Bitcoin Value Massively Deflates

Any currency is vulnerable to changes in supply or demand. Also, like any other commodity, if a bubble erupts, inflating value in a basically irrational way, a bursting bubble always is possible. And that seems to have happened to Bitcoin, the world's first peer-to-peer digital currency, which has "suffered" from massive speculation.

Bitcoin value fell below $3 in mid-October 2011, a 90 percent fall since the currency hit its peak in early June 2011.

Supporters argue that Bitcoin has fundamental advantages over conventional currencies. The system is designed to transfer funds without a central authority, freeing Bitcoin users from bank fees and government regulations. The Bitcoin protocol offers robust anonymity, and the protocol guarantees that there will never be more than 21 million Bitcoins in existence, which supporters have argued would give the currency a stable value.

Unfortunately, the currency's value hasn't proven stable in practice. Since few retailers actually accept Bitcoins, the currency's value has fluctuated primarily as a bubble-driven commodity.

Bitcoin implodes, falls more than 90 percent

Spotify Gets Traction, Mobile a Big Factor?

Spotify, the music streaming service, seems to be getting traction, though it only launched in the U.S. market in July 2011. 


It still trails the computer-based online audiences of other music services like iTunes and Pandora by a sizeable margin. If it is to catch up with these other services, it will likely be due in large part to the company’s social strategy, which leverages Facebook for social music sharing.


There are some indications streaming music services are  getting traction as specifically mobile apps, as well. If Spotify users behave as Pandora users do, they are using the service on their mobile devices.

Spotify Makes a Splash among U.S. Early Adopters

Half of Web Sales Will Use Mobile, Social Apps by 2015

By 2015, companies will generate 50 percent of Web sales from their social presence and mobile applications, according to Gartner.

All of that points up the many reasons mobile ecosystem participants are ramping up mobile commerce, mobile advertising, mobile payments and mobile wallet initiatives.

In many instances, the difference between a "Web" sale and a retail sale will blur, as well, many would argue. In other cases, a retail sale will be prompted or driven by mobile promotions as well, use a mobile loyalty or payment mechanism.

Vendors in the e-commerce market will begin to offer new context-aware, mobile-based application capabilities that can be accessed either from a browser or installed as an application on a phone.

"E-commerce organizations will need to scale up their operations to handle the increased visitation loads resulting from customers not having to wait until they are in front of a PC to obtain answers to questions or place orders," said Gene Alvarez, research vice president at Gartner. "In time, e-commerce vendors will begin to offer context-aware mobile-shopping solutions as part of their overall Web sales offerings."

50 Percent of Web Sales from Social Presence, Mobile Apps

Android 4.0 Will Unify Tablet, Smart Phone

The new Android 4.0, aside from a striking new visual feel, will be the first version that encompasses both tablets and smart phones.

To meet the needs of users with tiered or metered data plans, Android 4.0 adds new controls for managing network data usage. In the Settings app, colorful charts show the total data usage on each network type (mobile or Wi-Fi), as well as amount of data used by each running application.

Google says Android 4.0 makes common actions more visible and lets users navigate with simple, intuitive gestures. Refined animations and feedback throughout the system make interactions engaging and interesting, Google says. An entirely new typeface optimized for high-resolution screens improves readability and brings a polished, modern feel to the user interface.

Virtual buttons in the System Bar let users navigate instantly to Back, Home, and Recent Apps. The System Bar and virtual buttons are present across all apps, but can be dimmed by applications for full-screen viewing. Users can access each application's contextual options in the Action Bar, displayed at the top (and sometimes also at the bottom) of the screen.

Multitasking is a key strength of Android and it's made even easier and more visual on Android 4.0. The Recent Apps button lets users jump instantly from one task to another using the list in the System Bar.

Android 4.0 Platform Highlights

Bearish View of The Smart Phone Business

Here's a bearish view about the smart phone business. Microsoft and Apple are extracting royalty payments from Google Android suppliers, squeezing their margins.

Apple missed targets for iPhone sales and sales of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry have "collapsed," not to mention the recent multi-day global outage.

Analysts may argue that the rise of products like powerful tablets have hurt smart phone sales. Some of us think that is partly true. Tablet sales have grown much faster than did sales of Apple iPhones or iPods.

So attention now has been diverted to tablets, to some extent. But Mary Meeker, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers partner doesn't appear to share the pessimism.

But lower-cost smart phones now are about to pour onto the market, and the high penetration of mobiles means there still is a huge replacement market.

The Smartphone Business Loses Its Luster

New Facebook Features Get Mixed Reviews from Teens

Teens have mixed reviews about the recent changes on Facebook, according to a survey by GrownUpThinking.

Overwhelmingly, teens are openly and seriously considering spending less time on Facebook as a direct result of the recent changes. Only four percent of teens plan to spend more time on Facebook. According to the  research, 47 percent will maintain the same level of usage, electing to “put up with the annoyances” in order to access the features that made the platform valuable to them in the first place: visiting friend pages, commenting on walls and engaging in chats.

The survey of 2,000 (14-17 year old) teens suggests many find the changes “confusing, annoying, disappointing and useless,” (among comments made repeatedly in our discussion forums).

