Stimator tool sheds some interesting light

Image via CrunchBase

Tonight I was killing a bit of time doing some SEO research for the PocketInfo site (when I should have been working on an overdue tax return) when I stumbled across this useful tool Stimator. One of the sites I like to keep tabs on is Mashable. They dominate a lot of the social traffic on Twitter and they tend to have a good grasp on the social media landscape.

Guest Post via PocketInfo 

Mashable Stimator Rank 4 Value US$107,512,865

If you have a website or blog go the Stimator home page and drop in your URL or unique web address e.g. www.mashable.com . You will then see the calculation of the site if already  indexed or you will see it working feverishly to acertain the sites value.

Recently another site I like called TechCrunch got acquired by AOL.

Techcrunch Stimator Rank 6 Value US$60,349,705

According to CNBC AOL paid about $40 million for TechCrunch.  (They put the figure at $25 million in cash and the other $15 million as an earnout). So by Stimator's calculation AOL have actually done a good deal unless AOL management botch things up in the months ahead.

Now there is a spat I've been watching that's been brewing for a while about Huffington Post and the traditional stalwarts of the press the New York Times. Out of interest I punched in the URL for the Huff and whammo! It is the number 1 ranked site on Stimator!

Huffington Post Stimator Rank 1 Value US$485,933,886

Now my curiosity got the better of me - what is the ranking for the New York Times? I already know the Huffington Post has secured top spot , Bill Keller of the NY Times may not know how engaged the Post is with the new media age. So what is the result?...

NYTimes Stimator Rank 3 Value US$130,200,960

So the Times is only 2 spots behind the Post. But the Post is a relatively new organization and ranks higher than the Times and those online who want to link to it. Arianna you win the online strategy - respect to you and your team!

p.s. Stimator also ranks the Huffington Post's value 3 x more in dollar value than the New York Times.


Pocketinfo Reference - Geo-location , New Media , World Trends , Huffington Post , AOL , New York Time - updated 13th March 2011 Editor - Robert Latchford

SXSW Austin Texas - A focus on Country Trends

Austin Texas

Guest post via Robert Latchford.

The first-ever SXSW Technology  Summit will bring together industry leaders from a variety of European,  Asian, Middle Eastern and South American countries for panel sessions  that reveal trends and usage patterns in various parts of the world.

Scheduled March 16 and March 17, 2011
see Timetable and which countries are exhibiting below...

iPhone Apps dominate the App market

Guest post from PocketInfo

Finland's Rovio dominant in 2010

Today I saw an article on Read Write Web by Sarah Perez and it was on "what are the top Apps outside the itunes App store" but what caught my eye was the following statistic...

Robert Latchford,  Geo-location , Social Media , Socioeconomic Geography , Travel , Sport ,  Politics.

"...Apple was found to have generated 82.7% of the total global  application store revenue in 2010, increasing its revenue from $768.7  million in 2009 to $1.8 billion in 2010."

Sarah - do you know what are the top 20 apps by revenue from this number above?
That would be really interesting data.
Thanks Robert 

Sarah then directed me to a link of the top 10 (not top 20 , but 10 is more than adequate for the relevance of this article) which I have  reproduced below. 

Android dominates attention at Mobile World Congress

Samsung - a Google Android partner

Guest Post from sister site: Pocketinfo.net

The Mobile World Congress  is an annual event held in Barcelona widely recognised as the must-attend event for those that count  in the mobile industry. 



Corporations pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to show off their technology and position their marketing message for the year ahead.
Exhibitors invite customers to the event and if you want to attend without an invite then the  cheapest ticket is about  €600.00 (more that the annual income of many African people) .They charge this amount to keep undesirables out of the congress and in Barcelona there would be plenty sweeping into the event if it was more affordably priced.

Nokia made many of the news feeds in the early part of the week through its announcement about its strategic alliance with  Microsoft Windows for its mobile O/S. (the ins and outs of that announcement won't be discussed in detail here but it is a significant and potentially fatal move for the Finnish mobile maker). Alcatel Lucent had a complete hall to itself (which must have cost upward of US $3 Million) a black and purple ambiance hall, somewhat isolated from the other shared halls with a bored looking app engineer manning each bland product station.

Upstairs on the Android stand at MWC2011

Inside the other halls it was all about a little green droid which definitely stole the show in 2011.


Google's marketing strategy for the week  was clever - get a logo and a bunch of designers (like Andrew Bell at  Dead Zebra) to play around with it .Manufacture some relatively cheap  collectible items and create a frenzy amongst the Android brethren  visiting the congress. Give some of the same items to Android O/S partners  around the halls and release the items over the course of the week -  result an android pin frenzy amongst visitors and exhibitors.

The Android Mini Collectibles and pins

The success of making everyone Android aware was so good that by the end of the week many executives from rival companies were shaking their heads in disbelief and putting signs up on their stands 'sorry we don't have pins' (Samsung Stand). or 'Noooooo pins ' as placed on the Huawei stand'. Even today at the close of the 4 day show there were still hundreds of  people crowding the Android stand in anticipation of more promotional material. One US executive in his late 40's had collected all but 4 of the 86 pins released by Google during the course of the week and at 3.20 today there was a stampede on the main counter when they opened boxes of the mini collectible series.

