Social Media Update – March 18, 2011

Good morning. The social IPO madness continues with the Groupon evaluation climbing as fast as Facebooks. Groupon’s value seems to be floating around $25 billion according to Bloomberg, which is much higher than anyone previously anticipated. Just last December, Google made a $6 billion acquisition play at Groupon. LivingSocial, Groupons largest competitor is offering up some amazing social good in the form of a deal. For every $5 donation given by users of the social coupon site they will match the donation. LivingSocial users have donated over 1 million dollars and the company will continue to match these donations through today. Would you believe Facebook fans are more valuable than Twitter followers? According to Eventbrite, an online event management company, the ROI on a Facebook fan is much larger than that of a Twitter follower. The company also noticed that the propensity to share information with friends changed drastically during the process of purchasing a ticket. GAP is no stranger to the social space, and just this week GAP started testing a new tactic allowing people to haggle with them over the price of clothing. Gapmyprice.com is a site where you can name your price for a pair of khakis and GAP will come back with another offer. This is their latest tactic in keeping consumers engaged and shopping in a tricky economy. Enjoy.

I. Is Groupon Worth $25 Billion? Revenue Now “Multiple Billions Of Dollars”, techcrunch.com, March 17, 2011
II. LivingSocial’s Newest Deal: Matching Donations for Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Relief, mashable.com, March 18, 2011
III. Facebook ‘Likes’ more profitable than tweets, cnn.com, March 17, 2011
IV. Gap Invites Shoppers to Make a Deal, adage.com, March 15, 2011
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I. Is Groupon Worth $25 Billion? Revenue Now “Multiple Billions Of Dollars”, techcrunch.com, March 17, 2011
http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/17/groupon-25-billion/
As Groupon pursues its plans for an IPO, it’s proposed valuation keeps on going up. First it was $15 billion, now it’s $25 billion, according to a report by Bloomberg. Remember, it was only in January, 2011 that it closed a $950 million venture round at a valuation just shy of $5 billion.

II. LivingSocial’s Newest Deal: Matching Donations for Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Relief, mashable.com, March 18, 2011
http://mashable.com/2011/03/18/livingsocial-red-cross/
LivingSocial, Groupon’s largest and most prominent competitor, has launched a new daily deal across its entire network to raise money for relief efforts in Japan. The offer is $5 for a $10 donation to the American Red Cross’s Japan Earthquake & Pacific Tsunami fund. For every $5 donation the Red Cross receives through LivingSocial, the daily deals company has pledged to make a matching donation.

III. Facebook ‘Likes’ more profitable than tweets, cnn.com, March 17, 2011
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/03/17/facebook.twitter.profits.mashable/index.html
If event registration site Eventbrite’s experience is any indication, social media marketers looking for monetary returns on their efforts might get more value from Facebook than Twitter.
The company announced Wednesday that an average tweet about an event drove 80 cents in ticket sales during the past six months, whereas an average Facebook Like drove $1.34.

IV. Gap Invites Shoppers to Make a Deal, adage.com, March 15, 2011
http://adage.com/article/news/gap-kicks-daylong-online-deal-promotion/149411/
Gap began promoting the site gapmyprice.com on its Facebook page today, allowing customers to name their price for a pair of men’s khakis. The deal lasts until tomorrow. The site keeps it simple: Clicking on the “Let’s Make a Deal” button takes users to a page where they select one of 18 styles of khakis, retailing for either $49.50 or $59.50, and make an offer. Gap then presents a deal, and users can either accept or make a counter-offer before Gap makes its final offer. Gap’s offers ranged from $35 to $45 for a $49.50 pair, according to the site’s winners tab.