Facebook Replacing Blogging for Teens

San Francisco Chronicle

Blogging is becoming a thing of the past for teens and young adults, who are now far more likely to keep in touch with friends on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, according to a new study.

"Since 2006, blogging has dropped among teens and young adults while simultaneously rising among older adults," states a Pew Internet & American Life Project report on social media and mobile Internet use among young people. "As the tools and technology embedded in social networking sites change, and use of the sites continues to grow, youth may be exchanging 'macro-blogging' for microblogging with status updates."

In 2006, 28% of teen Internet users were blogging, and now only 14% do so. Adult blog use is steadily increasing, with one in 10 online adults now maintaining a blog.

Social networking sites are becoming more popular among both teens and adults. Nearly half of adults who use the Web belong to a social networking site, but the trend is even more pronounced among youth.

"[Seventy-three percent] of wired American teens now use social networking websites, a significant increase from previous surveys," Pew reports. "Just over half of online teens (55%) used social networking sites in November 2006 and 65% did so in February 2008."

Young adults ages 18 to 29 have similar habits to teens when it comes to social networking, with 72% of Web users in that age group using the social Web sites. Facebook is the most popular social network for both young adults and adults 30 and older.

Most social networking users are embracing multiple sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn.

Among young adults, 71% of people with a social network profile use Facebook, 66% use MySpace and 7% use LinkedIn.

Among the 30-plus crowd, 75% use Facebook, 36% use MySpace and 19% are on LinkedIn.

Twitter is most popular among young adults ages 18-29, with one-third using such services. Just 8% of kids age 12 to 17 use Twitter.

The study also found that "wireless internet use rates are especially high among young adults, and the laptop has replaced the desktop as the computer of choice among those under thirty."

The Pew Survey included 800 teens ages 12 to 17 and their parents; and 2,253 adults ages 18 and older.

Monster Pays Yahoo $225 Million for HotJobs

The Washington Post

Yahoo has ben trying to unload HotJobs for a while, and it finally came to a deal with Monster, which will take the site off of Yahoo's hands for $225 million in cash. As part of the deal, Monster will continue to power Yahoo's job listings for three years.

Both Hotjobs and Monster have been lagging newer job search sites such as Indeed, which searches the entire Web for job listings. According to comScore, Indeed's jog search reached 8.4 million individuals in the U.S. in December, 2009, compared to only 5.4 million for HotJobs and 6.1 million for Monster. Maybe with the acquisition, Monster can take the top spot again, although there is a lot of overlap in those numbers.

For Yahoo, it gets rid of a declining property, boosts to its cash position, and can focus on growth areas in Yahoo seo. Yahoo has been selling off or shutting dow non-core assets, including recently selling Zimbra to VMWare for $350 million, shutting down its Shopping API, and of course the long-awaited deal with Microsoft to hand over its search to Bing.

Monster recently launched its 6Sense semantic search technology across different products including resume and candidate search. 6Sense is aimed at bringing up more relevant results even when there is no exact keyword match by using semantic analysis and understanding the different ays that the same job or job requirements can be described. Monster needs all the help it can get. Today it announced fourth quarter revenues of $213 million, down 27 percent, and a net loss of $2.1 million. For the year, revenues were down 32 percent to $905 million. Full year net income was $19 million, compared to $125 million in 2008.

John Stewart and Bill O'Reilly Have an Adult Conversation

New Yorker

Jon Stewart ventured into enemy territory tonight, taking a seat across from Bill O'Reilly in the No Spin Zone for a little one on one. Their much-hyped conversation was fairly predictable, with O'Reilly vigorously defending the integrity of Fox News and Stewart shaking his head in disbelief. The whole interview was far less combative than we hoped. Stewart even offered O'Reilly a compliment! "You have become, in some ways, the voice of sanity here," he said. Of course, he followed it up by saying that's "like being the thinnest kid at fat camp." When the whole thing ended, there were two highlights to take away from it— Stewart's succinct summary of what's wrong with Fox at the end of this clip and O'Reilly's bizarre Pakistani accent. What was up with that?