Teens mention Facebook’s biggest strength is its simplicity and ease of use. Only 19 percent of teens felt that the interface was easier to navigate, with 45 percent saying the page feels cluttered by all of the new features.

Social media fatigue may become a bigger problem, with an onslaught of updates streaming through the newly-added ticker, causing 35 percent of teens to feel “uncomfortable” with the new level of sharing.

But “Timeline” gets a big thumbs up. Timeline received the most praise from teens in our study (27 percent said it was their favorite above all Facebook features). Securing a position on a teen’s Timeline will have meant that your brand achieved a defining connection in the life of a teen. In contrast, apps that are currently auto-posting their way on to Timelines of unsuspecting teens will need to quickly adapt in order to maintain long-term relevance and placement.

Since most teens have between 100 and 500 friends, the ticker scrolls too-fast to provide meaningful updates. The ticker is seen as a distraction, over-communicating their activities without providing any real value. Only 17 percent see any value in viewing friend activity this way, with 31 percent of teens trying to ignore its very existence on the page. They worry that a ticker provides information that “is not theirs to see” in the first place, with the word “stalker” being mentioned on several occasions.

Teens have mixed reviews about the recent changes on Facebook, according to a survey by GrownUpThinking.

Overwhelmingly, teens are openly and seriously considering spending less time on Facebook as a direct result of the recent changes. Only four percent of teens plan to spend more time on Facebook. According to the  research, 47 percent will maintain the same level of usage, electing to “put up with the annoyances” in order to access the features that made the platform valuable to them in the first place: visiting friend pages, commenting on walls and engaging in chats.

The survey of 2,000 (14-17 year old) teens suggests many find the changes “confusing, annoying, disappointing and useless,” (among comments made repeatedly in our discussion forums).

Teens mention Facebook’s biggest strength is its simplicity and ease of use. Only 19 percent of teens felt that the interface was easier to navigate, with 45 percent saying the page feels cluttered by all of the new features.

Social media fatigue may become a bigger problem, with an onslaught of updates streaming through the newly-added ticker, causing 35 percent of teens to feel “uncomfortable” with the new level of sharing.

But “Timeline” gets a big thumbs up. Timeline received the most praise from teens in our study (27 percent said it was their favorite above all Facebook features). Securing a position on a teen’s Timeline will have meant that your brand achieved a defining connection in the life of a teen. In contrast, apps that are currently auto-posting their way on to Timelines of unsuspecting teens will need to quickly adapt in order to maintain long-term relevance and placement.

Since most teens have between 100 and 500 friends, the ticker scrolls too-fast to provide meaningful updates. The ticker is seen as a distraction, over-communicating their activities without providing any real value. Only 17 percent see any value in viewing friend activity this way, with 31 percent of teens trying to ignore its very existence on the page. They worry that a ticker provides information that “is not theirs to see” in the first place, with the word “stalker” being mentioned on several occasions.

Overwhelmingly, teens view apps as not adding value to their news feed. They view apps as “clogging” their wall with “spam” and an unnecessary level of communication. At best, “it depends” on the type of app being used. The top apps on Facebook with teens are Twitter (27 percent), Ticketmaster (21 percent), Yahoo (24 percent), Netflix (20 percent) and Spotify (15 percent).

According to the survey, 25 percent of teens will be using Facebook less and Google+ more, with 10 percent saying they would drop Facebook completely. Among teens that are already using Google+, they rave about the platform as being cleaner and “more social” than Facebook.

Lack of knowledge about Google+ seems to be the biggest barrier to entry among teens who express interest in staying loyal to Facebook. Also, teens have opted for staying with Facebook over Google+ because the majority of their friends are already on it.

Overwhelmingly, teens view apps as not adding value to their news feed. They view apps as “clogging” their wall with “spam” and an unnecessary level of communication. At best, “it depends” on the type of app being used. The top apps on Facebook with teens are Twitter (27 percent), Ticketmaster (21 percent), Yahoo (24 percent), Netflix (20 percent) and Spotify (15 percent).

According to the survey, 25 percent of teens will be using Facebook less and Google+ more, with 10 percent saying they would drop Facebook completely. Among teens that are already using Google+, they rave about the platform as being cleaner and “more social” than Facebook.

Lack of knowledge about Google+ seems to be the biggest barrier to entry among teens who express interest in staying loyal to Facebook. Also, teens have opted for staying with Facebook over Google+ because the majority of their friends are already on it.

Teens react to Facebook changes

Social Media Drives Restaurant Spending

A study of restaurant consumers by Ogilvy and ChatThreads shows that individuals exposed to social content are significantly more likely to increase their spending and consumption than those who aren't exposed.

There was a 2-7 times greater likelihood of higher spending or consumption depending on the media encountered by the study group. The sales impact was most pervasive when social content was combined with other types of media such as press releases, out-of-home media and TV advertising.

Additionally, out of over 20 channels studied, social content exposure was associated with the largest shift in brand perception during a seven-day period.



Despite these strong social content impact findings, consumers are seeing relatively little branded social content during their daily routine. Only 24 percent  of the study group reported exposure to social content, compared to a 69 percent exposure rate to TV ads.

The final report is available  here.

Ogilvy ChatThreads Social Media Sales Impact Study 2011

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