BranchOut might over take LinkedIn one day

In two years I have gotten a new job, sold my car, moved into a new place, started a very successful blog (SaintelDaily), traveled out the country(Mexico counts), brought two iPads (damn you Apple) and broke up with my long time girlfriend  (Cry me a River comes to mind). That is nothing compared to BranchOut in two years the Facebook dependent company has gained 25 million registered users.  The company works just like LinkedIn but with the same dependency that Zynga has on Facebook.  BranchOut is now considered one of  LinkedIn’s biggest competitors. CEO Rick Marini says BranchOut’s relationship with LinkedIn is; “At this point, it’s Coke and Pepsi.”

BranchOut allows users to see which of their Facebook friends (or friends of friends) work at specific companies. Unlike LinkedIn, it doesn’t require users to build a professional network one person at a time. Rather, they simply connect to their pre-existing Facebook graphs. The interface works a lot like LinkedIn from there: users can fill in their work histories, send messages to their connections, collect endorsements and request introductions to friends of friends.

BranchOut has about 3 million job listing. They work recruiters via a product called RecruiterConnect that works like LinkedIn Recruiter. LinkedIn blocked BranchOut from accessing its API. That has not stopped the  startup from gaining another $25 million in funding, bringing its total venture capital backing to $49 million.

BranchOut is more popular than  Instagram and Twitter on Facebook. They have 13 million monthly unique visitors. Half of new members of the company are from overseas.  They owe that to StepStone and Totaljobs.com which are big overseas.

Facebook IPO: What is in the S-1 to convice you its a good buy?

Facebook’s IPO is going to be as big if not bigger than Google was a few years ago. The S-1 filling document is a very lengthy dry read that most people will skip. We are not most people. The S1 was very insightful. For one thing we don’t have to wonder if Zuck would still be in charge. He will have the most votes based on his type of stock. The shares will be split into “A” and “B” shares, where the latter get 10 votes per share, and the former get one. Zuckerberg presently owns around 28.2% of the share capital.

Facebook had revenues of $3.7bn and had an operating income of $1.7bn.
They had 845 million active users and the numbers are still growing.

Saying Facebook depends on advertising is a common sense but what surprised us is that it only accounts for 85% of the revenue. The rest comes from in-app purchases.

Zynga is almost as important as Mark is for the company. In 2011, they were 12% of Facebook’s revenue. Facebook wrote in that “If the use of Zynga games on our Platform declines, if Zynga launches games on or migrates games to competing platforms, or if we fail to maintain good relations with Zynga, we may lose Zynga as a significant Platform developer and our financial results may be adversely affected.”

The mobile version of the site had 425 million monthly active users in December 2011. There are no ads on the mobile site but that may soon change. The S1 states, “our revenue may be negatively affected unless and until we include ads or sponsored stories on our mobile apps and mobile website. We believe that people around the world will continue to increase their use of Facebook from mobile devices, and that some of this mobile usage has been and will continue to be a substitute for use of Facebook through personal computers. In 2011, we began serving our products from data centers owned by Facebook using servers specifically designed for us.” I wonder will the servers help place ads on mobile devices?

There are 138m shares that have been issued to the employees of Facebook for $0.83. At an expected price of about $45, that’s almost $6.2bn profit for the employees. That is not a bad turn around for a 401K plan.

Zynga & Google Plus team up; CityVille comes to Google+

Google and Zynga announced that it is adding CityVille+ to the new game platform. CityVille which allows gamers to construct and build a thriving metropolis, is Zynga’s largest game on Facebook. Zynga who is already bigger than EA, says in its announcement of CityVille+, Ultimately, we want to make our games accessible to everyone, everywhere – no matter where they play or what platform they play on. The addition of CityVille is a big deal for Google+. Although I don’t think it will get the same engagement on Google+’s gaming platform as it did on Facebook.

