China’s Internet juggernaut Tencent announced today that it would undergo a restructuring of its business units into six groups. Ren Yuxin was also named as the new chief operating officer and will head  up the media and social-networking groups.

The six groups include:

TEG – Technology Engineering Group, comprised of Tencent Research and operating divisions.

SNG – Social Networking Group, comprised of its Internet business lines and some divisions from Tencent Research.

CDG – Corp. Development Group, formed by Tencent Guangdong RD Center and its corporate development arm.

IEG – Interactive Entertainment Group, original Interactive Entertainment service.

MIG – Mobile Internet Group, made up of wireless services and some divisions from Tencent Research.

OMG – Online Media Group, namely its portal business.

The most profitable Chinese Internet company and its red scarf clad penguin mascot, has been growing into quite the force by competing with other Chinese Internet companies on many fronts like portal business (rivals with Sina, Sohu and NetEase), online games (Sohu, NetEase and Shanda), social networking service (Sina, Renren), software and anti-virus services (Qihoo 360), online video (Qiyi, Sohu Video), eCommerce (Taobao), travel booking (Ctrip), online payment (Alipay) and search (Baidu and Sogou). Just to name a few.

In the firm’s freshly released Q1 2012 financial results, the company turned a profit of US $470.6 million on revenue of 1.53 billion, a 2.8% increase from this time last year.

All of its major offerings are still seeing big growth, for example, its instant messaging system QQ now boasts 751.9 million accounts, up 11.5% YOY. Both QZone and Pengyou.com, Tencent’s approach to social networking to date claims 576.7 million and 214.5 million users respectively, up 9.7% since last quarter and a stunning 30.2% YOY. And the Shenzhen-based company’s profit-making businesses including QQ Game Open Platform, Internet value-added service, wireless Internet value-added service as well as online advertising business all pulled off decent growth in the past quarter.

However, there’s always more than meets the eye.

For starters, Tencent’s investment spree last year hasn’t brought on too much revenue, for example, it still lags behind Alibaba/Taobao on the eCommerce front in spite of all its recent acquisitions. Starting last year, Tencent invested in a handful of eCommerce services, like Gaopeng (think Groupon), China’s Zappos OKBuy.com, the Chinese OTA elong.com, diamond dealer kela.cn, 3C etailer 51buy.com and so forth, with elong.com being the only one turning a profit.

Furthermore, Sina Weibo, which is like a Chinese mix of Facebook and Twitter, is posing a real threat to Tencent’s dominance in social networking. Just like Tencent built its empire on QQ, Sina has been working relentlessly on Weibo to reinvent itself from the traditional online media company to the leading social media outlet by adding a swath of innovations to the platform like Weibo Open Platform, Enterprise Weibo, Weibo gaming center and so on.

At the same time, Tencent’s search effort Soso has been long-rumored to be facing serious downsizing, which shows that a company that seems as strong as Tencent can still have weaknesses. Soso hasn’t had any major breakthroughs since its inception six years ago. It currently accounts for 1.5% of China’s search market in the first quarter of this year, according to a report by Beijing-based market researcher iResearch.

Tencent should be wary of the rise of its peers and an organizational restructure might help it be more responsive to market change and be nimble in execution.

• TENCENT

Per the company’s claims as of March 2008, Tencent is China’s largest and most utilized internet services portal. The company powers popular products like instant messaging and gaming service QQ and e-commerce and online trading platform PaiPai, amongst others.

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The week in web marketing ended Friday with the close of Facebook’s first day as a publicly traded company. News of Facebook’s IPO broke earlier, and it opened trading at $42.05 per share – the second largest amount in U.S. history – signifying the broader rise of social media marketing and advertising.

By the end of the day, the fervor resulted in a bit of disappointment, as the stock price closed at $38.23 per share, which fell short of expectations. According to ABC News, some experts believed the first day of trading could see growth of 5 percent to 10 percent. For Facebook, becoming a publicly owned company represents a major step for Mark Zuckerberg’s brainchild and the social media industry as well. Zuckerberg has insisted that this move will not affect the service delivered to the more than 900 million users on the site, which is good news for Americans.

Experian reported this week that 9 percent of all website traffic in the U.S. is goes to Facebook, with the site garnering more than 1 billion page views every week.

Brafton highlighted the report, detailing the value of the platform as part of social media marketing campaigns. As traffic to the site continues to grow and more people and businesses make the network part of their everyday activity, the potential to improve traffic, generate leads and drive conversions grows as well.

