New world orders take shape online
Second Life is not the life for everyone. There are plenty of internet universes to inhabit and companies are beginning to market their products in other virtual worlds.
There.com, with nearly 1m members, average age 22, announced a partnership with Capitol Music Group today to bring its artists into specially created nightclubs in the virtual world. Read more
Portals lose ground to the social networks
If you were still in any doubt as to why Yahoo! and MSN are in the tank, this chart should make all crystal clear (it’s from Sandeep Aggarwal at Oppenheimer, who has just started coverage of the internet advertising sector, based on comScore data.)
The reach of the big portals, in terms of unique visitors, has not diminished, but the shift in pageviews to the social networks has been striking. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
