Digital Intelligence

Google's Android mobile operating system made up 75% of the global smartphone market i the third quarter of 2012, far ahead of Apple's 14.9%. Nokia's Symbian platform and Research in Motion's Blackberry mobile OS fell 77% and 35% respectiveley.

02/12/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook and Zynga are to end their close advertising partnership, in a move that will mean players on Farmville will no longer be able to share their social gaming progress with friends on the social network. At its peak, Zynga’s Farmville attracted 82 million players a month- mostly accessing the farming time management game via Facebook. However, this year Zynga set up its own games platform, leading to the two firms agreeing to end the deal that let players share their gaming progress on their Facebook newsfeed The change will take place from 31 March 2013.

03/12/2012  |  Full story...

Public outcry in Britain as journalists uncover the scale of how Google and Amazon reduce taxes to boost overall profits. New funding being given to support the Google tax investigation which could impact other multinational online service providers...

03/12/2012  |  Full story...

Google has snapped up BufferBox, a Canadian firm that operates a network of storage lockers where people can receive deliveries when they're not home. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Bufferbox has a network of storage lockers in the area around Toronto. Users sign up for the service and then provide a BufferBox shipping address to online retailers.

03/12/2012  |  Full story...

Pope Benedict XVI is to launch a personal Twitter account for the first time. The Vatican is expected to confirm the new account at a press conference on Monday morning, attended by officials from both the Catholic Church and Twitter. A Vatican spokesman told news group CNN that Pope Benedict XVI would compose and send his first tweet himself and then allow the account to be updated by staff.

03/12/2012  |  Full story...

The humble text message, which celebrated its 20th birthday on Sunday, is past its prime for the first time in history, as new figures show a declining trend of SMS (Short Message Service). This year is the first time the total text volumes in the UK are down; but this represents a tiny drop as people start to switch communications to Facebook, Twitter and iMessage.

03/12/2012  |  Full story...

Among a selection of the 100 leading brand pages on Facebook, those using paid media reached 5.4 times more people on average than those using no paid media.

04/12/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has launched a new mobile service that automatically uploads a user’s mobile photos to their social network account to review before publishing, sparking privacy concerns that the firm is looking to grab more personal data from their users. Facebook is currently asking users of it mobile app to opt-in to a new Photo Sync option, a setting that will automatically upload every image taken with a mobile device to the social network’s vast data servers.

04/12/2012  |  Full story...

Global ecommerce platform Rakuten and owners of Play.com explores the rise of online Christmas shopping in visual form. Cyber Monday, the busiest online shopping day in the lead up to Christmas, is well documented across the pond, but is also a growing trend in the UK.

04/12/2012  |  Full story...

Opt-in or opt out? And how do you tell someone who’s unsubscribed that this has been actioned? In the US, the FCC’s latest update on SMS marketing regulations makes it clear…

04/12/2012  |  Full story...

Apple has launched its iTunes Store in India, Russia, Turkey, South Africa and 52 additional countries, as the firm looks to expand the reach of its download store. Apple device owners will have access to legal music and video content on the digital store. Customers can choose from over 20 million songs available to purchase and download on the iTunes Store, claims an official release.

04/12/2012  |  Full story...

A US court has given its preliminary approval to a revised class settlement in a lawsuit brought against Facebook by users who claimed that their names and likeness were used without their prior consent in "Sponsored Stories" advertisements shown to their online friends on the social networking website.

04/12/2012  |  Full story...

The BBC is updating its Red Button service to work with next generation of internet-connected TVs. Dubbed the ‘Connected Red Button’, the new service lets viewers with internet-enabled TVs watch some channels even if they are off air and catch up with previous episodes of shows.

05/12/2012  |  Full story...

News Corp is closing its tablet newspaper The Daily later this month, just two years after its launch. The product launched in February 2011 for the iPad and there were persistent rumours about the size of losses and possible closure.

05/12/2012  |  Full story...

Marketers account for a startling 70 percent of “this is spam” complaints and 60 percent of all spam traps hits- much higher than complaints from bots, according to new research. The global study, from Return Path found that marketers’ inbox placement rates are continuing to decline.

05/12/2012  |  Full story...

Yahoo is to close down its public chat rooms in its Messenger service this month, replacing them with a range of new online communication tools. The rooms will close down on 14th of December, and yahoo will also shut down its Yahoo Phone In and Phone Out feature at the end of January next year.

05/12/2012  |  Full story...

UK consumers are continuing to increase their usage of mobile devices and their acceptance of mobile ads is growing in parallel, but attitudes are currently mixed, says Millward Brown’s AdReaction 2012 Report.

05/12/2012  |  Full story...

A US judge has ruled that Google's Motorola unit cannot ban sales of Microsoft's Xbox 360 games console because of a patent dispute. Judge James Robart's ruling came part-way through a trial in which the handset maker is claiming its rival should pay up to $4bn (£2.5bn; 3bn euros) a year for use of its connectivity and video-coding patents.

05/12/2012  |  Full story...

This chart shows the levels of engagement each brand category achieved in March and October 2012. Spas and care category saw the highest levels of engagement (1.83%) in March and 1.23% in October. However, the levels of engagement dropped across all categories in October 2012.

06/12/2012  |  Full story...

This chart shows the breakdown of topics brand pages cover. Visual posts such as photo and video are the most popular form of promotion. Facebook claims that visual posts garner the most engagement, and are more likely to be seen on the Facebook Timeline layout.

06/12/2012  |  Full story...

This chart shows the average monthly posts brand pages make. Community-based brand pageshave the highest average monthly posts with 87. Pages dedicated to an individual such as actors, directors and public figures also have high post counts.

06/12/2012  |  Full story...

Mobile now accounts for 13% of internet traffic, up from 4% in 2010, and now makes up a majority of traffic in some emerging markets, according to new research looking into mobile internet access. The internet trends report from Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist Mary Meeker showed that mobile internet access was booming in emerging markets such as India where consumers who have never owned PCs are buying smartphones.

View the slide presentation below:

06/12/2012  |  Full story...

Cyber Monday set a new online retail record this week, as UK consumers made 112 million visits to retail websites on Monday 3rd December, a 32% rise on 2011. The study, from Experian, found that Amazon, eBay and Argos claimed 30 per cent of all retail visits, and consumers spent 8 minutes and 12 seconds per online retail visit on Monday.

06/12/2012  |  Full story...

With shopping season in full swing as the holidays approach, smartphone and tablet owners are using mobile apps and daily deal sites to get the most out of their money. According to a recent Nielsen survey of U.S. consumers who report using their mobile phone or tablet in the shopping process, shoppers look to retailer websites for mobile coupons significantly more than other sources.

06/12/2012  |  Full story...

AOL's Advertising.com Group has acquired Buysight a provider of retargeting and intent based targeting advertising. This transaction boosts the Advertising.com’s ad capabilities across display, mobile and video.

06/12/2012  |  Full story...

Google has announced that there are 500 million profiles on its social network, 235 million of which were active this month. The news means that Google+ is now rivalling Twitter in terms of user numbers, but still faces doubts over the engagement levels on the social network. Of those 235 active users, Google said 135 million are active in the core social network, rather than just using Gmail and other services linked to Google+.

Watch a video explaining how the service works below:

07/12/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has announced its 25 most popular social games for 2012, with music trivia game SongPop taking the title as best rated game. The ‘name that tune’ game, in which users have to guess the name of the song or artist from a brief audio sample, soared in popularity this year, with much of its success due to its multi-platform nature. Facebook said that the list was compiled based on how long users spend playing a game and how highly it has been rated by the community.

07/12/2012  |  Full story...

How far would you go to bring the best talent to your team? In Belgium, Ogilvy delved into murky waters by using pirate software sites to recruit cash-strapped (but ambitious) unemployed web designers. See why it’s our viral of the week below…

07/12/2012  |  Full story...

In a frank interview this week, Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt has admitted his surprise that Apple has not sued the search giant. In a sit down with the Wall Street Journal the one-time Google CEO talked about lawsuits, Apple, and of course all their Android partners. Speaking to the newspaper, the former Apple board member said: ‘It's extremely curious that Apple has chosen to sue Google's partners and not Google itself.”

07/12/2012  |  Full story...

Zynga has applied to the Nevada Gambling Control Board as a first step towards preparing to offer gambling in the US for real money if new legislation comes through. The social game developer, which created games like FarmVille and CityVille is hoping that real-money gambling (RMG) will prop up its failing business, which has this year seen steep drops in share prices, executive level resignationsand hundreds of employee layoffs.

07/12/2012  |  Full story...

Google has launched a suite of new online shopping tools ahead of the festive season, including a list of top toys that lets shoppers inspect potential purchases in 3D, along with listings and even floor plans of nearby stores.

07/12/2012  |  Full story...

Despite the global economic gloom, online advertising spend and revenues continued to soar during 2012, outpacing all other media. Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon all made major moves this year as the battle lines for digital ad dollars online became blurred. As part of a new 2012 review series, We look back at our 10 most popular digital advertising news stories and trends of the year.

10/12/2012  |  Full story...

Google has ended a free version of its Google Apps online application suite for small businesses, which includes Gmail and Google Drive, in what it calls a drive to ‘provide a stronger and more uniform experience to users’. Google said that that now even small businesses with 10 or fewer users will have to pay to use its online app platform, a group that up until now has been free.

10/12/2012  |  Full story...

If online video is optimised for search, it can double Google search traffic, according to a new report. The research, from Visibility IQ in association with Entertainment Media Research, looking into the web habits of the UK.According to the report, the most frequent viewers of online videos are males aged between 15 and 34 with 81% watching videos on a daily basis.

10/12/2012  |  Full story...

Social media and social networking are no longer in their infancy. Social media continues to grow rapidly, offering global consumers new and meaningful ways to engage with the people, events and brands that matter to them. According to Nielsen and NM Incite’s latest Social Media Report, consumers continue to spend more time on social networks than on any other category of sites—roughly 20 percent of their total time online via personal computer (PC), and 30 percent of total time online via mobile.

10/12/2012  |  Full story...

UK online retailers are letting down shoppers at the busiest time of the year - and risking losing vital sales - through distinctly average web and email customer service, according to a new study. UK online Christmas sales are expected to hit £4.6 billion according to analysts IMRG.

10/12/2012  |  Full story...

Big data analytics, biohacking and more integrated social experiences will be key trends in 2013, according to a new report. The findings, from global PR agency Hotwire and 33 Digital, come from their fourth annual Digital Trends Report.

10/12/2012  |  Full story...

Adap.tv offers predictions for 2013 as more media is consumed on mobiles, tablet and smart TVs. The rapid growth of the online video sector continued in 2012, with more campaigns undertaken and clients seeing the medium offer real value.

10/12/2012  |  Full story...

Forget the movie, this year provided plenty of real-life drama for 'The Social Network'. The controversy surrounding Facebook’s IPO and the value of its ‘likes’ (after the BBC's 'bagelgate' report) has led us to dedicate an entire section of our 2012 review to Mark Zuckerberg’s company (a review of other social media news follows tomorrow). Brace yourself as Netimperative looks back at the 10 most popular Facebook marketing news stories and trends of the year.

11/12/2012  |  Full story...

Online habits are changing, and while search remains the gateway to the internet, consumers are expecting a lot more than '10 blue links'. This year, search went social and mobile as consumers used their tablets and mobiles in ever-more sophisticated ways. Google, Bing, Yahoo and Facebook all made major changes to their search tools for advertisers and web users alike. As part of a new 2012 review series, we look back at our 10 most popular search marketing news stories and trends of the year.

11/12/2012  |  Full story...

In this video interview with the Financial Times, WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell provides insights into how the ad giant invested on digital channels during 2012. Speaking to the FT, the WPP boss gave his thoughts on growth in online advertising.

Watch the video from the FT below:

11/12/2012  |  Full story...

A UN debate on internet regulation has stalled as the UK, US and other westerm countries disagree with Arab States, China and Russia in a diplomatic battle over a set of possible global web laws. The chief American negotiator at a UN telecommunications conference in Dubai has said there is a basic disagreement over possible new internet regulations.

11/12/2012  |  Full story...

The location of your mobile phone is added to the list of sweeping new police powers in the regulation of personal data and Deputy PM Clegg leads the attack on his own government.

11/12/2012  |  Full story...

More engineering investment from Google means that marketing techniques with Google maps are going to become more innovative as the maps interface strengthens, combining Street View and consumer generated content. Here are the latest developments...

11/12/2012  |  Full story...

US regulators have threatened the head of Netflix with legal action for posting information about the company's performance on Facebook rather than through official channels. Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings announced on the site that monthly viewing figures had passed one billion hours in June for the first time. Shares rose after the posting.

11/12/2012  |  Full story...

Police in Milan last week raided Facebook's offices in the Italian city as part of a crackdown on tax avoidance and internet regulation.

11/12/2012  |  Full story...

A state controlled operating system, a political machine that re-calibrated time, and the smuggling of Chinese cellphones to the daring few: digital media regulation doesn't come tougher than this...

11/12/2012  |  Full story...

Social media continued its rise in 2012, pervading more and more aspects of modern life, from Twitter’s live news reporting to Pinterest’s digital scrapbooks. Despite being labelled a ‘ghost town’, Google+ has become a major player in the sector, beginning to rival Twitter in terms of global active users. For marketers, social media ROI remains rather elusive, but some inroads have been made this year with new analytics tools looking beyond clicks to measure the power of online recommendations. As part of a 2012 review, we look back at the 10 most popular social media news stories and trends of the year.

12/12/2012  |  Full story...

Google is testing a new shoppable video format on YouTube, letting viewers click on products and text displayed in video. YouTube's shoppable video ads will display a shaded rectangle in the middle of the screen whenever a product appears. When a user rolls over that embedded video link, the product name is displayed with a link to the purchase page.

Watch a video demnstration from Juicy Couture below:

12/12/2012  |  Full story...

In Western markets, it's easy to forget that feature phones still dominate globally, but this is changing fast. Smartphone sales accounted for 40% of total mobile phone sales in 2012, up 47% on last year. The technology behind mobiles and tablets is evolving rapidly, with Android and Apple leading the charge in an increasingly competitive battle for consumer and advertising cash alike. This year tablets went 'mini' while smartphones got bigger, and mobiles began to catch up desktops in terms of web use and and ad revenue. As part of a review of 2012, we look back at the 10 most popular mobile marketing news stories and trends of the year.

12/12/2012  |  Full story...

Euro 2012 was the most searched-for sporting event in the UK, ahead of the Olympics, according to Google’s review of the year. Though Olympics tickets finished second in the overall ‘Zeitgeist’ trends list, there were plenty of searches for Olympic athletes. Topping the list of British Olympians was Andy Murray, who won tennis gold and went on to win his first Grand Slam tournament at the US Open.

12/12/2012  |  Full story...

Popular medical information site WebMD is to cut 250 jobs after disappointing Q3 results. The cuts include 250 positions, representing around 14 percent of WebMD’s total workforce, as well as operating expenditure cuts of $45 million.

12/12/2012  |  Full story...

Online Christmas shopping is become huge business for retailers and pure play online retailers alike. This infographic from Affiliate Window looks at the stats behind Black Friday and Mega/Cyber Monday.

12/12/2012  |  Full story...

Consumers by far favour using search engine apps to brand apps when using smartphones to search for information on products and services, according to new research. The study, from the Direct Marketing Association, reveal that seven in 10 (68%) UK smartphone owners prefer using search engines to research potential purchases compared to just 37% that use brand apps for the same purpose.

12/12/2012  |  Full story...

Julian Smith considers the growing buzz around the ‘viewable impression’ metric and reasons why for most in the industry it seems like a natural step in the evolution and growing maturity of online advertising.

13/12/2012  |  Full story...

As Google's upcoming augmented reality glasses show, digital media is fast encroaching on every aspect of modern life. The pace of technological change has been phenomenal, and as technologies converge and media habits change, marketers need to adapt their budgets accordingly. As part of a 2012 review, Netimperative looks back at the 10 most popular digital media news stories and trends of the year.

13/12/2012  |  Full story...

Twitter has unveiled its top trends of 2012, featuring the first tweet from Mars Curiosity rover to James Cameron’s Tweet from the bottom of the ocean.

This video from Twitter looks back at 2012:

13/12/2012  |  Full story...

From social media and maps to games and news updates, mobile and web apps are now fulfilling many of our day-to-day tasks in a faster and more convenient way than before. Reading the news, sending mail, reading and updating social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, and downloading or streaming music and videos are things that in the past we would have done through web pages. As part of a 2012 review, Netimperative looks back at the 10 most popular gaming and app news stories and trends of the year.

13/12/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is to introduce new privacy controls next week letting users set their level of "frictionless sharing", which has until now allowed apps such as Spotify or Yahoo! News to automatically post on the social network about users' listening or reading habits.

13/12/2012  |  Full story...

Yahoo has released the new version of its popular webmail service, as it looks to expand its reach on mobile devices.The move marks the first overhaul of a Yahoo product since the firm's chief executive Marissa Mayer took the control over in July. The relaunch includes new versions of its Yahoo Mail for smartphones and tablets, in addition to a revamped version of its Web-based mail for PC users which has less ancillary features, while claims to offer enhanced performance.

13/12/2012  |  Full story...

TalkTalk is expanding beyond its landline phone and broadband packages with a new mobile phone service in the UK.

13/12/2012  |  Full story...

Posting photos on Facebook greatly increases engagement for your posts, according to a new study looking into Facebook marketing for brands. The research, from inbound marketer HubSpot found that photos on Facebook Pages received 53% more Likes and attracted 104% more comments than text posts alone.

13/12/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has released its Year in Review, a look back at the people, moments and things that created the most buzz in 2012 among the billion people around the world on the social network. The newly listed company assemble a series of trend lists, chronicling the top events, the most popular public figures, the most listened to songs on Facebook across different territories. In the UK, the London 2012 Olympics was the most discussed topic, with E L James’s erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey in second and marmite X Factor contestant Rylan Clark in third.

14/12/2012  |  Full story...

Google's new standalone Maps app for iOS has just gone live in the App Store, following Apple’s controversial decision to replace it with their own brand of mapping software. The move was widely criticised after numerous mistakes were found in Apple Maps' search results. The new Google app offers iOS 6 users unhappy with the experience on Apple's new in-house Maps app the ability to switch back to Google's free offering.

14/12/2012  |  Full story...

Google has updated its mobile advertising tools, tweaking its in-app image ads in a bid to reduce unintentional clicks on small mobile screens. Google found most of the accidental clicks on app image ads happened at the outer edges of the ad, no doubt because people were trying to scroll up or click on adjacent content. So now, Google has added a prompt to “Visit site” whenever people click on the outskirts of the ad.

14/12/2012  |  Full story...

Shopping went social in 2012, with online retailers integrating 'Likes' and 'Pin It' buttons to boost sharing and purchases. In the UK, Christmas 2012 is on track to be another record-breaker for online retail, while in the US, $1.46bn was spent on cyber monday this year alone. As part of a 2012 review, Netimperative looks back at the 10 most popular ecommerce news stories and trends of the year.

14/12/2012  |  Full story...

As digital grows at a rapid pace, law-makers struggle to keep up. In the UK, Lord Levinson would have us believe in his final media ethics report, digital media is an 'ethical vacuum' beyond regulation. Despite this rather despondent outlook, there were plently of high-profile legal tussles over the past 12 months. As part of a 2012 review, Netimperative looks back at the 10 most popular marketing regulation news stories and trends of the year.

14/12/2012  |  Full story...

A new survey indicates that brand marketers need to reach shoppers before the store as consumers actively seek promotions when planning their weekly shops. Coupon firm Coupons.com UK & Europe has surveyed over 100 client-side and agency-side brand marketers attending The Grocer Marketing, Advertising and PR Awards 2012, and over 1000 primary shoppers, to establish where and when marketers should focus their marketing spend.

14/12/2012  |  Full story...

Over half of UK shoppers remain loyal to their favourite websites despite lower costs elsewhere, according to new research looking at ecommerce strategies. The majority (57%) of online shoppers in the UK prefer to shop from a handful of their favourite websites rather than shopping around for the best price, according to research from e-commerce and digital marketing solutions provider EPiServer.

14/12/2012  |  Full story...

From self-driving cars to fridge magnets that order pizza, 2012 saw more than its fair share of odd digital news stories. As part of our year in review series, we look back at the stranger side of marketing, with the 25 weirdest digital news stories of 2012.

17/12/2012  |  Full story...

Shopping online and video viewing is more popular in the UK than any other country in the world, with uptake being driven by mobile and tablet devices, according to a new report from Ofcom. The body claims findings from its International Communications Market Report, based on research across 17 major countries, prove the UK is becoming "one of the first all-digital" nations.

17/12/2012  |  Full story...

John Lewis has had the most effective social video strategy in the run up to Christmas, according to new research from branded video distribution network, goviral.The department store’s highly-anticipated Snowman advertising campaign has helped it land the number one spot in the study which looks at how video content has been used by the UK’s top ten supermarkets and retailers as part of their Christmas marketing programmes.

17/12/2012  |  Full story...

A consortium of UK universities are launching an online project, giving public access to higher education courses via computers, tablets or smartphones.The move challenges US universities that have so far dominated this emerging digital education market. The initiative will include the Open University, King's College London, Bristol, Exeter, Warwick, East Anglia, Leeds, Lancaster, Southampton, Cardiff, Birmingham and St Andrews. Courses will be offered from next year.

17/12/2012  |  Full story...

As part of Google’s annual year-in-review package Zeitgieist, this video gazes back at the previous 12 months and ranks people, places and things that people searched for them on Google. This video, from creative agency Whirled, crams a whole year into less than three minutes, packaging the experiences of the world's 7 billion people into a tidy few dozen images. The video is bookended by the space jump, a grand human achievement that was also brand sponsored.

17/12/2012

Everyone makes mistakes- but some mistakes are bigger than others. From Apple's wonky maps to Yahoo's boss being fired over alleged 'fake CV claims'- this year saw plenty of high-profile digital disasters. As part of our 2012 review, we salute those campaigns, companies and people that slipped up in spectacular fashion- providing ample warning to us all to sanity-check digital strategies, proof-read hashtags and always use common sense...

18/12/2012  |  Full story...

A new era of ‘cognitive systems’ will usher in brand new ways for humans and PCs to interact- including touch, feel and smell, according to new predictions from technology giant IBM. The firm said that within 5 years computers will soon gain human-like abilities to receive input through senses like taste, touch and smell. The prection comes as part of IBM's annual list of innovations that will change computing in five years.

Watch the video below from IBM, explaining their 5 trends:

18/12/2012  |  Full story...

Mini computer the Raspberry Pi has got its own app store, where users can share games, applications and tools developed for the computer. The device’s creator Eben Upton, said he hopes it "will provide young people with a way to share their creations with a wider audience, and maybe to make a little pocket money along the way".

This video demonstrates one of the Raspberry Pi apps- the 'Storm in a Teacup' game- in action:

18/12/2012  |  Full story...

Online loans company Wonga has begun offering "buy now, pay later" services directly on retailers' websites. Until now, loans from Wonga, which have been highly criticised due to an annual interest rate of 4,214%, have been available only through its own site.

18/12/2012  |  Full story...

To round off 2012, we bring you our collection of top stories that shaped the digital landscape. It was an amazing year, with the continued speed of change towards a more digitally centric society: the rise and rise of social, the migration to mobile, the rising value of online businesses and the growing regulation to manage the digital economy. The stories show big rewards for getting the strategy right - and brutal realities of failing to innovate.

As the digital sector has grown, this year we’re examining the big stories of 2012 across a 9 different sectors, including search, social, mobile and advertising.

We’ve also collected our favourite viral videos of the year, and taken an irreverent look back at some of the stranger stories and biggest blunders of the year. Enjoy!

Read December 2012

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19/12/2012

Facebook owned photo app Instagram has asserted its right to sell its users' photos to advertisers, sparking a wave of criticism from users and privacy campaigners alike. The move was announced in an update to its terms of service, where Instagram claimed the right to resell images posted to its servers. The changes also mean Instagram can share information about its users with Facebook, its parent company, as well as other affiliates and advertisers.

19/12/2012  |  Full story...

A US judge has ruled that Samsung phones can remain on sale in the country, following Apple’s bid to get a number of smartphones banned after a copyright case in August.Apple applied for the ban after a jury found in its favour in August, saying the South Korean firm had illegally used Apple technology. District Judge Lucy Koh's decision is part of a series of rulings that she is releasing over several weeks to address the many legal issues that were raised in the case.

19/12/2012  |  Full story...

Google’s new maps app for the iPhone has become one of the most successful app launches ever, getting over 10 million downloads in just 2 days. The Google Maps iPhone app had been highly anticipated by many iPhone users after the recent iOS 6 update saw Google’s mapping software replaced by the iPad mini manufacturer’s own Apple Maps service.

19/12/2012  |  Full story...

Apple leads the UK Smartphone market, but Samsung is catching fast, and Android has strengthens its position as the top operating system in the top 5 European markets, according to new data looking at mobile trends in Europe.

19/12/2012  |  Full story...

Twitter is testing a new tool that lets users download their account's entire archive of tweets. Currently the option to download is only available to "a small percentage" of users but it follows Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo's, promise earlier in 2012 that users would be able to obtain a file of their own archive.

19/12/2012  |  Full story...

Thomas Cook has stopped offering online discounts on its website, in a bid offer standardised prices on the high street and online. The retailer claimed the move has 'changed travel retailing forever' by stopping online discounting. The operator is now offering the same price for its holidays whether booked online at thomascook.com, in one of its 1100 stores across the UK or through its UK based call centres.

20/12/2012  |  Full story...

Ads placed in short video clips, such as popular cat videos, are more effective than when paired with long-form content, according to a new study. The research, from AOL, indicates that viewers see conventional ad spots in longer videos as an interruption. However, short-form video produced a 25 percent higher brand recall and a 42 percent higher purchase intent for the featured product or service, the study found.

20/12/2012  |  Full story...

YouTube has put together a video looking back at the big events of 2012, already attracting 13 million hits in just a day. The biggest trends include Kony, Obama impersonator Alphacat, Felix Baumgartner live stream of his freefall, Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know and Lindsey Stirling’s Dubstep Violin.

Watch the video below:

20/12/2012  |  Full story...

Christmas Day has been labelled ‘Tablet Tuesday’ as consumers redeem the vouchers bought for them by last-minute shoppers, according to a new report. The report, from media agency Mindshare, forecasts that in the UK, for instance, almost half the population (45%) now download digital content on a monthly basis, according to Mindreader, the agency’s proprietary research tool.

20/12/2012  |  Full story...

As more people connect to the Internet in India, time spent social networking is exploding on sites like Facebook and Orkut. It's one of the primary motivations for going online. In both rural and urban areas, social networking is a key driver of use. The most popular site in India is now Facebook, which has seen its market share grow by almost 50% from 2010 and 2011. This article looks at five key social networks in India.

20/12/2012  |  Full story...

To round off 2012, we bring you our collection of top stories that shaped the digital landscape. It was an amazing year, with the continued speed of change towards a more digitally centric society: the rise and rise of social, the migration to mobile, the rising value of online businesses and the growing regulation to manage the digital economy. The stories show big rewards for getting the strategy right – and brutal realities of failing to innovate.

21/12/2012  |  Full story...

There will be two relative strangers to UK mobile users among the firms bidding in next year's 4G auction. Industry regulator Ofcom unveiled the seven bidders for the auction of bandwidth for 4G mobile broadband services in the UK. The bidders are Everything Everywhere, BT, Vodafone, O2, Three, Hong Kong conglomerate PCCW and UK network supplier MLL Telecom.

21/12/2012  |  Full story...

UK consumers will spend a total of 375 million hours shopping online in December 2012 with 17 million of these on Boxing Day alone, according to new research. The study, from Experian and IMRG, indicates that Christmas 2012 will be the biggest and busiest ever for online retailers in the UK.

21/12/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon and John Lewsis have scored the highest in an online customer service study, while Ryanair saw the biggest drop and lowest score. Analytics form ForeSee looks at the customer satisfaction Index across the UK’s top 40 online retail websites.

21/12/2012  |  Full story...

Google is planning to sell Motorola Home, the TV set-top box business of its Motorola Mobility subsidiary to Arris Group, a broadband device vendor, for $2.35 billion. Arris will buy up the patents belonging to the business, and will get a perpetual license to other Motorola Mobility patents as part of the deal.

21/12/2012  |  Full story...

Internet giants such as Facebook, Google and Apple could soon be allowed to advertise to children, as new US laws look set to come into force. The Federal Trade Commission has updated the 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to restrict advertisers from accessing the personal data of children under 13 years-old without parental consent.

21/12/2012  |  Full story...

Among a selection of the 100 leading brand pages on Facebook, those using paid media reached 5.4 times more people on average than those using no paid media, according to a new study.
The report, ‘Understanding Paid & Earned Reach On Facebook,’ published by Facebook together with comScore, forms part of Facebook’s attempts to persuade sceptical brand marketers to migrate their efforts from free fan pages to paid for sponsored stories.

01/11/2012  |  Full story...

This chart shows the rise of smartphone owners compared with previous PC and laptop owners. The growth in PC has slowed considerably since June 2011. The adoption of smartphones over this period has increased dramatically, with smartphone ownership exceeding PC ownership in June 2012.

01/11/2012  |  Full story...

