ImaginativePRO Blog

TEENS SAY SOCIAL MEDIA IS LESS IMPORTANT, PREFER TO SHOP IN STORES INSTEAD OF ONLINE, FACEBOOK FATIGUE SETTING IN

 

Today's teens, though digital natives, by a wide margin prefer to shop in stores than online, and even their use of what they consider their favorite social networks is decreasing in importance for them, according to the 23rd semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens survey from Piper Jaffray.

The study also indicates improving discretionary spending across various categories: "Our Spring 2012 survey results provide confirmation that we are in the early stages of a clearly defined discretionary spending cycle," said Jeff Klinefelter, director of research and senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray.

"Double-digit increases in spending on a sequential and year-over-year basis for both upper- and average-income teens, and similar strength in spending intentions, signal improved confidence in the overall environment and a willingness to spend more broadly on key categories of interest."

Below, selected findings from the most recent Taking Stock With Teens survey from Piper Jaffray.

Social Networks and Websites

Facebook is still cited by a plurality (33%) of teens as the most important social network, but that's down 9 percentage points from the fall 2012 level of 42%.

Instead, teens give more importance to Twitter and Instagram now than they did six months ago:

Click Image To Enlarge

When considering social media websites (as opposed to networks), teens ascribe equal importance to YouTube (not cited as a network) and Facebook, followed by Twitter and Instagram.

Still, relative to six months and 12 months earlier, the importance to teens of both Facebook and YouTube has declined, whereas that of Twitter and Instagram seems to be improving.

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Asked whether social media has an impact on their purchasing behavior, more than have said it does: 53% of female teens and 52% of male teens.

Shopping

By a large majority, teens prefer to shop in stores rather than online: 78% vs. 17% in the case of female teens, and 75% vs. 19% in the case of males.

Nevertheless, teens do shop online—in similarly large proportions:

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Teens' top 4 favorite shopping websites, led by a wide margin by Amazon, remained unchanged from six months earlier:

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The following are additional study findings from the portable devices, fashion, beauty and personal care, restaurant, and videogame categories.

Mobile Devices

Teen spending on portable devices continues to accelerate: 86% of teens report that they are likely to purchase a smartphone for their next device, up from 83% last fall and 81% one year ago.

• Apple's iOS gained market share as the most desired operating system, with 51% of teens reporting they are likely to buy an iOS device (compared with  22% for Android).
• Approximately 34% of teen respondents owned an iPhone, up from 17% last spring, driven by the availability of a $49 iPhone 3GS at the launch of the iPhone 4S.
• Also, 40% of teens expect to purchase an iPhone in the next six months, up from 37% last year.

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In tablet market, 34% of teens owned a tablet computer, up from 22% last spring. Of those teen tablet owners, 70% owned an iPad, 19% owned an Android-based tablet, and 11% owned a Kindle Fire.

Furthermore, 19% of teens expected to purchase a tablet in the next six months, with 80% of those teens intending to purchase an iPad.

Fashion

Teens cited improvements in both current fashion spending and intention to spend, across income levels and genders:

• The fashion category accounted for 39% of teen budgets, up from 38% in the fall of 2011 and 37% a year ago.
• Upper-income teens indicated that spending on fashion increased 17% on a sequential basis and 21% year-over-year.
• Average-income teens indicated their spending on fashion increased 18% on a sequential basis, and 15% year-over-year.

Those double-digit increases in fashion spending are the first recorded since the 2003/2004 surveys, when teens across income levels indicated a similar meaningful propensity to spend on the fashion category, Piper Jaffray said.

Strength in spending was broad-based across categories, but spending by male teens in fashion was the highest—historically indicative of a multi-year, dual-gender fashion spending recovery, according to the firm

Food and Restaurants

Teen spending on food and restaurants is at or near the highest level since early 2000:

• Upper-income and average-income survey respondents increased their weekly restaurant spending approximately 10% and 3%, respectively, compared with the fall of last year.
• Taste remained the strongest influence on food and restaurant dining decisions.
• Value also continued to be an important influence on dining decisions and has gained in importance over time, ranking number two in the current survey compared with number five in the spring of 2007.

Videogames

• Teens constitute 33% of videogame players, with videogames accounting for 7% of teen spending.
• Teens are increasingly receptive to downloading games, accessing social networks, and playing games on smartphones and tablets.
• Social networks, tablets, and smartphones are taking increasing eyeball share away from console-based video games.

Beauty and Personal Care

• Beauty spending by upper-income teens increased 8% sequentially and 6% year-over-year. For average-income teens, beauty spending increased 21% sequentially and 18% year-over-year.
• Skin care and cosmetics accounted for a larger share of overall beauty spending, and the beauty spending gap between upper- and average-income teens continues to narrow.
• MAC remained the No. 1 cosmetics brand for upper-income teens, while Cover Girl was once again the No. 1 brand for average-income teens.
• Victoria's Secret remains the preferred fragrance for teens across both income segments, consistent with the past eight surveys.

About the data: The Taking Stock With Teens survey from Piper Jaffray gathered input from approximately 5,600 teens, whose average age was 16.3 years during the latest survey. Teen spending patterns, fashion trends, and brand and media preferences were assessed via visits to geographically diverse high schools in 11 states, and via an online survey of a wider group of teens from 34 states. The survey is conducted in partnership with DECA (an international association of high school students).

COMMENTARY:   Teens are growing tired of Facebook andYouTube, says the Piper Jaffrey study, and the reports shows a falling-out that has the potential to trigger a wide-ranging effect on retail, fashion, gaming, and other youth-oriented industries.

According to Piper Jaffray, while Facebook and YouTube are still considered the most important social media destination for teens, their popularity among this fickle demographic has fallen precipitously since this time last year, as the chart above indicates. 

Why is this a big deal? Teens make up an $819 billion consumer segment, and the social media chatter about brands—positive or negative—is an increasingly large influence on their purchasing decisions. Just over half of all teens polled for the research (53 percent for female teens and 52 percent for teenage males) said social media affects their overall purchasing decisions, a trend that has gained strength in recent quarters.

For teen-targeting marketers, then, keeping pace with taste-shifting teens and their social networking preferences could make or break a sales quarter. Just askAbercrombie & Fitch and Best Buy, two retailers that, according to the Piper Jaffray polling data, made teens’ top 10 roundup of favorite e-commerce sites a year ago but this year vanished from the list. They are on the outs in the offline world, too.

For the so-called youth brands, increasing their presence on the cool and relevant social channels of tomorrow—not so cool that they wouldn’t allow advertisers, mind you—is becoming an increasingly vital part of a digital marketing strategy.

And what are the new hot teen channels in social? According to Piper Jaffray, they are Reddit and Twitter, plus Snapchat, Vine, and 4chan. That ranking is sure to change again soon. Stay tuned.

