Facebook’s Fools: 15 Who Missed Out on the Big Payday
Facebook’s Fools: 15 Who Missed Out on the Big Payday
In music, it was Pete Best, the original Beatles drummer who was replaced by Ringo Starr in 1962, just as the band was taking off. In tech, it was Ronald Wayne, the guy who helped co-found Apple with Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in 1976, but sold his 10% stake in the company for a total of $2,300 that year — a position that would now be worth about $60 billion.
Those are the famous stories. In reality, there are probably dozens of people who can legitimately claim to have missed their chances to latch on to the Beatles and Apple in the early days. Usually their names are only of interest to biographers and lovers of schadenfreude.
Now, all eyes are focused on Facebook‘s impending $16 billion-plus IPO — and the social network certainly has its own Pete Bests and Ronald Waynes, too.
SEE ALSO: Facebook Users: 13 Ways the IPO Could Affect You
The following list features eight people who were at the right time and place to cash in on Facebook, but didn’t, and six companies that knew Facebook was onto something, but underestimated its value. Finally, there’s Harvard University, which will not benefit in the slightest from Facebook’s IPO, even though it was integral to the company’s formation.
1. Joe Green
The next time your parents offer you their advice, consider the case of Joe Green.
Green was one of Mark Zuckerberg’s roommates at Harvard in 2004. He worked with Zuck on the “Facemash” concept that got both in hot water with university officials, but turned down Zuck’s advice to leave the school to start his new company. The reason? Green’s dad, a professor, talked him out of it.
If Green had followed Zuck, he might be worth as much as $400 million today.
Green worked on John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, and now runs a firm called Causes that lets friends suggest causes and charities to friends — via Facebook.
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Facebook Sets Stock Price at $38 [REPORT]
Facebook Sets Stock Price at $38 [REPORT]
Facebook‘s stock will be priced at $38, though that’s not 100% certain, according to a report.
“Facebook is looking like it will price its shares at about $38 a share, though discussions are still fluid,” reports The Wall Street Journal. The price will set the IPO at $18.4 billion, the second-largest ever in the U.S., next to Visa’s.
Thursday afternoon, WSJ reported that Facebook execs were still discussing the decision and a “decision still hasn’t been made final.” The price could still come in a dollar higher, according to the report. “The company tried floating higher numbers to investors but was rebuffed,” according to WSJ. Facebook will file its final price after the market closes.
The price is on the high end of the $34-$38 range that Facebook had disclosed in an amended S-1 earlier in the week.
Image modified, courtesy Robert Scoble, Flickr.
More About: facebook ipo
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Giant Printer Paints Political Twitter Tweets on Streets [VIDEO]
Giant Printer Paints Political Twitter Tweets on Streets [VIDEO]
A giant printer is painting 40-character life-size tweets about world hunger and poverty across roadways — it’s all part of the ONE Street Tweet campaign.
The street-tweeting campaign launched on Wednesday. The advocacy group ONE started the machine’s engines in Maryland and will continue printing tweets for two days until May 18. People in more than 34 countries have contributed tweets so far. The ONE team wants the leaders at G8′s 3rd Annual Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security to take notice.
“Remember — the whole goal of this action is to take your messages to the G8 on global agriculture to the streets — literally,” the advocacy group wrote in a blog post.
ONE is looking for about 1,000 more tweets. Shortened messages are selected from tweets sent to the @ONEStreetTweet account. Even politicians are submitting their own G8-themed tweets.
@ONEStreetTweet: 3 priorities-children, children & children
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) May 16, 2012
Watch the video above to see the giant ink-jet on wheels in action.
What’s the 40-character political statement you would like the world to see? Share with us in the comments.
Thumbnail image courtesy of ONE
More About: Social Media, Twitter, Video
Facebook Timeline: 9 Best Practices for Brands
Facebook Timeline: 9 Best Practices for Brands
Facebook Timeline officially rolled out to Brand Pages on March 30, but we’re guessing that many marketers still don’t know how to milk the new design for all that it’s worth. A recent study found that fan growth after Timeline has “slowed slightly”– is your company experiencing a bit of a slowdown? If so, we have some tips for you.
Some best practices apply to all social media platforms — be human, be genuine, reply to fans, foster conversation, don’t be gimmicky, and don’t syndicate the same content to every social channel, etc. But the tips below apply specifically to Facebook Timeline Brand Pages and are geared to take your company’s fan base — and revenues — to the next level.
