Abracadabra!

A recent article in the New York Times by Michael J. de la Merced questions whether the latest craze of internet start-ups are ever going to be profitable entities. He cites a metric used by Groupon and others called Acsoi, which stands for "adjusted consolidated segment operating income'. Without these metrics, Groupon and others appear steeped in red ink. Lisa Thompson, an analyst withArcstone Partners has been studying these new social media companies and says 'Everyone I have looked at doesn't make money.'

So, will these social media moguls make it? As I shared in my last post, the stats are out that Facebook has begun to take a serious downward turn. Twitter maxed out long ago. And even the hottest of these seem to find it difficult to say that they are actually succeeding financially. Part of that is, to a large extent, due to the difference between measuring influence with direct sales. Facebook isn't selling deodorant, but they are undoubtedly influencing people. So how do you measure that impact? This gray area has led to the boom of new metrics to measure fresh markets.

But I think it is simpler than that. None of these giants have been able to diversify into multiple revenue streams (though give Facebook credit for trying!). Did you know you can still get a pager? They do one thing and they do it well. In any major metropolitan area you can still find people who are on call using them. Is it a large market share? Nope. But some companies have hung on. Same with twitter. If you are a youth pastor or a cub scout leader or a college professor who works with a finite group and interacts with them often, Twitter makes perfect sense. Have everyone in your group or on your team follow your feed and you can disperse info quickly and seamlessly. Same is true for a professional athlete or an actor. You can 'involve' people in the ins and outs of your lives without actually doing so...but they feel like you have shared intimately with them. But now me, on the other hand...who needs to know that I a

m going to dinner with my wife or working late or going to the Rangers game with my friend Jeremy? NOBODY. Twitter = one trick pony.

Same with Facebook...now that all of us 40-somethings have caught up with all of our lost college and high school friends and had a mini-reunion, what now? Because it isn't REALLY social...it is pseudo-social. And after a while, we need something more, something deeper. So, what next? Who will be the next Mark Zuckerburg? Who has the next idea already queued up? What will the magician pull from his hat next?