Courtesy of an article dated April 15, 2013 appearing in  MarketingProfs and an article dated April 11, 2013 appearing in Bloomberg

A LOOK INSIDE ONLINE EYEWEAR E-TAILER WARBY PARKER'S NEW NYC FLAGSHIP STORE

 

THE STYLISH EYEWEAR PURVEYOR OPENS ITS FLAGSHIP STORE TODAY. COFOUNDERS NEIL BLUMENTHAL AND DAVID GILBOA SHOW US THE MAGIC BEHIND 121 GREENE.

Warby Parker stormed the retail glasses industry in 2010 with a novel way to sell its affordable, stylish specs: online. Hundreds of thousands of sold pairs later, the boutique glasses purveyor is today opening the doors to its brick-and-mortar flagship store, at 121 Greene Street in NYC's SoHo neighborhood.

The Warby Parker storefront at 121 Greene Street in New York City (Click Image To Enlarge)

Front door entrance to the new Warby Parker store on Greene Street in the SOHO district of New York City (Click Image To Enlarge)

Warby Parker rapidly built a thriving e-commerce business through an innovative model that eschewed costly expenses, such as brand licensing fees, and sold product directly to consumers, allowing the company to sell glasses for as low as $95 a pair.

Warby Parker cofounders Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa in the new Greene Street store (Click Image To Enlarge)

But cofounders David Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal tell Fast Company their brand has had a brick-and-mortar presence almost since its inception. Their first retail location? Blumenthal's apartment.

Blumenthal says.

"We literally would invite people to come to the apartment and we’d lay the glasses on the dining room table.  We thought it was going to be this sub-optimal experience, and it ended up being something really special."

They eventually opened up a showroom in New York City and set up displays within several smaller boutique retailers across the country, including The Standard hotel chain's Los Angeles and Miami locations, where guests can visit Warby's kitschy, '60s-themed "Readery" kiosks.

What you see when you walk in. Hopefully you see it even clearer when exiting (Click Image To Enlarge)

Custom terrazzo flooring embedded with the Warby Parker logo. Partners & Spade dreamed up the store's design conceit (Click Image To Enlarge)

Books by 14 partner publishers in Warby Parker's lobby remind you just how bad you need to be at this place (Click Image To Enlarge)

But Blumenthal and Gilboa have sprinkled the flagship store with an extra dusting of retail magic, taking a few cues from their neighbor across Greene Street: the Apple Store.

 Gilboa says. 

"What I think Apple did tremendously well when they launched retail was not to focus on how to shove as many products into the footprint as possible.  It was really focused around creating a magical experience.  That's what we've tried to create here."

When you walk into 121 Greene, you'll find rolling library ladders, a photo booth, reading materials from Warby-approved independent presses, and mirrors upon mirrors, so you'll never have to travel far to peep a glance at your bespectacled self.

Literary themes abound: The look of the store is inspired by a library. Books on Warby Parker's shelves are color-coded--eggshell, kelly, cerulean, crimson, and aubergine. And the cofounders combined the name of two early Jack Kerouac characters, Zagg Parker and Warby Pepper, to name their company (Click Image To Enlarge)

Warby Parker eyewear is prominantly displayed on well-lit shelves for close inspection and test wearing by customers (Clik Image To Enlarge)

Blumenthal and Gilboa say the store is an early testament to where the retail industry is headed.

Gilboa says.

"The future of our business and all retail is going to have some online and some offline component.  The world doesn’t have to be black and white."

The store's high ceiling has four rolling ladders attached to the walls. Here's the view from a top one of the ladders (Click Image To Enlarge)

Sunglasses and optical glasses--men's and women's--are mixed throughout the display around the store (Click Image To Enlarge)

The store sells books, too. Warby Parker teamed up with 14 publishers to display selected books from their catalogs on 14 different shelves. Shown here are Melville House Books (Click Image To Enlarge)

COMMENTARY:   What was inevitable that Warby Parker would have to open retail stores. Eye vision examinations, filling eyewear prescriptions and fitting glasses requires a lot of personalized service.  You cannot do this online.  It's a real hassle for Warby Parker customers to have to go to an optometrist to have their eyes examined and obtain a prescription for their lenses, then have to provide this information to Warby Parker so that the lense prescription can be filled.  A store provides a completely new customer retail experience that you cannot get from an online store, no matter how well designed your online store is.  

Having a brick-and-mortar eyewear store fills another very useful purpose -- it provides an additional level of convenience for existing Warby Parker customers.  Warby Parker probably sold a lot of eyewear to customers living in New York City, and having a local store to serve those customers, and future customers, will be very good for business.  

The New York store will doubtless increase Warby Parker's operating expenses.  Retail space is very expense in New York, and you have also have the added cost of store clerks and an on-premise optrometist.  

Warby Parker's original strategy was to disrupt the present retail eyewear industry, but it now appears to have taken a 180 degree turn in that strategy.  Only time will tell whether operating real stores will economicaly feasible without disrupting its original strategy.      

Courtesy of an article dated April 14, 2013 appearing in Fast Company 

SOLAR VC FUNDING PLUMMETS IN Q1 2013 FROM $220 MIL IN Q4 2012 TO $126 MIL IN Q1 2013, PV PANEL INSTALLERS RAISED $75 MIL

 

In all, global venture capital (VC) investments in the solar sector fell dramatically, from $220 million in the fourth quarter of last year to just $126 million in Q1'13, according to a new report from Mercom Capital Group.

Solar VC Funding - Q1 2012 through Q1 2013 - Marcom Capital Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

Reflecting the dominant industry trends, solar funding during the first quarter of 2013 (Q1'13) favored project acquisitions and funding of downstream providers, as investors shied away from the struggling manufacturing segment.

Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group, says that because an overall downturn began in the third quarter of last year, this most recent slump was mostly in line with expectations - if a bit more severe than anticipated. Solar VC funding had not fallen to such low levels since 2008.

At least some of the recent decline can be attributed to major attrition among formerly hot startups representing a traditional VC favorite: thin-film solar manufacturers.

Prabhu tells Solar Industry. 

"Thin-film companies received approximately $1.4 billion in VC funding the past three years - and [copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS)] companies received a billion of that.  Most of these companies are either bankrupt or were part of a fire sale."

Fourteen thin-film solar companies went bankrupt in 2012 alone, according to the report, and Prabhu describes current market conditions for any holdouts as "extremely tough."

U.S. thin-film companies that have already been acquired by foreign firms - such as MiaSole, which was bought out by China-based Hanergy Holding Group - could have the best chances of success.

Prabhu says.

"I would still keep an eye on all the thin-film CIGS companies that were bought by - or formed strategic partnerships with - large Chinese or Korean conglomerates.  These conglomerates have a lot of resources, and if the intellectual property is strong, they have the ability to see [CIGS companies] through to commercialization."

