Disney’s magic hit by drop in profits
July 31, 2009
The tough consumer environment took its toll on Walt Disney’s third-quarter earnings, with profits down 25 per cent on lower theme park revenues, falling television advertising income and declining home entertainment sales
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Staying home is the new trend, says BSkyB
July 30, 2009
The satellite broadcaster gains a record number of subscribers as more Britons stay at home to watch high definition TV
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Procol Harum organist wins copyright appeal
July 30, 2009
After a long-running court battle, the House of Lords has awarded Matthew Fisher a share of the royalties from the 1967 chart-topping hit ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’
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HMV boss in running to be ITV chief
July 30, 2009
List includes Apple and BSkyB executives and broadcaster’s chief operating officer
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Rivals attack BBC sharing plan
July 30, 2009
A BBC deal to share video news content with four national newspapers has caused outrage among commercial broadcasters, with ITN’s chief executive saying it would ‘pull the rug’ from the internet video market
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The Facebook fizzle
July 30, 2009
People leave Facebook every day so what should we read into the high profile exodus of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and home-making queen Martha Stewart?
Mr Gates said he quit because managing his profile became “way too much trouble”. He also said that he had 10,000 people wanting to be his friend and that he really didn’t have the time to sift through all those messages. Besides, he really couldn’t tell who was the real McCoy when it came to his friends.
During an event in India, Mr Gates revealed that despite the amazing benefits that the digital revolution has wrought, some technology could turn out to be a real time-waster.
I am not sure if he remembered that Microsoft ploughed a considerable amount of investment into the social networking site or not.
While Bill might have removed his Facebook page, this very fun mock-up by PC World is worth a look.
And another well-kent figure has followed in Mr Gates’ footsteps.
America’s so-called domestic goddess Martha Stewart talked to the Daily Beast and said “I’m not knocking Facebook. We use both Facebook and Twitter (at Martha Stewart Organisation). They’re very different tools, and I personally don’t use Facebook. I prefer Twitter as a means of mass communication – it’s the Wal-Mart of the internet.”
She also said that the reason she prefers the micro-blogging service is that “I don’t have to ‘befriend’ and do all that other dippy stuff that they do on Facebook.”
On Twitter, Ms Stewart has over 1.1 million followers. But despite feigning social media nous, Ms Stewart must not be aware that Twitter has a rough worldwide band of users numbering 40 million while Facebook boasts over 260 million.
Twitter might be less hassle but if you want to reach the biggest possible audience, surely being on Facebook makes business sense at least? Or why not both, especially when it seems you have “staff” to take care of the task of posting on the site?
Perhaps the decision of Mr Gates and Ms Stewart to give up on Facebook speaks to something that affects the human psyche.
“While many users are very engaged, perhaps for some people it has become a place that is too noisy and cluttered,” said internet analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence.
On a more philosophical level, Mr Sterling told me:
“This reveals something that is hard to articulate, which is that maybe there are limits that have been reached by these people.
“It’s the same if you go away for a weekend and there is no internet and pretty soon you realise there is a lot of stuff that is way more important that all the technology you are so involved in. People have to remember these are tools to communicate with and not confuse them with things in our life like our real world communities.”
Less prosaically, I have a friend who has also quit Facebook for a pretty simple reason. In an e-mail, she told me “it feels like it’s so over?”
For her at least, and for Bill and Martha, it is.
From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/rss.xml
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Reed plans issue to cut debt
July 29, 2009
Reed Elsevier, the Anglo-Dutch publishing group, is to unveil plans to raise hundreds of millions of pounds in a share placing aimed at paying down some of its bn-plus debt
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London financial stocks make broad advance
July 29, 2009
The market resumed its upward path on Wednesday after Tuesday’s pause for breath
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Spending drought takes toll on Time Warner
July 29, 2009
The prolonged global advertising drought hurt Time Warner in the second quarter as steep double-digit declines in online and magazine publishing sales sent the media group’s net profit down 8 per cent
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Torture by television for ITV’s winner
July 29, 2009
The next chief executive of the UK commercial broadcaster will face a myriad of issues, including a 14% drop in revenue amid a recession and fragmenting audience
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