Josh Constine is a technology journalist who specializes in deep analysis of social products. He is currently a writer for TechCrunch.
Previously, Constine was the Lead Writer of Inside Facebook, where he covered Facebook product changes, privacy, the Ads API, Page management, ecommerce, virtual currency, and music technology.
Prior to writing for Inside Facebook, Constine graduated from Stanford University in 2009 with a Master’s degree in Cybersociology, examining the influence of technology on social interaction. He researched the impact of privacy controls on the socialization of children, meme popularity cycles, and what influences the click through rate of links posted to Twitter.
Constine also received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Stanford University in 2007, with a concentration in Social Psychology & Interpersonal Processes. He became fascinated with social networking theory after joining Facebook as a freshman a month after the service first launched.
Josh Constine has spoken at the South By Southwest Interactive and Music conferences, and has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, The Atlantic, BBC World Magazine, Slate, and more.
Watch Zuck, Sheryl Sandberg and the rest of the gang go to bat for Facebook in the promo video for its pre-IPO roadshow. For your reading pleasure, I’ve written a sportscaster-style play-by-play followed by some highlights.
Hit “Read More” to learn about Facebook’s mission, products and platform, advertising, finance, and future without having to click past all the SEC disclaimers and sit through the 30-minute video. → Read More
Today any local U.S. business can start using Facebook’s Offers product – free-to-create coupons that businesses can share to the news feed, and that users can bring to brick-and-mortar stores for redemptions. First announced in February at the Facebook Marketing Conference, the product has been in private testing with a select group of brands who worked with Facebook reps to run the offers. Now the promotional product is available in a self-serve interface.
While it doesn’t cost businesses anything to run offers, Facebook could still make money on them. If they perform well in the news feed and drive business to physical stores, those stores may spend more on Facebook ads that increase their Page fan counts — and the subscriber bases for the coupons. → Read More
We are hearing from bankers underwriting Facebook’s initial public offering, that it will IPO at a $70 billion to $90 billion valuation, or $27-$35 a share. The reason for the valuation dropping below its speculated $100 billion mark is the sequential quarter-over-quarter revenue decline going into the first quarter revealed in its recent S-1 amendment. While that’s still going to be a landmark valuation for a consumer Internet company, but it could be a bit disappointing for some.
“If y/y rev growth had accelerated, we could be talking LinkedIn multiples. Plus LinkedIn has expanding margins, which Facebook doesn’t,” said a source. (Just for reference, LinkedIn trades at a price-earnings ratio of 913. If Facebook debuted at a $100 billion valuation, that would be 100X its trailing net income.)
The Wall Street Journal also reported that Facebook will debut at an $85 Billion to $95 Billion valuation, but we have our own independent sources who have confirmed this price range.
→ Read More
It’s official. To transition from a startup into a late-stage company that aims to be around for 100 years, Evernote today confirms it’s raised a $70 million Series D round of funding at a $1 billion valuation. Meritech Capital and CBC Capital were chosen to lead the round because they’re the firms that can help Evernote prepare for an eventual IPO.
Evernote doesn’t need the money. It still has much of the $96 million that it’s raised to date in the bank plus over one million paying customers out of its 25 million+ users. But now Evernote will have the cash to isolate itself from short-term market conditions. The Series D will also fund international expansion, including a push in China, strategic acquisitions, the development of business accounts and other features, and hiring of developers, designers, Q&A, and support.
But just because it’s maturing, Evernote has no plans of slowing down. I interviewed CEO Phil Libin about what the future holds for Evernote. He assured me “This funding keeps is us in the sweet spot to take risks. This is the most creative stage for the company.” → Read More
You don’t have to be an artist to make art, or a comedian to make lulz…at least not on The New Hive, where you can create one-off websites by drag-and-dropping any type of content. Upload some pics of friends, draw mustaches on them, and embed a ridiculous soundtrack from SoundCloud. Lay your latest YouTube creation on a bed of animated kittens. Or get serious and publish your photography portfolio with contact info and links to your other sites.
We’re all creative, The New Hive’s page editor just makes expressing it easier. Be one of first people in its private beta. Sign up code below. → Read More
You know what doesn’t rock? Missing a concert by your favorite band. So today Live Nation is publicly launching its Concert Calendar, a Facebook app that pulls in music and comedy gig listings from Ticketmaster (which merged with Live Nation in 2010) as well as 75 other ticketers.
The calendar offers concert recommendations based on your Facebook Likes and streaming service listening habits from Spotify and other apps, as well as the shows your friends are going to. You even earn Concert Cash for discounts on tickets and merchandise just for visiting. → Read More
While greedy advertisers claim they’re skeptical about Facebook because it won’t give them obtrusive ad units, investors seem quite confident in its business, considering they’ve publicly poured $915 million into Facebook Preferred Marketing Developers according to a study by AlphaBoost. The future of Facebook ads is a particularly popular bet, as Ads API providers who help brands and agencies buy huge campaigns have pulled in $450 million in public investments.
