Facebook Inc.'s quest to lure more advertisers to its popular online hangout is getting an assist from Visa Inc.'s marketing machine
Craigslist is the online classifieds behemoth in the U.S., but there's some other savvy companies circling these listings
When Mark Bitterman, who calls himself a "selmelier," was trying to pump up sales at his gourmet salt shop, he knew standard marketing techniques such as radio ads and direct mail wouldn't be enough.
MySpace and Facebook only account for half of all visits to social-network sites. What about the 4,000 other sites?
Late last year Mark Zuckerberg, the 24-year-old CEO of social-networking phenomenon Facebook, got onstage before a Madison Avenue crowd and declared that he was leading a once-in-a-century media revolution. Long story short: The revolution hasn't panned out. Six months later, advertisers could be forgiven for mistaking Facebook for a smaller MySpace or a much larger Friendster (remember them?). And far from changing media as we know it, the virtual home of Superpokes, Funwalls, and other such time wasters is showing cracks in its foundation.
When Microsoft walked away from its blockbuster bid for Yahoo, the media sought desperately to keep the news coming even when there wasn't much left to say. That seems to be how The Wall Street Journal came up with the notion that Microsoft had approached Facebook about an acquisition. It's not true.
Facebook, the world's second-largest social networking Web site, will add more than 40 new safeguards to protect young users from sexual predators and cyberbullies
Stephen Colbert may have already earned the title of "Greatest Living American" but now he can add "Webby Person of the Year."
First it was instant messaging during office hours that gave us the thrill of passing notes in class. Then it was ogling ourselves on Web cams, ranting our minds on blogs, uploading our baby photos on Flickr and poking each other on Facebook. These days, as corporate records show, we choose to spend our lunch breaks watching YouTube, if not chatting over Skype.
Facebook fans are getting a new toy this week. With the launch of Facebook Chat, users will be able to communicate in real time with friends on the site.
Facebook Inc.'s quest to lure more advertisers to its popular online hangout is getting an assist from Visa Inc.'s marketing machine
Craigslist is the online classifieds behemoth in the U.S., but there's some other savvy companies circling these listings
When Mark Bitterman, who calls himself a "selmelier," was trying to pump up sales at his gourmet salt shop, he knew standard marketing techniques such as radio ads and direct mail wouldn't be enough.
MySpace and Facebook only account for half of all visits to social-network sites. What about the 4,000 other sites?
Late last year Mark Zuckerberg, the 24-year-old CEO of social-networking phenomenon Facebook, got onstage before a Madison Avenue crowd and declared that he was leading a once-in-a-century media revolution. Long story short: The revolution hasn't panned out. Six months later, advertisers could be forgiven for mistaking Facebook for a smaller MySpace or a much larger Friendster (remember them?). And far from changing media as we know it, the virtual home of Superpokes, Funwalls, and other such time wasters is showing cracks in its foundation.
When Microsoft walked away from its blockbuster bid for Yahoo, the media sought desperately to keep the news coming even when there wasn't much left to say. That seems to be how The Wall Street Journal came up with the notion that Microsoft had approached Facebook about an acquisition. It's not true.
Facebook, the world's second-largest social networking Web site, will add more than 40 new safeguards to protect young users from sexual predators and cyberbullies
Stephen Colbert may have already earned the title of "Greatest Living American" but now he can add "Webby Person of the Year."
First it was instant messaging during office hours that gave us the thrill of passing notes in class. Then it was ogling ourselves on Web cams, ranting our minds on blogs, uploading our baby photos on Flickr and poking each other on Facebook. These days, as corporate records show, we choose to spend our lunch breaks watching YouTube, if not chatting over Skype.
Facebook fans are getting a new toy this week. With the launch of Facebook Chat, users will be able to communicate in real time with friends on the site.
Remember where electronic mail was 15 years ago? If you didn't already have an e-mail address, you probably knew someone who did. And if you were sending and receiving e-mail, you'd probably discovered that it could be a game-changing business tool.
