The TweetDeck buy is apparently part of moves intended to widen Twitter’s appeal. Every Tweeter probably remembers that moment when they first discovered the service and wondered what all the fuss was about. A lot of people never get beyond that.  The company has 200m accounts but doesn’t say how many of those are active. With it’s own better designed interface may be it can hang on to those casual Tweeters.

The always excellent Mathew Ingram over at Gigaom has a good take on why it makes sense for Twitter to do the deal. Personally we think they should do it just so TweetDeck’s Ian Dodsworth can stop being so coy and start Tweeting again.

Search still dominated online advertising and made up 46 percent of that total with a value of $12bn. But  display ads reached 38 percent and grew twice as fast as search (24 percent growth versus 12 percent) closing the gap with a value of $9.9bn. Sponsorships saw the most growth with an 88 percent increase over last year and 142 percent  increase in the fourth quarter alone.

Video advertising jumped 40 percent to $1.4bn. The IAB estimates mobile advertising revenue reached somewhere between $550m and $650m  in 2010, the first year it has measured that market.

The recession proved internet advertising is cyclical like any other form of advertising. But growth is coming back far faster than it has for traditional media. Internet advertising surpassed newspaper ads in the US last year ($22.8bn) and is now running a close second to TV ($28.6bn).

Ceglia says he paid two installments of $1,000 for 50% of Facebook back in 2003. Zuckerberg needed the cash then, not anymore. That alleged 50% is probably worth north of $30bn now. Facebook are calling this phooey and called Ceglia a “scam artist”. But the emails look bad. Business Insider has a good summary and links to the juiciest documents. We are betting that at some point Zuckerberg will have to pay to un-friend Ceglia who unlike Zuckerberg has little to lose by going to court and a lot to gain. The wider point is be careful who you take money form and what terms you agree. Finding early stage finance can be hard but the price of getting it wrong can be even higher.

Thanks to network effects, a winner takes all outcome is still possible online, he says. And the best bet to see it off is the start-up community.

Monopolies have emerged in creative, new industries from the telephone to film. The monopolists are helped by consumers who celebrate diversity to start with but ditch novelty for reliability, filters and higher quality as they get used to the new medium.

Is that happening now? The dominance of Facebook and more controlled products like Apple’s echo monopolists of the past. Apple and Google are the two firms most likely to seize “the one ring to rule them all,” says Wu. It’s part of a natural cycle where tech firms start out as  innovators and end up defending themselves.

How can we make it different this time? Good news for entrepreneurs. We can be heroes. As long as the start-up culture remains healthy, the monopolists are under threat.

Since most of our conversations and work for our clients is private, its hard to talk about the anecdotal evidence of this work. Instead, our NY Associate Director and occasional writer for The Huffington Post, Matt Spangler, looked at a company outside our client roster and discussed how they can evaluate their internal products through customer experience to find new ways to profitability.

In his article “Find New Profits From Old Products: YouTube, Brand Channels, and Easy Money” he outlines his experience working with the Brand Channel product on a creative project with a client. His personal challenges were a catalyst for the analysis and concept of a new way to think about the product line.

In the case of YouTube, new profits could be found within an existing product line. For others it could be starting a completely new division that draws on existing resources. What will it be for your business?

We are proud that Judith was included in this group of esteemed judges that includes other investment and tech luminaries such as Dave McClure, Bindi Karia, and Christian Hernandez. We will continue to update the process as the list is established.

In what is sure to be remembered as one of Rupert Murdoch’s biggest failures, the struggling social network Myspace announced on their recent earnings call that they would be looking to sell the company.

“In an earnings call today, News Corp. officially stated it plans to sell MySpace. During the call, COO Chase Carey said that “now is the right time” to attempt to place the social network “under a new owner.” via Mashable.

It will be interesting to see if any buyers step up to the plate for the company. Clearly it will depend on many factors, the greatest of which is the price that News Corp hopes to get for the struggling company. It is unlikely that it will be as much of a steal as former Aol property Beebo, which was sold as a tax write off for $10 million dollars.

Recently its founder Michael Birch rejoined the company as an advisor to try and have another go at the ailing social network. In similar fashion, perhaps Chris and Tom will come back to the company after the site is sold, to try and revive their faltering legacy.

republished from Mr. Matt Spangler