Bo Peabody of Tripod fame is wrong about Facebook and Twitter

This post: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-and-twitter-will-always-be-crappy-businesses-2010-2 made the obligatory electronic rounds at Kosmix today. The high-level gist of the post is that Facebook and Twitter are uncontrolled Wild West environments that scare the bejesus out of ivory tower brand managers and – gasp! – even worse, ad agencies.

The post is also peppered with some cool history from Tripod.com, which Bo founded (Respect!) and ran in the 90s and how difficult it was to sell advertising on Tripod because of the fact that it was all user content without brand controls. This was all likely true back then, and community sites of all stripes certainly have challenges selling advertising.

But the overall argument is flaky at best and intellectually lazy at worst.

First of all, this ain’t the 90s. While brand managers and agency types continue to be “scared”, they’ve been brought to the Internet kicking and screaming. Hell, some of Facebook’s biggest advertisers are the same folks who run the biggest brands in the world (Procter and Gamble being the poster child here). Yes, FB’s *largest* advertiser might well be Zynga, which in turn derives its dollars from DR advertising types or other questionable marketers. But the larger point remains; brands and agencies are slowly getting more comfortable with social media, and the overall trend is undeniable in this direction. Brands and agencies recognize that they MUST engage with social media users; this is the whole point of Federated Media’s strategy.

Oh, and what to speak of Facebook’s rumored 700 million dollar plus topline number? You think Bo’s EverydayHealth makes 700 million topline? FAR FROM IT. Ask anyone in the industry in the know.

Secondly, yes, within certain verticals social media has an intractable problem. Word on the street is that DailyStrength, a Web 2.0 health darling, had to sell itself for a song because big pharma would never advertise on a UGC site (btw: I was formerly Product Manager for the second largest health site on the web so I’m not talking out of my a** here). An informational site like ours, or EverydayHealth in the case of Bo’s current venture, has an easier time making a brand sale.

But turning a data point like this into a blanket indictment of social media is simply naive. Social media sites have lower content production costs, more pageviews, lower CPMs but (potentially) higher total revenues.

Lastly, Bo tries to tie together – unsuccessfully – the connection between search and social media and how VCs have been fooled by the success of the first into investing heavily in the second. Again, this is irrelevant. Search and social media are simply different. Yes, social media will never sell at the CPMs as the kinds we command (at RightHealth and Kosmix, to speak nothing of what Google and Bing and are seeing) but THEY DONT NEED TO. They need to make thin margins against *their* cost of doing business at the volume of billions of impressions. A great business and one that I’d get behind any day.

The reality here is that the sites that are truly screwed are the small/medium social media sites – like DailyStrength – that can’t make the brand sale (yet) and lack the size and heft of Facebook and Twitter or even Ning. But Bo fails to make that point explicit and goes after, specifically, Facebook and Twitter.

Which, to me, makes no sense at all.

“Send To Youtube” changed my life

Still reading? Yeah, headlines are supposed to be more dramatic than the actual content. Of *course* “send to youtube” didn’t really change my life. But the point remains.

I bought a 3GS a few months ago and loved its video capabilities. However, I always hesitated with the vids because I – in my non-Apple way – thought I’d have to go through the painful process of iPhone –> Mac, via USB –> compression software –> Youtube upload.

Then I discovered Apple’s intuitive and amazing “Send To Youtube” button. And I haven’t looked back since. Six video uploads in a few short weeks and more than a few drunk friends caught on video saying the stupidest things in the world. Simply priceless for post mortem jokes.

What still stinks, however, is YouTube’s mobile interface. They make me write dumb descriptions on my phone before they agree to upload my video. I don’t have time to type on my phone! They fail to offer important privacy options off the phone. This means I have to set my vids to private online; after all, I don’t want the world to see my friends’ antics. I just want to send that stuff around to a few friends.

I wish the iPhone came with a native app to better handle the Youtube end of things. But apart from that, I’m finally taking video and loving it. Tangential note: Flip Video, you’re screwed. Good thing you were able to get Cisco to pony up.

I pre-declare my love for The Apple Tablet

I don’t care if its a giant ripoff like most Apple products. I’ll buy it. And love it. Consider love officially pre-declared.

Fascinated by Coakley versus Brown

For those of you that know that me, you know that I’m a quasi political junkie. I’ve been riveted mentally to The Times and to The Atlantic by all the twists and turns of health care reform (for the record, I think the bill is a bloody top-down disaster since its authored by paternalistic Democrats but I think the criminality of 46 million uninsured is FAR worse).

