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Enterprise 2.0 Company Results: How Good is Good News?

cgseo — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:10:00 +0000

It's exciting for us to see young companies like Jive grow so fast. But before we pop the champagne bottles, it's important to take these results with a grain of salt. Jive announced today that it had record results for the past year, up 85%. That's impressive in the sense that Jive is proving that its technology is gaining acceptance in the market and the fact that the company, founded in 2001, is almost 10 years old. But we also need to consider that with any young company, there's a lot riding on news like this. Sponsor Jive has some big-league investors . It's critical that Jive shows them that all is going well and the road ahead is paved with gold. That may well be the case. Jive is an important player in the emerging Enterprise 2.0 space. Along with its record revenues, Jive also announced that its bookings are up and its employee count now stands at 200 people, up 50%. Also, its Jive World event in 2010 will be twice as big as last year's. So, hats off to Jive in that regard for showing us, as an example, that its employee count is up. They are doing well, no doubt about it. But we have no idea how the results compare to last year and what the size of these deals look like. Jive does not share this information, as is the case with most private companies. It is up to us to make our own judgements about what's really is meaningful. We made the same point last week about Socialtext posting record results. We were equally curious about its results, too. All of these companies reporting great news is a sign that the Enterprise 2.0 space is growing, but we need to be careful not to get too excited. Young companies can grow very fast. But it's all relative compared to big companies. Numbers can look impressive but more often than not, you need to look at a number of factors before making any quick calls on how the company is actually faring in the market. Discuss

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Enterprise 2.0 Company Results: How Good is Good News?

1 Month Into New FTC Rules: Who’s Disclosing Their Free Google Phones?

cgseo — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:41:16 +0000

New rules from the Federal Trade Commission, requiring bloggers to disclose free gifts from companies whose products they review , came into effect on December 1st and the first major announcement of 2010 just occurred today. The Google Nexus One mobile phone was unveiled this afternoon and all the members of the press who were on-site for the announcements received free phones from Google. This is the most-anticipated phone to hit the market in years. It's like a unicorn sparkling with magic, perhaps. Almost no one at all has disclosed getting a free unit in writing their reviews. Sponsor The idea is that receiving free goods from a vendor makes a writer more likely to write positively about a product than they would otherwise. Readers deserve to know if a writer has a financial interest in the company or has received free stuff, so that the readers can take product reviews with gifts associated with a grain of salt. Some people believe that this is essential to safeguard the trustworthiness of media in a "new media" era, others believe it is unfair to small-time bloggers who deserve a chance to profit from their writing just like the pros do. In this case, though, it's the pros we're talking about. Blogger Robert Scoble tells us that all the attendees were given a choice: receive the phone as a gift or sign an agreement to borrow a Nexus One on loan for 30 days. Scoble signed up for the loaner. VC blogger Fred Wilson wrote in his post "I received a gift from Google. It was a Nexus One." Michael Arrington has said that TechCrunch will give away the phone he received at the press event. Scanning over Techmeme's survey of coverage , we're unable to find anyone else who makes mention of the freebie. It may be the case that big-name tech review bloggers like Walt Mossberg or Engadget are just expected to always send back the review copies of things they get and so there's no reason to disclose on every post. (I don't know.) It may be that all the press who got a Google Phone today is planning on giving the phones back in 30 days. How should disclosures be handled though if you're writing an article and you haven't decided whether you are going to send something back as a loaner or keep it? Here at ReadWriteWeb, we try hard to always make casual but clear mention when we have a financial interest in a company we are writing about. We try hard to mention the same if we are writing about a competitor to a company we have a financial interest in. And we always do our best to disclose it if we ever get free stuff from vendors we write about. That doesn't happen very much. Sometimes the lines aren't clear, either. The community manager at Postrank.com sent me a sock monkey she made last year and I write about that company often. (I use it daily for essential work.) I've never mentioned that sock monkey before, though. This is a phone made of pure sunlight and hype, though. Is it a poor reflection on the FTC's new disclosure requirements that so few have disclosed their free Google Phones, or is it a poor reflection on our group of tech bloggers? Discuss

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1 Month Into New FTC Rules: Who's Disclosing Their Free Google Phones?

