For those of you not following TechCrunch’s Layoff Tracker, the tech industry is taking a major hit. So far a total of 44,283 (to include HP’s release) people are gone from their respective companies. Is this another Dot Com Bust?
How bad is this? Well, pretty bad considering that most tech startups are staffed minimally to keep costs down. Some companies have been forced to cut as many has 1/3 of their staff, some up to 50%.
I were Chicken Little, the sky would definitely be falling right now!
Korean backed company, Brightstorm, is making headlines by going live for the public. With $6 million invested, Brightstorm looks to offer students of all ages an opportunity to receive online tutoring through a series of web videos based on the subject. There are currently 20 instructors on the site offering assistance with a variety of courses including History, Government, Math, and SAT prep. I’m sure the site will expand its offerings and possibly increase the number of instructors as the site grows.
Now there is a price involved. For $50 a course, the videos are made available for you to watch, ranging from 10-20 min. in length depending on the subject matter. Students and parents are able to watch samples in order to decide whether they enjoy the instructor or not, and obviously to decide whether the quality and value is worth the money. The video courses will also offer pop-quizzes, interactive challenges, and other dynamics to keep the student aware and involved as much as possible.
I commend the efforts of Brightstorm, and while they may not be the only fish in the sea in terms of online tutoring sites, they appear to be the best organized. Can a student learn better from an online video tutor as opposed to an in person tutor? That will remain to be seen.
Social Networks have been the method of communication for adults, adolescents, and businesses the world over. Kids have been curious about the many social sites that exist, but none are targeted for the under 12 year old market. Today parents are more worried about who their children talk to since it’s impossible to really know who is on the other end of the conversation. While understandable, there was no real forum for younger children to make their mark on the net until KidZui debuted.
What started as a pay service quickly changed to a free model, and since then they have had a lot of success attracting the 3-12 year old demographic. Recently KidZui has changed a lot of the functionality of their site, and have introduced some new tools to make the site fun for parents working with their kids. Parents are encouraged to participate on the site with their kids so that everyone is in the know as to what the child is looking at and sharing online.
KidZui offers limited profiles that offer superficial details about the user, the site offers no real two way communication to prevent those looking to lure children, and tabs where users can share the sites they’ve visited, approved videos, and even a section for homework help. Status can be set by the user, but instead of typing there is a menu of premade options that can be chosen from. Again, this introduction is to get the child used to the idea of larger social networks, but still maintain a safe environment for kids to enjoy their time online.
If you’ve got kids, I recommend you check out KidZui and get your kids prepared for the future of communication!
Image via CrunchBase
Here on Crenk there’s already been at least two posts on how the social media world has been hit by the economic downturn,
here and
here. Just about every industry has been effected, and as such we’ve seen companies begin to layoff whole portions of their employed team. If employees were not let go, there were changes in management, as seen in
Twitter’s case.
That being said,
TechCrunch has created a
Layoff Tracker for all the layoffs that have and will be occuring in the coming months ahead. Already last week alone we saw companies like
Zillow,
Pandora,
Adbrite,
Hi5, etc, all get listed as companies doing some trimming to their employed staff.
Keep up with the latest as it happens and see if your favorite company gets listed.
Okay, it’s a long shot, but with her track record, you actually might have a chance. I’m not saying anything is wrong with her, she just likes to meet a lot of people.
Well watch out world, Britney is online in the
social media world. Where? You can connect with
Britney on Twitter…or with her “people” at least. To coincide with the launch of her
new blog site, fans can follow her on the Twitter stream and even reply to her. I wouldn’t hold your breath for direct answers, but stranger things have happened.
Any way you look at this, whether you like Britney or not, enough “mainstream” artists, performers, and other entertainers jump on Twitter, it will be hard to ignore its dominance in the market.
Gaming site,
Kongregate, has officially found a new way to keep users on their site. Before it was the over 8,000 games they offer for user entertainment, but no
w Kongregate looks to not only allow users to play games, but to make games as well.
The site will offer
Flash Game Making tutorials so that users can interact more with the site. Instead on relying on hard to understand How-To books, the videos will instruct users step by step in creating a game and allow them to play as they go to make adjustments according to their desires. The hope is to encourage independent developers to take charge of their dreams, and make them a reality utilizing the tools Kongregate is offering. Currently there are only a few well known, established developers on the site, but the purpose has always been for the independent developer to gain exposure and experience.
Kongragate is definitely doing something right, since its inception, it has garnered 4.5 million users. The addition of the Flash tools looks to build on the already existing robust user base. As of right now 3 of 8 tools have been released, but with the future tools on the horizon, Kongragate might really be onto something by empowering their users to be a part of the experience.
The trend continues, the economy continues it’s downward spiral, could this be the social media bubble that the online community has been expecting for years?
Just yesterday Hi5, a social network amongst of myriad of offerings, laid off as many as 15% of its staff. While it’s been labeled as restructuring, it’s no doubt that hard economic times are forcing companies across the board to tighten their budgets.