Chinese smartphone owners are one of the key drivers for rising web use. This chart shows that in less than 5 years the number of smartphone users has grown by over 33 million, accounting for 72.2% of total web users. One of the main reasons for this growth is attributed to the affordability of smartphones over PCs and laptops.

01/11/2012  |  Full story...

French President Francois Hollande has told Google's chief executive that France would legislate to force the search engine to pay for displaying links to news articles, unless it struck a deal with French media outlets. According to reports, press associations in France, and other European countries, are demanding Google to pay for the displayed links associated with French newspapers in Internet searches.

01/11/2012  |  Full story...

UK shoppers seek customer service support by email (49%) or phone (43%), and younger shoppers are highly likely to turn to social channels when these touch points fail, with 46% of under 25s and 33% of 25-33 year olds using social to air their grievances more publically, according to new research.

01/11/2012  |  Full story...

Nominet, the not-for-profit organisation responsible for running the .uk infrastructure, has launched a consultation on the introduction of a new service which, if approved, would herald a significant change for the .uk domain name space. The proposed new service is aimed at businesses and would potentially offer shorter domain names registered at the second level (i.e. www.yourbusiness.uk) as well as one of the most comprehensive package of security features available. It would sit alongside the existing .uk portfolio, including .co.uk which already has more than 10 million domains registered.

01/11/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft is mulling a bid for online video service Netflix, according to a report by Forbes, as competition in the video on demand sector heats up. The move would be one of the most significant purchases in the technology and television space. 


01/11/2012  |  Full story...

After its IPO woes, Facebook finally turned a corner this month - but at what price to advertisers? Reports suggest that the social network is lowering the reach of 'likes' in favour of paid-for advertising such as newsfeed ads and an upcoming 'want' button. Shares in Facebook rose on the back of increased revenues and new ad schemes, but brands are left once again pondering the true value of their 'likes'.

As Christmas looms, mini-tablets look set to be the gift of choice, with the iPad mini unveiled (albeit with a hefty price tag) meaning tablet-friendly sites will become more essential in 2013. As desktop and laptop use wanes, Microsoft's newly-launched Windows 8 is the company's biggest gamble yet, as the software giant looks to challenge Apple and Google in the mobile OS market.

Worst mistake of the month goes to Google, which saw nearly $20bn wiped off its market value in minutes, after Q3 earnings figures released prematurely by mistake revealed a surprise drop in profit growth. Larry Page can take some solace in YouTube's revenues, which are now rivalling US TV networks.

Our video viral highlight of the month is Bodyform's spoof CEO response to a Facebook posting. A master class in viral marketing, the video was created within days and attracted over 3 million views within a week. Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for more examples of 'digital done right' in our viral videos section.

Read October 2012

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01/11/2012

Kim Dotcom has revealed a plan to open a new online storage service called Mega, replacing his banned file-sharing website Megaupload. The new service will be launched in January next year, and will give users direct control and responsibility over their files and designed to avoid the US laws under which he faces prosecution for alleged copyright violations.

02/11/2012  |  Full story...

Google has revamped its 'Google Search' app for the iPhone and iPad, giving the feature a voice search functionality that poses a challenge to Apple's Siri. The app, which is available for free download, opens with a "Try our new voice search" message that sits next to an icon of a microphone. Click on the icon and speak your question into your device.

Watch a promo video from Google here:

02/11/2012  |  Full story...

In some countries, social media isn’t just about Facebook. With so many brands focusing on the BRIC markets, Patrick Eve, MD of international translation agency, TranslateMedia, gives the lowdown on social media use in Russia.

02/11/2012  |  Full story...

BBC Worldwide, Sky, Lloyds TSB and Vodafone are amongst 25 global brands that have signed up to Microsoft's new Windows 8 advertising platform. These brands will be rolling out Windows 8 Ads in Apps campaigns over the next couple of months. These will include Bing apps, Xbox apps, the Skype app and third-party apps independently developed by publishing partners.

02/11/2012  |  Full story...

European data protection proposals have been slammed by a select committee for being “too prescriptive”. A report by the Justice Select Committee said that the proposals for a common European data protection framework did not allow for flexibility or discretion for businesses or other organisations, which hold personal data, or for data protection authorities.

02/11/2012  |  Full story...

A new algorithm developed at MIT University predicts which Twitter topics will trend hours in advance and offers a new technique for analyzing data that fluctuate over time. Twitter’s home page features a regularly updated list of topics that are “trending,” meaning that tweets about them have suddenly exploded in volume. A position on the list is highly coveted as a source of free publicity, but the selection of topics is automatic, based on a proprietary algorithm that factors in both the number of tweets and recent increases in that number.

02/11/2012  |  Full story...

Google’s Android mobile operating system made up 75% of the global smartphone market in the third quarter of 2012, far ahead of Apple's 14.9%, according to new data. The study from market analysis firm IDC attributed the jump in market share to the faltering market reach for Nokia’s Symbian platform and Research In Motion’s Blackberry mobile OS. According to the study Google Android smartphone shipments increased by 91.5% during Q3 2012.

05/11/2012  |  Full story...

The Daily Telegraph has launched a paywall on its website, charging visitors outside the UK a flat-rate fee of £1.99 a month to view articles, after they have viewed 20 articles for free. Telegraph.co.uk is moving to a metered paywall model similar to the New York Times on Thursday after years of planning. The US in particular has become a key target for online newspapers, including the Telegraph, Guardian and Daily Mail.

05/11/2012  |  Full story...

New York City's Comodo restaurant has harnessed passionate foodies by launching an Instagram menu, integrating the photo-sharing site into their dining experience. The restaurant is encouraging people to Instagram pictures of the dishes with a designated hashtag, #ComodoMenu. By using the hashtag, diners can see the Latin American inspired food before ordering (or even before making a reservation) while also engaging in a distinctly modern communal activity.

Watch a video showing how the service works below:

05/11/2012  |  Full story...

Tesco has launched a new commuter zone on its grocery website, aimed at bringing together everything busy customers need for the working week. The zone is designed as a quick way for commuters to shop as they travel to and from work.

05/11/2012  |  Full story...

Coca-Cola continues its Coke Zero marketing tie-in for the upcoming James Bond movie release with a promo that turned commuters into 007, for 70 heart-pounding seconds, all for the chance to win Skyfall tickets. See why it’s out video viral of the week below...

05/11/2012  |  Full story...

Instagram has launched online profiles that let users showcase themselves and photos they’ve taken with the Facebook-owned smartphone app. The move follows Facebook’s acquisition of the company earlier this year, as it looks to boost its photo sharing capabilities and keep users on its social network.

06/11/2012  |  Full story...

Last Christmas, Nutella ran a cross-platform ad campaign in Germany, mixing traditional and new media spend, including TV and Facebook. This case study looks at how the Facebook campaign generated more sales than TV ads for the food brand.

06/11/2012  |  Full story...

Major portals such as MSN and Yahoo are losing their stronghold on consumer attention with many turning to sites specific to their interest, according to new research. The study, from Mediasyndicator commissioned research with YouGov (1,987 UK adults) in order to discover the types of websites consumers visit for content and the environments in which they are most engaged and open to advertising.

06/11/2012  |  Full story...

More than half of UK advertisers (52%) think online video ads are more effective than TV, while mobile is set to have the largest increase in media spend this year, according to a new survey. The findings come from BrightRoll’s 2012 UK Video Advertising Report. The second annual survey gathers insight from more than 100 top decision makers and media buyers at leading UK advertising agencies and shares their unique perspective of the UK video advertising landscape.

06/11/2012  |  Full story...

UK consumers are being let down by substandard customer service on the web and email, and in many cases, service has got worst since 2011, according to a new study. The 2012 Eptica Multichannel Customer Experience Study found that websites could only answer just over half (53%) of customer questions, while company responses to email queries has worsened since 2011. Social media use had doubled, although many still failed to integrate social media into their overall customer service strategy.

06/11/2012  |  Full story...

Google is updating its desktop search engine, offering what it claims will be a ’simpler, cleaner’ feel than before more closely aligned with its mobile and tablet versions. The most significant change is the removal of the sidebar to the left of the page. The same options (such as Web, Images, Maps, Shopping) are now displayed in a bar along the top.

07/11/2012  |  Full story...

October proved to be scary month not just for Halloween but also for Google’s share of the UK search market. October figures suggest 89.33% of all web searches in the UK were made using Google. The findings, from Experian Hitwise, mark the first time in the last five years that Google has ever dropped below a 90% market share of UK search.

07/11/2012  |  Full story...

Three quarters (75%) of B2B buyers have claimed that social media would likely have an influence on a future purchase and 65% of businesses are already using social media in their sales efforts, according to a new report.

07/11/2012  |  Full story...

Spotify is to sponsor the NME Awards 2013 as official digital music partner, as the music streaming service aims to boost its subscribers.

07/11/2012  |  Full story...

Play.com owners Rakuten has bought French e-commerce logistics business, Alpha Direct Services, as the Japanese retail giant looks to bolster its European operations. The acquisition marks Rakuten’s first logistics investment outside of Japan and is set to provide business synergies for its global e-commerce marketplaces, in particular Rakuten’s European business including PriceMinister in France.

07/11/2012  |  Full story...

In a controversial move, Microsoft is set to close down its free iconic instant messenger service Windows Live Messenger, replacing it with Skype, the video chat service it bought in May last year. Windows Live Messenger was first released as MSN Messenger back in 1999, and is still behind only Yahoo! Messenger in the global IM market. However, Windows Live Messenger’s audience shrank by 48% last year, according to internet analysis firm Comscore. Windows Live Messenger is used by over 330 million people but Skype has over 600 million users.

08/11/2012  |  Full story...

Apple has launched a new patent claim against Samsung and Android, dragging Google into the ongoing copyright battle for the $219 billion global smartphone market. The move marks a significant escalation in the battle between Apple and Samsung, which many have viewed as a proxy legal war with Apple’s real rival Google. Under the new accusations, Apple claims Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet and Google’s Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system breach its patents.

08/11/2012  |  Full story...

This interactive YouTube video forms part of John West’s latest £6m marketing efforts to showcase its ethical fishing practices. The ‘story in a can’ campaign invites UK consumers to track exactly where their canned fish comes from. See why it’s our video viral of the week below…

08/11/2012  |  Full story...

Social media marketing firm HubSpot has raised an additional $35m in a new funding round. The investors include Altimeter Capital, Cross Creek Capital, and, according to two people with knowledge of the deal, the Boston mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments.

08/11/2012  |  Full story...

Nuffield Health has joined with Marie Claire to run a print ad embedded with a near-field communications (NFC) tag, giving readers access to additional content on their smartphones. It is the first time that a UK magazine has used the technology.

08/11/2012  |  Full story...

Google has launched ‘Free Zone’, a new mobile web service aimed at giving millions of people in the developing world to access the Internet (and Google's ads) via basic mobile phones without data charges.

09/11/2012  |  Full story...

Skype has launched Skype in the workspace, a free community that allows businesses to share expertise, build online networks, and gain access to tools.

09/11/2012  |  Full story...

Samsung's Galaxy S3 has outsold Apple's iPhone 4S for the first time, becoming the world's best-selling smartphone during the third quarter of this year, according to new data. Research firm Strategy Analytics reports that Samsung sold 18 million models, compared with Apple's 16.2 million sales, in the third quarter of 2012. However, Apple's new iPhone 5 is widely expected to reclaim the top sales spot.

09/11/2012  |  Full story...

Around 16 million people in the UK lack basic web literacy skills, potentially holding up economic growth to the tune of £63bn, according to a new report released by UK digital champion Martha Lane Fox. The report, created by consultancy firm Booz & Company, claims the UK economy as a whole could have been £63bn better if the country had achieved global digital leadership in skills and commerce.

09/11/2012  |  Full story...

Google makes $100m per day on search advertising, at least, that is what Wordstream tells us according to this infographic. Where does that money come from? Which industries make Google the most money? This infographic from Wordstream shows us where the money is coming from: finance, travel and jobs play a big role.

12/11/2012  |  Full story...

Online voucher firm Groupon has seen its shares fall 30% after its third quarter revenues fell short of analysts' forecasts. The company, which launched on the stock market back in November 2011, has reached a record share low amid doubts about its business model and a slowing demand for its discounts.

12/11/2012  |  Full story...

Social bookmarking site Pinterest has added a new privacy board in a bid to boost users. The private boards can be seen only by you and selected friends. The company said the new tool has been one it’s most frequently requested features.

12/11/2012  |  Full story...

As part of National Trustees’ Week, Joanna Morley, Online PR & Social Media Manager of Brighton-based digital marketing agency SiteVisibility, last week addressed delegates at an event hosted by business, tax and charity advisers Russell New on how charities can benefit from carefully structured social media campaigns. With the top 100 charities having now amassed 7m followers on Facebook compared to 3.5m a year ago, Joanna has shared her experience on how social media can be used as an effective tool by trustees and charities.

12/11/2012  |  Full story...

Online retail spending in the US reached $41.9 billion for the quarter, up 15 percent versus year ago, according to new data.

12/11/2012  |  Full story...

The US has seen its second drop in the number of SMS messages sent, as internet-powered alternatives such as email and social media become more widely used as a primary communication tool, according to new research. The report, published by independent analyst Chetan Sharma, found that the average U.S. mobile subscriber sent 696 text messages per month in the second quarter of this year, falling to know that 678 per month in the third quarter.

Read the full report (in a Slideshare presentation) below:

13/11/2012  |  Full story...

Google Music service has finally launched in the UK and across Europe, undercutting the likes of Amazon and iTunes by offering free cloud storage for up to 20,000 tracks. The tool, available via the Google play store online and on Android mobile phones, is launched a year after it began in the US. The delay was caused by licensing disputes with record labels.

Watch a video describing how the service works below:

13/11/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is testing new mobile features, including sound alerts and an option to reply directly to comments to an original post, as the social network looks to boost its use among smartphone users. The company said the new features are still in the testing stage and will not be immediately available to everyone.

13/11/2012  |  Full story...

We know the power of social media in creating brand awareness, but are companies using it to drive demand generation as well? This 2012 survey by Eloqua investigated how B2B marketers use social media to promote, engage and sell.

13/11/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is set to face its toughest test yet today, as its employees finally get the chance to sell their shares in the company- a move that could send its stock price tumbling further. Today (Weds 14th November) marks the third stage in the share lockup period, as 777 million company shares are finally free to go on sale on the NASDAQ exchange. Lockup expirations are customary with initial public offerings.

14/11/2012  |  Full story...

Mail Newspapers is running a competition for media agencies, as the Daily Mail publisher looks to prove its print publications can drive sales online. The publisher is offering a prize of £250,000 in free print advertising to the winning media agency. To win, media agencies must partner with a client and describe in 250 words or less why their brand would benefit from using Mail Newspapers to drive traffic online.

14/11/2012  |  Full story...

Online retailers are preparing for strong spending as the Christmas shopping peak approaches, with consumers forecast to spend £4.6bn online over the two weeks commencing 3rd and 10th December according to new research. The study, from IMRG and Capgemini, indicates that just under a billion of that figure (£920m) is expected to go through mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), after the popularity of making purchases through the channel has accelerated throughout the year.

14/11/2012  |  Full story...

To raise awareness around the perception of blind people in Russia as helpless, charity association “The right to smile” together with the agency Hungry Boys, launched a project called Blind. See why it’s our viral of the week below…

You are blind from Vlad Sitnikov on Vimeo.

14/11/2012  |  Full story...

Smartphone penetration in the US has passed the 50% threshold for the first time, with apps and web browsing on the rise, according to new research. Google Android led that segment of the market with 52.5 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Apple accounted for 34.3 percent.

14/11/2012  |  Full story...

Samsung has extended its lead over Apple’s iPhone in the global smartphone market, while Android now accounts for a massive 72% chunk of the smartphone OS market, according to new data. The research, from Gartner, found that worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users reached almost 428 million units in the third quarter of 2012, a 3.1% decline from the third quarter of 2011.

15/11/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon has introduced a monthly Amazon Prime subscription option that will see buyers receive goods within two days for $7.99 a month. Instead of $79 per year, customers in the US can now choose to pay $7.99 per month. Amazon Prime membership lets users stream movies and TV shows from the Prime Instant Video library, and gives free two-day shipping on most items, and offers other perks.

15/11/2012  |  Full story...

Global online advertising revenues will reach $143 billion in 2017, with the US still leading the market, with China catching fast, according to a new report. The Online Advertising Forecasts report, from Digital TV Research, estimates that the 2017 total is more than double the $66 billion recorded in 2010 and considerably up from the $92 billion predicted for 2012.

15/11/2012  |  Full story...

Among the new wave of mini 7-inch tablets, Apple’s iPad mini is best at creating purchase intent when browsing, according to a new study examining people’s eye movements when using the devices. The research, from EyeTrackShop, used the web cameras on 600 Americans' personal computers examine how the new generation of mini tablets are perceived by consumers.

15/11/2012  |  Full story...

Online video service Vimeo is to launch a pay-per-view movie service in a bid to compete with Google-owned rival YouTube. The IAC-owned platform is launching the pay-to-view service with six movies that will be available across the US, UK and the rest of the world.

15/11/2012  |  Full story...

Google is gearing up to extend its paid results on its Google Shopping tool, as the web giant looks to extend its hugely successful AdWords model to the world of ecommerce. Following a launch in the US this year, Google Shopping will add paid services to the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Australia and Switzerland, starting February 13th 2012.

Watch this 'Hangout' video from Jon Venverloh, Senior Manager--Google Shopping, offering a guide to creating and optimising product listings on Google.

16/11/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook shares soared 12% on Wednesday as the social network beat expectations following the third stage of its IPO share sale. Wednesday saw the unlocking of hundreds of millions of shares held by insiders now eligible for sale in the open market. The move saw the sale of more than 800 million shares, marking the third and biggest wave after the company’s initial public offering in May. The latest lockup expiration is expected to nearly double the size of the company’s share float.

16/11/2012  |  Full story...

Pinterest has taken another step towards monetisation, offering brands a dedicated business profile on its social bookmarking site. The new business site, gives organisations the opportunity to verify their account, add buttons (Pin It, Follow) and widgets (Profile, Board), and receive updates on future products and services.

16/11/2012  |  Full story...

As the official channels on both sides start feeding their wins and casualties into Twitter and YouTube, and ugly unease emerges in how news is being released. In the last few weeks the Israeli government and Hamas have clearly prioritised social media channels as their routes in attempting to own news delivery, yet highly politicised and unverified accounts mark a risky twist in what constitutes reliable news.

16/11/2012  |  Full story...

Christmas shoppers are expected to spend a total of £86bn this year, according to a report* ‘UK Retail 2012 and Beyond’, just published by Verdict Research in association with SAS UK. With online sales predicted to account for 10.6% of the total retail spend, retailers need to ensure their sites are optimised and offer a good experience.

16/11/2012  |  Full story...

Personal data is becoming the battleground for digital marketing regulation, with the latest report from the UK’s Direct Marketing Commission showing how industry self-regulation improves standards. Consumer concerns about the use of personal data continue to rise, but in the UK there may be an approach for industry regulation that can be copied for other markets. Here’s what the Commission is saying…

16/11/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has launched a ‘conversion measurement’ tool, letting firms track purchases made by social networkers who have viewed their ads, as the firm looks to woo advertisers looking for more accountable ways to run social media marketing campaigns. The tool is geared towards measuring direct response marketing (such as travel sites and online retailers) rather than long-term brand building campaigns.

19/11/2012  |  Full story...

Yahoo has been in talks with Facebook over a possible search deal that could see an end to its partnership with Microsoft’s Bing, according to a news report. Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, unnamed sources said that Marissa Mayer, chief executive of Yahoo!, has held discussions with Sheryl Sandberg,Facebook’s chief operating officer, about how the two companies can work more closely together.

19/11/2012  |  Full story...

Google has been fined $22.5 million by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US, for breaching the privacy of Safari browser users. The privacy case revolves around allegations that the search giant deceived millions of web surfers using Apple's Safari web browser into believing their online activities could not be tracked by Google provided they did not change the browser's privacy settings.

19/11/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has launched a jobs board in partnership with the Social Jobs Partnership, letting recruiters to post job listings directly on Facebook. The Social Jobs Partnership app has gone live in nthe US, and brings together the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) along with the US Department of Labor, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, DirectEmployers Association and Facebook.

19/11/2012  |  Full story...

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched an investigation into how online retailers in the UK are using software and data to target individual customers with personalised prices. The move could result in the UK regulator using its powers to clamp down on such activities in the future.

19/11/2012  |  Full story...

Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba is reportedly planning to invest in micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo, as it looks to expand its social media reach in China. The report, from China Business News, states that Alibaba plans to buy a 15-20% stake in the Twitter rival, which is hugely popular in China. The report said the investment would increase Sina Weibo’s value to between US$2bn and $3bn.

19/11/2012  |  Full story...

Apple has widened its lead over Samsung in terms of global ad impressions, despite the growing popularity of the Korean manufacturer’s devices, according to a new report.

20/11/2012  |  Full story...

Social media analytics firm Socialbakers has secured $6 million funding to further expand its measurement platform. The current round was led by Index Ventures, with additional follow-on funding from first-round investor Earlybird Venture Capital. Socialbakers is used by some of the biggest brand in the world, including, McDonald's, Nestle, Henkel, LVMH, Vodafone and many more.

20/11/2012  |  Full story...

Americans spent more than 34 hours per week in front of a TV set in Q2, 2012, where they watched traditional TV, DVDs and played games, according to a new report. According to the latest Nielsen Cross-Platform Report, most of the content from these activities was delivered to the TV set in a traditional manner– over broadcast, cable, satellite or telco connection– and a growing amount was delivered by Internet connection.

20/11/2012  |  Full story...

US flavoured milk brand Oak claimed it had been ‘inundated with fans complaining they coundn’t buy thier product in their local stores. In response, parent company Parmalat staged a series of ‘reverse robberies’ and posted the results on YouTube and Facebook. See why its our video viral of the week below…

20/11/2012  |  Full story...

Online shopping grew by 14% in October, as Brits start to get their Christmas shopping in early, according to new research. The latest IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index indicate that £6.7bn was spent online last month, taking overall sales growth close to the IMRG’s 15% annual growth forecast for the quarter.

20/11/2012  |  Full story...

Getting your content discovered in search engines has been the battle digital marketers have been fighting for almost 20 years. It’s a combination of both art and science, and there are simple steps that should be on every marketers’ agenda. Danny Meadows-Klue has been teaching Search Engine Optimisation since the late 90s, and here he explains how consumer brands should approach content marketing and SEO.

Read the full article here

21/11/2012

As advertisers seek more value from their social media campaigns, a new report indicates that views, not clicks, are the most valuable factor in getting conversions. Yesterday, TechCrunch examined data using Facebook’s 'view tag' feature, which allows advertisers to track users who view ads, but who do not click on them.

21/11/2012  |  Full story...

Hewlett Packard has blamed a $6.85bn loss on alleged accountancy fraud at Autonomy, the software firm it bought last year. The computer maker has asked US and UK authorities to investigate alleged misrepresentations of Autonomy's finances before HP took over the UK software group last year.

21/11/2012  |  Full story...

Nokia has launched ‘Here’, a rebranded version of its mapping application, on Apple iTunes for iPhone, iPad as well as iPod touch, offering an alternative to Apple’s controversial native maps app.
The app features driving directions, live traffic view, satellite view, public transport line view and offline view, among others. The move comes after Apple removed Google Maps as its default navigation application.

21/11/2012  |  Full story...

TV loyalty rewards service Viggle is buying social network GetGlue for $25 million and 48.3 million shares of stock. GetGlue works in a similar way to FourSquare, giving users virtual stickers for checking in while watching shows or movies. Those virtual stickers are then turned into real-life ones and mailed to users for their collection.

21/11/2012  |  Full story...

Online Americans are shopping from their mobile devices in mass numbers, sometimes from unexpected places, with more than 38 million online adult Americans admitting to having shopped online while on the toilet, according to new research. The survey, from CashStar, also indicates that US online adults are using Smartphones to buy from a retailer's website while in their physical store.

21/11/2012  |  Full story...

The way people consume media and shop on their mobile phones is changing rapidly on a global scale, with significant increases in mobile banking, research and the purchase of ‘real’ goods, according to a new study.

21/11/2012  |  Full story...

Most websites and online retailers live and die based on their natural search traffic, so when the US clothes retailer Big Tall Direct lost 70% of their traffic, it proved devastating. This video from their President describes what it’s like: watch, weep, and wonder how well protected your business is …

22/11/2012  |  Full story...

YouTube has launched a Wii U compatible version of its video sharing site, as the Google-owned service looks to expand its use among gamers. The new app uses the Wii U GamePad as a remote keyboard for searching through content on the site, with playback in up to 1080p Full HD.

22/11/2012  |  Full story...

India’s social media regulation has come under scrutiny this week, after two girls were arrested for posting a Facebook comment criticising a shutdown of the city after the death of a local political leader.

22/11/2012  |  Full story...

Singer and former Britain’s Got Talent contestant Susan Boyle unknowingly invited the general public to her 'Bum Party' via Twitter after a PR hashtag malfunction.

22/11/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has begun to move its North American users to HTTPS connections, which are more secure than HTTP connections, the previously default. The Internet protocol is commonly used by banks and other security sensitive websites. Because of the extra layer of security built into it, it isn't as fast as HTTP, the current default.

22/11/2012  |  Full story...

Mobile ads are much more effective than broadcast or conventional digital ads on a number of key metrics, such as brand recall and purchase intent, according to new research. The AdColony/Nielsen study, found that almost 6 in 10 mobile users recalled the brands advertised, versus about 1 in 10 for TV and digital users, and mobile ads were also several times more effective at influencing consumers' purchasing intent.

22/11/2012  |  Full story...

One in three Brits use the high street just to window-shop, using mobile phones to compare prices, save details for buying online at home or make purchases, according to new research. The study, commissioned for digital wallet provider Skrill as part of its Future of Money campaign, uncovers an evolving shopping ecosystem, where the high street, online and mobile co-exist to deliver an all round experience.

22/11/2012  |  Full story...

The third of December will be the busiest online shopping day pre-Christmas, with UK consumers forecast to spend 375 million hours shopping online in December 2012, according to new research. Experian has revealed online retail predictions for this year’s festive season, indicating that Christmas 2012 will be the biggest and busiest ever for online retailers in the UK.

22/11/2012  |  Full story...

Almost a third (32%) of all web users in the UK are sharing their customer service experiences – whether good and bad – online through social media and blogs, according to new research. The study, from Verint Systems, interviewed 7,000 consumers to examine consumers’ attitudes towards services provided by organisations in five sectors - phone, TV and broadband services; financial services; retail; utilities and public services.

22/11/2012  |  Full story...

As 2012 comes to a close, we look back at some of the biggest video viral marketing campaigns of the year. This week, we look at the ‘iPad magic’ created to promote Stockholm as a business centre.

22/11/2012  |  Full story...

Over two-thirds (70%) of brand pages on Facebook post less than one update per month, with company pages among the least social, according to new research. The study, from Recommend.ly, looked at 5.7 million pages and examined a few different factors, particularly which categories are most and least active.

23/11/2012  |  Full story...

Myspace is planning to launch a $50m Spotify rival, as the former social media market leader looks to reposition itself as a social music tool. The company plans to use $10 million of the proceeds to fund marketing for a Myspace relaunch, and the rest for acquisitions, new licensing agreements with labels, and “general working capital purposes,” according to an investor presentation that was leaked Tuesday online.

23/11/2012  |  Full story...

Cyber Monday 2012 is on track to break spending records this year, with discounts, reviews and gift ideas being primary reasons to switch from the high street to online. This infographic from RadiumOne gives the main statistics of this day, including the most popular places to shop, the devices used to aid shopping and what social media platforms are involved.

23/11/2012  |  Full story...

A massive $2bn is predicted to be spent on Cyber Monday in the US, whilst Europeans are going to spread their Christmas shopping over a three-week bonanza, according to new research. Predictive analysis from Adobe has produced interesting comparisons in Christmas shopping behaviour between Europe and the United States (U.S.).

23/11/2012  |  Full story...

As 2012 comes to a close, we look back at some of the biggest online video virals of the year. This week, we look at the hugely successful (and rather controversial) ‘Kony 2012’ campaign, that raised a huge amount of awareness about the plight of children caught up in Uganda’s conflict.

23/11/2012  |  Full story...

As Facebook passes the billion users mark, this infographic from Silverpop looks at the top 20 social networks in the world, and charts the growth of the medium of the past decade. Facebook and Twitter are the big hitters with one billion and 500 million users respectivley, They are followed by Google+ and the big networks in China, Weibo and RenRen. The rest of the top 10 is filled by LinkedIn, Badoo, Instagram, Yelp and Tumblr.

26/11/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft has won the patent rights for wearable Augmented Reality glasses that display let live updates on events as they are watched in real life. The recent patent application, published last week, outlines 'Event Augmentation with Real-Time Information' through a pair of specs, similar to Google's Project Glass. The example shows the wearer at a baseball game, where they're able to see live statistical updates, like the pitching and batting averages of the participants, along with their names and win/loss records.

26/11/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook users can no longer vote on proposed policy changes at the company, sparking concern from privacy groups. Until now, the company promised that any of its proposed policy changes that attracted 7,000 "substantive" comments would be put to a vote.

26/11/2012  |  Full story...