Experts Predict 2010 the Year for Social Media ROI

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:10:00 +0000

Aptly-named consumer trend blog TrendsSpotting just released its poll from more than 30 social media influencers. The market research presentation

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Experts Predict 2010 the Year for Social Media ROI

Online Petition Demands Apple Approve iPhone Apps

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:37:12 +0000

Three iPhone application developers are cited in an online petition which asks Apple to approve their apps, all of which have been sitting in limbo for months on end. The developers are awaiting word about their new DJ applications which let users mix loops of their own iTunes tracks stored in their iPhone or iPod Touch's music library. In this case, it's speculated that the holdup either has to do with rights issues surrounding the music or possibly the way the apps in question access the music library. But without word from Apple, the developers can't be sure. The delays have angered fans, too, one of whom created the petition in hopes of forcing Apple's hand. Update: One of the applications was just approved . Click through for more info. Sponsor Why the Delay? The three developers mentioned in the fan-posted petition include Amidio, Pajamahouse Studios, and Musicsoft Arts. All three have created DJ applications which tap into a users' own iTunes library. Unlike the DJ applications already available in the App Store, these new apps let users mix their own tracks while offering features like simultaneous playback of multiple tracks, pitch, fade, tempo, and more. Other DJ applications, on the other hand, only let users mix loops that have no rights associated with them. The rights issue may be one of the problems causing the delays. It's highly likely that the labels don't want their artists' songs to be used in this way without some sort of controls in place - if they deem to allow this type of interaction at all. If that's the case, though, the developers simply want Apple to tell them so. Another explanation for the delay may have to do with Apple's current ban on dual access to the iPhone's music library via third-party applications. In order to work around this ban, the developers came up with an alternative method which involves transferring music over Wi-Fi instead. Of course, Apple may see this "workaround" as just a loophole allowing the developers to break the rules while not technically violating any of Apple's edicts. But again, without word from the company itself, there's no way to be sure. The Petition Although the developers themselves aren't behind the online petition, they've been frustrated for some time regarding the delay. For example, a posting on the Sonorasaurus blog reads: "We have been waiting about 3 months now with no word on if we are approved and when we can release. It is nice to see other people taking issue with Apple's system and their interest in getting DJ apps on the platform. So to whomever thought to include us in their petition: Thank you." The petition itself isn't a kindly-worded plea for Apple's attention either, but an angry letter demanding that attention instead: There are more than 20 million of iPhone and iPod Touch users in the world, but there is no decent DJ MP3 application on iPhone/iPod Touch. Why? Because Apple doesn't approve any of them! At least two quality DJ MP3 applications - Touch DJ (www.amidio.com) and Sonorasaurus (www.sonorasaurus.com) are held "in review" since the beginning of the September. That's 8 weeks in limbo which is insane. The developers of the apps are now facing serious troubles because a lot was invested into the production of the apps. Moreover, Apple doesn't specify any reasons for such delays. There's simply no information about what is going on. This is all really weird and absolutely unfair. Later, the petition writer adds that they had become aware of a third application, DJ Player, which was also waiting approval. Similar Apps Already Approved What's really strange about this current delay, writes a blogger on Sonorasaurus.com (the app from Pajamahouse Studios), is that there are applications which have already been approved by Apple that offer similar features as their new app. For example, the Quixpin DJ uses the same mixing feature, Deadmau5 Mix uses the same packaged songs feature, and Air Sharing uses the same file uploading via HTTP feature. And Musicsoft Arts already has an app called the DJ Spooky The Secret Song which uses the same codebase as the yet-to-be-approved DJ Player application. UPDATE: Oddly enough, of the three apps in question, Amidio's application was approved first, having just launched today in the App Store. Are the others far behind? Did the petition catch Apple's eye or is this just a coincidence? We'll have to stay tuned to the other developers' websites and Twitter accounts to know for sure. Fans Care, Too Regardless of what happens, though, it's an interesting development to see fans getting involved in complaining to Apple instead of just the developers themselves. Although we've already seen high-profile pull-outs from notable Apple developers like Joe Hewitt who created the iPhone's Facebook application and Rogue Amoeba's Paul Kafasis who quit after a three-and-a-half month delay in app approval, we've rarely heard complaints from users outside the tech blogosphere demanding the same. Could this mean "regular" folks are now becoming aware of Apple's issues too? Possibly. The 272 people who have signed the petition aren't all Apple developers or tech pundits. They're just people who want these apps approved. Hat tip to iLounge for pointing to this petition. Discuss

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Online Petition Demands Apple Approve iPhone Apps