Monthly Archives: December 2013

Rise of the Messaging Service

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Two years ago a friend asked me if I was on Whatsapp, to which I promptly replied “What app??” After heavily investing my time on Facebook, Twitter et all. I was not looking forward to using another product on a daily basis. But if I wanted to stay in touch with friends in India I little choice. To my surprise I was so attached to the service that I paid to renew earlier this year. 

This morning I came across a rather ominously worded article “Facebook ‘dead and buried’ as teens switch to Snapchat and Whatsapp”. The article based the claim on a study conducted on British teens and found that they were embarrassed of being on Facebook.

“Not only are 16-18 year olds moving on to rivals such as Snapchat, Whatsapp and even Twitter, teens are embarrassed to be so much as associated with Facebook, as their parents adopt the network, researchers said. Continue reading →

Social Media – The Year that Was (2013)

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Social Media certainly had an interesting year in 2013. From several high-profile announcements to acquisitions, some stories really caught us by surprise. Here is my take on some key announcements and my expectations for 2014.

1. Twitter went public

The “global town square”, Twitter has time and time again showcased the power of 140 characters to spread the word, shape public opinion, and literally change lives. The Obama presidential campaign, Arab Springs and the recent shaming of Justine Sacco are just a few examples.

Hashtags and twitter trending topics is how most of learn about whats happening around the globe. So it was not that surprising that Twitter is now a publicly traded company expected to return value to shareholders. In my opinion, Twitter IPO was handled  much better than that of Facebook. Yet they have to make a number of improvements and enhance their advertising solutions  before they start reaping the rewards.

2. Yahoo acquired Tumblr

To everyone’s surprise Yahoo acquired Tumblr in May for $1.1Bn. Thus far Mayer is yet to make any remarkable changes to the site, other than a few ads on the personal blogging site. Continue reading →