Alejandro Suárez Sánchez-Ocaña. Entrepreneur and private investor sector Internet and New Technologies.
![]() | |
| |
| |
Facebook comes close
For a few hours Facebook became very close to all, to those who know and those who do not. He became FourSquare and we allowed users to find other users nearby to our location, whether they were "friends" as if they were not. Continue reading " Facebook comes close " Tags: alejandro suarez , facebook , forum
The feast of the gaseous
I leave an article written for ABC: The Feast of the gas. Click on the image to read the PDF.
Tags: alejandro suarez , bubble , facebook , internet , tribune
The world does not follow the rules of Google
A few days ago Sergey Brin, Google co-founder Larry Page along, gave an exclusive interview to the British newspaper The Guardian in which reflected their fears of those who are against the openness and freedoms offered by the Network, and that for it is embodied in Apple and Facebok. For Sergey, these two computer giants are dedicated to stem the access controls in each of the new applications or device s that launched. Continue reading "The world does not follow Google rules " Tags: Apple , Facebook , Google , there is a guru in my soup
The bite Merkels Google and Facebook
We all thought that Germany's Merkel's tough, but we're wrong. Two ministers who have come together to push Facebook and Google where it hurts: in the legislation. Continue reading "The bite Merkels Google and Facebook" Tags: facebook , Google , there is a guru in my soup
The little guarantee net neutrality
This text is an article published in The World of Venezuela and can be read in pdf here

In recent days, the issue of neutrality is talking LARED many specialists in the field. But the funny thing is that it also has been a central theme in discussion forums and social networks like Twitter or Facebook, where ordinary citizens have wanted to express their opinions. The latter does not seem to be sitting too well with the political, especially to some. Last November, in my country (Spain), the Senate rejected an amendment by one of the political parties to ensure net neutrality.
Shortly before this decision, Internet users and Internet experts loudly expressed his total disagreement with the possibility of freedom in the network is constrained by the operators see Internet. Soon got used to the good, and when Internet freedom is imperiled panicking in the global network. The pilgrim argument defending politicians to end neutrality is a need to set a limit to the content managers.
But putting barriers to something that was born without them, imposing a business model through a service control, no doubt as a result will bring the possibility for operators to harm competition.

Ultimately, it is the ultimate aim pursued and is what it is. Moreover, the Senate claimed the existence of "interference slates degraded image and the work done by the Senate months ago." With these "external interference" referred to the number of messages sent via social networks expressing opinions asking ensuring net neutrality. Rate of external interference to the views of the millions of Internet users, ie citizens, I think the less nonsense by these organisms.
Confusing people's opinion maneuvers orchestrated by who knows who makes us understand what we are hands and who our leaders. The view expressed by the citizens is a right that can be exercised when he pleases, the problem is how to give it to them the political party in power. And now you can make a more direct way to travésde social networks.
The problem is that the message has a range of propagation they do not want anything, and that, trying to keep quiet as they can. The inconsistency and lack of information about the extent many political forums and social networks is evident, due more to fear the reach of children, than the content itself. I do not know the reaction will enmi country soon in this regard will relocate possibly outlandish claims and the debate will be cause for mockery and derision on the network.
What is clear is that net neutrality will be under discussion in the coming days, and I'm sure you'll hear the cries of the Internet, even higher and relentless. And while awaiting a final decision, for now we have to stay with little guarantee net neutrality.
Another face in the currency
This text is an article published in El Diario Levante and can be read here
A few days ago, the popular American clothing brand "Gap" decided to change its logo in order to add a touch of sophistication to the firm, changing the shape of the letters and the background color. This change was announced on the website of the brand and on the page that the firm has in Facebook, which has over 725,000 fans and received 1080 comments contrary to this measure. In Twitter did pretty much the same and was discussed for a long time.
Given this unprecedented protest campaign, the brand invited its fans to submit new proposals for logo designs, together, to get a better picture. But these were very clear what they wanted the old logo, which has been in the canopies of the stores and in the stock over 20 years. Finally, after a week of frenzied debate in the network, the company turned to the classic version of its logo, but not before promising his fans that next steps would learn from their mistakes.

All these reactions do suspect that it is a marketing campaign orchestrated by the company itself. If so, we should congratulate him the inventor of such a strategy, since the brand has been the talk of thousands of people in a matter of a week.
