GOGII Nabs $ 15 million to win social messages

GOGII textPlus, manufacturer of social app messages, is launching a $ 15 million Series c round led by GRP partners this morning. GRP will join existing investors matrix partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

textPlus is an arena super crowded, with costumização, quick apps GroupMe society, FreeText and Facebook now even getting into group messaging space. textPlus has the advantage of being implemented, at least in SMS free space, having launched in June 2009.

Founder and former Executive of Activision Scott Lahman tells us that what differentiates the free app is its focus on social profiles, as well as his painting a huge blow in every industry competitive. Says Lahman, "we have been it for awhile and we do is take on a wider screen. So we can compete with the guys of Group text messages, we can compete with the guys of free text messages. "

With textPlus you can join the topic-driven chat community groups (discuss anything from Lady Gaga Soccer) and group conversations and good old SMS from person to person. The application also has photo sharing, profile customization features and research.

Now textPlus sends approximately 32 million messages per day, total more than 7 billion messages since launch. And the app definitely has the scale: with over 14 million downloads of iPhone and Android platforms and 7.7 million monthly active users. And Lahman is just observing and right here, "there are so many places, Group text messages could go and we started badly.

You can find that textPlus app on the iPhone, iPad and Android and the service also works on any device that carries SMS messages.

Payvment brings a Virtual Facebook Social Shopping

Payvment, a startup that allows anyone to create and operate a retail store on Facebook, is launching the first virtual shopping center in the social network. Composed of all retail stores using the Payvment app for Facebook, the mall offers products from more than one million 50000 retailers in a centralized location.

Payvment's Facebook App, which launched in November 2009, allows anyone to create a retail store in the social network. The app allows you to define products, product categories (i.e. shoes, t-shirts, sweatshirts), import photos, lists of terms of service and delivery options and much more. After you configure your online store on Facebook, it will appear in a separate tab on your profile or page

eMarketer about Us Social Networking on Facebook: 57%, 11% on Twitter

Research firm eMarketer estimates that more than half of adult internet users in the United States were logged on to Facebook at least once a month at the end of last year. In 2011, the company anticipates that the U.S. 132.5 million web users will use the site monthly. Twitter, he adds, will enjoy the fastest growth rates in the near future but continue to attract ' few Americans online.

An increase of 13.4% in the number of users would mean that Facebook will reach almost 9 out of 10 users of social networking and 57.1% of Internet users this year.

Until 2013, eMarketer estimates that 62% of Web users and nearly half (47.6 per cent) of the total u.s. population is on Facebook.

On the other hand, Twitter was used by 16.4 million adults in the U.S., or 9% of the adult population of the internet, at the end of 2010. eMarketer expects a growth to overcome 26 percent in 2011, as Twitter reaches 11% of Internet users and 16.5% of adult social network users in the United States. Until 2013, eMarketers predicts that about 28 million Americans will be tweeting.

Estimates are based on analysis of visitor statistics and search data from more than a dozen sources and include users of U.S. using any Internet-enabled device to access your accounts from Facebook and/or Twitter at least once per month, including access through third-party applications.

See also: Global Ad spending on Facebook will reach $ 4B by year end

After Twitter, LinkedIn now also blocked in China

It seems that LinkedIn was blocked in China, after the professional social network has become a platform for organizing antigovernment protests. The report was observed for the first time by Renmedia.

According to the WSJ, protesters are moving from multiple social networking sites like Twitter and LinkedIn, to organize protests as the Chinese Government blocks these sites. Check out access to LinkedIn WebsitePulse and JustPing and both sites indicate that LinkedIn is being blocked from cities in China. It also appears that Twitter is blocked as well.

Interestingly, former employee of LinkedIn Surya Yalamanchili notes that one reason why China could block LinkedIn is because many of their status updates were published from Twitter.

We already contacted LinkedIn for comment.

UPDATE: here is the response we received from LinkedIn: we are aware of reports of disruption to our service for our members in China. We are studying the situation now.

Storific generates $ 200 K Kima Ventures to allow customers to order in restaurants through the iPhone

Storific, French startup that allows customers to place orders in restaurants, bars and hotels through an iPhone, raised $ 200 thousand in a round of seed funded by Kima.

The company offers a paid subscription service through a browser-based interface, where companies can provide full menus, list its frames and receive notifications from customers order by an iPhone. While the iPhone app geared toward the consumer is, naturally, free.

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(Founder stories) David Karp of Tumblr: my heroes are Steve Jobs and Willy Wonka

Subscribe to Tumblr's David Karp: (Founder Stories): my heroes are Steve Jobs and Willy WonkaTweetView CommentsErick Schonfeld 6 hours ago

Some Internet wunderkinds don't bother to finish college. Tumblr founder David Karp dropped out of school and now performs one of publishing platforms faster growth on the Web. In our final segment of founding stories of the week (also see parts I, II and III), Karp answers some questions Chris Dixon quick in the video above. He talks about his best business decision ever (disconnect from Tumblr profitable, niche, Web development company), because he has trouble sleeping, and how hiring younger, brightest engineers will make "Recruitment biggest advantage of Tumblr."

On this last point, says Karp when Tumblr begins to "Google-scale" and Google still only is recruitment of doctors, "I want to grab the 16 years of age will be brilliant and help them get there." What about engineers with at least a college degree? Karp anti-education that not as much as he is not seeing colleges churn out talent he needs. "The biggest problem is college isn't doing very good engineers and that is what this industry needs," he says.

We learned that the greatest heroes of Karp are "Steve Jobs and Willy Wonka. Jobs makes perfect sense. Karp grew up being "obsessed with lectures of Steve Jobs" and the art of "proving". But Willy Wonka? "It's kind of like Steve

Database/s 77 room Hotel wants to make sure you reserve a room with a view

To search hotels for a vacation or business trip, a visit to TripAdvisor for reviews of a resort are a must. Photos of rooms in hotel sites often misrepresent the exact size or betting in luxury hotels and a room can be a bit of a game. But TripAdvisor reviews covers all aspects of a hotel, including food, motives, views, and more. Today, 77 rooms is releasing a comprehensive search engine and review site focused exclusively on hotel rooms.

The database engine and searching for hotel room data collected and indexed in hotel 425000 rooms spread over 2500 properties and is also crowdsourcing reviews and ratings of travellers. For now, 77 room focuses on three star Hotels and up and displays information about hotels in North America and the United Kingdom (but plans to expand to other markets in the future).

Room currently accessible through a website and iPhone app, 77 room provides travelers with specific details about each hotel room on a property, including the room category, square footage, type of bedding, proximity to elevator and whether it is a connection. For each room, 77 also generates a virtual room, simulating the real-mode using the technology of Google Earth-enabled in the window of the room.

The best rooms for every traveler automatically are classified using the algorithm owner of fourth room 77 that adjusts each individual's preferences for high or low floor, away from the Elevator, see the importance and necessity of connecting rooms. Each room is marked, then with a matching percentage color-coded indicating: