Friday Links: Verizon, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Foursquare, Facebook, AOL

Here are a few of the reports, articles and stories I found interesting this week.

Get ready for Verizon's 'Dream Phone'

The forthcoming Verizon iPhone will test those investments. As noted, wireless data usage on the device is a major burden on AT&T's (T) network; iPhone users who complain about AT&T service don't always realize how much they contribute to the strain, partly because the iPhone persistently reaches out to AT&T's towers, switches, and computers to grab data. While Seidenberg wouldn't comment on the iPhone specifically, he and Lowell ­McAdam, his operating chief and heir apparent, seem confident the Verizon network will hold up. McAdam points out that Verizon already carries a data hog of a phone, the Motorola Droid (which runs on Google's (GOOG) Android operating system), and that the average Droid user consumes more data than the average iPhone user.


IDC: Apple passes RIM to become No. 4 global mobile phone vendor

According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Apple's record quarter was enough to land it a fourth-place spot on the list of global mobile phone vendors, behind Nokia, Samsung and LG Electronics, BusinessWire reports. Though Apple has consistently been a top smartphone vendor, this marks the first quarter that Apple has cracked the top 5 list of global mobile phone vendors.


Ozzie's 'doomsday' memo warns Microsoft of post-PC days

Departing Microsoft executive Ray Ozzie's just-published memo is a "doomsday-ish" missive that calls on the company to push further into the cloud or perish, an industry analyst said today.

Ozzie, who replaced Bill Gates as Microsoft's chief software architect in 2006, is leaving the company, although Microsoft has not disclosed the date of his departure.

His "Dawn of a New Day" memorandum, which was dated Oct. 28, is an attempt to focus Microsoft's attention on the day when PCs will no longer rule consumer or business computing, said Wes Miller, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Wash. research firm that specializes in tracking Microsoft.


AOL To Sell Pacific Corporate Park to CB Richard Ellis Realty Trust

AOL Inc. (NYSE:AOL) today announced that it has entered into an agreement for the sale of four office buildings it no longer utilizes and two undeveloped parcels of land on the East side of its Dulles campus to CB Richard Ellis Realty Trust for $144.5 million. As of October 29, pro forma for the sale AOL has approximately $750 million of cash on hand.

Foursquare Doomed? Facebook Places Has 7X More Users

On its "latest statistics" page, Facebook says "there are more than 150 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices."

Does this mean Foursquare, the startup Facebook Places most closely copies, is doomed? It only has 4 million users. It had an offer to sell to Yahoo this summer for more than $100 million. Should CEO Dennis Crowley have taken the money and run?

Surprisingly, the answer to both those questions might still be "no."

10,000 Enormous Trends in Social Media Right Now (Not Really)

I've been catching up on a lot of reading today- perusing the marketing social media blogs- and I've found a lot of good stuff. One thing I noticed is that it seems that the only format people write in now is "top ten lists."

• Top Ten Muskrat Flavored Social Media Popsicles
• 27 Must Have Twitter Followers in the California Penal System
• Three Key Techniques for Spamming Anonymous Strangers in the Vain Hope of Getting More Facebook Fans
• Four Absolutely Critical Hello Kitty iPhone Accessories

The other popular way to write a blog these days is the "How to" or "Where do I find" types

• How Do I Get Hot Girls to Follow Me on Twitter? (Now available in seven easy installments of $199 each!)
• How Can I Get To Be Mayor Of Yankee Stadium When I Don't Leave The House?
• Which Social Media Network is Best for the Buying and Selling of Monkeys?
• How Do I Grow Revenue at My Failing Business Using Social Media but With No Budget, Time, Effort or Creativity?

Anyway! Here are some of the really good articles I read this week:

5 Huge Trends in Social Media Right Now (Mashable)

They are:
1. Social Scanning
2. QA and Intelligent Information Discovery
3. Group Buying
4. Mobile Meets Loyalty
5. Checking-In to Entertainment


Questioning the Prominence of B2B Search (Strategic Guy)
Is SEO really that important to B2B marketers?

A good friend and long-standing client pointed me to a BtoB Magazine article about a recent survey entitled "The Impact of Social Media on Search." The nearly 500 marketers queried reported their most important goals for social media marketing as the following:

-Building brand awareness (81%)
-Increasing traffic to a Web site (77%)
-Generating leads (67%)
-Providing deeper engagement with customers (66%)
-Improving search results (57%)

Maybe not...

Lastly ReadWriteWeb has a cool flowchart on How to Evaluate New Twitter Followers

Facebook Worth $23 Billion? and Other Questions

Is Facebook worth $23 billion or $12? Whatever Facebook is worth in the end- those are some really big numbers...

Twitter Places is targeting Foursquare and Gowalla (again). I haven't seen the benefit of location based social media. Although I do have a Foursquare account, I haven't used it much. Do you use it regularly? What do you get out of it?

Worried about a large asteroid hitting the earth and wiping out life as we know it? Don't worry, the Russians have our back.

My agency was just selected by TerraGo Technologies to provide integrated public relations and social media services with the goal of increasing awareness for TerraGo's software solutions among decision-makers at government agencies and industrial organizations. TerraGo is a really cool geospatial data company that delivers software applications that extend the access and application of maps and images for non-GIS users and customers. I'm psyched we get to work with them.

Lastly, take a moment to vote for Ryan Zimmerman for the All-Star Game this Monday. Not convinced? Click below to see the video of him hitting a walk off home run last night...