The most interesting story about investing and social media isn't that you can buy shares of Facebook -- it's the way so many advisers and investors are using social networking sites to connect with each other, and with market information.
General Motors has pulled $10 million in ads from Facebook because they just didn't work, according to The Wall Street Journal. GM is the first major advertiser to indicate disappointment with Facebook and reduce its ad spending on the site.
Running a restaurant has never been easy, but it's getting harder to succeed these days for eateries that shun the social couponing and new media games. A decade ago, all you needed was a strong concept, a healthy strategy and a few ads in the local paper, but the Internet has changed everything.
As more shoppers spend their money online, retailers are deciding where to put their e-marketing. According to a new ForeSee study, promotional emails were still far more effective at driving traffic to retail sites than social networks like Facebook this holiday season.
With the recession over -- in a sense, anyway -- many CEOs are happy to be standing. And after three tumultuous years, some are even cautiously optimistic. But 2011 is sure to present a whole new set of obstacles for corporate chiefs to confront -- and conquer.
Recent news that Twitter may be in the black is probably hasty. After a closer look at Twitter's deals and digging into the numbers, it becomes increasingly unlikely that Twitter has turned the corner. And 2010 could be ugly, too.
Though promotional saturation can be the kiss of death for social media platforms, marketers can't resist them. And whether they want to admit it or not, social media sites need the marketers. This week, two top sites -- LinkedIn and Twitter -- are putting their days of purity in the past and offering new tools that meet the needs of corporate marketing departments.
