A few years ago, we published a list of companies who ruled the Internet each year, from 1994-2007. Then, we forgot to update it for 2008-2010. On this week’s HipMojo show, we run down the list and picked a company for 2008, 2009, and 2010… and then open it up for you to suggest companies for 2011. Vote for the company of the Year below in the Comments, feel free to vote for the company you work for, but explain WHY, what was the one thing or many things that made the company stand out from the noise? continue reading...

And then came tumbling down: continue reading...

If Craiglist wasn’t “profit-agnostic” how much would Google be worth?  Think about it: The run up in Google’s revenues, profit, stock and market cap has to do not just with how profitable the business is, but also with the fact that investors view it as the best play on both the Web and the destruction of print media.

So since Craigslist has itself done a lot to suck out the value from newspapers, you have to wonder, would Google be worth as much as it is worth today if investors could buy stock in Craigslist too? continue reading...

1 - Why does everything have to be ad-supported?  Certainly not social networks.

I don’t think social networking sites lend themselves to advertising.  The NYT has a story about a lackluster P&G/Facebook campaign.  I’ve covered this theme on this blog, but in essence, social networking is about communications, and every other communications form on the Web - be it email, message boards or chats - have not proven to be cash cows with regards to advertising.  Social networks will be no different. continue reading...

Can you think of any two bigger phonies in a contest:

in the one corner, eBay; in the other, Craigslist.  One was started a brazen capitalist who like to promote socialist tenets in a veiled attempt to take the focus away from their massively profitable business that is applying crazy pressure to their peers, and the other is… oh wait, that described both companies. continue reading...

“Put the bong down, the honeymoon is over” is the only message I can walk away from this news that eBay is suing Craig Newmark and Jim “master of my domain” Buckmaster of Craigslist.org (for the record I think Jim was right to ask for the craigslistblog.org domain, but wrong the way he handled it).  But that was so last week, this week it’s not bloggers, it’s lawsuits from eBay.

When eBay bought the roughly 25% stake (turns out it was 28.4%), Newmark was quoted as saying: “[eBay and us] share the same moral compass, they’re good partners”.  I thought it was hogwash: either Craig was naive or delusional, possibly both.  eBay did not invest in Craigslist because they needed to share morality or determine which way was north.  They did it to get into the listings business, and when Craig pushed back, eBay launched Kijiji. continue reading...

Paid Content refers to a NYT article on CBS which calls for the company that Bill Paley built to make digital acquisitions, which begs the question: should they go for a big purchase or make small moves?

Of course, answering that question alone without addressing the backdrop to that question yields an incomplete picture. continue reading...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

I think we’re living in the best of times, mind you, especially if you’re fortunate enough to be on this side of the digital divide. Sure, cars don’t fly - yet, but when you hop on a flight, you can make phone calls and surf the Web. I think that is my description of euphoria (well, the surf the Web part, I hope no one can make calls on a flight). continue reading...

I could not help how ironic it is to read the NYT covering eBay’s launch of Kijiji in the US:

“This is going to be our classified ad play in the United States,” said an eBay spokesman, Hani Durzy. “We look at it as competition to Craigslist and other platforms. But we think there is room for competition.” Mr. Durzy said eBay was planning to keep its stake in Craigslist. continue reading...

I’ve covered the newspaper industry so much in the recent past that you’d almost think I ran a newspaper company.  But, I don’t.  I work online and count my blessings every day.  Yet as online operations fight tooth and nail for every single dollar of revenue, newspaper companies continue to print money.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? continue reading...