These are never breaking news stories but rather some of the deepest thinkers and smartest minds from the world of technology and social media, offering their thoughts and views regarding the biggest stories of the week.
You won’t make it through them all in one sitting but it’ll bring you up to speed with this week’s happenings. So just sit back, grab a coffee and enjoy!
(As the unmissable social media articles series experienced a short absence recently, we’ve decided to make it up to you by compiling more than 50 different articles for you to sink your teeth into. The series will revert to its usual number of 25 stories next week)
- Why I doubted Facebook could build a billion dollar business, and what I learned from being horribly wrong.
- So what are the ten patents Yahoo! are suing Facebook for? Very general ones like messaging your friends and deciding what photos your friends can see.
- How Microsoft have the power to help Facebook and stop Yahoo!’s lawsuit.
- Why there is far more to Yahoo!’s lawsuit than meets the eye.
Viral
- The damning story behind the Homeless Hotspots initiative revealed at SXSW this week.
- The steps that Invisible Children took to make Kony 2012 a viral hit.
Apple & iPad
- You call that an iPad review? THIS is an iPad review.
- What happens when you give two non-tech people an iPad 2 and tell them it’s the new iPad? The answer is that Apple don’t even need to try any longer.
- How the portrayal of Apple’s Chinese factories in “This American Life” was partially fabricated.
Ecommerce
- Retail is dead, long live retail!
- A hands-on demo & photos of Paypal’s newest credit card reader, ‘Paypal Here‘.
- U.S. consumers are far more likely to buy premium content on a tablet…so long as the content in question isn’t news.
- Why Walmart’s disk-to-digital scheme will be a hard sell.
- Exactly how much is your digital business worth as developers grapple with app pricing and bundling options.
- Five of the most profitable tweets ever made in Twitter’s history.
- The evolution of online deal platforms [Infographic].
- How Google’s designers got the entire company on the same page.
- Is Google+’s big problem one of design?
- Are the presence of ads really ruining Google?
- Guess who’s joined Google this week? (Answer if you don’t already know, it’s Kevin Rose)
- Too much SEO? Google’s working on an ‘Over-optimization’ penalty for that.
Digital Publishing & Music
- With ebooks growing in popularity, how much do Kindle single authors make exactly?
- Can pay-what-you-want downloads save the music industry?
Advertising & Marketing
- Why marketing is the next big money sector in technology.
- The reason why Klout really matters to people: Money!
- What Asia’s changing digital consumer means for marketers and advertising.
SEO and Internet
Startups
- The reason why Silicon Valley has yet to design a good health app.
- Why many startups ignore advertising and how they never consider their long-term status.
- The burning question: should startups focus more on growth or innovation?
Extra reading
- Should web sites and video games be preserved as art?
- Tuning up web-TV for prime time viewing.
Simply Viral
Another classic from Guinness celebrating St Patrick’s day. Just watch and enjoy!