The Social Media Implosion Continues

Is Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) really a social media company?  We might consider it a Web 2.0 (or 3.0) company instead, but the market is what the market is… Groupon has become a stick in the mud for just about all social media players today.  The only amazing that we have seen so far today is that the Global X Social Media Index ETF (NASDAQ: SOCL) is not down worse than its current drop of 1.6% at $12.58.  Groupon makes up just over 2% of the weighting of that ETF.

What about other Web 2.0 outfits?  With Groupon shares down 26% at $5.55, it doesn’t matter about the nuances. The weak ink is taking down all peers.  LinkedIn Corporation (NYSE: LNKD) is down only 1.2% at $103.35 and Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is down 3.5% at $20.83.  What is interesting here is that the very troubled ‘other social media dud’ of Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is actually up 1.7% on the day at $2.98.

Another social play via Yelp, Inc. (NYSE: YELP) is getting clipped with a 5.5% drop to $22.55.  The lock-up expiration on Angie’s List, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI) is taking some 16% out of the stock and shares are down at $11.11 on the day.

Sometimes defining social media feels too broad.  Still, Web 2.0 (or 3.0) companies are generally lumped together.  Imagine if in a year the big comment is “Man, can you believe what those silly waste of time social media stocks were valued at in 2011 and the first part of 2011?  What were we thinking?”…

JON C. OGG