For companies looking to improve social marketing, Facebook released a comprehensive report this week that detailed the types of content best for engagement. Brafton found that those using Facebook to boost prospect interaction saw different levels depending on the type of post. Photos and visual content were best for shares, as fans enjoy distributing attractive, engaging visuals from the businesses they Like. However, compelling users to actually Like content requires a different approach, with explicit encouragement to Like content working the best to this end.

Driving conversation and engagement is a matter of using posts that ask questions of a fans, according to Facebook. That’s a principle that many marketers and, now, stockholders are investing in.

The news of the IPO led the Associated Press and CNBC to conduct a poll of consumers’ opinions on premier technology companies.

Despite its popularity, Facebook scored quite low in the survey in comparison to others. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they maintain a favorable view of the social network. Still, 43 percent said that they view it as a fad that will eventually be replaced by other websites consumers find appealing. Google achieved a stronger rating than Facebook, with 71 percent of respondents saying they maintain a favorable view of the search giant, Brafton reported. Given recent controversy regarding adjustments to search and the integration of Google+ data into SERPs, the high rating for Google was an interesting development.

Despite this positive perception of Google, the company’s social network has struggled to make the impact others have. According to RJ Metrics, the number of accounts on the network continues to skyrocket, but activity on Google+ still has not taken off to the same extent. Brafton reported on Friday that 30 percent of those commenting on the website do not return to contribute content again. Essentially, users interact with the site after creating their accounts or when initially prompted, then seem to forget that they have a Google+ profile. While companies using content marketing for SEO can still find great value in Google+ with its +1 and Share plugins that promote content advocacy, the network itself still offers little in terms of engagement.

Its struggles in social, however, have not discouraged Google from continuing its goal of bringing the most relevant content to its users through search. In its official blog, Google revealed the latest addition to search, the Knowledge Graph.

The Knowledge Graph is the latest step in trying to ensure that SERPs contain all the information a user looks for when conducting a query. According to the company, focusing its search algorithm on contextual elements of search will help users find data quickly. Brafton reported that when a user conducts a search, they will see the standard results, while filters based on multiple meanings will show up on the right sidebar. Using the example of the Taj Mahal, Google presented a SERP containing results for the palace in India. However, the additional results contained links to other SERPs for the recording artist and casino of the same name.

As users conduct more searches, the algorithm will adjust to their behavior and bring them the information most likely to suit their needs. Moreover, users can find background information on the subjects of their queries directly on the search results page. The data is aggregated from popular websites and cited as such.

Brafton reported that this move is further in line with Google’s desire to bring users information that they want. In the past, the Panda and Penguin algorithm updates worked toward providing the most qualified results, but the Knowledge Graph takes this concept to a whole new level.

Providing the right information quickly is increasingly important for all websites, not just search engines. Brafton cited a study from Adobe Systems on Tuesday that projected 10 percent of all website traffic will come from tablets by the end of 2014. The mobile devices have continued rapid growth in recent years. According to the study, tablet traffic has increased 10 times as fast as smartphone traffic in recent years, with consumers using the devices similar to desktop and laptop PCs.

Google’s Knowledge Graph will be especially useful for these users as they look for data quickly. Brafton reported on Friday that consumers are using their mobile devices more frequently in the home to find information on potential purchases and other topics. The Interactive Advertising Bureau conducted a study, asking people to provide details on their most recent mobile commerce activity. Twenty-eight percent said they looked for information on a product or service from their devices. Moreover, 47 percent of these users said this activity took place in their home. No longer are smartphones and tablets solely reserved for on-the-go use.

Despite Google’s announcement and its impact on search marketing as whole, the news likely leading discussion into the weekend and the early part of next week will be Facebook’s IPO, its initial performance and the value of its stock. Zuckerberg insists that nothing will change for users now that the company is publicly traded. This was true on Day One. We’ll know more in the next few weeks.

iPad and iPhone

“Siri: Schedule a court appearance for June 21.”

Apple has been sued by several customers disappointed in Siri, the virtual assistant for its iPhone 4S, who allege she did not live up to her performance in TV commercials, the Wall Street Journal reports.

[N.Y. Judge: Apple Statements Damage Lawsuit Position]

Apple has dismissed the claims as incomplete, individualized complaints about a product that is in its Beta stages. The company points out that if the plaintiffs were so disappointed, they should have gotten another phone.

