What else can you buy for $16 billion?
A billion dollars isn’t what it used to be but it’s still substantial. You might wonder, as I did, what else in the world might be worth $16 billion the sum Facebook will pay (unless it pays $19 billion) for WhatsApp. As it turns out there are lots of things and people in the $16 billion […]
Facebook WhatsApp Red Ocean, Google Nest Blue Ocean
I come here to bury the WhatsApp conversation not to praise it. The Noble Om hath told you Zuck was ambitious. And grievously he is paying for it. Yes, $19 billion dollars. Yes, half a billion people use WhatsApp and its on its way to being the ne…
Twitter’s Problems
Twitter is having a bad day. They did put up some good numbers, indicating real progress on their revenue management, which is just another way of saying they are now a successful ad platform. Great, but that’s only as good as your ability to drive audience growth and engagement, and here Twitter is having a […]
Who Spiked the Enterprise Activity Stream?
As someone who leads products and even before I did, I’ve never understood the obsession with feeds and activity streams in the context of enterprise social software applications or for that matter, enterprise software applications. The bedrock of the fabled “Facebook for the Enterprise” meme was the feed and enterprise software applications rushed to re-produce […]
pretzel logic: l’acte deux
Five years ago I started this blog because I felt really strongly about an ill conceived contention in a blog post about the promise of RSS. Hours before I read that post, I had no intention or desire to blog but I felt really strongly about my PoV and decided to put up a blog […]
How we can create open standards for social business
Open standards have long been a major boon to information technology users because of the many benefits they confer: Interchangability, economies of scale, interoperability, efficiency, open markets, and avoidance of lock-in. The list goes on and has led to countless success stories and even the creation of entire industries. Not coincidentally, open standards have also […]
Social Media is Really Tough in China. At Least There is Quora.
SaaStr is in Shanghai for the month of July. While I have internet access and an iPad … it’s tough to stay connected with the domestic SaaStr audience. Why? Well, first almost everything is blocked: Facebook, Twitter, WordPress (as an app and URL — individual sites with custom URLs sometimes barely work, sometimes not at […]
Recording versus Experiencing
Experiencing versus record keeping – it can’t be a new concept. Are we currently equipped to do both at the same time? Some would argue that continuous recording of life events gets in the way of the experience and prevents you from moving on. It’s not hard to see that when you go to a […]
What If You Fired Your 8 Million Most Influential Users?
What if you were running a big web business and you fired your 8 million most influential users? Would that be a smart thing to do? Would your shareholders be happy? Would your board be happy? What possible reason could you have to do such a thing? What perceived advantage would offset the cost of […]
Is GetGlue in the Middle of a Customer Service Meltdown?
And if they are – do they even know it? Since Friday afternoon, I have received 108 notification emails from the social networking site for TV fans (it works by allowing users “check in” to shows they’re watching and share that information with their friends). Turns out, I’m not the only one – a quick […]