If yours is a small business with little budget for social media or marketing, you need not worry — you can get a lot out of Facebook for free merely by doing it well. The more compelling and engaging your content is, the more it will be “liked” and commented on, thus catapulting your content — and brand — into organic buzz through more and more news feeds.
1. Embrace Images
Timeline is much more image-focused than earlier iterations of Brand Pages, so start snapping. You don’t need to invest in a fancy camera — in fact, it’s a lot easier just to use a smartphone. Show fans what goes on behind the scenes — sketches and mockups always make for good fodder, and “food porn” shots tend to make mouths water and “Likes” escalate. Social media naturally makes brands accessible — use Timeline to offer a peek at the more human side of your brand.
For example, the White House‘s photo of President Obama at a local Washington, D.C. sandwich shop accomplishes multiple goals: It reinforces Obama’s commitment to small business, it gives great visibility and awareness to a small business, and it shows that Obama is a “regular guy” who eats hoagies, just like you and me.
2. Make the Most of Your Cover Photo — It’s Prime Real Estate
“The new cover photo captures the culture and essence of a brand and can showcase their products — it’s the first thing people will see when they visit a brand’s page,” says a Facebook spokesperson.
A recent eye-tracking study noted that consumers pay far more attention to the cover photo than any content on the wall, so put thought into your photo. Are you running a promotion or opening a new store? Use a high-resolution photo, and humanize your brand with faces — the same study found that cover photos with faces attract more attention than those without, evidenced on Rent the Runway’s Facebook Page.
The cover photo is your chance to make a strong first impression — let it tell the story of your brand and pull people in. You can change the cover image as often as you’d like, and you can crop a perfectly sized cover photo here.
Nestled in the cover photo is the traditional profile picture. If you have a snazzy cover photo, then the profile picture is a great spot for your company’s logo. This is the thumbnail image that will accompany the brand’s comments and posts, so it should clearly define your brand — even when the image is smaller than 50 pixels.
3. Pay Attention to Insights
Facebook does a lot of the work for you, especially when it comes to analytics. Your job is to understand what they mean and how to use them to your advantage. Facebook tells you who your new fans are and breaks them down by gender and location to help you get a sense of who you’re talking to on Facebook.
If you’re using a mix of paid and organic tools for nabbing more fans, Insights will tell you how you reached people, so you know whether your time or money are yielding better returns. If you’re a big Excel nerd, you can even export the Insights data for further analysis. Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll see in the Insights dashboard:
- People Talking About This (PTAT) — The total number of people that have engaged with your page, whether they “liked” something, commented, shared or answered a question. This asses engagement beyond the old standards, Likes and clicks.
- Friends of Fans –The aggregate number of friends all your fans have, meaning that each post has the potential to reach these fans (since their “Like” or comment will go on friends’ news feed, thus propagating your content).
- Reach — The total number of people who have seen content associated with your page — this number offers a sense of how far your message has traveled.
- Virality — The percentage of fans who saw a story from your Page and interacted with it, either by “liking,” commenting or sharing. Pay attention to your virality percentage to assess engagement and tweak your content.
4. Highlight or Pin Your Best Posts
Facebook is no longer a chronological river of posts — you can opt to draw more attention to a single post by “highlighting” it. “Highlight” your brand’s most important information by selecting the star icon on the top right corner of any post on your Timeline. Doing so “displays your update across the width of your page, giving more weight to key news,” says Nicole Schwartz, social media and marketing manager at Sprinkles.
Facebook recommends taking advantage of the “Pin to Top” option on your Brand Timeline one post per week to extend the life of the content. When you pin something onto the timeline, it not only becomes larger but also becomes the first item within the Timeline itself. A Facebook spokesperson says Red Bull pinned a month-old video of its sponsored skier Bobby Brown to its Facebook Brand Page, which took the post from 10,000 “Likes” to 12,000 “Likes”. Social media users are bombarded with information 24/7, so pinning helps to cut through the noise and ensure that your fans will see your best posts.
5. Get Your Apps in a Row
What do you find just below the cover photo? Apps. And according to the eye-tracking study mentioned above, these apps get more visibility than everything below them on your Timeline.
Apps now include photos, videos, notes, events and more than 3,000 other options to customize your Facebook Page. For example, if you have a restaurant, you can use a menu app so fans can see your offerings without having to go to your website, and if you have a fashion company, you can use Polyvore.
Any custom-built apps (like ones by Offerpop or Wildfire), campaigns or promotions can find a home here at the top of your Timeline, and you can rearrange the order of the apps and choose a custom thumbnail for the service.