“Tellingly, although Plaintiffs claim they became dissatisfied with Siri’s performance ‘soon after’ purchasing their iPhones, they made no attempt to avail themselves of Apple’s 30-day return policy or one-year warranty—which remains in effect,” Apple’s motion to dismiss reads.

“Instead, they seek to take an alleged personal grievance about the purported performance of a popular product and turn it into a nationwide class action under California’s consumer protection statutes,” the motion continues. “The Complaint does not come close to meeting the heavy burden necessary to sustain such claims.”

A hearing on Apple’s request for a dismissal is scheduled for June 21.

• Read: Should You Insure Your New iPhone?
• Slideshow: Twelve of the Best Apps for iPhone, iPad, and Droid
• Read: How to Get Your Next Job Using iPhone Apps

 Seth Cline is a reporter for US News and World Report. You can contact him at scline@usnews.com or follow him on Twitter.

Google and Microsoft are reportedly neck and neck to get an Infrastructure as a Service cloud computing charity off a belligerent in a nearby future.

According to tech news site GigaOM, sources contend that while Google has been bustling building a cloud use that will contest with Amazon’s EC2 cloud, Microsoft has also been racing to get a possess Infrastructure as a Service height out. For now, it’s looking like Microsoft might cranky a finish line first.

GigaOM reports that Google’s devise is set to entrance a practical renting use by a finish of a year and Microsoft is pronounced to be gearing adult to announce a cloud use during a Jun 7 eventuality in San Francisco.

When contacted by CNET, a Microsoft orator said, “Microsoft is hosting Meet Windows Azure, a San Francisco formed developer eventuality on Jun 7,” and that, “We have zero else to share during this time.”

Google declined to comment.

This isn’t a initial time Google and Microsoft have competed in a cloud realm. Both have business program suites in a cloud, Microsoft with a Office 365 and Google with a Apps for Business.

Taking their cloud program to a subsequent turn with Infrastructure as a Service creates a lot of clarity for both companies, generally if they can corner into Amazon’s market. According to GigaOM, “renting practical servers in an IaaS indication is still where a income is in cloud-based computing.”

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Samsung has mislaid 6 percent of a value, or $11 billion, given a Taiwanese trade news opening reported on Wednesday that Apple had placed large new orders with Japanese chipmaker Elpida for energetic pointless entrance memory (DRAM) chips.

The news has stoked concerns among Samsung investors that Apple wants to assistance spin a struggling Elpida, now in bankruptcy protection, into a most bigger retailer to a U.S. tech giant, partly during a responsibility of South Korea’s Samsung.

Apple is Samsung’s largest customer, shopping chips and displays, though a span are also sour rivals for a sale of smartphones and tablets and are intent in a obvious war.

But tech analysts in a United States and South Korea pronounced they doubted a news by Taiwan’s DigiTimes, if confirmed, would vigilance vital repairs for Samsung and for a retailer links to Apple, notwithstanding a extreme selloff in Samsung shares.

“Apple has been diversifying a suppliers and a understanding with Elpida had no vital impact on other vital suppliers as Elpida’s share of a tellurian mobile DRAM marketplace is utterly small,” pronounced one source with approach believe of Elpida’s sales breakdown.

The source pronounced Elpida was already offering some-more than half of a mobile DRAM chips to Apple – an guess upheld by Merrill Lynch – and that a stream prolongation offering singular range in a brief tenure to take marketplace share from Samsung, that controls some-more than half of a tellurian mobile DRAM market.

“(There’s) zero new in a perspective given Elpida customarily assigns about 40-60 percent of a mobile DRAM ability for Apple according to a channel checks,” Merrill Lynch researcher Simon Woo said.

Lee Sun-tae, of NH Investment Securities, agreed: “The marketplace is overreacting to a news. Mobile DRAM accounts for usually 10 percent of Samsung’s altogether handling distinction …”

Diversifying, not ditching: Analysts
US formed Micron Technology Corp is in talks to acquire Elpida’s business as a Japanese organisation tries to restructure after tough marketplace conditions and tellurian foe gathering it into failure protection.

Apple did not response to queries on a news and Micron declined to comment. Samsung and Elpida’s court-appointed curators also declined to comment.

Apple has been confronting supply constraints, with iPhone sales mountainous to 35.1 million final quarter, heading some analysts to interpretation that a California-based association is some-more disturbed about a teeming supply sequence than faith on Samsung.

