It's official- we are in a boom!

VC Investment Hits Highest Level Since 2001

Data due to be released by Ernst & Young and Dow Jones VentureOne today shows that investment in information services companies, including Web 2.0 startups, hit $979 million in the second quarter of 2007.

The figure is 52% up on the same period last year and the highest figure recorded since the 2001. In laymen’s terms, we are now officially in a boom; not that we’d probably need figures to prove this.

For those who may prophesize that the figures foretell an impeding crash, data released earlier in July showed that IPO’s for the entire Information Technology sector (which includes hardware, semiconductors and communications companies as well) totaled 10 for the quarter, and 17 year to date vs a peak of 41 IPO’s in the first quarter of 2000 and 106 in that year. $11 billion+ was raised by IT related IPO’s in 2000 vs $2.4 billion year to date. The hype of the dot.com bubble is not being repeated on equity markets.

Lot's of firsts lately- the first VP message board

Thanks to Jo for getting the VP message board up on Yahoo. (and Bob for helping)

I wanted to post the link in case you want to participate in the larger discussions about reviewing, products, etc. Anyone is welcome!

Click here to join:

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/viewpointscommunitychat/?yguid=317526228

See you there!
Jolie

Viewpoints first "review"; Now that's ironic.

Here is a review of Viewpoints that was posted online this morning. I think the article is fair given our early stage. But, more importantly, I think the comments (albeit 3 of them) are even more spot on.

Take a look. What do you think?

Patty and Libby are our stars for the day!

You are helping people every time you write a review!

Five More Important Facts About User Reviews in E-tail. by
Greg Howlett
Here are some facts about the use of user reviews that come from a presentation I heard recently from Patti Evans of JupiterResearch.

1) Customers are about twice as likely to write user reviews about good shopping experiences than bad ones. Likewise they are twice as likely to write user reviews about products they like than products they do not like. This is good news for retailers and should help alleviate fears about user reviewers hurting sales.

2) Customers that write user reviews likely spend much more money online. The 20% of online shoppers that write the most reviews account for 32% of total online spending.

3) Almost 50% of online shoppers find user reviews helpful. That 50% spends more online than the other 50%.

4) The top reasons that shoppers use user reviews are to gauge reliability, to judge quality, to make buying decisions, and to narrow options.

5) Shoppers value user reviews almost as much as company-provided information.
User reviews are simply a small part of the shift of the internet toward user generated content. If you understand this trend, you know that E-tail will also evolve in that direction. If at all possible, the implementation of user reviews should be part of your strategy.

p.s. If you are reading this far down, here's a tip for you-- YOU CAN NOW FORWARD YOUR REVIEWS TO FRIENDS!!!!

Wild Goose Chase continues

Wow-- our team at Viewpoints is really cranking... even during holiday weeks! :)

Next week will be a big launch for us. We are changing up the WRITE A REVIEW form and making some major changes to the I AM tags.

I look forward to releasing it to all of you next week and getting your feedback.

There is also one other change we are making to the site. Be on the lookout next week! More details to come.........

Happy 4th weekend!