The Daily Mail plans to expand its US operations, as the UK newspaper looks to capitalise on its growing audience across the Atlantic. The Guardian reports that the Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) will double its US Mail Online operation as part of a multi-million pound investment in its digital business. Currently Mail Online employs 30 to 40 staff in the US, new staff numbers are likely to be around 80 employees.

26/11/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft is working on an Apple TV-style set-top box, providing access to Xbox Live entertainment services and run casual games rather than major releases, according to news reports. "Multiple sources" who claim to be close to the matter say the Microsoft set-top box will launch in 2013. The technology on board the gadget could even be incorporated into an Xbox TV set, The Verge reports.

26/11/2012  |  Full story...

2012 was another great year for viral video marketing case studies. As online ads get smarter and more engaging, viral marketing briefs are becoming the toughest that any creative agency can receive. For a viral to really travel it needs the combination of a brilliant creative idea, the right timing for its audience and the right seeding. That’s why we collated together 25 of our favourite viral marketing case studies from 2012 which clearly checked all the boxes. Grab a coffee, leave the browser open, sit back, relax, and enjoy…

27/11/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook’s rumoured ‘AdSense’ style external ad network could be taking shape , according to the latest news reports. GigaOM reports that Facebook is planning on using data it gathered about a user's likes and dislikes to show ads from outside the social network.

27/11/2012  |  Full story...

Live blogging at events boosts engagement with content by 300% according to new research into content marketing techniques with readers explaining what boosts content engagement. Here's why...

27/11/2012  |  Full story...

The world’s financial troubles have put marketing budgets and departments under greater pressure to prove their worth. But are they rising to the challenge? While research shows that 80% of CEOs now mistrust the value of marketing work, a recent survey also found that fewer than 1 in 3 B2B companies properly measure ROI for marketing activity.

27/11/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft is looking at expanding its retail outlets to the European market, after a trial run in the US, according to a news report. The technology giant already has stores in the US entirely dedicated to its recently released Surface tablet and, according to the Financial Times, is aiming to replicate the model across Europe.

27/11/2012  |  Full story...

Often perceived as a glamorous profession, the life of the entrepreneur is often fraught with stress and disappointment, according to a presentation from Mark Suster made earlier this month. Suster, a two-time entrepreneur turned venture capitalist made a keynote presentation at the Seedcon event in the US in November.

Read the sldieshare presentation below:

27/11/2012  |  Full story...

Accountancy firm Deloitte has predicted that smartphones will influence £3.2bn of retail sales this Christmas, as consumers increasingly use their devices to research prices and engage with friends and family via social media.

27/11/2012  |  Full story...

Lofty ideals have been beaten by commercial realities as consumer voting ends for Facebook privacy policy changes, questioning how much digital marketing regulation can be left to users. Have a Facebook account? Here's what you need to know...

27/11/2012  |  Full story...

Apple has sacked the executive who lead its widely-criticised mobile maps program as part of an ongoing staff overhaul, according to a news report. Technology blog AllThingsD reports that Rich Williamson was fired last week, citing a source familiar with the matter. Apple provoked outrage when it ditched Google Maps in favour of its own software when the iPhone 5 was launched in September.

28/11/2012  |  Full story...

For the international marketer, China represents one of the largest digital audiences in the world. With over 550m now online, 400m connecting via mobile, and over 300m on social media in China, the digital audience is growing fast. This article looks at six key social networks in China.

28/11/2012  |  Full story...

Google has updated it cloud storage in Europe; dropping compute prices by 5% and storage prices by 20%. The move sees it upping the number of virtual machine sizes available on its platform across the US and Europe from four to 40.

28/11/2012  |  Full story...

Walmart has claimed that Thanksgiving marked record sales for its website, with its revenues beginning to match Amazon. Walmart issued the statement Friday morning describing its “best ever” Black Friday.

28/11/2012  |  Full story...

British consumers have warned they could stop using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) browser over the software giant’s Do Not Track initiative, according to a new survey looking at online ad trends. The study, from MediaSyndicator, found that despite widespread concerns over data and privacy, 87% of UK consumers find benefits of online tracking services useful. The 2012 Digital Tracking Research was carried out by YouGov to poll the views of 1,987 UK adults aged 18+ on a range of digital tracking issues.

29/11/2012  |  Full story...

Christmas could come early for retailers with an effective mobile strategy, according to this infographic from Say Media looking at mobile shopping trends.

29/11/2012  |  Full story...

Online game company Zynga is teaming with Toys for Tots to let game players donate to the charity via games such as 'FarmVille'.

29/11/2012  |  Full story...

O2 has chosen Microsoft Advertising to launch a ‘Life Unlocked’ campaign, in a deal that will see the creation of the first ever mobile industry ‘digital showroom’.

29/11/2012  |  Full story...

As we come towards the end of 2012, research shows that this year really has been the year of the smartphone. According to Gartner, global sales have risen 47% year-on-year, much to the benefit of Samsung and the Android platform primarily. But Apple has still managed to capture more of the investment in mobile advertising. Indeed, mobile advertising is looking increasingly attractive as research shows that viewer ad recall is much higher on the handheld device than on TV or the web. A great benefit as more consumer start to research and purchase physical goods through the mobile channel.

And as the developed world equip themselves with the latest devices for the poorer developing markets Google is starting to offer a simple Free Zone mobile service to capture the 'next billion' Internet users.

It also looks like Facebook has weathered the potential storm of its third stage of share sales with a rising stock and increasingly healthy looking business as the year draws to an end.

Read November 2012

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29/11/2012

In his final report on the regulation of the UK press, Lord Justice Leveson has claimed that social media and blogs are in an ‘ethical vacuum’ beyond the remit of regulation. The 2000-page final report features just a single page on digital media, despite a raft of recent cases of defendants jailed or cautioned for racist and threatening online comments. His comments mean that print media organisations are likely to have to operate under considerable new constraints, but big online publishers such as Google, Facebook and Twitter are likely to remain unaffected.

30/11/2012  |  Full story...

As the festive season approaches and online shopping soars, retailers can't forget the importance of mobile. This infographic looks at mobile shopping trends looks at how 80% of smartphone owners now shop on their device in the US.

30/11/2012  |  Full story...

Google’s latest launch of its Remarketing for Search product, currently in beta, is a huge step from the standard advertising options that Google Adwords presents, says digital marketing agency, Greenlight. According to the Greenlight, it could have a substantial impact on the way digital marketers traditionally use remarketing and advises that it would be in their best interest to trial the product sooner rather than later or they could get left behind.

30/11/2012  |  Full story...

US retail e-commerce spending for the first 26 days of the November-December 2012 holiday season, hitting $16.4 bn in online sales, marking a 16-percent increase versus the corresponding days last year.

30/11/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has launched a new service that lets its users send friends real gifts via the social network.

01/10/2012  |  Full story...

YouTube is looking to expand its mobile music services, after posting a job ad looking for a manager to oversee an ambitious new music catalogue based on the music videos on the video sharing site. The job listing, first reported by GigaOm, announces a vacancy for a ‘technical program manager’ tasked with designing “new systems from the ground up that will generate millions of new music videos and surface YouTube’s music video catalogue by artist, discography, and genre to users on mobile devices for the first time”.

01/10/2012  |  Full story...

Online shopping for food and beverages is on the rise, with 61% of global online consumers using the web to research their grocery shopping, with 44% intending to spend more online during the past 2 years, according to a study. The research, from Nielsen, looked into consumers intent to buy food and beverages online. It found that more than one-quarter (26%) of global respondents reporting they planned to purchase food and beverage products by way of a device with Internet access, such as a computer, mobile phone or tablet, in the next three to six months.

01/10/2012  |  Full story...

Two thirds of Connected TV viewers frequently use the internet while watching TV, and a quarter are always online while they watch television, according to a new study. The study, from video ad platform smartclip, found that with every new purchase of a television set the penetration of smart TV devices increases.

01/10/2012  |  Full story...

Shoppers in Indonesia and Thailand almost twice as likely to shop using their mobile device and three times more likely to recommend items to friends on social platforms as US and European counterparts, according to new research. The study, from online retailer Rakuten, conducted a global survey into mobile shopping trends which reveals that countries in the Far East were nearly twice as likely as their western counterparts to shop via their mobile device, with 15% of Indonesians and 13% of Thais happy to shop from their handsets, compared to just 8% of Americans and 8% of Brits.

01/10/2012  |  Full story...

Apple's high-profile iPhone 5 launch was marred by problems with its mapping technology and a hactivist leak of 1 million Apple IDs. Despite negative press, Apple once again broke records, selling 7m handsets over the opening weekend alone- evidence of the growing importance of smartphones in the consumer journey, and hinting that the market is becoming a 2 horse race between Apple and Google.

September was also a big month for Twitter, as it expanded its ad targeting offering, put restrictions on its use of APIs, revamped its profile page design to allow Facebook-style header photos and proved to be more successful than Facebook in its ability to generate mobile ad revenues.

In an eye-opening report, Gartner revealed that marketers are increasingly trying to game the social media system by paying for positive reviews.

This month also saw video ads entering the print world, with Marie Claire's media first of incorporating video into the printed magazine.

After years on the sidelines in digital, it seems grocery ecommerce looks like it has a bright future, with consumers willing to try it, but etailers need to minimise the abandoned shopper baskets.

Read September 2012

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01/10/2012

Facebook could be branching out from its core advertising revenues with plans to offer firms that have pages on the site with a range of ‘premium services’, such as customer relationship management (CRM) tools and search functions, according to a news report. Speaking to US TV network CNBC, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said that the company is looking at opportunities to sell premium services for businesses.

02/10/2012  |  Full story...

Yandex has launched its own Internet browser, as the search giant looks to take on Google in the growing Russian market.The browser offers a relatively minimalist Russian-language interface based on the WebKit platform and Google's Chromium code.

02/10/2012  |  Full story...

Germans are most avid users of QR codes, while Spain ranks as fastest growing market, according to new research. The study, from comScore, looked at mobile commerce and QR code usage across the five leading European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) using data from the comScore MobiLens service.

02/10/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon, eBay, Apple and Walmart lead the way in m-Commerce market in the US, where 4 in 5 smartphone users are shopping via their device. The study found that 4 in every 5 smartphone users – 85.9 million in total – accessed retail content on their device in July. Amazon Sites led as the top retailer with an audience of 49.6 million visitors, while multi-channel retailers including Apple (17.7 million visitors), Wal-Mart (16.3 million visitors), Target (10 million visitors) and Best Buy (7.2 million visitors) also attracted significant mobile audiences.

02/10/2012  |  Full story...

More than four fifths of British five-year-olds now own or use an internet device, according to new research. Some 82 per cent have access to a computer, smartphone, tablet or other way of getting online, the security firm McAfee said, based on a poll of 2,000 parents of children aged five to 15.

02/10/2012  |  Full story...

Accessing social networks and blogs proved to be the least popular function in Italy with only 27.4%. Text messaging was by far the most popular mobile function for Italy with 82.3%, exceeding all other functions by over 40%.

03/10/2012  |  Full story...

Spain showed the highest percentage of people using smartphones over the three month survey ending July 2012 with 60.3%. Out of the 5 European countries surveyed Spain showed the highest usage levels when it came to listening to music on a mobile phone with 38.1%.

03/10/2012  |  Full story...

A surprise decision by the German constitutional court on digital media regulation sees people with internet-enabled PCs liable for TV licence. It's a media regulation that could travel across Europe...

03/10/2012  |  Full story...

Samsung has filed a new lawsuit against Apple, claiming its new iPhone 5 device uses eight patents developed by the South Korean company, without a licence. The move marks the latest battle between the two phone makers, as the smartphone war intensifies. The companies are locked in a struggle for supremacy in the global smartphone market, leading to legal cases in courts in as many as 10 countries.

03/10/2012  |  Full story...

Google has overtaken Microsoft in terms of share value, and leaving the internet giant trailing only Apple as the second wealthiest tech firm in the world. Google’s shares surged this week, increasing by nearly 1%, taking its market capitalisation to £154.1bn ($249.1bn). The rise pushed Microsoft into third place, with a market worth of £152.9bn ($247.2bn). But both companies remain far behind Apple, which is worth an astonishing £382bn ($618bn).

03/10/2012  |  Full story...

LinkedIn will now let its users ‘follow’ and receive updates from people outside their personal contact list, as the business-based social network looks to boost user engagement on the site. The new feature mimics other popular social networks such as Twitter and Facebook where users can check for updates from leaders, celebrities and others with large numbers of followers. Until now, LinkedIn's 175 million-members could only share information with their immediate circle of contacts on the service.

03/10/2012  |  Full story...

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is set to issue two monetary penalties totalling well over £250,000 to two illegal marketers who have been responsible for distributing millions of spam texts. The ICO has written to both individuals to confirm that the ICO intends to issue both of them with a monetary penalty for breaching the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), which regulate electronic marketing.

03/10/2012  |  Full story...

This summer saw Channel 4 run its ‘Superhuman’ campaign to promote the London Paralympic games. Working with Mediasyndicator, the online element of the promotion attracted more than 150,000 interactions. As part of Channel 4’s ‘Meet the Superhumans’ online Paralympics advertising campaign, deployed in partnership with digital advertising specialists, Mediasyndicator, also captured the attention of online audiences – with results revealing the campaign achieved over 150,000 interactions.

Watch the C4 trailer here:

Channel 4 Paralympics - Meet the Superhumans from IWRF on Vimeo.

03/10/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon is it is in the process of hiring 10,000 additional staff at its UK packing centres, as the online retailer expects record business this Christmas. Amazon operates eight packing centres in the UK, the newest of which opened in Hemel Hempstead earlier this year. It also expects to open a further three centres in the next two years, creating 2,000 permanent jobs in the process.

03/10/2012  |  Full story...

Mobile users in France were least likely to play games on their phone, with only 16% using the function. This is over 21% less than the UK, which used mobile gaming functions the most. French users also engaged the least with external applications with only 39.6% of users accessing them.

04/10/2012  |  Full story...

Of all the countries surveyed, German mobile phone users are least likely to access a social network or blog via their handset with 24.3%. Users also showed the lowest percentage of people who used a smartphone during the three month survey period ending July 2012 (44.8%).

04/10/2012  |  Full story...

In an open letter, an influential US-based lobbying group for the advertising industry has criticised Microsoft's decision to enable Do Not Track as the default setting in Internet Explorer 10. The Association of National Advertisers wrote a letter to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, saying the "do not track" default setting would "undercut the effectiveness of our members’ advertising..." and ultimately "harm consumers, hurt competition, and undermine American innovation and leadership in the Internet economy."

04/10/2012  |  Full story...

Google has launched a new tool that will help firms manage website tags- snippets of code used to track traffic, insert ads and link to affiliates. Google Tag Manager is a free service, and one that operates in a similar manner as other Google web site services, such as Google Analytics or Google Adwords. The system is designed to cut down on admin time taken inserting tags for analytics, ad networks or affiliates.

04/10/2012  |  Full story...

Everything Everywhere (EE) has set the launch date for its LTE (4G) launch in the UK, offering Orange and T-Mobile customers with superfast mobile internet connections on 30th October.

Watch the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones how 4G works in this video below (source: BBC)

04/10/2012  |  Full story...

The video advertising effectiveness of Google's TrueView ads has been demonstrated in a new report. It’s video advertising online ad campaigns on YouTube, which only charge marketers for ads watched in their entirety, produce an average of $1.70 in sales for every dollar spent, 2.4 times more efficient than TV ads.

Watch the TrueView ads in action here:

04/10/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft is launching its own news services, MSN News as part of its new re-designed MSN portal. The new-look MSN site will be exclusive for Windows 8 and will be available for Internet Explorer 10 users by the end of October.

04/10/2012  |  Full story...

51.3% of European mobile users have used a smartphone in the three month survey period ending July 2012, showing relatively high adoption of the technology. 83% of those surveyed utilised text messaging, making it the most popular.

05/10/2012  |  Full story...

The UK utilised text messaging more than any of the 5 European countries surveyed (91.6%) during the 3 month survey period ending July 2012. External apps were popular in the UK with a 56.9% usage rate, exceeding the European average by more than 11%. Mobile gaming in the UK (38.6%) was more popular than listening to music via mobile (30.6%).

05/10/2012  |  Full story...

Marketers looking for proof their social media is boosting brand metrics will like the new Twitter online marketing effectiveness research tools. Twitter is locked into the battle for the energy and budgets behind brand pages, and this effectiveness research gives an important edge. Here's why...

05/10/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has surpassed 1 billion users for the first time, as the newly-listed social networking giant looks to expand its global reach and ad revenues. The passing of the milestone was announced by founder Mark Zuckerberg on US television on Thursday. The company said that those billion users were to date responsible for 1.13 trillion "likes", 219 billion photos and 17 billion location check-ins.

To celebrate passing the 1bn mark, Facebook created this ad:

05/10/2012  |  Full story...

Skype is offering businesses the chance to offer free public wi-fi, provided they sign up through a Skype app. Businesses will have to pay £9.99 per month to offer the service where users sign in through the Skype wi-fi app and then log on to the internet for free.

05/10/2012  |  Full story...

The Government is set to announce details of its controversial national identity plans, letting people use their mobile phones and social media profiles as official identification documents for accessing public services, according to a news report. Initially floated by the government last year, under the scheme people wishing to apply for services ranging from tax credits to fishing licences and passports will be asked to choose from a list of familiar online log-ins, including those they already use on social media sites, banks, and large retailers such as supermarkets, to prove their identity.

05/10/2012  |  Full story...

One in four US adults now owns a tablet computer, with Android catching Apple’s iOS iPad, according to a new report. The study, from the Pew Internet and American Life Project indicates that about two-thirds of those who own tablets bought them in the last year.

05/10/2012  |  Full story...

Google has launched its lightbox display ad format, which it calls the first of a new family of display ads that "allow marketers to pay only when a user engages." The lightbox starts as a standard display ad, but after a two-second hover, expands to a "super-sized canvas." The expanded ad appears in the middle of the screen and dims the page behind it.

05/10/2012  |  Full story...

Text phrases - such as C U L8r and LOL – have become so much part of our daily lives that one in four Brits claim they are ‘Textlexic’ – prone to using text words instead of normal English, according to a new survey. The survey, commissioned by SecurEnvoy, indicates that has nearly 60% think text, instant messages and social media are changing how we write – and more than 40% think they are compromising their children’s ability to write correctly.

05/10/2012  |  Full story...

The Oxford English Dictionary has launched OED Appeals, a dedicated community space on the OED website where OED editors solicit help in unearthing new information about the history and usage of English. The website will enable the public to post evidence in direct response to editors, fostering a collective effort to record the English language and find the true roots of vocabulary.

05/10/2012  |  Full story...

Google-owned Motorola has bought Viewdle, a company specialising in facial recognition technology. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but Google is estimated to be paying around $30 to $45 million.

05/10/2012  |  Full story...

Apple is reportedly launching a mini version of the iPad this month, as the firm looks to fend of increasing competition from the likes of Amazon, Google and Samsung in the growing mini-tablet market. Apple is expected to introduce the iPad mini on October 17th - just a week before arch rival Amazon launches its Fire range of tablets in the UK. The device is said to be available in shops on November 2, according to Fortune magazine.

08/10/2012  |  Full story...

Google has warned it could make further job cuts to its Motorola Mobility team, following 4,000 layoffs already made after its purchase of the phone maker last year. "Motorola continues to evaluate its plans and further restructuring actions may occur, which may cause Google to incur additional restructuring charges, some of which may be significant," Google said in a filing with the SEC.

08/10/2012  |  Full story...

L'Oréal USA has launched a beauty and style app on Xbox LIVE called ‘The Next Level’, becoming the first app on the Microsoft games console to be targeted at women. The destination site lets users create a personalised event calendar, shopping list, weather-based beauty recommendations, and ‘redemption centre’ where rewards earned through interaction can be traded for tangible branded offers.

Watch a video explaining how the service works below:

08/10/2012  |  Full story...

Oxford University Press has launched a free app, ‘How Good is your English?’ which allows users to test their reading level. Available to download for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, the free app, aimed at language learners, enables users to try a sample chapter with synchronised audio from each of the 30 Oxford Bookworms apps. It also includes tips for readers on how to improve their English through reading, and features a monthly price promotion.

08/10/2012  |  Full story...

Sony has launched its Playstation Mobile Store today, an online gaming marketplace available for smartphones and tablets. The idea behind this new venture for the company is to offer consumers a cross platform mobile gaming service, which allows users to purchase a title once via the PlayStation Store, and then play the game on certain Android hardware as well as the PlayStation Vita.

08/10/2012  |  Full story...

Toys R Us has launched a family-orientated online movie service, powered by Rovi, as the retail giant looks to expand its digital presence. ToysrusMovies.com is currently available to PCs, Macs and other Flash compatible devices, with an app planned for the Tabeo soon, as well as Blu-ray players, HDTVs and other mobile devices including iOS and Android.

08/10/2012  |  Full story...

UK advertising on the internet and mobiles increased 12.6% year compared to the same period last year, accounting for £2.59bn in the first half of 2012, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau. The UK trade body found that a ‘meteoric rise in mobile’ drove much of the growth. With 58 per cent of the UK population now said to own smartphones according to the IAB, mobile advertising has continued a "meteoric rise". It was said to be up 132% to £181.5m.

09/10/2012  |  Full story...

EE, the new mobile network set up by Orange and T-Mobile, is planning to charge customers about £5 per month on top of current contract costs to connect to its 4G network, according to a news report. The Times reports that the network, which goes live on October 30 , has admitted that it will charge a premium for 4G, which is up to ten times faster than existing mobile networks.

09/10/2012  |  Full story...

The Dixons.co.uk website is to close today, as parent company Dixons Retail shifts focus on the multichannel model. As part of its increasing focus on online the group, which also owns retailers Currys, PC World and Pixmania believes that closing its e-commerce business will in fact boost its proposition.

09/10/2012  |  Full story...

The BBC has launched 'iPlayer Radio' as part of an overhaul of its online audio content, splitting it from its TV content. The new service will see audio content taken out of the existing BBC iPlayer and instead offered as part of a separate service on desktop and mobile. The service will highlight snippets from BBC output, including associated video content.

Watch a demonstration of how the service works below:

09/10/2012  |  Full story...

Online game World of Warcraft was hit by a hack attack that used an ‘instant kill’ exploit to wipe out thousands of in-game and player characters, turning several cities in the game into temporary graveyards.

09/10/2012  |  Full story...

SambaMobile - a new service which offers ad-funded broadband for laptops, netbooks and iPads has raised its second round of angel funding bringing its short range angel investment up to nearly £1m. The Samba service, which launched in July 2012, allows users to select and watch video advertisements via their own Samba dashboard to earn mobile broadband credit on the 3 mobile network, which they use via a Samba dongle or micro SIM.

09/10/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is testing its long-rumoured 'Want’ button, a retail-friendly accompaniment to the ‘Like’ button that could help the social network boost revenue through sales commissions and ads.Facebook is working with seven retail partners in the beta test; Pottery Barn, Wayfair, Victoria's Secret, Michael Kors, Neiman Marcus, Smith Optics, and Fab.com. Facebook users in certain territories have been able to click “want” and “collect” buttons upon products from the retailers.

10/10/2012  |  Full story...

‘Big data’ has become the marketing buzzword of 2012. As more and more information about the world is stored digitally, some collections of data that are invaluable for marketers are simply too big for a company to process and analyse by conventional means. Jim Sterne, founder of the eMetrics Summit and president of the Digital Analytics Association looks at the areas every marketer and retailer needs to know about big data, including how to store it, how to split up the processing and what to do with this information.

10/10/2012  |  Full story...

The arrival time of email campaigns affects performance, with 80% of marketers seeing an uplift in open rates at and response at a particular time of day, according to new research. The survey highlights how the ability to control when an email marketing campaign reaches the recipients' inboxes can affect engagement and revenue.

10/10/2012  |  Full story...

AOL has launched a multi-platform gaming platform ‘games.com’ for mobile and desktop PC users alike. Games.com offers more than 5,000 free online games, a large library of mobile games, plus new engagement and personalisation features.

10/10/2012  |  Full story...

Students in the US have designed a jacket that gives the owner a cuddle every time they get a ‘like’ on Facebook. The ‘Like-A-Hug’ jacket inflates when someone clicks on a Like button on their Facebook profile, putting a little more reality into virtual reality.

Watch the promo video explaining how the jacket works here:

like a hug HR 1 2 from Melissa Chow on Vimeo.

10/10/2012  |  Full story...

UK restaurant chain Harvester has signed up as one of the first UK advertisers to distribute mobile vouchers using Apple Passbook. From October, customers who are using iOS 6 will able to use their iPhone device to download vouchers and send them directly to Apple Passbook making them available immediately to redeem in any Harvester restaurant in the UK.

10/10/2012  |  Full story...

YouTube’s skippable ad format is now making Google as much revenue per hour as ads on cable TV, according to YouTube’s global head of content. Speaking at the Mipcom TV industry event, YouTube global head of content Robert Kyncl claimed the group’s skippable ads format means it is now matching US cable groups in terms of per-hour revenue.

11/10/2012  |  Full story...

The number of searches looking for local goods and services in the US has risen significantly in the past two years, with local searches making up 24% of Google queries, according to new research. The study, from ad network Chitika, indicates that Bing users are slightly more likely to search for local goods and services then Google or Yahoo! users. About 28% of Bing searches indicate a user’s interest in local services and products compared to around 25% for Google and Yahoo.

11/10/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook was hesitant to disclose information to investors just weeks before its initial public offering, according to a new report from Bloomberg. Bloomberg cited an exchange of correspondence between the social-networking company and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

11/10/2012  |  Full story...

To promote its drink in Sweden, V Energy ran a risqué campaign that invited friends to swap Facebook profiles for an hour. See why it’s our viral of the week below…

11/10/2012  |  Full story...

Google is reportedly offering to brand its search results to avoid the European Commission taking formal action against the company's alleged "abuse of dominance" in the search market. The Financial Times reports that Google is proposing to add its logo to products such as maps, airline flight details and other services that appear when people use the firm's search function.

11/10/2012  |  Full story...

Google's and Apple's smartphone platform war is the defining fight for the industry today’ according to Google’s CEO Eirc Schmidt. Speaking at the All Things Digital conference this week, Schmidt said that the rivalry between iOS and Android was much more important than the war between Apple's and Microsoft's desktop platforms.

Watch the video in full below (Runtime: 1 hour 10 mins):

12/10/2012  |  Full story...

Online marketplace eBay has today rolled out a new website, with a strong visual style similar to Pinterest. The new look site allows users to create their own customised homepage as the firm moves away from its auction roots to focus more on instant purchases.

12/10/2012  |  Full story...

Digital media buyers will eventually switch to the ‘viewable impression’ standard, only paying for online ads which are visible on screen, according to a new report from research group Forrester. The report said the new ‘viewable impressions’ standard is likely to drive up CPM rates publishers receive while reducing total inventory.

12/10/2012  |  Full story...

Despite the rise of social media and mobile, Email is not dead to marketers. 89% of marketers still primarily rely on it for lead generation. This infographic from Eloqua looks at the future of email marketing. Compiling research carried out by the likes of Forrester, Gartner and B2B Marketing, Eloqua has visually represented the aggregated findings in the attached marketing infographic entitled, ‘Why Email Still Matters.’

12/10/2012  |  Full story...

Twitter has bought Vine, a start-up company that lets users share video content online. Vine is a three-man company, based in New York, which formed in June and yet to launch publicly. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. On its website, Vine describes itself as "the best way to capture and share video on your iPhone."

12/10/2012  |  Full story...

Paid search budgets are on the rise globally, up 24% on last year on average, according to a new report. The Kenshoo Global Search Advertising Trends report examines the performance of paid search ads by analysing aggregate campaign data across search engines including Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Baidu, and Yahoo! Japan based on more than $3 billion in annual paid search budgets managed through Kenshoo.

12/10/2012  |  Full story...

Getting to the top of Google is becoming increasingly important, with 53% of US searchers clicking on the top link of the natural search listings, according to new research. The study, from Kantar media’s Compete.com, also found that over 3 in 4 searchers (77%) click on the top 3 links in the natural listings.

15/10/2012  |  Full story...

TripAdvisor.co.uk and Superbreak.com have dropped off the rankings of the ten most visible sites for hotel-related searches, according to new research. The latest research, ‘Hotels Sector Report - Issue 13’, by digital marketing agency, Greenlight, indicates that Marriott and Secret Escapes have risen up the rankings.

15/10/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft has revealed its Xbox and Windows-based music service, offering 30 million tracks to gamers and web users. The new service replaces its Zune business on PCs and Xbox, and aims to challenge the likes of iTunes an Spotify in the online music market.

15/10/2012  |  Full story...

Social network Friends Reunited has selected Maxymiser, to increase online customer engagement across Brightsolid online publishing’s portfolio of sites, Friends Reunited, Find My Past and Genes Reunited. Following its recent revamp from the site famous for reuniting old school friends, to the home of the UK’s ‘cherished memories’, Friends Reunited will initially be working with Maxymiser to identify and execute a series of MVT campaigns.

15/10/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has been accused of making changes to the formula that determines if brands appear in the news feed of its fans pages, effectively driving them to paid advertising to improve their reach. According to a report in the FT, a number of brands running Facebook pages are finding their reach has dropped since the social network altered its EdgeRank algorithm last month (September 20th).

16/10/2012  |  Full story...

