Is Yahoo!'s grip on the internet slipping? No sooner does this writer tackle that ongoing question than the company's top moneymaker announces she's resigning.

Yahoo!'s Joanne Bradford has announced that she's leaving the stagnant internet company for Demand Media. Seeing as though Bradford was going to be a key player in Yahoo!'s burgeoning partnership with Microsoft (MSFT), this leaves yet another gaping hole in Yahoo!'s revenue strategy.

Nobody's naming names right now, but Social Times reports from SXSW that "a number" of companies are paying Twitter hefty fees for unrestricted access to the "firehose." While some Twitter data is accessible free through the company's developer program, the full data set is only available to those willing to write a check – and, it turns out, a substantial one.

Back in October, Twitter inked high-profile data-licensing deals with Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT), which brought in $25 million and put the social media service on the revenue map. Since then, it has brought more clients into the fold through its data-licensing program, including Kosmix and Scoopler, by opening up what it calls the "firehose"; i.e., unfettered access to the Twitter data stream.

With all the media hype still occurring around Google, Inc. (GOOG) and its newer (sometimes invasive) products and mobile operating system moves, have we forgotten about Yahoo!, Inc. (YHOO)? Morningstar analyst Larry Witt hasn't and he's not being kind -- saying that the internet pioneer's "competitive position is weakening." SO we ask: what is Yahoo! doing to differentiate itself and grow? What has CEO Carol Bartz done in her tenure there?

Analyst Upgrades

• UBS upgraded Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) to buy from neutral, citing strong fundamentals and buybacks. The firm raised its target to $42 from $31.
• Piper Jaffray upgraded ProAssurance (PRA) to overweight from neutral. The firm has a $76 price target on shares.
• Hershey (HSY) and Sunoco (SUN) were upgraded to sell from conviction sell at Goldman.
• Level 3 Comm (LVLT) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• Cathay Pacific (CPCAY) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.

Yahoo! (YHOO) received an analyst upgrade from JMP Securities Monday. The thesis is that online advertising is improving, so now may be the time to get in on the possible capital appreciation of the business. The stock closed yesterday at $16.52 per share -- a gain of 2.8%. Volume was active.

The upgrade also comes with a price target of $21. Yahoo!, like many stocks, has bounced off its 52-week low quite strongly. Over the 12-month period, the company has risen by better than 20%. From one angle, I like the idea of this trade. Technically, the shares might be ready to move.

Analyst Upgrades

• JMP Securities views Yahoo!'s (YHOO) risk-reward as compelling, especially as cyclical and secular growth of online advertising improves. The firm upgraded shares to outperform from market perform and has a $21 target.
• FBR Capital upgraded PNC Financial (PNC) to outperform from market perform, citing an attractive valuation and better risk profile following the company's capital raise. The firm raised its target price on shares to $65 fro $55.
• Janney Montgomery upgraded SEI Investments (SEIC) to buy from neutral on expectations the company's revenues will accelerate in 2011. The firm has a $28 price target on shares.
• Research in Motion (RIMM) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at BMO Capital.
• Cisco (CSCO) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Macy's (M) was upgraded to buy from hold at Soleil.

It's not just Digital Sky Technologies that is in "no rush" for Facebook to go public -- Facebook's founder says he's happy to take his time, too. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, according to the Wall Street Journal is putting his head together with those of Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel (INTC) and Charles Phillips, president of Oracle (ORCL) to gain insights on running his company, over which he'll have more control as a result of Facebook's dual-class share structure. If Zuckerberg gets his way, he'll run Facebook for a while before taking the dive into public capital markets.

Zuckerberg tells the Wall Street Journal(subscription required), "We're going to go public eventually, because that's the contract that we have with or investors and our employees." Doubtless, these two parties are eager to experience a liquidity event, particularly those from the company's earliest days and preliminary financing rounds.

Last year, Twitter got a taste of significant revenue when it inked data-licensing deals with Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG). The multi-year deals were worth a total of $25 million, but Yahoo! (YHOO) found an alternative way to access the social media site's data – free – which made it seem like the licensed data business model was on the brink of a short life. Well, it looks like some new deals have breathed a bit more life into this approach, though the details remain unclear.

