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LivingSocial Just Declared War On The Daily Deal Aggregators

Why would LivingSocial cut off a source of new customers? A few reasons:

• The aggregators are a potential source of competition. Right now, they are all tiny compared to LivingSocial and Groupon, but new miniature Groupon clones are starting up every day, so the potential value of these aggregators is very real.

• Aggregators compete for the same users in the same channels as the companies they aggregate. A source at an aggregator says LivingSocial explained to them that it didn't want its money reinvested in bids on the very keywords LivingSocial advertises against.

• The pure-play Groupon clone race is over. When LivingSocial still had to establish itself as the clear number two behind Groupon, it made sense to throw money at any possible source of users. At this point, the next-biggest pure-play daily deal companies are a tenth LivingSocial's size, and don't look like a threat. Any new competition will come from different but related business models -- like the aggregators.

via www.sfgate.com

Considering hundreds of daily deal sites out in the wild, deal aggregators are going to win this battle pretty soon even without the affiliate income. Aggregators definitely create more value than standalone daily deal sites.

Facebook vs Twitter - 2010 Social Demographics

via thenextweb.com

Groupon Files Lawsuit Against Australian Clone “Scoopon”

In fact, we tried to do just that, reluctantly offering Gabby and Hezi Leibovich about $286,000 for the Groupon.com.au domain and trademark—an offer they accepted. But now they’ve changed their minds, and we believe that they’ll only sell us the domain and trademark if we’re willing to buy the entire Scoopon business from them. Left with no other options, we’ve filed a lawsuit against Scoopon, claiming that their Groupon trademark was filed in bad faith (amongst other things).”

via techcrunch.com

Easy money... I should have bought groupon.com.tr

Facebook, Twitter, & startup valuations - The best properties always look too expensive

The best properties always look too expensive. Market leaders command the highest prices. It is only a year or two later that they look like great deals. The experts thought Microsoft was crazy when they invested $240M in Facebook at a $15B valuation. Crazy like a fox. Digital Sky Technologies invested $200M in Facebook in May of 2010 at a $10B valuation. The "experts" thought the Russians had gone crazy. What do they think now? Just 7 months later Goldman Sachs is investing $500M at a $50B valuation. No one ever called Goldman Sachs crazy.

via dondodge.typepad.com

Tumblr Now Has More Money & More Pageviews Than WordPress (Including Sequoia Money)

In other words, WordPress has many more publishers and far more site visitors, but people who visit Tumblr blogs view far more pages per person and twice as many pages in total.

At the same time, analytics provider Postrank concludes that WordPress and Blogger.com blogs get far more off-site social media engagement that Tumblr blogs do.

Pick your metric - what matters most? Probably pageviews.

Tumblr has now raised a total of $40 million, surpassing the $30 million WordPress parent company Automattic raised almost three years ago. Automattic is believed to bring in about $10 million per year in revenue, again according to TechCrunch last week. No revenue numbers have been estimated for Tumblr, but the company is presumably monetizing the growing number of blogs it's hosting for big media companies. That's similar to the business that Automattic is in, though much smaller.

Other competitors include SquareSpace, Acquia and SixApart. None are as easy to use as Tumblr is, however.

via www.readwriteweb.com

Mobile Year in Review 2010

2010 was the year mobile connected the world. With stunning statistics, facts, and visual cues, this video takes a tour of key consumer and technology mobile trends across an eventful year. Some highlights of the video include: Massive increase in apps downloaded: - FIVE BILLION apps downloaded - up from 300 million in 2009 Whopping expansion of location-based services - FIVE MILLION Foursquare users -- up from 200,000 users in 2009 Surge in mobile social media platforms - 347 PERCENT growth in Twitter mobile usage - 200 MILLION mobile Facebook Users - 100 MILLION YouTube videos played on mobile devices everyday

via www.youtube.com

The State of the Blogosphere 2010

The question we ask ourselves when examining the state of the blogosphere is whether or not the cup is half full or half empty? Personally, I believe the answer lies in the nature of circumstances. If drinking from the glass, it is then half empty. If pouring, it is half full.

via www.briansolis.com

Smart Fridge by Ashley Legg » Yanko Design

via www.yankodesign.com

FRs Delorean Hard Drive - 500GB

If you're looking for a drive to use as a Time Machine backup for your Mac, what better enclosure could you find than an actual time machine? The Delorean Time Machine Hard Drive ($250) is a 1:18 scale replica of the iconic Delorean from Back to the Future, with details like working doors and hood, a Mr. Fusion reactor, and 1950's wheels + rims, plus a 500 GB Seagate hard drive buried inside.

via www.flashrods.com

TSA gone wild and spent $40.000.000.000

Source: [Criminal Justice Degree]

via www.forkparty.com