Mediaboss Marketing

MANILA, Philippines As it endeavors to become one of the biggest e-Commerce platforms in the Philippines, erstwhile social networking platform Multiply is ridding itself of all social features by December.

This means the myriad of blogs, photos, music, and videos uploaded by thousands of Multiply users since 2004 will be deleted in four months time, according to the companys new CEO.

We have decided to discontinue providing and hosting these services, as we have concluded that other Internet sites who are committed to social networking services will do a better job serving you than we can, wrote Stefan Magdalinski, Multiplys newly appointed CEO, in a blog post entitled We are sorry.

Magdalinski said they will be providing means for users to either download or migrate their content to other platforms, but refused to disclose anything specific as of posting time.

Current e-Commerce users of the site, he added, would not need to do anything as their content will be retained during the transition.

The Multiply CEO said they would also be refunding unused balance for users who upgraded to Multiply Premium, an exclusive subscription the site launched a few years back that gave users more unique features than free users.

He said the decision to rid the site of social features was a difficult one, but that it was something that is critical to our to success moving forward.

Our singular focus now is for Multiply to retain its status as a vibrant e-commerce destination in Southeast Asia in the years ahead, Magdalinski stressed.

A few months back, Multiply executives already gave a foreshadowing of this recent development, announcing that it will be overhauling its current platform to make it more e-Commerce-friendly.

We are aiming to have the new site relaunched in time for the Christmas period, Magdalinski said in an earlier interview. In the new platform, we will probably mandate certain styles of user experience, but we will also encourage shop owners to check out systems that work.

Excerpt from:
Multiply to remove social networking features, content by December 1st

Africa's thirst for social networking seems insatiable and homegrown products to meet this thirst, like MXit and 2go, have really got traction.

It's a mixture of flirting, free messaging and meeting real people that draws people in. With the current numbers, advertisers will begin to use mobile as a media and support their development. Russell Southwood spoke to Marc Herson, 2go about how it will seek to expand.

2go is a mobile social network where people can use IM to chat with their friends for free and meet new friends in its chat-rooms. In total, it has over 20 million registered users, of which 3-3.5 million use it on a regular basis. Over the last 30 days there have been 8 million active users. Its biggest market is Nigeria (61% of total) which has 12.5 m users, followed by South Africa(31%) with 6.5 million users, followed by Kenya (4%) and Other (4%).

It's continuing to grow at between 40,000-60,000 registered users a day.

All this has been achieved with virtually no marketing and lots of word of mouth. When users sign up, they can send notifications to their friends to join.

The users are young: 74% are 15-24 year olds in South Africa and 60% in Nigeria. The gender balance is almost equal in South Africa with 49% women but slightly more male in Nigeria with 64% men:"In South Africa, it's the women cleaning our office and the person trying to sell me a prepaid mobile at the corner-store. In Nigeria, users are more educated and sophisticated."

It is a profitable start-up launched by South African Anthony Davis.

Currently it's self-funded but it may look for VC funding in the future. As Herson (part of whose background is in VC funding at Softbank) told us:"I've only recently joined 2go and I'm their first executive hire. I'm also an equity stakeholder in the business."

It's focused on giving users a light application that will work on low-end phones:"We are totally focused on creating the most nimble and light technology. A great deal of users in Nigeria have feature phones so it's easy to use Java-based application. You simply download it, answer a few questions like your age and you're ready to go."

It supports around 1,000 different feature phones (J2ME), Blackberry (with BIS integration) and Android. Better still, its messaging integrates with Gtalk, Facebook and MXit Chat so users don't have to choose between these applications.

Read more:
Africa: Thirst for Social Networking Spurs Mobile Growth

09-08-2012 08:48 For years, a building on Detroit's southwest side housed the police department's Third Precinct. Abandoned in 2005, the two-story structure has now been transformed from a law enforcement house to an art house. (Aug. 9)

Continue reading here:
Detroit Precinct Transformed Into Art House - Video

09-08-2012 13:04 President Barack Obama highlighted his support for tax credits for wind energy manufacturers in Colorado and other states. Obama says 37000 jobs are at risk if the credit is allowed to expire at the end of the year. (Aug. 9)

More here:
Obama: Wind Energy Tax Credit Supports Jobs - Video

Summary: Social networking giant needs to better educate local marketers on benefits of both online and mobile ads through physical relationships to better monetize markets.

Social networking giant has successfully monetized in the emerging markets of Asia through social games, however, it now needs to focus on pushing advertising to marketers in the region.

Audrey Heng, market analyst for emerging technology at IDC Asia-Pacific, pointed out that Facebook had successfully monetized its social games business in Asia's emerging markets. "Social gamesare easy to learn and quick to play that are able attract new gamers and new internet users in these developing markets," she noted.

However, social games are only one aspect of monetization and the social network will need to address advertisements, said Heng. "Both online and mobile advertising remain low particularly in developing markets where traditional marketing continues to dominate," she said.

While users in the developing markets of Asia tend to stay connected online using their mobile phones rather than the desktop, Heng noted that the mobile platform and services only started to develop in the recent two years.

Many Web sites were designed for desktop browsing and this was replicated for access on mobile phones, she said. "Only recently in the past year, more emphasis was made to design a separate mobile Web site that was user friendly and considered the mobile's smaller screen size and capabilities," Heng added.

Challenges monetizing mobile This is why it is "not surprising" that Facebook is facing challenges in monetization of mobile, she noted.

However, the social networking giant has been "aggressively" investing in mobile monetization strategies, such as by acquiring mobile apps such as Instagram and introducing advertising solutions like sponsored stories and App Centre, Heng noted.

Tackling monetization on the mobile platform is not a problem specific to Facebook. China's top social network Renren also saw its user base shifting from desktop to mobile.

In its second quarter results announcement Tuesday, Renren chaiman and CEO Joseph Chen noted that its strategy remains focused on mobile opportunities and will experiment on different monetization models such as mobile games, mobile advertising and mobile group-buying.

Read the original here:
Personal relationships key to Facebook's Asia advertising success