Trading Big On Family Ties

While Facebook grabs the spotlight over its phenomenal growth and astounding estimated value, there's another big winner in social networking – and it may be connected to your family.

It’s Ancestry.com and, by most accounts, it's an unqualified business success since the Provo, Utah-based company went public in November 2009 with its stock during the worst recession this country has seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Investor's Business Daily reports Ancestry.com recently saw subscriber growth climb higher than expected. The company says it ended 2010 with 1.4 million subscribers, up 31 percent from Q4 2009, and up slightly from the third quarter. It had forecast 1.38 million subscribers.

More than a million subscribers for an online genealogy business? That’s a lot of folks tracing their family’s roots, and the growth factor surely makes this company the envy of many online and print competitors.

“The real question is: Is this a 2 million, 3 million, 5 million or 10 million subscriber category?” says Ancestry.com CEO Tim Sullivan.

“We're more optimistic today about this being a potentially very large market opportunity than ever before.”

From Humble Start

The world's largest online genealogy resource – launched in 1997 as a website for a publisher of genealogical reference books and magazines – sees signs that its business is moving beyond a lucrative niche and into the mainstream, reports IBD’s Patrick Seitz.

The public's interest in learning their family history is growing thanks to social networking at websites, such as Facebook, and the NBC reality TV show, “Who Do You Think You Are?”

Ancestry is a sponsor and an expert resource on the show, which tracks the family histories of celebrities including Lionel Richie, Kim Cattrall, Sarah Jessica Parker, Emmitt Smith, Matthew Broderick, Lisa Kudrow, Susan Sarandon, Spike Lee, Brooke Shields, Vanessa Williams, Rosie O'Donnell, Ashley Judd and Tim McGraw.

Working With Facebook

On the social networking front, Ancestry is looking to leverage Facebook communities more to build interest in its subscription service,” Seitz writes.

Ancestry posted sales of $82.7 million, up 38 percent from a year earlier and slightly better than analyst forecasts, according to IBD.

Ancestry is established in five major consumer markets: the United States, U.K., Canada, Australia and Sweden. It has an emerging presence in Germany, France and China.

Company goals for this year include improving the experience for new subscribers, expanding its Facebook presence and developing apps for tablet computers and smartphones, Seitz writes.

Ancestry was once seen as an online service to access digitized documents such as census, birth, death, marriage and military records, Sullivan says.

But now subscribers share photos, documents, stories and family trees that they've uploaded, he tells IBD.

Awed By Growth

I’ve used Ancestry.com on and off since 2004, when a former co-worker and friend of mine got me hooked on tracing my ancestors. In those days, it was exciting to merely find family member names in the site’s U.S. census files.

Since then, Ancestry’s growing database has been nothing short of amazing, especially when it bought rivals (i.e. Genealogy.com and Footnote.com) and expanded services, such as access to military-related records.

But while Ancestry outmuscles the paid subscription competition, there’s a major rival building a strong following – FamilySearch.org – a free website sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

An army of volunteers has been adding millions of records from the United States and archives from around the world to the FamilySearch site.

Ancestry’s membership fees aren’t cheap and, given today’s troubled economy, many seeking clues to their family’s past are likely to turn first to a free website before any paid site.

I don’t know about you, but free has a nice ring to it!

Ken Cocuzzo

ChinaWatch: Firewall to Cash Crops

Welcome to ChinaWatch, WMB’s digest of news from the country with the world’s second largest economy. Click the links for more info.

The Great Firewall

As Arab governments from Bahrain to Yemen and the clerical rulers in Iran alike wrestle with how to get a grip on the Internet's role in spreading unrest, the Communist Party in Beijing has steadily applied one of the world's most sophisticated censorship programs.

Instead of shutting down the Internet completely, as Egypt briefly did in an unsuccessful bid to save former President Hosni Mubarak's regime, China carefully picks and chooses what material is allowed to filter through.