Dead Zebra designed some of the material

Superbowl 45 - Shout Go Packers or Go Steelers to unlock a special badge

Last year, Super Bowl Sunday was one of our biggest days for check-ins, with people around the world gathering at houses and bars for The Big Game. This year, we have some super exciting news for all you football fans: we’ve teamed up with the NFL for the biggest sporting event of the year – Super Bowl XLV! We wanted to give the entire foursquare community a chance to gather together, so we’ve created our first global venue, Super Bowl Sunday. Foursquare users around the world can check into the largest Super Bowl party – ever!

For the dedicated Steelers and Packers fans, show your support by shouting “Go Steelers” or “Go Packers” with your foursquare check-in to unlock a special badge. ‘Super Bowl Sunday’ will show up in your places list shortly before kickoff.

For those fans lucky enough to be at the game in North Texas, checking in will earn you a Super Bowl XLV badge to show off to your friends.
Along with each of the three badges, you’ll receive a special promotional code for a 20% discount on select merchandise at NFLShop.com (some restrictions apply). After the game, gear up for next season with a new jersey of your favorite player!


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Related articles

• Foursquare's Super Bowl Campaign to Test Badge Redemption Codes (mashable.com)

Google Offers in development to challenge GroupOn and LivingSocial

Marissa Mayer Google  is developing a local coupon service similar to Groupon.

Like Groupon , the service, Google Offers, will offer time-limited deals from local vendors, such as restaurants. Nine dollars, for example, might buy $22 worth of food at a local eatery.

"Google is communicating with small businesses to enlist their support and participation in a test of a pre-paid offers/vouchers program," 

said Google Inc. spokesman Nate Tyler.

Google would not say when Offers would be available or provide any more details about its plans.

While Groupon is Google's most obvious competitor when it comes to offering local deals, the field of coupon sites has rapidly grown to include sites such as LivingSocial and Tippr. Flash sales site Gilt Groupe and the newsletter DailyCandy also offer local deals.

Google has signaled it wants to expand in local advertising. Last year, it promoted Marissa Mayer (pictured), who oversaw the company's core search products to grow the company's geographic and local services business, and gave her a seat on the company's operating committee of top decision-makers.

The company also has reportedly tried to enter the local deals business by buying prominent companies in the field. Last year, Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., reportedly considered acquiring Yelp for more than $500 million. And last month, it reportedly tried to buy Groupon for somewhere between $5 billion and $6 billion, but was rejected. Groupon has since raised an additional $950 million in venture capital funding.

Currently, Google's Places service lets local businesses set up pages where the owners can post photos and other promotional information, and customers can write reviews. Then, these places can appear as pinpoints on Google's popular map network, Google Maps.



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An analogy from raandom.com

Turned this into a pictorial from a tweet of an individual from LinkedIn. A simplified tongue in cheek post of the differences of the main social media sites!  
Guest post Raandom.com - see others here

Twitter= I need to pee.

Facebook= I peed!

.

Foursquare= I'm peeing here

Quora= Why am I peeing?

Youtube= Watch this pee!

LinkedIn= I pee well

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Horoscope - the most common horoscope words

This analysis was brought to our attention by the tweet of the CEO of foursquare @dens.

If you look through the most common words posted on the various horoscopes you will see that the regularity of the words across all 12 star signs are incredibly similar. Horoscoped – the most common horoscope words, visualized. If that’s not proof of meaningless homogeneity, don’t know what is.

(Taxi for Jonathan Cainer and you can shove your 20% discount up your nether orifice.)

TBWA's brain booty and disruptive interestingness across advertising, creative culture and media arts.

Curated by Maria Popova, editor of Brain Pickings.

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Coupon Social Marketing Round up - via techcrunch

Living Social has acquired LetsBonus
Social commerce startup LivingSocial this morning announced that it has acquired a majority stake in Europe’s Let’s Bonus  The partnership brings LivingSocial operations to a total of ten countries, with the addition of Let’s Bonus’ Spain, Italy, Portugal, Argentina and Mexico presences. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

LivingSocial says it now boasts more than 16 million subscribers, is live in more than 170 markets, and is projected to book in excess of $500 million in revenue in 2011. 

Launched in September 2009 in Barcelona, Let’s Bonus was one of the first European companies to ride the group buying wave. The startup offers daily deals with discounts of up to 70% on activities like gourmet dinners, luxury spas and romantic escapes. 

Let’s Bonus has a team of more than 200 employees and now has offices in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Rome, Milan, Lisbon, Buenos Aires and Mexico. 

Last year, LivingSocial acquired adventure company Urban Escapes, and launched three new verticals including LivingSocial Escapes, a travel site that offers savings on curated adventures, LivingSocial Family Edition and Campus Deals. In addition, LivingSocial has expanded its reach in Australia with a controlling stake in Jump On It.