Biggest deals 

Topping the list for the biggest VC deals in Q1'13 was a pair of U.S.-based residential solar firms. OneRoof Energy raised $30 million from well-known Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group, while Sungevity raised $28 million in Series D financing from a range of investors, including Brightpath Capital Partners, Lowe's and Craton Equity Partners.

Fueled by the glut of low-priced modules, downstream providers such as OneRoof and Sungevity were joined by several other companies - mostly leasing firms - in raising a total of $75 million in eight deals during Q1'13, according to Mercom Capital.

This sector of the market has faced scrutiny in recent months over finance arrangements that some believe are unfair to consumers. The U.S. Department of the Treasury is also currently probing several of the biggest rooftop PV providers over possible discrepancies in project valuations.

So far, however, the threat of any potential regulatory shake-up in this sector has failed to rattle investors, Prabhu reports.

He says.  

"Just from an investment and investor point of view, there seems to be little concern regarding this.  Most of the VC funding this quarter went to lease firms, and these firms also raised about half a billion in residential and commercial project funds."

Major project funds included a $100 million residential project deal between SunPower and U.S. Bancorp, as well as a $100 million fund for residential and commercial projects established by aleo solar.

Large-scale solar project development also enjoyed an active quarter. Mercom Capital Group found that disclosed project acquisitions reached $137 million in 20 transactions. Although this total represents a decline from $297 million in the previous quarter, the number of transactions rose. More than 1 GW of projects changed hands.

The report highlights several major deals, including MidAmerican Solar's purchase of SunPower's 579 MW Antelope Valley solar projects. Overall, investment funds, project developers and utilities all played a major role in acquiring projects during the quarter.

Prabhu notes.

"Both last year and this quarter, investment funds have been the most active acquirers of solar projects." 

He adds.  

"This positive trend demonstrates that solar assets have shifted in the eyes of the investment community, from being considered a risky proposition a few years ago to their inclusion in institutional investor portfolios as a source of safe, steady, long-term returns."

Overall, although the big picture for solar VC may still seem dismal at the moment, Prabhu remains optimistic.

He stresses.

"It is not all bad.  Installations continued to grow, and there is a lot of positive activity on the project funding and acquisition side."

COMMENTARY:   It does not surprise me that VC financings for the solar sector dropped so much.  The worldwide glut in solar panels, dramatic drop in prices, and collapse of thin film technologies, has raised the risk of investing in solar.  PV panel installers appear to be doing well, as they are the chief beneficiaries of the glut in PV panels and lower prices.     

Courtesy of an article dated April 11, 2013 appearing in Solar Industry Magazine

SAMSUNG UNVEILS NEW 5.8-INCH AND 6.3-INCH "MEGA" DISPLAY SMARTPHONES, TO BE TEST LAUNCHED IN EUROPE AND RUSSIA

Samsung has unveiled two new smartphones that push the envelope of screen size in the smartphone space.

One of the big-framed phones features a 5.8-inch screen, while the other comes in at 6.3 inches. But they may not be coming to a carrier near you anytime soon.

On the left is the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3, and on the right, the Galaxy Mega 5.8 (Click Image To Enlarge)

Dubbed Mega, the two devices Samsung showed off today come with the customer's choice of a 5.8-inch screen or a 6.3-inch option. Both devices come with Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) and a dual-core processor. The higher-end 6.3-inch option comes with a 1.7GHz processor, while the 5.8-inch version has a 1.4GHz chip. Both handsets have 8-megapixel rear-facing cameras and 1.9-megapixel front-facing cameras.

Samsung's Mega 6.3 handset will deliver 8GB or 16GB of internal storage, with up to 64GB of capacity with the microSD slot. The smaller option comes with 8GB of storage.

Rumors had surfaced earlier this week that Samsung was planning to launch new handsets that would boast ultra-large screens. Samsung at that time declined to comment on whether it was planning to launch such devices.

Although Samsung boasts about the Mega's thin design and software features, the real impact the devices will have is in the evaluation of screen sizes. To put their sizes into perspective, Apple's iPhone comes with a 4-inch screen. The latest Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 5-inch display.

On March 15, 2013, Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy S4 smartphone with a 5-inch 1920 x 1080 Super AMOLED display.  The Galaxy S4 will be available between April and June 2013.  See my blog post dated March 15, 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)

But before you get too excited about the Megas, be aware that for now, Samsung is only promising that they will be made available in Europe and Russia starting this May. The company said that their availability will vary by market and they will be rolled out gradually over time.

COMMENTARY:    I like the idea of a 5.8-inch or 6.3-inch display on a smartphone.  In my opinion more is better.  Samsung began the bigger display trend, and it has caught on like wildfire, vaulting Samsung ahead of Apple in smartphones (with the exception of Q4 2012, when Apple launched the iPhone 5.    

Courtesy of an article dated April 11, 2013 appearing in C|NET 

U.K.-BASED AIR FUEL SYNTHESIS SUCCESSFULLY GENERATES GASOLINE OUT OF THIN AIR, COMMERCIALIZATION PLANNED BY 2015

   

Breakthrough technology takes carbon, hydrogen and oxygen from CO2 and water in the air to create methanol and then converts it into gasoline.

Gasoline is the quintessential non-renewable fuel, but British scientists could soon change that. They have developed a way to make gasoline not only renewable, but also carbon neutral. How is that possible? By plucking the fuel out of the air, according to New Scientist.

XX

 

 

It sounds like alchemy or magic — an idea about as sensible as growing money on trees. But it's real. Researchers have developed a way to convert air into gasoline. In fact, the concept has been around for decades, ever since the oil crisis of the 1970s.

 

Here's basically how it works: first scientists collect carbon, hydrogen and oxygen from the CO2 and water that are readily present in the air. These raw materials are all that are needed to generate methanol, and methanol can be converted into gasoline.

 

It seems so simple that you may wonder why we haven't been getting our gasoline this way all along. Well, that's because there's just one small complication: So far scientists haven't been able to prove that the process generates more energy than it requires. The technique requires electricity for its chemical conversions, and the process cannot be viable until it is demonstrated that the energy needed as input costs less than what is gained as output.

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The Air Fuel Synthesis, LTd. synthetic gasoline pilot plant in Northern England (Click Image To Enlarge)

 

That's where British company Air Fuel Synthesis comes in. The company has taken on the task of demonstrating that the technique works, that it produces a viable fuel, and that it can be made energy-efficient. The first half of the equation has now been settled, as the company has successfully demonstrated the conversion process.

 

Peter Edwards, an inorganic chemist at the University of Oxford, said.

D

"I take my hat off to Air Fuel Synthesis. They have taken a concept that has been around for 35 years and gotten the process going." 

 

The fuel is not only viable; the company believes it will be suitable for high-performance vehicles. But the biggest benefit of the fuel is its sustainability. Since burning the fuel only releases the same carbon dioxide that was already in the air to begin with, it is carbon neutral. (That is, so long as the electricity required to make the necessary chemical conversions is sourced from renewable energy like wind or solar.)