Such is the power exercised by social networks immediacy in issuing opinions that are able to make a clothing company rectifies a decision that involves a re-branding and investment in innovation to the brand itself. If all the views expressed through the network, about a product or a brand is taken into account in this measure by managers and entrepreneurs would be facing a new form of market control from the hands of the user. In continue, the demand for a product by the consumer will not be known by the sales volume of this, but by the number of comments received through the network, even before it on the market. And that's a problem.
The network users project their desire to convert their favorite brands in a good property, revolting to them when making decisions and taking advantage of existing innovative rein in the use of comments. The mark must be accepted by the user as it is a service or product that offers a company that is owned by others, not the user.
Social networks should be a tool, a support for brands, targeted assistance to improve the product, but not an obligation, it would mean a total loss of brand identity.
Until now, companies have used social media as advertising system, an immediate exchange of information between user and company, very useful for both, but had not considered the possibility that there was another side to the coin.
Tags: facebook , Social Networks , twitter
Unity is strength
This text is an article published in the Corporate Dossier and can be read in pdf here
In the coming weeks, Facebook and Skype announced their union. With this alliance Facebook users can send text messages to phones, make calls and even video calls to contacts who wish via Skype. This agreement is intended to unite in a way closer to the 560 million registered Skype users with 500 million users of Facebook.
With this combination of services, including Facebook continues its battle against Google's network, currently finalizing a voice over IP service (VoIP, for its acronym in English), by which you can make calls from the email interface Gmail.
This system would work without opening a program and mark directly from the same inbox of your email account. For some time, Google tries to enter the social networking market with little success. Earlier this year, the company launched Google Buzz in Gmail built, offering Internet users the chance to talk and share all kinds of online resources, publicly or privately, and that was intended to compete with Facebook.

But this service had little acceptance largely due to the privacy issues that were generated, which although were corrected by the company, the number of interactions Buzz did not reach anywhere near the number of users of other social networks. According to a study released by comScore, U.S. Internet users spent 41.1 million minutes on Facebook during the month of August this year, while Google remained 39.8.
The act of measuring how much time users spend on particular websites is an interesting value, but rarely measured, there are many studies about it as you may have regarding the number of visits. This value reflects user satisfaction with the site and, in this sense, Google lost the battle. But Internet users' habits change and progress towards new services is the order of the day.
Thus, the controversial and unexpected union is the result of a logical evolution in the services offered by Facebook, and that, according to the company, will strengthen even more the number of users who use this network. Google is moving away from its position of dominance on the Internet, at least as far as social networking is concerned. And while Internet users still prefer Google as search on the net, it is difficult entry into the increasingly popular world of social networking, we can be at the beginning of the end. And while Google was the first to be taught a lesson , this time the story should be applied again, because there is strength.
The bubble Facebook.com
This text is an article published by Time magazine and can be read in pdf here
Facebook recently surpassed the beautiful figure of 500 million users, I dare say people but is the third most populous country, behind only China and India, and more than ten times the population of Spain. With this data it appears that is thinking about an upcoming IPO with a value close to 33,700 million (26,589 million euros) and developed based on transactions in the secondary markets. This would put the popular social network with a market value higher than the industry consolidated companies traded on Wall Street.
Seeing these figures, my mind shifts to the years 1997-2001, where there was a very strong speculative trend in which the stock of Western nations saw a rapid increase in value due to the advancement of the new sector related companies Internet ea the New Economy. A period marked by the founding (and in many cases, spectacular failure) of a new group of Internet-based companies commonly referred to as Pontocom companies. The combination of a rapid rise in stock prices, individual speculation and the wide availability of venture capital created an exuberant environment. Are we at the dawn of the second bubble?

In 1999 and start of 2000 - in full bubble - the valuation through multiples (based to value the company should behave similarly to the average of its sector companies) was widely used. If you had an idea about the Internet business, it was worth the industry average, but only have a company like yours in the world. Their project was not born and already had a good rating.
