MySpace, Yahoo, and Intel have unveiled a joint plan at CES to offer consumers a way to use their favorite social network directly on the TV. Imagine a tiny application that shows up on TVs and other devices equipped with Intel’s special chipset that enables consumers to access MySpace and interact with their buddies while watching television.
Well, I’m imagining it, and I don’t see the point. It’s ok, I guess; but why would I want to do this over the television set? When you watch TV, you want to watch TV, and little else (except perhaps eating popcorn). When you want to interact, you use your computer - which is probably not that far away from your TV set.
Plus, I don’t see how this beats mobile social networking. We’ve got all these beautiful devices with large screens like the iPhone and G1, with fantastic social networking applications developed for them. With a TV, you’re stuck in one corner of the house. With a mobile, you can go anywhere and carry the social network with you.
This is a try to squeeze some life out of a notoriously non-interactive medium like the television, and - like all similar initiatives before it - it will end up nowhere. In the meantime the rest of us will enjoy social networks on our computers, handhelds, netbooks or mobiles.
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There are a lot of reasons that social networks experience a bump in traffic during the holidays. For one, lots of people are off from work or school. Moreover, there simply isn’t that much else going on – a slowdown in email and news means more time to loiter around your favorite online hangouts.
This year has been no exception, as Hitwise breaks down the numbers. According to the analytics firm, Facebook saw record traffic this Christmas, with 1 in every 22 websites visited in the UK going to the social network. Overall, that made the site the second most popular online destination in the UK during the holiday, behind only Google.
Not surprisingly, watching videos also seems to have a strong correlation with having nothing better to do. YouTube was the 3rd most popular site in the UK for Christmas week, beating out Windows Live Hotmail. In all, Hitwise says that social networks accounted for 10% of web traffic during the period.
Thus, expect to see a big jump in growth when the numbers for top social networking sites are released next month. We’ll also likely see the ever-narrowing gap between Facebook and MySpace close even further in the US, as Facebook’s college-heavy audience enjoys more leisure time in front of their computers.
Meanwhile, if you’re lucky enough to still be on holiday, perhaps step away from the Web for a moment. Or, don’t 
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, liliboas
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It’s that time: predictions for the year ahead and a look back at how we did in the year past.
Several of last year’s predictions proved highly accurate, as many of the topics we devote attention to – social networking, startups, and increasingly mobile apps – evolved according to plan. Looking ahead, we think next year is going to be defined largely by how companies and the entrepreneurs and developers behind them adjust to the more macro issues facing all of us, most notably the economy. Our forecast is largely based on this premise.
Below, a report card and continued outlook for last year’s predictions, as well as a fresh batch of prognostications for the New Year.
2008 Predictions: How’d We Do?
The Good
Hulu Gets Popular: The site most people initially wanted to hate has done well for itself, becoming the 6th most popular video destination in the US this year.
’09 Outlook: There’s no reason to think Hulu’s growth will slow down as NBC and News Corp are likely to continue to put more content online, as well as work to open up the gates to international viewers (their CEO says as much in an interview today with MediaPost)
Mobile Social Networking Takes Off … Sort Of: Indeed, it was a very big year for mobile, fueled by the launch of the iPhone 3G and the App Store. Facebook recently noted that their number of active mobile users has grown from 5 to 15 million this year.
’09 Outlook: As more consumers switch to iPhone, more handsets launch with Android, and Blackberry launches an app store of its own, the growth of mobile apps will continue. For entrepreneurs and developers, it’s perhaps the biggest opportunity since broadband.
Blogs Become Hot Acquisition Targets: It was a good year for a few blogs on the acquisition front. Most notably, Ars Technica got scooped up by Conde Nast, while PaidContent was sold to The Guardian. Several others major blogs, like The Huffington Post, raised big rounds of venture capital instead.
’09 Outlook: Old media still needs significant changes to its business models; blogs could be stretched by the economy and slumping ad sales. These two forces should lead to more deals this year.
Facebook Truly Goes Mainstream: Facebook grew rapidly in ’08, passing MySpace worldwide in terms of traffic and set to eclipse it in the US early next year. It’s also won the battle for mindshare, stealing the title of “it” social network in popular culture.