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Air Fuel Synthesis technician takes notes as he checks its oil synthesizing plant equipment (Click Image To Enlarge)

 

Another potential benefit of the fuel is that it will be price-predictable. Gas prices won't fluctuate because the fuel source will be stable.

 

Before any of this is possible, however, Air Fuel Synthesis needs to demonstrate the vital second half of the equation: the energy-efficiency of the process. For that, the company will need a bigger plant. They expect to have one up and running by 2015. Given the success of the process so far, the company is optimistic.

 

AFS marketing manager Graham Truscott said.

D

"The demonstrator has given us the confidence that this next level of gasoline plant will be efficient enough." D

Air Fuel Synthesis technician displays a vial of full of methanol extracted from air using its technology (Click Image To Enlarge)

COMMENTARY:    Rather than mine carbon from the Earth in the form of coal, AFS acquires its carbon from the CO₂ in the atmosphere. The result is a process whose only net production of CO2 is related to the power required to drive synthesis of the fuel. The general approach has been suggested by numerous people over the years, but AFS appears to be the first commercial company to work out the details and put together a pilot plant. Admittedly, the pilot plant is only producing about 1 percent of the projected yield per day, but the technological problems can be solved, as they have been in other contexts.

 

The AFS Process - Turning Air Into A Sustainable Fuel

1. Air is blown up into a tower and meets a mist of a sodium hydroxide solution. The carbon dioxide in the air is absorbed by reaction with some of the sodium hydroxide to form sodium carbonate. Whilst there are advances in CO2 capture technology, sodium hydroxide has been chosen as it is proven and market ready.
2. The sodium hydroxide/carbonate solution that results from Step 1 is pumped into an electrolysis cell through which an electric current is passed. The electricity results in the release of the carbon dioxide which is collected and stored for subsequent reaction.
3. Optionally, a dehumidifier condenses the water out of the air that is being passed into the sodium hydroxide spray tower. The condensed water is passed into an electrolyser where an electric current splits the water into hydrogen and oxygen. Water might be obtained from any source so long as it is or can be made pure enough to be placed in the electrolyser.
4. The carbon dioxide and hydrogen are reacted together to make a hydrocarbon mixture, the reaction conditions being varied depending on the type of fuel that is required.
5. There are a number of reaction paths already in existence and well known in industrial chemistry that may be used to make the fuels.
   1. Thus a reverse-water-gas shift reaction may be used to convert a carbon dioxide/water mixture to a carbon monoxide/hydrogen mixture called Syn Gas. The Syn Gas mixture can then be further reacted to form the desired fuels using the Fisher-Tropsch (FT) reaction.
   2. Alternatively, the Syn Gas may be reacted to form methanol and the methanol used to make fuels via the Mobil methanol-to gasoline reaction (MTG).
   3. For the future, it is highly likely that reactions can be developed whereby carbon dioxide and hydrogen can be directly reacted to fuels. 
   4. The AFD product will require the addition of the same additives used in current fuels to ease starting, burn cleanly and avoid corrosion problems, to turn the raw fuel into a full marketable product. However as a product it can be blended directly with gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel.

Click Image To Enlarge

The Challenges To Produce Gasoline That is Carbon Neutral

According to Allen Ginsberg's poetic rewording of the laws of thermodynamics: 

1. You can't win.
2. You can't breakeven.
3. You can't quit.

Air Fuel Synthesis, Ltd. (AFS) made headlines for a chemical process that claims to synthesize gasoline from air and water.  In essence, AFS is using energy to unburn fuel so that it can be burned as fuel again – a great deal of energy. Sixty kWh of electric energy are used up to store 9 kWh of that energy in a liter of gasoline.  When you take into consideration that gasoline vehicles are about 15 percent efficient, a car fueled with synthetic gasoline would use roughly 35 times more energy on a given trip than would an electric vehicle. Not, it would seem, a prescription for a commercially valuable green product.

The AFS Timetable For Delivering Commercial Carbon-Neutral, Sustainable Fuels

2012 – 2015 Demonstration facility and initial commercial projects

Develop practical designs at a variety of scales to advance our green technologies, processes, market insight and opportunities.

Key objectives for making sustainable fuels are:

• To progress AFS technology rapidly into commercially viable projects
• Build up renewable liquid fuel operational expertise and intellectual property
• Develop close renewable energy partnerships along the supply chain and into the marketplace. 

We will achieve this by:

Stage 1 - Developing initial commercial projects of 1 – 10 tonnes of renewable fuel per day

This involves:

1. Scaling up the Demonstrator and designing for minimum operator and maintenance time.
2. Designing  optimum sized containerised  units for creating renewable and carbon neutral fuels.
3. Entering agreements with customers for specialist high-performance carbon-neutral fuels, especially, initially in motorsports.
4. Developing a range of commercial agreements with renewable energy technology partners.
5. Exploit agreements with fuel technology companies by establishing non-fossil CO2 projects.

Stage 2 - Commercial project development:

AFS develops commercially sustainable fuel projects by leveraging our technology and project expertise and connections. We build containerised fuel production units in projects which can be located anywhere that a supply of renewable electricity exists.

The projects that build these plants can include special purpose vehicles in which AFS holds minority stakes and licensing arrangements. 

The work involved includes:

1. Commercial assessment taking in the sustainable fuel market, technology, and geographic options.
2. Detailed engineering studies, estimates, and plans.  This includes identifying renewable energy technology suppliers who can develop and manufacture sustainable fuel technology, including; hydrogen electrolysers, CO2 release electrolysers, gas storage, and fuel manufacturing units.
3. Commercial and system modelling to determine optimum product mix for commercially-viable sustainable fuel
4. Full technology and economic proposals for producing sustainable liquid fuel.
5. Project marketing, raising project funding and cementing relationships with project partners for renewable liquid fuel.
6. Understanding market opportunities for sustainable liquid fuel both in current economic norms and as fossil-oil induced shocks occur.

Stage 3 - 2015 - 2020

1. Build larger commercial carbon-neutral, sustainable and renewable energy powered fuel project(s).
2. Expand the "non-fossil CO2 to fuel" business.
3. Market individual carbon-neutral technologies e.g. CO2 capture, fuels processing.
4. Market proven containerised sustainable air fuel synthesis systems into initial niche markets.
5. Continuously develop business plan and raise finance for follow on sustainable fuels projects.
6. Continue technological and supply chain developments in renewable energy.
7. Create further opportunities/exit points for investors, eg, through Special Purpose Vehicles (while minimising equity dilution of parent company).