And while troops in Bahrain opened fire on crowds of demonstrators, China so far has been successful in keeping dissidents from gathering momentum, in part by crushing their ability to post manifestos or form groups online.

While the Internet hasn't carried the momentum of those uprisings nor has it addressed the myriad of complex underlying factors, it's thought to have galvanized groups of key protest organizers.

But Beijing so far hasn't had to roll back or reconsider Internet access issues, because in China, they didn't exist to begin with.

Widely known as the Great Firewall, the restrictive measures emanating from Beijing keep a majority of China's estimated 457 million Web users from accessing anything online that the government considers politically sensitive.

The targeted sites - such as Facebook and Twitter - have been used to organize or report on recent standoffs between troops and protesters in Bahrain and Egypt.

The result is a parallel system in which the bare news of events such as those now roiling the Arab world can be reported while any analysis that might draw parallels to domestic issues in China is omitted. Or, as has been the case recently, it can be accompanied with dire warnings about the dangers of turmoil.

Cash Crops Grow

Fueled by a growing middle class with an appetite for meat, and now, the money to pay for it, China became the top importer of U.S. agriculture goods in 2010, surpassing all other nations for the first time in history.

What’s more, the change in top players — China imported $17.5 billion while Canada imported $16.9 billion — occurred during a year of record exports.

The United States sold $115.8 billion in agricultural products worldwide last year.

That’s good news for Iowa farmers who have seen demand and prices rising for both corn and soybeans in the past decade. As of late last week, corn was trading at $7 a bushel and soybeans at $14 a bushel.

And unlike so many tennis shoes, shower curtains and washing machines, the means of producing soybeans and corn can’t really be exported.

“Our top soil is just freakishly good,” says David Swenson, an economist at Iowa State University.

“There are very few places in the rest of the world that can grow crops in such abundance. There are some parts in South America like Brazil and parts of Paraguay, but it’s really the Midwest that is so productive,” he says.

What the Chinese are buying the most is U.S. soybeans. In 2000, China was 19 percent of the U.S. export market; in 2010 it was 58 percent.

“Basically, China is just driving the demand. It can come in and literally move the market,” says Grant Kimberly, director of market development for the Iowa Soybean Association.

“Their economy is growing at 8 to 10 percent a year, so when you multiply that by 1.2 billion people, well, it’s like nothing we’ve ever experienced before.”

ChinaWatch

Facebook Tops Google

Facebook has topped Google.com in traffic for the first time in Internet history, with Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking creation spending nearly all of 2010 as the most visited website in the United States.

Facebook edged out Google with 8.9 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010 (second-place Google had 7.3 percent), according to Experian Hitwise, an Internet measuring service.

Google dominated the top spot as the most visited site in America during 2009 and 2008. MySpace was the No.1 visited site in 2007; it’s now No.7.

From the big picture, 68 percent of Canadians use the Web. This is believed to be the highest penetration in the world, according to comScore, an Internet measurement company tracking global access.

France and Great Britain have equal ranking of 62 percent, followed by Germany, 60 percent, and the United States, 59 percent. About 17 million Canadians, or 53 percent of the population, have Facebook accounts.

We, at WMB, believe the stats are telling because they show millions of consumers have access to social networks and potentially just about any business with an interactive Web presence.

Web comments people make about products, services, and companies is input from consumers, who have direct exposure or experience, or know someone who has it.

Facebook and Twitter see the highest adoption rate in social media and marketing, while customer reviews rank No.1 for boosting sales and customer engagement, according to recent research by internetnews.com.

Taking things a step further is a report, “Communability and Social Media Study,” done by e-commerce consulting firm, the e-tailing group, and online customer review firm, PowerReviews.

The report findings come at a time when recession-strapped companies are turning to social media marketing as a more affordable way to promote products and services.

The trend coincides with the uptick in the community base of social networking sites. Facebook just passed the 300 million user mark and provides a vast traffic volume for retailer branding efforts.

