Will Facebook Rule The World? Sell Apple?

Uhm no to Facebook. Maybe for Apple.

I was looking at the Fortune 500 because Apple's earnings disappointed. They only had a 20% earnings increase. With quarterly profits ONLY double Facebook's 2011 Revenues! Do you know how long it would take Facebook to get to have even as much revenues as Apple has in profits?!!! Years. 

And I remembered when big bad Microsoft everyone was freaking out. They were taking over the world. Well they were once the most valuable company in the world. Now they rank 37th in the US. They are worth $241bil as of today. They were once worth almost $500bil. In 1999. Apple is $537bil today. In today's dollars Microsoft was worth $650 billion back then!

So Facebook if they are lucky will rule the moment or the year. But they will fall just like everyone else. Very few companies have staying power. Not hundreds we are talking tens. Tens world wide. So don't get caught in the hype. In late 1999 someone bought Microsoft at $58 a share. Today they can be bought for $28 a share.

Time spent has been dropping. All sorts of metrics point to Facebook having peaked in terms of user activity. Yet they only corner 11 minutes of our day. Out of a 24 hour day. And they might of peaked........tells me there are other time sucks waiting to be invented.

Do you sell Apple? Have they peaked? Will they become like Microsoft a cash cow behemoth? We don't know. But stock price is based on future earnings and earning growth. Not past performance. All I can say is careful when you buy. Careful when you sell.

The Power of Social Media - Google goes Apple with + Project

Today Google released it's + Project

The Alien's at Sky Pulse Media are very excited because while we will advise people and brands on Facebook we view it as a massive marketing failure for Brands in general, big and small. Just peruse this blog! But we are very bullish on the Power of Social Media. And while we just debunked Viral and Influence yesterday, meaning how Individual Pieces of Content rarely go Viral. Topics go viral.

The number of Tweets and Blogs today about the Google + Project is overwhelming. This is classic APPLE. Apple doesn't do the Twitter/Facebook game. When Apple has an announcement and army of bloggers and tweeters and even big news sites all talk about APPLE. And today GOOGLE went APPLE!

By Friday everyone will know about this project and start looking at it to see if it can really compete against Facebook. And once the first stream of testers start telling us their experience this will either explode or die a quick death. Time will tell.

Some great discussions of Google + Project:

SpinSucks by Gini Dietrich

Barataria by Erik Hare

We Are Social by Robin Gant 

I am sure Mashable has a write up but who reads Mashable? Not serious Marketers or Thought Leaders.

Just check Twitter check the Blogosphere the world is on Fire over this. And that is the power of social media. It is PEOPLE POWER. Not BRAND POWER. When Google launched Wave it had an hour long presentation explaining it. No one cared. When Apple launched Ping. No one cared. But if you give the people reason to get excited. They will do the heavy lifting for you. If they yawn. Good luck. You can always convince us with 30 sec spots on TV!

Chief Alien Note: We changed the background for the posts to make them more readable even if they take away from the Space Theme.

Wednesay Marketing Extravaganza

First: Apple possibly has peaked? At least by stock price. And this point is from Investor Viewpoint more than anything else.

Finally Malware Attacks Mac OS - LINK

This was something I heard all the time from Mac users about why Window's sucks.

Android Makers could Torch IPhone - LINK

I think the IPhone will be the same as Mac. 10% of the Market more upscale but never growing beyond that.

The IPad. It's part phone (uses Apps and part PC surfs web). The IPad is NOT revolutionizing Marketing. As much as the Media Industry hopes and prays. It will not trump phones for LBS and it will not replace a juiced of laptop yet. And when low cost Tablets become mainstream...oh no!

And Trust! Own an IPhone or IPad? Apple is following you without permission. They make Mark Zuckerturd the Weasel seem like an Ethical operator on privacy in my opinion. At least Facebook only tracks you on Facebook (unless you do dumb stuff such as clicking Like on the Open Graph (it opt in at least for the suckas). Apple has opted you in with no way to opt out. They follow you everywhere your phone is! Think of what that would show.

Lastly Apple used to be 'Renegade' now they are mainstream (aside from invading your privacy!). They used to be like the Ramone's but now they are like Maroon 5 (in my opinion). So all of this to me says Apple is ripe for a flattening in growth with trust possibly declining.


Me? I am a full on renegade. I play Vinyl Records and sticking with my Commodore 64. What are your thoughts?


Next: I told Edward Boches who shared this link on Twitter People should be customizing the web for themselves. The web should not be customizing the web for us.


