The Twitter ecosystem may be changing constantly, but most of that comes on the back of individual developers and outside companies. They beat on Twitter APIs to create new products that may win them glory, recognition or cash. Over the past month, though, Twitter itself has gotten into the game, releasing or announcing a handful of new features.

A new function for "retweeting" (echoing another's tweet to your own followers), changes to how trending topics are managed, and the ability to create lists are new tools intended to engage users ... on the Twitter.com website. Considered within the context of Twitter's changed terms of service this year, the upgrades may be part of a broader ad-based revenue plan.

A new executive team is trying to bring MySpace back to its former glory. By focusing on music, videos and games, it hopes to recapture some of its luster. With the MySpace refugees mounting, it's time for some new blood to make some brilliant, future-changing decisions. This week, the company is holding a conference for its global ad sales team to explore ways to bring in traffic and beef up ad spending.

MySpace is poised to haul in $495 million in ad revenue this year, down 15% from last year's $585 million, according to research firm eMarketer. In August, MySpace attracted 64.2 million unique visitors from the United States, off 15% from August 2008, according to comScore, while Facebook pulled in 92.2 million unique U.S. visitors – up more than 100% year-over-year.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is dominating online video just like it does internet searches. In August, Google's various video properties went past the 10 billion video view March. In all, the Mountain View, Calif., company took in 40% of all online video viewership, according to comScore.

Of course, the answer to Google's fortunes in online video viewership was YouTube. Google Video didn't account for much at all, as YouTube accounted for 99% of all video viewed on Google's video properties. The only problem: Google continues to not monetize YouTube very well, which has been a point of contention since the 2006 acquisition for $1.65 billion. The good news: YouTube has grown like gangbusters at the same time, and the YouTube acquisition has kept Google at the top of the video viewing field ever since.

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) continued to lead the pack in web search throughout April, as web searches in the U.S. increased by 3% from the same month in 2008. Of all U.S. web searches in April, 64% happened on Google websites, while Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) raked up just over 20% and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) just over 8%.

The question will be raised yet again -- can Yahoo! or Microsoft compete with Google in web search? Yahoo!'s 20.4 share is nothing to sneeze at, but when the top spot has over three times that share, there are strategies to consider. As in, is it worth competing?

We all know that the current economic slowdown was bound to hurt holiday spending, and today we get news of just how much an impact it had on online shopping, as comScore announced that shoppers spent 3% less this year compared with 2007.

The report was based on spending between November 1 and December 23, and showed that consumers spent $25.5 billion online, compared with $26.3 billion in the same period last year, another clear signal that people are cutting their spending because they are worried about the economy.

A bright spot in the report did show that Cyber Monday, the Monday immediately following Black Friday, was the second biggest day ever for online spending, with an increase of 15% in sales from last year, to $846 million in sales.

Minyanville's Sean Udall dares to share the kind of keen insight and actionable information you won't find in any prospectus. Here he discusses some players in the tech sector. For more original thought, visit www.minyanville.com.

SuccessFactors (NASDAQ: SFSF): The stock prices secondary at $11.80 and is holding pretty tough. I'm watching this one pretty closely and was hoping for some post-secondary weakness to possibly add a starter here. A pretty good balance sheet just got better, but I guess the question is, "What is it going to do with that cash?"

Digital TV Holding (NYSE: STV): This company may have made a bottom recently and the deal announced today is exactly what the company talked about in its last quarterly call. I've commented on the possibility of it securing more revenue streams (partnering for recurring advertising revenue) in the past. It looks to be developing the conduits to deliver on that.

comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR): Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) news is hurting the stock badly. I sold my mine some time back after that series of paid click reports ahead of Google's last quarter that proved to be quite inaccurate. All that aside, I don't think comScore's core business is going to disappear within a compressed time frame and may be worth a long side trade if it moves near or under $20. I'll leave it be and see what develops, as the knife could cut further.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal's "The Game" column speculates that one of the results of the Bear Stearns crash could be the push of investment banks and commercial ones closer together, which could result in better handling of volatility with more stability. Some observers think Merrill Lynch & Co (NYSE: MER), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) or The Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) could go that route by buying a commercial bank. Any move would force them to adhere to better reserve ratios, affect short term bank funding, and shrink balance sheets.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) will soon make available a new service that measure hits on the Internet with the intent of helping advertisers decide where to buy ads online and would directly compete with comScore Inc (NASDAQ: SCOR) and Nielsen Online. Ad executives said Google's method could make targeting markets more efficient.
• A Manhattan judge dismissed four claims made by American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG) in its fight to regain control of a block of its shares held by Starr International, a company that once founded a lucrative compensation plan for AIG executives. AIG believes the shares held by Starr should continue to be used to fund employee compensation, the Financial Times reported.

WEB SITES:

• According to Scorpio Partnership, Bloomberg reported that UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) and Merrill Lynch had slower growth in assets under management last year due to losses connected to the U.S. subprime crisis.

At a meeting yesterday, everyone had a smartphone. It's just standard nowadays.

But whose keeping track of the metrics on these devices? Well, one of the top players is M:Metrics. This week the company agreed to sell out to comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) for $44.3 million and 50,000 stock options.

It's a savvy deal. According to the investor conference call, comScore's CEO, Dr. Magid Abraham, said that M:Metrics is a "significant" player in the space and has a three-year lead. Yes, in the topsy-turvy tech world, that's a big deal.

M:Metrics has a variety of products, with more than 180 customers. For example, MobiLens allows for a monthly online surveys of mobile phone usage from more than 40,000 users. Next, MeterDirect is an on-device meter, which is used by 4,000 users of smartphones and is compatible with 280 device models. Finally, there is M:Ad. As the name implies, this tracks mobile ads.

No doubt, mobile is going to be a big growth driver for comScore. Apparently, the revenue contribution could be 10% or more by 2009 as mentioned on the conference call.

Plus, comScore should derive some cost savings (from its well-developed infrastructure) as well as cross-sale opportunities (from its extensive product offerings). Actually, there is little customer overlap between the companies.

Wall Street seems to like the deal. In Thursday's trading, comScore's shares were up 5% to $24.68.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: ComScore, Duke Realty, Nordstrom and Sun Healthcare were among today's noteworthy upgrades:

• ComScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) was upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer to reflect the strong Q1 report and strong customer additions.
  
• Duke Realty (NYSE: DRE) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia upgraded based on valuation.
  
• Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  
• Sun Healthcare (NASDAQ: SUNH) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings based on valuation and notes the Medicare rate cuts will be as drastic as feared.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• MedAssets (NASDAQ: MDAS) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Piper, which thinks the company's acquisition of Accuro will strengthen its revenue cycle management offering, and the firm believes the tight credit markets make the company's MedAssets a compelling product in the short-term. In addition, Piper notes that the company has recently had success with large hospital systems.
  
• Jones Apparel (NYSE: JNY) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill citing sales expectations for the l.e.i. brand at Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and margin improvements from leaner inventories.
  
• Affiliated Computer (NYSE: ACS) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies based on valuation and expectations for better bookings.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Apple, AstraZeneca and KLA-Tencor were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Thomas Weisel upgraded Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) to Overweight from Market Weight, citing a re-set in FY08 expectations and expected growth from Mac market share gains, accelerating iPhone revenue growth and increased iPhone ASPs.
  
• WestLB upgraded shares of AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) to Add from Hold as they believe the company's growth in core franchises are being overlooked.
  
• Citigroup upgraded KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) to Buy from Hold , as they believe several near-term catalysts are likely to develop against an increasingly favorable cyclical backdrop. They think KLAC's near-term business is better than most think and maintain a $56 target on the stock.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Goldman upgraded Anglo American (NASDAQ: AAUK) to Buy from Neutral and added shares to the Conviction Buy List.
  
• UBS (NYSE: UBS) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill and added to the Europe 1 List.
  
