Scobleizer - Latest Comments in Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Sesli Sohbet — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 07:01:16 -0000

thanks for article very

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

SunnyDeigo — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:00:05 -0000

Agreed. It's only popular in a few major metros.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

M.D. — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:21:09 -0000

Excellent article. I think the integration with Yelp would be a great benefit to Facebook. The bad part of Yelp is that people can write bogus reviews...Facebook, by its very nature (friends, groups, etc) is the real person all the time. Connecting the FB account to the Yelp account will allow you to read and discuss reviews of your friends and create the social network that Yelp was trying to create when they started out.

FB has the membership base and Yelp has the businesses and the geographic APIs...great synergy if done right.

I also agree that FB buying Twitter would have been a mistake...Twitter is a great service, but I think it is cloneable, or people will eventually get the same bang from Twitter and a number of other similar services. And how will Twitter monetize their service?

It should be an interesting future in the social networking world.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

julie — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:43:31 -0000

Facebook is the new Starbucks. Soon we'll see it in a bottle at the gas station.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Wireless Videocam — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:40:00 -0000

Facebook taught me a lesson... Because we feel so "comfortable" using it, talking to our friends and all, I made comments that I thought were innocent to a friend, forgetting that the other person I was making reference to, had their friend relay my comment to them! Yikes! Can't be TOO comfortable on Facebook! Crime is increasing. Here's a good place to find a wide selection of wireless video cameras and video security equipment. (Not to mention "covert" cameras...)

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Marc — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:59:43 -0000

I'm still thinking the word "hint" doesn't mean what you think it means. Might try looking it up, then using it properly. It would make your writing at least read with some vague hint of authority or insight.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Chris Lang — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:17:43 -0000

Here is the difference between Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter is a mobile solution. You can Tweet all day long from your phone.

You do not need a computer or especially email.

Watch what your kids do, they are the future of how we will use the Internet.

They don't read email. They send text. They could not live without their phone.

Twitter is an extension of their phone. I saw a table of 10 twenty somethings, 5 couples out to dinner the other night. They did not say one word to each other while waiting for their dinners. All ten of them had their phones out sending texts and did not interact at all with their dinner companions. NOT AT ALL for like 20 minutes on a Friday night.

Facebook is browser based, you have to be at a computer, it is not a phone in your pocket that is an extension of yourself.

Twitter is light, portable and above all TEXT based.

We don't get this because we are marketers, we want to send URLs in Twitter to get traffic to our sites. These kids just want to chat and above all flirt with the opposite sex.

Facebook is last years technology, kids don't even answer their phones, they don't leave voicemails. They TEXT. That is how they communicate, fast and quietly.

That is why Google Friend Connect is going to be such a success, everything you can do on your machine is mobile and has a phone based solution.

Even if you use a mobile Facebook app you still need email to admin it and get alerts. Guess what these kids are using? Gmail!

It is not us old people that will make Google Friend Connect a success, it is adoption by your kids that will make Facebook the MySpace of the next few years.

If Google does not buy Twitter soon, I am going to be wrong majorly for the second time. It was me, Chris Lang that was one of the biggest "Google will buy Digg" poster boys there was.

They came close, I would say Twitter is next. Or maybe not, I have been wrong once before. But just once. LOL

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Lou Paglia — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:11:30 -0000

$500 mil in stock on a $15B market valuation? I don't think they are going to be kicking themselves, they have a strangle hold on this space right now. Even with Facebook entering more aggressively, Twitter's more open platform is a distinct advantage.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Nokia 5800 — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:15:05 -0000

Twitter should have taken the $500 million it was offered while it had the chance. Who knows, in another 6 months Twitter could be passe, and something else (Yelp?) could take its place.

I have a feeling the guys at Twitter are going to be kicking themselves for losing out on that deal. I'll check out Yelp though, looks interesting.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Gail Jordan — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:11:11 -0000

There is life after Yellow Pages! Michael I wish I knew how to contact you and all those in your situation.
I am an ex Yellow Pages employee. I worked in this industry for over 20 years in many capacities. I now help businesses with their Yellow Page exit stratigies. There are ways to begin the transition from YP's to other forms of advertising. The industry works on fear of loss. You know you have had success in the past, and they depend on that to keep you as long as possible. I have the ability to work with all publishers across the US. Please call me at 513-519-4275 EST.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Gail Jordan — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:52:59 -0000

There is life after Yellow Pages! Michael, I wish I knew how to contact you and all those in your situation.
I am an ex Yellow Pages employee. I worked in this industry for over 20 years in many capacities. I now help businesses with their Yellow Page exit stratigies. There are ways to begin the transition from YP's to other forms of advertising. The industry works on fear of loss. You know you have had success in the past, and they depend on that to keep you as long as possible. I have the ability to work with all publishers across the US. Please call me at 513-519-4275 EST.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Anthony — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:49:54 -0000

The integration of social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) with review services definitely makes sense and is happening.

Who do you ask when you need trusted and reliable recommendations, say for a plumber or accountant? In many cases, you will ask your friends or people that you know at work or socially - i.e. you will ask the people on your social graph. This may even extend beyond "one-level" of the graph - e.g. your co-worker's friend who knows an awesome gardener.

