GOOG
MySpace killed Friendster only to be gobbled up by Facebook. Six years after NewsCorp bought MySpace for US$ 580 million it’s now sold for US$ 35 million. Google just launched its own “Facebook-killer” yesterday. There is absolutely no evidence yet whether Google Plus or any other competitor or substitute will bother Facebook. There is even less evidence about what’s “in the prices” – what prices? what metrics? what predictability of future cash flows? – so Social Media buyer beware.
While this is just part of the overall digital/ online content evolution, our subject today is TV. One story is a behind-the-scenes account of how Google TV came to be – and what’s at stake if and when they get it right (or when somebody else does it). The other story shows the experiments that “old-media” TV companies are running to benefit from – or to try not to get overrun by – the effects of social media as it regards TV watching. There’s a lot happening, and business models just aren’t defined yet. As we’ve said in our Q4 2010 report, “Experimenting has a cost. Failing to experiment, ditto.”
FastCompany.com has an article in its February ’11 issue about Youtube. Sure, it’s an interesting read for those interested in Youtube and Google, or in media, advertising and online services in general. But there were other good takeaways or at least building blocks that we list in the post.
As reflected in Buysiders posts since we started it, we’ve been increasingly interested in and puzzled by networks. There has been a number of talks, books and studies on how to take advantage of social networks – and certainly not just those of the online world. But many behaviors are non-linear, counter-intuitive and therefore extremely hard (perhaps impossible) to model, which has the potential consequence of generating tons of opportunities.
Three articles over a one-month period regarding Google. First, there was a “pessimistic” piece at Fortune magazine on July 29th with a decent, superficial review of the current state of e-marketing. Then the WSJ interviewed Eric Schmidt on August 14th, getting a highly controversial (and probably misunderstood) quote. Given the level of scrutiny GOOG faces, it’s clear that he needs a PR person next to him ASAP. Anyway, the CEO piece motivated an NYT op-ed by William Gibson on August 31st with a great summary of what Google is or could become.
The Wall Street Journal has a nice piece today on Google’s option repricing bonanza now that the stock is back to the US$ 500′s. Not a second too soon, not a bit exaggerated.
