Internet radio app Pandora allows users to pay $36 per year to remove all ads from the service. About 14 percent of Pandora’s revenue comes from this subscription service. I’m a subscriber and I happily pay the annual fee. That got me thinking about Facebook and whether there was an appetite for an “ad-free” version […]
This is the question on many minds following the dramatic Apple victory over Samsung in its patent case in US federal court on Friday. Many bloggers, pundits and tech journalists are now mulling over the implications and considering “What comes next?” Decrying the $1 billion-plus verdict Samsung immediately predicted the sky will fall on consumers: “It will lead […]
Apple has won most of its case against Samsung. The jury found in Apple’s favor on an overwhelming majority of claims. Samsung was found to have infringed six of seven Apple patents. Conversely, the jury found against Samsung on almost all claims, including arguments that Apple’s patents were invalid. The jury also found that Samsung’s infringement […]
Here’s our daily recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on MarTech and other places across the web. From Marketing Land: Google To Strip DoubleClick AdPlanner Of Significant Functionality If you’ve been using DoubleClick AdPlanner to research anything other than sites on the Google Display Network, you’re about to be out of […]
If you’ve been using DoubleClick AdPlanner to research anything other than sites on the Google Display Network, you’re about to be out of luck. Google this week has been sending out notices to AdPlanner users telling them of dramatic changes due to take effect September 5. Folks in the digital marketing space have grown accustomed […]
In a new report, market research firm eMarketer estimates that 88 percent of U.S. companies will be marketing on Facebook by 2014. That’s more than double the estimated 43 percent that were using Facebook in 2009, and would be up from the 83 percent that are estimated to be marketing on Facebook this year. (And […]
Sometimes, it is the size of your hashtag that matters. In Seattle this week, the Space Needle launched a contest that will let one person place his/her own design atop the iconic structure for six months. And one of the ways the Needle is promoting the contest is with a Twitter campaign around the #topthis […]
The tech world is breathlessly waiting for the jury in the US federal district court trial (San Jose, CA) in Apple v. Samsung to deliver its verdict. My prediction: expect some sort of “split decision,” in which the jury finds Samsung liable on some but not all of Apple’s claims and awards some but not all the […]
With the recent mobile/tablet app additions and public opening of Pinterest, adoption rates within the marketing community are rising. A recent study by the Creative Group showed that 7% of marketers are currently using Pinterest in their marketing mix and that 10% of marketers are planning to. The survey was made up of marketing and advertising executives […]
When I first started in affiliate marketing, all I wanted was to just make money. Off I ran in every direction, trying everything, with no real idea of the mistakes I was making that could very well affect my chances at long term success. Through my years of experience with both affiliate marketing and teaching […]
Here’s our daily recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on MarTech and other places across the web. From Marketing Land: Instagram Traffic Up 38 Percent In July, Tumblr Surpasses MySpace [ComScore] Interest in Instagram rose significantly in July, enough to make it the top gaining web property in comScore’s monthly tracking […]
Interest in Instagram rose significantly in July, enough to make it the top gaining web property in comScore’s monthly tracking of traffic to U.S. websites. ComScore’s July 2012 Top 50 shows a 38 percent traffic gain for Instagram between June and July, with unique visitors rising from 16.5 million to 22.7 million. Overall, that puts […]
Facebook has rewritten its iOS app with an eye on speed, but the real story isn’t about the app’s features — it’s about how the app was rebuilt and what it represents in the bigger picture. The company claims that the app is twice as fast as the previous version; I can’t confirm that number, […]
For 25 years, Microsoft’s brand has been associated with a bold, black, sans-serif font. Most people probably don’t even remember any other version of the software company’s logo. But now, Microsoft is modernizing, with a colorful, softer-looking logo, which features a symbol for the first time in the company’s history. That symbol, a square made […]
A new quasi-trade group has formed to promote indoor location and mobile indoor-positioning. It’s called “The In-Location Alliance.” Its stated objective is to “drive innovation and market adoption of high accuracy indoor positioning and related services.” The In-Location Alliance is made up of a group of 22 founding members, led by Nokia: Broadcom, CSR, Dialog […]
According to a Google job listing and several stories this morning Google is building an internal “Red Team” to address privacy and security issues. The job description reads: As a Data Privacy Engineer at Google you will help ensure that our products are designed to the highest standards and are operated in a manner that […]
Of things I imagined when I first started writing about Google as a hot new search engine in 1998, the idea that about 15 years later, Google would buy the venerable Frommer’s travel guides or sell “Google Play” gift cards weren’t remotely on the list. From Search Engine To Content Engine How did we get […]
Earlier this month Google announced the quasi-launch of custom URLs, and today some users have noted that they are available for both profiles and brands. Unlike Facebook who had open enrollment for vanity URLs, Google is slowly rolling out vanity URLs to those they deem most important. If you qualify, a small grey banner will appear with […]
Roughly a week ago Yelp offered an interesting post on its blog. The post reveals how Yelp prevents false check-ins or “check-in fraud.” But more importantly it’s about how Yelp matches reported user location with business locations. It’s also a comparison of positioning methods and a discussion of their relative accuracy. Yelp explains the three […]
App-making is a good capacity to develop in your business, since the app market is in a big boom right now, and there are still plenty of gaps left for new app-makers to fill. While there isn’t a lot of movement in the top ten apps overall in the main app stores (iTunes and Google […]