We've developed a new service called Kelpp that builds on this idea and allows you to easily ask your Facebook friends for recommendations and tracks their responses. It also lets users define precisely the "things" they're looking for or want to review - so you can find the best places for "inexpensive vegetarian lunch" or "family-friendly italian restaurant".

Try it out at http://kelpp.com - no need to register, just use your Facebook account. We would love to hear feedback - still at the "alpha" stage of development and we have lots more ideas and features planned.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

shokk — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:24:27 -0000

Yelp always seemed useless and redundant compared to other sites. It looks like a crowded Yahoo wanna be. I did not find much use for it.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

fourthrow — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 12:55:57 -0000

I really enjoyed your post but I've never even heard of Yelp. After reading this I'll be sure to check it out.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Jared O'Toole — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 12:15:11 -0000

I definitely see yelp as a possibility. Yelp is an awesome service that is in cities all over the place now.

So yelp has all the business and facebook has all the customers. Almost seems to easy.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Chris Lang — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:22:22 -0000

Scoble,

I am not much of a Facebooker, I use it as a lead funnel, not so much as a marketing medium.

But is there or do you see soon a way of advertising decently? I really hate Facebook's ad system. You can be chugging along fine and Facebook will come back and kill your ad for some TOS full of BS like "Your grammar was incorrect" and you are reminded of AdWords of days past.

Worse yet advertise a product they hate like my site about Google Friend Connect. I gave up on that one.

But even when you do get an ad to run long term, I do not see conversions that are worth a darn. My ads are the same ones that do well in AdWords now. I am not a copywriter, but I can get it right.

Anybody got any suggestions?

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Greg Birch DDS — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:59:53 -0000

You're spot on Robert, small businesses like mine need to socialize our experiences, how about starting with our business hours? Something all of my patients need to know (or I hope they know) check out

http://www.openyet.com

socializing business hours.....yum.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

francinehardaway — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:47:12 -0000

And I just read that FB is running out of money and could be bought by Microsoft. It's like PacMan, this tech world of yours:-)

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Scott Gould — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:17:17 -0000

Scoble good thoughts.

I've been thinking for sometime now how Twitter is about authentic, personal interactions, which I simply do not see fitting into this new 'Facebook-page-like' model that's being suggested.

Comparing to the two phone books is an excellent analogy which hits the nail on the head. Lets go back to basic branding - clarity, niche, specifics. A monetized, business focussed twitter is mixing the wrong markets.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Christopher Coulter — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:00:36 -0000

they inherently embody

Who said anything about me? I was saying I like Zagat and Fodors over Yelp. Expert opinions, well-written and to the point, without all the massive noise. Just my preference, if you'd rather the loud-mouthed slandering New Yakkers, so be it.

And I thought stabbing people who put their hand out, casing your employer (Microsoft sucks etc.) makes you not a shrill and more authentically human, or some social media blather like that. My full modus operandi is a complex and multilayered thing, many masters to serve, more akin to strategy, though I have always loved "strategery", as when you really think about it, it's so much deeper than plain old boring "strategy", it kind of conveys having a strategy about a strategy. A goof that was brilliant, imho. :)

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

bill — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:35:48 -0000

Great, so Facebook could ruin Yelp like they've ruined their own site?

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

curiouserx2 — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:21:09 -0000

Twitter = mindless blabber.
Yelp = Some seriously helpful and well-written content + some quasi-thought out content + some completely insipid and/or mindless blabber.

I'm still going to give Yelp the win on this, and - since I use both (as do a good deal of my cohorts) - I'd be perfectly down with having them combined.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Chris Clark — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:05:18 -0000

Excellent post Robert and great discussion. You folks have really given me some food for thought here... Our current project is called The Senior List.com. It is a consumer-opinion site focused on the senior-services sector. Our goal is to become the gateway to trusted resources for the 50+ demo online. We are also entirely peer-to-peer driven... (yes we are up and fully functional now)

This thread has given me some great ideas to incorporate into our go-forward strategy- thx for that!!! One of our big challenges has been financing the growth of our platform and brand awareness. It's a huge focus right now-

Best to all

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

timepilot — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:45:50 -0000

Facebook is determined to maintain real identity. This is one of its biggest strengths but it is also a weakness. The other day you gave an example of looking for sushi restaurants and using facebook on your iphone to find the ones your friends like. Clearly valuable but why not get reviews from everyone that cares to share.

This is where twitter shines - its inclusive. Facebook is exclusive. Both have their place but when I'm looking for a review of a new movie/car/etc and my friends don't have a clue, I'll be looking somewhere other than Facebook.

Re: Facebook is lucky it missed buying Twitter and now should eat Yelp

Nick Molnar — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:19:30 -0000

I don't think it's as synergistic as you say it is. Yelp has a totally different community, based on shared interests and neighborhoods. Yelp, using a well-aligned community of strangers will do a much better job of gathering reviews than a loose-knit set of friends that Facebook provides. Do I really care what coffee shop my third grade classmate prefers? No.

Honestly, Yelp + MySpace makes a lot more sense. They already have many businesses with pages and the entire experience is much more aligned around content as opposed to communication.