Facebook this week crossed another major growth milestone, announcing that the number of active users on the site (users who have visited in the last 30 days) now stands at a whopping 130 million. Facebook’s active user numbers have grown 30% since it crossed 100 million in August. Since the beginning of the year, Facebook global active users have more than doubled, with significant growth coming both in the US and internationally. Now that’s viral growth! In addition, Compete just released their November US numbers for Facebook and MySpace. Compete estimates MySpace November uniques at 56.4 million, up 2.7% from...
After much hullabaloo and veiled threats from Mayor Bloomberg that property tax rebate checks would not be sent out due to the city's budget struggles, it appears that city homeowners will in fact receive them--possibly in time for the holiday season. After being called out on the idea of withholding the checks, the Bloomberg administration said that they did not have to mail them until June. But officials have begun privately saying they are pushing to get them out much sooner with Councilman David Weprin telling the Times, “Logistically, it might be physically too difficult to get the checks out...
In the fine print of an advertisement, Apple shyly announced that iPhone owners have downloaded 300 million applications through the App Store. Apple mentioned the number at the bottom of an iPhone ad in Friday's edition of New York Times, according to CNBC's Jim Goldman. What's more interesting than that astronomical grand total is what it gives away about the App Store's rapid progress. In Apple's latest conference call held late October, Steve Jobs said he was expecting to see iPhone owners download their 200 millionth application. So if we take the advertisement as fact, that means 100 million...
Social network MySpace is launching a new worldwide service that will let its users watch videos on its mobile site from their phones. Mobile video has not been a smashing consumer success. But MySpace’s mobile site (m.myspace.com) gets more than ten million monthly unique visitors and more than three billion monthly pageviews, the company says. So the introduction of video could give mobile video streaming a big boost. MySpace users will be able to watch any video they’ve uploaded to the web site or marked as a favorite within the Myspace video player. They’ll also get access to branded...
You don’t have to convince me of Digital Media’s power - I’m already a huge believer. While I am happy to see more and more organizations grow in their awareness for their need to take advantage of its many benefits, I am frequently amused/frustrated by the Field of Dreams mentality that seems to be so prevalent in their current approaches. Digital Media is not a magic baseball field. People are not going to come just because you build Social Media applications. Creating a Facebook group for your issue or organization is not going to create a torrent of enthusiasm where...
Social networks have a lifecycle: They start with a small core of early adopters, swell as mainstream users get pulled in by their friends, and then see growth taper off as people get turned off by spam. That's why Friendster is forgotten and why MySpace is looking increasingly stagnant. The price for reaching an audience advertisers care about seems to be a site users can't stand. Facebook, however, isn't following the fashionable trend. By the numbers, there are no signs of Facebook fatigue. The social network's ranks swelled from 100 million in August to 120 million in October. If it...
Political news site The Huffington Post announced today that it has raised $25 million from Oak Investment Partners — significantly higher than the $15 million that was reported by the Times UK in late November. Kara Swisher of All Things Digital says the valuation was slightly less than $100 million. This basically confirms what VentureBeat writer Eric Eldon guessed last month when the funding rumors surfaced: “Like PaidContent said, the funding isn’t closed and the amount isn’t determined.” HuffPo, as it is commonly called, is looking to build on its momentum from the presidential race. You’d expect a lot of...
The Huffington Post has raised $25 million in new funding for its site — a full $10 million more than had originally been projected. The Huffington Post is secured the cash from Oak Venture Partners, as previously rumored and first officially reported in Kara Swisher’s BoomTown column Monday morning. The fresh funding brings the site’s valuation up to almost $100 million, according to estimates quoted in Swisher’s report. “There is an inevitable shift from offline to online with people increasingly getting their news media online, and this election proved how powerful the Huffington Post could be,” an Oak Venture exec...
Liberal news outlet The Huffington Post has announced its latest venture funding round. The news: It's $25 million, not $15 million as previously rumored. The funding comes from the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Oak Venture Partners. No valuation was provided, but AllThingsD's Kara Swisher suggests it's slightly under $100 million. ......
Here’s the official press release from the popular news and blogging site, The Huffington Post, which announced $25 million in funding from Oak Investment Partners this morning. (BoomTown’s story on the funding is here, along with an interview with Oak’s Fred Harman) Sources told BoomTown the investment gives the site–which had 4.5 million unique visitors in September, a quadrupling from a year ago–a valuation of “south of $100 million.” Here’s the official release: The Huffington Post Announces $25 Million In Funding From Oak Investment Partners New York, NY (December 1, 2008)–The Huffington Post, a leading news and opinion site,...
The Huffington Post will announce this morning that it has raised $25 million, in a single investment from Oak Investment Partners. The large round by Oak, which was led by Palo Alto, Ca.-based venture capitalist Fred Harman, will give the popular online news and blog site a valuation of “just south of $100 million,” a source said. The new funding, the Huffington Post’s third, will be used for expansion of its offerings and the hiring of editorial and business talent. “There is an inevitable shift from offline to online with people increasingly getting their news media online, and this...
Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without one. - Confucius Photo: Fotografiert von Mario Sarto There's no denying that diamonds are a traditional symbol of romance and love. Why, a man needs a diamond ring to ask the woman of his dream to marry him, right? But was it always that way? Did you know that someone worked very, very hard to make diamond rings de rigueur in marriage proposals? Or that diamonds aren't actually very rare at all? Or that they make lousy investments? Here 10 Facts About Diamonds You Should Know: 1. The Earliest...