Those backing companies that make Facebook apps, analytics dashboard, ad managers, and publishing tools include six of InvestorRank’s Top 10 Overall VC funds such as First Round Capital and Battery Ventures. Who are you going to trust as to the potential of Facebook’s business? Advertisers who want big flashy ads all over your news feed but are sore they can’t get them. Or today’s top VCs? → Read More
While Google keeps cramming its search results pages full of tools and social content, today Bing confirmed with me the full roll out a redesigned search results page that completely clears the left sidebar, and replaces the tabbed header with a cleaner set of links. Bing’s Facebook integration is also more subtle now, instead of plastering names and faces beneath Liked results.
This more relaxing, dare I say zen, design gives Google a more claustrophobic and exhausting feel by comparison. Microsoft seems to have realized that if it can’t match Google’s algorithmic prowess, it could win with sleek design that doesn’t bombard you with a thousand options. Here’s how the designs of two search engines compare… → Read More
The fundamental misunderstanding of Facebook’s mobile prospects is that it’s trying to compete with iOS and Android for in-app payment revenue via HTML5. It’s not. What Facebook really wants is the content produced by apps on every platform, which it can monetize with ads. Payments revenue is a very nice bonus, but not critical. That’s why Facebook announced today that it’s making money on mobile for everyone else by pouring traffic into their apps.
Facebook says it drove 160 million visitors and 1.1 billion visits to third-party apps last month, up from 60 million visitors and 320 million visits in February. And now seven of the top 10 grossing iOS apps and six of the top Android apps integrate it to power discovery and virality. By showing that it can drive traffic to mobile apps, devs will keep integrating Facebook and sending it news feed stories that the social network show ads next to. → Read More
It’s too common a story: smart, low-income kid can’t find their academic passion, so they drop out of school. But now you can rewrite this tragic tale with the help of Wishbone.org, a philanthropy website launching today where you can crowdfund high-potential youngsters so they can afford inspiring after- and summer-school programs. Wishbone only accepts seriously motivated students and produces its own polished video interviews with them, so it’s easy to find someone who’ll really benefit from your donation.
Started by an LA teacher who saw the problem first-hand, and backed by Ron Conway and the Kaufman Foundation for entrepreneurship, Wishbone has a high-leverage, accomplishable mission. It’s not trying to start education programs, but rather bridge the gap between existing ones and the kids that need them. Years down the line it could be organizations like Wishbone that save tech from the talent crunch. → Read More
ifeelgoods has a brilliant idea — letting you earn Facebook Credits for ecommerce purchases or following a brand on Twitter — but now it has to convince big companies and shopping sites to adopt its tech. That’s why it’s hired former Google Managing Director of Commerce Sales and leader of PayPal’s enterprise sales team Tyler Hoffman to be its new Senior Vice President of Sales.
ifeelgoods is starting to snowball, as CEO Michael Amar says 92% of customers returning to ifeelgoods and increasing their budget by 250%. Of my years in tech, this is one of the most promising startups I’ve seen. Because virtual currency is so cheap to distribute and is highly valued by some consumers, ifeelgoods could become a big disruptive force in how businesses acquire customers. → Read More
Today Yahoo hit Facebook with five big counter-counterclaims designed to invalidate the patents cited in the social network’s infringement countersuit. If the court concurs, Facebook could be left wide-open in settlement negotiations, and might have to pay Yahoo a hefty sum of cash and/or stock.
Specifically, the old web portal claims that after it sued for patent infringement, Facebook bought patents ”for purposes of retaliation”. Therefore they don’t meet the U.S. Patent Office’s “Duty of Disclosure, Candor, and Good Faith” and should be thrown out of Facebook’s countersuit against Yahoo.
Yahoo also claims Facebook broke their agreement to inform each other of IP issues, couldn’t legally know if Yahoo was violating its patents, and that several of Facebook’s new patents were illegally filed. Finally, Yahoo filed two more advertising patent infringement claims against Facebook that look to be quite incriminating. Here’s breakdown of the five claims and how they’ll influence the outcome of the case. → Read More
Google’s sale of a previously purchased arm of the company this morning, 3D modeling software SketchUp, to Trimble, isn’t just something it does “every now and again”. It’s actually Google’s first divestment ever, according to two sources, and we’re hearing the search giant made a profit, as it sold SketchUp for more than it bought it for back in 2006.