In the top 100 most valuable brands, six of the top ten brands belong to the TIME (Internet and new technologies). The number one - Google - is maintained for the fourth consecutive year - 144,260 million (87.757 million euros) - Three technological followed: IBM, Apple and Microsoft leaving behind great icons of consumption as Coca-Cola (5th) or McDonald's (6th). Recently confirmed the sale of Burger King to the venture capital firm 3G Capital for 3,100 million euros. Burger King, the world's second largest fast food, was founded more than 50 years, has more than 11,000 restaurants in 67 countries and 300,000 employees worldwide. Facebook is still very young and should show that you know how to convert visitors into euros. Otherwise you can not stop at any time to re-click the Web 2.0 bubble.
Tags: coca cola , facebook , Google , Web 2.0
The operator enters the network in order
This text is an article published by the newspaper and can be read in pdf here , or via online here.
After the failure of the social network launch Keteke in 2008, Telefónica has decided to seize 85% of Tuenti for an amount close to 70 million euros. Operation raises many questions, but not exactly the reason for the failure of Keteke that's nothing new. What is difficult to understand is how a company like Telefonica was not in the project since its inception Tuenti, supporting, participating and captaining this Spanish startup.
It is more than likely that they would have received with open arms, but that had to have happened four years ago, the time it took to Telefónica today understand that internet is more than just selling ADSL lines and for many independent analysts represents precisely the future of telecommunications companies. It is easy to imagine right now the directors of Orange and Vodafone, which Telefónica movement caught off guard. Currently, there are positioned in a sector in which, if they grow in the medium term in Spain, was key to prevent Telefónica invest on ahead.
The foreign market
Another interesting question is to know how Telefónica will focus its internationalization strategy in social networks. Brazil, its largest market, is dominated by Orkut, Google's social network, with about 73% share, while Facebook has about of 11%. Hard to believe that trying to fight, let alone win, these giants of social networking, but, unfortunately for Telefónica, the social network Google clearly succeed only in Turkey and Brazil. It's bad luck, but the Brazilian surfer, the orkuteiro, again assessed to be the first to arrive and to understand what he wanted.
It is time to consider what the future of so many Spanish startup that began as Tuenti and now face the problem of ripening, which was approaching Tuenti. The ripening is a turning point that eliminates any possibility of sale of promising companies, which, as they incorporate new venture capital funds to expand the shareholder base, see how they lose all choice while future sales. The most valuable of this operation is that Telefónica finally realizes that the Internet should be bought not only absorb talent and companies.
The lack of talent in their projects has been the biggest mistake that so hard has learned over the past 10 years, with releases as poor as Terra Lycos and a thousand other smaller initiatives. But talent behind Tuenti does pay those 70 million euros. So Telefónica respects them 10% of the shareholders, to the founders and promoters of the young Spanish company who have been able to get here, find out how to deal with many questions before us for their future.
Tags: facebook , Social Networks , Telefonica , Tuenti
Events in version 2.0
This text is an article published by The World Economy and Business and can be read in pdf here
Companies are increasingly called to the door more event agencies, communication and public relations channels open on social networks like Facebook and Myspace that for a few months, in the marketing actions are no longer mere communication channels to become in attracting users axes for both virtual and face events. The group of users with the same taste in large platforms 2.0 makes a great deal of work communications and recruitment is in the hands of the viral among them.
No better communication channel which is not perceived as advertising and even use it as an engine user message becomes the most effective and gateway lamejor possible. In America, the great giant Facebook has long been an indispensable weapon in the great concert tours of American artists. If there is a community of fans of the Rolling Stones, with thousands of members that interact, are not they the best promoters of the message and an effective way to attract new fans?
And if there is such a community, would not it be smart to create it, promote it and participate in it? Such strategies política.Todos reaches even to remember how the current U.S. president, Barack Obama, used Facebook in the past elections as one of the basic smotores her presidential campaign.
This social network was instrumental in convening and organizing events and rallies that were followed by more than 3,000,000 people, which were not only recipients of the message, but also lend themselves to collaborate in this local acts. He had thousands of prescribers across the country. Similarly, we can already see similar cases in other countries. Dozens of domestic and international companies capture client loyalty and its users through a marketing model, in which traditional public relations have changed their role. Now use the Internet to prescribe and invite users to participate inthe events such as The private concert of a singer.
The result: a remarkable success in attendance and a strong brand imaging. And not just physical events have their place in social networks. For big brands, the use of Web 2.0 viral and becomes vital, also through other media such as forums and blogs. Using this type of means of promotion achieved an audience interactive dissimilar but much higher than could be obtained with traditional media., With an investment of 10%. Thus, it is important to understand the use of Web 2.0 in the context of artistic, social and sports, with new advertising models that produce unconventional participation success, successful event and retro food. A very interesting combination for these times.
