Cloud computing has quietly taken over the high tech industry in recent years.  No longer is cloud computing confined to hardware virtualization.  Today, software and Internet companies are driving revenues by exposing every layer of the technology stack as cloud computing products.  Cloud computing has become mission critical for the product strategy of countless high profile companies, including Salesforce , LinkedIn , Facebook , Twitter , Microsoft , Amazon , Google , and on and on. Turn infrastructure into products. Sell data. Do you collect data that might be interesting to someone?  MORE >>

Viral marketing has long been the Holy Grail of Internet marketing.  But like the Holy Grail, it seems forever elusive, always slightly beyond your grasp.  If only you had the magic formula, all your campaigns would “go viral,” driving explosive revenue growth, slaying your evil competitors, and filling your belly with fine ale and your arms with fair maidens. To the rescue comes the viral coefficient, just the magic elixir you need.  With the viral coefficient you now have a trusty compass guiding your every step toward that Holy Grail of viral marketing.  Congratulations! Snap out of it! MORE >>

Like so many tech companies before them, Google now faces its greatest challenge yet:  Finding the “next big thing.”  With the vast majority of Google’s revenues coming from AdWords , Google is still a one-trick pony, despite the tremendous success of that pony.  Like all amazing tech success stories before it, Google now faces the challenge of figuring out how to drive the future of its business beyond AdWords.  But unlike the rare few companies who have found their next big thing, Google is taking a fundamentally different approach.  Microsoft and Apple both come to mind.  MORE >>

Corporate strategists have long looked to horizontal and vertical integration as tried-and-true expansion strategies.  Horizontal integration is just a fancy way of saying that you plan to buy out your competitors to expand your market share.  And vertical integration just means you plan to buy out companies that are upstream or downstream from you in your supply chain.  For example, a clothing designer might buy out a chain of retail clothing stores to move downstream in the supply chain.  Or they might instead buy out textile mills to move upstream in the supply chain. Higher sales volume. MORE >>

Content goes viral when each person who consumes the content passes it along to more than one new person on average. But what makes people want to pass information along en masse ? Thanks to a fascinating study performed by Jonah Berger and Katherine L. Milkman at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, we now have a glimpse into why people share content. Their research offers great insights that imply very practical techniques for how marketers can create viral content systematically. To get your content to go viral, make it: Awe-inspiring. Useful. Emotional. Surprising. Positive. MORE >>