Read this shocking article from the NY Times: LINK


Seems Google's and Bing's etc are feeding you back what THEY THINK YOU WANT TO SEE, not what should be returned to you from your search results objectively!


Lastly: Proof the Social Media Agency is going to be dead! I read this on the Huffington Post written by the CEO of Likeable Media. Doesn't anyone in advertising or media use critical thinking? The article basically says that because Stephen Colbert Tweets his brand is more social than Jon Stewart. There is ZERO analysis of Facebook or Twitter tweet volumes, engagement etc. 

And just because Vin Diesel has 21 million Fans on Facebook are they really Fans? How many ever click Like or Comment on his page? Not 21 million. How many pages are you a fan of that you never go to, see a post from, or participate on? Like MOST you have clicked Like on? So when will Social Media Marketers stop shoveling the horse shit? Yes I know Marketers working for Brands are gullible. But come on. You can't be that gullible!

And thus this proves agencies like this will be exposed for not returning value to their clients.

Mobile Monday - Platforms Suck! Long Live Platforms!

The latest development with Nokia deciding to partner with Microsoft to integrate Windows 7 Mobile in their phones is something everyone needs to watch. This article pre-announcement from the Economist LINK shows market share and profits of the various hardware manufacturers. Here are two other articles on the announcement. One I find interesting is with Nokia in financial straits Microsoft is pretty much buying their way in: LINK LINK

We all know competition is good and healthy. It will ensure the best products and services come to market. But does this really mean we will always have the choice? I don't know if that is true. I have a Droid2 which I love even though it is buggy, poor battery life, freezes up, and requires plenty of reboots. Most of the Apps are universal so if I get an IPhone for my next phone I just re-load an App and it works seamlessly.

But what about the Apps I had to pay for? Do you really think Apple is going to just give them to me for free from the App Store? Definitely not. Nor would the eventual Windows App Store, Blackberry, or Android Stores when people switch.

Nokia sells a lot of phones. If they can pull this off and make yet another platform relevant this creates a quandary for Brands, Developers, Tech Companies, Cellular Networks, and Consumers. It is possible that a first time buyer might not realize that decision could be one that corners them with the chosen platform should they invest in Apps and Content that winds up unique to that Phone or Platform.

This gets even more complicated when Handset Manufacturers make customized Applications themselves. Verizon backs up my contacts on their cloud so when I get a new phone it downloads to the phone. But don't think Apple, Samsung, Motorola will make it as seamless for anything that is unique to the phone itself.

There is one group who are extremely excited about this new development: Mobile Agencies and 3rd Party APP Developers who do integration work for clients. When a Brand decides they have to have their content or APPs work on every platform they have to pay for this.

The groups that will have tough decisions are any Brands without deep pockets and independent APP developers who might have to choose which platform to develop for.

Apple Sued for Allowing Apps to Collect Information They Shouldn't Be

LINK To Article

We all know our Government spies on us now thanks to 9/11 and the last Administration. We also are not surprised considered how slimy, shameful and deceitful the US has acted over the last 200 years. This is not a Politics blog so no need to go into the massive list. Plus if you are here most likely you completed high school. We also now are dealing with the TSA taking XRays of us to see us kind of naked now when we go take Airline Rides. Cities like New York and others have mounted cameras outside everywhere to watch our every move.

We all know Facebook exploits us buy selling every penny of data on us they can to Marketers and Brands whether we know it or not. Or tries to expose us or force us to share everything including where we are! We know that Twitter sold half the Feed to a company so they can mine it for data.

None of this surprises us. Every single entity I just named are pretty much doing these things for exploitation, profit, control, fear, nefarious reasons. And we have agreed so far or dealt with it.

But Apple? Apple has this aura of honesty about them. They don't play dirty. Even with their desire to control their platforms and devices in terms of how they are used or the programs that go on them, they have never before been accused of invading our privacy, selling our data, or doing anything offensive (to my knowledge). This is the company that allowed 45 Apps just for Fart Noises on it's phone. The company that has allowed an App that allows you to mimic snorting cocaine on it's phone. The company that has been looked at as a Rebel. Supporting subversives and those creative/artist types no one should trust!

I have two questions. Would these lawsuits damage their reputation and honor? And if they succeed what is the long term repercussions for the Mobile Device and App Industry. I am clueless if Android has the same issue. How many of these App's we get for free make their money by selling supposedly private data? Do we know?