News Corp. Offers Cash, Debt Assistance to MGM

Bloomberg

News Corp. has expressed interest in providing Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. with cash and assistance in restructuring debt to keep the studio independent, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

The non-binding offer from News Corp., owner of the Twentieth Century Fox film studio, was outlined in a letter this week, said the person, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. The person wouldn’t disclose other terms.

MGM, maker of the “James Bond” movies, is evaluating preliminary bids from possible buyers as it struggles with $3.7 billion in debt. News Corp.’s Fox studio distributes DVDs for Los Angeles-based MGM. Chris Petrikin, a Fox spokesman, declined to comment.

The media investment firm Qualia Capital LLC is separately offering MGM $500 million to fund operations as part of a plan that also seeks to convert some debt to equity, according to a another person with knowledge of the situation. In return, Qualia would receive an equity stake in MGM, said the person, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

Susie Arons, an MGM spokeswoman, declined to comment.

News Corp., the owner of Fox television, signed a non- disclosure agreement with MGM on Jan. 15, overcoming a monthlong impasse and allowing it to proceed with an offer, according to a person familiar with the decision.

News Corp., based in New York, gained 9 cents to $12.61 today in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Class A shares of the company, controlled by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch, gained 51 percent last year.


Interest Respite

MGM said today its lenders extended a respite on interest payments covering the debt until March 31 to give the movie studio time to restructure or find a buyer. The studio will spend “several weeks” evaluating preliminary bids.

Lenders agreed in October to let MGM skip interest payments. The studio has since put itself up for sale.

MGM, created in 1924, made films including “The Wizard of Oz” and “Ben Hur.” The company, owner of a 4,100-film library with titles including “Rocky,” sold many of its early movies prior to its 2005 buyout by a group led by private equity firms Providence Equity Partners and TPG. It has a co-production deal with Warner Bros. on the planned film “The Hobbit.”

Time Warner Inc., owner of the Warner Bros. film studio, was among the first-round bidders, a person familiar with the offers said last week.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., the independent film studio run from Santa Monica, California, is also involved in the auction.

Time Warner, based in New York, rose 64 cents to $27.45 today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares gained 40 percent in 2009. Lions Gate fell 2 cents to $5.20 after rising 5.6 percent last year.

Wal-Mart, Target Put Squeeze on Redbox

Business Week

DVD buying limits at the leading retailers hurt movie-rental vendors Redbox and NCR's ability to secure a large supply of discs

Wal-Mart is boxing out Redbox. Wal-Mart (WMT), the world's largest retailer, has imposed strict limits on the number of DVDs any one customer can buy at a time, making it harder for movie-rental kiosks such as Coinstar's (CSTR) Redbox to get their hands on large numbers of newly released discs.

The new rules took effect Feb. 1 and include a five-DVD cap on new releases, mirroring limits placed by Target (TGT) in December. Target's cap remains in effect for one week to several weeks after a movie is released to stores.

Redbox and NCR (NCR) are among the largest U.S. operators of DVD-rental kiosks, which rent movies for about $1 a day and, according to Adams Media Research, are the fastest-growing distributors of movie rentals. Kiosk rental sales are expected to rise 42% to $1.3 billion this year, Adams says, stepping up competition vs. other rental services, including Netflix (NFLX), iTunes owner Apple (AAPL), and rental stores such as Blockbuster Entertainment (BBI), which in 2008 reached an agreement to let NCR rent movies under the Blockbuster Express brand.

Limits at Wal-Mart and Target make it all the more urgent that Redbox and NCR find ways to buy DVDs directly from studios. "The more difficult it is for them to get product, the more motivation they have to reach an agreement with the studios," says Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research. "It increases the pressure because it increases their costs."
 

