Today in Social

Advertising and e-commerce are two of the stalwarts of consumer Internet revenue. Are they on the verge of being fundamentally changed? Even without bringing mobile into the conversation? There’s a lot of discussion about new stream-based content and communications startups that have launched conspicuously without advertising. Mathew Ingram does a good summing up, including describing how companies may be putting their faith in ads as viral content. Actually, modest intrusion – occasional interruptions via interstitials and takeovers – might actually work well, and cut down on the limitless ad inventory that’s driving CPMs to zero. Especially if they’re well-targeted. Meanwhile Chris Dixon hosts some thoughtful discussion on why we haven’t seen much market share shift in e-commerce. Is it all about scale? While we’re at it, how do you think Twitter will make money? Take our survey.