Facebook officially owns Instagram. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted unanimously to approve the deal after reviewing potential antitrust issues. From the organization’s news release: The Federal Trade Commission has closed its nonpublic investigation of Facebook’s proposed acquisition of Instagram, Inc., without taking any action. Accordingly, the deal may now proceed as proposed. The two […]
Last month Facebook began testing a “Sponsored Search” ad unit geared towards those searching on Facebook. Today it has been released to advertisers. The new ad unit operates very similarly to traditional Facebook advertising as they can leverage demographics, location, connections and interests/likes. A Facebook rep stated the following about the new ad unit: “We have […]
Here’s our daily recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on MarTech and other places across the web. From Marketing Land: Skippable Pre-Roll Ads Come To YouTube Mobile Skippable pre-roll AdWords for video are coming to YouTube on mobile devices. As the use of smartphones and tablets — including for video viewing […]
Skippable pre-roll AdWords for video are coming to YouTube on mobile devices. As the use of smartphones and tablets — including for video viewing — grows dramatically, Google AdSense is rolling out its True View in-stream ads to its YouTube mobile platform. Since last November, the company has offered in-search and CPM-based in-stream video ads […]
Affiliate marketers are keeping an eye on both California and Pennsylvania, where affiliate nexus tax laws are due to return within the next month. In Pennsylvania, a law is due to be reinstated on September 1, 2012, and California’s law is due for reinstatement on September 15, 2012. Both states had previously suspended their nexus […]
User influence monitoring service Kred, has created Kred Story, a rich visual experience for viewing one’s social stream. Kred has traditionally competed with Klout on influence measurement, the new Kred Story takes a different approach as it aims to find and display influential activity in a visually appealing layout. The layout places more of an emphasis […]
There’s a widely held belief that as part of putting her stamp on Yahoo, new CEO Marissa Mayer will make a significant acquisition very soon. The speculation has begun about who or what that acquisition will be. One very likely candidate is Foursquare. Foursquare could give a big boost to Yahoo in “SoLoMo”: social, local […]
The superhero movies this summer have me reminiscing on my life in comic books. See, prior to email I spent a number of years in the US comics industry, in various creative and production roles. The energy and variety was incredible, and I had the opportunity to be part of projects ranging from adaptations of […]
Ever since Chinese government surrogates unsuccessfully hacked into Gmail in early 2010, Google has struggled with its “China policy.” It threatened to withdraw from China and then reversed itself. Mountain View has been unable to resist the lure of the world’s largest internet and mobile market. Google’s PC search share in China is a very […]
“He’s makin a list, He’s checkin it twice” -Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Haven Gillespie People love lists. In the opera Don Giovanni, the licentious main character’s servant Leporello maintained a list of his boss’s conquests. As children, we might have been encouraged to make lists of what we wanted for our birthday, while our […]
Reuters is reporting that Barry Diller’s IAC Corp. has apparently trumped a bid from Answers.com to buy About.com from the New York Times company. The New York Times issued a press release a couple of weeks ago confirming it was in negotiations to sell About, but very little other information has surfaced about the potential […]
If you use Google AdWords and Analytics as well as AdSense, the changes coming to the publisher interface over the next few days will look very familiar. As part of its “simpler and more beautiful” initiative, Google is rolling out a new look for AdSense. Though Google says the general structure of the account interface […]
Here’s our daily recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on MarTech and other places across the web. From Marketing Land: New whitepaper at Digital Marketing Depot – “Web Visitor & Lead Intelligence” Want to help your sales team win more often? Feed them more detailed information about your web visitors and […]
President Barack Obama has long gotten credit for being particularly online-savvy in his communications and fundraising efforts, and we’ve seen plenty of evidence of this in his race for re-election. But now, at least when it comes to online display advertising, the gap between Obama and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, has narrowed, according to […]
“The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse.” – Unknown A couple of months ago, I wrote about overcoming objections from your CEO about adopting a content marketing strategy. What I didn’t mention was a major roadblock you may face from your team — excuses (and […]
Topsy, the popular social search engine, has released a powerful new feature for marketers today deemed Topsy Pro Analytics. Different than the basic analytics offerings announced last year, the new Pro Analytics will allow users to see view and analyze more than 100 billion Tweets over the past several years. Unlike many social tracking tools, […]
In our rapidly evolving world of marketing analytics, especially with the daily articles on “Big Data” streams, predictive analytics and real-time reporting, many of us forget to consistently apply the basics we’ve learned from our research and analytics. One core basic that I call “context” provides the needed focus. Context enables a strategic view that […]
Here’s our daily recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on MarTech and other places across the web. From Marketing Land: Judge: “Google Failed To Comply” With Order To Disclose Paid Authors, Bloggers In the Oracle vs. Google litigation, which is winding down, Judge William Alsup ordered the companies to disclose authors, […]
In the Oracle vs. Google litigation, which is winding down, Judge William Alsup ordered the companies to disclose authors, bloggers and journalists with whom they had financial relationships. Oracle previously disclosed that it had retained Florian Mueller, who writes the blog FOSS Patents. Google disclosed that it had paid no one. On August 17, 2012 Google filed a statement that […]
Here’s a smart move: Quora has announced what it’s calling Embedded Quotes, which is essentially a widget that makes it easier for web site owners to include Quora content in their blog posts, articles and web pages. There are two options for webmasters: embedding a full answer or post, or embedding just a portion of […]