I came across a report tonight from ChannelWeb.com, based on Nielson Web analysis, that 60 percent of Twitter users quit the site after one month. After the recent hype from Ashton Kutcher and Oprah Winfrey, it remains to be seen if Twitter will have the long-term benefit from the recent surge of new users.

In the next few months, it will be interesting to see if the site retention for Twitter improves.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have come across a number of articles suggesting that YouTube and Facebook are not making as much money as people would expect.

First, Credit Suisse reported that YouTube will lose an estimated $470 million in 2009. Half of YouTube’s expenses ($711 million) are towards the high bandwidth costs. Google is hoping that online advertising will eventually turn the site into a profit, but one has to wonder if they will ever reach that goal.

On a similar topic, last month Business Week reported that Facebook was looking for an estimated $100 million in credit financing to help pay for the rising server costs. Currently, Facebook has an estimated 275 million users and is registering close to 1 million users per day. Last year, Facebook was estimated to be worth $15 billion, but with the company looking for credit financing, the estimate is probably slightly inflated.

It appears that some of the popular web 2.0 sites are having some issues with the high IT operations costs. In the late 90’s, the popular business model for upstart websites was online advertising, but after 10 years, is it still an effective business model as the main source of revenue? Evidence seems to suggest no.

Last week, it was reported that a 14-year-old girl who posted nude pictures on MySpace was charged with Child Pornography, even though she is a minor.

Last Year, a 17-year-old boy posted nude pictures of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend.

Because of the increased popularity of social networks (e.g. Facebook, MySpace), a small number of teens are using this medium for posting inappropriate content, mainly nude pictures.

Read more »

Today, I came across an article from TechCrunch reporting that 94% of
Facebook users do not like the Twitter-like interface. Personally, I
find that the new interface is too focused on status messages, which
sometimes can be very interesting and insightful but other times can be
annoying.

I will occasionally come across status messages such as “I’m sick this
morning. I must have eaten the wrong burrito! ” They are funny the first
time around but become stale very quickly.

It will be interesting to see if Facebook keeps the new layout or gives
users the option to use the previous layout if preferred (best option).

Apple Insider reported on today’s announcement from Apple Computer Inc. on the upcoming iPhone 3.0 update that is scheduled to be released later this summer. The iPhone update includes the long awaited MMS and copy & paste features. The update will be free for iPhone users, while iPod Touch users will have to pay a $9.95 fee to download.

Apple has posted the complete presentation online in Quicktime format.

Soon to be iPhone competitor, Sprint Palm Pre is scheduled to be released this spring.

Over the past month, I have been using Mint.com, a personal financial management service, and I have been very pleased thus far.  Read more »

Last week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced a homepage redesign and rollout of a new feature where celebrities and organizations can send real-time updates via a “public” profile to an unlimited number of “friends” all across the world. Also, Facebook is giving users more control over their home page and is giving the ability to share information in real-time with their friends. The “real-time web” concept is similar to the micro blogging site Twitter, which allows users to send updates to “followers”. Read more »

I first saw this video (version 2.0) last summer during a Social Media for Government Conference in Washington, DC. “Did You Know?” describes the globalization of information technology with facts. Check it out!