Social shopping is on the rise, with many consumers being influenced by product images, friend recommendations, trends and fan page offers, according to a new study. The study and infographic from media agency MPG Media Contacts and Lightspeed Research shows that while there is a rising demand for social content, there is a lack of social media included on ecommerce sites.

16/10/2012  |  Full story...

Dwell time is two minutes higher when brand sites are mobile-ready, but less than half of top UK brands have websites optimised for smartphones and tablets, according to a new study. The study proved how a significant percentage of the top 100 brands such as Tesco, B&Q and Boots are starting to sit up and listen, with nearly 40% now having a mobile-optimised website.

16/10/2012  |  Full story...

Paypal is planning to lay off some 300 and 400 employees within the next few weeks, as the onlne payments giant looks to streamline operations. The eBay-owned firm, which currently employs 13,000 staff worldwide, as part of a new focus on product development, technology and marketing.

16/10/2012  |  Full story...

Apple is reportedly planning to drop Samsung as manufacturer of its mobile processors, as the rivalry between the two firms intensifies.A report from Citigroup Global Markets, which is Citi's international research division, indicates that Apple is set to switch to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing for its processing needs.

16/10/2012  |  Full story...

UK consumer watchdog the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has written to 62 online retailers after discovering they may not be fully complying with consumer protection laws. OFT found that some sites had potential breaches of the Distance Selling Regulations (DSRs) and consumer protection laws. The online sweep looked at the websites of 156 online retailers.

17/10/2012  |  Full story...

Apple has sent out a number of press invites to a secret event on October 23rd, hinting at the launch of its much-anticpated iPad mini launch. The digital cards' text reads: "We've got a little more to show you". The event will take place at California Theatre in San Jose, California. Rumours suggest the new model will feature a display that is 7-8 inches (18-20cm) in size, putting it in competition with the likes of Amazon's Kindle Fire and the Goolge Nexus 7.

17/10/2012  |  Full story...

Google has been forced to change its controversial privacy policy by European Union regulators after it was criticised over its collection of internet users’ personal information. In a letter to the firm’s chief executive Larry Page yesterday, an EU data protection commissioner said that Google “empowers itself to collect vast amounts of personal data about Internet users” without demonstrating that this “collection was proportionate”.

17/10/2012  |  Full story...

As social media grows in popularity in the US, the the medium become less of a reporter of political races and more of a predictor of the results? This in-depth infographic from education platform Open Site looks at the evidence…

17/10/2012  |  Full story...

Nielsen has launched its Online Campaign Ratings (OCR) metric in the UK, allowing brands to measure whether their ads reached their intended audiences online. Initial tests reveal that on average less than half of all online ad impressions are reaching the advertiser’s intended audience, based on age and gender.

Watch a video explaining how the service works below:

17/10/2012  |  Full story...

China's e-commerce sector grew a massive 45% year-on-year in the second quarter, accounting for 12.5% of the country's GDP, according to new research. The study, from Analysys International indicates that total sales in China was 278.84 billion yuan ($44.5bn/ £36bn), with Alibaba Group's Taobao capturing a huge 76% of the market.

17/10/2012  |  Full story...

The launch of Apple’s IOS 6 and iPhone 5 has halted Android’s gains for total number of global ad impressions, according to new data. The findings, from Velti’s monthly “State of Mobile Advertising” report for September indicate that in a single month Apple has retaken the five percent of ad share taken by Android since June and the company now owns 62 percent of all ad impressions compared to Android’s 38 percent.

17/10/2012  |  Full story...

FedEx has launched a new app on Facebook that highlights how they can help your business grow better than a cheesy advertising jingle. The app invites customers to input their business details which then become customizable parts of their very own 'jingle'. See why it’s our video viral of the week below…

17/10/2012  |  Full story...

The influence of social media on purchase decisions increased across all but one of the regions surveyed in 20122. the global average has risen by 3% since 2010. The region that saw the biggest increase was 'Middle East and Africa' with 10%. Social media's influence dropped by 5% in Latin America (the only region that reported a decrease).

18/10/2012  |  Full story...

This chart shows the global averages of online browsing behaviour by grocery shoppers. The most popular daily behaviours include conducting research (37%) and providing feedback about a grocery category via social media (33%). 48% of respondents are likely to purchase a product once a month rather than daily, making it the most popular monthly activity, and the least popular daily activity.

18/10/2012  |  Full story...

To address concerns from brands about the lack of marketing effectiveness research for Facebook, new brand affinity measurement tools are being developed. With the rush to build Facebook brand pages, many marketers have questioned the value of fans, their fit with the brand’s target audience, and how to measure marketing effectiveness. Could this be the answer?

18/10/2012  |  Full story...

File-sharers reportedly buy 30% more music than non-sharers, according to a new study which contradicts claims from the music industry that piracy is hurting the industry. The study, from the American Assembly, a Columbia University affiliated public policy forum, found that US and German file-sharers spend around 30 per cent more on legitimate online music purchases than users who do not pirate music via the internet.

18/10/2012  |  Full story...

UK maxi pad brand Bodyform has created a viral ad with a fictional CEO responding to a Facebook user, who accused the company of lying to the public. Facebook user Richard Neill wrote a sarcastic comment on Bodyform's page earlier this month poking fun at the company's depiction of a woman's "wonderful time of the month" in its TV ads. The spoof video - which has so far notched up 135,036 views on YouTube, 2,213 Facebook 'likes' and 211 comments - ends with the CEO thanking Richard for lifting the veil on their lies and exposing the truth.

18/10/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has launched its first engineering centre outside the US this week, setting up an office in London to develop the firm’s mobile experience. Founder Mark Zuckerberg has stressed numerous times that his site doesn’t generate as much revenue via mobile channels as it perhaps should, especially given the amount of mobile device users that have an account.

18/10/2012  |  Full story...

Search engine DuckDuckGo has released a video that aims to show that there’s no such thing as impersonal Google results. The video shows results from an experiment the team did in which more than 100 people searched the same topics while logged out of Google. Unlike Google, DuckDuckGo does not track user’s search habits or store search results. s very strong on privacy, and doesn't store your search results.

There are no "regular results" on Google anymore. from DuckDuckGo on Vimeo.

18/10/2012  |  Full story...

Google saw nearly $20bn wiped off its market value in minutes yesterday, after third quarter earnings figures released prematurely by mistake revealed a surprise drop in profit growth. The web giant reported a 20% drop in net income to $2.18bn (£1.36bn) between July and September. But the announcement, which was expected after the market close, was released early after financial printer RR Donnelley filed a draft of its earnings statement without authorisation on Thursday morning.

19/10/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is letting mobile app developers promote their ads within the 'Try These Games' box right in the middle of the mobile news feed. Following a beta trial this summer, the company's mobile app ads are now open to everyone. All developers on the social network can build ads that link from Facebook's Android and iOS apps to either Google Play or the App Store, offering both an easy plug for their native apps and that all-important ad revenue for Facebook.

19/10/2012  |  Full story...

The Pirate Bay has moved its servers to the cloud to hinder authorities’ attempts to take it offline. The file-sharing website will now operate from cloud-hosting providers around the world. It says the move will save money and make it harder for law-enforcement agencies to shut it down.

19/10/2012  |  Full story...

Iconic US current affairs magazine Newsweek, is to become an online only publication to save on printing costs. The all-digital version of the magazine will be called Newsweek Global and operated on a paid subscription model. The 80-year-old publication has reported loses of $40m a year, even after the sale in 2010 to Sidney Harman, a 92-year-old audio magnate.

19/10/2012  |  Full story...

Google has offered a sneak peek at one of its top secret (but rather beautiful) data centres, showing the technology that powers billions of web searches, YouTube clicks and Gmail conversations every day. Until now, the search engine giant has only allowed a handful of employees access to its eight buildings around the world.

Watch a video showing how the data centres work below:

19/10/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon is considering a takeover bid for online fashion retailer Asos, according to a news report. The Daily Telegraph reports that Amazon examined Asos’ books earlier this year and the US retailer’s founder Jeff Bezos interest was heightened when he met Asos boss Nick Robertson.

22/10/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is offering mobile users the Indian rupee equivalent of nearly US$1 in free talk time to sign up to the social networking service, in a bid to increase its subscribers in the country. This offer is only for new sign ups and is not available to existing users. However, users can refer others to join Facebook and will receive Rs 50 if they join.

22/10/2012  |  Full story...

Apple is removing Oracle's Java software from browsers on its Mac operating system, as part of its latest software update. The move means that Apple users that use the updates Mac OS update will need to download Java support from Oracle directly. Java is a computer language that enables programmers to write one set of code to run on virtually any type of machine.

22/10/2012  |  Full story...

The Daily Mail website has generated 2 million 'pins' on Pinterest, with the Guardian getting the greatest number of shares for a single article, according to new research. The study, from Searchmetrics, looked at how 13 UK newspaper websites were using the online scrapbooking tool.

22/10/2012  |  Full story...

Election Day is just weeks away and both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney’s campaigns are in full swing. The success of each of the candidates on November 6 relies on effectively communicating to their constituents, seeking to build support, donations and their voter bases. This infographic from Return Path looks at who is winning the email battle in the race to the White House.

22/10/2012  |  Full story...

Yahoo is to focus its efforts on mobile advertising as the embattled web giant looks to compete with the likes of Google and Facebook. Announcing the company’s third quarter results, which beat expectations, Yahoo’s new boss Marissa Mayer revealed a revival strategy focused on making it a "predominantly mobile company."

23/10/2012  |  Full story...

Mobile operator EE has announced the prices for its 4G service, with prices starting from £36 per month. The service, the first of its kind to be commercially available in the UK, will come with no limit on domestic calls and texts. However, customers on this plan will only have a data allowance of 500MB, at which point net access is stopped unless a data add-on is bought.

Watch EE's promo video here:

23/10/2012  |  Full story...

Twitter is reportedly testing alternatives to its ‘Favourite’ button, as the micro-blogging platform looks to compete with Facebook on social bookmarking tools. The favourite button is Twitter’s equivalent to the Facebook ‘Like’ and a way to show appreciation to a good tweet, a weird tweet, a tweeted link or any tweet without replying or retweeting.

23/10/2012  |  Full story...

More than one in five Brits are already convinced physical money will disappear in the next 20 years, with 1 in 3 carrying less than £5 in cash, according to new research. The study, from Skrill, found that cash is being replaced by more contemporary payment methods, such as credit or debit cards, as well as digital wallets and paying with a mobile phone.

23/10/2012  |  Full story...

Social media has the biggest influence on purchases of video games, baby toys and mobile phones, and accounts for 1 in 10 purchasing decisions, according to a new global study. The research, from agency Arc, has revealed that video games (and systems), baby toys and mobile phones are the three product categories where social media has the biggest influence.

23/10/2012  |  Full story...

This chart shows the local search breakdown for mobile and non-mobile users in North America. 16.37% of local search queries on Google were conducting using a mobile device. The fewest local searches on a mobile were conducted using Bing with only 5.21%.

24/10/2012  |  Full story...

Apple has revealed a smaller version of its iPad, dubbed the ‘iPad mini’ as it looks to take on Amazon’s Kindle Fire, Goolge’s Nexus 7 and Samsung’s Galaxy Note in the growing mini tablet market. The device will be available for pre-order from 26th October and will ship from November 2nd. The company has also launched a new version of its full size iPad.

Watch the keynote presentation here:

24/10/2012  |  Full story...

The Internet was the fastest growing medium in terms of adspend during the first half of 2012, according to new data from Nielsen. Advertising is on the rise around the globe and across nearly all media types, according to Nielsen’s Global AdView Pulse report.

24/10/2012  |  Full story...

In a social media coup, a man who shares his name with travel agency Thomas Cook has won a free holiday, courtesy of rival LowCostHolidays. The man (named Thomas Cook) was awarded a trip to Paris after the travel agency Thomas Cook turned him down for a free vacation.

24/10/2012  |  Full story...

In honour of Felix Baumgartner’s landmark skydive from the edge of space, Nestle sent a Kit Kat bar into the ether with a video camera. See why it's our video viral of the week below…

24/10/2012  |  Full story...

Following the expected unveiling of the iPad Mini this week, Experian Hitwise provides 9 key stats from the web showing demand and traffic sources for the much anticipated device.

24/10/2012  |  Full story...

BBC Ceefax, the world's first teletext service, has shut down as part of the UK analogue signal termination today. Ceefax was launched on 23 September 1974 to give BBC viewers the chance to check the latest news headlines, sports scores, weather forecast or TV listings - in a pre-internet era where the only alternative was to read a newspaper or wait for the next TV or radio bulletin to be aired.

Watch a BBC interview discussing the closedown with Ceefax journalist William Gallagher below:

24/10/2012  |  Full story...

The UK switchover from analogue to digital terrestrial television, which will free up capacity for 4G services, has finally been completed. The analogue digital signal has been switched off this week for the last time, with TV viewers in Northern Ireland being the last to watch non-digital TV. As of this week, all transmissions of analogue TV channels will cease, leaving only the digital channels behind. The move means meaning the whole of Britain is in the digital TV era, and coincides with the launch of the superfast 4G mobile internet due at the end of the month (30th October).

24/10/2012  |  Full story...

Bing users are more likely to search for local goods and services then Google or Yahoo users in North America with 28.81%. Although Google is the largest of the three search engines, only 24.24% of users opted to conduct local search queries during the analysed period.

25/10/2012  |  Full story...

Zynga plans to shed 5% of its workforce, as the embattled games developer looks to save money following waning demand for some its its titles. In an email to staff, founder Mark Pincus said the company would close its Boston studio and consider closing studios in the UK and Japan. It is be the first ever round of job cuts at Zynga, which is based in San Francisco and has about 3,200 employees.

25/10/2012  |  Full story...

Argos is to scale back its iconic catalogue in favour of a focus on online retailer, as the home shopping retailer looks to reverse two years of falling sales. The new initiative will see Argos launch a new digital catalogue by Christmas while the circulation of the print version will be cut as part of an internet push. Stores will be kitted out with internet access and Wi-Fi, with a fast-track collection service and customer service for orders.

25/10/2012  |  Full story...

How do consumers view digital marketing? This poll of US consumers conducted by Adobe reveals that online ads still have some way to go to earn people’s attention ahead of TV and print ads. Adobe polled 1,250 US consumers and marketers’ views on online advertising. The survey reveals that almost half of the respondents agree ‘online advertising is creepy and stalks you’, and more than half agree that ‘most marketing is a bunch of B.S.’.

25/10/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft has launched its new line of tablets as the software giant looks to take on Apple in the lucrative tablet market. The move marks Microsoft's first entry into the PC hardware market, and the tablet prices start at £399.

Watch a BBC video review of the Surface tablet below.

25/10/2012  |  Full story...

Google is the UK’s most sought after employer, with BBC, Unilever, Shell and BP rounding out the top five, according to new research from LinkedIn. The new employer rankings, based on the billions of interactions among LinkedIn’s members, were announced today at LinkedIn’s Talent Connect event in central London, in front of more than 500 of Europe’s top employers.

25/10/2012  |  Full story...

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has asked UK's major internet service providers (ISP) to add three more file-sharing websites to its piracy blockade. The BPI claims that three sites including Fenopy, H33t and Kickass Torrents have been involved in illegal music distribution.

25/10/2012  |  Full story...

The overall digital ad spend during the period was £2.59bn, up from the previous year. The suggested reason for the rise in digital adspend is the statistic that 58% of the UK now own a smartphone. By far the most popular form of digital advertising was paid for search which accounted for 59%.

26/10/2012  |  Full story...

Things are finally looking up at Facebook after its disastrous IPO in May, as the world's largest social network recorded its largest share rises as a public company on the back of better than expected results. Facebook posted a small but significant improvement in its previous quarter earnings that pushed up its stock price up by 19%. The social network reported a loss of $59m (£37m) despite seeing third quarter revenues rise 32% compared with a year earlier.

26/10/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft has launched Windows 8, designed to run on PCs, tablets and smartphones, as the software giant looks to take on Apple and Google in the lucrative mobile operating system market. The new operating system, still the most widely used in the world, signals the biggest change at Microsoft since the emergence of Windows 95. About half of business users still have not upgraded to Windows 7 from Windows XP, which came out in 2001.

26/10/2012  |  Full story...

Pinterest has entered the top 50 most visited US sites, attracting 25.3 million vistors during September, according to new data. The data, from Comscore, reveals that Google sites remain at the top with 187 million visitors, closely followed by Microsoft, Yahoo, and Facebook.

26/10/2012  |  Full story...

Making sure that consumers remember not only an ad but the brand behind it is the key to advertising effectiveness. A recent Nielsen analysis of CPG TV ads from 2012 in the US found that Ocean Spray’s signature “Men in a Cranberry Bog” commercial tops the list of ads that not only resonated with consumers, but also were linked with the brand itself.

26/10/2012  |  Full story...

While most marketers use social media to create brand awareness, they are failing to use the channel to capture information on leads, according to new research. The study, from Eloqua commissioned YouGov to examine UK marketers' social media practices. The YouGov study set out to uncover how marketers currently use social media and specifically how social media is used for demand generation.

26/10/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon has reported third quarter results below expectations, including a large loss related to its stake in online coupon business, LivingSocial. Despite a 27% increase in Q3 sales Amazon the company's investment programme cancelled out US$13.8 billion of sales. Amazon posted a loss of US$274 million, down from earnings of US$63 million a year earlier.

29/10/2012  |  Full story...

ASOS has set its sights on launching in China and Russia within a year, as the online fashion group targets two of the biggest retail markets in the world. The internet retailer currently sells to China and Russia, but will develop local language websites in the next 12 months under plans for total sales to reach £1 billion by 2015.

29/10/2012  |  Full story...

Most PR agencies in Europe rely on specialist monitoring tools on top of regular Google searches to evaluate the influence of their media campaigns, according to new research. Press Index, a Kantar Media group company, published the first European survey on media monitoring practices in Public Relations agencies.

29/10/2012  |  Full story...

Google has unveiled the latest version of its Nexus tablet range, alongside a new smartphone and operating system, as its rivalry with Apple intensifes. The Nexus 4 handset and Nexus 10 tablet will go on sale on 13 November, Google has announced. The firm also announced that it will add music to its Google Play media store in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain on the same day.

Watch a promo video from Google here:

30/10/2012  |  Full story...

A new era of superfast mobile internet begins in the UK today, as 4G products and services are made available to millions of consumers in 11 cities across the UK. EE, formerly known as Everything Everywhere, will launch its range of 4G products and services in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Southampton.

30/10/2012  |  Full story...

Online shopping will account for at least a third of UK retail commerce by 2022, up from 13 per cent now, according to a new report. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Retail 2022 report examines how the retail landscape will change over the next 10 years.

30/10/2012  |  Full story...

China’s online ad spend is forecast to increase 13.4% to reach 394 yuan ($63bn/ £39bn) during 2012, despite uncertain outlooks in both the Eurozone and the U.S. economy, according to a report. The forecast was made in GroupM’s “This Year, Next Year: China Media Forecasts” report, which also predicts an 11.6 percent hike in 2013 to reach RMB 439 billion.

30/10/2012  |  Full story...

Chinese social networks are growing at a brisk pace though, with 95% of Chinese residents in the major cities use social networking sites. The infographic, provided by BestFreeOnline, shows that the number of Chinese Internet users is increasing at a dramatic pace — over 2100% in the last 12 years. With almost 1.4 Billion people, that means there is still a ton of room for growth, and this isn’t just free traffic.

30/10/2012  |  Full story...

MySupermarket is set to launch a free app that assists grocery shoppers on finding the cheapest prices when purchasing online. Dubbed the ‘MySupermarket Companion App’, the tool automatically recognises the URLs of online supermarket websites before comparing prices of users' baskets with other retailers. The program - launching next week - will also highlight other ways in which consumers can save money.

30/10/2012  |  Full story...

Apple has overhauled its management team and announced that two top executives are to leave the company, in a move that could signal a major culture change at the technology giant. John Browett, the head of retail, is out after just six months in the job and Scott Forstall, the long-serving head of its iPhone software development operations, will go in the new year. The US firm did not say why either man was leaving but both have presided over blunders in recent months.

31/10/2012  |  Full story...

US web users were unable to access a number of high-profile websites on Wednesday after as a 'Frankenstorm' hit New York, knocking several servers in Lower Manhattan offline. Sites such as the Huffington Post, Gizmodo and BuzzFeed, along with all Gawker Media sites, were affected, after flood water damaged the servers of Datagram, a Manhattan ISP whose servers host the sites.

31/10/2012  |  Full story...

Russia’s Mail.Ru Group has rebranded its international email service as my.com, as the first looks to expand. Mail.Ru Group’s portfolio includes several dozen cross-the-world popular browser and client games like Allods Online, Perfect World, Lord of the Rings Online, Warface. Mail.Ru Group has offices in several countries, including Germany, Israel and Latvia.

31/10/2012  |  Full story...

AT&T, American Express & Toyota are top global real-time-bid spenders, while BSkyB, Tesco and TalkTalk the biggest spenders in the UK, according to new data. Digital advertising technology company Rubicon Project has launched its quarterly global Marketplace Report.

31/10/2012  |  Full story...

Tesco has embarked on a Halloween-themed Twitter campaign to promote its wines division, in partnership with social media agency We Are Social. The campaign will encourage engagement between Tesco Wines’ Twitter community and will aim to increase the awareness of Tesco Wines by recruiting party participants and followers.

31/10/2012  |  Full story...

This chart shows the growth of web based email sites in Europe between 2001 and 2012. Europe's usage as a whole rose by 3.7% to a 69.5% reach of the total population. The UK has the highest percentage of its population using email sites, growing by 5.2% since last year. Sweden also showed notable growth over the period, with an extra 6.1% of its total population adopting email sites.

02/09/2012  |  Full story...

Samsung lead the way in 2012, with the largest increase (5%) in market share betwee Q2 2011 and Q2 2012. Manufacturers such as Apple and ZTE made significant increases over the measurement period. The previously popular brand Nokia suffered the biggest dip in market share with a 3% decrease.

03/09/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon remained top of the UK online shops during August, followed by Apple and Argos, while the Olympics boosted visits to travel sites, according to new research. The findings, from the IMRG-Experian Hitwise Hot Shops List, indicate that London 2012 Tickets was the fastest moving retailer this quarter as consumers flocked online for precious Olympics tickets. On the Beach entered the top 50 for the first time this quarter, joining 10 other travel brands who all rose in the rankings of the Hot Shops List with the exception of easyJet, which retained its previous position.

03/09/2012  |  Full story...

Bing has strengthened its partnership with Facebook, launching a new tool that lets users search and browse through their friends' photos. The ‘Friends' Photo’ feature isn't available directly from the Bing homepage. Instead, users need to go to a specific web page to use the tool. The feature only works if the user is signed into Facebook and has granted Bing’s permission to connect.

03/09/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon is launching its Groupon rival, AmazonLocal, across Europe, as the online retail giant looks to cash-in on the growing daily deals market. Launched last summer in the US, AmazonLocal offers users time- and location-sensitive discounts on shopping, restaurants, and special events. Like market leader Groupon, the local deals that offer price breaks on everything from spa treatments to flying lessons are shared via email subscription.

03/09/2012  |  Full story...

Gottfrid Svartholm, founder of filesharing site The Pirate Bay, has been arrested in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Svartholm was arrested on Thursday (August 30). He was sentenced to a year in jail with his fellow Pirate Bay founders, but has been on the run after failing to return to Sweden and serve his jail term.

03/09/2012  |  Full story...

Online retailer Amazon has partnered with Nokia to provide mapping services for its new Kindle Fire, representing a significant snub to Google. Reuters reports that the new tablet device will have an integrated mapping feature and the partnership with Nokia help the company avoid using Google Maps. Amazon revealed that the original Kindle Fire is now sold out and the Kindle Fire 2 is expected to be announced at an event on 6 September 2012.

03/09/2012  |  Full story...

Samsung may be the latest multinational to break digital marketing regulations by trying to manipulate blogger reviews in social media marketing through secret payments to bloggers. Positive ratings and reviews have a big impact on sales, but many brands are forgetting both regulations and common sense.

04/09/2012  |  Full story...

Google has shut down its television advertising business, saying that it will focus instead on enhanced online and mobile opportunities for video ads. In a blog post at the end of last week, the search engine giant announced its plans to abandon its TV advertising scheme, which was launched in 2007 with the aim of selling these promotional messages in the same way as online ones.

04/09/2012  |  Full story...

Asda customers who shopped online last month have been overcharged for their groceries, with one claiming to have been charged nearly five times the correct amount, following a computer glitch. Asda – whose parent company Walmart is based in America – was hit by a powercut as a US storm caused a glitch in the company’s computers on 16 August.

04/09/2012  |  Full story...

Chinese internet marketing giant Baidu is stepping up its product portfolio with major launches in cloud computing and a suite of mobile internet browser tools. Baidu is now looking to markets beyond China and revenues beyond search, directly competing with European and North American mobile, search and hosting firms. Baidu has launched a mobile browser, with aims that 80% of China’s Android handsets will have downloaded Baidu Mobile Browser by the end of the year.

04/09/2012  |  Full story...

Connected devices have become a way of life for many, but shoppers are digitally engaged to varying degrees depending on the products they buy, according to new research from Nielsen. While e-commerce activity for some consumer packaged goods (CPG) products — especially perishable categories where freshness counts — may not be as transformative as other non-CPG industries — such as books, music and travel — online grocery purchasing power is growing.

04/09/2012  |  Full story...

FileSonic has become the latest cyberlocker service to go offline, following a renewed clampdown on internet piracy. The service used to be one of the most popular file-sharing sites, but had restricted its members' ability to access other's uploads after the Megaupload arrests.

04/09/2012  |  Full story...

Another video allegedly showing a working model of the forthcoming iPhone5 has surfaced, ahead of its official launch expected next week. The video was posted on YouTube this week by an anonymous user. If proved to be genuine, the hands-on video shows a handset that is longer than the iPhone 4S to accommodate a larger screen - thought to be 4 inches, up from the current model's 3.5-inch display.

05/09/2012  |  Full story...

The IDs of around one million iPhone and iPad users has been leaked online by a group on hackers associated with the ‘Anonymous’ movement of online political activists. The data was allegedly stolen from an FBI laptop, which if proved true, could be a major embarrassment to the US intelligence service.

05/09/2012  |  Full story...

The BBC has updated its iPhone and iPad app, allowing mobile downloads as an alternative to streaming for the first time. Until now, programmes could only be downloaded to PCs and Macs for later viewing. The move opens up a new way for people to watch BBC content on the move. Starting this week on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, users can download shows from BBC iPlayer over Wi-Fi in advance by adding them to a ‘download queue’.

05/09/2012  |  Full story...

This 17 minute video from Lego provides a prime example of how a brand can engage users with long-form online content, rather than 30 second TV commercials. See why it's our video viral of the week below...

05/09/2012  |  Full story...

UK supermarket giant Tesco has bought digital book platform provider Mobcast as it looks to strengthen its digital entertainment offer.

05/09/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is cracking down on potentially fake ‘likes’ on its site, amid critisicm that bots are ramping up prices for advertisers on the social network. The social network announced in a post on its Facebook Security page that it is ramping up its automated efforts to remove likes that were generated via methods that violate its terms of service. The firm also used the announcement to warn against companies selling ‘likes’.

06/09/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said he will not sell any stock for at least 12 months as Facebook moves to reassure nervous investors. Facebook stock has plummeted to less than half of its value since its inital public offering at $38 in May and investors had feared the release of millions more shares onto the market would depress the price further.

06/09/2012  |  Full story...

Coca-Cola has marked its 50 millionth Facebook “Like” with a new campaign, drawing upon its social media fan base to identifying simple ways to ‘make the world a happier place’. Coca-Cola will identify individuals developing ideas that enable people to become more active, give to others, be social or engage in other activities associated with increased happiness. These creators will then collaborate with Coca-Cola and its Facebook community to develop ideas that help spread happiness around the world.

06/09/2012  |  Full story...

Sweden tops the list of most savvy web users in the world, with the US and UK following behind, according to a new survey launched by Internet inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee charity foundation. The study, compiled by Sir Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide Web Foundation, ranked both the social and political impact of the web.

06/09/2012  |  Full story...

Dutch premium beer brand Grolsch has worked with LBi to launch a revamped global web presence grolsch.com, a Facebook hub aimed at joining up Grolsch’s digital and social content designed for sharing across multiple platforms.

06/09/2012  |  Full story...

Twitter has released its controversial API update which restricts third party developers, opening up the possibility of in-app ads in the process. The move has sparked anger form some developers, who have claimed the move could stifle the development of innovative products. The firm’s hugely popular API platform has spawned a number of widely used social media applications such as TweetDeck, Hootsuite and Twitpic.

07/09/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon has unveiled three new versions of its Kindle Fire tablet, as the online retail giant looks to take on Apple’s iPad and Google’s new Nexus 7. The new version, called ‘Kindle Fire HD’, will also use a partly ad-funded business model. The devices come with ads, called "special offers" that appear when screens are locked and in the corner of the home screen, helping Amazon keep prices low.

07/09/2012  |  Full story...

Adobe has launched Adobe Social, an alalytics tool designed to helps users measure and understand the return on investment they get from their social media campaigns. Adobe Social lets marketers monitor mentions for their brand on Facebook and Twitter, find out which customers are the key influencers on each of these networks and track how much revenue is being generated from specific social media campaigns and posts.

