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Tag: LinkedIn

  • LinkedIn acquires Pulse for $90 million

    LinkedIn acquires Pulse for $90 million

    MUMBAI: LinkedIn, the world‘s largest professional network, has agreed to acquire Pulse, a leading news reader and mobile content distribution platform, for $90 million as it seeks to expand its ecosystem of content offerings.

    The transaction is a combination of 90 percent stock and approximately 10 percent cash, and the stock being issued in the transaction will be done so in a private placement. The acquisition is expected to close during the second quarter of 2013.

    Pulse was founded in 2010 by Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta while they were students at Stanford University. It quickly grew to become one of the most widely used platforms for content consumption on the Internet.

    Pulse currently has more than 30 million users who have activated its iOS and Android-based news reader apps in more than 190 countries. Pulse is available in nine languages, and approximately 40 per cent of users are outside the United States. More than 750 of the world‘s leading publishers distribute their content through Pulse.

    “We are thrilled to be able to add Pulse‘s considerable talent, technology, and products to our growing ecosystem of content offerings, and we believe that they will help us accelerate our ability to deliver to our members the insights they need to be better at what they do, on any device,” said LinkedIn SVP of Products and User Experience Deep Nishar.

    “To continue to deliver that value to our members, our vision for content is that LinkedIn will be the definitive professional publishing platform, and Pulse is a perfect complement to this vision.”

    “News-the people, the places, the stories-is part of our daily conversation. Over the past three years, Pulse has established itself as a key part of that conversation; it has grown from a small project, to a platform for millions of readers to access their favorite content,” said Kothari.

    Gupta added, “Now that our team is part of LinkedIn, we‘ll work together to expand the possibilities for content discovery, helping readers engage in conversations with colleagues, mentors, industry leaders, and beyond.”

    Following closing, members of the Pulse team, including those from Engineering, Product and Design, will join LinkedIn at the company‘s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. The existing Pulse apps will continue to be supported as the integrated Pulse and LinkedIn teams work to build future generations of professional content consumption products.

  • Brands need to keep the customers at the centre: Ray Velez

    VARCA: At Goafest 2013, Razorfish chief technology officer Ray Velez explained how a company should organise a brand around the consumer by busting silos and applying the principles of agile development across one‘s business.

    “A brand should always keep his customer at the center. One‘s organisation must be structured around the customer that will in a way help in building relationship with him. A marketer should plan his strategy based on the data from the actual customer activity and also understand that customer will give a feedback whether you like it or not,” he said, while talking about the five principles one should embrace in order to evolve their business to deliver new customer experience.

    He also said a marketer should measure the data and see how to maintain the interactivity with the costumer. “Think of your brand as a service,” he emphasised.

    He added that a customer should be serviced well so that he comes back. One needs to fulfill consumer needs which will henceforth enhance customer relationship and deliver happiness. Loyal customers buy 75 per cent more than the others, Velez mentioned.
    Velez also added about how to thrive in our age of disruption. He highlighted on how the lines have blurred with technology, media, and creativity coming together, and how this shift is revolutionising marketing and business strategy.

    “Convergence of technology, media and creativity allow you to imagine, create, and enable customer experience like never before. Media allows a two way communication through a hash tag which is a way for a customer to talk back. Creativity can come from anywhere and everywhere. And these are the provisions that technology provides,” he said.

    Vezel believes that it‘s all about telling a brand story and providing an experience in a whole new way.

    “Simple plug in buttons such as Facebook‘s “Like” and “Share,” Google‘s “+1,” and Twitter‘s “Tweet” and “Follow” dramatically lower the barrier to users sharing content from one‘s site out to their entire social graph,” he added.

    Social cloud services provide digital experiences or web properties with the ability to connect up with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, Microsoft and other social services.

    These services come in the form of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that a technologist can integrate. Whether a digital experience is a mobile application or a traditional desktop site, these APIs are available.

    According to Velez, one should create a 360 degree view of the consumer with analysing his media exposure, offline consumer data and the website behavior. ‘Data is something which tells you what your customer wants. Also, employ agile methodology and rapid prototype,” Velez said.

    Velez said that one needs to embrace the diversity of culture and other diversities in order to deliver new customer experience. He picked a statement from Frans Johansson‘s book The Medici Effect saying, “When you step into an intersection of field, disciplines of culture, you can combine existing concepts into a large no. of extraordinary new ideas”.