In a blog post Monday, Twitter announced that it was opening its data "Firehose" to a number of companies: Ellerdale, Collecta, Kosmix, Scoopler, twazzup, Crowdeye and Chainn. According to the post, this step makes it "possible to move far beyond the Twitter experiences we know today."

Newspaper websites seem to be the preferred source of local news for consumers, according to the Newspaper Association of America and comScore (SCOR). Fifty-seven percent of respondents are drawn to local newspaper websites. But take this with a grain of salt: 54% chose online portals and 53% selected local television websites. In terms of what consumers consider the most trusted local news source to be, newspapers have the lead, but the gap is narrowing. Now, only 33% choose the newspaper for this reason, with local television sites pulling in 32%.

"While newspaper Web sites often face dozens of competitors touting their own local offerings in any given market, they have been able to thrive by leveraging trusted brands and strong local content to appeal to consumers and advertisers alike," John Sturm, president and CEO of the NAA, said in a statement.

Analyst Upgrades

• Deutsche Bank upgraded CME Group (CME) to buy from hold to reflect valuation and the company's improving trends. The firm raised its target price for shares to $325 from $320.
• JPMorgan upgraded Big Lots (BIG) to overweight from neutral. The firm believes the company's stabilizing comps and accelerating square foot growth should drive multiple expansion and raised its target price for shares to $38.
• Soleil upgraded PacWest Bancorp (PACW) to buy from hold as it views the company's bulk loan sale positively. The firm has a $24.50 target on the stock.
• Clean Harbors (CLH) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Skilled Healthcare (SKH) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Leerink.
• FARO Tech (FARO) was upgraded to buy from hold at Needham.

Every day now brings with it 50 million tweets, according to Twitter's blog. And that number specifically excludes tweets from spammers. In 2007, daily volume was a mere 5,000. Every second, 600 tweets are unleased.

There is no shortage of 140-character outbursts, putting the microblogging site in direct competition with social media behemoth Facebook for ownership of the social media user's most current thoughts. Facebook boasts more than 60 million daily status updates, despite having a 400 million-strong user base that dwarfs Twitter's nearly 60 million. The fact that Twitter is so much smaller than Facebook only makes its ownership of the status update more compelling.

U.S. and European regulators have finally cleared the way for a concentrated search partnership between Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo! (YHOO). The tandem effort, which involves making Microsoft's Bing the search engine for MS and Yahoo sites, is said to give the team 30% market share of U.S. search traffic. The intention, of course, is to throw some credible competition at search giant Google (GOOG).

Facebook is becoming a powerful force in the search engine market. It's still far behind search behemoth Google (GOOG), but the social media platform's U.S. search traffic ticked higher by 13% last month, according to data from comSore (SCOR). From 351 million search queries executed on Facebook in December, the number grew to 395 million in January.

Google still owns 65.4% of the U.S. search market, having received 14 billion search queries last month. Yahoo! (YHOO), Microsoft (MSFT), Aol (AOL) and Ask share the remainder of the market. Among these competitors, market share changed little month-over-month. So, for Facebook, this month's growth bucked the trend.

Yahoo! (YHOO) closed at $15.17. Carl Icahn lowered his stake in YHOO to 11.99 million shares from 62.9 million. YHOO overall option implied volatility of 32 is below its 26-week average of 36, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

ISE Sentiment Index - ISEE closed at 91 on 2/12/10. ISEE 10-day moving average is 107.

NASDAQ 100 - QQQQ overall implied volatility at 24; 26-week average is 25.

You'd think retailers would flock to any place where they could find 400 million people. With the sixth anniversary of Facebook closing in, its robust user base still hasn't opened the eyes of many retailers.

Despite all the Black Friday social media engagement this year, a substantial 75% of the top 100 online retailers don't have a formal presence on Facebook, according to a study by ForeSee Results. Another 25% haven't even hit 10,000 fans.