’09 Outlook: It’s hard to see any significant threats to Facebook’s growth on the horizon, although, that’s what most people said about MySpace just a couple years ago. Personally, I see Facebook continuing to grow big in ’09, far surpassing all competitors by year’s end.
Startup Consolidation: Last year, I wrote that “there are too many companies chasing too many of the same ideas.” That certainly proved to be the case, as numerous startups either folded or combined with others. For example: Six Apart and Pownce, Live Universe and PageFlakes + Revver, Buzznet and Qloud, Automattic and PollDaddy + IntenseDebate, and many others.
’09 Outlook: This trend will only accelerate next year as startups fail to raise more venture capital and are forced to either fold or combine forces with someone else.
Email Doesn’t Die: As ’08 draws to a close, my inbox has nearly 17,000 unread emails. Enough said.
’09 Outlook: Email will only get more relevant as Google and Yahoo push the concept of email as an application platform.
The Bad
Microsoft Finally Buys Yahoo: Too bad I didn’t phrase this one slightly differently. Microsoft certainly tried its best to acquire Yahoo, and the story dominated the headlines for the early part of this year. But Yahoo refused, saw its stock fall to historic lows, and CEO Jerry Yang resigned.
’09 Outlook: Steve Ballmer has said he’s no longer interested in Yahoo, but, given the slowdown in ad spending, Yahoo could get desperate and become too cheap for Microsoft to pass up. I’ll give it a 30/70 shot of happening next year.
News Corp Monetizes MySpace … By Selling It: This one wasn’t actually that far off – in the midst of the Microsoft-Yahoo deal falling apart, rumor had it that News Corp was putting together a bid that involved swapping MySpace for part ownership of Yahoo. But, it didn’t happen.
’09 Outlook: Like most media companies, the value of News Corp has taken a sharp hit this year, in-step with the overall economy. I’d expect them to hold tight and continue to expand MySpace internationally, on mobile handsets, and across the Web through MySpaceID.
The Ugly
Gmail Removes Beta Status: Nope.
’09 Outlook: Much like the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on Google’s homepage, I’m pretty sure the “Beta” tag on Gmail is here to stay, mainly for nostalgia.
LinkedIn Files to Go Public, Then Withdraws, Then Changes Business Model: LinkedIn stayed the course in ’08, raised a lot of venture capital, and by most accounts, continued to grow nicely.
’09 Outlook: There is absolutely no market for IPOs right now, so I’d expect LinkedIn to remain a private company. As users scramble to find jobs and opportunities in a bad economy, the site could actually have a great year.
2009 Predictions: What’s Next?
Facebook and MySpace Become Aggressive Acquirers: As startup consolidation continues, look for the two biggest social networks to become aggressive acquirers. The reason? Both have ambitions as not only media companies (side bet: look for Facebook to buy or take a stake in a big music app), but as identity providers. One sure-fire way to gain market share as an identity provider is to buy up popular but profitless sites and make their own identity system the standard. This is exactly what Google and Yahoo have done with properties they’ve acquired through the years (see: Flickr, Del.icio.us, Blogger, FeedBurner, etc.).
The eBay Break-Up: eBay has essentially become the Internet’s biggest holding company. As the owner of several businesses that don’t really fit together and facing a decline in popularity for its original auction service, the time has come for eBay to dismantle into several leaner, more tightly focused companies. Skype and PayPal are both still growing nicely – look for at least one of them to be sold or spun-off in 2009, with Google and/or Amazon as likely buyers.
A Big Year for Amazon: This past weekend’s Wall Street Journal noted how dire things are about to get for brick and mortar stores, with massive closings expected across the board. Who is that good for? Amazon, who already reported that its holiday sales were actually up this year. Amazon’s developing data business could also see gains as more Web companies look to trim infrastructure costs.
Google Chrome Gains Meaningful Market Share: One of the few products that launched this year that I actively evangelize with everyone that asks me about it is Google Chrome. For most people, it’s simply a faster and better browsing experience than IE or Firefox offers. Already out of beta, expect Google to market Chrome aggressively, signing distribution deals with PC manufacturers, bundling it with other software, and devoting unsold ad inventory to the browser.