07/09/2012  |  Full story...

The Huffington Post UK has launched a brand new content-led marketing campaign showcasing the content on the site and its blogs. The digital campaign, created with Gravity Road, includes several celebrities and opinion-formers such as Alice Cooper, Will Carling, Cherie Blair and TV presenter Cherry Healey.

07/09/2012  |  Full story...

Nearly one third (63%) of top UK websites have taken steps to address the new EU Cookie Directive, which aims to warns users when their data is being tracked online. The new research, from data privacy management firm TRUSTe, looked at UK website compliance efforts to date. TRUSTe's analysis reveals that nearly two in three top UK websites have implemented at least some measures to address the Directive, including several who have implemented robust and user-friendly compliance solutions. TRUSTe's study reviewed both compliance efforts and tracking activities on top UK consumer websites.

07/09/2012  |  Full story...

Apple is considering to expand its music service by licensing a custom radio servicing device, offering free music streams funded by iAds, according to a news report. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company is in talks with record labels to provide customized streaming music, in a move that would put Apple in deirect competiton with the likes of Pandora, Spotify and WE7.

10/09/2012  |  Full story...

Charity organisations get the highest open rates for emails, while education and retail sectors get the lowest impact in the inbox, according to a new global study. In its 2012 Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study, digital marketing technology provider Silverpop looked at email messages sent by 1,124 brands during 2011 and the first quarter of 2012.

10/09/2012  |  Full story...

Apple and Google will dominate the smartphone market in coming years, accounting nearly 80% share of the smartphone market by 2016, according to a new report. The research, from IHS iSuppli Wireless Communications, said that Nokia's Symbian operating system will be practically nonexistent by next year as a result of the smartphone merger between the Finnish giant and Microsoft.

10/09/2012  |  Full story...

Google has updated its mapping service in India, with two new features to boost navigation and traffic updates. The service now includes ‘turn-by-turn’ voice navigation through Google Maps Navigation (Beta). Google maps also now features live traffic information for major roads in select cities - Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad.

10/09/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft is rebranding its search partnership with Yahoo as the Yahoo! Bing Network, following the tie up between the two firms set up in 2009. Microsoft's partnership with Yahoo -- in which Bing powers Yahoo searches -- was formerly referred to as Search Alliance. In July, the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo's sites together held about 29 percent of U.S. searches, according to research firm comScore. Of that, Microsoft sites -- primarily Bing -- had about 16 percent and Yahoo had about 13 percent.

11/09/2012  |  Full story...

US newspapers are failing to offset their declining print ad revenues with new digital sales, according to new data. The study, from the Newspaper Association of America advertising statistics show $798 million in newspaper print losses for the first half of 2012. That is only slightly offset by a $32 million gain in digital. According to a political blog Poynter, this data shows that for every $25 loss from the costly print model, US newspapers are making just $1 from digital ad sales. This makes the ratio of losses to gains is 25 to 1.

11/09/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft is inviting users to test its Bing search engine aginast Google in a side by side challenge, called ‘Bing it on’. Microsoft has long struggled to convince users that its Bing search engine delivers better, more focused results than Google’s market-leading search. Now it’s challenging users to put the two searches through their paces in a “side by side search-off” at BingItOn. Microsoft claims Bing as a 2:1 winning ratio.

Watch the video here:

11/09/2012  |  Full story...

US iPhone and Android users are increasily relying on apps, rather than mobile websites, to get their travel information while on the move, according to new research. As the summer travel season comes to a close, Nielsen looked at the usage of travel-related mobile apps and websites during June 2012.

11/09/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft is recruiting over 1,000 additional employees in China this year and boost research and development spending by 15% as the software giant looks to boost its mobile reach in the highly lucrative region. Microsoft is promoting its Windows 8 mobile operating system but came late to the market and trails Apple Iand Google, whose Android system is widely used in China. In China nearly 400 million people surf the Web using mobile phones and other devices.

11/09/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has made his first public appearance since the companies tumultuous stock market float in May. Speaking at the TechCruch Disrupt event in San Francisco, Zuckerberg declared: “We are a mobile company now.” He conceded one of the group’s “biggest mistakes” was its earlier decision to focus on the mobile web rather than native apps, adding a new Android app would be available “soon”. He vowed that Facebook will make more money on phones than on desktops.

Watch a video of part of the interview below (source: IDG)

12/09/2012  |  Full story...

Europe as a whole dropped 6% in average time spent on web based email sites. Hotmail was the only site measured that reported a drop in average time spent with a 14% dip. Google Mail shows strong levels of engagement with an 18% increase since June 2011.

12/09/2012  |  Full story...

This chart shows the total number of unique visitors for each site in June 2012 and the percentage growth since June 2011. Google Mail shows considerable growth over the period with an 185 increase in users. Hotmail's growth has stalled with only a 1% increase in visitors. Russian email services Mail.Ru and Yandex Mail also saw huge growth with 22% and 37% increases.

12/09/2012  |  Full story...

Micro-blogging site Twitter is on course to make more money from mobile ads than Facebook for 2012, according to new research. The study, from eMarketer, projected revenues of $130m in mobile advertising revenues for 2012. By contrast Facebook expects to make just $73m on mobile for the year, the study found.

12/09/2012  |  Full story...

Mobile operator Everything Everywhere has unveiled the UK's first fourth generation (4G) phone service. The move will see Everything Everywhere launch a new network brand that will represent its 4G LTE coverage, called ‘EE’. The EE network will carry 4G coverage over the network’s 1800MHz spectrum, which Ofcom has given the green light for the operator to use.

Watch the announcement video here:

12/09/2012  |  Full story...

Google has released a new YouTube app for Apple users, ahead of the much-anticipated iPhone 5 launch today, which is expected to replace the preloaded YouTube app for Vimeo. YouTube will not be preloaded on the iPhone 5, and it looks like it will disappear from existing iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices when they upgrade to the iOS 6 software too.The new app will be available on Apple’s app store instead, while Apple is suspected to incude preloaded video software in partnership with YouTube rival Vimeo.

12/09/2012  |  Full story...

Spotify is planning a browser-based version of its music streaming service, as the firm looks to boost both subscriber and ad revenues. The firm will launch an internet-based edition to complement its current standalone desktop and mobile apps. The firm is also likely to take the opportunity to add new features that make it easier for Spotify users to follow the activity of others beyond their Facebook friends.

12/09/2012  |  Full story...

One of the world's largest web hosts and internet domain registrars GoDaddy.com was down for several hours on Monday, affecting thousands of small businesses. A Twitter feed that claimed to be affiliated with the Anonymous hacker group said it was behind the outage, but that couldn't be confirmed. Another Twitter account, known to be associated with Anonymous, suggested the first one was just taking advantage of an outage it had nothing to do with.

12/09/2012  |  Full story...

This chart shows each country's total number of unique internet users between June 2011 and June 2012. The Russian Federation has the highest total of unique users out of all the countries measured, exceeding the second highest, Germany, by almost 7 million users.

13/09/2012  |  Full story...

The United Kingdom had the highest number of average page visits with 3,434 per month. Finland and Norway had relatively high page visits for countries with low online populations, with 2,495 and 2,504 average page visits respectively.

13/09/2012  |  Full story...

Amongst web users the United Kingdom spent the most time online between June 2011 and June 2012 with an average of 37.9 hours. The country with the lowest average time spent online amongst web users was Austria with 13.5 hours- a total of 24 hours less than the United Kingdom.

13/09/2012  |  Full story...

Apple has unveiled its latest iPhone, offering 4G connectivity, a longer screen and improved hardware and software, all for £529. Apple said the handset would work on Everything Everywhere's (EE) 4G LTE network in the UK. The handset will ship on 21 September and is powered by new A6 processor that is twice as fast at graphics and processing, while RAM memory will double to 1GB. However, it does not feature a NFC (near field communication) chip to allow it to make touchless payments. In addition, the handset does not offer wireless charging like Nokia's Lumia 920.

Watch the trailer here:

13/09/2012  |  Full story...

Two days since announcing its entry into the car insurance comparison arena in the UK, Google's share of visibility for car insurance-related searches has soared overnight, from 0% to 75%, reveals research from digital marketing agency Greenlight. Following on from credit cards and bank accounts, Google has launched a price comparison service for car insurance in the UK, prominently promoted in its search engine results pages when a relevant online search is made.

13/09/2012  |  Full story...

The Mobile phone is considered the most important digital possession amongst 10-15 year olds, with BlackBerry's BBM remaining the top brand, according to new research. The Amaze Generation study looks into the attitudes of today's ‘digital natives’ towards ownership and possession of technology, and the influence it is having on their overall identity. The Amaze Generation study is a five-year research project looking at the impact of technology on the behaviour and attitudes of 10-15 year olds.

13/09/2012  |  Full story...

Salesforce.com is preparing to roll out a competing product to popular file-sharing and online storage service Dropbox. The announcement was made by CEO Marc Benioff TechCruch’s Disrupt event, who also revealed Salesforce’s new identity management system that could rival companies like Okta.

13/09/2012  |  Full story...

Desensitised to standard display advertising, consumers now spend 74% more time engaging with rich media ads, according to new research. As the levels of advertising across all digital channels continue to rise, traditional display advertising is failing to win-over consumers who are increasingly desensitised to standard banner ads.

13/09/2012  |  Full story...

Ahead of the launch of Apple’s iPhone 5, Experian Hitwise has provided key search and online data surrounding the hugely anticipated launch.

13/09/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon is opening a new research centre in East London's Tech City, Britain's answer to Silicon Valley, creating 100 new jobs in the process. The new London centre, located in Glasshouse Yard near Barbican, will focus on digital media projects that are set to include the creation of interactive digital services for TVs, game consoles, smartphones, PCs, as well as new APIs. Software development engineers, user-interface experts and graphic designers are expected to make up most of the 100 new job vacancies.

14/09/2012  |  Full story...

France's leading online newspaper publishers have called for a new laws to Google and other search engines to pay them for using their published content. In an interview, Nathalie Collin publisher of Le Nouvel Observateur weekly, said a law should impose a settlement in the long-running dispute with Google, which receives high volumes of advertising revenue from user searches for news contained on media websites.

14/09/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon is creating its first digital comic, Blackburn Burrow, with a plot that will change depending on feedback from readers. Described as, “a story set in Civil War America where supernatural horrors are infesting a small Appalachian town in Northern Georgia,” Blackburn Barrow was first submitted to Amazon Studios from writer Jay Levy in 2010.

14/09/2012  |  Full story...

How do you make a low budget online campaign for a brand that has awareness of 4%? This campaign for Lay's potato chips shows how, with a little local knowledge and some creative thinking, a small budget social media campaign can make a big impression…

Watch the case study video below (narrated by a talking potato, naturally).

14/09/2012  |  Full story...

Mobile advertising is performing better in the UK than in the US, while rich media formats are driving more clicks, according to new research. The Advertising Global Benchmarks performance report, from MediaMind, collates data from thousands of advertisers and campaigns, and billions of impressions.

14/09/2012  |  Full story...

As social media and search converge, Facebook is in a unique position to rival Google's dominance in the coming years. A new survey reveals that Mark Zuckerberg's plans to mix social with search could give Google a run for their (advertising) money. Zuckerberg has made it clear that Facebook has every intention of giving Google a run for its money by marrying social networking with one of the most valuable areas of the technology industry: Search. The Search market represents a “big opportunity” that Facebook is uniquely positioned to address, said Zuckerberg at a tech industry conference in San Francisco earlier this week.

17/09/2012  |  Full story...

Google is to add a 'Do Not Track' option to its Chrome browser, letting users opt out of developers and advertisers tracking their web surfing habits. The move follows similar features already rolled out to Internet Explorer, Safari, and Firefox. The option will enable users to confirm the websites and advertisers that they don’t want to get followed.

17/09/2012  |  Full story...

The click-through rate (CTR) for online video is 27.4 times that of standard banners and almost 12 times that of rich media ads, according to new research. The study,from MediaMind, analysed over 3 billion ad impressions globally over the first six months of 2012, revealing an increase in consumer attention to online video in ads.

17/09/2012  |  Full story...

Google has shut off the auto-complete terms for The Pirate Bay on its search engine, as the firm steps up its copyright clampdown. From now, users typing in searches for the file sharing site on Google will now have to type out almost the entire name of the site before seeing any Autocomplete suggestions.

17/09/2012  |  Full story...

HootSuite has bought Seesmic for $16 million, as the firm looks to strengthen its social media management platform. Founded in 2008 by entrepreneur and investorLoïc Le Meur, Seesmic runs Ping, a tool that lets users post multiple social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn) from its web or mobile app.

17/09/2012  |  Full story...

Paid-for reviews, ‘likes’ and ratings is becoming commonplace on social media and review sites, and will account for 10%-15% of all the reviews by 2014, according to a new report by Gartner. The IT advisory firm predicts that increased media attention on fake social media ratings and reviews will result in at least two Fortune 500 brands facing litigation from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the next two years.

18/09/2012  |  Full story...

Topshop attracted more than 2 million people to its live streamed fashion show at London Fashion Week on Sunday, with the retailer claiming to sell out of some lines during the broadcast. The show, streamed live on Facebook, allowed users to share their favourite looks with friends using the social network. Viewers used ‘open graph’ technology allowing them to post messages about the Topshop show, called ‘Unique’ automatically on Facebook and Twitter. The retailer trended globally on latter social networking site.

View the promo video for the event below:

18/09/2012  |  Full story...

In a UK first, Marie Claire is inserting a video ad on the pages of its October issue, set to play once a reader turns to page 35 and 35. The October issue of Marie Claire UK incorporates a black-and-white commercial for Dolce&Gabbana fragrance, the first UK display advert of its kind. Appearing on pages 34 and 35 in a limited run of a few thousand copies of the issue, a male and female model pose in a coastal scene and when the page is opened, the 45-second spot (directed by Mario Testino) automatically plays.

Watch a video demo here:

18/09/2012  |  Full story...

Passwords for online banking, social networks and email could be replaced with the wave of a hand if prototype technology developed by Intel makes it to tablets and laptops. Intel is working on sensors that could be implemented into laptops or tablets to scan the pattern of veins in a user's palm to verify their identity. The technology resembles the finger-print scanners found on some computers, but Intel believes this new method will be much more effective.

18/09/2012  |  Full story...

Android has notched a second consecutive month of ad share gains on iOS in August, now taking 43% of global served mobile ad impressions compared to 57% for Apple, according to new research. The study, from mobile marketing and advertising technology firm Velti, indicates that in July, Android held 42 percent of ad impressions compared to 58 percent for Apple. This comes on the back of the news that Samsung sold more devices than Apple and other manufacturers in Q2 2012.

18/09/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is testing a new mobile ad network, running ads targeted according to user data on third-party apps and mobile websites for the first time. The new platform will see Facebook expanding beyond its website to syndicating ads across the web and on mobile apps, essentially offering a rival to Google’s AdSense ad network.

The move comes as the social network comes under increasing pressure from investors to make more money from mobile ads.

19/09/2012  |  Full story...

Social recommendations and brand websites are more trusted than advertising, yet ad dollars continue to rise globally. Randall Beard, Global Head of Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen looks at paid, owned and earned media and asks if trust in advertising matters? And if so, can we even do anything about it?

19/09/2012  |  Full story...

Twitter has updated its profile pages with Facebook-style header photos, as the micro-blogging firm looks to broaden its multi-platform functions, across the web, mobiles and tablets. In a blog post, Twitter said the changes gave users the opportunity to 'make their presence on Twitter more meaningful'.

19/09/2012  |  Full story...

FMCG giant Procter & Gamble has struck a deal with Google to create a football-based YouTube channel to promote its Gillette male grooming brand. The ‘Gillette Football Club’ will show highlights and goals from several major international leagues, though the channel won’t feature any action from England’s Premier League, as the online rights are owned by Yahoo.

Watch the launch video here:

19/09/2012  |  Full story...

Google has bought Nik Software, maker of the popular Snapseed photo editing and sharing app, for an undisclosed sum. The move puts Google in direct competition with Facebook in the photo app market, after its acquisition of Instagram back in July.

19/09/2012  |  Full story...

Visits to major search engines in the UK fell for the first time this year, with sports terms such as BBC Sport proving more popular than Olympic specific search keywords, according to new data. As shown in the table, visits to the major search engines have actually decreased by 100 million since July 2012. Similarly, visits are down by 40 million since August 2011, making this month the first of 2012 in which we haven’t seen a year-on-year increase in search activity.

19/09/2012  |  Full story...

Social networking is the leading category in India with over a 25% share of total time spent online. Social networking exceeds the entertainment category by 15%. Social networking also has three times the engagement levels of email, which is the forth most popular destination in the country.

20/09/2012  |  Full story...

Google sites draw the highest volume of the Indian online population with almost 58 million hits for June 2012, however, Facebook leads the group in engagement levels. Facebook users spent an average of 224.9 minutes of their online time on the site, exceeding the time spent on Google sites by over an hour. Microsoft sites ranked fourth in terms of volume of visits, but showed poor engagement levels with users spending an average of less than 20 minutes on the sites.

20/09/2012  |  Full story...

Yahoo has sold back half of its stake in Chinese internet giant Alibaba for $7.6bn (£4.7bn), in a move that has fuelled speculation that the firm could use the cash to bid for a hot web property, such as Pinterest or Foursquare.

20/09/2012  |  Full story...

Olympic fever had a detrimental effect on UK online sales in the UK, which fell 11% during August, according to new figures. The study, from IMRG Capgemini, found that year-on year sales were up, but August’s sales marked a steep decline on the previous month of July.

20/09/2012  |  Full story...

To promote its new Etios car in South Africa, Toyota promised to make people smile. The Sweets for Tweets installation, created by HelloComputer & ThingKing, did just that by rewarding virtual smile tweets with real-life candy via a Wonka-like contraption. See why it’s our video viral of the week below…

20/09/2012  |  Full story...

Online co-creation community eYeka has launched the first ever visualisation of the use of crowdsourcing by brands over time. In keeping with its theme, the timeline is crowdsourced, taking suggestions from users to improve the chart. The timeline, “Crowdsourcing by the World’s Best Global Brands”, is a visual demonstration of how the world’s most valuable brands have increasingly used crowdsourcing to pursue marketing and innovation-related business objectives since the early 2000s.

20/09/2012  |  Full story...

eBay has unveiled its new look logo, as the online marketplace looks to convey a sleek modern image awayfrom its manic auction-based origins. The primary-coloured logo has been scaled down from the manic lettering it displayed for almost two decades, and will now showcase the company's name in a more modern way.

20/09/2012  |  Full story...

A Twitter campaign from Waitrose has become the subject of ridicule this week, once again sparking the debate as to whether there’s ‘no such thing as bad publicity’ on social media. The John Lewis owned firm invited Twitter customers to finish the sentence ‘I shop at Waitrose because…’, asking them to include the hashtag “#WaitroseReasons”. Within hours the hashtag was being mocked on the social network. Two Twitter posts ridiculed Waitrose by saying that the upmarket shop was the best place to pick up unicorn food and 24ct gold thread toilet paper.

21/09/2012  |  Full story...

Apple’s new mapping technology, which replaces Google Maps, has come under fire from users and businesses alike for a myriad of inaccuracies and misplaced landmarks. Amongst a wide range of complaints surfacing on Facebook and Twitter include missing towns (Stratford-upon-Avon and Solihull), wrong locations (Uckfield in East Sussex) and satellite images of various locations, particularly in Scotland, being obscured by cloud. Some smaller roads and lanes do not even have road names and numbers in the UK. There is also no built-in information about public transportation.

21/09/2012  |  Full story...

Internet ‘discovery engine’ StumbleUpon, has updated it iOS app for iPhone and iPad users. The new app includes the new StumbleDNA; a colour bar that appears on every user’s profile page, providing a visual representation of each individual’s mix of interests on StumbleUpon. It also highlights trending content and activity from friends and Interest experts.

Watch a video highlighting the new StumbleUpon iOS app below:

21/09/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft has updated its logo for the first time since 1987, with a more modern look that matches the metro-style tiles of its new Windows Mobile operating system. The new logo features a lighter, grey typeface and a streamlined version of the multi-coloured square associated with its Windows products. The updated look is already live on the microsoft.com home page.

Watch the launch video here:

21/09/2012  |  Full story...

Real Media is linking with Microsoft’s ad exchange as the two firms look to boost the reach and targeting capabilities for online advertising clients. Real Media Group, a business unit of 24/7 Media, is integrating the Microsoft Ad Exchange with 24/7 Access, its network of premium publishers, and 24/7 Open AdStream, its propriety ad management platform.

21/09/2012  |  Full story...

NOW TV, the internet TV service powered by Sky launched this summer, has chosen Affiliate Window to handle its affiliate marketing campaign. Sky has partnered with Affiliate Window since early 2008. The brand plans to leverage its experience in the performance channel to launch a strategic campaign for NOW TV to complement its other online marketing activity across PPC and display advertising.

21/09/2012  |  Full story...

Japan has the highest number of online videos watched per user with 242.5, surpassing its closest contender Hong Kong by over 60 videos per user. The fewest videos watched per user were recorded in Indonesia with 53.5, four times less than Japan.

24/09/2012  |  Full story...

This chart shows the total number of unique online video viewers and the percentage of that countries web population that they represent. Vietnam and Hong Kong have the highest percentage of their web population engaging with online video with 89.8% and 88.7% respectively. India and Indonesia showed the lowest total percentage of web populations interacting with online video.

24/09/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is working with US data provider Datalogix to measure how many people who view ads on the social networking site then go on to buy that product in a store. Initial testing from the two firms indicates that on average, for every dollar a marketer spent on Facebook it earned an additional $3 in incremental sales. The move comes amid growing shareholder pressure for Facebook to prove the value of its advertising. However, the partnership has raised concerns among privacy advocates over the use of personal information.

24/09/2012  |  Full story...

Over 4 in 5 (82%) of UK consumers are happy to share their information with brands across at least one channel, according to this new infographic from Experian. The data divided UK consumers into 4 key categories depending on how many channels they are willing to share data with a company (eg email address, Facebook data, Pinterest boards).

24/09/2012  |  Full story...

Nestle has launched a (slightly creepy) new promotion for its Kit Kat, Yorkie and Aero bars, embedding GPS trackers in select bars, with the promise to track down the buyer within 24 hours to deliver a £10,000 prize.The promotion called 'We will find you', will involve six KitKat 4 Finger, KitKat Chunky, Aero Peppermint Medium, or Yorkie bars.

Watch the promo video here:

24/09/2012  |  Full story...

Publicis has bought Dutch ad agency LBi International for €416m, as the French marketing giant continues on the acquisition trail to boost its digital advertising reach. The deal follows a spate of mergers and acquisitions amongst agencies as larger groups buy up the few remaining faster growing digitally-focused smaller shops. Back in June, Martin Sorrell's advertising giant WPP bought digital agency AKQA, while in July, Japanese ad giant Dentsu agreed to buy marketing group Aegis.

24/09/2012  |  Full story...

BT is to give away YouView digital boxes to people that sign up to its Infinity fibre broadband or TV Essential service, provided they pay a £50 activation charge plus delivery costs. The Humax YouView box will give access to free digital channels as well as pay per view from Sky and catch up and other video on-demand services. The offer will start in October.

24/09/2012  |  Full story...

Google has pulled the plug on its music search and download services in China from next month after a 'disappointing' response from users. More than two years ago, Google effectively shut down its Chinese search engine, providing mainland users with a landing page that redirects to its uncensored site in Hong Kong.

24/09/2012  |  Full story...

Video sharing site Vimeo is introducing a ‘tip jar’ to help contributors monetise their content without ads. The ‘tip jar’ lets a viewer click a button by a video to contribute money to the creator. For its part, Vimeo will take 15% commission. The IAC/InterActiveCorp-owned firm is also planning to launch pay-per-view functionality on the video platform, as it looks to monetise its audience of 75 million viewers a month.

In an interview with Beet.tv (embedded below) CEO Kery Trainor said the platform is interested to see "just what are the types of content that work in a channel like this".

25/09/2012  |  Full story...

Apple’s heavily-criticised new mapping system looks set to remain the only location app on the iPhone 5 for a while longer, as Google revealed it has not yet submitted its mapping service for inclusion on the App Store. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has admitted that no move has been made to put the Internet search engine giant's map application on Apple's latest smartphone operating system, iOS6.

25/09/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon has launched its Cloud Player in the UK, offering an online backup of all their songs purchased from the online retailer. All MP3 files purchased from Amazon are automatically stored in Cloud Player for free and there is no charge for importing a further 250 songs from iTunes or elsewhere.

Watch a video explaining how the service works below;

25/09/2012  |  Full story...

Waitrose is launching its own food-based video channel this autumn, as the supermarket chain looks to expand its digital reach. Dubbed ‘Waitrose TV’, the transactional site will be dedicated to food and will feature top chefs including Delia Smith, Heston Blumenthal, Silvana Franco and The Fabulous Baker Brothers.

25/09/2012  |  Full story...

Many email marketers are failing to track their campaigns after they hit ‘send’, with more than 40% admitting they do not have the analytics in place to determine inbox placement rates for their campaigns, according to a new study. The Relevancy Group study, from email marketing provider Return Path, surveyed more than 300 senior marketing executives.

25/09/2012  |  Full story...

MySpace has undergone its fourth major redesign in its 7 year history, as the embattled social network looks to rebrand itself and a music sharing site. The site, now part-owned by Justin Timberlake, will offer deeper integration with Facebook and Twitter. The new-look site features a minimalist photo-based design that aims to put music at the heart. Users can control audio content from a navigation panel and pair photograph albums with playlists in a kind of social media mix tape.

View the launch video here:

26/09/2012  |  Full story...

Top UK publishers have blamed advertising agencies for being reluctant to invest in mobile ads despite the increasing numbers of people using smartphones and tablets, according to a new survey. The survey was conducted by Association of Online Publishers (AOP) amongst its members, which include most of Britain's major newspaper, TV, magazine and radio groups and account for 1,500 digital titles boasting combined web returns of over £1bn. When asked to name the "main inhibitors" towards the growth of revenues from wireless devices, 53.5% of the panel cited the attitude of agencies. This figure stood at 55% for smartphones and 52% for tablets.

26/09/2012  |  Full story...

Procter & Gamble’s Facebook campaign for its Secret deodorant smartly matched the brand to a key issue facing its target audience- cyber bullying. The “Mean Stinks” used video and social media in an ‘always-on’ approach that resulted in a 9% uplift in sales. See why it’s our viral of the week below…

26/09/2012  |  Full story...

Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) is set to launch a smartphone app with an online gaming element, as the restaurant chain looks to boost its digital reach. Diners earn "badges" for undergoing certain challenges, which then equate to free food. For example, customers ordering a Habernero burger with extra jalapeno chillies will receive a Fireface badge, entitling them to a free drink.

26/09/2012  |  Full story...

App stores are gaining ground in the emerging markets of Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, South and Central America and Africa as smartphone penetration increases and users seek a richer experience on their mobile devices, according to a new report. The study, from independent telecoms analyst Ovum, asserts that the increasing penetration of smartphones, mobile broadband, and the ongoing reduction of service and device prices has translated into an expansion in the use of mobile applications in emerging markets.

26/09/2012  |  Full story...

Rovio has launched a sequel to its hugely popular Angry Birds game, ‘Bad Piggies’, as the app maker hopes to match the ad-funded success of its predecessor. Going live today (27th September) and avaialble iOS, Android and Mac, the free ad-funded game turns the franchise on its head by letting the fans play as the pigs with new gameplay. In Bad Piggies, instead of shooting with a slingshot, players build vehicles that help the characters get the birds' eggs. The company said it was hoping the new game would breathe additional life into its brand.

Watch a gameplay trailer here:

27/09/2012  |  Full story...

More than 1 in 10 (12%) of US adults are now using Pinterest, but nearly 20% of women are on the site, according to a new report. The study, from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, examined the habits of more than one thousand American adults. It indicates that while 19% of women are using the site, just 5% of online men are on Pinterest.

27/09/2012  |  Full story...

Google has gone underwater for its latest addition to its street view service, offering 360 degree interactive tours of some of the world’s most famous coral reefs. The firm has partnered with the Catlin Seaview Survey to add areas from the Great Barrier Reef and several other underwater spots. Other areas include Lady Elliot Island, Molokini Crater, Maui, Hanauma Bay, Hawaii, Oahu, and Apo Island, Philippines.

27/09/2012  |  Full story...

Barnes & Noble plans to launch new Nook tablets alongside its e-readers in the UK later this year, as the book retailer looks to take on the likes of Apple, Amazon and Google in the growing market. The Nook tablet is smaller than rivals at 7 inches, and is also the lightest such device to offer a "high definition" experience. The firm has secured distribution deals with some of the country's leading retailers, but may suffer because its brand is less well known.

27/09/2012  |  Full story...

Online orders for pizzas beat phone purchases at Domino's for the first time this month, as more than half of deliveries were bought via its website or apps. Driven by smartphone use, the business - whose 770 outlets are primarily run through franchisees - said internet sales accounted for 58 per cent of UK deliveries, up from 46.5 per cent last year. Domino's has an app to make ordering from mobile phones much easier, and smartphone sales accounted for 18.5 per cent of the £62.8m of online business in the quarter.

27/09/2012  |  Full story...