Stage 4 - 2020 - 2025

1. Operate, or sell, initial sustainable fuels projects.
2. Continue to grow the renewable, non fossil CO2 business.
3. International development of individual technologies and containerised systems.
4. Implement secondary sustainable fuels projects.
5. Continuously develop business plans and raise finance for further renewable and carbon neutral fuels projects.
6. Provide further opportunities/exit points for investors, eg, through Special Purpose Vehicles (while minimising equity dilution of parent company).

2025 onwards - Long term plan

Implement further sustainable air fuel synthesis projects (taking total fuel production up to and over  10 million tonnes per year)

 

Courtesy of an article dated Octobwer 28, 2012 appearing in Mother Nature Network and an article dated October 30, 2012 appearing in Gizmag

WHY SOCIAL MEDIA IS NO GOOD FOR REACHING 97% OF YOUR AUDIENCE, AND WHAT YOU CAN DO TO INCREASE FAN ENAGEMENT

At the end of last year I was teaching a session on social media in a masters of communication course at the London campus of the European Communication School.  In total I was lecturing to 30 students in two groups. Most of the students were French or Belgian and in their early twenties.  At the start of the course I conducted an exercise designed to define how  people actually use Facebook, based on the students’ own experiences. What this exercise revealed was that everyone used Facebook to keep in contact with their friends and that this activity constituted the vast majority of the time spent on Facebook. No real surprise there.

I then looked at engagement with brands. Of the 30, only three confessed that they used Facebook to have any sort of contact with brands and of these three, two only did this in response to some form of incentive – getting freebies, entering competitions etc.  And only one person said that they used Facebook to follow brands in any proactive way – albeit time spent doing this was very small, compared to time spent keeping in contact with friends.

I also suspect I am being generous here. The group I was talking to (early twenties graduates) comprised people who are probably the most engaged with social media generally.  If we were talking an audience more typical for most consumer products we would more likely find that one in 30 (i.e. three per cent) coming in at somewhere closer to one per cent.  This is, of course, just one sample – but I expect that the numbers I was generating hear are not wildly out of line with a more general case. In fact, I am tempted to do a bit of work to try and bear this out.

These are not especially surprising results – I suspect they would resonate with almost everyone’s personal usage of Facebook (possibly with social media in general). However, another way of looking at these results is to say that while 100 per cent of your consumers may be on Facebook, you could only ever use Facebook to reach 3 per cent of them. Or to put it another way, a Facebook page is a way of not reaching 97 per cent of your audience.  Just imagine creating a new campaign and your media agency then coming to you with a plan which didn’t reach 97 per cent of your audience.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with reaching less that three per cent of your audience – provided what you do with this three per cent generates significantly more value per contact, that the type of value we are accustomed to generating when we are seeking to reach 100 per cent of our audience.  In fact all effective social media strategies are defined by the fact that they are focused, at any one time, on individuals or very small groups and fractions of a total audience.

This is all obvious stuff – but it is not apparently obvious.  Most organisations are still approaching Facebook, and social media generally, with approaches that are designed for audiences, rather than individuals.  They still believe, for example, that the name of the game is content – forgetting that content is a concept that only works with an audience.   They still believe that it is a good idea to run competitions in Facebook, because this activity is proven to create the most Facebook engagement, forgetting that there is no point in running a competition that more than 97 per cent of your audience will never see.  But perhaps if brands are so keen to export traditional marketing approaches into social media, if we also export traditional media planning approaches into this space (i.e. advocating the design of campaigns that reach basically no-one) – this is a way of highlighting the errors of this thinking in a way which people can understand.

COMMENTARY:   In order for brands to increase their active social media audience, it is very necessary that they understand what they need to do in order to increase fan engagement.  This means knowing the reasons users follow brands, how users are connecting online with social networks, how much time they are spending online and with social networks, and understaning the difference between desktop and mobile social media users.  All of these factors have a direct bearing on the degree of activity and engagement your will experience with your social network fans. 

According to Aria, a Dallas-based full-service ad agency, brands need to make their presence on social networks something worth following.  They must make sure that their tweets, Facebook updates, and blog posts provide educational, valuable, and engaging content that reflect a brand’s values.  

People follow brands through social media not because they want to see a list of a brands products and services. They follow because they want something useful and relevant.  Get Satisfaction created the following infographic explaining why people choose to follow brands on social networks.  Some interesting numbers to pay attention to: Over 36% of Facebook users and over 43% of Twitter users said they connect with brands to stay in the loop on special offers, and 70% said they used social media to participate in contests or sweepstakes.

What Are The Top Reasons People Follow Brands on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter - Aria (Click Image To Enlarge)

Recent research by Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange provides new insights regarding the amount of time and how we spent it on social media. These findings are useful to guide your social media marketing.

Americans' Visits To Brands' Social Network Pages - Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange (Click Image To Enlarge) 

The average online American spends 2 hours/day on social media venues from a variety of devices, PC, tablet and/or smartphones when non-social media users are included, according to the Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange research. This average increases to 3.6 hours/day when only people who use social media platforms are tracked.

While this may sound like significant proportion of one’s day, recognize that participants use a variety of content consumption behaviors to use their time efficiently, mostly dual content consumption and engagement during otherwise wasted moments. To put this in perspective, it’s less time than the average US spends watching television.

1. Under 35 year olds spend an average 4.2 hours/day on social networks, 35 to 49 year olds spend an average 3.1 hours/day on social networks, and Over 50 year olds spend an average of 2.8 hours/day on social networks.
2. Women spend almost 40% more time daily with social media sites than men, specifically an average of 3.6 hours/day for women versus an average of 2.6 hours for men. Since social media provides venues for social communication and engagement, this activity is similar to other devices and technologies.
3. Business owners spend almost 50% more time on social media venues than non-owners, an average of 4.4 hours/day versus 3.0 hours/day. This is intuitively correct since they use these platforms to market their businesses.
4. Senior executives and decision-makers spend 40% more time than those not in these jobs, specifically 4.2 hours/day versus 3.0 hours/day. This finding is a surprise since consumers don’t trust firms where senior executives aren’t involved in social media giving the impression that they’re not involved. (Here’s the research on Fortune 500 executives who don’t get social media.)
5. People who are unemployed spend more time on social media than those who are employed, specifically 3.5 hours a day compared with 3.0 hours/day for people who are employed. This is attributable to the fact that social media is where people look to find jobs and opportunities.

According to the Nielsen 2012 Social Media Report, social media is at its coming of age. Social media has quickly become an integral part of our culture. The social media phenomenon has swept us by storm transforming many aspects of our lives. Social Media is entering its golden age as it offers consumers around the world new ways to engage with people, brands, organizations, and events, at their own convenience.

How People Are Connectiing To The Internet and Time Spent on PC and Mobile Devices - Nielsen - 2012 (Click Image To Enlarge)

A particularly interesting facet of the latest Social Media Report is the increase of social media usage through mobile phones. Personel computers remain at the heart of the social networking experience, but mobile usage is a large driving factor to the continuing growth of social media. According to Nielsen time spent on mobile apps account for 63% of the year-to-year growth in overall time spent using social media. 46% of users say they use their smart phone to connect to social media while the other 16% use a tablet.

