The Right Angle on the GroupOn IPO Story
GroupOn example suggest that the frenzy is unjustified ... but the social opportunity is valid
You've likely heard that daily deals company GroupOn has gone public this week and there's been a lot of too and fro about whether their market valuation is just indication of a social media bubble that is due to burst.
It's always risky for companies which are the fence about social media to look at these types of stories as an indication of social media being a bubble. You'll recall all those internet companies that went public in 1999 and 2000 right before the bubble burst -- would anyone now look back at those and say people were right in calling the web business trend a bubble?
Truth is, we 'love a good bubble' -- we're usually going from one to the next -- it's just a part of our free market society. But that doesn't change the underlying fundamentals that make businesses like GroupOn viable over the long term. Whether GroupOn itself survives the "what have you done for me lately" world of public companies remains to be seen -- but social buying is here to stay. Why? Because it makes sense.
Social media's great power is in empowering audiences over companies and platforms. Where big marketing budgets and powerful search engines dominated the marketing landscape a few years ago -- now it's the buyer that's empowered to find and share with like minded individuals. That trend is here to stay -- and no matter what happens to GroupOn -- your company needs to look at social media for a more practical and longer term lens.
EDITORS' INSIGHT: The Right Angle on the GroupOn IPO Story
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You've likely heard that daily deals company GroupOn has gone public this week and there's been a lot of too and fro about whether their market valuation is just indication of a social media bubble that is due to burst.
It's always risky for companies which are the fence about social media to look at these types of stories as an indication of social media being a bubble. You'll recall all those internet companies that went public in 1999 and 2000 right before the bubble burst -- would anyone now look back at those and say people were right in calling the web business trend a bubble?
Truth is, we 'love a good bubble' -- we're usually going from one to the next -- it's just a part of our free market society. But that doesn't change the underlying fundamentals that make businesses like GroupOn viable over the long term. Whether GroupOn itself survives the "what have you done for me lately" world of public companies remains to be seen -- but social buying is here to stay. Why? Because it makes sense.
Social media's great power is in empowering audiences over companies and platforms. Where big marketing budgets and powerful search engines dominated the marketing landscape a few years ago -- now it's the buyer that's empowered to find and share with like minded individuals. That trend is here to stay -- and no matter what happens to GroupOn -- your company needs to look at social media for a more practical and longer term lens.
"Groupon is the second of the "Big Five" social media companies to go public, following LinkedIn's impressive May debut. San Francisco social gaming startup Zynga is expected to follow suit this month and Facebook early next year, with Twitter probably waiting until 2013"
