Pajama Entrepreneur

Geosign, a startup that raked in $160M in VC funding, blew up one year later after its business model — gaming the Google search engine — was effectively shut down via a change in Google’s algorithm. Read more here.

I live in Amsterdam, everyone should know that by looking at my Facebook profile. Yet, Facebook has inserted this ad for Blockbuster in my news feed. Totally irrelevant to me. This is nothing more than SPAM. In a few months, my news feed will be clogged with utterly useless ads. How do I opt out of Facebook spam?

I have written in the past about Blyk, a mobile virtual network operator in the UK, that offers free mobile phone calls to 16-24 year olds in exchange for receiving ads via SMS or MMS. According to this article in the The Times:

The response rate to Blyk’s advertising campaigns, which take the form of text and picture messages, is, it says, 29 per cent. That is more than double the typical response rate to direct marketing and a figure that independent analysts say is extraordinarily high.

Many people are skeptical about the free-calls-for-ads business model since it hasn’t worked in the past. Blyk, however, targets a particular demographic, young people, and they are focusing only on the UK (for now). I can only think of similar free-WiFi-for-ads models such as MetroFi’s and EarthLink’s. EarthLink pulled out of the metro Wi-Fi business and MetroFi wants cities to become anchor tenants; it seems they have abandoned their original business model which had 2 elements: (a) free WiFi with ads; and (b) WiFi with no ads, but pay a fee.

For a Wi-Fi service provider to succeed on the ad model, it needs a lot of people using the service and the “right” people, i.e. the users that the advertisers on the network are seeking to reach. There are a few ad-serving companies targeting ISPs that have launched recently: NebuAd, JiWire (although they’re not a startup, they launched their targeted ad serving business last year), and others.

Nonetheless, I think it is great that people are experimenting with different ways of delivering wireless services to people.

A study conducted by the Stichting Kijkonderzoek (SKO) in the Netherlands estimates that 28 percent of Dutch households has a DVD or hard disk recorder that allows people to view TV shows and movies whenever they want, and skip advertisements. One quarter of households already has a flat screen TV. Digital TV is growing as well: 8 percent of households have a satellite dish and 4.6 percent have a subscription to Digitenne (KPN Telecom’s digital TV service).

Watching TV via the computer has already increase dramatically. At the end of last year 17 percent watched one or more TV programs on the computer. This is 5 percent more than the year before.

As more people are able to skip ads and watch TV on demand, where does a company that sells detergent advertise? How do brands that traditionally have managed to force people to watch their ads on TV deal with the new reality?

Posted on Rose Cantine last month:

•  Jason Calacanis on Internet pollution and how to stop it
• Users revolt: blog network turns out to be owned by a marketing agency

Here is a screenshot of my Facebook newsfeed dated 10 November 2007. Pay attention to the California Car Insurance sponsored ad in my feed. Is this all Facebook can do - insert stupid irrelevant sponsored ads about California car insurance to a person who lives in Amsterdam?

Facebook is purportedly worth $15 billion. If my company were worth even $1 billion, I would spend at least $100M working on a super-targeted advertising solution and with that kind of money, $100M, I could do it. First, I would definitely ask the person to whom I am showing the ads what he or she is interested in.

Clearly, I don’t live in California. Even without asking me, Facebook would have known NOT to show the ad. Who gets ripped off? The advertiser. Who gets annoyed? Me.

If this is all Facebook can muster, what can I expect next in my feed? Dog and cat food ads, even though I own no pets? Weight-loss diet ads even though I weigh 100 lbs (five feet four inches in height)?

Wouldn’t surprise me. Sloppy, unprofessional work from a company worth bucket loads of money. I am not impressed.

UPDATE: Several hours later, I see on the left hand side of my Facebook feeds, two ads delivered one after the other: (1) Botox and (2) Tired of Dating?

First, I do NOT need Botox. I may be 46 years old but I don’t have hideous wrinkles and the thought of getting large needle next to my head to inject poison sounds gruesome to me. Second, I don’t give a damn about dating or being tired of dating. Where the hell does Facebook get this idea that I need wrinkle-reducing treatments or help in my romantic life? Is my photo THAT bad?

The city of Paris has begun offering free Wi-Fi access in public parks and gardens, museums, libraries, and other public buildings. To find out which areas have Wi-Fi, go to wifi.paris.fr. Inspired by San Francisco, the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, issued a public tender last year, seeking a provider to deploy the hotzones. SFR and Alcatel-Lucent won the bid. France Telecom, a sour grapes loser, is suing the city, saying it is unfairly competing with FT’s own paid hotspot access. France Telecom’s subsidiary, Orange, is reportedly Apple’s exclusive partner in France for the iPhone.

Ironically, San Francisco, the original model for this project, has no Wi-Fi. I guess depending too much on a private company to fund everything (in SF’s case, EarthLink) is a fantasy.

To read more about the Paris Wi-Fi project, click here. Another successful project recently launched by the city is Velib, free bicycles available at various points in the city, especially around metro stops. The city partnered with JC Decaux, the outdoor advertising company, to fund this project.

Paris Wi-Fi website: wifi.paris.fr