Fans of saxophonist Jason Rae leave messages and send prayers online
It's already hooked America's youth, and now Facebook is set on winning the hearts of two potentially lucrative demographics: Adults and the rest of the world.
Dear FSB: Is it wise for a small business to have a corporate homepage on Facebook? One of our employees mentioned it. Some say it's good marketing; others say it's not. What are the pros and cons of doing it?
In three days, Ashley Alexandra Dupre went from being an unknown 22-year-old aspiring musician to the fifth most-searched subject on Google because of her alleged sexual encounters with New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
We've all been there: the dull business conference. A half-empty room of half-asleep attendees answer their e-mail on laptops and BlackBerries, while some hapless speaker lumbers through a PowerPoint speech.
So you want to change the world -- or at least a little part of it -- using the power of the Internet? Here are some tips to help get you started.
MySpace galvanizes protestors to attend mass demonstrations; 1.8 million Britons sign an online petition, leading to widespread press coverage and government embarrassment; and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are fighting it out for the Democratic nomination on Facebook.
Online social networking site MySpace has been talking with major record labels in an effort to allow users to listen to copyrighted music for free on the Web site, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The social networking site lost out to MySpace and Facebook in the U.S., but it's found a new life across the Pacific
Popular social networking site Facebook has been asked to remove the Scrabulous game from its Web site by the makers of Scrabble, agencies have reported.
MySpace has long been under fire by parents and politicians alike for exposing children to online sexual predators. Now, the industry's largest teen social networking site is calling on the industry to make kids safer.
With social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace now in the digital dating mix, there are plenty of new chances to meet the right -- and wrong -- people online.
Meet the "digital natives." They are the teens and tweens who flock to MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites.
With Facebook slowly creeping up on MySpace, is there room for two social networking sites?
The popular social networking Web site Facebook says it is taking new steps to protect its users from online predators.
Google is the elephant in nearly every corner of the Internet, from search and advertising to web-based e-mail, online mapping, and home-brewed video. With its share price setting new highs this fall, its market cap ($188 billion) is now large enough to buy the New York Times, the Washington Post, Gannett, and Time Warner - twice. Or Facebook many, many times over.
Recently, on George Allen's new Web site, GeorgeAllen.com, the former Republican senator from Virginia listed some words of wisdom from legendary college football coaches like Knut Rockne and Woody Hayes.
Figuring out how to sort through personal profile pages to target ads has become a top priority for both MySpace and Facebook. But in the new California gold rush to turn valuable information that people reveal about themselves into advertising dollars, lesser-known social networking sites are getting left behind.
Been poked by anyone recently? Or maybe you've been turned into a zombie, or perhaps you've added Scrabulous to your applications?
For all of Facebook's recent successes, MySpace continues to thrive. That's the theme of my recent big Fortune story on the MySpace/Facebook battle, "As Facebook takes off, MySpace strikes back." Meanwhile, innumerable permutations of the seductive social networking model continue to arise, because this is increasingly the kind of Internet that users are showing, with their behavior, that they want.
The Republican candidate is finding new ways of engaging voters online. But will those results translate into votes?
Consider the Web site LinkedIn a late entry into the already crowded 2008 presidential race.
More and more of us are sharing our personal details and chatting about our private lives on social networking Web sites, but what if these "chats" are not as private as we thought?
MySpace is considering lifting a ban on commerce on the popular social networking site as a way to increase its own profits, according to a published report.
It's 2020. You get home from work, kick off your shoes and relax -- on your very own tropical island. That night, your friends teleport over with other glamorous guests, all nipped, tucked and primped to perfection, for a hedonistic cocktail party at your five-star beach house, decked out in expensively understated chrome, crystal and fine Italian furniture.
Social networking Web sites are increasingly juicy targets for computer hackers, who are demonstrating a pair of vulnerabilities they claim expose sensitive personal information
New search sites make it easier than ever to dig up information on people, without their permission
The owners of a rival social networking Web site are trying to shut down Facebook.com, charging in a federal lawsuit that Facebook's founder stole their ideas while they were students at Harvard
A U.S. judge Wednesday gave a group of former Harvard students two weeks to finalize and back up their claim that Facebook Inc.'s founder stole their ideas to create the fast-growing social networking Web site.