6. Make Use of Facebook’s New Ad Suite
In February, Facebook released a slew of new ad tools to help brands enhance their marketing; Reach Generator is one of these tools.
A study by AllFacebook in January revealed that a post on a Brand Page is seen by just 17% of fans. Reach Generator plays with the news feed algorithm to expose fans to content when they otherwise would have missed it in a way to boost visibility across the platform. Ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s used Reach Generator and became visible to 98% of fans over a 28-day period — a dramatic improvement. You’ve invested time and energy into your social media presence, so shouldn’t people see it? The cost of these tools is tiered based on the number of fans the brand has.
Other new ad tools include Logged Out ads (seen above), Premium on Facebook and Offers.
7. Run Contests to Boost Engagement
People love winning, whether it’s a t-shirt, early access to a sample sale or a free flight to New York. Prizes don’t have to be outrageous but they should be on-brand and relevant. In fact, Offerpop founder and CMO Mark Cooper says contests with “lots of low-value prizes that speak to your audience generate much more participation than one or two high value prizes.” With more odds of winning, fans are more likely to engage, even for something small. A great prize is a grab bag of merchandise and branded swag — offering something on-brand will attract your core demographic instead of freeloaders, says ModCloth Community Manager Natasha Khan.
Keep the Facebook contest as simple as possible to get consistent results and a lot of submissions. Asking fans to “like,” comment, vote or to upload a photo with a tag of the brand are all ways to generate buzz and get friends of fans involved. All of these actions will increase your “reach” on Facebook, and UGC uploads provide you with a slew of content that you could reuse down the line. If you do run a promotion, Cooper advises brands to change the cover photo to promote the contest (but leave out the call-to-action copy, which goes against Facebook’s guidelines) and post about the contest every day, pinning or highlighting for maximum effect.
8. Drop in Those Milestones
Timeline is a digital scrapbook and it’s a great way to tell the story of your brand, much like the Facebook profile can tell the story of one’s life. Populate the earlier space on your Timeline with Milestones — new product launches, memorable moments, and big company advances — and be sure to include a photo. Milestones add a human touch to your brand and encourage consumers to learn more about your company and thus, become more invested in it. Consumers are curious and love to know more about their favorite brands, and Milestones are a great way to make it easy for them while also eliciting “Likes” and subtly marketing your brand.
9. Embrace Your Fans
Because Timeline condenses fan posts into a box on the right, Facebook Timeline transformed the two-way scheme into more of a one-way broadcast mechanism for brands. A good way to mix up your content is to embrace and show off your fans — post their pictures and Instagrams (with a link to give them a shout-out) on your Timeline to put your fans front and center. Rent the Runway’s Style Awards highlight how RTR consumers have worn their dresses, a gesture that would make anyone feel like a fashionista.
BONUS: 10 Innovative Uses of Facebook Timeline for Brands
1. Fanta
The soda company’s branded Facebook Timeline page took advantage of the Leap Year by pretending that the extra day “created a rip in the Fanta space-time continuum and sucked four of our characters: Gigi, Lola, Floyd and Tristan out of the Cover Photo and into the past.”
Fans of Fanta’s Page must engage in its “Lost in Time” game, which requires navigating through the Fanta Timeline, to bring the characters back to the future.
Click here to view this gallery.
What are your best practices for brands on Facebook Timeline? Let us know in the comments.
Series presented by IDG
The Modern Media Agency Series is presented by IDG. 100 terabytes of data is uploaded daily to Facebook, according to IBM. As digital data grows rapidly the need to store, analyze and act on it becomes critical. A broad range of technology vendors will benefit from the data deluge over the next three years. IDC predicts that Big Data spending will jump 40% per year. Check out this IDC Infographic to see what’s hot in the Big Data market…
Image courtesy of Flickr, GOIABA (Goiabarea)
More About: Facebook, facebook timeline, features, Marketing, mashable, Modern Media Agency Series, Small Business, Social Media
9 Essential Viddy Tips and Tricks for Beginners
9 Essential Viddy Tips and Tricks for Beginners
1. Set Your Account to Private
If you’d rather get started on the Viddy platform with a private account, it’s simple to change the settings to protect your privacy.
Go to your profile (the tab with a Rolodex card icon to the far right) and tap the cog icon.
Scroll down to the “Account” section and choose “Privacy Settings.” Simply toggle the “Make Profile Private” option to “On.”
This change means your profile is private and you have to approve new followers, but be aware your videos will still show in the public stream.
To make a video private, tap the padlock icon below the description during the upload process.
Click here to view this gallery.
Here at Mashable right now, we’re all about video. Fifteen-second videos, to be precise. That’s why we’re glued to the new cinematic social app for iPhone, Viddy.
Along with our easy guide to get you started with Viddy, we’ve delved a little deeper into the app to bring you some useful tips and tricks on the app’s inner workings and functionality.
Whether you want to better manage your notifications, edit the information for videos you’ve posted, or learn how to delete comments on clips, we have a useful tip for you.
SEE ALSO: Viddy Highlights: 10 Top Clips From the Social Video App
Take a look through our gallery above. If you’re using Viddy, let us know in the comments below any other tricks you’ve discovered. Why not link us to some of your creations while you’re there?
BONUS: How to Get Started With Viddy
If you’ve yet to use Viddy, check out our easy-to-follow guide to getting started.
1. Viddy
Launched in April 2011, Viddy is available on iTunes for iPhones, iPod touches and iPads. It’s free to download.
The app lets you capture, edit, filter and share 15-second video clips, or “viddys.”
One-click share your creations to popular social networking sites, and find fresh content to watch.
Click here to view this gallery.
More About: apps, features, iphone, iphone apps, Mobile, Tech, trending, viddy, Video
Startup Life: Risking It All to Change Direction [VIDEO]
Startup Life: Risking It All to Change Direction [VIDEO]
In the last episode of TechStars, we saw why some startups need to change direction to find success.
In this episode, we’ll watch as a pair of teams actually pivot toward new concepts and deal with the challenges and pitfalls of their decisions.
Watch the Full Season of TechStars on Mashable
For an entrepreneur who is really attached to his vision, knowing when to scrap it for a new direction can be a difficult skill to develop. Even more difficult is determining if your new idea is truly better than the original. Yet if your startup is floundering, the risk may be worth the potential rewards.
Check out the latest episode above, and be sure to leave your thoughts on the topic in the comments below.
TechStars on Mashable
Getting into a top startup accelerator program can make the difference between a company making it big and being lost in the ether. Mashable is going behind the scenes of that experience by bringing the show TechStars to our community.
We’ve made the entire series available on-demand, and chopped it up into short segments that are ideal for Internet viewing. Over the course of the next couple of months, we’ll also be sharing each episode as part of a Mashable post, giving our community a chance to discuss the themes of each show in our comments section. You can read more about TechStars on Mashable here.
More About: entrepreneurship, Startups, techstarstv, Video
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Apple Wins iPhone5.com Domain
Apple Wins iPhone5.com Domain
Apple has won the domain iPhone5.com after filing a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over it. While it doesn’t necessarily mean the next iPhone will be called “iPhone 5,” it’s likely part of Apple’s strategy to exert some kind of control over the conversation about its next smartphone.
The domain had previously been registered to a company in Australia, but it now belongs to Corporation Service Company in Wilmington, Del., a domain-name registrar company. As The Next Web first reported, Apple probably contracted the Corporation Service Company’s services to take ownership of the domain.
Currently, visitors of iPhone5.com are greeted by a completely blank page, without even a single note or “under construction” notice. Before it was shut down, the site campaigned to have the domain stay independent, telling visitors, “Call Corporate Of Apple and tell them to stop there persuit!! Blow up there phones, Spam there emails, call there Administration! Do something to get our point across.[sic]”
It’s not the first time Apple has publicly wrestled over domain-name ownership prior to a major product launch. Shortly before Apple first unveiled iCloud in 2011, it obtained the iCloud.com domain from Xcerion, a Swedish software company. In that case, the exchange was amicable, with Apple reportedly paying $4.5 million for the URL.
SEE ALSO: Nearly All Rumors Agree: New iPhone Will Have a 4-Inch Screen
The dispute over iPhone5.com better resembles Apple’s acquisition of the iPods.com domain, which it won last year after WIPO ruled that the owner, MP3Gold.com, needed to hand it over.
While the term “iPhone 5″ has been used as the default name for the next iPhone, the domain switch doesn’t mean that will be the official name of the product. Technically, it will be the sixth model of iPhone released by Apple, and with the last iPad launch, Apple eschewed any kind of suffix for the product name, numerical or otherwise.
Whatever Apple calls the next iPhone, the site iPhone5.com won’t show up in searches for the term, or if it does users won’t see any information — real or made-up — about the product. While there will be no shortage of rumors and speculation in the run up to release, Apple’s goal may be to simply deprive casual web users of the most obvious hub they would use to look for info.