Whether using a mobile phone or a computer, consumers are spending an increasing amount of time on the internet. Mobile Web use went up from 52,435,000 in July 2011 to 95.176,000 US audience users in July 2012. Similarly, mobile apps internet usage more than doubled within that same year going from 55,001,000 to 101,802,000 as more people began using smartphones. The PC's internet usage actually decreased from July 2011-2012 going from 213,253,00 to 204,721,00 audience members.

Social Networking Is All About Mobile and Time Spent On Social Media - Nielsen - 2012 (Click Image To Enlarge)

Likewise, mobile social networking apps' audience increased from 44.8 million people in 2011 to 85.8 million in 2012. The mobile web social networking audience increased from 40.0 million to 81.1 million within that year as well. The PC audience also increased but at a much slower rate from 162.6 million to 171.8 million. The report concludes that app usage accounts for a third of social networking time. Compared to last year consumers increased their social media app time by 76%. This research indicates that the mobile app market is going to become even more important as more website will begin to offer app adaptations. This also creates an opportunity for advertising and even market research. If so many people are spending so much time on the internet through mobile apps, it is a great way to reach your audience. The different types of apps would also allow advertisers/researchers to reach their target audience based on the the sites demographics and psychographics.

The Nielsen study also suggests that more people continue to spend more time on social media sites-20% of their internet time on social networks is from PCs and 30% is mobile time. Nielsen also reports that 17% of consumers' PC time is spent on Facebook. The total time spent on social media sites has went from 88.4 billion minutes in 2011 to 121.1 billion minutes in 2012.

Females spend the most time on the internet whether it be through a PC or mobile web and app connection. The average male spends 6.13 hours on social networking sites on the PC compared with females 8:37 hours. Similarly males spend 6:44 hours on social networking sites through mobile devices compared with females 9:43 hours. However, Nielsen does not go into detail about whether this data represents the number of hours a day, week, or etc. This leaves uncertainty in the results and may also misinform readers.

Nielsen's U.S. Social Media Survey was conducted on a representative sample of 1,998 adults ages 18 and older that were social media users. Participants were recruited from Nielsen's Online Panel to take the online survey. It is necessary that the survey was conducted on a representative sample with participants that closely represent the characteristics of the United State's population, because this information has been generalized to represent the entire U.S. population's internet and social media usage. The fact that the survey was conducted on a panel better allowed Nielsen to match characteristics of the America's population with participants, but also creates a bias because the panel was voluntarily taking the survey. It was necessary for this survey to be delivered online, not only because it was dealing with the internet, but also based on the results it was a very extensive survey which would have taken a lot of time to complete.

Nielsen also presented their data in an interesting way. Instead of compiling their findings in a written report, Nielsen used a presentation inspired report design with many graphics to depict the data. The report consisted of lots of statistics but Nielsen designed their report to present the material in a clear and concise manner with different types of graphs to represent the data. Nielsen's data can be used for a ride array of aspects in research but it is also important to appeal to everyday viewers.

Based on Nielsen's 2012 Social Media Report it is evident that the mobile app and web industry is helping internet usage to flourish, allowing consumers to use social media wherever and whenever they want.

Courtesy of an article dated April 11, 2013 appearing in Social Media Today, an article dated January 29, 2013 appearing in Heidi Cohen blog, and an article dated December 13, 2011 appearing in Molly Wangen-Becker's Research Blog

KOREAN-WAVE ENTERTAINER PSY RELEASES NEW VIDEO, 'GENTLEMEN' ON YOUTUBE, IS IT A HIT? BETTER THAN "GANGNAM STYLE"?

Will South Korean rapper Psy top his "Gangnam Style" video that caused an international sensation? It's hard to say so far — the video for his new single "Gentleman" was released early Saturday morning.

The song's catchy beat, charismatic dancing, and humorous video production are all there, but it's not going to be easy for the superstar to beat his first breakthrough hit on YouTube. "Gangnam Style" is still smashing records with more than 1.5 billion views and counting.

 

The audio version of "Gentleman" first debuted on Thursday, and now it's time to see if lightning strikes twice for Psy's video prowess.

The video was introduced in a live performance by Psy, live-streamed on YouTube at 5:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, and it's being replayed for 24 hours here:

 

What do you think? Do you like this new "Gentleman" video more than "Gangnam Style?" Take our poll, and then let us know you think of Psy's new video in the comments below.  Here's the original "Gangnam Style" video:

 

COMMENTARY:   Psy's new video "Gentlemen" is really a misnomer, it's more the anti-thesis of Psy's character in "Gangnam Style."  If you watched the new video, Psy is definitely no "Gentlemen," based on his outrageous and zany antics, some of them quite crude, if I may say so. Just the same, I found the new video very entertaining, with the same high impact pulsating electronic music beat and dancing routines as in "Gangnam Style."  It is always difficult to beat your previous successes, or even come close to matching them, for that matter.  "Gangnam Style" has 1.5 billion views, more than any other YouTube video history.  "Gentlemen" presently has 253,000 views.  Looking forward to everybody's feedback.  

Courtesy of an article dated April 13, 2013 appearing in Mashable

BRAND MARKETERS REACT TO FACEBOOK HOME APP WITH MIXED DOUBTS AND EXPECTATIONS

 

What Facebook wants and needs more than anything is time. And in today's world, there is nothing more influential or time-sucking than the technology kept by our side 24/7 in our purses or pocketed smartphones. With Home, Facebook could immediately increase the amount of time its mobile users spend on its network by almost tenfold.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveils Home (Click Image To Enlarge)

In the realm of mobile and social media, the phrase "out of sight, out of mind" carries tremendous impact. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg highlighted this divergence and huge potential during the unveiling of Home, noting that the average mobile user checks her Facebook app up to 12 times a day while the average mobile user checks her device's home screen at least 100 times a day.

Click Image To Enlarge

ClickZ spoke with a pair of marketers and a mobile phone analyst who readily see what Facebook is after with a more immersive, always-connected-to-Facebook experience, but none of them think Facebook has done enough with Home to disrupt and make gains in the smartphone space as it has in social networking.

Avi Greengart, research director of consumer devices at Current Analysis, says.

"This isn't as scary as it could have been for some of the players...in terms of what this actually does versus what a true Facebook phone could have been." 

He tells ClickZ.

"I like the fact that they are not building a phone…Facebook doesn't need a phone.  Companies that have tried social-oriented phones, including HTC and Microsoft, have failed and failed hard."

Greengart believes Facebook Home will primarily appeal to socially centric users who want more from Facebook, not less.  He says.  

"They didn't just build an app. They built a product launcher that sort of takes over your whole phone and gives you Facebook first, but it does take over your phone and that's a lot for even someone who loves Facebook."