Popular Internet social network MySpace said Tuesday it detected and deleted 29,000 convicted sex offenders on its service, more than four times the figure it had initially reported.
MySpace and Second Life get two thumbs down
Facebook Inc., the fast-growing Silicon Valley social networking site, said Thursday it has acquired Internet start-up Parakey, which is run by two of the co-creators of the popular Web browser Mozilla Firefox.
In preparation for the iMeme: The Thinkers of Tech conference, Fortune asked dozens of technology gurus the following question: What, for you, has been the most surprising infectious idea of the past year? Click on the names to read how Esther Dyson, Bill Joy, Jonathan Schwartz, among others, answered, or simply scroll down.
In our second annual ranking, Business 2.0 has compiled an unabashedly subjective list of people, products, trends, and ideas that are transforming the world of business.
Yahoo!, the No. 2 search firm that has struggled in its battle with Google, said Monday that Terry Semel was out as chief executive officer, to be succeeded by Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang.
It's been an eventful week since Facebook launched a new strategy to turn itself into a platform for applications created by outsiders. The social network has gained another million users and is now up to 25 million. And now that the company has created a new green field for developers, innovation is exploding.
Imagine that when you shopped online for a digital camera, you could see whether anyone you knew already owned it and ask them what they thought. Imagine that when you searched for a concert ticket you could learn if friends were headed to the same show. Or that you knew which sites - or what news stories - people you trust found useful and which they disliked. Or maybe you could find out where all your friends and relatives are, right now (at least those who want to be found).
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales was in the Web 2.0 business before there was such a term. He has five rules for tapping the enthusiasm of users.
Wayne's World, it's not. The Web TV series Diggnation draws hundreds of thousands of viewers. It has Fortune 500 corporate sponsors, and its two young stars are among the brightest in the tech firm...
Jimmy Wales may have created the world's largest encyclopedia, but he can't keep his inbox in order. In the back of a black London cab, careening from one high-powered meeting to the next, Wales si...
For some, it's chocolate. For others, it's coffee or cigarettes. But as this Easter approaches, some young and devout Christians are anxious to return to what they gave up for Lent: Internet sites Facebook and MySpace.
Photobucket is the most important site on the Internet that hardly anybody understands. Unpretentiously, it has built an essential service that didn't need to shout out for attention, the way MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, or other related sites have. Yet it's built an audience of 38 million members, a figure now growing more than 80,000 per day. That's up from just 50,000 members at the end of 2003.
MEET WEBKINZ, the hottest property at your nearest playground. It's a cult toy in the grand tradition of the Cabbage Patch Kids and My Little Pony—only this version is tailored to a generation grow...
A funny thing is happening in Silicon Valley. As white-knuckled investors fear the worst from the stock market's recent hiccups and the media trots out de rigeuer photos of bald Wall Street traders breaking out in a sweat, the next generation of entrepreneurs keeps quietly working on the next big thing in garages and dorm rooms.
It's getting crowded on the Web 2.0 frontier, but there are still some startups that truly stand out. Business 2.0 Magazine identifies the ones most likely to strike gold in 2007.
Twelve months have passed since we introduced the first Next Net 25—our picks for the Web 2.0 wannabes most likely to break out of the pack. The moment seemed propitious: Hardware was cheap, broadb...
At a Starbucks in downtown Mountain View, Calif., two 30-something men anxiously await the arrival of Reid Hoffman, one of Silicon Valley's most sought-after angel investors. It's 4:30 on a Sunday ...
Nowadays, the all-powerful Web user, recently anointed as Time's Person of the Year, is both creator and consumer of every last bit of content at some of the Web's fastest-growing destinations. Witness the success of Flickr (the photo-sharing site), YouTube (the video-sharing site), Deli.cio.us (the bookmark-sharing site) and Wikipedia (the knowledge-sharing site).
