Tomorrow is IPO day for Facebook and as it goes to the market, with a valuation of $104bn, there are a raft of stories circulating about problems with its commercial operation.

Forrester has put out a report that takes a look at Facebook and how it works for marketing…except their take is that it doens’t work. General Motors ring any bells? Read More »

Pinterest, the online notice board, has added another billion dollars to the value of social media as it raises $100m from investors and picks up a valuation of $1.5bn. The valuation is more than a seven fold increase on the $200m it was valued at the end of last year.

The valuation puts it on a par with Instagram which was bought by Facebook last month for $1bn in cash and stock. Read More »

The WSJ is reporting that General Motors is planning to stop advertising on Facebook after deciding that paying for ads on the social network has little impact on consumers when it comes to car purchases.

That is a significant blow to Facebook as it prepares for its IPO on Friday. Yesterday Facebook increased the planned price range for its stock to $34 to $38 per share amid growing investor excitement. The new price will see it raise about $12.8bn and values Facebook as high as $104bn, but without big advertisers that figure could quickly fall. Read More »

While many of us currently search for products on social media sites there are as yet few purchases that are happening directly. That, however, is likely to change massively in the next three to five years.

As this infographic details the opportunity for the social shopper has barely been scratched. Read More »

I held out for as long as possible, but a few months ago, I allowed my 11yr old son to open a Facebook account (their ‘terms of service’ state they have to be 13). Frankly, I was just as concerned about the necessity of lying about his age as I was about the safety issues, and even more so about the temptation to spend yet more time in front of a screen. Read More »

Facebook is finally launching an App Store of its own. The store is currently in beta testing, but the idea is for something similar to the Apple or Google app stores. It will provide a place to promote and discover new social apps and is due to go live in the coming weeks.

Significantly as well as helping us all find new Facebook apps it will also allow developers to charge users for downloading apps for the first time. Read More »

Interesting piece from 10,000 Words blog looking at how the The Wall Street Journal is using Facebook’s Timeline tool to cover Facebook’s initial public offering.

The WSJ has created a special Facebook page that lays out the IPO and tells the story of Facbook. Read More »

Facebook’s share of internet advertising has rocketed, putting it on track for a staggering 60% revenue surge to £288m this year alone (source). While this is all well and good, the 2012 Facebook Ads Report from Social Fresh, in partnership with Buddy Media, suggests that marketers are still missing a number of huge opportunities which could significantly enhance their paid strategy on Facebook.

I was amazed to see that many marketers have yet to appreciate the power of word of mouth marketing and take advantage of Sponsored Stories. Peer-to-peer marketing is set to outperform most, if not all, brand-to-consumer messaging. With this in mind, why are 55% of marketers not using Sponsored Stories on Facebook? These are even more engaging than call-to-action advertisements and use ad creative produced by consumers or brands. Read More »

It was only a few months ago that frictionless sharing was being talked about as the future of social media. It followed Facebook’s launch in September of what it called a “new breed of apps” that displayed video, music and news alongside its new timeline profile feature.

While initial results from the likes of The Guardian, The Independent and The Washington Post were very positive, with millions signing up for these Facebook social apps, that trend has now gone into steep reverse indicating the problem of over-sharing. Read More »