See what went down at the Theme Zoom offices today...

Part ONE (below)

Part TWO (below)

Part THREE- Erika's Reply to Russell (below)

Feeling like a politely worded episode out of the 1960's cult classic "Yippee, Yappee and Yahooey", where three gallant heroes battle a fire breathing dragon among other villains, Yahoo has responded to Microsoft's "unsolicited" bid to acquire Yahoo (as in takeover) with a battle of words. Microsoft Chief executive Steve Ballmer and Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang are dueling in language as the heated letters between the two giants were released earlier today.

The battle for the dragon began last year as Microsoft prepped it's employees to get ready for an acquisition of Yahoo, and was followed up by a US $44 billion "offer" two months ago to buy the company.

Microsoft's "offer" to purchase letter was accompanied with the suggestion that Yahoo! is losing value, market, and page views along with the threat to get hostile with a proxy fight unless Yahoo agrees to the deal within three weeks.

Yahoo! fired back today, highlighting it's value and future growth prospects, along with it's investments as strategic benefits to Microsoft, and placed a stake in the ground with the news that stockholders have deemed the bid seriously undervalues Yahoo!. Yang was careful to note that future transactions are not out of the picture, as long as the price goes up to satisfy stockholders.

March Hitwise results show that Google has 67.25% of the search market, (and growing monthly) with Yahoo at 20.29% (and declining) and MSN also slipping at 6.65%. If MSN can combine with Yahoo they can at least gain leverage as a #2 with more power in the search market share, where as right now Google's complete domination seems set in stone. The question is whether stockholders will be more open to Microsoft's offer if Google continues to grow, putting further pinch on Yahoo! to make a change, any change.

Ballmer will likely grant a counter offer to Yahoo! quickly, since they set a proxy deadline that demands some kind of answer or response from both sides. Corporate relations are rarely sweetened by thumping the prospective acquisition over the head with a club and dragging her back to the cave, the new acquisition might dutifully take care of business but with less heart, and Yahoo! is a company known to be strong of heart. Critical Yahoo! employees may flee if negotiations turn into a proxy fight.

Ok, now for the good stuff. Here is a compilation of all the latest, including letters between Yang and Ballmer. We'll be posting new updates as they break.

I'm just shooting a quick post here to share how Quicken the budget software which has just launched their handy online platform, gets a nod for Social Media skills and politeness. Taking a cue almost straight from Charles Heflin's Social Marketing Blueprint Formula,
Quicken hosts a Facebook profile for their new app along with a contest on Facebook for anyone who joins the fan club. I'm a sucker for contests, so I joined and posted a wall comment. 24 hours later, a Quicken rep contacts me to thank me for the wall comment. Not a generic email, but a genuine person (the guy version of me, actually) who runs the Facebook page for the company. Why is this worth blogging about? Because it's a perfect example of how even large corporations are using web 2.0 skills for very effective marketing and relations. Here is the link to Quicken's Facebook page, where you can see my wall comment. Facebook Profile for Quicken Online

So, I am all alone in the TZ offices and reduced to using my fingers to scrape the latte foam off the sides of my Starbucks cup. It's great, I'm sitting at Russell's control center, typing on his keyboard with my sticky latte fingers. AND I only spilled a "few" drops of coffee down into the keys, so only the T and the Z keys are sticking a little bit.... Oh, that might be from the cookie crumbs. Oops!

Oh well. He hardly ever uses the T and the Z keys anyway, so he can hit them three or four times hard whenever he needs to unstick them.....right?

.

April Fools. Ha.

One of the things I have been pondering this week, is the ability of web 2.0 social networks to empower and create abundance that uplifts the entire community as a whole, and increases understanding between communities globally, by creating deeper individual connections between members. These individual connections stregthen the group as a whole, and radiate outward to other communities members touch. 

Taking this concept into this reality, a non-profit organization called Kiva is leveraging social Networking, mobile storytelling with cameraphones, and the full abundence mindset of web 2.0 potential to create microlending to microbusinesses as Social Entrepreneurs.

Kiva is using a social network to connect small (microsmall) business owners in rural and underdeveloped areas of the World with microlenders who are willing to lend $25 or more at a time to assist in creating or expanding their business. Kiva helps people in need of assistance through local non-profits establish a profile on their network describing their business with photos, update messages, video etc... as available, so that microlenders on the network can view their profile and offer loans from $25.

If it sound micro, think again. Kiva has loaned $26 million in unsecured loans, with 99.9% full repayment.

The bigger view is that Kiva has tuned into web 2.0 as a platform for abundance within it's community, and communities worldwide through the power of it's network. and your network, the one you are co-creating here, is also a platform for abundance.

The individuals who are gathering here are some of the brightest minds and the strongest hearts, with the will to accomplish the endeavor of choice. So my offering to all of you in this wee hour of 3am, is to keep the awareness within you that Russell and Charles have built a beautiful ship for this journey, with the best and brightest on board and boarding. So unpack, decorate your cabins, and begin to chart the voyage together.