US TV network ABC is to broadcast a cooking show that began as part of YouTube's “Original Channels” initiative, the first such deal to take a YouTube-funded program to national TV. ‘Recipe Rehab’ teaches viewers familiar recipes, and will be will be broadcast on Saturday mornings on 200 ABC-affiliate stations across the United States from October. For the TV version, Recipe Rehab will be re-shot for the 22-minute TV format, but will be helmed by the same executive producer as the Web version, and two of its star chefs from YouTube will migrate to the small screen.

Watch a sample video here:

28/09/2012  |  Full story...

Thirty-nine percent of online retail transactions by new customers start with clicks from paid or organic search results and less than 1% come from social channels according to a new Forrester report. 48% of consumers reported that social media posts are a great way to discover new products, brands, trends, or retailers, but less than 1% of transactions could be traced back to trackable social links.

28/09/2012  |  Full story...

Brits are the most avid texters and web surfers, while Spain has the highest smartphone penetration, according to new research looking at mobile phone usage across the leading 5 countries in Europe

28/09/2012  |  Full story...

UK online retailers could be losing millions of pounds worth of sales from customers who click away from a full basket and abandon their purchases, according to new research. The study, from Aspect Software, found that 52% of retailers questioned claimed that they did not act on abandoned baskets with 12% saying that they had no plans to introduce a recuperation strategy.

28/09/2012  |  Full story...

Queues for tiny fitting rooms in stores are driving customers online, but a lack of sizing information on the web is resulting in high volumes of returns, according to new research. The study, from virtual fitting room provider Fits.me, indicates that 36% of shoppers use in-store fitting rooms less than they did just three years ago. Many of these consumers appear to be interested in finding an online alternative to trying on clothes in-store, with over half (52%) respondents never or only sometimes trying on clothes in-store because they shop for clothes online.

28/09/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has denied allegations from a music company that branded the social network as 'scumbags' and claimed that 80% of its ad clicks were generated by bots rather than people. US start-up Limited Run (formerly known as Limited Pressing) claims that Facebook charged them for ad rate clicks, but it could only verify where 20% of those clicks were coming from. 80% of clicks were from users with Javascript disabled–a rare setting for a typical user.

01/08/2012  |  Full story...

Twitter has reached the half billion accounts mark in June 2012, including more than 140 million in the US alone, according to new research. The study, from Semiocast, indicates that user-base growth is slowing in Japan and Korea, yet Japan remains one of the most active countries. In June 2012, the top three cities by number of tweets were Jakarta, Tokyo and London.

01/08/2012  |  Full story...

Yahoo!’s former interim CEO, Ross Levinsohn, who was overlooked for the top position, is leaving the company today. The move was revealed in a regulatory filing with the Securities Exchange Commission of the US yesterday. The report stated that Levinsohn will leave the company effective July 31, 2012. The announcement comes after Levinsohn was overlooked for the position of CEO and Ms Marissa Mayer was appointed at the top position.

01/08/2012  |  Full story...

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games has set the record for the most number of views in a single day on the BBC’s iPlayer catch-up platform. Originally aired on Friday night, the Danny Boyle-directed ceremony was requested on the iPlayer 925,000 times on Saturday, the BBC said. Over the course of the weekend, it was requested a total of 1.7 million times.

01/08/2012  |  Full story...

Mitchells & Butlers, the UK's biggest restaurant and pub group which owns the All Bar One, Toby Carvery, Harvester and O'Neills chains amongst others, has hired digital strategy agency Underwired.

01/08/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft is phasing out its iconic Hotmail webmail service, replacing it with a new email service that combines elements of Exchange, Skype and Hotmail into one tool, as the software giant looks to regain market share lost to Google's Gmail. The revamped service will help sort messages as they arrive and allow users to make internet calls on Skype, and has been designed to tackle the problem of "cluttered" inboxes.

Watch a video explaining how the service works below:

02/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google has bought social media management tool Wildfire for $250m, as the firm looks to rival the likes of Facebook and Twitter. US-based Wildfire was co-founded four years ago by Victoria Ransom and Alain Chuard. The firm is focused on helping brands optimize their presence across various social networks. It offers a software platform that integrates directly with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. The terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

02/08/2012  |  Full story...

Despite the economic gloom, direct marketing spend in the UK is set to grow 7% this year, driven by investment in email and social media, according to new research from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). The report comes just days after the Government announced the UK economy had shrunk by 0.7% in the second quarter of the year.

02/08/2012  |  Full story...

If low quality sites are linking to yours, this could affect your search rankings- but how can you detect and tackle these ‘black hat’ SEO techniques? In this video, Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team, explains what to do if competitors are using these underhand techniques to outrank you on Google. Can your competitors harm you through link bombs? What if one of your competitors tries to bolster you by buying paid links from thousands of sites? In this video, Matt Cutts offers advice on how to combat these techniques.

02/08/2012  |  Full story...

The operator of Holiday Inn is under investigation for signing a potentially unlawful deal to limit discounts on rooms. The operator of Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotels and two of the UK’s biggest online travel agents - Expedia and Booking.com - are facing an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading today for signing a potentially unlawful deal to limit discounts on rooms.

02/08/2012  |  Full story...

Selling through Facebook (f-commerce) is set to be worth £3.1 billion for UK businesses over the next 3 years, according to new research. The research, carried out by TNS on behalf of Ecwid, polled 2000 consumers in the UK. It indicates that 25% of people would prefer to shop on Facebook than eBay as it offered a more personal shopping experience, and that at present, the vast majority of consumers (85%) feel that they receive no value from a Facebook ‘like’.

02/08/2012  |  Full story...

London businesses are flocking to hire online freelancers, as the UK capital is coming out as the top earning city in Europe, where online hiring was up 25% over last quarter, according to a new report. The online employment report from Elance, an online employment platform, found an increased demand for creative skills such as web design and content writing, rising by more than 200% compared to a year ago, as companies are investing heavily in creative talent.

02/08/2012  |  Full story...

Nearly all (94%) of consumers worry about their online privacy, and are less likely to engage with companies they do not trust, according to new report. The research, from TRUSTe, also found that 54% of consumers are now more concerned about online privacy than one year ago. The study also found that 27% of consumers are more concerned with mobile privacy than website privacy.

02/08/2012  |  Full story...

Get the most out of Twitter: Statistics show brands what, when and how often to Tweet to maximize consumer engagement

03/08/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has revealed that 83 million of its accounts could be fake, accounting for nearly 9% of its total users, as the social network comes under increasing pressure to meet advertiser and shareholder demands.

03/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google, Facebook and YouTube are the biggest sites in the world, followed by the likes of Baidu and qq in China, according to a new graphic looking at global web use. The map, depicting the size and relationships of the biggest 350,000 websites in the world, was created by Ruslan Enikeev. He measured 2 million links from 196 different countries to create the interactive graphic.

03/08/2012  |  Full story...

YouTube makes its play in Europe to become a mainstream TV channel provider. The UK has been selected for piloting a series of special YouTube channels, with the country’s leading TV production houses commissioned to create the programming. News provider ITN, and entertainment creators Maverick Television and Hat Trick Productions are a few of those lining-up the initial investments. It’s a new marketing approach for YouTube as a media property and one that offers new marketing approaches for brands looking to use TV on the web and YouTube in particular. For YouTube’s parent, Google, this is also a fundamental shift into content creation and broadcasting.

03/08/2012  |  Full story...

Global ad giant WPP has bought Fortune Cookie, one of the UK’s longest running independent digital marketing services agencies.

03/08/2012  |  Full story...

The iconic Commodore 64 has marked its 30th anniversary this week, pioneering the concept of home computing and opening the door to the likes of Atari, Microsoft and Apple. This BBC video introduces school children of today to the granddaddy of home computing to see if it still holds appeal to the ‘Facebook generation’.

Watch the video from the BBC below:

03/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google has partnered with the National Football League to allow people to conduct Google+ Hangouts while preparing their teams for fantasy football. The feature will be available to those playing fantasy football on NFL.com throughout the season, so users can connect with others in their league easily. In addition, fantasy football experts will be available to participate so users can get advice when selecting their teams and setting their rosters throughout the year.

03/08/2012  |  Full story...

As the first 'social' Olympics gets underway, some over-zealous sponsors are already feeling the wrath of Twitter users, and this month we look at why brands are succeeding (and failing) at the games.
July was another tough month for Facebook, as its ad revenue growth dipped and shares fell. The social network has come under fire for allegations that bots are creating fake 'likes' - ramping up the prices for ads. Can Facebook stem the flow of bad publicity and turn its mobile growth into profits? We've got Zuckerberg's latest attempts at monetisation below, including job boards, a 'want' button and social search ads.

Google and Apple's rivalry has intensified, as the £159 Nexus 7 goes on sale to undercut the iPad. Leaked videos and reports suggest Apple will respond with a majorly revamped iPhone and iPad Mini this September - we've got the video below, (possibly) offering the first glimpse of the iPhone 5.

Top data this month looks at ad spend growth around the world, with digital leading the way in all territories. We also compare mobile ad revenues from Facebook and Twitter, and have the latest infographics on social media ROI along with the best times to post brand messages on Facebook and Twitter - can you guess the top weekly time slot to reach your audience?

Read June 2012

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03/08/2012

The Middle East and Africa showed the most significant growth for all regions. Outdoor ad spend saw the biggest gain in the region with a 45.3% increase, the biggest increase of any ad spend in all regions analysed.

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06/08/2012

Facebook has had a turbulent few months following its IPO fiasco, tumbling shares and accusations that fake profiles (or bots) are driving up ad prices. But one entrepreneur has come to the social network’s defence, claiming to have made $10,000 in one day via a vinyl records sale advertised on Facebook. Brendan Irvine-Broque, the director of growth at PageLever, spent $150 to promote a garage sale using Facebook's 'Sponsored Stories' events format, inviting people to come purchase his vintage vinyl records at $3 each.

06/08/2012  |  Full story...

While traditional TV is still the major player in most US households, DVRs now appear in 44% of homes, up almost 80% since 2007. This report and video from Nielsen looks at the rise of connected TV, and how it will impact marketing in the future.

06/08/2012  |  Full story...

Another tipping point for data about the growth of ecommerce as UK subsidiary of Amazon announces it’s selling more Kindle titles than printed books. This announcement about Amazon ecommerce sales follows expectations that Amazon total sales will overtake Walmart by 2020. Here’s why…

06/08/2012  |  Full story...

In the period from January to April 2012, advertising expenditures in the German advertising market totaled €9.4 billion, an increase of 1.6% or €143.6 million compared to the same period in the previous year, according to new data. Across all advertising media, the Internet showed the strongest growth proportionally in the German market. In absolute terms, the strongest driver of Internet advertising in the period from January to April 2012 was the automotive product group.

06/08/2012  |  Full story...

Cinema ad spend saw the biggest decrease for Latin America with -18%, while ad spend on the internet reported a 31.8% increase from 2011.

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07/08/2012

Companies with Facebook profiles will be accountable for comments made by the public on their pages, following a ruling by an advertising watchdog in Australia. Drinks brand Diageo was referred to the Advertising Standards Board (ASB) in Australia, after complaints about its Smirnoff Facebook page. The complaints related to a number of sexist, racist and obscene comments appearing on the page, along with references to under-age drinking.

07/08/2012  |  Full story...

Apple is in talks to buy up Pinterest rival The Fancy, as it looks to bolster its social media tools and grow its ecommerce revenue. Similar to Pinterest, The Fancy acts as an online pinboard or scrapbook, letting users save pics related to their interests and post it to a blog-come-wall. The site is backed by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, and describes itself as ‘part store, blog magazine and wishlist’.

07/08/2012  |  Full story...

Chinese search giant Baidu has become embroiled in a bribing scandal, with four of its employees suspected of accepting payments to delete posts on the company’s forum. Baidu has already fired the four staff members involved - of which three have now been arrested. It has not been confirmed why the fourth member has avoided further action, nor what posts were deleted.

07/08/2012  |  Full story...

eBay is testing a same-day delivery service dubbed eBay Now, as the online marketplace looks to rival Amazon. Available to selected users in San Francisco as part of a limited test, the eBay Now service allows users to receive goods from local retailers the same day - usually, eBay claims, within an hour of placing the order.

07/08/2012  |  Full story...

Samsung continues to lead European smartphone market, and the Galaxy manufacturer now has five of Britain’s top 10 best selling handsets. Samsung has increased its European market share to 45 per cent, while RIM has found its share in the UK fall to 10.9 per cent, compared to 21.6 per cent at the same point of last year, according to market data company Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

07/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google has continued its summer clean, shutting down three more products as it focuses on its core business to compete with the likes of Apple and Facebook. Google has continued its summer clean, shutting down three more products as it focuses on its core business to compete with the likes of Apple and Facebook. Podcast app ‘Listen’, collaboration tool Google Apps for Teams and internal video app Google Video for Business are all to be phased out.

07/08/2012  |  Full story...

KLM’s quirky ‘Meet and Seat’ passenger matchmaking campaign has already drawn many plaudits. Now it’s ramping up awareness with a number celebrity endorsements on YouTube. See why it’s our video viral of the week here…

07/08/2012  |  Full story...

Television is the only media that decreased in ad spend in the Asia-Pacific region. Cinema ad spend showed the most growth with a 27.1% increase from the previous year.

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08/08/2012

Facebook has entered the world of online gambling with its first real-money bingo and slots app launched this week. The Jackpotjoy Bingo and Slots Friendzy app has been created by developer Gamesys and is open to players in the UK over the age of 18. The website's largest gaming partner, Zynga, said it also planned to introduce real-money gambling versions of its games next year.

08/08/2012  |  Full story...

Following an action packed Olympic weekend in which Team GB increased their medal haul, Experian looks at how Facebook is fuelling the UK’s excitement around the Games. Team GB's fan page has grown rapidly from less than 100,000 fans on the eve of the games to almost three quarters of a million fans (705,000) in little over a week. Meanwhile, the longer established US Olympic Team page has grown only two per cent from 2.2 million since the games began.

08/08/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft has stuck to its guns over a controversial decision to implement ‘Do Not Track’ options as the default setting for its forthcoming Internet Explorer 10 browser. The move has already sparked outcry from advertisers who fear it will drive down the effectiveness of targeted ads. Internet Explorer 10 will automatically block personal information gathered from users web browsing habits, data shared by third-party companies to serve up targeted advertising.

08/08/2012  |  Full story...

Almost half (47%) of all smartphone owners in the U.S. use mobile shopping apps, with established online players eBay and Amazon.com leading in popularity, according to new research. The study, from Nielsen, indicates that 45 million people, or 47% of all smartphone owners, used mobile apps in the Nielsen-defined Shopping/Commerce category in June.

08/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google Chrome now owns over one third of the browser market globally, extending its lead over Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as more users make the switch. However, conflicting data still puts IE in the lead. The latest statistics from StatCounter gives Chrome a 33.8% share of the global market, representing a gain from 32.8% in June of this year and a much more significant gain from the 22.1% of the global market Chrome had in July of 2011.

08/08/2012  |  Full story...

Reckitt Benckiser has teamed two of its brands - Strepsils and Lemsip - to defeat 'Man-Flu' via an interactive video and social media campaign. The Australian campaign features ‘Online pamperer’ Flo, an elderly woman that offers advice on getting over flu during winter season. Created by agency Holler, Sydney, the campaign uses Facebook Connect to put user’s Facebook pics inside the interactive videos. 'Flo' then offers guys discounts off Strepsils and Lemsip at participating retailers.

08/08/2012  |  Full story...

Procter & Gamble's Olympic sponsorship is set to generate an addition $500m in sales according to its CEO. This case study looks at how the FMCG giant is using the digital channel to push its umbrella Olympic message across 34 of its brands. In announcing the firm’s positive Q2 results, Proctor and Gamble CEO Bob McDonald has cited P&G's Olympics sponsorship as an example of its "scale brought to life". Covering 34 brands and 4m stores over six months, this umbrella campaign should yield $500m in incremental sales, and a payback 50% higher than single brand efforts, he predicted.

08/08/2012  |  Full story...

Online ad spend growth showed the most notable growth for Europe with 12.1%. Traditional print media suffered the largest decrease in the region with newspapers and magazines posting -3.6% and -4.4% decrease in spend.

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09/08/2012

Australian advertisers are staging a fight back over a new ruling that classes Facebook fan comments as advertisements- making brands liable for an offensive comments made on their pages. Drinks brand Fosters has called the decision ‘commercially unrealistic’. This week, the Advertising Standards Board ruled that a Facebook brand page is an advertisement in a case involving a successful complaint filed against VB, a beer brewed by Fosters, and another regarding Smirnoff, Diageo's vodka line, which was dismissed.

09/08/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has launched a new mobile ad format promoting apps, as the social network makes further attempts to bolster its smartphone and tablet revenues. The new format will let app developers advertise their products on its members' mobile-device news feeds. The network will charge a fee for every time users click on the ads to download the software from elsewhere.

09/08/2012  |  Full story...

Apple's forthcoming iOS 6 operating system will no longer include the YouTube app, a feature that has shipped with the iPhone since the device debuted in June 2007. The move marks another milestone in the growing division between Google and Apple, as competition between the technology giants becomes more intense. As Google has pushed into the market with its Android software, now the most-used smartphone operating system, the relationship between the two companies frayed.

09/08/2012  |  Full story...

In the Chinese internet market, the search engine Baidu dominates traffic generation to websites. This week it announced that four of its staff have been dismissed following corruption allegations that posts were deleted on its websites in exchange for personal payments. With three of the staff subsequently arrested by Chinese police, it shows the importance Baidu has achieved in the Chinese internet market.

09/08/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon UK was the most visible brown goods advertiser online whilst Apple remained the most visible website for brown goods-related searches, according to new research. The study, from digital marketing agency, Greenlight, assessed which brands, retailers and review sites were the most visible in both Natural Search* and Paid Media results and therefore had the greatest share of consideration when UK consumers searched on Google UK for Audio & Accessories, Cameras & Camcorders, PCs & Laptops, Phones & Accessories and TVs & DVD Players.

09/08/2012  |  Full story...

Video is a key tool for boosting brand equity and the latest online video tips for content prove the impact that longform video content has on web marketing effectiveness. The key takeout from new research? Don’t stop you’re online video at 30 seconds.

JoAnna Abel, VP of Marketing at FreeWheel was interviewed by Beet.TV to discuss the report:

10/08/2012  |  Full story...

The largest fine ever levied against a company by the FTC has been drawn this week up against Google for their breach of Apple’s Safari web browser.

10/08/2012  |  Full story...

Pinterest has dropped its invitation-only policy, opening up the fast-growing online pinboard to all for the first time. From this week, anyone on the internet will be able to freely sign up for the service. Users can sign up using either their Facebook or Twitter logins, or they can use an email address.

10/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google’s is to start highlighting information drawn from its users’ Gmail accounts on its main search results page. The feature marks Google’s latest attempt to deliver data that people are seeking more quickly as it tries to maintain the dominance of its lucrative Internet search engine.

10/08/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon has entered the social online gaming market to cash in on the growing popularity among its customers and has found people spend a great deal of time on social networking platforms.The e-commerce retailer announced its entry into the arena with the creation of Amazon Game Studios. The studio introduced its first game, the literary-themed Living Classics, which debuted on Facebook on Monday.

Watch the ad for the game below:

10/08/2012  |  Full story...

In this case study, Orabrush made smart use of YouTube to create buzz around the brand and generate sales. The dental brand's YouTube video generated 16 million views with a budget of just $500. After 2 years the results are 160,000 followers of the ads on YouTube, 43 million views and 1 million brushes sold online

More on this Case study
Brand: Orabrush |Media: YouTube | Country: Spain |Sector: Oral Healthcare| Format: YouTube Video

View the first YouTube commercial | View the case study 'How they went to Walmart' | View the infographic | Read the Google Blog

11/08/2012

Cadbury's "Chocolate Charmer" online advertising campaign provided ROI almost 4 times higher than their TV campaign. The chocolate brand ran a cross-media campaign for its Dairy Milk brand, covering TV, online ads and YouTube promoted videos. Despite only investing 7% of its budget in online, the brand saw the sector generate 20% of the sales. This case study from Gfk NOP highlights to growing power of online advertising in the marketing mix.

More on this case study:
Brand: Cadbury’s | Media: YouTube, TV, Social Media | Agency: Fallon London | Country: UK | Sector: FMCG

11/08/2012  |  Full story...

Reckitt Benckiser has teamed two of its brands - Strepsils and Lemsip - to defeat 'Man-Flu' via an interactive video and social media campaign. Using social media data to provide personalised care and attention for customers, the flu medicine Strepsils took an interesting approach. The microsite is a little tongue and cheek, but definitely bears a great sense of humor to cheer up the sickly.

More on this Case Study:

Reckitt Benkiser | Media: Viral, Video, Social media | Country: Australia | Sector: FMCG personal care | Objective: Build brand equity, drive trial | Agency: Holler | Format: Video, social mmedia »

11/08/2012  |  Full story...

This heart-warming video from Coca-Cola continues the beverage giant’s ‘Happiness’ brand message, turning the negative perception of security cameras into something much more positive- boosting customers perception of Coke in the process. Historically, Coca-Cola has understood better than most that if you make people feel good while watching your advertising, it rubs off on your brand. The video has racked up over 5.4 million YouTube views and 44,500 ‘likes’.

More on this Case study …
Brand: Coca-Cola | Media: Video, YouTube | Country: Global |Sector: FMCG | Agency: Landia

YouTube case study

11/08/2012  |  Full story...

The International OCD foundation reached tens of thousands of people with a series of one second long videos, aimed at helping viewers experience the symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Rather than explaining the effects of obsessive-compulsive disorder at length, they used a 1-second text-only ad to demonstrate the frustrations people with OCD experience first hand. The ad is too short to read in one viewing so, as the title explains (and even challenges) “You may have to press play more than once …”

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Brand: NHS |Media: YouTube ads | Country: Israel |Sector: Healthcare | Agency: McCann Digital | Format: YouTube Video

YouTube video Video Case Study

11/08/2012  |  Full story...

The Brazilian campaign saw detergent brand Ace use consumer insight and an integrated use of media to reach 8.7 million people in less than three months. Ace created a campaign in soap opera style, an episode with 5 different endings, presenting five suspects for a great mystery: Whose is the grubby bra? The suspects defended themselves. The mystery was heated trough placement in TV shows, films on Facebook page and consistently engaging digital content. It also led to word of mouth in Twitter, blogs, radio stations talking about it and parody. The campaign reached 2.3 million people on Facebook with more than 60,000 fans and 227,000 visualizations on YouTube.

More on this Case study …

Brand: Ace | Language: Portugese (Brazil) | Format: Marketplace Ads, Facebook Premium Ads, Facebook Pages| Agency: Leo Burnett Tailor Made

Facebook case study | YouTube advert

11/08/2012

Procter & Gamble embarked on the company’s biggest campaign in its 174 year history, using its Olympic sponsor status to push an emotive message celebrating mothers worldwide (a key demographic for the FMCG brand). P&G’s ‘Best Job’ video has taken off since launching April 17. More than 4m people watched the video on the main site, which has been seeded in different languages to appeal to different territories.

More on this Case Study:

Procter & Gamble | Media: YouTube, Viral, Video | Country: Global | Sector: FMCG personal care | Objective: Build brand equity, drive trial | Format: Viral Video »

11/08/2012  |  Full story...

In April 2012, Belgian TV channel TNT posted this ad on YouTube, getting 23m views in just one week and becoming the second most shared video on the website. Published on April 11, the 'A Dramatic Surprise On a Quiet Square' video campaign has clocked a whopping 30m views and 250,000 likes with a fortnight. This case study takes a look behind the success...

More on this case study:
Brand: TNT | Media: YouTube, TV, Social Media | Agency: Duval Guillaume Modem, Belgium | Country: Belgium | Sector: TV, Media

11/08/2012  |  Full story...

In 2010, Tipp Ex’s A Hunter Shoots a Bear’ viral was one of the first (and still the best) interactive YouTube virals ever. This follow up offers a ‘timeless’ new twist on the formula, and racked up over 9m YouTube views in less than a month. In the first season of the adventures of the Hunter and the Bear, the tagline asked viewers to "White and Rewrite THE STORY." Back for a second season, the tagline this time invites viewers to ‘White and Rewrite HISTORY’.

More on this Case Study:
Tipp Ex | Country: US | Sector: FMCG | Objective: Build brand equity | Format: Video Viral, Social Media »

11/08/2012  |  Full story...

Ahead of the Cricket World Cup 2011, PepsiCo India used Facebook’s video ad formats to closely engage with target audiences. The campaign’s main objectives were to create buzz, get the cricket-centric TV spots closer to consumers, create deeper level of engagement for the brand and drive traffic to an application created for the World Cup.

More on this Case study …
Brand: PepsiCo India | Media: groupm | Country: India |Sector: Beverages | Agency: Komli | Format: Facebook Reach Block

11/08/2012  |  Full story...

This witty Old Spice-style video ad from the Dollar Shave Club might just shake-up the shaving industry and give Gillette something to worry about. The viral video posted on YouTube garnered 3 million views and 32,000 'likes' within two weeks of going live in February 2012.

More on this case study:
Brand: Dollar Shave Club | Media: YouTube, TV, Social Media | Country: US | Sector: FMCG

11/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google is to cut 20% of Motorola staff after buying the company, as the internet giant looks to focus on high-end smartphones rather than feature phones, according to a report. The New York Times reports that 20% of Motorola's workforce amounts to 4,000 people, with one third of those based in the US. A third of Motorola's 94 global offices will also be closed down.

13/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google has extended it lead in the UK search market which shows no sign of slowing down, with the proportion of searches containing four or more words increasing. James Murray, Digital Insight Manager, Experian Marketing takes a look at the latest UK search trends.

13/08/2012  |  Full story...

Among UK shoppers, the top three most recognisable logos for technology brands are Microsoft, Apple and Intel. They were identified with certainty by 92.7 per cent, 86 per cent and 85.6 per cent of consumers, respectively. The study, from WPP brand Ogilvy Action, indicates that social media brands filled up the remainder of the top five: 78.8 per cent of shoppers were certain that they recognised the Facebook logo (81.8 per cent of women vs. 75.7 per cent of men), while 73.9 per cent (again, more women than men) identified the Twitter logo.

13/08/2012  |  Full story...

Over a third of men under 34 buy more clothes online than offline with 25% sourcing purchase inspiration from fashion blogs, according to new research. The study, from Rakuten LinkShare , found that young men are fuelling fashion purchases with nearly half of 18-24 year olds making more purchases this year than last. In addition, nearly half (49%) of men between 18-24 shop for fashion on their mobiles.

13/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google, Microsoft and Facebook outperform the competition with almost double the amount of total unique users in the region.

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14/08/2012

If you were the world’s leader in search, and wanted to dominate the wider online travel category, then you’d need a small amount of quality data to form the heart of your listings. Hot on the heels of acquiring the Zagat restaurant guides, Google has bought a travel publisher, filled with premium travel photos, illustration and data. We’re betting they’re architecting a major travel launch before the year end…

14/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google claims 170m Google+ users but other reports have said it is a ghost town, so what is the truth? New findings appear to confirm the latter – despite its large number of accounts the platform is bottom of the list of social network users’ favoured channels.

14/08/2012  |  Full story...

Salesforce.com is testing an application that lets companies build social networks for their customers to interact with the brand. Salesforce.com initially launched a ‘Chatter’ application was launched 2 years ago as an internal company tool to let employees interact, but now the service is being upgraded to ‘Salesforce Communities’ for customer-facing communication.

14/08/2012  |  Full story...

Mobile shopping is on the rise in Europe, with a growing number of smartphone users making transactions via their device, according to new research. The study, from comScore, looked at mobile commerce usage across the five leading European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom). The EU5 mobile retail audience nearly doubled over the past year, with 1 in 6 smartphone users accessing online retail sites and apps on their device. In addition, 1 in 8 EU5 smartphone users actually completed a retail transaction on their phones.

14/08/2012  |  Full story...

Groupon has seen its shares fall this week after seeing its revenues fall short of forecasts, despite posting a sound quarterly profit. The online shopping deals giant posted a profit of $28.38 million on revenue that climbed 45 percent to $568.3 million in the quarter ended June 30.

14/08/2012  |  Full story...

Yahoo is launching an online talk show hosted by some noteworthy guests, including "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof and journalist Maria Shriver. The show, called #HashOut, is pitched as the first talk show to be conducted over social media and will go live later this month.

14/08/2012  |  Full story...

Despite its popularity online, smartphone users are ditching search in favour of direct navigation, according to new research. The study commissioned by Telmetrics and xAd, and conducted by Nielsen, looked at search engine usage in certain verticals such as travel, automobiles and restaurants. It found that using a search engine was secondary to direct navigation most of the time.

15/08/2012  |  Full story...

UK consumers use only four mobile apps regularly, with the most popular ones becoming part of a user's daily routine, according to new research. The study, from user experience agency Webcredible, found that the apps used most frequently are for useful, practical purposes such as journey planning, searching for locations, booking tickets or finding voucher deals. The most successful apps were those that had become part of a user’s daily routine.

15/08/2012  |  Full story...

Online trade body the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Australia has criticised a regulator's decision to hold advertisers responsible for content on social networks. The organisation representing online advertising has questioned the decision by the advertising watchdog to make businesses liable for comments made on their Facebook pages claiming the ruling will be a burden and “hurt” the development of social media.

