The latest from TechCrunch
- Google: There Have To Be Yelps In The World, But…
- Before There Can Be An IPO, First Comes A New CFO For Zynga
- Like Facebook, Twitter Starts Using Algorithms To Bulk Up Social Graph
- Prediction: The RIM BlackPad Will Crash And Burn Just Like The Storm
| Google: There Have To Be Yelps In The World, But… | Top |
| Today during our Social Currency CrunchUp , Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman and John Hanke, a Google VP of Product Management, took the stage. Given that the two companies seem to be at odds with one another recently (following a failed acquisition ), it was a little tense. Specifically, Google’s strong moves into local with their new Places push seem to be going right at Yelp’s core . Sure’s it’s potentially about more than just local venue reviews, but that’s a huge part of it. And that’s what Yelp is all about. Moreover, Google is using Yelp data to bulk up their Places offering . Yelp can’t like that too much. In fact, we’ve heard they’re particularly unhappy because they used to have a deal with Google for this data, but they pulled out of that deal a couple years ago. But Google decided to use Yelp’s data anyway simply by crawling it. Yelp can’t stop them from doing that unless they want to delist themselves from Google — a move which could kill them. On stage, Stoppelman acknowledged that Yelp used to have such a deal with Google. When moderator Erick Schonfeld asked if Google was now getting that data by crawling the pages, Hanke responded with “ Look… ” This drew some laughs from the audience. But Hanke continued by saying that “ there have to be Yelps in the world. ” What he means is that Google needs these type of services to be able to point users to them. Of course, Stoppelman argues that while Google used to point users to services like his, they’re moving towards showing that data on their own pages. He believes that Google no longer likes sending large amounts of data to huge sites. Hanke said that statement wasn’t fair. “ We look at what people want ,” he said. Google is trying to understand Places better — if Yelp has the best content, we’ll show that, he said. He asked if Google knows what information a user is trying to get at, shouldn’t they show it? “ Should be pretend we don’t know what they’re really looking for? “ Stoppelman’s said he understands that argument but believes that if Yelp does have the best content, Google should give people a way to get there as fast as possible. Basically, agree to disagree. When Schonfeld asked about the failed acquisition, Stoppelman coyly noted “I t’s complicated. ” The audience liked that. He caught himself though, “ …whatever may have happened. “ Hanke acknowledged the tension between the two companies. But again, he said it’s all about doing what’s best for the users. Yeah, expect that tension to continue. | |
| Before There Can Be An IPO, First Comes A New CFO For Zynga | Top |
| Social gaming company Zynga is growing at a rapid clip. More importantly, their revenue is growing at a rapid clip . And they need a big gun to handle that. They believe they’ve just got him: Dave Wehner , formerly a managing director at Allen & Company LLC. Wehner is stepping in for current CFO Mark Vranesh , who is becoming chief accountant of Zynga. While they obviously won’t say it, it should be fairly clear what this shuffling is all about: it’s not CFO, it’s another three-letter acronym, IPO. While Zynga is still undoubtedly a ways away from such a move, they have to get their finances in order now. Especially since they’re growing so quickly. At Allen & Co. Wehner was in charge of a number of key investments, including Pandora, Quantcast, and StubHub. He led the corporate finance teams responsible for capital raises and M&A in Silicon Valley. This move follows moves by LinkedIn , who is also position itself for an IPO run. Interestingly enough, it was just reported that a Facebook IPO was just pushed from a possible 2011 timeframe, to 2012 — well, probably . Facebook is obviously a key to Zynga, as most of their users come from the giant social network. But a new investment by Google in Zynga points to the search giant getting into the social gaming realm as well. | |
| Like Facebook, Twitter Starts Using Algorithms To Bulk Up Social Graph | Top |
| Last month, we noted that Twitter was testing a “You both follow” feature , showing users you and another user both follow. That’s interesting, but not particularly useful. Today, they’ve begun to roll out a new “Suggestions for You” feature which looks at who you follow, and who the people you follow follow, and suggests new people for you to follow. Yes, just like Facebook does. This is very useful. In fact, this is arguably the most useful social graph feature that Twitter has rolled out yet. A few weeks ago, Twitter rolled out a new name results area for search — which was incredibly helpful for finding celebrities or brands on Twitter. But this is better. This is all about finding people you may actually be interested in based on your current social graph, but for whatever reason, haven’t connected with yet. Such a feature would be less interesting if it were only tucked away in the “Find People” area of the site. But Twitter is actually going to put it front and center too. When you click on other users’ profiles, you’ll see a “Who to follow” area in their profile space to show similar users that you might be interested in. And when you follow someone, you’ll get other suggestions based on that follow as well. In terms of how they determine these suggestions, Twitter says: The algorithms in this feature, built by our user relevance team, suggest people you don't currently follow that you may find interesting. The suggestions are based on several factors, including people you follow and the people they follow. [thanks Tyler ] | |
| Prediction: The RIM BlackPad Will Crash And Burn Just Like The Storm | Top |
| Sorry, BlackBerry fanboys, the BlackPad — or whatever it will be called — is going to flop in a monumental way. Remember how RIM’s last iDevice clone, the Storm , failed in such a public way? Yep, it’s going to happen all over again. RIM has no business making a consumer tablet. We all need to give major props to Research In Motion. They were really the first major player to make smartphones relevant by offering a nearly-bulletproof mobile emailing system to business. Eventually RIM started making consumer-orientated email devices that worked with personal email accounts. RIM really showed the world that you need email while you were away from your desk. But that’s where their claim to fame stops. Don’t misunderstand the Canadian company’s importance in consumer electronics' history. RIM ranks up there with the best of them, but unless the so-called BlackPad is targeted solely at businesses and enterprise users — and all signs suggest otherwise — the BlackPad will fail. | |
CREATE MORE ALERTS:
Auctions - Find out when new auctions are posted
Horoscopes - Receive your daily horoscope
Music - Get the newest Album Releases, Playlists and more
News - Only the news you want, delivered!
Stocks - Stay connected to the market with price quotes and more
Weather - Get today's weather conditions
| You received this email because you subscribed to Yahoo! Alerts. Use this link to unsubscribe from this alert. To change your communications preferences for other Yahoo! business lines, please visit your Marketing Preferences. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089. |
No comments:
Post a Comment