At Least One Big Newspaper Goes All Digital: The Christian Science Monitor already did it, and I expect more to follow in 2009. More specifically, I expect at least one large daily newspaper in the US to announce plans to eliminate a print edition. No more trucks and no more dead trees. And, while it might not happen until 2010, I expect them to have great success with it.
Comments Become the New Blogs: People are commenting everywhere, whether it’s on Twitter, Friendfeed, or actual news sites and blogs. A new platform will emerge where users can truly take ownership of their comments in a blog-like format. We’re already starting to see this with Disqus, and Movable Type’s announced Motion product might go in this direction too. This will become a popular alternative to the traditional personal homepage or blog, because it’s so much easier to update.
Startup Incubators Flourish: Venture capital might be dead for the time being, but the biggest opportunities right now, as I see it, are concepts that require very little up-front investment. Red hot areas like mobile applications, services that leverage data portability, and micropublishing are all low-cost businesses to enter. With investors shying away from big bets and re-upping in bloated, unprofitable startups, look for many more funds of the YCombinator and TechStars ilk to emerge.
Twitter Doesn’t Go Mainstream: Twitter will keep growing, but I don’t see it going “mainstream” as us bloggers like to say. I see it evolving much more like personal blogging: it will keep growing, but eventually it will hit a plateau. Ask people outside of your work life about Twitter and the response will likely be “why would anyone care what I’m doing or thinking?” Sure, they’ll passively consume Tweets as the service continues to be integrated into media, but the number of active Twitter users will not come close to matching what you see on Facebook or MySpace. The value proposition simply isn’t as strong.
How’d We Do?
It’s nice to see so many of our stories from 2008 ended up intersecting with the various predictions we made at the end of last year. What do you think of our forecast for ’09? For that matter, what subjects would you like to see us devote more or less time to on Mashable? Let us know what you think of all of the above in the comments.
We look forward to bringing you continuous coverage of our ever-changing social media landscape in 2009.
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Since the NBA allows its fans to vote for all-stars online, and making the starting lineup leads to more exposure and bonus money for players, it’s not too surprising that some athletes are turning to the Web to get more votes. Last year, the Toronto Raptors’ Chris Bosh kicked off the trend by posting a hilarious video asking for votes on YouTube, and ultimately found himself as a starter in the game (after an injury to Kevin Garnett).
This year, Phoenix Suns power forward Amare Stoudemire is launching an even grander campaign, including not only a series of videos, but also a presence on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and a dedicated website at Vote4Amare.com. The site features a blog as well as badges that fans can embed on their own sites and social networking profiles. The site is being maintained by Jay “Super Fan” Johnson. Here’s the first video from Amare and Jay:
Amare’s people say the campaign will feature 5 videos in all, and that “the next few get a lot juicier.” No word yet on whether Stoudemire’s teammate @THE_REAL_SHAQ will be stumping for him on Twitter.
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The gradual decline of print media impacts more than just newspapers, magazines, and the people that work for them. Companies like Publishers Clearing House, a direct marketing firm known for its multi-million dollar sweepstakes funded largely by selling magazine subscriptions, need new ways to make money. What to do? Why, launch a presence on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter of course.
While those that feel brands have no place on Twitter and the like might facepalm over this news, the bottom line is that direct marketing on the Web (think “free iPod” ads) is just as huge as it is offline, and opt-in programs on top social networking sites will drive sign ups. To make inroads, Publishers Clearing House is doing what they do best: launch contests that reward users for signing up, or in this case, friending the company on social networking sites.
On those social networking sites, PCH is offering up links to various online games: things like quizzes, trivia, and lotto. Along the way, there are various prompts to get you to sign-up for promotions and newsletters, which is where PCH makes the money that allows them to offer up prizes. There are also straight-up landing pages for each service that PCH is participating in where users can enter to win gift cards.
