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Facebook Takes a Step Closer to Its Own Search Engine
And Facebook's reach grows bigger...
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) announced this week it is revamping its Bing search engine to include content from Facebook and other social media platforms.
The move introduces a new sidebar to Bing, which aims to connect users with friends and other aficionados who can provide help, assistance and advice related to the performed search.
The Redmond, WA-based Microsoft said the foray is based on the fact that "90% of people consult with a friend or expert before making a decision."
The venture will hopefully give Bing some bang. Data reveals that Bing has about 15% of the U.S. search market, while Internet search behemoth Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) commands a 66% portion. Microsoft is hoping many will likethe new element and it will entice people to favor Bing when Web searching.
The new service will appear to the right of all search results, and will highlight a feature dubbed Friends Who Might Know.
Microsoft wrote on its blog, "Bing suggests friends on Facebook who might know about the topic-based on what they "like," their Facebook profile information, or photos they have shared so you can easily ask them about relevant experiences and opinions. For example, if you're searching for diving spots in Costa Rica...you may discover that one of your friends knows a great spot, based on photos from their last trip."
Bing will also flag other topic "specialists," identified from their posts on Google's social network Google+, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn and Quora.
The feature will roll out shortly in the United States, according to Microsoft. The company did not comment about other locations.
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Facebook App Store Will Boost Popularity, Profit
Is there anything Facebook can't or won't do to keep its massive user base happy?
The social network giant just announced plans for a new Facebook App Store where Facebook friends can purchase games and other applications on its heavily trafficked site.
The new Facebook App Store, which will be formally known as the Facebook App Center, will feature applications for web browsers, and be available via the Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone, Android smartphones, PCs and tablets.
The move will provide a platform for software developers to sell their products on the social site.
With over 900 million users worldwide, the new Facebook App Center opens up an alluring venue for developers and entices the social networking Web site's scores of members to keep coming back for new, current and popular applications.
Facebook's App Store is being launched in the midst of the company's highly anticipated, much-hyped initial public offering, expected on or around May 18.
And the Facebook App Store in not merely in the works, it is set to roll out in the next few weeks.
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Facebook IPO Roadshow Continues without Retail Investors – and Zuckerberg
Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) launched its roadshow Monday in New York, with planned stops at several prominent U.S. cities before the trip ends.
Spotted sporting his trademark hoodie, 27-year-old CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg was present at the heavily attended event in NYC.
But on Tuesday, as hundreds herded into Boston's Four Seasons hotel, Zuckerberg was nowhere to be seen.
"It's too bad Zuckerberg wasn't there. It was kind of disappointing," H. Scott Smith, senior equity analyst at Game Greek Capital, told the Boston Herald.
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Facebook IPO Price Range Values Company Near $100 Billion
A Facebook IPO price range has been set, valuing the company at approximately $85 to $95 billon, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Facebook has set a range for its initial public offering of $28 to $35 per share. At that price level, the social network giant would raise just over $10 billion.
Those lofty numbers would put Facebook on the path to becoming the most valuable Internet company in the United States.
The price range is surprisingly lower than what many industry analysts had expected. The consensus was closer to $40 per share.
Greencrest Capital Management analyst Max Wolf told MSNBC that Facebook most likely subdued the price range for the storied IPO due to recently passive mood surrounding the markets.
"It feels to me that as market sentiment gets less bright, people are getting more nervous," said Wolf.
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The Facebook IPO: What's Next
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Facebook Ventures Into New Territory with Organ Donor Status
Facebook is now in the business of saving lives, with another change it hopes all of its members will move swiftly to "like."
The social network behemoth announced Tuesday morning a plan to encourage its millions of friends to start advertising their organ donor status on their Facebook pages. Facebook hopes the status update will create a kind of gentle peer pressure that will urge its 161 million U.S. members to add their names to the list of registered donors.
More than 114,000 people in the United States, and millions more worldwide, are waiting for life saving heart, liver or kidney transplants. On average, 18 die per day because there aren't enough organs for transplants.
Facebook aims to change that.
The status change is being rolled out first in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, where Facebook has some 30 million members.
Plans are to add other countries in the coming months.
Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement, "We never could have anticipated that what started as a small network would evolve into such a powerful tool for communication and problem solving."
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Profit Falls Ahead of Facebook IPO – Will Investor Interest Follow?
Is this the first sign of trouble for the Facebook IPO?
The social media giant, now in the final weeks before its long awaited IPO filing, announced Monday that first-quarter profit and revenue has slipped since the end of 2011.
Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) disclosed in a regulatory filing that profit fell 32% from the previous quarter to $205 million. Revenue dropped 6% to $1.06 billion. Sales were up 45% -- slower than the 55% sales growth in the last quarter.
Expenses surged on costs related to data center building and workforce growth as the company manages its increasing subscriber base that's climbed to 901 million users worldwide. Expenses soared to $677 million - nearly double what they were a year ago.
Facebook also blamed the drop on "seasonal trends" in advertising and user growth in regions that bring in less revenue per subscriber.
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Facebook IPO Date: May 17 Might Be the Magic Day
Here's some news devout Facebook followers and savvy investors are sure to "like" - don't write it in ink just yet, but looks like May 17 could be the Facebook IPO date.
While Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) refused to comment, "multiple sources close to the company" say that is the date, according to TechCrunch.
Ever since Facebook filed the necessary papers to go public in February, speculation has run rampant as to the exact timing. Late spring sprung up as the most likely time, but no precise date was set.
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Buy, Sell or Hold: The Real Winner in the Yahoo (YHOO) vs Facebook Fight Could Be Augme Technologies (AUGT)
I love to find asymmetric risk/reward scenarios in the market.
You can do that with a small company which has the ability to unlock a large payday - and I believe I have found one with Augme Technologies Inc. (OTC: AUGT ).
To understand the value of mobile marketing company Augme, first we have to look at what Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) has done to Facebook.
Ripples shot through the technology space last week when Yahoo launched an all-out patent assault against Facebook.
Yahoo is demanding billions in licensing fees for the use of its technologies.
Yahoo has asserted claims on patents that include the technical mechanisms in Facebook's ads, privacy controls, newsfeed and messaging service.
In simple terms, Yahoo is getting ready to try and bring Facebook to its knees through legal means.
"Yahoo has a responsibility to its shareholders, employees and other stakeholders to protect its intellectual property," a Yahoo spokesman said in an e-mailed statement. "We must insist that Facebook either enter into a licensing agreement or we will be compelled to move forward unilaterally to protect our rights."
Should Yahoo sue Facebook, it would mark the first major legal battle among technology giants in the social media sphere.
It would indicate a major escalation of patent litigation that has already swept up the smartphone and tablet sectors and high-tech stalwarts such as Apple, Microsoft and Motorola.
Yahoo's patent claims come hot on the heels of Facebook's IPO announcement to raise money that would roughly give them a $100 billion valuation.
This lawsuit threat can only have Facebook's management, its bankers and lawyers rushing to secure some sort of defensive arsenal to fight off this and other pending attacks.
While this battle has captured everyone's attention, what I find more interesting is Yahoo's seemingly blatant hypocrisy.
Yahoo appears to be throwing rocks from its glass house at the neighbors by wanting to make others pay for the unauthorized use of its patented technology.
What Yahoo is seemingly trying to ignore is that it, too, has been accused of the same type of intellectual property theft - and the accuser is Augme Technologies.
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