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Social Networking

By Myles Tanzer 10/05/12 4:40pm

Weeks After Layoffs, Kohort User Asks ‘Has Kohort Died?’

Kohort, a social network for groups, launched last month jam-packed with friends of founder and former venture capitalist Mark Peter Davis.

But less than a month after launch, Mr. Davis took to the company’s blog to announce that they have decided to “decided to run Kohort with a smaller team, a leaner approach.”

AllThingsD‘s Peter Kafka expects the company to lay off almost all of its 15 employees. Dwolla founder Ben Milne announced yesterday via Twitter that Kohort builder Shane Reisner has already started working at Dwolla. Read More

By Myles Tanzer 9/14/12 2:45pm

Social Networking

Kohort Has a Lot of Potential– And a Lot of Mark Peter Davis’ Friends

Today, Kohort, the super-stealth social network for groups, emailed early adopters who had registered usernames and asked them to officially join the site. Last year, Betabeat told you that Kohort, founded by former venture capitalist Mark Peter Davis, netted $3 million from a number of high profile investors like IA Ventures, RRE, FF Capital, David Tisch and David Cohen. The supposed “Meetup killer” made its beta version public back in July.

The site is based around public and private groups. Kohort lets group members post to memos to the group, much like a bulletin board. These memos are supposed to help organize meetups and group activities. Original plans called for a way to put similar groups into networks, but that remains to be seen in this early version. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 1/30/12 9:00am

Social Networking

The commercial Groupon would rather you forget.

Super Bowl Ads Now Come With Their Own Twitter Hashtags

The average cost of a 30-second Super Bowl spot is up this year from $3 million in 2011 to $3.5 million, which means advertisers are even more desperate to make those millions count. Even though 100 million people are expected to tune in live to the game, there are other eyeballs to grab. According to Reuters, for example, “Consumer research forecasts that 60 percent of fans watching the Super Bowl will also be tied into a second screen such as a smartphone or tablet.”

Thus, in what sounds like an Alex Blagg sketch waiting to happen, advertisers are rolling out the social media strat. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 12/23/11 3:45pm

Social Networking

14 Photos

The Definitive Gift Guide For Your Facebook Frenemies

You know who they are. Here’s what you should get them.

By Nitasha Tiku 12/08/11 6:01pm

Social Networking

Opinionaided Is Now Thumb, a Social Network for Opinions

Hooray, now we no longer have to triple check that we spelled Opinionaided right! Today the General Assembly startup—which was born as a mobile Q&A site and already has $5.5M in funding—says it’s rebranding as Thumb and expanding beyond the frothy Q&A space and into a potentially more crowded one: social networks.

To use a couple recent examples, questions on the app range from “Occupy wall street or Tea party? whos going to win in 2012″ to “Hahaha!!?” with an image of a LOLCat. As before, users can weigh in with a thumbs up or down and a comment.

The social network aspect seems largely branding-related, as the newly-named app isn’t yet introducing different features. Betabeat talked to CEO Dan Kurani about Thumb’s surprisingly impressive user engagement, why he calls it a social network, and his favorite thumb joke. Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 11/14/11 9:58am

Social Networking

New York Times Takes Klout to Task

Guys, Klout was making profiles for minors, and The New York Times is ON IT. “In the days just before Halloween, Ms. McGary got the fright of her life when she checked her Klout profile,” the Times says. “Hovering above her score were the faces and names of those over whom she had influence, as calculated by Klout. They included her 13-year-old son, Matthew.” Accompanied by a melodramatic photo of a mother gazing anxiously out the window, as if waiting for Klout agents to come for her son. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 10/31/11 5:20pm

Social Networking

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Mark Zuckerberg Subscribed to Dianna Agron’s Facebook Before Subscribing to Arianna Huffington’s

It’s been less than two months since Facebook rolled out it’s stalking, sorry subscription feature and it’s already revealing telling personal insights about our “friends.” Which, we have to imagine, is just how privacy, um, trailblazer Mark Zuckerberg wanted it.

But a tipster alerted Betabeat that it might also reveal something about Zuck himself. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 9/29/11 10:02am

Social Networking

Goldman Sachs Increases Facebook Ties with a $20 Million Round in Media Buying Platform Network Insights

Networked Insights, a startup that helps marketers make media buys by analyzing cues from social networks like Facebook and Twitter, has raised a $20 million round led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. That’s the same Goldman division that shopped around private shares of Facebook before media attention and government scrutiny forced them to take it back. Read More

Social Networking

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