Facebook made a recent overture to purchase Twitter for a reported $500 million, according to Kara Swisher in her BoomTown blog. The offer was a stock transaction and beyond the usual question of price was the concern about whether the shares being offered were actually worth that much. (continue reading)

In this week's Roundtable, Albert Maruggi, Chip Griffin, and Jen Zingsheim discuss the varying approaches different companies (and employees) take to responding to social media. "Bob," Motrin, and Toyota's "Saved by Zero" ad campaign are covered. (continue reading)

The New York Times is out this afternoon with its October 2008 advertising figures and the numbers are anything but pretty. Advertising in their news media group plunged 17.2% over the same month last year. Internet revenues rose 5.3% but were tempered by "continued weakness in online recruitment advertising." (continue reading)

The next time you're in line somewhere, look around you--how many are fiddling with BlackBerrys, texting over cell phones, and so on? Mobile devices are everywhere, and they represent the best way to contact the ultra-connected. Wayne Kurtzman explores this changing landscape of customer contact. (continue reading)

In these challenging economic times, new and old media publishers alike seek innovative ways to generate revenue from their content and expertise. Many of the approaches new media can take mirror those that have been used by traditional media outlets in the past, though often with a modern technology twist. (continue reading)

Saul Hansell offers an intriguing suggestion in a blog post at NYTimes.com today: namely, that Yahoo needs an editor-in-chief to right its ship. (continue reading)

Kyle Flaherty digs deeper and lets us know the questions we should be asking--and the steps we should be taking--to prove and improve the way in which social media affects business in a down economy. (continue reading)

News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch believes that journalists themselves are to blame for the media's current woes. He cited new technology and bloggers as pieces to the puzzle that will lead the industry back to a successful path, as long as they re-establish a bond of trust with their readers. (continue reading)

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang told employees, "The past year has obviously not been an easy one for us. But we've taken important steps to address the challenges we face, and we're starting to realize some of the benefits." That was June 2007 when he stepped in to replace then-CEO Terry Semel amid shareholder discontent, faltering fortunes, and a stock that struggled to reach the $30 mark. (continue reading)

While Yahoo struggles as a company, with rumors of everything from layoffs to acquisition swirling, some suggest that Yahoo.com remains strong and vital as a media property. In a column in Advertising Age, Abbey Klaasen and Michael Learmonth examine the current state of advertising and Yahoo. (continue reading)

Owen Thomas, editor of the Silicon Valley gossip blog Valleywag, has penned a reasoned argument as to how Google is winning political influence in the wake of this month's presidential election. In the column he wrote, he takes a sharp-tongued look at how CEO Eric Schmidt appears to be trying to win and use influence in the new Washington. (continue reading)

What happens if you believe in the power of social media but the rest of your company does not? Do you take matters into your own hands and start interacting with customers online? Or do you respect the wishes of your bosses and keep your head down by doing the job you were hired to do? (continue reading)

Okay, so you've set up the social networks, now how do you attract and retain users? If the "build it and they will come" method isn't working for you, Nathan Burke has some great tips on how to build a user base through promotions. (continue reading)

Valeria Maltoni and Doug Haslam joined the show this week to discuss the Technorati State of the Blogosphere report, Twitter censorship in the classroom, and the PR ramifications of the country's current political and economic crises. (continue reading)

Undercurrent's Julia Roy joins us this week to discuss Yammer, the new collaborative microblogging service; the mega-collider and Internet rumors vs. authority; and the Jerry Seinfeld Microsoft marketing push. (continue reading)

Winning $50,000 at TechCrunch 50 last night, Yammer did what Twitter hasn't been able to: create a simple solution for enterprise with a pre-defined business model. Adele McAlear examines this latest social network, which aims to do away with needless emails and "overflowing inboxes." (continue reading)

Research firm Gartner has identified "Generation Virtual," a marketing segmentation with no age, gender, social demographic or specific geography. How will marketers respond to this segmentation--or will they simply ignore it in favor of the standard, readily identifiable groups? (continue reading)

Corporations have started to realize the value of social media, and are responding to customers quickly and with a very high level of service. Is this level of service scalable, or is scalability the Achilles' heel of social media? (continue reading)

In a webcast press conference this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced the replacement for its current system of data storage and report filing. The new system, called IDEA, brings the SEC into the future of online, interactive data management. And that's not all they have planned for online interaction--Jen Zingsheim and Sarah Wurrey report on the webcast, and the possible future of transparency in government and business. (continue reading)

Hasbro, the company responsible for Scrabble, clearly the inspiration for Scrabulous, decided to launch its own Facebook game, and filed suit against the makers of Scrabulous. The result? No more of Facebook's top game. I'm with Hasbro. (continue reading)

The illustrious Christopher Penn joins us on the Media Bullseye Roundtable this week to discuss small businesses using social networks to band together online, the decline of print journalism (is there anything left to save?) and the tricky economics of Twitter, which received plenty of mainstream media attention this week at the same time it suffered another major malfunction. (continue reading)

Last night, Twitter was featured on ABC World News with Charles Gibson. The piece talked about Comcast performing acts of customer service magic by watching the Web for signs of disgruntled customers and then acting as digital detectives to help solve those problems. Are new Twitter users being set up for disappointment? (continue reading)

It will be interesting to see the results after Twitter hits the ABC Evening News this week, in a story detailing how frustrated consumers are turning to Twitter to find customer service. Will we see an influx of consumers flocking to Twitter with service complaints? (continue reading)

Social Media Group (SMG), a Toronto social media consulting firm, has acquired Livingston Communications, a Washington DC PR and social media firm. (continue reading)

We were delighted to welcome Debbie Weil, author of the Corporate Blogging Book, to the Roundtable this week. She joins us to discuss corporate blogging issues, creative marketing, and the latest addition to the BlogHer community. (continue reading)