Finer Vision

Twitter has launched a Follow button, enabling users to subscribe to the Twitter feeds of companies and individuals directly from their websites with a single click.

Previously, website publishers had to redirect users to their respective accounts on Twitter.com before users could opt to follow them. The new feature will likely encourage publishers to increase the number of “follow us” prompts on their sites, because they won’t have to risk redirecting their audiences off-site.

Users will still be able to preview profiles before opting to follow them by clicking the username next to the Follow button.

Those who are interested in adding the button to their own sites can set one up here.

Comments (0) Permalink

Tweet

Tell a friend

Full Name*
Message	Your Email Address* Friends Email Address* Verification Code*

This student concept has been designed for McDonald’s and is a fun approach to a product finder app. The Facebook app, Burger Roulette, offers to help find the perfect burger for your mouth. You can then share this selection on Facebook. The app is simple and has a nice mobile voucher integration which brings the campaign back to point of sale, which is often missed with Facebook campaigns. I think there could be more done to create a challenge against friends which would help to spread a campaign like this but overall a nice, simple and fun idea.

Comments (0) Permalink

Tweet

Tell a friend

Full Name*
Message	Your Email Address* Friends Email Address* Verification Code*

Skype has been an interesting company to follow over the past few years.

The company lost almost a billion dollars in 2007, the same year it was devalued by around $500 million by then-owner eBay. eBay sold Skype in 2009; the following year Skype filed for an IPO.

Then, earlier this month, we began hearing rumors that Skype would be acquired for $4 billion by Google or Facebook. In reality, Skype was just acquired by Microsoft for $8.5 billion, which means the software giant values Skype at around $1,000 per user — a price some still think was far too high.

But whether or not the price was right, we do know that Microsoft will change Skype. We’ll just have to wait and see how much it will alter an already much-used service.

This infographic from business network Focus shows Skype’s company history — including its rollercoaster valuations to year-over-year revenues.

Comments (0) Permalink

Tweet

Tell a friend

Full Name*
Message	Your Email Address* Friends Email Address* Verification Code*

What is now known as "tactile design" is coming increasingly into vogue as designers grow disenchanted with what they perceive as the soul-lessness of digital techniques and feel a need to be more involved with their material, more hands-on. We have gathered designers who came to the concept of tactile design after having started out in the digital field, to demonstrate how tactile illustrations jumps off pages, billboards and screens.

Comments (0) Permalink

Tweet

Tell a friend

Full Name*
Message	Your Email Address* Friends Email Address* Verification Code*

Business-focused social network LinkedIn is to offer 7.84 million shares in its public offering at $32 to $35 a piece, which would value the company at around $3 billion.

The company expects that the sale of the shares will deliver net proceeds of around $146.6 million following the deduction of fees and taxes, which will be used to create working capital, for sales and marketing, and for capital expenditure.

LinkedIn announced it would be filing for an IPO earlier this year. In January the company was valued at around $2.51 billion based on trades of its shares on the secondary market SharesPost.

LinkedIn makes money in three different ways -- advertising, subscriptions and recruitment solutions for HR managers.

As of March 2011, the social network has more than 100 million users. It became profitable in 2010 and earned a net revenue of $161.4 million in the first nine months of 2010. In Q1 of 2011 its revenue shot up by 110% year-on-year, with proceeds of $93.9 million.

LinkedIn gains a new member every second and has around 1,000 employees. It is expected to start trading on 19 May, 2011, and financial markets speculate that it might be the first of several high profile web companies to go public in the next few months, including Groupon, Twitter and Facebook.

Comments (0) Permalink

Tweet

Tell a friend

Full Name*
Message	Your Email Address* Friends Email Address* Verification Code*