Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

Here Come the Investomers…

Friday, June 17th, 2011


(image from loyal3.com)

In the very near future, you’ll be able to buy stock in a company you like by clicking three times within a Facebook app. Yes.

The start-up behind this investing revolution is Loyal3, and its goal is to make a boatload of money. But its other goal is to make it easy (and free) for average people to buy stock in the companies they like. And its other other goal is for companies to make it easy (and free) for average people to buy stock in their company, and thereby earn more loyal customers. Uh, investomers.

Amazing, right? The Internet and mobile technology have already revolutionized philanthropy – now anyone can donate $10 instantly with just a text message – so it was only a matter of time before the financial industry got in on the action. (Ahem.)

But this guy is a little concerned about making “mindless” investing available to the next generation. Why encourage people to buy stock without first giving them the proper tools for learning about the health of the company? Loyal3 could be a great opportunity for young investors who want to try out their growing knowledge about investing. But it could also be the next bad idea – we’ve seen the damage that can be caused by blindly handing money over to people who make promises without showing us what’s behind the curtain.

Would you buy stock on Facebook if there were no fees associated with it?

Who Owns Facebook?

Friday, March 4th, 2011

who-owns-facebook.jpg

i.e., Who’s profiting from your news feed addiction?

Facebook isn’t publicly-traded, which means you can’t buy stock in the company on any stock market. But it seems to have found plenty of well-heeled investors without reaching out to the great unwashed masses (i.e., us).

Goldman Sachs-Facebook Deal Actually Was Too Good To Be True

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

“It was supposed to be Wall Street’s hottest tech deal in years: the private offering of as much as $1.5 billion in shares of Facebook Inc… Goldman bankers burned up the phone lines in the first week of January, pushing many of their best American clients to invest in the deal. And then, on Sunday and Monday, those same advisers were on the phone with those same clients with some bad news. They wouldn’t be getting any Facebook shares, after all… Goldman worried that the media spotlight surrounding the private offering might violate U.S. securities laws and expose the firm to legal action.”

What do you think?

How would you feel if your bank promised you something it couldn’t deliver? How much would you risk to be one of the first investors in a hot company like Facebook?

Own A Piece Of Facebook! TILE Two-Liners 1.3.11 >> 1.7.11

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

MONDAY

  • The National Weather Service and the stock market go together like frigid weather forecasts and rising oil prices. That’s cold. (Reuters)
  • Big news: “It’s hard to anticipate the direction of financial markets.” (thanks for the heads-up, Wall Street Journal)

TUESDAY

  • Middle-aged white guys at Goldman Sachs value Facebook at $50 billion, scramble to get a piece of it before the company’s stock becomes publicly available. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 6,000 new jobs at dollar stores are still new jobs, aren’t they? (CNN)

WEDNESDAY

  • Microsoft-Google deathmatch: Who gets to provide email services to the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife? (Wall Street Journal)

THURSDAY

  • Reason 1,174 to be glad you’re a person and not a state: States lost an average of 30% of their revenue in 2009. (The Washington Post)

FRIDAY

Jumo Picks Up Where Facebook’s “Causes” Left Off

Monday, December 6th, 2010

Jumo.com wants to “do what Yelp did for restaurants.” But do people want to connect with nonprofits as badly as they want to eat tasty food?

  • Chris Hughes, one of Facebook’s founding fathers (and if you watch the movie, they’re alllll fathers), has started a new kind of social networking site all about connecting people to the issues they care about.
  • Jumo indexes charities, projects, and causes to help users learn about them. It also gives charities big and small easier access to potential supporters.
  • Users sign up with their Facebook account, so sharing donation announcements and favorite causes/ organizations with friends is easy. The site also has some familiar Facebooky features – users can share and comment on pages, and see which organizations their friends like.

Facts & Figures

  • Hughes was the Chief Digital Organizer for Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008
  • Only 9% of the $300 billion in donations in 2009 were submitted online
  • Jumo launched with over 3,000 issues and organizations on the site

Best Quote

“It’s still not clear whether or not followers translate to volunteers and donors. But people that are more engaged with nonprofits are most likely to become a donor or support them in another way.” – Steve MacLaughlin, Director of Internet Solutions at BlackBaud, a tech consultancy serving nonprofits

Media Outlets Are Betting On Tumblr

Friday, August 13th, 2010

Many media companies are using Tumblr to reach out to their readerships.

  • Tumblr is considered the new hot social networking tool, and many media outlets are hoping it will become the next big thing.
  • Although Tumblr’s audience is currently much smaller than Twitter’s or Facebook’s, the companies that have chosen Tumblr think that the audience will expand greatly in the near future.
  • Tumblr’s greatest asset is the way in which it allows users to create a page that reflects their personality.

Facts & Figures

  • Tumblr currently has 6.6 million users.
  • An estimated 25,ooo new Tumblr accounts are created daily.
  • The company recently raised $5 million in venture capital.

Best Quote

“Going back 20 years, publications like Rolling Stone didn’t interact with readers except for letters to the editor. One of the realizations that cultural leaders and publishers have had is that there is a lot of expertise, wisdom and ideas in their readership.” –James E. Katz, professor of communications, Rutgers University

Using Social Media To Nonprofits’ Advantage

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

Nonprofits are learning that the interactive and communicative elements of fund-raising are essential for raising money with social media.

  • On Facebook, direct fund-raising has proven to be unsuccessful.
  • Nonprofits raise more money when donors can engage in the philanthropy (through dialogue and games, for example) rather than direct solicitations.
  • Establishing relationships between Facebook users and real-world outcomes has led to more people donating to a cause.
  • Zynga (the largest game developer on Facebook) has partnered with Water.org and Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) and has raised more than $130,000 for the causes.

Facts & Figures

  • 61.1% of nonprofits reported little to no results when fund-raising through social media.
  • More than 235,000 nonprofits are on Facebook, but a relatively small number of them have donor funds.

Facebook A Fundraising Flop For Non-Profits

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

It was a good idea, but it hasn’t quite worked out on popular social-networking site Facebook. Have you joined a Cause? Have you given money to that Cause?

  • The “Causes” Facebook application has become popular among nonprofits hoping to raise money through the vast circles of people connected through social networks.
  • While many organizations have no difficulty getting users to become supporters (no financial commitment is required to become a supporter), very few have had success raising money from those supporters.
  • Although Causes is free for organizations to join, it often uses a significant amount of staff time for nonprofits to develop and maintain their presence on Facebook.

Facts & Figures

  • Fewer than 1% of people who join a Facebook Cause actually donate money to that Cause.
  • More than 25 million Facebook members (of 200 worldwide) have signed on as a supporter of at least one Cause, but only 185,000 members have actually given money through the site.
  • Only two organizations (out of 179,000), the Nature Conservancy and Students for a Free Tibet, have raised more than $100,000.

Best Quote

“I definitely think it’s first and foremost a tool for brand and reputation. It definitely does more for influence than for fundraising.” – Sue Citro, Digital Membership Director at The Nature Conservancy

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