Cameron Yuill, founder and chief executive of mobile marketing agency AdGent Digital, also has doubts about the success of Facebook Home.   Nonetheless he says.

"Maybe I'm not the demographic that really cares that much about making it such an important part of my life where it's on the home screen, but there certainly are people who want to spend their whole life on Facebook."

Adam Kleinberg, chief executive of digital agency Traction, was hoping for more from Facebook. He says.  

"It feels like a lack of vision…like something that they've rushed to market. Just having a new home screen falls short of having a new operating system, and my hope was for an evolution, not an incremental step."  

Kleinberg says.  

"It's all about this one screen that gives you access rather than reinventing what a mobile phone should be, and I think Facebook is in a position to do that."

Facebook Home doesn't appear to have any immediate impact on advertising, but Kleinberg and Yuill already have a good idea of how Facebook plans to make money off its colossal efforts on mobile.

Yuill says.

"I think what typically will happen is for a while it'll be content that you'll see on your screen, and that'll be great. Then because of the inevitable pressure of making revenue, you'll see ads."

He says. 

"There no reason why they wouldn't start taking over that real estate as well.  It's a no-brainer from an advertisers' point of view…and I think it's going to be welcome. But that doesn't matter at the end of the day, because the consumer gets run over whenever there's a buck to be made."

Kleinberg says.

"It's probably premature for them to introduce ads on a new thing."

But he believes Graph Search is a "big indicator of where they see their future potential" on mobile and beyond.

Yuill says. 

"I think the biggest opportunity for them will be location.  Location becomes a huge factor in putting ads in front of you, and because it's your home screen you can do it then and there."

COMMENTARY:   Facebook Home is not about providing users easy access to Facebook or providing a better experience, but to keep users permanently anchored to Facebook so that the social giant can bombard them with ads.  It's about pure power and control.  To be sure, there will be a contingent of very loyal, highly addicted Facebook users, who will love Home, but the vast majority of Facebook users do not have a love affair with Facebook that runs that deep.  Many will eventually tire of seeing Facebook Home each and everytime they turn on their smartphone. In the long run this may backfire on Facebook, because users could become bored with Facebook or speedup Facebook fatigue.  I love Twitter and Google+, but I doubt I would allow either of them to handcuff my smartphone screen, just they can blast ads at me.     

 In bulk, users have posted some variation of this phrase:

“Installed Facebook Home; Un-installed it 3 minutes later.”

That uncertainty might spring from the fact that Facebook Home represents a big change for Android users, whether they love the software or hate it. Facebook Home is tailored to please the most avid Facebook users. In the thread on the Android subReddit a.k.a. a forum for diehard Android fans commenter’s’ seemed to love the Facebook messenger app update, and feel vaguely ambivalent about everything else.

Chat heads in new messenger are awesome. It looks simply great and everything is smooth enough. Redditor replied saying that Thank God he doesn’t use the Facebook home to use the chat heads.

On Twitter, the account Android Headlines, which tweets news for Android obsessive, asked followers if they’d downloaded the new software yet. The Facebook Home app had earned the perfectly middling score of 2.4 out of 5 with just over 750 reviews. There are, notably, far more one-star ratings than five-star ones, with most critics echoing the complaint that they like Facebook, but not enough to give their widgets and home screen over to it completely. This kind of criticism may win out in the end. Per Android Police, a tech news blog, the software’s star-rating has only dropped lower since Facebook released the software.

Courtesy of an article dated April 9, 2013 appearing in ClickZ and an article dated April 16, 2013 appearing in USMarketBuzz.com

U.S. VC FIRM FUNDRAISING UP 22% TO $4.1 BIL IN Q1 2013, BUT NO OF FUNDS RAISED IS DOWN, JOBS ACT AND CROWDFUNDING WILL IMPACT VC'S

 

According to an NVCA and Thomson Reuters report issued this morning, U.S. venture capital firms raised $4.1 billion from 35 funds in the first quarter of 2013, an increase of 22 percent. But compared to Q4 2012, there is a 14 percent decrease by number of funds.

Number of Funds Raising New Venture Capital Investments - Years 2009 through Q1 2013 - Thomson Reuters and NVCA - Apr 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)

The actual number of funds raised during the first quarter of 2013 is a 34 percent decline from the number of funds raised last year and marks the slowest quarter for venture capital fundraising, by number of funds, since the third quarter of 2003. The top five venture capital funds (three from Massachusetts) accounted for 57 percent of total fundraising during the first quarter of 2013.

Venture Capital Fundraising - 2005 through 2012 and Q1 2013 - NVCA - Apr 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)

John Taylor, head of research for NVCA said in a press release.

“The first quarter venture fundraising activity represents more than just a 'slow start' to the year and really demonstrates the contracting and consolidating nature of our asset class.”  

He says.  

“The lack of a strong exit market is keeping many funds that would like to be raising money away from investors until they can demonstrate a track record.  This dynamic is keeping the number of funds raised low. Many of the larger funds closed last year and won’t be back in the market until 2014 and beyond, keeping total dollar levels lower this year.”

There were 30 follow-on funds and five new funds raised during the first quarter of 2013, a 6-to-1 ratio of follow-on to new funds. The number of new funds raised during the first quarter marks the lowest level of first-time funds raised during a quarter since the fourth quarter of 2006 (A “new” fund is defined as the first fund at a newly established firm, although the general partners of that firm may have previous experience as a VC).

No of New and Follow-On Venture Capital Funds - Years 2009 through Q1 2013 - Thomson Reuters and NVCA - Apr 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)

By dollars raised, follow-on funds account for 98 percent of total dollar commitments during the first quarter of 2013. By comparison, over the past five years, follow-on fund dollars have accounted for 92 percent of total venture capital fundraising.

The largest first fund to have raised during Q1 was Washington, D.C.-based NaviMed Partners, L.P. which raised $44.8 million. Other large raises in the quarter included Battery Ventures X, which raised $650 million, Third Rock Ventures III, which raised $516 million and Spark Capital IV, which raised $450 million.

The NVCA is predicting lower fundraising levels this year, so it should be interesting to see if this actually is reflective in the numbers. There were a number of large raises last year, so perhaps we’ll see a bigger 2014 for VC fundraising.

COMMENTARY:    According to the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), in 2010 there were 462 active U.S. venture capital firms that invested at least $5 million. It is surprising to see how much that number decreased from then, 1,022 firms operating during the tech bubble of 1998.

The JOBS Act

With the passing of the JOBS Act, which was signed into law by Obama in April 2012, a new era in capital formation is currently unfolding.  Tittle III of the JOBS Act introduced the possibility for non-accredited investors to participate in private offerings, without the need of making $200,000 in salary on a yearly basis or having $1 million in assets. It is the first real change that the Securities Act of 1933 will experience since its establishment in the aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929.

