I like Zappos, because they are good at social networking, online and offline. I like Amazon too, because they provide the easiest way of shopping online.

I wrote about Zappos’ social marketing activities earlier. To me, they are the one company who gets social media!

• Zappos’ Facebook page and Twitter are well integrated
• They fully leveraged all types of media (pictures and videos)
• Their employee engagement is very high: it’s a place naturally to be social - it’s personal!

People can comment on Amazon’s acquisition from different perspectives. To me, I wonder how Zappos’ social gene can be passed and emerged into Amazon. I’m not sure if that is a benefit from business value part, but I do see it would help to shape the culture and the company’s social value.

Tags: amazon, Facebook, social media, Social network service, Twitter, Zappos

Happy Friday!

To save time and put things in a more organized way, I decided to create some pages in this blog as my library, that captures my regular finding around the topics that I’m interested, such as Crowdsourcing, Mobile, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and China.

I update these pages in stead of writing all different small posts. Check out these pages if you are also interested in these topics

For other topics that I have more to say, I’ll continue to write as separate posts.

Tags: amazon, china, Facebook, linkedin, mobile, Online Communities, social network, Twitter

I watch Amazon. What caught my attention this week is that Amazon asked users to vote on “What ZIP code should AmazonFresh deliver to next?”

AmazonFresh is Amazon’s grocery delivery service in Seattle area.

Tags: amazon, crowd sourcing

The power of free data and the power of API:

Amazon’s “newest project Public Data Sets on Amazon Web Services began offering more than 1 Terabyte (1000 GB) of fascinating public data for developers to access on the fly through Amazon’s cloud computing service.”

New York Times is making its huge database accessible to the developer community and bringing developers together for Times Open, the publication’s inaugural API seminar.

We have seen this free data and API trend across all industries inluding education and government. I am a big fan of free data - no body owns any particular data; it’s how the data is being used matters.

The free data and API somehow reminds me one practice from Dao - you don’t control anything; you simply be with it.

Tags: amazon, api, developers, new york times

While putting these Amazon numbers together, I keep wondering where Amazon is going:

• Amazon recent sales and shares:

For the fourth quarter of 2008, Amazon sales up 18% to $6.70 Billion; 2008 Free Cash Flow Grows 16% to $1.36 Billion. There were already some early indications that Amazon had a strong holiday season, most notably the company’s announcement that it set a single day record for orders on Dec. 15. We have to keep another data point in mind, that online holiday shopping falls 3 percent overall.

Not surprise, Amazon shares skyrocket after the company released its fourth quarter results.

• Amazon’s biggest job growth

Its employment had risen to 20,700 people as of the end of January 2009. That translates into net growth of 3,700 people — the company’s biggest annual jump in nearly a decade. In this current economy environment, it’s rare how Amazon keeps hiring while most of other companies are cutting back.

• Amazon’s big year of Acquisition

The company spent $432 million on acquiring companies in 2008, more than ten times the amount in 2007. As TechFlash mentioned, Much of Amazon’s 2008 acquisition bill is likely due to Audible. Amazon acquired the audiobook company last year for a reported $300 million. Amazon also acquired Abe Books, an online seller of used, rare and out-of-print books; Shelfari, a social networking site for book lovers; and Fabric.com, an online fabric store. Amazon’s Internet Movie Databse (IMDb) acquired Withoutabox, an indie film distributor.

The 2008 number is striking given Amazon’s relatively restrained acquisition spending in recent years. In 2004, Amazon spent $75 million on Chinese web retailer Joyo.com.

I’ll keep watching Amazon as it is so interesting to see where it’s heading towards.

Tags: amazon