Expansion though acquisition or entire companies and majority stakes of course mirrors the way rival Groupon is planting its flags all over the world as well, so this move takes the competition between both group buying sites global.
LivingSocial has raised $232 million in funding to date, most recently securing a $175 million round from Amazon. 

Article from techcrunch

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Premier League Location stats - North West is strongest region

And if you know your history!!

Altogether 23 clubs have been champions of the top division , from a total of 17 towns and  cities. Most teams have come from Liverpool, Manchester or London. Liverpool leads the way as a city with 27 wins followed by a combined Manchester of 20 wins.

The even more staggering statistic is that of the 112 titles won 54 of them have been won by North West teams - the nearest region to rival this is London with 19.The only region without a top flight winner is the South West.


The Football League was founded in 1888, with Preston North End winning the first title. The Football League, which was renamed the First Division  upon expansion of the league in 1892, remained the highest division of  the English football league system until 1992 when the Premier League  was founded.

Town or city	Number of titles	Clubs
Liverpool	27	Liverpool (18), Everton (9)
Manchester	20	Manchester United (18), Manchester City (2)
London	19	Arsenal (13), Chelsea (4), Tottenham Hotspur (2)
Birmingham	8	Aston Villa (7), West Bromwich Albion (1)
Sunderland	6	Sunderland (6)
Sheffield	5	Sheffield Wednesday (4), Sheffield United (1)
Newcastle	4	Newcastle United (4)
Leeds	3	Leeds United (3)
Blackburn	3	Blackburn Rovers (3)
Huddersfield	3	Huddersfield Town (3)
Wolverhampton	3	Wolverhampton Wanderers (3)
Derby	2	Derby County (2)
Burnley	2	Burnley (2)
Preston	2	Preston North End (2)
Portsmouth	2	Portsmouth (2)
Ipswich	1	Ipswich Town
Nottingham	1	Nottingham Forest

Here is the  regional information which shows just how dominant the North West has been. (League titles by club in brackets).

Region	Number of titles	Clubs
North West	54	Liverpool (18), Manchester United (18), Everton (9), Blackburn Rovers (3), Burnley (2), Manchester City (2), Preston North End (2)
London	19	Arsenal (13), Chelsea (4), Tottenham Hotspur (2)
Yorkshire and Humber	11	Sheffield Wednesday (4), Leeds United (3), Huddersfield Town (3), Sheffield United
West Midlands	11	Aston Villa (7), Wolverhampton Wanderers (3), West Bromwich Albion
North East	10	Sunderland (6), Newcastle United (4)
East Midlands	3	Derby County (2), Nottingham Forest
South East	2	Portsmouth (2)
East of England	1	Ipswich Town
South West	–	Who are ya?

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Facebook vs Twitter Infographic

Better results for brands than facebook
This is a fascinating graphic for those who like to learn more about the demographics of facebook and twitter. The 2 giants in Social networking has some very different results.

Source : Digital Surgeons( cool name )
Brad McCarty.


Though fewer people follow brands on Twitter than on Facebook, those who follow on Twitter are nearly 18 percent more likely to purchase something from that brand than those who follow a brand on Facebook.

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Cityville

Here is a brief excerpt from techcrunch about one of the latest games sweeping the internet via the facebook platform! The Sims generation is now social!

Late last week, Zynga launched CityVille, its latest flagship title that’s sure to draw millions of rabid fans.

The game represents Zynga’s entry into the very popular (and already-crowded) city-building genre, which also includes Digital Chocolate’s Millionaire City, and competing titles from Playfish, Crowdstar, and Playdom. 

But Zynga’s got this down to a science, and its late start hasn’t kept CityVille from quickly gaining a ton of users. 

Zynga reports that in the game’s first 24 hours, over 290,000 people played CityVille. That’s more than double the 116,000 that Zyngas last title, FrontierVille, saw in its first 24 hours. And FrontierVille is no slouch — it’s now at 6.5 million players a day, with 29,872,423 monthly active users. Zynga says CityVille is its biggest launch to date.

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Top Twitter Trends 2010 - World Cup dominated the twitterverse!

Twitter Trends 2010

Guest post PocketInfo.net

Two Natural disasters, two movies , the World Cup, technology  and Justin Bieber topped the 2010 twitter charts!

Top 10 Trends Overall

• 1. Gulf Oil Spill
• 2. FIFA World Cup
• 3. Inception
• 4. Haiti Earthquake
• 5. Vuvuzela
• 6. Apple iPad
• 7. Google Android
• 8. Justin Bieber
• 9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
• 10. Pulpo Paul

My guess is only Justin Bieber and some Apple or Google product will make the list in 2011!

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Give Blood and unlock a badge

This is a good badge to unlock. At the moment it is only available for American Red Cross Donors.
But i'm sure if you've given blood elsewhere and want to let people know just shout ...

Donation Red Cross

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