DUOS expands AI capabilities to help seniors apply for assistance programs
It will complete and submit forms, and integrate with state benefit systems
Read more...As you have probably seen all over the Internet, you television and just about anywhere else your eyeballs might have landed today, Yahoo announced that it has reached a deal to buy microblogging and social media platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion.
I can't help but be reminded of Facebook's purchase of Instagram last year. There are some striking similarities between the two deals, and not just the similar price tags. Both are fast growing companies within their spaces, and both are being left alone as stand-alone service, only with the resources and backing of a major property behind them.
When the Instagram deal was announced last year, I thought it would be interesting to see what other similar services were out there, and how such a big acquisition would affect the space. And so now I feel like I should do the same thing for other Tumblr-like services out there as well.
Competition
Some of Tumblr's competitors have already seen themselves shut down or get bought up:
What happens to Tumblr's competition now?
The purchase of Tumblr is huge news, of course, and it will no doubt have an effect on the entire space. But will that effect be good or bad?
One of two things is bound to happen: either the purchase of Tumblr will reinvigorate the space, causing other big properties to buy up their own blogging services to compete with Yahoo, or Tumblr could become so big it simply drowns out the competition.
The second scenario seems to be what happened after Instagram was purchase. After being purchased by Facebook , the app simply exploded, gaining 10 million new users in just 10 days, bringing its total to 40 million. In October, the Instagram Android app hit 50 million downloads alone.
As a result, at least two of its competitors were forced to shut down, as they were simply unable to keep up. PicPlz shut down in early July and Color, the app that organized photos by event and location, was gone by December.
Tumblr is already dominating the space, so there is a good chance the second scenario happens all over again.
In March of last year, Tumblr passed 20 billion posts, and in April it flew past 50 million blogs. As of March 2013, the site had reached 100 million blogs and over 44 million posts.
It now has over 50 million posts, more than 300 million monthly unique visitors, 120,000 signups every day, 900 posts per second and 24 billion minutes spent on site each month.
Of course, there is also the possibility that Yahoo breaks its promise "not to screw it up" and drive people away. And some are put off simply by the move itself, without even seeing what it means. WordPress has already seen 72,000 blog posts imported within an hour of the deal being announced, WordPress’ co-founder Matt Mullenweg wrote on his blog.
Perhaps a trend in this direction is the best that Tumblr's competitors can hope for.
(Image source: https://nbcnews.tumblr.com)
It will complete and submit forms, and integrate with state benefit systems
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Storylane helps you share and connect with the people, places, events and ideas that matter.
If you don’t know the trees you may be lost in the forest, but if you don’t know the stories you may be lost in life. —Siberian Elder
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We want the dreamers, the opinionated, the creatives and the spirituals. We want to celebrate what makes you special and unique. Your experiences and opinions will help other connect with you more deeply and will expand the world for those who live a different live or hold opinions that are foreign or opposite to yours.
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About ZooLoo
ZooLoo
is a complete online environment for today’s Internet. ZooLoo is built around
your own domain name, providing you one place to create, connect and control
anything on the web, including your own site, dashboard, widgets, blog, news
from anywhere on the web, social networks, photos, videos, tools to organize
your life and everything else online. ZooLoo is part of the Zog Media suite of
companies. For more information, visit Zooloo.com.
About Zog Media
Zog
Media is home to the innovation and development of audience-driven media
solutions. Its suite of companies includes the complete online environment,
ZooLoo.com; ICANN accredited domain registrar, Zog Names; and advertising platform,
Z Audience. Zog Media's Founder and CEO is Jeffrey Herzog, recognized Internet
entrepreneur and award-winning innovator. Zog Media is based in Scottsdale,
Ariz. For more information, visit ZogMedia.com.
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Sprokk is a micro-blog where users share thoughts and interact with others using their voice.
A “sprokk” is a short voice note created through the Sprokk iOS app or web interface. Our product encourages people to freely express themselves, embrace their individuality and memorialize their lives using their voice. Our mission is to disrupt the banality of traditional text and photo to create a world where users reach large constituencies with ease and authenticity. Sprokk is a megaphone to the world!
A market opportunity exists because text blogs limit the user’s ability to convey emotion. The recent proliferation of video microblogs demonstrates that the user is looking for an enhanced level of interactivity in the blogging space. The use cases of voice and video blogging, however, are inherently different: an audio note best captures short thoughts without the unwanted exposure of video.
Our interface is constructed around the core concept of simplicity of use and minimalist design.
- To create a Sprokk, users must record a voice note no longer than 17 seconds and include a subject
- Next, the user has the option to add a photo or hyperlink, tag friends and/or lock (restrict) the post
- Users interact with another Sprokk by replying, cataloguing, echoing, sharing and/or voting
Located in Hollywood, CA, Sprokk was internally funded in early 2012.