• Jefferies raised comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) to Buy from Hold.

Google's (GOOG) shares continue to be stuck below $500 where they have been since late February. Part of the reason for the fall is that comScore data showed that the number of people who clicked on ads at the big search engine was weak in January.

It looks like the stock will drop again as "click rates" for Google ads rose only 3% in February when compared with the figures for the same month last year. According to MarketWatch: "Google reported 25% growth in paid clicks in its fiscal fourth quarter ended in December. But comScore data released last month showed flat growth in Google's paid clicks in January." Now, investors can ponder another piece of bad news.

The easy answer to the Google data is that a recession is slowing down advertising activity everywhere. Google carries millions of ads in its AdSense program, so it would make sense that it should suffer some fallout.

But, the answer may be more troubling than that. Readers of Google's search pages may be discovering that the text ads next to the listings are from marketers trying to take advantage of people looking for information by clogging pages with related messages. As more people understand the system of targeting based on search results, fewer are willing to be sucked in by companies trying to reach them due to their behavior.

If the Google system of matching ads to search results is putting its customers off, that would be worse news than the effects of a recession.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) stock is declining after AOL did not perform well in a report detailing market share in the global web search market. According to comScore data, AOL, a division of TWX, pulled in a 4.9% market share in February, far behind Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). However, data across the industry has led many analysts to believe that the market for web search is maturing, and that there is little growth to be found in the industry. This could be a bad sign for TWX, whose once-dominant AOL division is far behind industry leader GOOG with little hope at catching up. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on TWX.

After hitting a one-year high of $21.97 in June, the stock hit a one-year low of $13.65 on Monday. This morning, TWX opened at $13.98. So far today the stock has hit a low of $13.94 and a high of $14.35. As of 11:30, TWX is trading at $14.33, down 8 cents (-0.5%). The chart for TWX looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a July bear-call credit spread above the $17 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. This particular trade will make an 11.1% return in four months as long as TWX is below $17 at July expiration. Time Warner would have to rise by more than 18% before we would start to lose money.

TWX hasn't been above $17 by more than a few cents since December and has shown resistance around $16.50 recently. This trade could be risky if the US economy turns around quickly, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance TWX might find at its 50 day moving average, which is currently around $16.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in TWX, but he does write for a financial blog on AOL.

Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube continues to gain visitors. It competitors have to be dismayed. Why bother posting video content at all when YouTube owns the market.

According to comScore, YouTube had a 34.3% share of all videos watched in the U.S. during January, an improvement of 1.7 share points over the previous month.

The competition barely registered. AOL, Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), and Disney (NYSE: DIS) had embarrassing share figures, none posting a figure better than 3.2%.

Visitors to Google video sites spent an average of almost 110 minutes per viewer. No other large internet site was above 33 minutes.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

It's always interesting to see what online audience and traffic measurements have to say about overal web use; traffic, number of users, website loyalty, etc. Now that Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) AOL is acquiring the UK-based social networking site Bebo.com for some $850 million, the site measurement companies are showing their own data. Notice that every one generates a different result.

When you look below, you'll see that all web measurement tools and methods generate different results.

In November internet search engine rankings by comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) again lead the pack, with 5.9 billion core searches conducted -- a 58.6% market share of all searches in the internet. This was almost the exact same level as October.

Coming up a distant second (as usual) was Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) with market share of 22.4%. The next three were Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) at 9.8%, IAC/InterActiveCorp.'s (NASADAQ: IACI) Ask.com at 4.6% and Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL at 4.5%. In November (a seasonally weak month for web searches), U.S. web searchers conducted 10 billion searches -- a 5% decline from October.

Do these rankings surprise any web surfer? They shouldn't -- Google continues to dominate internet searches and Yahoo!'s Project Panama -- although technically a job well done -- is probably too late to the party to put any significant pressure on Google. Microsoft's Live Search push has garnered it about the same market share as in the past (a decent third place). The power of first-mover advantage is quite evident in Google's placement, and I'd suspect it's not going anywhere soon.