“No association wants to have only one supplier. Just on that basement we consider they’re substantially only changeable a (DRAM) balance, looking for balance between dual or 3 suppliers,” pronounced Monika Garg, an researcher during Pacific Crest.

“I don’t consider Apple would wish to spoil their attribute with Samsung. They are their foundry.”

A vital change divided from Samsung could also be difficult and dear for Apple, analysts said, adding that Samsung now granted Apple with high-end DRAM chips that were faster and some-more power-efficient than Elpida’s categorical chips.

Marine Corps Exchanges regulating analytics to urge sell planning

• By Rutrell Yasin
• May 17, 2012

With operations during 17 Marine Corps installations located around a world, a Marine Corps Exchange is a full-service sell operation, providing Marines and their families with an register of products allied to vast sell bondage like Target and Wal-Mart.

However, distinct blurb chains, a MCX reinvests a increase into services supposing by Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS) that urge peculiarity of life for stream and late Marines and their families. This includes sports activities, village parks and distraction centers, support programs, and party activities.

The MCX will use SAS to perform cluster analyses, that will assistance a MCX benefit improved discernment into a singular and changing needs of a internal population, SAS officials said. Some areas enclose some-more retirees; others have younger, singular people; while others enclose some-more families. SAS analyzes race data, as good as ancestral sales information to brand anniversary and other trends that means fluctuations in supply and demand, SAS officials said.

Related coverage:

SAS’ analytics program can extend large data’s reach

MCX will use SAS for sell formulation to make certain a internal populations can get a products they need, when they need them. MCX will be means to optimize bland unchanging prices, promotional prices and discount pricing to improved conduct altogether difficulty direct via a product life cycle, so that register is incited over in a approach that maximizes profits.

Previously, a formulation cycle has taken adult to a year. MCX indispensable a ability to simply furnish reports from skeleton and pierce over offline, manually complete reporting, SAS officials said.

MCX will also have a ability to cluster stores and take formulation from a dialect turn down to a object level. MCX officials afterwards can deposit some-more in equipment whose direct is flourishing such as electronic games and revoke investment in equipment that are not entrance off a shelves.

MCX will use SAS Demand Forecasting for Retail, SAS Business Intelligence and SAS Merchandise Financial Planning to perform a worldly analyses.

About a Author

Rutrell Yasin is comparison editor for Government Computer News. Follow him on Twitter: @Yasin36.

Duane Hoffmann/msnbc.com

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Hit a comments territory on this post and share your woes. 

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At a gratefulness of approximately US$100-billion, Facebook shares will start trade (ticker: FB) during a price-to-earnings ratio tighten to 100, compared to an normal P/E ratio of 14 for companies in a SP 500 Index. Facebook will also be trade during over 30-times annual promotion revenues, distant above Google, that is trade during usually over five-times revenues. If Facebook is going to be as vast as Google and entitled to a identical valuation, it needs to grow promotion sales sixfold, to $19 billion (U.S.).

The shares will expected “pop” on a initial day of trading, when many sell investors get their initial possibility to buy. Extrapolating from delegate markets handling before to a IPO, a cost could strike $45 (but a heat seems to have strong in a past week, so it wouldn’t be startling to see a bigger pierce up). As such, sell investors will be profitable even aloft valuations than a stockbrokers’ lucky clients who get allotments during a IPO price.

This creates it even some-more expected that tiny investors will finish adult disappointed. Indeed, according to Professor Ritter, a chronological record shows that bonds newly listed on U.S. exchanges from 1970 to 2008 trailed bonds of identical marketplace capitalization by an normal 4.7% one year after a initial day of trading, and by 4% 3 years after. The incomparable IPOs achieved rather better, relating a normal marketplace lapse over a same periods—but since worry even with them if a same kind of outcome can be achieved with many reduction risk by simply owning index funds?

As we remarkable in “Facebook IPO tantalizing though be wary,” many investment books titillate sell investors to equivocate IPOs. Respected investment writers such as Burton Malkiel, Benjamin Graham, Stephen Jarislowsky, and Jeremy Siegel have all pronounced that IPOs tend to be timed to coincide with a rise in a issuer’s performance—and that many of them can customarily be purchased during reduce prices a year or so later.