Personally, I have no problem with what PCH is doing. Friending or following the company is at the sole discretion of users. And while the games themselves occasionally require you to “un-check” various opt-in boxes or highlight the “sign up” link while minimizing the “skip” link, so long as they aren’t misleading you to believe you’re improving your chances of winning by signing up for stuff (a scandal that once plagued PCH’s magazine business), it’s up to the user as to how much marketing they are subjected to. On the other hand, maybe this mindset is why I have nearly 17,000 unread emails.
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Given the immense popularity of karaoke, and the evolution of audio and video recording technology, we thought it might be interesting to explore where on the web karaoke choristers are taking their act. We’ve put together a list of 5 great options to satisfy every karaoke connoisseur’s dream.
As a frequenter of karaoke dive bars myself, I’ve never made the leap to start recording online—until now. You’ll have to keep reading to watch me truly embarrass myself.
We know you secretly love to sing in the shower, but have you graduated to online performances? Let us know what you think of these sites and where you take your online stage in the comments.
1. The Karaoke Channel Online
With The Karaoke Channel Online (TKCO) karaoke super stars can create and manage their own playlists with a drag-and-drop personal song queue, and record audio (video is in the works) to share with friends. The site is user-friendly, very easy on the eyes, and a joy to use, which makes today’s announcement that user renditions can now be recorded and published to social sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Delicious, all the more exciting.
Unfortunately, a free account only gets you access to a limited list of karaoke songs (200 total) that aren’t full length, with “sample” recordings lasting only 30 seconds that can’t be saved. But if you’re willing to pay, you can upgrade your account for $9.95 or $14.95 per month, or opt to pay $99.95 for one year. It’s not cheap, but TKCO certainly stands out amid their competitors and might be well worth the cash for personal fulfillment.
Fortunately for you, but not necessarily for your friends, TKCO is giving away 24 hour premium memberships to the first 200 Mashable readers who use the promotion code FM2Z-XI1U-Y1Y2. If you love online karaoke, you’ll be hard pressed to find a site that lives up to TKCO’s quality, so you’ll definitely take advantage of that promo code.
2. MySpace Karaoke
MySpace Karaoke is the perfect online stage for the MySpacer looking to leverage their existing social network presence with their love of their own voice. MySpace Karaoke makes it easy to browse popular recordings, search for songs, listen to instrumental and artist versions of songs, and share musical moments onsite or off. The site also benefits from established legal agreements with music publishing companies, giving users a huge selection of titles to try to master with their own vocal prowess.
One problem with MySpace’s offering is that you have to download and install the ksolo recorder, which is in .exe, making yours truly feel musically defeated. The good news for Windows users is that the ksolo recorder supports video recording and lets you add in audio effects to help you sound like the pros (of course YOU don’t need that feature).
3. Sims On Stage
Sims On Stage is the online community, brought to you by EA Games, for karaoke crooners and creatives alike looking to make magical mashups by adding their machinations to Sims movie clips, songs, and images.
The site, which doesn’t seem to have visually evolved since our 2007 coverage, does offer a robust song selection with the ability to record audio and video renditions with an instrumental, or practice with a demo vocal background, all free of charge. You can expect standard community features, including the ability to embed or share performances across a variety of social sites.
4. RedKaraoke
RedKaraoke, my least favorite of the 5 sites, is kind of clunky and crashed my browser, but it has a majority of the same features you can expect from the other sites, as well as an active and engaged karaoke community. The site is completely free and legal to use, making it rich with both content and advertisements.
I was blown away by their song selection, as well as impressed by the number of features available to members. RedKaraoke users can also opt for the Japanese or Spanish versions of the site should they so desire.
5. SingSnap
The horrible banner ads on SingSnap detract from the overall experience, but if you can get past the look of the site, you might enjoy the quantity and quality of SingSnap’s song selection (one of the few sites where I was able to find (and sing) Tina Turner’s What’s Love Got To Do With It). Also, the ability to use three separate types of web cams, the plethora of recording options, and the handy setup wizard that walks you through the configuration process for audio, video, and Internet settings.
So for your entertainment purposes only…please don’t judge me, I’m much better in a bar setting and I certainly know I’m no Tina Turner.