If you’re in the same boat as me, can you believe that this guy from Mass can potentially derail the bill? I mean, if the guy in Teddy Kennedy’s seat ends up being the pivotal no-vote in health care, where is the justice in this world?

On Tech, and Salman Rushdie

Silicon Valley makes you forget what the rest of the world looks and feels like. Its been two months since I returned from Australia and I feel like I’ve already forgotten about a world that doesn’t involve startups, social media and Web 2.0.

Do you go through the same sorts of things? If so, I recommend Salman Rushdi, the great British/Indian author who can create brilliant, mordant, hilarious, poignant, vivid worlds that will leap off the page and transport you in time and place. For a few moments, you’ll leave Silicon Valley.

And then you can dive back into your Twitter stream with zero self-awareness. Well worth it.

Five Major Highways, One Gnarly Commute

For a meeting at Yahoo at 10am this morning, with my place in Pac Heights as the starting point at 8:30am, I did:

– US101 to SF Airport

– US380 from SF Airport towards US 280

– US280 to 85 North Mountain View

– 85 North to 237 West

– 237 West exit on Mathilda Avenue

Why? Because San Mateo is the most hellish place on Earth at 9 am. Or, to cut a long story short, #FML. I need to move.

Paul Carr’s blog is hilarious

http://www.paulcarr.com

The End. I could have tweeted this, but hey, I’m trying to blog these days. Kind of. KthxBai.

The Panera Bread Model – Why So Rare?

I still remember when Panera Bread used to be called The St.Louis Bread Company, in 1999. I was your average fresh-off-the-boatie and loved their french onion soup. They probably realized that national ambitions require – cynically but realistically – a generic name that doesn’t proudly identify with the antiquated Midwest (again, I love the Midwest but it gets short shrift in San Francisco).

Their cafe in SF at 4th and King rocks. Its a large space, mostly soulless but they are crushing it with good service, good lighting, overpriced food and 24/7 free WiFi. And they’re horribly successful. Have you realized how hard it is to find a coffee shop with free WiFi in effing San Francisco?? Is it truly that much of a freerider problem to provide WiFi? Is space really that limited, even for potentially deep-pocketed restaurateurs?

In the absence of municipally provided WiFi, coffee shops are the next logical alternative. Why do they make it so hard to find a service that consumers clearly want?

A few thoughts on The Crunchies

I went to The Crunchies for the second time yesterday. If two-three data points is enough to draw conclusions (it isn’t, but when was I ever one to exercise restraint?), the show is getting less dorky with every passing year. If they hadn’t brought in the jugglers – yes, jugglers – I might have given them extra points for production values.

Secondly, I wish the show were more laser-focused on startups. Google and Microsoft are important innovators but watching journalists kiss Vic Gundotra’s ring isn’t particularly inspiring for a young wannabe entrepreneur like me. Yes, they did have entrepreneurs up there but too but I’d like for more stickler mentality here. Plus, Bing won best new product for 2009 and the guy accepting the award waxed eloquent about how they’re really a startup within Microsoft. Maybe from a cultural standpoint, but in reality? Please. Talk to me AFTER you’ve literally blown through 100 million dollars in marketing. Care to comment on how much of your traffic comes from non-organic sources (ad networks, other MS properties, SEM buys)? Yeah I didn’t think so.

Lastly, the after party is always very well done and TechCrunch’s organization is nothing short of stellar. Good for them. If you’re looking to network though, be warned. This isn’t your average wear-nametag-and-schmooze event. Its an actual *party*, with all the attendant benefits and problems. As in, cliques and people who know each other from before and want to hang out with their friends and colleagues. But its generally a great time and open bar never hurt anyone.

Back from Oz

I’m back safely and only (somewhat) worse for the wear after my trip from Australia. It turns out that ten days is a long American vacation but the rest of the world disagrees. Every European and Australian I met Down Under remarked on how we must be “mental” to try to vaca in just ten days. “You need a month at least”, was the common tut-tutting refrain.

But regardless, I’m back and happy to be Stateside. There’s nothing like leaving the States to be reminded of how amazing America really is. There’s a lot of talk about Americans’ boundless energy, welcoming nature and visceral belief that the future will be better than the present. But it takes a trip to another continent to be truly convinced of the same. For my money’s worth, nothing beats the US. Nuff said.

Pictures to follow.