Yelp Investor Doubles Stake in Facebook…
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As if we hadn’t seen enough of Bono in every ad for the World Cup over the past few weeks, he and his venture capital firm are in the news again this week. We told you a few months ago about how Elevation Partners invested $100M in online review site Yelp. Well, they’ve also been quietly amassing around $90M in Facebook stock through secondary markets. Then, this past week, they more than doubled their stake with an additional investment reportedly in the $120M range. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s over $200M that Elevation has invested in Facebook – twice what they’ve invested in Yelp.
Where investors are putting their hard-earned money is indicative of a major online trend that we’ve seen emerging over the past couple years. The Internet is becoming less about a medium to present advertising, and more about having a genuine conversation about what real people like.
A recent report from Nielsen (the TV & Internet ratings people) found that around 40% of patients trust online advertising, while 70% of patients trust reviews – even if they’re from complete strangers. This explains the emerging popularity of reviews sites like Yelp. But, as many of you know all too well, these sites can also lack the transparency patients are looking for.
So, what’s the next step in providing trustworthy reviews? Simple – get them from the people you trust! Nielsen also found that 90% of patients trusted recommendations from people they already know. We know we’re beginning to sound like a broken record, but Facebook is where these patients now live online. With this in mind, it’s safe to say that this is also where the next generation of patients will find healthcare – not simply from the Internet, but from their trusted friends…who happen to be on the Internet. After all, when it comes to something as important as your health, why would you trust anything other than a word-of-mouth referral from a trusted friend?
Want to learn even more about Facebook, how it works, and how to make it work for your practice? Join us for an educational webinar and Q&A session to learn about Facebook in more detail.
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