U.S News (October 25)
The Islamic State has proved remarkably hard to stamp out, partly due to its media agility. “The rise of the Islamic State group resembled a digital media start-up, using the same strategies that social media sites like Buzzfeed, Vox or Upworthy have employed…. Their content is relevant, acculturated, localized and focused: an audience-first approach that perfectly matches our 21st century media culture.” The Obama administration also “embraces digital technology,” but in stark contrast “finds itself in the role of a traditional company being disrupted by an agile digital media start-up.”
Tags: Buzzfeed, Digital, Focused, Islamic State, Localized, Relevant, Social media, Start-up, Upworthy, Vox
Wall Street Journal (April 14)
“Social media companies quickly are becoming the dominant news providers for many Americans and citizens across the world. The implications of this revolution are significant for how we understand the information ecosystem and our democracy.” Facebook has become far and away the most common source of news in the U.S., followed by Twitter.
Tags: Democracy, Dominant, Facebook, Information ecosystem, News, Revolution, Social media, Twitter, U.S.
Bloomberg (January 11)
“For many young people today, there’s a new rite of passage that’s bigger than learning to drive: getting your first phone number.” In 2014, only 77% of Americans aged 20 to 24, possessed a driver’s license, down from 92% in 1983. The ability of social media to bridge distance may be one factor accounting for the pronounced trend.
Tags: Distance, Drive:, Driver’s license, Phone, Social media, U.S.
CFO.com (October Issue)
“After years of treating Big Data almost exclusively as a way to aid marketers and drive revenue, companies are starting to explore its risk management capabilities. Increasingly, they’re looking for patterns in their internal emails and audio files and on social media to spot and avert a plethora of potential risks.”
Tags: Audio files, Big Data, Capabilities, Emails, Marketers, Patterns, Revenue, Risk management, Social media
Euromoney (April Issue)
“Blackouts have become so widespread on the island of Mindanao that social-media users have taken to calling the energy secretary the secretary of darkness.” This highlights the need for infrastructure, not just in the Philippines, but throughout much of ASEAN where the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates “infrastructure projects will require sustained annual investment of approximately $60 billion a year to 2020.” Banking giant HSBC believes “demand in Asia as a whole might reach $11.5 trillion by 2030.”
Tags: ADB, Asean, Asia, Blackouts, Energy, Infrastructure, Investment, Mindanao, Philippines, Social media, Widespread
Barron’s (July 25)
There is a social media bubble. “Investor enthusiasm for social-media stocks is way overblown.” To illustrate Barron’s points out that 8 social media companies (Facebook, Groupon, Zynga, LivingSocial, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pandora Media and Zillow) with recent or potential IPOs only earned combined revenue of $3.5 billion. Alone, the Washington Post earned $1 billion more than the eight companies combined, but the market value of the Post is just $3.4 billion. In contrast, Twitter has been valued at $8 billion and Facebook’s theoretical value is $100 billion. While these may be great companies, they appear to be bad stocks for investors.
Tags: Bubble, Facebook, Social media, Twitter, Washington Post