Tags: facebook , social networks , Tuenti
Privacy in social networks
This is an article published last week 5 days , you can download the pdf here: "Privacy in Social Networks"
I think this is an issue that will create an intense debate and gain much prominence in 2010. Likewise some may be adapted to local privacy laws. This is the complete platform (the 5 days was limited by demands from paper to 550 words)
What to do to be more relaxed. The mass use of these tools and their greater complexity, will increasingly see more cases of privacy, security and even slightly compromised by the use thereof. While it is true that you must find a framework in which to feel protected, it is worth recalling some basic security measures and privacy that everyone can take within these environments: - Wary of strangers: When a user is new to social networking, shared driveways and l have "friends" soon. Eso nos lleva a agregar en ocasiones de forma compulsiva, otros usuarios que no conocemos, que no aporta suficientes datos o que identificados bajo un nombre de empresa o producto, desconocemos quien está detrás. - No presuponga: Ese conocido que le ha añadido, puede no ser realmente él. Procure escribirle para comprobar realmente que es quien dice ser, intente averiguar siempre por defecto, si podría ser un caso de suplantación de personalidad. De ser así repórtelo inmediatamente a los moderadores que actuaran en consecuencia. - Mala suerte; Créame Angelina Jolie no le quiere añadir a su perfil Generalmente está probado que una foto atractiva genera muchos más contactos. Si alguien que desconoce y es sospechosamente atractivo le agrega; desconfíe. Hay miles de perfiles falsos intentando captar accesos de incautos con cualquier fin, los más incautos pican sin cesar. Piense que un acceso a su información personal puede derivar incluso en un problema de seguridad personal. - Los amigos de mis amigos NO son mis amigos: Es un error frecuente en los usuarios el añadir a gente totalmente desconocida por afinidad con otros “amigos”, es decir por conocer gente en común. Del mismo modo es frecuente que tampoco sean amigos de los mismos y pueda generar en fugas de información. - Crear grupos de confianza: Muy poca gente lo hace y la mayoría de redes sociales permiten ya poder catalogar niveles de acceso de usuarios. Por ejemplo, un compañero de trabajo posiblemente no queremos que tenga acceso a fotos nuestras de carácter personal y familiar. Configuremos diferentes grados y niveles de acceso. Las redes sociales son herramientas útiles y básicas, y están aquí para quedarse. Usémoslas con cabeza y cuanto antes aprendamos a hacerlo correctamente, mas podremos disfrutar de ellas y seguro que con estas cinco reglas, nos ahorraremos algún disgusto. Tags: facebook , Redes Sociales , tuenti
Yo soy cool; y tú un pringaete
El usuario es libre de dedicar sus esfuerzos a lo que sea. Aun así hay movimientos que yo miro con perplejidad, estoy seguro que no habría nunca una empresa en España para la que los españoles colaboraran así, de manera activa y encima felices. ¿Alguien imagina usuarios participando de forma activa, energica y constructiva en el lanzamiento de un producto de telefónica?. Más allá de ese pensamiento filosófico-festivo que no viene a cuento, aparecen dos “Google wanna be”, Facebook y Twitter. Facebook lanzó en su día una campaña para que los usuarios tradujeran su interface . Me parece vergonzoso, es subir un peldaño más. Facebook, que me parece una red social fabulosa, estaba según decían valorado en 10.000 millones de dólares. ¿?(risas). Valga lo que valga, la realidad es que un grupo inversor ruso hace pocas fechas inyecto en la compañía 250 millones de dólares por una mínima participación. ¿Es licito que una compañía con esa capacidad financiera, se aproveche de la buena voluntad y predisposición de los usuarios para no pagar sus traducciones y contratar gente especializada para hacerlo?. A mi me parece un abuso; colaboré con Dmoz y Wikipedia, proyectos sin ánimo de lucro, ¿pero trabajar gratis como voluntario en una empresa privada como Google y Twitter?. ¿El ser una killer-aplication justifica el poder utilizar a la gente en tu beneficio? Y en esas estamos hasta que llega nuevo chico a la oficina, Twitter pretende también