Once the regulations from the JOBS Act are issued, equity crowdfunding will be available for non-accredited investors. Until then, most platforms are operating via Regulation D rule 506 for accredited investors. This only targets 1% of the U.S. population, which may sound small, but is still a $20 billion market. The disruptive power that equity crowdfunding brings is imminent, and at RockThePost, we think it will overcome mainstream overnight.

There are many reasons why this new way of investing will be a success. On one hand, people love to support others and know that they are part of something that will eventually contribute to the U.S. economy and job creation. On the other hand people are greedy and like to receive a nice return on their investment. The industry has all the ingredients to become a new medium that will be widely accepted and utilized.

It makes total sense for the 500,000 businesses that launch every month in the U.S. to raise funds on an online investment platform. Currently the average to raise funds offline at an early stage takes 8 months more or less, and is a full time job. Without a doubt it would be much more comfortable for ventures to put up their offering online and get funded in 60 or 90 days. Otherwise they will have to fight to make it into the 3,700 companies that get financed by VC firms out of the 6 million businesses that launch every year in the U.S.

Equity-Based Crowdfunding

Moreover, according to the Crowdfund IQ report, over 58% of the U.S. population has a high interest in potentially making an investment via equity crowdfunding platforms in startups. Findings from a Kauffman study and Wall Street Journal entry estimate the combined friends & family startup investments made in the U.S. plus the dollar amount angel investors invest, puts the industry at an approximate market of $120 billion.

Before the JOBS Act kicks in, angel investors (around 750,000 people in the US) are already revolutionizing the startup investment process. Brian Cohen, Chairman of the NY Angels, recently cited an article that showcased how angel investors made 50,000 investments last year in early stage deals, while Venture Capital firms made 600. The average angel investment is $10,000 in deals that range from $25,000 to $2 million.

Once the JOBS Act regulations are in place, non-accredited investors will be able to participate in private offerings. The type of investor profiles that we expect by then will be individuals earning over $75,000 in annual income, are on average 41 years old and hold at least a 4 year degree. In comparison to the size of investments made by angel investors, non-accredited investors will invest 2 to 3 times per year averaging $2,000.

Having this in mind, we at RockThePost are committed to democratize the process of fundraising by bringing the offline world online and streamlining it. There will be no need to send email attachments, go door-to-door, or waste time on the phone. Everything is posted online, and for the most part is visual rather than plain boring text.

As online fundraising becomes more utilized, Venture Capital Firms with funds under $200 million will potentially go out of business or invest online.Lawrence Lenihan, a respected venture capitalist and NYU Stern professor stated firms that have $200 million or over are the ones who typically get involved with startups raising their Series A round of funding (between $3 and $5 million). Having said that, if  Title III of the JOBS Act sets a limit of $1 million that a startup can raise online on a yearly basis from equity or debt crowdfunding services, funds that are oriented to seed type deals will have worthy competition (much needed in my opinion).

TechCrunch published an article saying there is going to be a 60% increase in the amount invested in startups by 2020 from friends and family capital. At the same time, it forecasts that by 2020 VCs will only represent a quarter of the capital invested, which will show a decrease of 41% compared to the numbers posted in 2011.

Courtesy of an article dated April 8, 2013 appearing in TechCrunch and an article dated March 20, 2013 appearing in Forbes

FACEBOOK UNVEILS "EMOTICONS," EMOTIONAL "SMILEY" ICONS THAT IMPROVES "LIKES" AND OPENS THE DOORS TO "DISLIKES"

SHARING COMPLICATED EMOTIONS ON FACEBOOK WAS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL NOW. HERE, AN EXCLUSIVE CONVERSATION WITH THE FEATURE’S DESIGNERS.

Facebook is unparalleled for sharing photos of our vacation or a child’s first steps. All of the best moments of our lives look amazing on the Timeline. So what about the worst ones? What about when we have a stomach ache, get fired from a job, lose someone we love? Should expressing those ideas look different? Could something cue your friends so they don’t hit that “like” button inappropriately?

Apparently so. Soon everyone will have access to a new feature that’s slowly unearthed itself over the last few weeks, so that when we post an update, we can select how we feel about it from 200 different feeling-emoticon combinations, or even type any emotion imaginable and pair it up with the emoji of our choosing.

Emoticon dropdown pick list (Click Image To Enlarge)

IT’S NOT JUST SAD STUFF, BUT THAT’S WHAT’S COMPELLING.

Of course, the 200 presets aren’t just for the darker moments. The list includes feelings like “great, wonderful, special, and loved”--the Facebook-standard Hallmarkian feelings. But it also includes some really dark stuff, like “ashamed,” “alone,” “guilty,” “angry,” and “lost.” These are literally some of the worst feelings humans have, and Facebook has them available on a drop-down menu.

Facebook engineer Roddy Lindsay confirms to me. 

“If you look at the data, most of the sharing on Facebook is positive. There’s not much negative sharing.  One of the interesting things about this product is, when we tested it, we looked at the different emotions people were sharing. And it actually reflected a broader range of emotions.”

In other words, Facebook has found that people really are more likely to share all of their unhappy thoughts when given the formal option, even though, technically, status updates have offered free speech all along. That’s a powerful finding, and it’s why the company sees the status update, combined with the emoji-esque tag, as a one-two punch of a more expressive, context-aware Facebook.

Emoticon dropdown pick list (Click Images To Enlarge)

Product designer Ryan Case says.

“That’s how people use emoticons in the first place. When you talk to someone in real life, you can see their face and have their entire context as to what they mean.  Obviously when you bring it online, you lose some of that context. Part of the appeal of these visual indicators is that they add this layer of context that wasn’t available before.”

LOVE (AND SADNESS) FOR SALE

That layer of context is valuable to more than just Facebook’s users, of course. Emotions are one component of a Social Graphable suite of six newly taggable verbs (feeling, watching, reading, listening to, eating, and drinking) that the social network is adding as an option to all posts. So just as Facebook can track that you’re “watching Game of Thrones” or “eating shelled pistachios,” so too will they be able to see you’re feeling “lonely” or, well, any other feeling known to the English language.

Lindsay says. 

“You can imagine that once we can build other experiences around this data over time, this will be something that’s a nice addition to other experiences on the site.” 

I suggest.

“Like, here’s a list of your friends who are really upset right now?”

And the team just laughs.

COMMENTARY:   It's about time they added "smilies" to Facebook's newfeed repertroire of emotional expressions.  LOL, LMAO, STFU, are common ways of conveying the same thing through text, but the new emoticons will add deeper emotional meaning to everything you post or what people say about your posts.  Emoticons will allow brand marketer's to measure the degree of the "like" or "dislike" for their brand, a comment, or newfeed content they posted.  It's definitely a welcome change, and I have a feeling will be used quite heavily. 

Courtesy of an article dated April 10, 2013 appearing in Fast Company Design