Category Archives: News Makers
Social Startups Worth Watching in 2012 – An UPDATE
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Posted by Kimling Lam
In Industry Tips, News Makers
We’re nearly five months into 2012 and many of our ‘Social Startups Worth Watching in 2012’ have undergone tremendous changes, while others have quickly stolen the spotlight. So, Meltwater Group has pulled together a little recap of our previous predictions from 2011 with some updates, and added in a few extras to keep an eye on.
- Tumblr: While the blogging/sharing site hasn’t seen much action as a brand, its simple layout and support of .GIFs allow memes to go viral. Whether it’s the ‘What Should We Call Me’ Tumblr or ‘Texts from Hillary,’ most of us trolling the Internet will be visiting a Tumblr page, or 10, on a regular basis.
- Spotify: With a Facebook partnership for the launch of Timeline, and a partnership with Coca Cola (announced today), the music “startup” can hardly be classified as such. Visibility and
… Read More
Facebook Acquires Instagram: Predictions and Reactions
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Posted by Kimling Lam
In News Makers
By now you know that Facebook acquired Instagram for a cool $1B.
Hot on the heels of the mobile app launching for Android last week, the social networking mega-monster announced (via Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook account) it had acquired the No. 1 application from the iTunes store and the Internet is going wild.
Beyond the predictions for what this could and will mean for Facebook’s upcoming IPO, the future for Instagram and its legion of filter-furious fans, skeptics were, of course, irate over the possibilities of what this could mean for privacy. Buzzfeed put together a pretty good list of overreactions, but there are plenty of other valid concerns. We used Meltwater Group’s social media monitoring tool Meltwater Buzz to gather a few crowd-sourced opinions and concerns below:
Does this mean Facebook owns my Insta-content?
Perhaps there is some sort of scary loop hole in the… Read More
Best April Fools’ Pranks of 2012
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Posted by Kimling Lam
In News Makers
With April Fools’ Day falling on a weekend this year, it almost went unnoticed. Almost. This is probably a good thing, since most of Google’s highly-anticipated jokes were more of a miss this year than a hit. Maybe it was because Google participated in too many jokes instead of focusing on one great one. (Gmail Tap, Google’s Self-Driving Car goes to NASCAR, Google Chrome Multitask Mode, Google Maps 8-Bit and Google’s Really Advanced Search to name a few…) Or maybe it’s because they can no longer out do themselves from stellar jokes of years past. Remember Google Romance or Gmail Paper?
Either way, here are the top jokes Meltwater Group saw the web enamored with this week:
Mitt Romney exits the Republican presidential race: Forbes.com ran an article claiming Mitt Romney had dropped out of the 2012 presidential race… Read More
Meltwater Trend Watch: Social Gaming
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Posted by Kimling Lam
In News Makers
By now you may have been attacked by a zombie on Facebook or shared your impressive touch-screen drawing skills with a random person. Or, maybe you’ve heard of the gamers who spent upwards of $10,000 a month on ‘Mafia Wars.’ You’ve probably heard about, seen and participated in social gaming, especially since Zynga’s purchase of OMGPOP has been all over blogs and television for the past two weeks.
So, what’s up with this social gaming trend? How does Zynga, the mega-giant behind it, make its money? And is this a trend here to stay? Here’s Meltwater Group’s take on how Zynga’s leading the social gaming trend.
Zynga’s social games are tied into Facebook, and with the new Timeline layout and integrated “activity” posts, you’ll only be seeing more of these addicting games in your newsfeed. Additionally, Zynga has developed some of the most popular mobile gaming platforms such… Read More
SXSW Infographic Day 4
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Posted by Kimling Lam
In Events, News Makers
Meltwater Buzz’s social media insights into day 4 of South by Southwest were published today in Mashable. Trending conversations include Al Gore and Sean Parker’s session and homeless people as hotspots.