What do you hope Apple does with iPhone5.com? Have your say in the comments.
BONUS: What the iPhone 5 Might Look Like
LiquidMetal iPhone 5 Concept
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More About: domains, iphone, iPhone 5, trending
Netflix Sees Swarm of Returning Users [VIDEO]
Netflix Sees Swarm of Returning Users [VIDEO]
Netflix seems to be recovering from the worst blunder in its 15-year history. Many customers who left the online movie hub after last year’s price hike — an epic fail — are returning.
In July 2011, the movie rental subscriber separated its popular unlimited DVD-and-streaming duo into two separate businesses: Netflix and the widely ridiculed “Qwikster.” We wondered if it was “the worst product launch since the new Coke.” Users who only paid $9.99 for the combined unlimited service for years were forced to fork over $16 for the two separate plans — at $7.99 each.
Netflix took a nosedive, immediately losing 800,000 customers immediately in its third quarter. At its peak, Netflix stock traded for around $300. Today, it’s trading on the Nasdaq around $72. But on Thursday, Netflix CFO David Wells announced the company is doing better with a wave of repeat customers, rejoining Netflix for its online streaming and DVD services, according to a CNET report.
So, what’s bringing customers back? Could it be the fancy new Netflix web video player that expands to fit your web browser? Or maybe it’s the new original series appearing on the service. See the video above for more.
Have you ever been a Netflix customer? What changes or consistencies would you like to see in the current online rental services?
More About: netflix, trending, Video
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How Social Media Can Help You Score Your Next Internship [INFOGRAPHIC]
How Social Media Can Help You Score Your Next Internship [INFOGRAPHIC]
More than one-third of employers use social media to research job and internship candidates before they interview — and that number’s only going up.
Employers plan to hire 8.5% more interns in 2012, meaning more applicants will be pursuing a larger number of competitive internships. As a potential intern, your social media profiles will serve as an indicator of your skill set.
This Online Colleges infographic shows why applicants should be giving the same effort to their social media profiles as to their resumes and cover letters.
Take a look through these tips for job seekers and let us know in the comments what has worked for you.
Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, JulNichols
More About: infographic, internships, jobs, Social Media, trending
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What Twitter’s ‘Do Not Track’ Feature Will Mean For You
What Twitter’s ‘Do Not Track’ Feature Will Mean For You
Twitter announced Thursday it will take part in “Do Not Track,” a cookie-blocking feature found in Mozilla’s Firefox browser that’s promoted by the Federal Trade Commission. What does that mean for you, the user?
When a Firefox user enables Do Not Track, the browser prevents websites from using cookies to track the user’s behavior and personal information. Do Not Track only works on sites that have signed on to the service — a list which now includes Twitter.
Cookies can be used for many purposes, including storing information that some, including Google, argue makes browsing the web easier (a weather site might remember your postal code, for example). However, some believe that cookie-based tracking is a breach of privacy. Facebook has previously come under fire for following users around non-Facebook sites.
Cookies are also an essential ingredient for websites serving up advertisements based on user’s behavior or location, called “behavioral ads.” Say, for example, you’re located in New York City and you often tweet about baseball — with cookies enabled, Twitter would know to serve you ads and sponsored tweets that have to do with the New York Yankees.
Those customized ads are an important moneymaker for social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
Different sites use cookies for different purposes. According to Twitter’s privacy guide, Twitter uses cookies to learn how users interact with its services, monitor web traffic and improve its products (including advertising).
If you enable Do Not Track, you’re opting out of having your data collected for those purposes, making you, your profile and your tweets more anonymous. You would also be waving goodbye to those personalized ads — no cookies means no customization data for advertising firms.
However, Do Not Track is not an ad-blocking service, and enabling it will translate into receiving generic ads and sponsored tweets in your feed.
Enabling Do Not Track will also prevent Twitter’s web-based service from remembering your user name and password, preventing you from automatically logging in upon arrival.
Do Not Track is, at its core, a trade off. It asks of you: Do you prefer ease of use and personalized ads, or more anonymity from web services and online advertising agencies? According to Mozilla, 8.6% of desktop Firefox users and 19% of mobile users are choosing the latter, with nearly half of those users reporting they feel more safe surfing the Internet with Do Not Track enabled.
For more information on Do Not Track, visit Mozilla’s website.
We reached out to Twitter for further information about Do Not Track. We will update this post with any response.
Which is right for you — easier surfing or more privacy? Sound off in the comments below.
More About: do not track, FTC, Social Media, trending, Twitter
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