Do Friends Influence Purchases in a Social Network?
Stephanie Hoefken
In spite of the cultural and social revolution in the rise of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace (and in South Korea, Cyworld), the business viability of these sites remains in question. If friends influence the purchases of a user in a social network, it could potentially be a significant source of revenue for the sites and their corporate sponsors. Using a unique data set from Cyworld, HBS professor Sunil Gupta and colleagues empirically assess if friends indeed influence purchases.
The Facebook Vanity URL Landrush
Jeff Whang
According to a highly reliable source, Facebook will soon be allowing all users to claim a vanity URL, of course keeping trademarks with their proper owners and generic terms blacklisted. But if anyone remembers how custom URLs were scooped up during the dot com days, expect this to be eerily similar.
Facebook Application Revenue Cashes In
Darlene Lo
Ad Age predicts that apps revenue on the Facebook platform will bring in more money than Facebook revenue this year. Although the social network has never charged developers for using their platform before, they will begin to charge a fee in the coming weeks. Facebook apps, which sometimes feature advertising, might be open to more advertising to help their profit margins stay the same.
Introducing Google Wave
John Keehler
Learn about Google’s new product, Google Wave, which is poised to change the future of applications and communication. According to the Official Google Blog, the best explanation of Google Wave is as follows: “A “wave” is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.”
Twitter’s Piggyback Industry
Brian Kress
The shorter the message, the less space you have to be taken up by pesky links. Twitter, the current king of short messaging, has built a massive need for the shortening of links. Enough so that link-shrinking sites are constantly popping up, even though, as per usual in web 2.0, most lack a clear plan to make money. Forbes gives us a look into the business shortening links.
Twitter: The Killer Small Business App?
Jeff Kauffman
Smallbiztrends.com highlights a local New Orleans pizza kitchen and its clever use of Twitter, claiming 15% of its sales on a given day. But is Twitter shaping up to be just a “killer small business app,” or can its functionality be applied on a broader scope? Immediacy and the ability to target people within a specific geographic location are the two driving forces behind Naked Pizza’s success. It would be a safe bet that small and large business alike could benefit from two such attributes.
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