que los usuarios traduzcan la interface con un chantaje emocional cutrillo del tipo: ¿lo quieres en tu idioma?, Pues tradúcelo tú. Lo veo triste una vez más. No soy sospechoso de participar. Estos servicios, muchos de ellos sin modelo económico definido, viven de expectativas, de poder rentabilizar el número de usuarios que utilizan estas herramientas. Me parece bien, es un modelo de negocio más. Pero además de vivir de que te usen, pretender que trabajen gratis para ti, y así ahorrar costos, a mi me parece utilizar a las personas. Y por cierto, my feeling es que a Twitter y Facebook les falta mucho por andar para tener la imagen de Google o Apple. Estas intentos de emplear fans del servicio y no asumir costos, siempre encontrarán a quien las ejecute, pero me temo que no acosta de mantener intacta su imagen corporativa. Las redes sociales; creando comunidad
Como parte de la estrategia comunicación de Yes.fm hemos empezado a trabajar en Redes Sociales. Creo firmemente en este vehículo nuevo de comunicación, que si se trabaja bien y con constancia puede establecer un excelente cauce de comunicación entre los usuarios y el staff de cualquier empresa. En un principio nuestra presencia se va a centrar en Facebook , Tuenti , MySpace , una canal de video de YouTube y un usuario de Twitter . Creo que para empezar son los puntos clave, aunque si alguien cree que nos dejamos algún sitio en el aire, me encantaría saberlo. La idea con la que trabajamos, y creo que es importante, es que sean canales dinámicos y que ofrezcan opciones nuevas al usuario; organizar concursos, eventos online, estrenos musicales semanales, que fomenten la comunidad off portal y donde realicemos promociones exclusivas para los miembros del canal; me preocupa especialmente que no sean sólo vehículos de promoción, sino que aporten valor añadido al usuario intentando que cuanta más gente mejor se reuna en torno a Yes.fm en estos canales social media. Entiendo que en los próximos años vamos a ver florecer decenas de agencias y departamentos dentro de grandes empresas dedicados exclusivamente a crear comunidad y al desarrollo de contenido de valor añadido ya la promoción dentro de este nuevo tipo de soportes. ¿Qué potencia tiene esto? Basta decir que la cuenta del presidente electo de USA, Barack Obama le han seguido durante las elecciones americanas más de 1.700.000 amigos en facebook, lo que le facilita la comunicación en tiempo real dentro de esta red social. Por supuesto es un caso extremo, pero hoy en día un ejemplo a seguir. Tengo mucho interés personal en el desarrollo de estas iniciativas. Soy usuario de facebook y de twitter, pero a nivel personal. Nunca hemos lanzado una campaña permanente y online para nuestros productos en todos estos nuevos soportes social media. Espero que podamos hacerlos crecer y dar un valor añadido. Crearlos y tenerlos medio abandonados es ridículo, debemos estar muy activos en ellos y es una labor de hormigita, trabajando el medio y largo plazo. Si eres usuario de estas redes aquí tienes los canales recién creados, espero que te enganches a alguno de ellos, ya les estamos empezando a subir contenido. Comunidad Yes en Facebook Yes.fm en Twitter Pérfil de Tuenti Yes Canal de Vídeo en Youtube Yes.fm MySpace Yes Tags: facebook , Redes Sociales , social media , tuenti , twitter , Yes.fm
Unas risas con Facebook
Estamos todos en mayor o menor medida inmersos en alguna red social. Hace poco, y ante la enorme cantidad de redes sociales que están apareciendo, Carlos Blanco escribía un interesante post al respecto que recomiendo especialmente “ Analisis de las redes sociales profesionales ” en el que se preguntaba en voz alta en cuales hay o no hay que estar. Yo, personalmente siempre he sido un poco anti-redes sociales, si bien es cierto que uso Xing y cada día más Facebook . Precisamente por eso debe ser que esta mañana me han enviado un vídeo, que desconocía (tan malo no debe ser cuando lo han visto 4.000.000 de personas en YouTube) con el que me he estado riendo un poco de Facebook, y sobre cuanta tontería y aplicaciones estúpidas circulan en ocasiones en este tipo de redes (y el tiempo que malgastamos con ellas !!). Tags: Carlos Blanco , facebook , Redes Sociales
The blog of Alejandro Suarez.





























