted its first ad this morning, depicting, among other things, chairs, airplanes and bridges – in short, the things that connect us. The minute-and-a-half long spot, produced by Wieden+Kennedy, places gentle violin strings over images that are both urban and rural, developed and developing, young and old – all of them rather banal. The … Continue reading The Facebook Ad
Silicon Spatula 