Despite all its virtues, the Internet has created a raft of new threats to our children. Sexual predators and abusive pedophiles are newly empowered by the Net, and neither parents nor society have yet figured out how to respond. However bad you think the problems are, they're probably worse.
Barely out of the shadows of 2000's dot-com downturn, Internet mania is back.
You've bought the odd thing on eBay, watched the Dove Beauty model get a quick fire makeover on YouTube and the verb "to Google" is part of your everyday speech -- but how do you take your Internet usage to the next level and become a fully-fledged member of the Web 2.0 digerati?
Stewart Butterfield, one of the co-founders of online photo sharing service Flickr, talks to CNN about the explosive growth of his company and the future of the Web 2.0 phenomenon.
When I tell Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg he seems like a natural CEO, he acts insulted. I guess at 22 it's just not the way he envisions himself. But Zuckerberg is a strategic thinker. Listening to him talk, it becomes apparent that the company he co-founded is a deeply considered enterprise. It's also more important than most observers realize. That's not just because it has already amassed almost 10 million members.
IDEA NO. 29 Online businesses can easily--and cheaply--target international markets from anywhere.
One night this past April, Tom Anderson was surfing MySpace.com, as he does for hours every night, when he spotted a link to something called kSolo on another member's profile page. The service, An...
Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe founded Myspace on the principles of user control, grass-roots growth, and authenticity. "The users govern the site," DeWolfe says adamantly. But now he and Anderson have News Corp.'s financial targets to hit, a "chief revenue officer" to contend with, and serious pressure to make MySpace safe for advertisers.
The editors have identified the Best business ideas in the world, which will appear here in a series throughout the next month. Check back daily for updates.
A tiny software company called meebo Wednesday opened a new channel of communication on the Web. Now, if you have a Web page your visitors can talk to you using instant messaging, even if you're away from your home computer. (That includes all you MySpace users.)
Any list of the most important people in business has to start with Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and a bunch of folks named Walton, right? They're the richest people on the planet, for Pete's sake. ...
Entrepreneurs are striking gold on MySpace, the social networking site best known for teens, dating profiles, and amateur bands. Many young small-business owners - particularly in fields like clothing, graphic design, photography, publishing, and real estate - are discovering that they can effectively advertise on the site to a narrow, but often enthusiastic demographic.
Back when the Internet bubble was deflating disastrously, the fashionable view was that we'd never see its like again -- and thank goodness.
When News Corp. paid $580 million for MySpace, an Internet site for teens and young adults, some people figured that Rupert Murdoch's fascination with all things digital had once again led him to overpay for a new-media property.
Joshua Schachter is surrounded by lawyers and his phone is ringing off the hook. He just sold his two-year-old company, Del.icio.us, to Yahoo!Friday for an undisclosed sum (estimated to be in the range of $15 million to $20 million).
WHEN YAHOO SPENT A REPORTED $20 million to $30 million in March to buy Flickr--a photo-sharing website run by a husband-and-wife team in British Columbia--two aspects of the tiny deal raised eyebro...
"I have never seen so many people with cameras," says Jerry Yang. "It is kind of scary." It's a perfect September evening at Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. Yang, co-founder and chief Yahoo...
By late 2001, anyone hawking a business plan that depended on selling online advertising would have been laughed off Sand Hill Road. After all, the idea that Web traffic could be converted into ad ...
All the chatter about portals and search engines like Yahoo and Excite can make you forget that finding the information you want on the Internet is just half the challenge. Saving those data and di...
Once I built a tower up to the sun/Brick and rivet and lime./Once I built a tower,/Now it's done./Brother, can you spare a dime?
If you haven't gone online yet, you might think that you are the very last person in the United States to find your way onto the Internet. Presidential candidate Bob Dole announced his World Wide W...
FROM ALL APPEARANCES, 1995 was Microsoft's year. Not only did Bill Gates & Co. stage the biggest, noisiest launch of a product since New Coke, but the software, Windows 95, has done fine. Its insta...
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