Mediaboss Marketing

It's not fair to call Renren (NYSE: RENN) the Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) of China, but mostly because it's a disservice to both companies.

China's leading social networking website operator posted better-than-expected quarterly results last night. Net revenue soared 41% to $45.2 million, fueled by a 40% pop in revenue at its namesake website and a 102% surge at its Nuomi daily deals platform. Renren's adjusted deficit narrowed at a time when Wall Street was bracing for a widening loss.

You don't have to dig deep to find the differences between Renren and Facebook. The growth at Renren's social networking site is stemming primarily from online games, which now account for 57% of total revenue. Facebook naturally has its vibrant social gaming ecosystem, but the bulk of Facebook's revenue comes from Internet advertising.

Facebook's bread-and-butter business is more like bread crumbs at Renren. Online advertising accounts for just 21% of the company's business, and that's shrinking. Internet marketing revenue rose by less than 5% over the past year. Online gaming is the real driver here with its 53% ascent.

Then we get to Nuomi. The social commerce platform is naturally going to be compared to Groupon. This is a strategy that flopped at Facebook. The world's leading social site seems to be gaining traction with Facebook Gifts now, but its attempt to take on Groupon in the daily deals space a couple of years ago failed to gain traction. The flash sales model that Groupon made popular seems all but dead domestically, but it's a different story in China where even leading online retailer Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) rolled out a new daily deals channel earlier this year.

We'll get another snapshot on flash sales websites in China when Dangdang reports on Thursday.

Renren's Nuomi is a success, even if it remains a sliver of Renren's overall business. There are now 3.1 million active paying users, up 69% from the 1.8 million people that took advantage of a Nuomi deal a year earlier. With revenue there more than doubling, we can conclude that the average active user is spending more on Nuomi.

The near term may get challenging. Renren's guidance calls for revenue growth to decelerate, climbing 23% to 27% in the current quarter. The $55 million to $57 million that Renren is targeting is shy of the $61 million that analysts were modeling. Renren isn't providing bottom-line guidance, but it's not likely to be pretty. The dot-com speedster made it a point to emphasize that it will expand its spending on mobile and other growth initiatives that won't pay off right away.

Yes, Facebook is also being pressured to make the most of the mobile migration, but it has had some initial success in the monetization process. Renren's just getting started on that front.

Facebook and Renren are two pretty different models, but it doesn't mean that investors can't win by owning both fast-growing companies.

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Renren Zigs, Facebook Zags

BELMONT, CA--(Marketwired - May 14, 2013) - Actiance, helping organizations benefit from communications, collaboration and social networking, today announced its inaugural user conference May 16- 17 in New York City. The conference is in response to customers requesting a forum to interact with company leaders and industry experts to share insights into the burgeoning unified communications, collaboration and social networks marketplace to better unleash social business.

Today, organizations use all kinds of applications and networks to communicate including Microsoft Lync and SharePoint, IBM Sametime and Connections, Jive, Chatter, Skype, public instant messaging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter -- just to name a few. Effective social business deployment includes benefits like higher productivity, better customer relationships, faster time to market, and increased business. But there are new challenges, too. Content security and regulatory, legal, and corporate governance issues highlight the importance of communicating in a way that keeps people and their organizations out of trouble.

"The proliferation of new and evolving communications channels in conjunction with increased governance and regulatory requirements poses many challenges for organizations seeking to unleash social business," says Carol Alexander, VP of Marketing, Actiance. "Unleash 2013 provides a forum for our customers, partners, including sponsors Symantec, IBM and LinkedIn, and industry experts to come together to seek answers to these unique challenges."

Customers will learn about how to unleash social business and drive social engagement during the keynote by CEO Kailash Ambwani. Rob Koplowitz of Forrester will lead a panel that will explore how to fully exploit enterprise social and the critical role of risk mitigation in driving adoption. Attendees will hear from industry leaders including:

Unleash 2013 event sponsors, exhibitors and partners are a key part of the conference, showcasing the latest in relevant services and solutions. Attendees will be able to learn about Actiance and partner offerings, catch a demo in the Solution Showcase or network with industry leaders throughout the event.

For more information on Actiance or its products, please visit:

http://www.actiance.com http://twitter.com/actiance https://www.facebook.com/Actiance http://blog.actiance.com

About Actiance

Actiance is a global leader in communication, collaboration, and social media governance for the enterprise. Its governance platform is used by millions of professionals across dozens of industries. With the power of communication, collaboration, and social media at their fingertips, Actiance helps professionals everywhere to engage with customers and colleagues so they can unleash social business. The Actiance platform gives organizations the ability to ensure compliance for all their communications channels. It provides real-time content monitoring, centralized policy management, contextual capture of content and smart archiving which improves the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of eDiscovery and helps protect users from malware and accidental or malicious leakage of information. Actiance supports all leading social media, unified communications, collaboration, and IM platforms, including Facebook (FB), LinkedIn (LNKD), Twitter, Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Skype, IBM, (IBM), Jive (JIVE), Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco (CSCO), and Salesforce.com (CRM).

Actiance is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information, visit http://www.actiance.com or call 1-888-349-3223.

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Actiance Debuts Unleash 2013 Summit

The social-networking app that provides creatives with multiple media types now offers choice in mobile OS.

Pheed, a social-networking service designed to meet all the multimedia needs of today's mobile user, has launched its application for Android.

The Android release trails Pheed's official debut back in November on Apple's iOS platform.

Since then, the Los Angeles-based bootstrapped startup has racked up "a few million users," around 20 percent of whom are teens ages 15 to 17. And more than 42 percent of app users are between the ages of 17 and 22, which means Pheed is already immensely popular with high schoolers and college kids and may be one of the apps siphoning teen attention away from Facebook.