But Facebook and Twitter aren’t the only social media used by marketers. The other top brands include Twitter Publishing, with 65 percent saying they currently use it; customer reviews and blogs, both used by 55 percent; and virtual videos by 50 percent.

WMB agrees with Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing group, who says:

“All merchants must test and understand how to effectively deploy it (community and social media) for their brands to retain customers, encourage sales, and avoid abandonment to competitors who’ve better embraced its marketing potential.”

What’s The Future?

Increasing sales is the ultimate goal for adopting social media marketing, but Freedman’s study found three concerns by retailers.

First, brands want to put their own spin on their products and services, and mitigate “brand degradation” from consumers already using sites such as Facebook.

Second, retailers want to be seen as up-to-date in their online presence, not out of touch.

Third, study participants fear their customers will leave e-commerce sites for others that are more socially engaging. It’s akin to hanging out with the most upbeat and “cool” site.

The e-commerce study found Facebook is considered by merchants to be the “single most effective tactic in mobilizing brand advocates and influencers to spread the word about products/services.”

Still, customer reviews are at the top by a wide margin, with 78 percent of those polled listing that information as the No. 1 social media tool for generating sales, and 61 percent listing it as No.1 in driving customer engagement.

The bottom line: Social networking isn’t just about online talk. It’s about marketing – yourself, your company and your products.

This post is by TechMan, WMB co-author. Please share this post!

ChinaWatch: Space Between Walls

Welcome to ChinaWatch, WMB’s digest of news from the country with the world’s second largest economy. Click the links for more info.

Firewall May Expand

The Great Firewall of China is rock solid with Google forced to relocate operations to Hong Kong and Facebook sequestered in 404 Not Found Territory on China's Internet.

But what about Skype -- the Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) provider? Surely, China's Big Brother doesn't want to censor phone calls, too?

Well, in a sense yes, blogs Ron Callari at inventorspot.com.

It's not the content of such phone calls the Chinese are concerned with, so much as the loss of revenue by government-run telecom services China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom.

The Chinese Ministry of Information and Technology says it’s collecting evidence against VoIP services in preparation for legal proceedings. The target is believed to be the Internet telephony service Skype.

If China moves against Skype, it would join the rank of a number of well-known Western Internet companies in the online graveyard of the Far East -- Flickr, Youtube, Facebook and Google.

Manufacturing Growth Eases

The pace of growth among China's manufacturers eased last month but output continued to expand, figures suggest.

The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing says its purchasing managers index fell to 53.9 in December, from 55.2 in November and 54.7 in October. It was the first time in five months that the measure had fallen, BBC News reports.

Monthly PMI (Purchasing Manager Index) readings have stayed above 50, indicating expansion, for 22 months.

Analysts say strong domestic demand has continued to offset weakness in some of the country's export markets such as the United States and Europe.

Chinese authorities have been taking steps to try to control growth in a bid to control inflation -- which in November hit a 28-month high.

On Christmas Day, Beijing raised key interest rates, the second such move in less than three months. And the amount of money banks keep in reserve also has been restricted to try to reduce bank lending levels.

The latest data shows China's economy grew at an annual pace of 9.6% in the three months to the end of September, from 11.9% in the first quarter of this year.

Space Ventures Grounded

Prospects for cooperation between the United States and China in space are fading even as proponents say working together could help build bridges in often-testy relations on Earth.

The idea of joint ventures in space, including spacewalks, explorations and symbolic “feel good” projects, have been floated from time to time by leaders on both sides, according to Reuters.

Efforts have gone nowhere over the past decade, swamped by economic, diplomatic and security tensions, despite a 2009 attempt by President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, to kick-start the bureaucracies.

U.S. domestic politics make the issue unlikely to advance when Obama hosts Hu at the White House on Jan. 19.

