The Law And Business Of Social Media - Status Updates, October 15th, 2014

Big and bigger. Facebook and Twitter are the leading social media networks and, according to a recent Forbes article, they have some interesting similarities and key differences. Facebook is clearly the larger and more successful platform, with over 1.3 billion monthly active users and $2.9 billion in quarterly revenue, compared to Twitter's 271 million monthly active users and $312 million in quarterly revenue. Both rely heavily on mobile users, with 86 percent of Twitter's traffic coming via mobile devices while 68 percent of Facebook's traffic is through such devices. And, every minute, there are roughly 350,000 tweets and 382,000 Facebook "likes." Not bad for a 10-year old (Facebook) and an 8-year old (Twitter). New media, meet old media. Can success on the ultra-popular social network YouTube translate into success in, of all things, printed books? The book publishing industry is betting that it can, and has searched the world of pop-culture personas on YouTube for people who might be able to convert their millions of online followers into book readers. Take Michelle Phan, whose YouTube channel with makeup and beauty advice has attracted more than seven million subscribers. Her new book, "Make Up," is set for publication this month, and...