Within a consumer-Internet space, a book seems to be personification out. Close to a dozen such companies went open in a U.S. over a past year; usually 3 are still labelled aloft than their first-day shutting price. Some, such as Groupon and Pandora Media, have depressed by some-more than half. 

The loyal follower in Facebook might cite to burst in right away, desiring a IPO will be one of a few that never demeanour back. Yet a process of watchful to buy IPOs some months or buliding after a inventory is expected to broach a improved risk-reward outcome. In fact, given all a complexities in assessing prospects for particular companies, investors who don’t investigate bonds full time are improved off avoiding IPOs entirely—and batch picking in general—in foster of portfolios of index supports or exchange-traded funds.

Facebook needs to grow like Google—but that might not be possible

The doubt of either or not Facebook can grow during a peppery gait like Google did is indeed a complex, roughly unfathomable, one. Management’s plea is to boost revenues by 6 times to keep adult with expectations. From a identical theatre of development, Google did conduct such a expansion rate over 8 years, though is Facebook in a same league?

I have my doubts. Admittedly, Facebook can supplement many new applications to a height and suffer a expansion energetic that comes from a “network effect.” But as Robert Armstrong and Stuart Kirk write in a Financial Times of London: “It is tough to quit regulating Microsoft’s program or Google’s hunt engine, not usually since of network effects though also since roughly everybody needs to do things those collection make possible. Competitors are some-more costly or not as good. Facebook simply is not essential to life or work in a same way.”

Facebook’s past expansion was mostly formed on adding new users, solely now that a bottom is during 900 million, there is singular range from this entrance (especially when Facebook is criminialized in China). That means government has to work on extracting revenues from existent users as good as Google does. This is a bit of furious label and a execution risk is high for both a PC-based and mobile platforms (where Facebook is still mostly absent).

Google’s promotion revenues per page perspective are an estimated 100 to 200 times larger than Facebook’s, notes Chris Dixon, co-founder of an early-stage try fund. That’s since Facebook relies on a aged Internet business indication of arrangement ads, such as banners, images and other graphics. “Display ads generally harm a user experience, and are also not really fit during producing revenues,” observes Dixon. Google, on a other hand, uses keyword promotion and can aim ads to users’ needs.

Facebook can, and will, pierce to targeted promotion by mining a outrageous databases. The bad news here is that, “if there is one unchanging thesis in both online and offline advertising, it’s that ads work dramatically improved when consumers have purchasing intent,” declares Dixon. “Google creates a immeasurable infancy of their revenues when people hunt for something to buy. They don’t have to stoke demand—they simply collect it. When people use Facebook, they are generally socializing with friends.”

Within this context, a vast volume of insider offered during a IPO might consecrate a red flag. Over 55% of a deduction will go toward profitable off early-stage investors, not to a association itself. This is an scarcely high suit compared to other IPOs. Facebook still has substantial expansion potential, though there might good be improved opportunities down a highway to buy during some-more reasonable valuations.

Designed by ubiquitous reserve government dilettante Tensator, a Virtual Assistant uses a latest in audio-visual record to emanate a apparition of a genuine person. It will advise visitors of a seminars and conferences holding place over a whole 3 days, as good as welcoming them to a show.

The Tensator group will also be hosting a seminar, educating visitors on how effectively handling a newcomer tour by a airfield can speed reserve flow, revoke newcomer disappointment and expostulate airfield efficiencies. During a session, Tensator will be sketch on a endless imagination of interacting with passengers during Frankfurt, Dubai International, Edinburgh, Bristol, Birmingham and London Luton airports.

Abdel Aziz Rahal, ubiquitous manager of Tensator FZE comments: “Dubai’s Airport Show is a pivotal eventuality for a airfield customers. We are looking brazen to demonstrating a collection Tensator can offer to support with newcomer reserve government and summary smoothness – quite new business looking to welcome innovative technologies. The Tensator Virtual Assistant has been entirely customised to promulgate unchanging messaging via a show, so representatives will accept profitable information in a constrained and attention-grabbing manner.”

In further to a Tensator Virtual Assistant, other products showcased during Stand 14 will embody a eQ SLQ3000 system, an electronic call brazen complement that incorporates media, as good as a world’s heading throng control barrier, a Tensabarrier.

Tensator is a tellurian personality in newcomer superintendence solutions and has granted market-leading products to airports and airlines via a world. Visit Tensator on Stand 14 during a Airport Show, Dubai’s International Convention and Exhibition Center, 22-24 May 2012.