15/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google is revamping its search algorithms in an attempt to ensure legal download websites appear higher in search results than illegal pirate sites. The move will see Google take into account the number of valid copyright removal notices a site has received when deciding where it ranks. Websites that host unlicensed copies of songs and films will be relegated in Google search results from Monday, in what is being seen as a major olive branch to the entertainment industry.

15/08/2012  |  Full story...

Little Printer has taken the Internet by storm, and it’s largely down to this simple but hugely effective YouTube video. Potentially the world's cutest printer, the device lets users print Tweets, photos and receipts without the need for bulky machines and expensive ink. See why it’s our video viral of the week below…

15/08/2012  |  Full story...

The UK is constantly sharing content across the internet, Brits really stepped it up a gear over the past two weeks. Olympics fever gripped the UK – with over 300 billion pieces of content be shared online over the 17 day period. This infographic takes a look at how content was shared over the web.

15/08/2012  |  Full story...

This chart shows the average time spent using the top ten shopping apps. Less traditional shopping apps such as Shopkick and Out of Milk Shopping show positive levels of engagement among users.

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16/08/2012

Google+ is now offering custom URLs to profiles and pages, similar to the vanity URLs provided by Facebook and Twitter. The move also suggests the internet giant is looking to integrate the service as a 'social spine' into all its services. Google+'s custom URLs is currently available to a limited number of 'verified' profiles and pages. The service will be soon rolled out to more brands and individuals.

16/08/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft has revamped its SkyDrive online storage system with new features as the firm aims to rival the likes of Dropbox, Apple, Amazon and Google in the rapidly growing cloud storage market. The firm is also set to launch an Android SkyDrive app in the near future. The move forms part of Microsoft’s sweeping interface changes which are occurring in preparation for the up-coming release of Windows 8.

16/08/2012  |  Full story...

Android-based devices are outstripping Apple globally in terms of popularity, with Samsung leading the way, according to new research. The findings, from Gartner’s second quarter 2012 market share data, showed that Samsung shipped 30% more smartphones in the quarter than the same period in 2011, extending its lead over Nokia and Apple.

16/08/2012  |  Full story...

Nike was the most engaging brand on social media during the Olympics despite the fact that it was not an Olympic sponsor, according to new data. The findings, from Socialbakers ‘cheermeter’ tool, indicate that it’s not the Olympic sponsors who are winning the race for brand engagement. From the 27th of July to the 2nd of August, Nike’s Facebook fan base grew by 166,718 - more than double the growth of its sporting rival, Adidas, who despite core sponsorship deals, netted just 80,761 new fans over the same period.

16/08/2012  |  Full story...

Search engine optimisation remains a tricky balancing act, as the rules constantly change. In this official Google blog post, Maile Ohye, Developer Programs Tech Lead from Google covers the five most common errors she finds in SEO, and then concludes with six quick tips to make sure you're on the right track.

16/08/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is testing a new ad format that lets brands aim their advertising toward the newsfeeds of users who are not already a fan of the brand page. Previously, a company could only advertise in the newsfeed of its fans. Now Facebook is stepping out from limiting brands to only connected users. The plan is to show adverts for products or brands that users have not previously ‘liked’ on the site, pushing the ad reach for brands out to the site’s 1billion users.

17/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google has rolled out its patent search across Europe, along with a number of new features to help budding inventors, entrepreneurs and brands check if their ideas have been copyrighted. The tool was initially launched in the US back in 2006, but the revamped service now includes ‘prior art search’. "Prior art" is a legal term for records of innovation that preceded a specific patent claim.

17/08/2012  |  Full story...

The Dandy, the UK's oldest children's comic, will cease weekly print publication and go online only after its 75th anniversary edition in December, publisher DC Thomson has confirmed. The final printed issue of the UK's longest-running children's comic will be released on its 75th birthday in December. The Dandy, best known for cartoon characters Desperate Dan the cow-pie eating cowboy, Korky the Cat and Bananaman, is being pulled from shelves following a drop in circulation in recent years.

17/08/2012  |  Full story...

More than half (53%) of Facebook and Twitter users are happy to tell ‘social lies’ according to this new infographic from Intel.

17/08/2012  |  Full story...

The Olympics offers three levels of sponsorship to brands- worldwide, London-based and athlete-based. Social media app Wildfire (recently acquired by Google) has tracked the main sponsors’ activity on social media over the duration of the Olympics and looked at whether they have seen an uptake similar to that of the athletes.

17/08/2012  |  Full story...

The latest mobile advertising forecast data suggests the big boom is yet to come, with the market trippling in side within the next 4 years, Yankee group are forecasting more than $11 billion being invested by brands just in mobile media space, before considering the investment to make websites compatible for mobile phones and tablets. After 10 years of hype, this mobile advertising forecast shows the tipping point is finally being reached. Here’s why…

17/08/2012  |  Full story...

Move over Nostradamus- this video from 1995 shows US school children predicting the future of the internet with unnerving accuracy, right down to the web’s obsession with cats. This public service announcement is currently doing the viral rounds, showing ten–year-olds from Montana’s Ray Bjork Elementary School answer the question, ‘Why should I be on the Internet?’ with some predictions of how the internet will be used by the time they are college-age.

Watch the video below, including a shot of the archaic Yahoo! homepage:

17/08/2012  |  Full story...

Nearly 1 in 5 (16%) UK adults have never used the internet, amounting to 7.82 million people, according to new research. The ONS statistics for the second quarter of 2012 show a 10% decline in the number of adults who have not used the internet. The data showed that just 28.6 per cent of people over 75-years-old had used the internet, suggesting it is older people who are less likely to have gone online.

17/08/2012  |  Full story...

This chart shows the number of unique users for mobile shopping apps min the US. Major brands such as eBay, Amazon and Groupon lead the way, while more traditional retailers such as Walgreens and Target attract 2 million unique users.

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20/08/2012

Twitter has sparked anger from developers after restricting creation of third-party applications on its social network. The move could have dire implications for the firm’s hugely popular API platform, which has spawned a number of widely used social media applications such as TweetDeck, Hootsuite and Twitpic.

20/08/2012  |  Full story...

Music streaming services such as Spotify, Deezer are leading driving much of its sales growth during this year, according to new research. The Global Music Forecast issued by Strategy Analytics found that digital music revenue worldwide will pass the £5 billion mark this year. The on-demand services are predicted to generate £696m for the global music industry in 2012 - a rise of 40 per cent.

20/08/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook shares have fallen heavily as the first lock-up period, which stops sales by early investors, ended. Shares fell by 6.27% to $19.87 at close of trade in New York, down from $20.74 on Wednesday. About 271 million shares become eligible to be sold on Thursday. Some 421 million shares have been trading since Facebook shares were floated in May at $38 each.

20/08/2012  |  Full story...

Nearly a quarter (24%) of all Brits used the web to watch the Olympics, while 14% used social media to catch up on the action, according to new research. The study, from Kantar Media, found that TV remained by far the most popular medium, with 81% of the UK public watching at least some of the games on the box.

20/08/2012  |  Full story...

eBay has stirred up controversy by banning the sale of spells, potions and other supernatural paraphernalia via its online marketplace.

20/08/2012  |  Full story...

Whilst the majority (71%) of UK brands have a digital strategy in place, more than half (56%) do not have a roadmap for the next three to five years, according to the results of a new survey of marketers. The report, from Amaze, found that 37% of respondents admitted to not measuring the ROI from their digital activity and 52% say their social media initiatives do not meeting their objectives.

20/08/2012  |  Full story...

A US judge has rejected Facebook's proposed legal settlement to resolve allegations that the social networking company violated its members' rights through the its 'Sponsored Stories' ad feature. The lawsuit follows complaints that Facebook was using people’s photos in ads without their permission. The feature took users' photos and used their faces in Facebook's in-site ads for brands after they had merely clicked the "thumbs-up" button and "Liked" the company.

21/08/2012  |  Full story...

The front panel from Apple’s iPhone 5 has been leaked online ahead of the device’s highly anticipated September 12 launch, according to a news report. The pictures, published by smartphone repair firm ubreakifix, appears to confirm rumours that the iPhone 5 will feature a larger display than its predecessor, bringing the device in line with current Android flagship devices like the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X.

21/08/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has overtaken Yahoo to become the second most viewed video site in the US, behind Google’s YouTube, according to new research. The data, from comScore, indicates that more than 184 million US Internet users watched 36.9 billion online content videos in July, while video ad views totaled 9.6 billion.

21/08/2012  |  Full story...

To coincide with the Olympics, Huggies Israel launched this Facebook video campaign, adding personalised sports commentaries for user-submitted baby videos. See why it’s our video viral of the week below…

21/08/2012  |  Full story...

Online sales jumped 17% year-on-year during July, representing the highest growth this year, according to new data. The findings, from the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, attributed much of the growth to clothing and electrical sales during the month. In comparison to the same period last year, when spending came in at £31 billion, this year saw 12.6% growth, fuelled mainly by poor weather and the European Football Championships – two factors that kept Britons at home and online.

21/08/2012  |  Full story...

The Royal Mail is rolling out a new ‘neighbour delivery scheme’ across the UK, in a move that could prove a major boost to online shopping. Under the new scheme, post will be delivered post to a neighbour if no-one is at home. Delivery has always been the 'Achilles heel' of online shopping, with failed deliveries proving to be a major bugbear for buyers and sellers alike.

21/08/2012  |  Full story...

Brands running online advertising and social media campaigns experienced an uplift during London 2012, with search volumes being higher than those seen during the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Google has found. One company that benefitted from the Olympics was Visa with its 'Go World' campaign, which invited consumers to show their support for Team Visa athletes in the form of virtual cheers across social media.

21/08/2012  |  Full story...

Online retailer Play.com has claimed that its Facebook fans are worth 24% more in direct sales than non-fans. The announcement comes amid growing questions from brand managers across the world seeking to quantify the elusive “value of a like” on Facebook. The online retailer, which is owned by Japanese digital firm Rakuten, also claims that it can directly attribute £2m worth of sales to Facebook in 2011. Direct sales through the social network have increased 80% in the past year.

22/08/2012  |  Full story...

High speed mobile internet is coming to the UK next month, after network Everything Everywhere was given the go-ahead to roll out 4G technology across the country. Everything Everywhere, the parent company of Orange and T-Mobile, has been allowed to launch the next generation mobile network anytime after September this year. Following months of consultation, Ofcom today announced its decision to allow Everything Everywhere to use the 1800MHz spectrum for LTE (4G).

22/08/2012  |  Full story...

PayPal is testing an app-based checkout system in McDonald’s restaurants in France, as the online payments system looks to secure pole position is the increasingly important mobile payments sector. The trial is being conducted in 30 McDonald’s outlets in France, using a different system than PayPal’s two existing in-store payment systems. The French trial features a smartphone app or a website from which customers can order and pay for the food with their PayPal account.

22/08/2012  |  Full story...

Hotmail remains the most used web-based email service across Europe, but Gmail, Yahoo and Mail.ru are catching fast, according to new research. The study, from comScore, looked at internet usage in Europe during June 2012, showing that 397.2 million Europeans went online for an average of 25.9 hours.

22/08/2012  |  Full story...

Intel has launched a new campaign that creates a personalised movie for Facebook users, drawing upon their social media data to create ‘Me The Musical’. The campaign, which launched in Japan to promote its new Ultrabook, takes Facebook users on an entertaining journey, via song and dance, through world events. Along the way, it adds a personal touch by including friends from Facebook and reminders of significant individual milestones.

Watch the trailer here

22/08/2012  |  Full story...

Peter Thiel, one of Facebook's earliest investors has sold most of his stake in the social network, making a substantial profit. Thiel, a venture capitalist and Paypal co-founder, cashed in 20.1 million shares, raising $395.8m (£251m) last week, official filings state. Last week was the first time since Facebook's float that early backers could cash in their shares.

22/08/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon Web Services has announced Glacier, a low-cost storage service designed for data archiving and backup. Rather than storing day to day files, vidoes and photos, the service is targeted at businesses and individuals that need to store long term data.

22/08/2012  |  Full story...

YouTube has introduced skippable ads on its mobile site, letting viewers choose whether or not to watch a video ad, and only charges advertisers if the ad is watched. This type of ad, which YouTube calls TrueView, has been available on computers since late 2010. With TrueView, viewers can skip ads they don’t like after five seconds. Advertisers only pay if a viewer watches it for 30 seconds or completion, whichever comes first.

23/08/2012  |  Full story...

While Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn dominate the global scene, niche social networks have massively increased their market share of visits to social sites with Instagram and Pinterest emerging as the global winners, according to a new study. The study, from Experian, highlights the growth of Instagram and Pinterest between July 2011 and July 2012 in terms of their share of visits to All Sites by country.

23/08/2012  |  Full story...

Despite Starbucks having eight times the number of central London outlets, the chain secures less Facebook check-ins on average than rival coffee group Costa, according to new research. Socialbakers has released Facebook data which compares the social campaigns Starbucks and Costa have run over the past few weeks, measuring Facebook Check-Ins, likes and comments. This reveals how two competitor brands drive brand engagement through social media.

23/08/2012  |  Full story...

China's most popular Web browser Qihoo has replaced Google with its own newly launched search engine as default choice. The firm said the move was prompted by a decline in Google's customer service declined since its exit from China in 2010. The new search engine, called so.360.cn, was launched last week. The service replaced Google as the default search engine on Qihoo 360's portal Hao.360.com, which will radically alter the existing structure of Chinese online search engine industry.

23/08/2012  |  Full story...

The UK Government has issued proposals for its midata programme, which aims to give consumers access to their data.

23/08/2012  |  Full story...

Radio is still the dominant way people in the US to discover music (48%) – followed by tips from friends/relatives (10%), and YouTube (7%), but more teens listen to music through YouTube than through any other source (64%) -- followed by radio (56%) and iTunes (53% ) and CDs (50%) - according to new research.

23/08/2012  |  Full story...

SongPop, a ‘name that tune’ game for smartphones and tablets, has taken the market by storm, attracting 25 million unique players since its launch only four months ago. The game lets users show off their musical-recognition talent through challenges with friends and users all across the globe. The game’s makers FreshPlanet announced that SongPop has now 25 million unique players, getting a consistent five-star rating, and 4 million people playing the game every day.

24/08/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has finally been given the go ahead to buy Instagram, but the deal is now three quarters of its original value to the mobile photo application firm. The Federal Trade Commission confirmed this week that it had closed its competition investigation into the acquisition, without taking any action.

24/08/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft has launched a series of new ad unit types intended to help brands coordinate their campaigns across Microsoft's Web, mobile, Xbox and Skype platforms. The units include interactive video ads, units with responsive design features, and ads that swell or reveal 3D effects when users hover over them. Microsoft claims that marketers spend around $8.4 billion quarterly on online media ads. The ad units like VPAID ads, Mindmap, Magnetic Canvas ad, Swell ad and Polymorphic Ads vary in size and function.

24/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google and Oracle have been ordered to reveal the names of those it pays for writing articles and blogs, following a dispute between the two technology giants. The order was issued by Judge William Alsup, the judge who presided over Oracle's original lawsuit against Google over its Android operating system.

24/08/2012  |  Full story...

Reckitt Benckiser has hired Syncapse to manage the global social media presence of its 20 brands including Clearasil, Durex and Lysol. Under the deal, Syncapse will use its platform to create integrated social-marketing programs across Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

24/08/2012  |  Full story...

Chinese search engine Baidu has inked a deal with Edinburgh-based flight search company Skyscanner, posing a challenge to Google's advantage in the lucrative online travel sector. The move will give Baidu users flight information presented with results from Skyscanner’s database. The move comes after Skyscanner expanded its operations to Singapore and Russia.

24/08/2012  |  Full story...

Sony Corporation is cutting 1,000 jobs from its mobile phone division, as the Japanese electronics giant struggles to compete with Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market.

24/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google Sites, Facebook and Yahoo! Sites lead as top sestinations in India, while social media is booming, according to new research. The study, from comScore, looked at the top online sites and activities in India from its comScore MMX service. The report found that Google Sites ranked as the top destination in June 2012 reaching nearly 95 percent of the online population, while social networking reigned as the top online activity accounting for 25.2 percent of all online minutes.

24/08/2012  |  Full story...

Apple is seeking a ban on eight Samsung phones in the US, after winning a landmark $1bn copyright lawsuit. The move could have an impact on owners of Samsung phones, as the company could be forced to make major software and hardware changes, and help Apple’s battle for dominance against Google’s Android operating system, which accounts for two-thirds of the global market.

Watch a video from the BBC explaining the patent dispute:

28/08/2012  |  Full story...

With 38 ads on average airing per minute across national TV, breaking through the clutter is essential. According to a recent analysis from Nielsen, there are five common characteristics of TV ads that resonate with consumers.

28/08/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has revamped its iPhone and iPad app from scratch to address complaints that it was slow to use. The program had previously been created in the HTML5 language. A team of engineers has now rewritten it in Objective-C and says it should now respond to commands twice as quickly.

28/08/2012  |  Full story...

Apple and Samsung have both infringed each other's patents on mobile devices, a South Korean court ruled last week, resulting in a ‘limited ban’ limited ban on national sales of products by both companies. Judges in Seoul said Apple had infringed two patents held by Samsung, while the Korean technology giant had violated one of Apple's patents.

28/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google has responded very cautiously to the ruling in Apple’s patent victory over Samsung in the US, a ruling that could affect its Android operating system. Google released a statement on Sunday, in the wake of a ruling by a jury that Samsung had infringed on multiple Apple software and design features.

29/08/2012  |  Full story...

Media giant InterActiveCorp (IAC) is to buy online publisher About.com for $300m from the New York Times. Formed in 1997, About.com provided online guides written by freelancers, covering a wide range of topics. The About Group includes About.com, CalorieCount.com and ConsumerSearch.com, properties that offer basic information on a huge number of topics.

29/08/2012  |  Full story...

Vietnam has the highest proportion of online video viewers across the Asia Pacific region, but China dominates the market in terms of sheer numbers of viewers, according to new research. The study, from comScore, coincides with the introduction of its Video Matrix measurement service in Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

29/08/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has bought Threadsy, the start-up company behind the Swaylo social influence measurement service. Swaylo analyses the social graph of social network users to figure out how much and what kind of attention users are getting for the things they post, share and like.

29/08/2012  |  Full story...

At the height of football fever this summer, Nokia launched a smartphone game to coincide with the Euro 2012 championships. This case study shows how the ‘Finger Battle app’ became one of the most popular application so the tournament. For the 2012 Euro Cup that took place in Poland and Ukraine, Nokia Poland wanted to create an app that could keep football fans entertained during the football fever in the country.

29/08/2012  |  Full story...

South African media giant Naspers is said to be investing $150 million (Rs 834 crores) in online retailer Flipkart, a deal which would secure the company’s finances for the next three years. Nasper and Iconiq Capital are the new investors in Flipkart, with the former pumping in US$90 million, and the money will be used on expanding supply chain capacity and growing its talent pool.

29/08/2012  |  Full story...

Apple’s customer service secrets have been leaked via a Genius handbook that bans employees from saying words that will alarm customers, according to a news report. The handbook, leaked by technology blog Gizmodo, instructs Apple employees on how to act and speak when dealing with customers and includes a list of banned words such as ‘crash’, ‘bug’ and ‘freeze’. If proven to be legitimate, the handbook provides unprecedented insight into one of the most successful customer service strategies in the world. Apple stores have the highest sales per square foot of any retail space in the UK by a wide margin.

30/08/2012  |  Full story...

Everything Everywhere, which operates the T-Mobile and Orange brands in the UK, has signed an five-year partnership deal with MasterCard to develop and provide mobile payments services. The deal will see a co-branded service that lets users top up their account, then make payments by swiping their phone on a reader in a store.

30/08/2012  |  Full story...

Old Spice has returned with another interactive viral video, letting viewers make music with their keyboards (via a muscle-bound American football star, naturally). See why its our video viral of the week below…

Old Spice Muscle Music from Terry Crews on Vimeo.

30/08/2012  |  Full story...

The AOL Advertising.com Group has hired former Collective boss Steve Filler as its UK Managing Director. Filler will be responsible for running the UK’s branded video content distribution business goviral and ad network Advertising.com.

30/08/2012  |  Full story...

Bic’s ‘For Her’ range of pens have become the latest target of mockery from Amazon reviewers. The pens feature pink and purple colours, small diamond etchings and "a thin barrel designed to fit a women's hand," according to the description on Amazon.com. Since its launch at the end of last year, the product’s Amazon page has been bombarded with hundreds of reviewers ridiculing the concept of a women-only pen range, aiming to undermine what some have called a sexist marketing endeavour.

30/08/2012  |  Full story...

Rising food prices are having the greatest impact on global consumer’s choice of grocery purchases, with more than half (52%) stating higher prices are a major influence, according to new research. The Nielsen global online survey found that 85% of respondents attributed rising food prices as the main factor influencing their buying behaviour.

30/08/2012  |  Full story...

The global digital music market is expected to grow at 15 percent annually, reaching nearly USD$22.5 billion by 2017, according to global analyst firm, Ovum. Revenue is being boosted by subscription services, predicted to show a strong compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46 percent, much of it on the back of bundling partnerships with service providers.

30/08/2012  |  Full story...

What's a 'like' really worth? About 24% more than non-fans, according to Play.com. With Facebook under pressure to turn clicks into cash, Play's data certainly help Zuckerberg make his case that 'likes' equal high-value customers.

It's been another tough month for the Facebook founder, with an Australian judge ruling that fan comments are now ads, while plans to run newsfeed ads for non-fans met further user grumbles. News that nearly 9% of Facebook profiles 'could be fake' also set alarm bells ringing with advertisers.

The challenge of preserving user's privacy in an increasingly commercial Internet space reared its head again this month. Google was whacked with a record fine for misrepresenting their use of Safari users' data, Facebook had its knuckles wrapped by a judge for using personal photos in ads, and Microsoft caused a stir with advertisers by setting 'Do Not Track' to default in their latest version of IE.

Also this month:
- Mobile: Paypal tests McDonalds mobile payments
- Social: Pinterest opens registration, the top 20 Twitter countries, and a review of the first 'social Olympics'
- Video: YouTube is removed from Apple devices
- Search: How search keyphrases are getting longer and SEO tips from Google on 5 biggest mistakes in SEO

Key data this month reveals that search keyphrases are getting longer, the Top 20 Twitter countries and a look back at how brands fared in the 'social Olympics'. As a bonus, we've also got SEO tips from Google on 5 biggest mistakes in SEO (and 6 good ideas!).

Read August 2012

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30/08/2012

Facebook is launching a new ad targeting tool that uses email addresses, phone numbers and game and app developers' user IDs to larger advertisers. The advertisers will work directly with a Facebook sales representative, and in order for a company to track a Facebook user using any of that data, the Facebook user has to have already given the company that data on their own.

31/08/2012  |  Full story...

Twitter has launched interest-based ad targeting for Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts campaigns letting brands target micro-bloggers based on like-minded groups of followers and their friends. Promoted Tweets and Accounts already target “users who share interests with your current followers.” The new service now lets advertisers explicitly identify the interests that they want to reach.

31/08/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is touting the success of a number of fitness apps, including Nike, as social networkers go digital to track and map their work out sessions. The site’s developers blog Wednesday highlighted four applications that have taken advantage of Facebook’s Open Graph to find success on the social network. With these apps, users can post a map of their run, gain a personal trainer in their pocket, count calories burned and share successes.

31/08/2012  |  Full story...

US President Barack Obama fronted a surprise ‘Ask Me Anything’ chat with the public on Reddit this week, as he gears up for his re-election campaign. The move sparked a flood of traffic that crashed the popular bulletin board site.Within 15 minutes of Obama’s introduction, the forum had almost 2000 comments and, as the site struggled with the flood of traffic, it began intermittently crashing.

31/08/2012  |  Full story...

Google has made the first step to expand its social networking site to businesses, with a range of new enterprise-level tools. The new Google+ features are tailored specifically for workplace use, aimed at Google Apps, the cloud email and collaboration suite for schools, companies and government agencies. Google first indicated last year that it planned to release an enterprise version of Google+ and that it was already using it internally.

31/08/2012  |  Full story...

How can you ensure your marketing emails reach to top of your customers’ inbox, rather than the spam folder? This video from Hitwise offers top tips on getting the most from your mails…

31/08/2012  |  Full story...

South American retail chain Homecentre Sodimac used an unconventional marketing method to increase sales by 54% during the ‘Homecentre House Season’ with the campaign ‘The man who gave everything away’. This case study shows how with the campaign Homecentre created a viral effect with a common man giving away everything he owned. The campaign was to create a suspense about an ordinary man who has come up with a peculiar idea of giving away everything he owns and only and the end he reveals the reason – The Homecentre season sale. Thus, subtly emphasising the sale being so good that he wanted to get rid of his possession to be able to shop. This was done by a creation of a facebook page with videos, picture and updates of things being given away and the date when it would be done.

More on this Case study …

Brand: Homecenter Sodimac |Agency: Young & Rubicam |Sector: Retail | Format: Facebook Platform, Marketplace Ads, Facebook Premium Ads, Facebook Pages | Language: Spanish | Location: Colombia, Latin America

YouTube case study | Facebook case study

01/07/2012  |  Full story...

Copa Airlines with a social marketing campaign 'Passport America' to grows its' Facebook fan base, generates and awareness and increase ticket sales on its website. The campaign resulted in 59% conversion and ROI expanded to 50 times. A total of 279,000 users registered for the promotion and 1.3 million invitations were sent out. This Facebook-centric campaign featured the prize draw of a lifetime: a Grand Prize consisting of round trip airfare for the winner and a guest to each of Copa's 59 destinations. To enter, people registered through Facebook Connect and to keep people engaged and the momentum going additional chances to win were integrated at different levels, including their social muscle could help them win.

More on this Case study …
Brand: Copa Airlines |Sector: Travel | Format: Facebook Apps, Facebook Platform, Marketplace Ads, Facebook Pages| Agency: Nobox, Miami | Language: English (US), Portugese (Brazil), Spanish

Facebook case study | YouTube case study

01/07/2012  |  Full story...

Ahead of the frantic Christmas shopping season, Patio Batel the newest and most glamorous shopping centre in Curitiba, Brazil used a Facebook campaign to generate buzz around its grand opening. Patio Batel used Facebook to generate donations of books, with one 'like' equalling one donation. Using Facebook as the main platform for the campaign, the strategy was to reach as many people as possible with ads and social awareness. People could donate their books on the street and, at the same time, share this act online by inviting their friends to participate. The campaign resulted in attaining the desired results of 5,000 likes in 30% less time. It also resulted in reaching out to 4,468,482 people and generating a donation of more than 10,000 books in 20 days. More than 7,800 books were donated through Facebook.

More on this Case study…
Brand: Patio Batel | Agency: Lustig| Format: Facebook Apps, Facebook Platform, Marketplace Ads, Facebook Pages | Country: Brazil

Facebook case study

01/07/2012  |  Full story...

The Brazilian campaign saw detergent brand Ace use consumer insight and an integrated use of media to reach 8.7 million people in less than three months. Ace created a campaign in soap opera style, an episode with 5 different endings, presenting five suspects for a great mystery: Whose is the grubby bra? The suspects defended themselves. The mystery was heated trough placement in TV shows, films on Facebook page and consistently engaging digital content. It also led to word of mouth in Twitter, blogs, radio stations talking about it and parody. The campaign reached 2.3 million people on Facebook with more than 60,000 fans and 227,000 visualizations on YouTube.

More on this Case study …

Brand: Ace | Language: Portugese (Brazil) | Format: Marketplace Ads, Facebook Premium Ads, Facebook Pages| Agency: Leo Burnett Tailor Made

Facebook case study | YouTube advert

01/07/2012

Worldwide insurance company Allianz transformed the popular game Frogger into a live interactive experience on Facebook. By creating a virtual game, Allianz advice the consumers in an entertaining way that everyone can easily prevent real-life dangers. Allianz integrated the realtime heavy São Paulo traffic feeds with the popular game to create the Facebook App and generate awareness through a fun way. This was achieved by placing a 24/7 camera on the rooftop of a building that live-streams the view of a busy street. Using the Facebook app, people can log in to help the amphibians cross safely to the other side of the road while jumping in between real cars.

More on this Case study …
Brand: Allianz | Format: Facebook Apps, Facebook Platform | Agency: Ogilvy Brazil

Facebook case study | YouTube video

01/07/2012

Latin America represents a huge opportunity for digital marketers, with the world’s fastest growing online population, hungry for social, video and mobile content. The region is home to five of the most engaged social networking markets worldwide, with an online audience that is fast embracing video and mobile advertising.

According to research firm comScore, Latin America’s online population grew faster than any other global region in 2011, rising 16 percent to 129.3 million visitors in December 2011.

Google Sites reigned as the most-visited property in December 2011, reaching 123.4 million visitors in the region, while Facebook.com led as the most-engaging web property accounting for 25% of all time spent online in the region.

02/07/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is testing a new “Want” button in a move that could make the social network much more attractive to ecommerce sites, according to a new report. Inside Facebook reports that the plugin would function in a similar way to Facebook's iconic “Like” button. The blog said that developer Tom Waddington discovered that the “Want” button added to the Facebook Javascript SDK as an XFBML tag – . Waddington also said the button will only work on Open Graph objects marked as “products,” indicating it may be used for marketing.

02/07/2012  |  Full story...