This could signal a sea change in how Larry Page executes his vision for a leaner, more focused Google. The company frequently shuts down extraneous products, but that requires redistribution of their team members internally. If it’s now willing to sell them instead, Google could streamline around the theme of making user’s lives more convenient, while making some money at the same time. → Read More
He stole Facebook’s source code, but never copied, published, or sold it. Then he was arrested and imprisoned. Now released after four months in jail, Glenn Steven Mangham claims in a blog post that he’s an innocent white hat hacker who was trying to help Facebook patch security vulnerabilities.
However, Facebook responded to my request for a statement about the 26-year old’s claims with “Mr. Mangham’s excuses have already been evaluated and rejected by a court of law, resulting in his conviction and jail time.”
Mangham says he planned to inform Facebook of the vulnerabilities, and could have entered Facebook’s White Hat program that offers security researchers protection against legal repercussions. However, Mangham was arrest after possessing the source code for three weeks without informing Facebook. Is he telling the truth, or lying through his teeth? → Read More
Facebook wants you to know it’s listening when you report bullying, hate speech, identity theft, and spam, so today it launched a new Support Dashboard for tracking these reports until they’re resolved. Users can check to see if their report has been reviewed, be notified of whether the offensive content was removed or left up, and learn why the decision was made. The Support Dashboard is gradually rolling out to the Account Settings menu starting today with Facebook tracking Timeline and photo flags there, and monitoring for more content types will be added soon.
Cyberbullying has emerged as huge problem across the Internet and especially on Facebook, where Consumer Reports says one million children were bullied from June 2010-2011. The Support Dashboard should make users feel more confident about spending time on Facebook because they know if they’re abused and report it, their problems will actually be heard and responded to. → Read More
“She told me that she Googled my name up / Shootings, robberies and big coke came up”. These are lyrics from “Google That”, a vulgar, violent new rap song from NORE Styles P, and Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon immortalizing the search engine. In it, the rappers brag about how their crimes and jail time are so famous you can find them on the Internet.
Most tech companies probably wouldn’t mind being mentioned in pop culture, but probably not like this. Rap enthusiast Ben Horowitz might love it, though. Here’s the video and full lyrics. → Read More
Facebook quietly released an API for its new real-time Insights last week (Update: API officially announced) that lets developers build tools that allow companies to track news feed post performance, virality, and negative feedback. Just five days later, EdgeRank Checker has just released a dashboard for monitoring this data so clients can publish the best possible content on their Facebook Page, and earn the biggest return on their social media investment.
Before Facebook even announced the real-time Insights API, my scoop on its coming launch kicked EdgeRank Checker into high-gear. Founder Chad Wittman tells me “when you broke the news about real-time coming, I had a million great ideas. Now is the time to implement as many as possible.” We hustle all day on the news here at TechCrunch, so we like to see when developers put the same passion into their code. → Read More
“The series A is essentially dying. If I can get an amazing valuation at a seed round, not give up a board seat, and keep complete control of the company, why not?” This is Ark co-founder Patrick Riley’s reasoning for why instead of raising a Series A round, his people search engine just locked down a jaw-droppingly massive $4.2 million seed round. Ark will use the money from Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, SV Angel and more to build out its mobile and search teams, and do a big marketing push when it opens to the public.
Riley believes more founders will try to avoid early Series A rounds that often come with an investor board member attached. This will help them stay more agile and avoid having to approve pivots or other big changes through outsiders. Riley tells me, “I think the future is larger seed rounds.” → Read More
Right now there’s a cutthroat battle between social marketing platforms to represent the world’s biggest brands. In hopes of seducing dollars from offline and clients from competitors, social marketing platform FanBridge has just hired former Buddy Media’s GM of lifestyle brands David Dowd. Previously the head of branded content biz dev for Google, his experience courting fashion, retail, luxury and other companies there and at Buddy Media will give him the edge as FanBridge’s new VP of brands.
Selling big brands on the future is tough. There’s plenty of social skeptics still clinging to TV. Many companies aren’t shifting their whole marketing budgets to digital, but that’s the direction the money is flowing. Be it Buddy Media, FanBridge, or their many competitors, those who can lock down trend-setting clients and get positioned for the coming wave will surf their way to multi-million dollar contracts. → Read More
Blogs and content sites are only willing to give up valuable real estate and clutter themselves with social sharing buttons if they get ample referral traffic in return. That’s the big problem with the Google+ Share button that launched today with no launch partners or live examples of it in use. The embeddable button for posting webpages to the Google+ news feed with an optional comment is going to struggle for installs unless Google can prove it drives page views.
After flops like the Google Buzz and +1 buttons, and plenty of competition, it’s going to be a tough sell. In the end, it could backfire, sidestepping the bullshit registered user counts Google cites as awesome growth and exposing the social network as a place few people spend time. And it’s all kind of sad because the G+ Share button could be the answer to the Google+ content drought. → Read More
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