Customer Rationale

Before the limits, Redbox got about 40% of its new DVDs from retailers, Adams estimates. It and NCR, which operates DVDPlay and Blockbuster Express kiosks, also purchase DVDs directly from some studios. Redbox is in a legal tussle with studios that have refused to make new releases available on the day they become available for sale in stores.

Retailers say they imposed the limits to avoid running short of new releases. "The idea is that our guests have access to the hot DVDs they want," says Target spokesman Joshua Thomas. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien says, "From time to time we have placed purchase limits on products at stores so that they can be accessible to as many customers as possible."

Redbox last year reached agreements to distribute new DVDs on their release date from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF). Paramount Home Entertainment currently offers titles on a limited basis through Redbox; in exchange, Redbox agrees to destroy the titles once they are removed from its kiosks.
 

Dispute with Studios

Redbox has sued Warner Home Video, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and News Corp.'s (NWS) Twentieth Century Fox to try to force the studios to sell it new releases on the date the DVDs become available in stores. Limits by retailers may force Redbox to accept less favorable terms to resolve the disputes. "We understand that Wal-Mart was quoted as saying they would be implementing purchase restrictions," Coinstar and Redbox said in a statement. "We are currently evaluating this information." The company declined to elaborate, citing legal proceedings. Representatives of all three studios also declined to comment.

For its part, NCR said it's trying to reach agreements with studios by mid-year. "We have the same challenges in securing DVDs" as Redbox, says Alex Camara, a general manager at NCR. "We are working closely with the studios to find a solution. My intention is to have agreements by spring [or] early summer."

Redbox kiosks are located in more than 19,000 locations, including Wal-Mart, grocery stores, and McDonald's (MCD) restaurants. NCR's 4,000 kiosks are located in Safeway (SWY) and other stores.

Comcast Profit Up on Subscription Boost, Tax Gain

ABC News

Higher revenue and a tax gain helped propel Comcast Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings sharply higher, as the nation's largest cable operator solidified its position as the biggest U.S. Internet service provider as well.

The company, poised to become one of the largest media conglomerates in the nation if its purchase of a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal goes through, has trumped AT&T in wired broadband customers for a second quarter in a row, with 15.9 million customers.

Strength in Comcast's Internet business, and a smaller loss in video customers than a year ago, offset softness in its phone business to boost revenue by 2.9 percent in the quarter.

Comcast said Wednesday it earned $955 million, or 33 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, more than double the $412 million, or 14 cents per share, earned in the year-earlier period.

Excluding the tax gain, Comcast would have earned 29 cents per share. Last year's quarter had a $600 million charge related to the writedown of its investment in Clearwire Corp., a provider of mobile Internet services that the cable operator uses as its wireless broadband service.

Revenue rose to $9.06 billion from $8.81 billion. Both earnings and revenue exceeded the forecasts of analysts, who expected 27 cents per share and revenue of $8.96 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Those estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Free cash flow came to $768 million, down 11 percent from the year-earlier quarter.

In the quarter, Comcast added 290,000 net subscribers in its core businesses of video, Internet and phone, the same as the 2008 quarter.

But the total masked weakness in video that was offset by increases in Internet and phone subscriptions.

The Philadelphia company lost 199,000 basic video subscribers, smaller than last year's 233,000 loss. It added 410,000 digital TV customers, up 66 percent. Digital cable TV service is added on top of the basic video service and isn't a separate group of subscribers.

On average, people paid $67.45 per month for video, up 2 percent.

Comcast added 247,000 Internet subscribers, or 34 percent more, and they paid on average $41.95 for the service. About 243,000 new phone customers signed up in the quarter, but that's down from 344,000. Phone subscribers on average paid $37.98 a month, down from the year before, reflecting stiff competition from phone companies and a shift to cell phones.

Video revenue fell slightly to $4.79 billion but Internet and phone revenue rose.