Google has launched an iOS compatible version of Chrome, making its increasingly popular browser available to iPad and iPhone users for the first time. At its I/O conference for developers, Google announced that its Chrome browser will be available in iTunes App Store, as will Google Drive, the productivity app suite that includes Google Docs. By adding Chrome and Drive to the popular iOS platform will expand Google's user base and ecosystem.

02/07/2012  |  Full story...

eBay has launched a dedicated eBay Motors iPhone app, letting users buying cars, parts and accessories via the online marketplace on the move. The app features a Vehicle Finder tool that lets car buyers take a photo of a car, and then search eBay Motors listings to match the photo to similar vehicles available on the site. The new Motors app features a fully customisable home screen gallery of live listings and an interactive garage.

02/07/2012  |  Full story...

Zynga has launched a social network aimed at gamers, dubbed Zynga With Friends, as the firm looks to branch out from its relationship with Facebook. The new site will pair gamers with opponents and make features like player profiles, activity streams and chats available for all users, regardless of whether they play the games on mobile devices or desktop computers.

02/07/2012  |  Full story...

BBC Sport has launched a Facebook application offering audiences live streams of major sports events, including Wimbledon and up to 24 streams of Olympics coverage. The move marks the first time the BBC has live streamed events on Facebook. Viewers can watch events with friends who are also online and chat together about the action as it happens, while comment threads under each stream enable users to take the pulse of reaction from the Facebook community in real time.

02/07/2012  |  Full story...

If you’re working on a global brand, remember that the beautiful site their New York agency has created might be designed for high-bandwidth markets. Always look at the load times to ensure your consumers see your message quickly. Ditch the flash and the heavy images: it’s better to be there, than be pretty but never get loaded!

02/07/2012

As more and more people connect to the Internet in Latin America, time spent social networking is exploding (on sites like Facebook and Vostu). It's one of the primary motivations for going online. As they do, marketers have the opportunity to reach and engage an interconnected audience and build brand reputation through the spread of positive word of mouth. But in order to be successful in social marketing you need to listen first, then plan before entering into the conversation. Once you are engaged in a dialogue, manage the responses carefully so you can maximise the benefits of brand advocates and minimise the risk of negative PR.

02/07/2012

While ownership of Internet-connected PCs might still be relatively low across the region - and reserved mainly for the more affluent city-dweller - mobile phone ownership is more wide spread and growing rapidly. The mobile device offers a great way for marketers to bridge the gap between the physical and digital world and you don't have to rely on the latest, most sophisticated smartphones to engage your audience. Why not think about the options that can be offered by shortcodes text back response, SMS, Interactive Voice Response and automated outbound dialling?

02/07/2012

This chart details internet users across South American nations (and relative percentage of total local populations). Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay and Chile have the highest penetration of online populations, whereas Ecuador, Paraguay and Bolivia have the lowest number of online citizens.

02/07/2012  |  Full story...

Online ad spend in Colombia grew 49.52% during the fourth quarter of 2011 with a figure of 38.122 million pesos ($21m), according to new data. According to IAB Colombia, the growth compares to an adspend of 25.496 million pesos in 2010 during the same period.

02/07/2012  |  Full story...

This chart depicts the projected growth of global adspend between 2011-2014. It is predicted that 60% of the world's adspend growth over this 3-year period will come from developing markets. Projections show that by 2014, Brazil will be the fifth largest contributor to the global advertising market.

02/07/2012  |  Full story...

The 15-24 group lead the way in terms of volume of hours spent on Facebook. However, users in the 15+ age range account for the second highest level of engagement with 4.5 hours spent on the site per month, demonstrating the high level of adoption throughout Brazil.

02/07/2012  |  Full story...

Between December 2010 and December 2011, Brazil was a high growth area for Facebook, increasing the number of its unique users by 192%. Latin America specific social network Vostu, which specialises in online gaming platforms, made significant headway in 2010-2011, by growing its user base by 338%.

02/07/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook ranked as the second most popular search destination in Latin America (after Google sites) with 525 million searches and a 2.8% share of total searches for the region. Microsoft sites ranked third with 513 million searches and a 2.8% share.

02/07/2012  |  Full story...

Between March 2010 and March 2011, Latin America conducted 18.5 billion searches- an increase of 21% from the previous year. Brazil and Colombia showed the strongest growth rates at 25% and 20% respectively.

02/07/2012  |  Full story...

Over 45% of European smartphone owners access a social network or blog via their device. The highest penetration of users occur min the UK with 61%.

03/07/2012  |  Full story...

LinkedIn will no longer display tweets after Twitter ended a three year partnership with the business social networking service.

03/07/2012  |  Full story...

Google is revamping the comment system on YouTube is a bid to clamp down on abusive and offensive remarks. At a breakout session at this week's Google I/O conference, YouTube exec Dror Shimshowitz said the company is "working on some improvements to the comment system," details of which should emerge in the coming months".

03/07/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft has warned that it will post a huge $6.2bn write-down in its fourth quarter, mostly related to the disappointing performance of online advertising business aQuantive it bought five years ago. The writedown signals that its online division will perform worse than the company projected. The non-cash charge means the company will probably post a loss for the quarter, which ended in June. Before this announcement, analysts had predicted that Microsoft would report profit of $5.3 billion in the period.

03/07/2012  |  Full story...

Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo has run a Pinterest campaign aimed at catching user’s interest on popular channels of the social media pinboard. The "Uniqlo Dry Mesh Project," was a simultaneous pinning event that created the effect of animated images on Pinterest as pages where updated. See why it's our viral of the week below...

03/07/2012  |  Full story...

Apple has agreed to pay $60m (£38m) to Chinese firm Proview to settle a dispute involving rights to the "iPad" name, a court in China has said. Proview had claimed that it owned the rights to the iPad name in the Chinese market after registering it in 2000. However, Apple had insisted that it had acquired the worldwide rights for the name in 2009.

03/07/2012  |  Full story...

This chart represents the popularity of phone manufacturers among 234 million US mobile phone subscribers. Samsung was the most popular manufacturer at the end of May 2012 with a 25.7% market share. Apple increased its market share between February and May 2012 by 1.5%.

04/07/2012  |  Full story...

Nearly 110 million people owned a smartphone in the US at the end of May 2012. Google Android is the most popular platform for smartphone owners with 50.(% share of users. 5 years after the first iPhone release, Apple now holds a 31.9% share of the smartphone market.

04/07/2012  |  Full story...

Samsung still leads the way in the US smartphone market, but Apple is the fastest grower, accounting for nearly 1 in every 3 devices, according to new research. comScore has released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending May 2012. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.7 percent market share.

04/07/2012  |  Full story...

Mothers are the most active social media users in the US, with nearly three in five web-connected mums (58.6%) visiting social media properties at least a few times per day, according to new research. By contrast, 42.7% of online women who are not mums and 34.0% of online men go social at least a few times per day.

04/07/2012  |  Full story...

Adobe will discontinue development of Flash for Android 4.1 this summer, starting August 15th, as the firm looks to focus on the new HTML5 technology for video, app and rich media displays in the future. Adobe confirmed in a Friday blog post that "there will be no certified implementations of Flash Player for Android 4.1."

04/07/2012  |  Full story...

Apple customers are highly loyal, with just one in 5 (21%) of iOS device owners saying they wouldn’t switch platforms, even if offered huge discounts, according to a new study. The study, from Goldman Sachs, highlights the loyalty of iPad and iPhone users, who are so unlikely to switch from Apple’s iOS to another platform that an analyst believes they are worth almost $295billion (£188billion) cumulatively, which is more than half of Apple’s current market cap.

04/07/2012  |  Full story...

Coca-Cola has made a foray into advergaming with their new title, Crabs & Penguins. The beverage giant made smart use of gamification techniques, with a music soundtrack and social media links, to build long-term engagement with consumers by letting players unlock levels and learn about a story.

04/07/2012  |  Full story...

More than half of the smartphone audience who scanned a QR code did so from printed magazines and newspapers (50.9%). The second most popular source for QR codes was product packaging (38%).

05/07/2012  |  Full story...

YouView is set to launch in the UK at the end of this month, with the much-delayed web TV service seen by many as a possible successor to the Freeview platform. The service was unvieled by Lord Sugar, who announced that YouView would go on sale at the end of this month for £299, a higher price than had been anticipated. “Will I be surprised in two years time if the boxes in the retail channels will be £99? Not really, you know what it’s like in the consumer electronics industry,” he said.

Watch the launch video here:

05/07/2012  |  Full story...

Google has shut down 5 more products and the internet giant continues to streamline its operations to focus on its core products. The services on the way out include Google Mini, Talk Chatback, Google Video, iGoogle and the Symbian Search App. Since September 2011, the company has shut down a number of products and merged others into existing products as features.

05/07/2012  |  Full story...

Ad-funded broadband service Samba has launched in the UK this week, offering Brits free broadband in exchange for ads, provided they sign up for a £5 sim or £25 dongle. Based on a value exchange model, users are required watch a few video advertisements to earn free credit. The service is powered by the Three network.

05/07/2012  |  Full story...

Bacardi and Novus Leisure, the owners of the Tiger Tiger nightclub chain, have partnered with mobile marketing agency Sponge to run an in-bar mobile QR code promotion offering 2 for 1 Bacardi Mojitos. The mobile promotion, a first for both brands, is being pushed via a media campaign across the Capital FM and XFM iPhone apps, along with banner ads and an O2 Media SMS campaign.

05/07/2012  |  Full story...

Recently unemployed men in the UK are spending up to 15 hours-a-day accessing the Internet to help cope with losing face-to-face contact with friends and work colleagues, according to new research. 'The Economy and Techno Addiction' study charts the increasing use of the Internet by both unemployed and employed men and women.

05/07/2012  |  Full story...

This chart shows the average usage of mobile phone features by American smartphone and non-smartphone owners over a three month period. 74.8% sent a text message during this period, while only 27% used their mobile for listening to music.

06/07/2012  |  Full story...

General Motors is discussing the prospect of restarting paid Facebook advertising, following its controversial pull out from the social network's ad schemes two months ago, according to a news report. The move comes after the car maker’s high-profile abandonment of the social network’s paid marketing in May, which came as a blow to Facebook just ahead of its $100bn IPO fiasco. The automaker maintained its free brand pages on the site but said its $10 million Facebook ad budget wasn't delivering an adequate financial return.

06/07/2012  |  Full story...

HTML5 is being used by almost 50% of developers, and is projected to grow to 80% within the next three years. This infographic below from Uberflip provides a guide to the technology that will be powering the majority of apps, video and rich media content viewed on mobiles and PCs over the next few years…

06/07/2012  |  Full story...

Google's Nexus 7 tablet is due for launch in a couple of weeks, but the internet giant has admitted the iPad rival will go on sale in Europe without access to the Play Store’s music, magazines or TV shows after it failed to agree deals with the rights holders. Announced last month, the Nexus 7 features a smaller 7-inch screen than the iPad, and will cost just £169 for the base model. It goes on sale on July 19 in the US and Europe. However, the ability to access TV shows, music and magazines will remain exclusive to the US for the initial launch period.

06/07/2012  |  Full story...

Ad giant Publicis has bought Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), the agency behind iconic camapigns such as "Vorsprung durch Technik" for Audi and "The Axe Effect" for Lynx/ Axe. Publicis will aquire the 51% stake in BBH that it does not already own, in a deal which will also snap up Brazilian agency Neogama/BBH, of which BBH already owned a third. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

06/07/2012  |  Full story...

Digital agency Found has launched a free Keyword Tool aimed at helping advertisers create stronger keyword lists for their PPC campaigns. Called ‘The Ultimate Keyword Tool’ Found is hoping to woo advertisers who frequently work with Google Adwords or other bid management systems. The tool helps advertisers buildi out existing PPC campaigns by using every permutation of their chosen keywords.

06/07/2012  |  Full story...

Twitter has added a two new search capabilities, with spelling correct and enhanced people finding tools. The micro-blogging platform has introduced search auto–complete and “people you follow” features and results for people’s real names as well as their user names.

08/07/2012  |  Full story...

Adidas has topped the Euro 2012 sponsorship scoreboard by driving the greatest volume of social media discussion of its sponsorship during the group stage, according to new research looking at the impact of brands on social media sporting conversations. The study, from Precise, forund that despite the growth of social media since 2010 sponsors of UEFA EURO 2012 drove a lower volume of conversations than the sponsors of the 2010 FIFA World Cup

08/07/2012  |  Full story...

As more brands flock to social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to reach consumers, how can marketers measure the impact of their campaigns? This infographic from InventHelp shows how Google Analytics Assisted Conversions can be used to correlate social media traffic with sales, as well as showing some success stories from brands.

08/07/2012  |  Full story...

Nielsen has acquired technology firm Vizu, which enables marketers to access and optimise online advertising effectiveness, in a bid to bolster its campaign measurement offerings.
The provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy will integrate Vizu's industry-leading solutions into its product portfolio.

08/07/2012  |  Full story...

Integrating display, social and mobile with email and web programs as part of an overall cross-channel marketing strategy has a strong impact on sales conversions and return on investment, according to a new study.

08/07/2012  |  Full story...

More agencies and brands are shifting their attention from Facebook towards "the rest of the Web", with the numbers planning on decreasing their Facebook spend are five times higher today than they were pre-IPO, according to the results of a new survey.

09/07/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is planning to release a new type of mobile advertising system that will be targeted to the types of apps that customers use on their handheld devices, according to a news report. The Wall Street Journal reports that the new system, due later on this month, is an attempt to increase their mobile revenue and make money from the vast plethora of websites connecting to Facebook.

09/07/2012  |  Full story...

'Cheap holidays" is the most common key phrase used by travellers looking for holidays online, showing that cost is an increasingly important factor for holidaymakers, according to new research. The study, from digital agency Greenlight, indicates that during May, 2.7 million searches were made with holiday-related key words and a fifth of them used "cheap holidays" to find what they were looking for.

09/07/2012  |  Full story...

Launched in August 2008, 4Music is the most watched music channel in the UK. It is free to air, and part of the Box TV music channel portfolio. This case study shows how the a multi-layered digital campaign was used to elevate the brand and increase the value of 4Music.comto its advertisers.

09/07/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has closed down Face.com, the facial recognition app it bought last month for $60m, removing it from the iPhone app store in the process. The move continues Facebook’s trend of closing down companies that it acquires, having shut down location based service Gowalla in a similar fashion earlier this year.

09/07/2012  |  Full story...

Global internet ad spend growth has outpaced all other media by a large margin this year, while magazines have seen the only fall, according to new research. The findings, from Nielsen’s quarterly Global AdView Pulse report, indicate that TV continues to attract the majority of advertising dollars. However, Internet advertising saw the biggest increases, with advertisers spending 12.1 percent more in Q1 2012 than one year prior.

11/07/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has launched its App Center in 8 countries, as the social network looks to boost its much scrutinised mobile business. The social network has rolled out the service in United States, Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom. In the coming weeks, the company is launching the App Center to users in Brazil, France, Germany, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, and Turkey.

11/07/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon is reportedly developing its own smartphone in conjunction with manufacturing partner Foxcon. The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is working with component suppliers in Asia to test a smartphone, citing ‘people familiar with the situation’. Officials at some of Amazon's parts suppliers, who declined to be named, said the Seattle-based company is testing a smartphone and mass production of the new device may start late this year or early next year.

11/07/2012  |  Full story...

Google Maps has launched a cycle-specific routing on its Maps feature in theUK, including National Cycle Network routes. A “bicycling” option will appear in the “bird’s eye view” menu (alongside traffic, photos, weather, terrain), allowing users to see cycle routes in their area. These will be divided into bike trails (where there are no motor vehicles), streets with bike lanes and streets recommended for cyclists.

11/07/2012  |  Full story...

Wikipedia has shut down its Russian-language site for 24 hours to protest against a Bill that would give the Russian government sweeping powers to blacklist certain sites. Wikipedia's Russian-language site encouraged users to spread the word about the law and contact their representatives in parliament to lobby against it. The protest comes after a similar shutdown of the English-language site in January to protest against the anti-pirating Stop Online Piracy Act in the US Congress.

11/07/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is preparing to launch its own job board this summer, in a move that could pose a threat to LinkedIn, according to a new report. The Wall Street Journal cites ‘people familiar with the matter’ that the job board could launch as early as next month, and could work by aggregating job postings from third-party providers.

12/07/2012  |  Full story...

This heart-warming video from Coca-Cola continues the beverage giant’s ‘Happiness’ brand message, turning the negative perception of security cameras into something much more positive- boosting customers perception of Coke in the process. See why it’s our video viral of the week below…

12/07/2012  |  Full story...

Dropbox is doubling the capacity of its paid plans but keeping its prices the same, as the online storage market leader looks to keep ahead of rivals such as Apple’s iCloud, Google Drive and Amazon’s Cloud Drive. Dropbox's service plans begin with 2GB of free storage, which will stay the same.

12/07/2012  |  Full story...

Ad technology firm Rubicon Project has appointed Dirk Freytag to lead its activity in Germany. The former CEO of ADTECH and SVP at AOL Inc. will drive adoption of REVV, Rubicon Project’s real-time trading platform, amongst premium online publishers in the DACH regions.

12/07/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft has hit back at Kogan over its ‘Internet Explorer 7 tax’ stunt of last month, according to the outspoken boss of the online retailer, removing it from Bing’s search results. The Australia-based online electronics retailer punished users of IE7, imposing a tax of 6.8% on transactions made via what it described as an “antiquated” and “obsolete” browser. The tax added 0.1% for every month since IE7 was released, to recoup the cost of optimising the company’s website for the browser.

12/07/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon is planning on offering a premium ‘same day delivery’ option for its US customers, in a move that could put further pressures on ecommerce firms and high street retailers alike. The online retail giant is looking to expand its network of US warehouses so it can place its merchandise nearer to big markets and offer same-day delivery to more consumers. The firm currently has 34 in the US.

13/07/2012  |  Full story...

Yahoo is investigating a breach of its system which may have exposed 400,000 user IDs. US security firm Trustedsec said the attack appeared to have originated from servers connected to Yahoo Voices, a user-generated section of the site.

13/07/2012  |  Full story...

Cadbury has launched a new social media campaign for Wispa, celebrating ‘Time Well Mis-spent’ with a new competition. The premise of the Facebook app is that ‘it’s good to goof off’, and asks users to enter ideas on the best ways to mis-spend time. Every week for six weeks from 17 July Wispa will pick 10 ideas and make them happen.

13/07/2012  |  Full story...

Frozen food retailer Iceland has embraced social media as part of its new ‘My Iceland’ marketing campaign to generate customer feedback about their in-store experiences. In a bid to improve the customer experience, Iceland is encouraging shoppers, via till receipts and in-store PoS, to complete an online survey. This rates their experience on a scale of one to five, on factors such as staff friendliness and store cleanliness.

13/07/2012  |  Full story...

Mobile use in Argentina is on the rise, with Android accounting for the largest share of mobile webpage views, while iPads lead the tablet market, according to new research. The study, from comScore, looked at connected device usage in Argentina from its Device Essentials service. The report found that digital media consumption via connected devices (including mobile phones, tablets, etc.) accounted for 2.1 percent of all Internet page views in March 2012. Of this non-computer traffic, mobile phones drove 70.4 percent of traffic, while tablets accounted for 25.2 percent.

13/07/2012  |  Full story...

Cadbury's "Chocolate Charmer" online advertising campaign provided ROI almost 4 times higher than their TV campaign. The chocolate brand ran a cross-media campaign for its Dairy Milk brand, covering TV, online ads and YouTube promoted videos. Despite only investing 7% of its budget in online, the brand saw the sector generate 20% of the sales. This case study from Gfk NOP highlights to growing power of online advertising in the marketing mix.
More on this Case study

More on this case study:
Brand: Cadbury’s | Media: YouTube, TV, Social Media | Agency: Fallon London | Country: UK | Sector: FMCG

14/07/2012  |  Full story...

Savoury snack maker Tohato used mobile internet and QR codes on packaging to launch two new flavours and create a buzz in Japan. A mobile phone game called "World's Worst War" was designed pitting Tyrant Habanero's Imperial Army against Satan Jolokia's Demon Army in a war to decide the ‘hottest and tastiest snack’. Players purchased their preferred product, scanning a QR code on the package into their phones to select a faction on which to side. The participants could then accumulate points and rise in rank by recruiting friends to join twice-weekly massively multiplayer online battles against countless other players. This case study shows how to make advertising money work hard, to attract, engage and change behaviour. The campaign also drove advocacy and word of mouth and demonstrates the binding power of co-creation communication strategies. The game resulted in participation of over 10,000 people and led to communities discussing the battle strategies. The campaign resulted in increase page views on the website to 100,000 per day.

More on this Case study …
Brand: Tohato |Media: Mobile| Country: Japan |Sector: FMCG | Agency: Hakuhodo | Format: Multiplayer Online Game

YouTube case study

14/07/2012  |  Full story...

This marketing stunt from Cadbury involved a giant purple ‘Joyville’ branded train pulling into select stations across Australia, rewarding surprised commuters with an array of chocolate treats. The campaign was amplified through a deeply integrated social media campaign with a Facebook page encouraging and supporting user generated content, as well as the dedicated website which features games, information and lets users share the campaign.

More on this Case study …
Brand: Cadbury |Media: Facebook | Country: Australia |Sector: FMCG | Agency: Wonder | Format: Facebook page, website

YouTube case study | Facebook Page

14/07/2012

Kraft’s ‘Dinner, Not Art App’ harks back to school days and macaroni art, making creative use of the way its Mac and Cheese brand is perceived in a positive and nostalgic light. The "Dinner, Not Art" campaign from Crispin Porter + Bogusky seeks to save the real noodles by encouraging virtual macaroni art projects with a free iPad app. Users can choose a canvas, cover it in noodles and manipulate them to create a macaroni masterpiece. For every digital noodle used in the app, Kraft will donate 10 real noodles to Feeding America, up to 110 million noodles. A maximum of 100 digital noodles can be used per any single piece of saved art, for a maximum 1000 noodle donation per piece of saved art. The campaign so far has led to 244790 noodles being donated. Users can also "glue down" your art and save it to a digital refrigerator. The creations will be posted on Kraft's Macaroni Masterpiece Gallery on its Facebook and Pinterest pages. The brand began promoting the initiative with the TV spot below, which broke earlier this week.

More on this Case study …
Brand: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese |Media: Facebook | Country: USA |Sector: FMCG | Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky | Format: Facebook App

YouTube Case Study | Kraft App

14/07/2012

In early 2010, Unilever launched a campaign on Facebook to distribute samples of its new Marmite Cereal Bar and to drive awareness of the new product. This case study shows how the brand used the Facebook Ad Units format to create buzz, generating 22m impressions and distributing 33,000 samples to its target audience of mums and young adults.

More on this Case study …
Brand: Unilever Marmite |Media: Facebook | Country: UK |Sector: Food & Beverages| Agency: Mindshare | Format: Facebook Ad Unit

14/07/2012  |  Full story...

Ahead of the Cricket World Cup 2011, PepsiCo India used Facebook’s video ad formats to closely engage with target audiences. The campaign’s main objectives were to create buzz, get the cricket-centric TV spots closer to consumers, create deeper level of engagement for the brand and drive traffic to an application created for the World Cup.

More on this Case study …
Brand: PepsiCo India | Media: groupm | Country: India |Sector: Beverages | Agency: Komli | Format: Facebook Reach Block

14/07/2012  |  Full story...

This marketing stunt from Cadbury involved a giant purple ‘Joyville’ branded train pulling into select stations across Australia, rewarding surprised commuters with an array of chocolate treats. The campaign was amplified through a deeply integrated social media campaign with a Facebook page encouraging and supporting user generated content, as well as the dedicated website which features games, information and lets users share the campaign.

More on this Case study …
Brand: Cadbury |Media: Facebook | Country: Australia |Sector: FMCG | Agency: Wonder | Format: Facebook page, website

YouTube case study | Facebook Page

14/07/2012

The Cadbury Dairy Milk UK Facebook Page reached a social media milestone when it welcomed its one millionth fan on Saturday, January 7, 2012. To say thank you, the brand constructed a giant chocolate Facebook ‘thumbs up’, piece by piece, from thousands of Cadbury Dairy Milk bars and put the video on the social network. This case study shows how Cadbury managed to keep the momentum of its growing social media audeience.

More on this Case study…

Brand: Cadbury Dairy Milk |Media: Online, email | Country: UK|Sector: FMCG | Agency: Hypernaked | Format: Facebook Page Videos

14/07/2012  |  Full story...

Coca-Cola has made a foray into advergaming with their new title, Crabs & Penguins. The beverage giant made smart use of gamification techniques, with a music soundtrack and social media links, to build long-term engagement with consumers by letting players unlock levels and learn about a story.

More on this case study:
Brand: Coco-Cola |Media: Communities & Gaming portals, Smartphones, Mobile | Sector: FMCG | Agency: Ember Lab | Format: iPhone App |

YouTube video: Coca-Cola | Mobile App: Crabs and Penguins | Micro-site campaign: Crabs and Penguins

14/07/2012  |  Full story...

These days every brand wants a Facebook fan page, but few brands achieve real engagement. When marketing directors asked our team to find case studies of the best Facebook fan pages, we looked for those that had great social conversations, really engaged with consumers and gave people a reason to follow.

Today’s marketers need to be able to make good judgements about social channels, and yet many brands have a weak presence, with social conversations brands that feel pretty dull. If you’re going to win in social media marketing, then you need to create vibrant conversations your consumers will love to take part in. Here are some of the best Facebook fan page case studies trainers at the Digital Training Academy have been using when coaching brands and agencies on social media strategies.

14/07/2012  |  Full story...

Many companies worry about how their brand is being talked about online as it is seems unpredictable and uncontrollable. This case study shows how Coca Cola encouraged conversations to happen about their brand with a multi-channeled digitally focused ad campaign full of relevant, engaging and viral content.

More on this case study:
Brand: Coca Cola | Media: interactive digital marketing | Country: US | Sector: FMCG Drinks | Objective: engage the youth market | Agency: Wieden+Kennedy | Format: multi-channel advertising

Digital Marketing Case Study Video

14/07/2012  |  Full story...

Back in 2008, Coca-Cola was faced with a declining market share in the UK teen market. This case study reveals how the drinks giant linked on-pack point codes to an engaging Coke Zone rewards website, boosting customer loyalty and becoming the most visited UK grocery brand site in the process.

Since the scheme went live, its email offers mailshot enjoys an open rate of 49 percent and a click through rate of 71 percent. The Coke Zone site garners dwell time averages 9 minutes, and prize draw entries total 116,497. Coke Zone is now consistently the UK's no.1 Food & Drink brand website. Currently the site gets over 38 million Facebook fans and over 400,000 Twitter followers.

More on this case study:
Brand: Coca Cola | Media: interactive digital marketing | Country: UK | Sector: FMCG Drinks | Objective: engage the youth market | Agency: Carlson Marketing | Format: Multi-Channel Marketing

Digital Marketing Case Study | Coke Zone's holiday video

14/07/2012  |  Full story...

Coffee house chain Barista used Facebook to create awareness of its seasonal 'Hawaiian Summers' menu, encouraging users to engage with the brand. The campaign created a Facebook fan page loaded with a games app and contest.

More on this Case study …

Brand: Barista Lavazza |Media: Facebook | Country: India |Sector: Hospitality | Agency: AliveNow | Format: Facebook page, Facebook Game App

Read the case study here | View the eCRM mailer

14/07/2012  |  Full story...

This case study shows how Costa used Customer insights to transform the business via product development, loyalty schemes and marketing campaigns.

Based on research findings that 10% of overall coffee customers made up for 50% of Costa visits, Costa introduced the loyalty card Costa Coffee. Costa now has more than 6 million loyalty cards in circulation just 18 months after launch. The loyalty programme was designed also based on the insight that UK shoppers prefer points collection schemes, such as Nectar and Boots Advantage Card.

More on this Case study …
Brand: Costa Coffee| Sector: Food and Beverages| Format: Customer Insight

14/07/2012  |  Full story...

Lacta Chocolate’s Facebook App made smart use of social media, boosting brand engagement and tripling their fanbase in the process. The app let users customise the Lacta chocolate wrapper with their loved ones names and compare them to the particular flavour before, uploading the results to their wall, reaching out to hundreds of people on their list. The campaign demonstrates how Lacta used an engaging and appropriate app to get their fans to become brand promoters. This was done using a simple consumer insight that people enjoyed comparing their loved ones with chocolate. The App lead to 135,000 users sent out 300,000 virtual Lacta Chocolate in first week. In two months the number of Fans increased from 87,000 to 250,000, almost 3 times. The campaign lead to an increase in the number of likes on Facebook approximately 396,000 likes.

More on this Case study …
Brand: Lacta |Media: Facebook | Country: Greece |Sector: FMCG | Agency: OgilvyOne Athens | Format: Facebook Application

14/07/2012

Reckitt Benckiser used a suite of eight online and mobile mini-games to raise brand awareness among students and graduates early in their career, as part of a recruitment drive. The games are available online and via iPhone and Android Apps. The games are promote the 8 ‘power brands’ of Reckitt Benckiser; Harpic, Durex, Clearasil, Air Wick, Dettol/Lysol, Veet, Vanish & French Mustard. The games were promoted via social media seeding strategy which targets relevant gaming portals, news groups and communities.

More on this Case study …

Brand: Reckitt Benckiser |Media: Social feeds, Communities & Gaming portals| Sector: FMCG | