Zynga - SocialTimes

Shareholders Sue Facebook | Disqus Adds New Features | Oracle Acquires Vitrue

Tim Sohn — Thu, 24 May 2012 08:00:25 +0000

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Facebook Faces Shareholder Lawsuits (AP)
Facebook’s fourth day of trading as a public company saw an increase in the company’s stock price and shareholder lawsuits related to the social network’s botched initial public offering. Several shareholders who bought stock in the IPO have filed lawsuits against Facebook, its executives and Morgan Stanley, the IPO’s lead underwriter. Reuters Meanwhile, Facebook is considering a stock-listing proposal put forward by the New York Stock Exchange, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters, in the wake of a disappointing initial public offering last week on the rival NASDAQ bourse. Facebook has exchanged phone calls and emails with NYSE Euronext and are considering their pitch, the source said without elaborating on specifics. CNET Facebook plans to open its first Middle East office in Dubai next week, according to the Associated Press. This United Arab Emirates city is considered the Silicon Valley of the region, so it makes sense that the social network would put its Persian Gulf hub here. The Hill Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday began to look into the debacle of what was supposed to be the social networking company’s crowning achievement. Lawmakers want to know whether institutional investors got a sneak peek at an updated analysis, written just before the initial public offering, that gave a more pessimistic assessment of Facebook’s future revenues. AllFacebook Some Facebook page administrators are seeing messages in the top-right-hand corners of their timeline pages urging them to create Facebook ads and containing a “promote your page” button. Have you seen similar messages on Facebook pages you manage? Mashable A Facebook page and a six-minute video tell the story of a 12-year-old girl whose mother died when she was 3 years old, grew up being abused by her father and bullied on her Facebook page. Eventually, the girl commits suicide. There’s just one problem: this is all fake. continued…

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Surprise! Mark Zuckerberg Gets Married | Pakistan Blocks Twitter Over Cartoon Contest | Microsoft Launches Academic Social Network

Tim Sohn — Mon, 21 May 2012 07:40:30 +0000

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Zuckerberg Weds Longtime Girlfriend, No Word on Prenup (Reuters)
Details of Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg’s surprise wedding trickled out on Sunday, but mysteries remained, not least whether there was a prenuptial agreement in place that could affect Zuckerberg’s large stake in the company. Zuckerberg wed his longtime girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, on Saturday in the backyard of their modest home in Palo Alto, Calif., with fewer than 100 people in attendance, a Facebook spokesman authorized to speak on behalf of the couple said. CNET However, a woman in India is reportedly divorcing her husband because he committed the cardinal 21st century crime: he didn’t change his Facebook status when they got married. How can a woman trust a man who doesn’t whip out his cell phone the minute the marriage ceremony is over and declare himself to the world? VentureBeat NASDAQ chief executive Robert Greifeld admitted Sunday that the exchange was at fault for some glitches in early trading of Facebook’s IPO but said it had nothing to do with the stock’s uninspired performance. Facebook expected trading to begin at 11 a.m. on Friday, but it did not begin until about 11:30. GigaOM Catching the last five minutes of the Boston University commencement speech by Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt on WBUR, I was struck by the veiled swipes (pokes?) he took at Facebook. You know, the company that last week launched the most anticipated IPO in years, and that despite NASDAQ glitches and a disappointing finish, wiped Google out of the record books? Yes, that Facebook. CNET A mother wanted to share a picture of her son on Facebook. He lived only eight hours. Facebook removed the image, deeming it “too graphic.” Much later, the company offered an apology and admitted it erred. continued…

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Facebook to Set Final IPO Price | Pinterest Raises $120 Million | States Weigh Social Media Gambling

Tim Sohn — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:00:28 +0000

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Facebook to Set Final IPO Price Later Today (CNN Money)
Facebook’s long road to an initial public offering is coming to an end. Late Thursday, it will fill in one last piece of the puzzle: Its final IPO price. Mashable On Wednesday, Facebook announced that an extra 84 million shares will be added to its stock pool for sale. The extra shares will come entirely from insiders and early investors, according to the AP. Reuters But investors who want Facebook shares when the No. 1 online social network goes public later this week may have lost the opportunity. TD Ameritrade and Fidelity’s brokerage arm both stopped accepting orders of Facebook shares as of Tuesday evening, according to representatives for each of the companies. CNET Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, who is simultaneously becoming one of the richer and more reviled people around, wants to set the record straight. Saverin, who is now a citizen of Singapore after renouncing his U.S. citizenship, said his decision has nothing to do with taxes. Forbes All eyes are on Facebook this week in the lead-up to the social network’s initial public offering, but Google did all it could to steal back a little bit of glory on Wednesday. One of the biggest pieces of news was the search company’s addition of “Knowledge Graph” to its core product, a way to find answers without ever clicking a link and leaving the search results page. continued…

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LinkedIn’s iPad App | Facebook Hacker Tells All | Twitter Meets Movie Trailer

Andrew Freedman — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:58:41 +0000

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LinkedIn Launches iPad App With Bells and Whistles (SocialTimes)
Professional social network LinkedIn has finally launched an app for iPad. The social network obviously has a lot on its plate, having gone public and serving 150 million users per month, but it’s great to see that they took time to reach out to iPad users with a native app. The Washington Post LinkedIn says users often log on to the site through their iPads in the early morning to prepare for meetings and in the evening, on the couch. The iPad app targets these people with a calendar function and other features optimized for the device. Before, they had to use iPad’s Web browser or use an iPhone app that doesn’t take advantage of the iPad’s screen size. VentureBeat Typically, LinkedIn’s most avid users are a relatively affluent crowd, and they’re in their early 30s to 50s, which lines up nicely with tablet ownership demographics (college grads under 65 years of age who earn $75,000 or more per year). PCMag The new iPad app is available for free in Apple’s App Store. In addition to the app, LinkedIn also rolled out a new mobile website for the Safari browser on the iPad. continued…

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Zynga Generated 15% of Facebook’s Revenue in Q1

Devon Glenn — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:41:01 +0000

As Facebook gets ready to hit the stock market, Zynga’s place in its ecosystem appears to have changed since last year. The social network announced that the gaming company’s ads and transaction fees made up 15% of its revenue in the first quarter of 2012, compared to 19% in 2011.

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Spotify’s Android Redesign | Anonymous, Reddit Take on Music

Andrew Freedman — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 08:42:21 +0000

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Spotify Launches Android Redesign (CBS News / Techtalk)
The new Spotify for Android will be completely redesigned from “top-to-bottom.” Some of the new features include: new “slide-out” navigation, the ability to view profiles and playlists, related artist view, high-resolution imagery and 320kbps listening. Support for Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is also included in the update. PCMag “That’s not the end of it,” Spotify said. “We’re working hard on adding further features, including folders and Last.fm scrobbling, before the app goes live in Google Play.” Computerworld If you can’t wait for it to hit Google Play, Spotify is offering a preview version you can install right now. Cnet Before any Spotify users head to the company’s blog to download the application, though, be aware that it’s only available to Premium subscribers who pay $9.99 per month for that offering. Spotify’s free and Unlimited plans do not include mobile support. continued…

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Facebook Buys Instagram | How OMGPOP Cashed In | Twitter’s Strong Ads

Andrew Freedman — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:55:45 +0000

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Facebook Acquires Instagram for $1 Billion (SocialTimes)
Facebook has acquired the photo-sharing site Instagram for a reported $1 billion in cash and stock. “This is an important milestone for Facebook, because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users,” wrote founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a statement on his Facebook page. Instagram Blog Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom also addressed the deal on the company’s official blog. “The Instagram app will still be the same one you know and love. You’ll still have all the same people you follow and that follow you. You’ll still be able to share to other social networks. And you’ll still have all the other features that make the app so fun and unique.” The New York Times / Dealbook With Instagram, Facebook will get a formidable mobile player — an area that is seen as a weakness for the sprawling social network. Gizmodo Facebook’s impending IPO probably didn’t have much to do with its ability to purchase Instagram — it already had globs of cash — but might shade how it uses Instagram going forward. Meaning, it’ll have public investors to appease, so it’s going to need to justify spending a ton of money. continued…

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Zeen’s Pretty Publishing | Etsy Scholarships | Facebook Subpoenas

Andrew Freedman — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:31:13 +0000

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YouTube co-founders Are Working on a Magazine Publishing Service Called Zeen (Fusible)
It looks like you’ll soon be able to discover and create “beautiful” magazines online. YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, who now run AVOS, posted a “Coming Soon” page on the website Zeen (a take on the word zine, which commonly refers to a narrowly focused self-published magazine). The Next Web The Privacy Policy page indicates that multimedia sharing will be a core part of the service and suggests that there will be a browser bookmarklet available. VentureBeat For now, though, we have relatively few details about how Zeen will work and what ‘zines will look like. You can go to the app’s landing page now to reserve a username and connect the account to an email address, Facebook identity or Twitter account. Business Insider After registering, users get an email to confirm their address, but it becomes a waiting game after that to see how Zeen works and what it’s all about. continued…

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Zuckerberg in Japan | LivingSocial Takes on Takeout | Draw Something Scam

Andrew Freedman — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:30:50 +0000

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Star-struck Japan PM Befriends Facebook’s Zuckerberg (Reuters)
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda frequently entertains dignitaries from all over the world, but he was a touch star-struck on Thursday when he hosted a young billionaire with a whiff of celebrity: Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. As cabinet ministers filed through Noda’s residence for a late afternoon meeting, it was Zuckerberg who drew a fusillade of camera flashes from a hefty media contingent as he strode through the entrance like a movie star. ZDNet It is still not clear exactly what Zuckerberg’s visit to Japan will entail, but it is already appearing more business orientated than his holiday in China. AllFacebook The International Herald Tribune’s Rendezvous blog reported that Zuckerberg and girlfriend Priscilla Chan were spotted in Shanghai Tuesday, immediately fueling speculation that Facebook was making another attempt to gain a foothold in a market where access to the social network is severely restricted. continued…

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Will Zynga Buy OMGPOP for $200 Million?

Devon Glenn — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:31:31 +0000

Zynga may be acquiring OMGPOP, the creator of the Pictionary-style game “Draw Something.” TechCrunch reports that the offer could be in the neighborhood of $200 million, and might provoke a bidding war with Japanese companies GREE and DeNA, who have also expressed interest in buying OMGPOP.

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ContraVille? Konami Signs Up to Make Games for Zynga.com

Neil Vidyarthi — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:00:10 +0000

There are no allegiances in gaming anymore. There was a time when developing games for the Nintendo Entertainment System meant that you were strongly pressured not to make games for other consoles. For me, I was on the Nintendo ship until they lost Square and Final Fantasy VII was produced for the Sony Playstation. Well, these days platform creators like Nintendo and Sony have new competition in the form of Zynga and OnLive, and Zynga just recently announced that Konami, one of the largest console game makers in the world, will be producing games for their new Zynga.com platform.

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Zynga Launches Games Platform in Beta

Neil Vidyarthi — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 10:28:33 +0000

Zynga has introduced their new Zynga games platform, located at Zynga.com, and you can try it out (in beta form) here. The new service is a standalone games site that lets you play Zynga games off of Facebook. This isn’t the first time Zynga has promised this service, although the “Zynga Live” initiative seemed to fizzle like a damp firecracker.

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Zynga Moves Beyond Facebook to Zynga.com

Devon Glenn — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:56:55 +0000

Zynga, the casual gaming company that accounted for 12 percent of Facebook’s revenue in 2011, is starting its own gaming site at Zynga.com.

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Zynga Barely Beats Earnings Estimates; Not Enough Growth for Investors as Stock Drops

Neil Vidyarthi — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:27:27 +0000

Zynga’s stock is down over 10% today on yesterday’s earnings which revealed that Zynga had booked $306.5 million for their fourth quarter. That’s only a few million above estimates of $302.4 million, and apparently that crawling growth wasn’t enough for investors to stick around — Zynga is having a major sell off today and the stock (NASDAQ:ZNGA) has dropped 14% from yesterday’s close of 14.35 to a price of 12.36 as of this writing.

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Electronic Arts Beats Analyst Expectations With Help from Star Wars

Neil Vidyarthi — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:01:29 +0000

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) has an illustrious past. A great metaphor, considering EA’s own NBA series of games, is someone like Michael Jordan, who after taking some time off from being a champion with the Chicago Bulls, returned back to the game after an absence. But the game had changed. He played for the Washington Wizards, a new franchise team, had a rocky start, but once he’d got his footing, he surprised critics and naysayers by eventually leading the team in points. Is EA on the same path with their digital revolution?

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