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    Blog · Research

Kony 2012: High-Beta Activism

By Byrne Hobart On March 12, 2012

The “Kony 2012” video has gotten tens of millions of people briefly, marginally interested in a semi-retired warlord whose current troop strength numbers in the hundreds. It’s a noble effort to solve a comparatively small problem—essentially everyone who can do anything about Joseph Kony is aware of him, and has been for years.

Whatever…

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LinkedOut, Klout discounts, and how to destroy an MMORPG

By Byrne Hobart On March 12, 2012
Includes: AMZN • ATVI • GDOT • GOOG • LNKD • NFLX • NYT • SPTF • TWIT • ZNGA

Google Updates Google is already using their new privacy policy to offer search across devices; a desktop search (for a restaurant, for example) will be connected to the mobile search experience (giving users a shortcut to the restaurant’s location and hours, for example). This shouldn’t have a measurable revenue impact in the short term, but…

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A LivingSocial Credit Card, Attrition at AOL, and Netflix’s Odd SEO Angle

By Byrne Hobart On March 5, 2012
Includes: 4SQ • AMZN • AOL • GOOG • LNKD • LVSCL • MSFT • NFLX • YELP

Google Updates Google’s new privacy policy is now in effect. Expect the sky to fall, or for all of your ads to be slightly better-targeted. Danny Sullivan points out that although Google+’s numbers don’t look good, Google is forgoing lots of revenue to promote the service. That’s telling. This Google search screenshot is making the rounds. The…

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LinkedIn undercuts Google, Office for iPad, and better journalism through algorithms

By Byrne Hobart On February 27, 2012
Includes: AAPL • ADBE • FB • GOOG • LNKD • LYV • MSFT • NWS

Why Office for the iPad Makes Sense

The Daily claims—with screenshots to prove it!—that Microsoft Office is coming to the iPad. Dan Frommer reasonably points out that this would be a smart way for Apple to get into enterprise, and it would not exactly be a brilliant strategic move for Microsoft to be…

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The New Economics of Conflicts of Interest

By Byrne Hobart On February 27, 2012
Includes: AOL • GCI

In a case study on journalistic objectivity, someone whose paycheck is derived from an established media paradigm lashes out at the business model of competitors that are eating his employer alive.

Irony is alive and well: this writer’s chosen means of digging into his competitors: their conflicts of interest.

The article doesn’t have to…

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Does the Pageview Ecosystem Support Deep Thoughts?

By Byrne Hobart On February 21, 2012

MG Siegler asks why bloggers post such repetitive, superficial analyses. Tom Limongello wants to know why there isn’t a “startup blog” rather than mere tech blogs. Nick O’Neill discovers that Forbesgot a ton of traffic for repackaging a far better NYT story.

These posts are all asking the wrong question: if we can recognize quality (or the lack…

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More data exhaust, the eBay strategy, and de-anonymizing writing

By Byrne Hobart On February 21, 2012
Includes: AOL • DMD • EBAY • GOOG • TRIP • TWIT • UPS • WBMD • ZNGA

Google Updates SEOmoz analyzes how Google handles local results. In most cases, Google puts Places results ahead of local organic results, but generally behind at least a few national results. This is something worth tracking over time, though; Google has shifted their local-versus-national and Google-owned-versus-web leanings several times in the past. Google is truncating results…

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Why Does Anyone Tolerate Skimlinks?

By Byrne Hobart On February 13, 2012
Includes: AMZN • GOOG

Pinterest has been growing absurdly fast (despite a laid-back work culture. It’s gotten to the point that marketers are doing a find/replace on their old “How to use Twitter” blog posts.

So it’s inevitably time for some sort of weak backlash. This time, the problem is their revenue model. They have one: they’re modifying links to…

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The market price of privacy, inside Zynga, and even more on Santorum

By Byrne Hobart On February 13, 2012
Includes: BZFD • FB • GOOG • LNKD • MSFT • TWIT • ZNGA

Bing Hates Santorum, Too

Danny Sullivan notes that Rick Santorum’s “Google Problem” is a “Bing problem,” too. The standard argument here is that the “Spreading Santorum” site is obviously and explicitly an attempt to manipulate search engines. The whole point of such campaigns is to create links and online activity that make the manipulated…

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Facebook Goes Slightly More Public

By Byrne Hobart On February 6, 2012
Includes: EBAY • FB • GSVC • LNKD • MS • ZNGA

Facebook’s S-1 was a disappointment. Not that the company isn’t impressive—far from it—but the S-1 mostly reveals that Facebook has already been a de facto public company for at least a year or two.

The revenue and net profit numbers we’re seeing are in line with existing estimates, the engagement numbers are largely trending in the…

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