During the first quarter, Amazon (AMZN) reported a significant loss in income—thirty-five percent.  But even given that bleak outlook, Amazon stock fared relatively well.  The online giant reported twenty-eight cents per share in the most recent quarter, making the overall profit close to one hundred and thirty million dollars. These numbers are less than Amazon’s profits this time last year, but the loss is nowhere near as great as expected, given the recent income reports.  In contrast with the low income, overall sales are up thirty-four percent from last year. The new Kindle…

Stocks shot up 18% after a report that Groupon had slayed expectations from The Street to post its first quarterly profit. Better decisions on marketing spends and an increase in customers and merchants were the trigger point that marked the first real turn after a disastrous start. The company has been plagued by accounting issues and bad press surrounding their inexperienced CEO Andrew Mason. Now, then “humbled” Mason is making sound decisions, pushing for mobile expansion as well as growth overseas. “Revenue growth was impressive and they also had material margin expansion,” said The…

It seems to have crept into every nook and cranny in our daily lives. It makes sense that social media would start to have a dramatic influence on sports, the way that players interact with fans (and the media), and even who will be anointed as the next big star (regardless of actual play on the field). That’s the premise behind this infographic from KT Tape that comes to us via Raleigh Toyota. Click to enlarge. …

Welcome to the digital era, where we have bid farewell to old marketing tools. Now brands successfully promote themselves by using social media platforms, especially with the help of Facebook pages. If you are a social media enthusiast, you might be familiar with the marketing tactics used by brands over social media networks. As of today, the ultimate gauge of a company’s social media marketing skills is how many ‘likes’ they have on their Facebook page. Almost all of us are aware of the ‘like’ button introduced by Facebook and its significance. Not merely an expression of a user appreciating…

Have you ever been out and about and wondered, “do we have milk?” It’s a question that gets asked in families semi-regularly almost as much as the same question about toilet paper. What if our milk talked to us via mobile a mobile application? What if all of our food did? What if all of the products that filled our lives kept track of themselves and let us know when they were low? A future of self-aware food may be around the corner and milk seems to be the first step. The Do We Have Milk jug was designed by Teehan+Lax Labs to give us alerts when we’re running low. As you can see in the video, it acts in real time…

With so much money going into social media as a marketing and branding tool, it’s hard for businesses to discern the true value that their social media efforts are bringing. How much are they really getting when someone posts a tweet about them or mentions them on Facebook? Are they getting real value or is it all just another intangible to throw into the advertising budget like billboard signs and television ads? The folks over at backupify took their cloud data and applied it to the question, “What is social data worth?” The results help to quantify social by showing the average per-user value and…

The biggest IPO in tech history is appearing to be smaller than people thought according to a recent report from Bloomberg. With growth prospects for their advertising model raising warning flags, the company has been strict with their policy of not allowing revenue to get in the way of user experience. To the all-important long-term investors, this is terrifying. To the fast-moving investors who see Facebook as an opportunity to ride the initial wave of enthusiasm, it isn’t much better news. There is little doubt that the stocks will start at one price and shoot up in the short term. There is growing…

One of the hardest parts about personalizing social media profiles and pages is getting the artwork and branding just right. Every site has different sizes and styles that they prefer when placing artwork on your page. The challenge is that they rarely (for some reason) tell us the dimensions that work best. This graphic by San Diego web design is a perfect cheat sheet for those who want their pages to look just right. It’s particularly useful for agencies who have to post graphics on a semi-regular basis. Click the image to download the PDF version for safe keeping. …

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is quickly becoming the new norm in business. In fact, 75% of all businesses already allow their employees to connect their personal devices to their business network, and while this accounts for many happy workers, it can also make things complicated. The milestone of 15 billion network connected devices is creeping up in 2015; yes, that’s 15 billion. That many devices accounts for more than two per each person on the planet. And with those numbers, businesses should expect to see a service charge increase from their BYOD-ing. Let’s look at the 15 billion/2 per…

They say you have to spend money in order to make money. The problem for Yelp is that they may be spending too much money compared to what they’re earning. This is common for publicly-traded companies, but in their case they may be spending too much compared to how much they have the potential to make, a prospect that nobody at the company and few on Wall Street are willing to entertain. There is definitely growth-potential for whoever can do well in the local listings and recommendations industry. Mobile devices, the Apple products in particular, rely on Yelp as a way for users to find the best sushi…