LinkedIn was lucky to come out with an IPO when it did; Groupon & Zynga have both backed out of theirs due to volatile market

Groupon is more than rethinking its IPO. It has put it on the back burner. While they claim to not be canceling its IPO they are not in any rush to come out and play in this market.  Groupon had planned to go public after Labor Day but thought better of it. There had been talks of a  planned a roadshow for investors next week. That roadshow has been canceled. So the  $750 million IPO in June it filed for just a few weeks back will have to wait.  Zynga on the other hand is still coming out to play but just a little bit later. They plan to go IPO in September but have no moved that to November.

It was only a matter of time: Google+ gets games (yes, Angry Birds is here)

You knew it was going to happen. It was a matter of time before Google brought the missing part of the social puzzle together. The wait is over people. The still beta and arguably highly successful invite only social network is testing out games.  It is only has a few right now but I am sure the flood gates will open up very soon.  Once games are activated you will be able to play at any time by clicking the games button at the top of your stream. You will be able to see the latest game updates from your circles. When you can browse any invites that you may have or see the games that people you know are playing. The Games page will also have accomplishments just like  Xbox 360 & PS3.

One neat feature is that your circles will only see the updates when they’re interested in playing games as well. So no spamming people with each new score. The developers that are on the list do not number too many but those lucky few will have a very big foot hold on a sure to be big market. Angry Birds and Zynga Poker are sure to get a lot of love. Unfortunately right now its invite only within an invite only beta. So if you go the plus.google.com/games page all you get is a “We’re glad you want to play games on Google+. Don’t worry, your turn is coming up! We’re currently testing with a small number of Google+ users. Please check back soon.In the meantime, why not start a hangout?”

Words with Friends now on Facebook: Productivity in offices just went down

If you thought Angry Birds and Farmville was bad for work productivity. Enter Words with friends on Facebook.  This game will suck you in and never let you go.  I can’t spell never the less spelling fights with my friends and family is still fun.  I use to do this on the iPad but now that Zynga has announced Words with Friends on Facebook. That means there will be less work to get done.  Now before you get too excited. There is not yet any release date that has been announced.

Zynga giving a 100% of the virtual goods purchase prices will be donated to Tsunami relief

 

Zynga the little company that has grown into a game company bigger than even EA, has joined the Internet’s efforts at donating to Japanese Tsunami relief.  You can now do donations through virtual good buying in all of Zynga’s games. I might now have a reason to play FrontierVille, FarmVille or CityVille aside from my younger sibling’s constant request for help with her farm.  100% of the virtual goods purchase prices will be donated to Tsunami relief.

Players who want to donate in the non-Ville game Words With Friends can use the Save the Children button inside the game. Players in all games within Facebook can also send funds using the Zbar, or the bar that sits on top of the game. Facebook will also be donating its traditional 30% cut on the Facebook Credits used to contribute to the relief.

Judging by a rare tweet by Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, Zynga ambitiously wants to raise 2 million through the efforts.

 

Social Gaming: $1B Market In 2011

Social gaming is expected to be a billion-dollar business this year, according to an eMarketer report released today.   I think it is only a before you see retail store get in to this game so to speak.  Say an all virtual Target or Wal-Mart store in CityVille. Maybe a Nike store even.  The floodgates are closed now but it is only a matter of time.

eMarketer says that nearly 62 million US internet users, or 27% of the online audience, will play at least one game on a social network monthly this year, up from 53 million in 2010. In the U.S., consumers will spend $653 million on virtual goods in social games in 2011, compared to $510 million spent in 2010.

These revenues from virtual goods will continue to make up the majority of social gaming revenues in the past but other areas in the business are anticipated to grow. Ad spending is expected to grow to $192 million in 2011 to advertise on social games, which is a 60% increase over 2010. And Lead-gen offers will increase to $248 million in 2011 from $225 in 2010. Ad revenue is actually expected to surpass lead-generation offers as a source of developer revenues in 2012, says eMarketer.

eMarketer’s Paul Verna, author of the reports, says that the future will bring “more branded virtual goods as social gaming matures over the next two years,” with virtual good becoming more of an advertising vehicle for companies. I think now would be a good time to start investing into these companies.  It will be like the Net in early 2000.