The SingSnap player is sharp (not quiet as spiffy as TKCO though), with handy little features that let you edit the way you look and sound prior to production. Of course, since I’m subjecting myself to online scrutiny and mockery I love that SingSnap lets me turn off ratings, comments, duets, and embeds. SingSnap is free, but they do have a $7 per month subscription plan that includes the removal of advertising, additional songs, and a few extra features.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, podgorsek
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Pinger Phone is a new free iPhone application that “upgrades” its communication capabilities, giving equal importance to calling or texting your contacts and sending them tweets or Facebook messages.
In practice, you open your contact list, and you can decide whether you want to call that contact, send him/her an SMS or drop him/her a private tweet. It makes sense, especially for heavy social networking users who are used to communicating on Facebook or Twitter on a daily basis. Or, as Pinger CEO Greg Woock puts it, “If people under 25 designed mobile phones, they’d put IM and social network messaging alongside dialing, texting and e-mail.”
Other features include a horizontal keyboard mode for instant messaging - a feature that’s missing from iPhone’s SMS capabilities for some reason - and free texting to US mobile phones, which Pinger does by sending IMs over the iPhone’s data connection instead of sending a regular SMS.
Pinger also supports MySpace, and they plan to extend the platform support to BlackBerry, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Palm and Symbian in the future.
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Meebo just got a lot more interesting, adding support for both Facebook and MySpace’s instant messaging programs. That means you can now use the service to sign into all of the major IM networks (AIM, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) simultaneously, plus the social network of your choice, essentially giving you a universal buddy list that you can access from anywhere.
This is exciting news for both users of Meebo and the social networks. The issue with chat on Facebook and MySpace is that you need to be logged into the site (unless you use a client like Digsby), as opposed to something like AIM, which you typically have running all day. Additionally, each of these services has its own buddy list with different people on it. By adding MySpace and Facebook, Meebo solves both of these problems.
Strategically, by integrating Facebook and MySpace, Meebo is also adding a lot of value for its partners, such as Flixster, who use the service to power instant messaging for their users. Since the issues above are now solved, these partners, which also include Tagged, Piczo, and MyYearBook, can expect to see users spend more time on their sites too.
For me, this move marks my official termination of desktop IM software, and hopefully the beginning of keeping in better touch with some of my Facebook and MySpace friends.
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Anu Shukla is the Founder and CEO of Offerpal Media, the leading monetization solution for social applications and online communities.
The word on the street is that social networks, as popular as they are, can’t make any real money. After all, who’s going to click on an ad while they’re in the midst of socializing with their friends?
While there’s a grain of truth to this rumor, it’s fast becoming an out-of-date perception. What’s changed? A new economy based on social web properties that use virtual currency to capture users’ imaginations.
By creating a demand for premium content such as virtual gifts or upgraded features, savvy social publishers are finding that at least a portion of their users will gladly fork over real cash in order to pay for, say, a pretend peony on (Lil) Green Patch or to buy the latest toys for their virtual babies on Make A Baby. Even better, plenty are willing to wade into the world of online surveys and advertising offers in exchange for these “must have” items in their games.
Though no one knows yet the exact size or potential of the market for virtual goods and services, conservative estimates put it at over $2 billion for this year alone. Not bad for a marketplace that barely existed a couple years ago. Even better, all signs indicate that the growth is just beginning.
As more and more social web publishers catch on to virtual currency as an incredibly effective way to not only monetize their traffic but also engage and motivate their users, the trend will only pick up steam. And as advertisers understand the channel better and realize that it is ideal for both performance-based campaigns as well as branding efforts, don’t be surprised if virtual currency becomes the most sought-after ad channel on the web.
What is virtual currency?
Virtual currency, as you might imagine, is what you use to buy virtual goods or virtual services. It is essentially as good as real currency. The only difference is that it only applies within the realm in which it was issued. This currency has all kinds of names in the online world: it may be called “bucks,” “coins,” “points,” “dollars,” “tokens,” “jewels,” “rewards,” “chips,” “treats,” “vouchers,” “boosts,” or “credits” (all of which we’ve seen), but whatever their name, virtual currencies have a definite value and can be redeemed in a number of ways.
What are virtual goods and services?
