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News, insight and tips from the social web.
The Hoop blog covers the evolving digital landscape, social media, mobile communications, content marketing and also includes 5 top finds and Fish on Friday. Feel free to make comments.
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Happy Christmas from all at Hoop »
We're shutting up shop from 1pm tomorrow (23rd December) and will be back, raring to go for the new year, at 9.30am on the 3rd January.
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Startups of the week #7.3 »
The final Hoop startup for 2011 developed an application that's changed how we take and share photos on mobile.
3. Instagram
If you still need convincing that going mobile is a good idea/ a necessity for 2012, San Francisco's Instagram is more than a good example of the power the platform has.
Built by developers Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and launched in October of last year as an iOS-specific free app, Instagram lets users "take photos, apply a filter, and share it on the service or a variety of other social networking services". Instagram is mobile-only with no real web interface – although various non-official sites have popped up.
It took Instagram three months to reach a million users and just six weeks to double that feat. Today, the app's been download 14m+ times (in just over a year) and has helped raised the 6-person team around $7.5m in funding. Last week, they were chosen as Apple's 2011 'iPhone App of the Year'.
Instagram achieved 14m+ downloads and millions of avid users on one mobile platform. Imagine what their userbase is going to be when they expand to Android!
Until then, if you're on an iOS device, download the free app from iTunes; get snapping and get sharing. You won't regret it.
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5 top finds #29 »
Visiting Aston Martin's garage, interesting/ suicidal marketing techniques from a new tech startup, social gaming trends from 2011, a bad year for Research In Motion gets worse and a beautiful model village. It's (the final) 5 top finds (of 2011)...
1. Behind the scenes in the Aston Martin lab
Ever wondered what goes into the build process of a £1.2million British supercar?
Wired recently visited Aston Martin's Gaydon lab (where they build the One-77 übercars) and took some seriously stunning photos. Well worth a look!
2. How not to launch your startup
We're pretty keen on startups here at Hoop – but we've yet to discover one using launch tactics quite like AllThis.
We won't spoil the surprise, but we thoroughly recommending reading Joel Housman's initial blogpost and Rude Baguette's response.
3. Online gaming in 2011
2011 has been a great year for the gaming industry. Rovio's record breaking 'Angry Birds' hit half a billion downloads, Activision's 'Call of Duty MW3' title made $1bn in just 16 days and social gaming giant Zynga's recent IPO raised $1bn, valuing the company at around $9bn.
If you still need convincing, have a look at this infographic from Pando Networks. Awesome stuff!
4. More bad news for RIM
Poor Research In Motion. 2011 has been rough on Blackberry's parent company.
After releasing a tablet to rival the iPad (which got mixed reviews – at best), taking the brunt of the blame for fuelling the August riots and suffering a data shortage that affected 70m users; they're now worth less than Apple's iTunes and App Store.
Here's hoping RIM have an easier year in 2012.
5. A lovely model village (but not really)
If you're not in a Christmassy mood already, this (old but still wonderful) tilt shift video of Vancouver's Whistler ski resort might help you on your way.
And if you're wondering how it was made, look no further than this interview.
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Startups of the week #7.2 »
2011 has been a great year for the company and its users – but we think 2012 is going to bring change to the service we know as Twitter.
2. Twitter
We've featured Twitter quite a lot here on the Hoop blog over the past 12 months. Given they've had around $1.4 billion worth of funding (and have spent over $45m on acquisitions), we're not quite sure they still count as a startup – but given the year they've had, we think Twitter thoroughly deserves the mention in this series.
There have been some remarkable events in Twitter's 2011 history. The Arab Spring, Japan's earthquake and tsunami, Charlie Sheen's meltdown, the August riots, the raid that killed Osama bin Laden; all just a small selection of the events that played out through 140 characters.
Then there was Twitter's partnership with Apple for iOS5, which allows users to share a significant amount of content directly from Apple's mobile devices. It was recently reported that the combination of Twitter/ iOS had increased monthly signups by 25% – after the company announced reaching 200m registered users in June and breaking their record for number of tweets sent.
But, as we've previous discussed, change is on the way for Twitter. After rolling out the first sponsored content earlier this year and closing a round of funding worth $800m (including $300m from Saudi media mogul Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal), Twitter recently re-designed their user interface.
New Twitter marks the beginning of the end of the service as we know it.
The Twitter service I signed up for is one where people tweet 140-character posts, you follow those people whose tweets you tend to enjoy, and that's it. The Twitter service this new UI presents is about a whole lot more — mass-market spoonfed "trending topics" and sponsored content. It's trying to make Twitter work for people who don't see the appeal of what Twitter was supposed to be.
As Daring Fireball's take on new Twitter suggests above; new Twitter signifies a move away from a startup with no monetisation model towards a company that's worth around $8bn earning money from targeted advertising. 2012 will be another great year for Twitter, but it might not be the Twitter we know and love.
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Startups of the week #7.1 »
As we wind down for the Christmas break, we take a look at a selection of startups that have made an impact on 2011.
1. SoundCloud
If you wanted to share music online prior to 2007, the internet was a pretty poor platform for doing so – or so thought two entrepreneurial Swedes, Alex Ljung and Eric Wahlforss. They set out to solve the problem with SoundCloud, an audio distribution platform.
Launched in Stockholm and now based in Berlin, London and San Francisco, SoundCloud users are given a certain amount of allocated 'upload minutes'. The entry-level free account allows for 2 hours of time, with paid accounts getting more depending on which subscription plan you go for. Paid users are also given access to track statistics that track who listens to or shares their content.
Uploaded audio is given a distinct URL, displayed in an engaging waveform and can be embedded on third party websites via a selection of branded widgets or smartphone apps. Users can also share feedback via timed (on specific parts of each waveform) or non-timed comments.
To date, SoundCloud has over 5 million registered users, with around 2.4m people visiting the site each month and 2m monthly users linked to the Facebook app. The company has also raised €12.5m in funding from a variety of investors including Ashton Kutcher's A-Grade Fund. SoundCloud is a fantastic platform for distributing and promoting audio content and, judging by the speed at which they were welcoming new users this year, we'll be hearing a lot more from the team in 2012!
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Fish on Friday says ho ho ho dear. »
Merry Christmas to all our Fish on Friday followers. The nets are being drawn in for 2011 but before we go for good, check out our call to action. The entire haul of fish funnies will be appearing on Hoop's tumblr in 2012!
This one's a bit grotto but hey Christmas is a time of forgiveness.
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