Pheed feels like a hybrid of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Users can subscribe to the channels of friends or celebrity users, or they can act as broadcasters and post "pheeds" in the form of text, photo, video, or audio posts.

"Pheed is the return of the all-in-one platform," CEO and Co-Founder O.D. Kobo told CNET. "We're all about options."

Kobo says his social app caters to creative people. He insists that Pheed isn't specifically going after the celebrity crowd even though the app has found favor with plenty of famous folks such as Snoop Dogg, Miley Cyrus, Dane Cook, and Enrique Inglesias. Brands including MTV, E!, and NASA have also shown an interest in setting up channels on Pheed.

The dominant audience, the younger demographic, has taken a liking to Pheed's audio recording feature, or "social sound" as Kobo likes to call it. On Mother's Day, youngsters were using the app to sing and record songs dedicated to their moms, and were tagging their family members in the audio updates, he said.

Though Pheed initially soft-launched as a Web app, the startup prefers to think of itself as a mobile-first company and now restricts new user signups to its mobile apps. The Android release should help solidify Pheed's mobile position and introduce the multi-purpose app to even more people. Kobo expects his app's audience to double in size in the next few months. Pheed currently has a "few million users," Kobo said, though he would only clarify the up-in-the-air figure to mean that the app has less than 4 million users.

Pheed for Android is arriving minus the service's brand-new pay-per-view option, which was added to the iOS application last week. The feature, which will find its way to the Android app early next week, lets channel owners charge would-be viewers to watch live broadcasts from their mobile devices. The startup says it's the world's first platform to offer live pay-per-view on mobile.

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After attracting millions of youngsters, Pheed finds it way to Android

Do you prefer to network online or face-to-face?

Before you answer, think deeply. Remember how Dale Carnegies world-famous sales book from 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People, demystified the process of making friends out of strangers and inspired legions of business coaches to carry on Carnegies message?

Nothing beats face-to-face meetings, nothing. Business dealings are just better presented in person. Networking is also best in person. But that doesnt mean that online networking isnt valuable.

Online networking is a powerful tool to use in your arsenal.

Lets break down the definitions of business networking and social media networking.

According to Wikipedia, business networking is a socioeconomic activity by which groups of like-minded business people recognize, create or act upon business opportunities. A business network is a type of social network, whose reason for existing is business activity. Business networking organizations create models of networking activity that, when followed, allow the business person to build new business relationships and generate business opportunities.

Business networking can be conducted on a larger scale via the Internet, which easily connects people from all over the world.

Social media networking, by my definition, is quite similar, but it has a couple major distinctive differences. Online is current, it is in real time, and it can be greatly influenced immediately by public opinion. However, online shouldnt be the only tool we use, because sometimes its simply not the best one.

For me, the bottom line regarding face-to-face networking versus online networking is that I dont think it should be an either-or scenario; I think it should be a both-and scenario if you want to build a strong personal network.

Effective social media branding requires a unique voice and personality and knowledge of the various social platforms. I am certain, as I have done it for my business and clients, that one can leverage social media marketing such as Facebook into real-time sales.

Read this article:
How Does Social Networking Lead To Real-Time Sales?

Arnie Fertig

You can't hide behind your computer screen anymore. Now is the time to build your network's size and effectiveness by getting out and meeting new people face to face. According to Harvard Business School, between 65 percent to 85 percent of all jobs are filled because someone knows someone else. Turn off your computer and get "out there."

Many professional organizations, common interest groups, companies and colleges run events clearly marketed as opportunities for networking. Scan your local newspaper or business journal, LinkedIn groups or Meetup.com to find them. Or simply run this Google search: "'networking event' AND '[insert your city]'" and tweak it to fit your needs.

Some people feel like a fish out of water in a room filled with strangers. If you are like this, just remember that all those other people are there because they are just like you: they want to meet new people and build new relationships. You might know something that they would value. You might be the answer to another networker's needs.

Here are six key tips for working a room full of other networkers:

1. Be your real self. Of course you've created your perfect branding statement and elevator pitch. You have it down pat, ready to recite at a moment's notice. And you're anxious to share it with anyone who will listen. But be careful not to launch into a nonstop monologue lest you come off sounding either robotic or like an MP3 player without a pause button.

Stay in the moment and observe carefully what kind of reception you're getting. Pay attention to the eyes and body language of the person with whom you are speaking. Does the person you are with want to break in and ask a question or respond? Be prepared to share your story, but also be nimble enough to abbreviate or adapt it to suit the circumstance.

2. Be subtle. Most people like to help others. At the same time, you are quite likely to turn people off if you come off as a nonstop commercial touting yourself. Blatant self-promotion makes the networking experience all about selling you, like a TV infomercial, rather than all about building a personal relationship with another person.

3. Be attentive. Networking is about active listening to learn about other people. Ask about how they got to where they are today, their accomplishments, current situation, challenges and needs. When you pose these kinds of questions, you will likely get strong cues about how you can best relate to your new acquaintance. You will learn what knowledge or experiences you can share that would be appreciated, what connections you can help establish, and how you can be a valuable networking partner. When you make the effort to assist someone else, they will be much more motivated to hear about you and how they can be of assistance.

4. Be focused and brief. When you are at an event, focus intently on the person with whom you are speaking rather than letting your eyes wander the room to see other potential targets. At the same time, recognize that networking situations are generally not the right venue for extended conversations. When there is a natural break, make sure to exchange cards and ask when it might be convenient to follow up or go into greater detail. Then go on to the next person. And of course, do follow up.

Excerpt from:
6 Tips for Working the Room at a Networking Event