CNBC writers must have been having a slow day last week when they kicked out a rumor just to see how many rabid-dog writers would grab it up. Apparently not many.
Living Social, the popular group-sales website that competes with Groupon, is seriously considering a public offering some time soon, and talking with bankers about the possibilities.
Living Social has yet to officially select underwriters, according to these same people, let alone file its S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
While LivingSocial may indeed have future plans for an IPO, this little bit of news was obviously kicked out there in an attempt to create some buzz. You’ll note how smoothly they tucked Groupon in there, a major keyword, sure to get Google’s attention. The term “sometime soon” could mean any expanse of time, depending on your perspective so no matter when the LivingSocial IPO story does hit the news, the writers can say “We told you so”. And if it never does happen, well it’s easy enough to blame it on those “same people” that obviously didn’t know what they were talking about.
My point being that just because a writer uses terms like LivingSocial, Groupon, Groupon IPO, daily deals or group buying, it does not necessarily make for news worth repeating. It’s often just an attempt by those experienced in content and SEO (search engine optimization) writing to generate traffic. And I’m heartily sorry that that I had to take advantage of Groupon, LivingSocial and a possible pending IPO, to point this out.
Source: CNBC