  • MTV partners with Swipe to launch co-branded tablet MTV Volt

    MUMBAI: Viacom18‘s music and youth channel MTV has furthered its licensing and merchandising portfolio by associating with Swipe Telecom to launch a co-branded ‘fablet‘ (derived by combining fabulous and tablet) named MTV Volt. The two companies have signed a two-year licensing agreement and intend to launch an array of eight to ten products aimed at the technological and entertainment needs of the Indian youth.

    The device has a 6 inch screen along with an exclusive inbuilt TV-player, offering viewers on-the-go access to MTV. It has a touch screen and can be used as both a portable TV set and a fully functional high-definition Android tablet with wi-fi, dual cameras, FM player and GPS functionality offering the youth information, communication and entertainment (ICE) on the move.

    Dedicated teams from Swipe and MTV got together to design all aspects of the tablet from the look and apps to the packaging. Priced at Rs 12,999 and weighing 239 gms the ‘MTV Volt‘ sports a white velvet body with specially designed textured back for better use, comfort handling and high aesthetic value.

    The fablet comes with in-built apps that allow one to network on Facebook, LinkedIn and allows downloading videos backed by a 2 x 1 GHz dual core processor, HD display and Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1. The MTV Volt has an 8 mega pixel rear camera with flash and 1.3 MP front camera and uses an internal rechargeable marathon battery Li-Ion Polymer 3200 mAh that provides a talk time of 8-10 hours.

    While the design has been created in India using insights and inputs from contemporary Indian youth, the manufacturing has been done in china and the distribution will be handled by Swipe Telecom.

    Viacom18 SVP and business head – consumer products Sandeep Dahiya said, “In Swipe we found a partner who shares our vision and take on the portfolio. MTV VOLT is a ‘made to order‘ product for the generation that‘s constantly communicating, entertaining and socializing. In the future, we also hope to develop exclusive apps for MTV Volt and create an eco-system around the brand itself.”

    Swipe Telecom founder and CEO Shripal Gandhi said, “We at Swipe Telecom are excited to be associated with a youth centric brand like MTV. In the recent past we have seen a paradigm shift in the usage of technology like tablet PCs and Fablets amongst the youth in India which has witnessed a CAGR of 59 per cent. The MTV Volt promises to be a perfect muse for tech enthusiasts of the generation next. In partnership with MTV, we will be launching an array of revolutionary products over the next few quarters; which will be truly disruptive.”

    MTV Volt will be available across 10,000 retail points across India, Swipe e-store and also leading online portals like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Infibeam and eBay amongst others and other youth centric platforms. The offline campaign consisting of launches, banners, hoardings, posters will be complimented by an interactive an engaging campaign in the digital space as well.

    MTV Consumer Products today extends into more than 15 categories, with presence in both, conventional as well as unconventional categories like innerwear, adventure bikes, footwear, lingerie, eye-wear, bags, stationery and paper, debit cards, deodorants and EDTs, mobile phones and tablets. MTV‘s key licensees include Bwitch, Citibank, Crusoe, Firefox, Aureole-Inspecs, BILT, PLG, J K Ansell, Mochi, Swipe Telecom and Global Fragrances.

  • LinkedIn appoints Nishant K Rao as country manager

    LinkedIn appoints Nishant K Rao as country manager

    MUMBAI: LinkedIn has appointed Nishant K Rao as the new Country Manager for India.

    Rao‘s appointment at LinkedIn India comes following the promotion of former country manager Hari V Krishnan into a larger role as managing director of Asia Pacific and Japan.

    In his new role, Rao will focus on scaling up operations and staying committed to LinkedIn‘s value proposition of connecting India‘s professionals to make them more successful and productive and helping enterprises hire, market and sell effectively, the company said.

    Rao said, "With a member base of 18 million professionals, India is one of our fastest growing markets and the largest outside of the US. Indian marketers and recruiters are fast realising the potential of LinkedIn‘s affluent member base and are leveraging the platform for targeted and thought leadership oriented campaigns. I am excited about the opportunity to work with the LinkedIn India team to serve our customers and members in India."

    Prior to being appointed as LinkedIn India‘s Country Manager, Rao was director, business operations – head of global sales strategy at LinkedIn‘s headquarters in Mountain View.

    He has been with LinkedIn since September 2011.

    Rao has over 10 years of industry experience with a healthy mix of sales, strategy management and entrepreneurship. He has held leadership positions with companies such as McKinsey and ARIBA Inc and was also one of the founding members of Epicentre Technologies, one amongst India‘s first call centers.