Washington is at odds with Beijing over its currency policies and huge trade surplus but needs China’s help to deter North Korea and Iran’s nuclear ambitions and advance global climate and trade talks, among other matters.

Hu’s state visit will highlight the importance of expanding cooperation on “bilateral, regional and global issues,” the White House says.

But space appears to be a frontier too far for now, partly because of U.S. fears of an inadvertent technology transfer. China may no longer be much interested in any event, reckoning it does not need U.S. expertise for its space program.

Dead Tree Resumes Live

The tout you’re apt to hear today from all types of business and companies is that “we’ve gone paperless,” and nowhere is that more apparent in the way potential employers accept resumes.

If you scan online job boards, links to company websites invite applicants to file electronic resumes, cover letters, portfolio samples and related information, such as details about special skills, awards and certifications.

This may come as a shock, but the old paper resume still has a prominent place even in today’s electronic age. In fact, it may be preferred for a whole bunch of reasons, according to a Wall Street Journal story.

The piece looks at ways social media can help job-seekers build networks and also snags in trying to find work via Facebook, blogs Karen Schwartz for mediabistro.com.

The WSJ story by Catherine Ngai quotes Lonnie Dunlap, director of career services at Northwestern University, on the balance between using new online tools and time-tested job search practices.

“You really have to be careful with Twitter or Facebook, because it can seduce you into an informality that can really backfire,” Dunlap says. “I do think that the traditional methods have to be there. And they have to be very well done. You can get someone’s attention through LinkedIn, but your goal is to get an interview.”

The WSJ story also notes that hard-copy resumes and cover letters are alive and well, quoting Mary Spencer, director of career placement at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, as saying employers at job fairs are increasingly “asking for paper rather than electronic portfolios.”

Unlike a custom paper package of resume, cover letter and portfolio samples, social media such as Facebook and Twitter may reveal too much personal information to potential employers, who may be conflicted or turned off by the mix of personal and professional details.

While there are no hard and fast rules, Facebook tends to skew toward the personal side while LinkedIn seems to favor professional profiles. Twitter may not work at all, depending on your target audience, in a traditional job search.

We at WMB cross-post on the web because we recognize some of our viewers prefer certain apps over others (A reminder: We do not share personal information with third parties). In addition to regular posting as a Google blogger, WMB sends links to Google Reader, Facebook and LinkedIn to reach the broadest possible viewership.

At job fairs, it’s nice for employer reps to match the paper resume and the person handing it over. It’s a chance to make a full impression that could lead to a follow-up interview and perhaps a job offer.

We at WMB understand and appreciate efforts by everyone to save the environment by sparing as many trees as possible and recycling paper products. However, some things still should require a paper trail, and resumes rightfully fall under that category.

On a personal note, I once applied for a job (not in newspapers) that allowed you to submit your resume and cover letter to the company’s secured website. To be thorough, I also snail-mailed the same package directly to the company’s HR folks.

Why duplicate the job application effort with paper?

As a print journalist, I was trained to follow paper trails – budgets, purchase orders, vouchers, and campaign contributions – in search of rule-breakers, thieves and questionable spending practices. Plus, a certain redundancy makes sense because no system, electronic or otherwise, is fool proof. Anything built by human hands is flawed in some way.

My follow-up with the above-mentioned job proved the wisdom of my redundancy philosophy. After my interview with the HR person, who determined I was “over-qualified” (I wasn’t, but that’s another matter), I watched as she deleted my electronic resume from the company’s HR folder and spoke about other company jobs (unavailable) to which I might apply in the future.

If not for the paper resume (which she handed back to me), there would not be any record of my ever applying for work at this particular company. Maybe that’s the way they do business, eliminate all applicant traces, but I wonder what they’re hiding in guise of saving trees?

It also makes me wonder about the motives of other companies and businesses which go totally paperless – saving space or saving face?

As for me, I practice what I preach (and attempt to save paper, even scraps) at writenowworks.com. Please share this post with others!