据英国《每日邮报》7月17日报道，风投研究机构 “CB 观察”(CB Insights)发布的投资报告显示，社交媒体繁荣可能正走向尽头。社交媒体2012年第四季度从基于互联网的企业获得的投资仅为2%，而2011年第三季度这一数字高达21%。

　　Is the social media boom already at an end? Industry investment plummets by 19%

　　Venture capital funding to social networks peaked in 2011 at 21%

　　Since then investment from internet-based firms has dropped steadily

　　Social now gets 2% of funding and analysts claim the bubble is bursting

　　Official funding reports suggest the social network boom could be coming to an end.

　　Figures from venture capital specialists CB Insights found that last quarter the amount of funding social media received from internet-based businesses fell to just two per cent.

　　Funding peaked during the third quarter of 2011 at 21 per cent but has been steadily dropping ever since.

　　According to Bloomberg Business Week, from 2010 until the second quarter of 2012, social media companies including Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and others consistently received at least six per cent of funding from internet-based enterprises.

　　During the third quarter of 2011, this figure peaked at 21 per cent when the social sector received around $3.8 billion in internet deals from venture capital firms.

　　However, for three out of the last four quarters startups with a social business model have received just 2 per cent.

　　This would have been lower, too, if it wasn't for a substantial $200 million investment into photo-pinning site Pinterest, from businesses including Valiant Capital, in February.

　　When Facebook floated on the stock exchange in 2012 its shares launched at $38 each.

　　However, over the course of the opening weekend this fell by 11% on Monday and a further 9% on Tuesday - to $31 each.

　　The current price for Facebook shares is now around $26 each.

　　Some analysts have compared this drop in funding to the one experienced when the dot-com bubble crashed at the start of the century.

　　By 2001 many of the internet companies that had launched as part of the dot-com boom had spent all their venture capital and had to cease trading.

　　These included the fashion website Boo.com and online grocery delivery company Webvan.

　　Figures from the time claim that Webvan went from being a $1.2bn company with 4,500 employees to being liquidated(清偿，清理) in less than two years.

　　Others lost a large portion of their market but managed to stay afloat.

　　For example, Amazon.com's stock went from $107 to just $7 dollars per share, but later recovered to $200.

　　Yet, Anand Sanwal, founder of CB Insights told Bloomberg Business Week that this current drop is not the same.

　　He said that 'boring companies that make tech products to sell to businesses seem to be in ascendance(优势，支配地位).'

　　Also, despite the total funding equating to only two per cent last quarter, this does still equate to around $3.625 billion.

　　This figure is close to the amount the companies received during their peak in the third quarter of 2011, its just that the overall investment levels are higher making the percentage smaller.

　　And although social media investment dropped, the amount of funding to business and mobile apps increased. (每日邮报)