Advertisers are feeling the pinch too. It’s a trickle down effect and because companies are being cautious, advertising is taking a nose dive as well. Adbrite, one of the top 5 online advertising networks, is laying off more than 40% of it’s current staff. This is a huge number, and will send many seeking other ventures, but the market is going to make it tough for them to find fertile ground to grow.
As I sit here reading article after article, I think this is an opportunity for social media to grow, and perhaps force individuals to think even further outside the box. Shakeup after shakeup is sure to make investors and supporters wary, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, of that I am sure.
Update:
Just now on Twitter it has been reported by @samhouston that Pandora is releasing approximately 14% of its workforce. This has been confirmed by TechCrunch here.
Recently there were reports of something very big happening inside of Twitter. Many were left to speculate that layoffs were to ensue, or perhaps a big announcement, but either way, the word was that it would indeed by monumental.
Yesterday it was announced that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey would be stepping down from his position, allowing Evan Williams, former Chairman to move into the position. Jack Dorsey is not gone from the scene, but rather will be taking over Evan’s former position as Chairman.
Why the sudden move? Economy? Direction?
Many of us are familiar with the problems Twitter experienced earlier this year with scalability issues, ultimately making Twitter unreliable, and forcing users to seek out alternatives such as Friendfeed. While dealing with this problem, this gave competition like Friendfeed the chance to move ahead of Twitter in terms of innovation, offerings, and development.
Could Twitter have become too stagnant and in need of fresh blood? Kinda ironic since both Evan and Jack are considerably young in the industry, but just goes to show you how fast things can move in the tech world.
It will be interesting to see what Evan Williams can do with Twitter and what new ideas might be implemented into the Twitter property in the near future.
Social networks are great, meet up with old friends, catch up with old flames, but professionally, unless there is an internal social network, not a whole lot of business is done day to day on these open social networks. The one item that changes more hands than anything else are business cards. When you go to a meeting, a seminar, a conference, a training, or you meet someone interesting the business card is the staple for exchanging information.
Not anymore!
The iPhone store released
Nameo last night which can literally make business cards obsolete. How does it work? Having the app installed on the iPhone, the application becomes aware of other users in the area with the same application broadcasting their information. You simply view the individuals, select who you want to add, wait for them to agree and you’ve just exchanged information. It may sound like a lot of steps, but while business cards can get lost, throw in the wash, or simply forgotten, those that carry their mobile’s around are sure to have their information on hand. The virtual business card could be the future of business.
The app is only
$2.99 at the App Store, but because the
iPhone has not established itself as the business phone of choice, a similar application is sure to hit the Blackberry market. If so, it would be quite a boost to their business, and could perhaps set the standard for trading information with others electronically, making the use of a paper business card completely irrelevant.
When
Flock was launched last fall, it was the browser geared towards the social network savvy surfer. It was a new way to integrate all the most popular social sites and keep them at your finger tips while doing your standard day to day browsing online. No longer were you forced to open tab after tab, window after window for each network you wanted to connect with. Now, with some minor prep time by inputting accounts and passwords, Flock will keep everything on file and load all of your chosen networks as soon as you start your browser.
Flock has just released the latest version of its broswer software, and already it’s looking like the browser to beat. When Google release Chrome, it was a mad dash by early adopters to test out this mysterious new entry into the browser wars. The excitement lost steam pretty quickly as users were left wondering exactly what the purpose of Chrome was because the bells and whistles were just not there. The browser that was meant to be used not seen seemed to be the mantra. Flock flies directly in the face of such philosophy by making sure every aspect of the user interface is useful and interactive.
The new release integrates Media RSS which can now keep the most watch media on the front page of your start window for immediate viewing; pics, movies, podcasts, all accessible with a click of a button. New to the social network offerings is
MySpace, which has finally been brought into the fold, allowing users to chat with their friends directly from the sidebar without having to visit the actual site.
Since it’s founding 3 years ago, and with the first release this past fall, Flock has attracted 6 million downloads. A true testament in its efforts to get attention from users. Having been built on Firefox’s code, similarities are welcoming with a taste and flavor all its own.
Crenk has been rated as one of the UK’s premier sites for technology and media news. Ranking 23rd of all UK sites, and having a world wide prescence online, it takes people truly connected to the pulse of the industry to keep this site alive.
Currently the site is looking at expanding it’s current writing staff in order to diversify and establish more timely posts in this current boom in the media business. With social networks taking hold at a global level, mobile apps becoming the wave of the future on all major mobile platforms, start-ups making their mark at high level conferences like TechCrunch 50, it’s almost impossible to capture the scope of the industry what what we have.
So this is YOUR chance to come on board and help Crenk out. Not only do you join a team of experienced writers, but you also have the chance to have your articles seen by a large audience. Come share your analysis, your insight, and open up conversation with our readers and let’s take Crenk to another level!
For more information please email info@crenk.com and let us you’re interested.
Photo Credit this is your brain on lithium
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