Ever noticed the little gift icons on Facebook lately that urge you to send a present to a friend? Virtual gifting is a reportedly $50 - $60 million a year business for the company, and that doesn’t include any of the gifting that takes place on third party applications. But beyond Facebook’s own virtual gifting, it’s also built into a number of applications, offering revenue opportunities for the developers of these games.
Virtual worlds and avatar-based communities have been charging people for decorative types of goods like fancy upgrades for their avatars or special backgrounds for their profile pages for some time now. At WeeWorld, for example, where you can create your own personalized WeeMee and take it with you around the web, you can spend WeePoints to pimp out your avatar with just the right hair, right clothes and right accessories.
Virtual goods can also be more functional than decorative, such as the case when virtual currency is redeemed to unlock hidden features or advance within a gaming scenario. This type of virtual good is especially prevalent in MMOGs or other types of social games. For example, at Mobsters, the number one app on MySpace, users can redeem virtual currency to help them grow their mob and level up faster towards the top of this underground world.
How is virtual currency earned?
We’ve already mentioned that virtual currency can be earned by either buying it with real currency or by taking part in ads, but there are several other ways that publishers can allow their users to earn virtual currency. One is by inviting other people to the property, a tactic that also encourages viral success and growth. Another way is by simply coming back and logging in every day, which helps increase stickiness and loyalty. And yet another way is by rewarding them for completing certain tasks or quests, thereby helping build engagement and activity.
But the most monetizable way to let users earn virtual currency, by far, is for completing ad offers.
How can advertisers tap into virtual economies?
As advertisers know only too well, so-called “banner blindness” has become an increasing fact of life, but especially so on social networks. Wise application developers know to integrate advertising offers into their app in a way that contributes to, rather than distracts from, the overall user experience.
For example, participants in the (Lil) Green Patch application need what are called “GreenBucks” in order to choose the types of plants they want to send to friends. By signing up for Blockbuster, for example, or by participating in any number of advertising offers such as completing surveys, requesting insurance quotes, downloading ringtones, etc., they can get a hold of that foxglove they planned to give to their aunt Agatha, or a lily they hoped would brighten the day of a friend.
By tapping into the user’s social activities and motivations—in this case, sending a virtual gift—advertisers’ offers essentially provide the fuel that enables consumers to interact with each other within an application. The key to success, from the advertiser’s point of view, is using all of the juicy demographic and behavioral data on hand in order to target their audience strategically. Do that, and they will generate new customers far more effectively than through any other channel.
Anu Shukla is the Founder and CEO of Offerpal Media, the leading monetization solution for social applications and online communities. A serial entrepreneur, Anu is also the founder of Mybuys Inc., a venture-backed company in the eCommerce personalization market. Prior to Mybuys, Anu pioneered the category of Internet Marketing Automation as founder and CEO of Rubric, Inc. Rubric was acquired in 2000 for $366 million. Prior to Rubric, Anu held a variety of executive roles including Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Product Management at Compuware/Uniface Corporation (CPWR).
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, JerryPDX
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The latest numbers are in from Nielsen Online, and they conclude the obvious: Facebook is downright surging in popularity. The site registered a record 47.5M US-based unique visitors in November, up from 39.9M just one month prior. Top social network MySpace continued to hover around 60M, with an official count of 59.1M. If you’re looking for a shoe-in bet for your 2009 tech predictions, it’s this: Facebook will surpass MySpace in US traffic at some point next year.
In all, Facebook has increased its traffic 116% so far this year, up from 21.9MM uniques at this time in 2007. MySpace has been essentially flat (up 3%), though it still beats Facebook by better than 2 to 1 in-terms of how much time users spend on the site (on average): 2 hours, 26 minutes per month on MySpace, 1 hour, 2 minutes per month on Facebook.
Elsewhere, Twitter grew nearly 50 percent month-over-month according to Nielsen, from 2.2 million unique visitors in October to 3.2M in November. That surge is likely due in-part to the US Presidential election, where Twitter played a big part in some mainstream media coverage.
Who are the other hot social networking sites as 2008 draws to a close? Tagged.com is up 465% since last year, Ning is +270%, LinkedIn is +114%, and Imeem is +68%. The full report from Nielsen Online is embedded below:
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, alexsl
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