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- Are you part of the ‘worldwide talkshow’?May 21
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Check out Scobles presentation at Mediabistro’s Media Circus conference today. What are you missing out on?
- FriendFeed only adds to the noise under a key assumptionMay 18
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ReadWriteWeb’s recent piece “Don’t Be So Naive: FriendFeed Adds to the Noise” writer Corvida tried to put to bed the ongoing argument of whether or not FriendFeed adds to the “noise” of the internet conversation or not. RWW, while conceding that it added to the conversation, came firmly down on the side that it clearly was a noise polluter.
From the RWW post:
There are dozens of ways that Friendfeed adds to the noise. For one, it pulls in one of the noisiest services out there: Twitter. At least 10% of Twitter streams have much to do about nothing and filtering out this noise is hard to do on FriendFeed. Secondly, for those that don’t entertain certain services that FriendFeed aggregates, that’s extra noise.
The Noise Argument Rests on One Key Assumption
This noise argument for sites like Twitter and FriendFeed are based on one (often unmentioned) tenant that the users of these services know what they are looking for on the Web. The premise that users of Twitter or FriendFeed have a known result or conversation that they are searching for through the noise is implicit in the noise argument. You must have a signal you’re trying to find in all of that noise for there to be a difference, right?
This is a flawed assumptio
- Don’t Spam My Twitter Feed!May 9
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Techcrunch posted an article yesterday about a subject that has been on my mind for the last week or so - Twitter spam. The Social Times, CNET and others picked it up as well. It hasn’t become a system-wide critical problem yet, but as more users get on board the Twitter wagon you can bet that there are people out there ready to shove any manner of obscene, money-making, weight-losing, fake watch-buying, viagra popping ads right to your Twitter feed. And while that is definitely a concern the spam I’m worried about is the less-blatant type of spam from people you follow with interests. Michael over at Profy.com raised a similar question: What’s considered spam on Twitter? Well, here’s my take on it…
The difference between noisy and spammy
Some days I’m super-noisy on Twitter. Maybe something has my attention, I’ve had too much coffee - whatever the case may be - I’m noisy for the day. Then other days nothing stirs me and I’m quiet. That’s being noisy. I’m actually out there sharing links of interest, chatting it up and the like.
- Yahoo!’s Yang Gets Blasted By ShareholdersMay 6
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Well that sure didn’t take long. Yesterday I posted on how Jerry Yang would be in for a long week, and it started with a bang as one of Yahoo!’s biggest shareholders lambasted Yang for his weak gamble that has left shareholders high and dry. It wasn’t hard to see coming. Silicon Alley Insider has all the details:
I’m extremely disappointed in Jerry Yang,” said Gordon Crawford, a portfolio manager at Capital Research Global Investors, which owns over 6% of Yahoo’s shares. “I think he overplayed a weak hand. And I’m even more disappointed in the independent directors who were not responsive to the needs of independent shareholders.”
It’s evident that most shareholders would have been perfectly happy with a transaction in the $34 range,” said Mr. Crawford. The concern owned over 16% of Yahoo’s shares according to the latest available regulatory filings, making it Yahoo’s largest shareholder.
Yahoo! has clearly shown that they didn’t really think the Microsoft deal was undervaluing the company but rather tried to game Microsoft for a bit more cash. A move that in the end backfired. Now trying to beat a hasty retreat and more importantly, SAVE HIS JOB, Jerry Yang is saying that if Microsoft has anyt
- Why Yahoo! boss Jerry Yang will have a tough weekMay 4
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Imagine you’re the CEO of a perennial Internet also-ran. You head a company that on its best days is the bride’s maid. You’re stock has languished in the low-to-mid 20’s for much of the year and you’re presented with an offer from a company that is offering a premium and has been willing to negotiate an extra $5 billion in to the deal to complete the purchase. You say no. How do you answer to the stock holders?
There has been plenty written about the aborted attempt of Microsoft to buy Yahoo! from both sides of the isle; but to me the real question is what does Jerry Yang say to the stockholders who are likely to see their value sink over the coming weeks as the realization that the clock has struck midnight and it’s back to the “Yahoo! Who?” mindset of those in the industry.
The CEO’s Job is to Create Shareholder Value
What does Yang know that the rest of us don’t? The CEO’s number one job is to create shareholder value - period. So Yang must be able to present a strong case that the company is aligned to create more value than the $33 offer that Microsoft put forward and I don’t personally see where that value comes from. Yahoo! owns Flickr and del.icio.us which are great and Upcoming is, well, up and coming, but other than that they seem primarily stuck in the monolithic old-broadcast, impression-based adverti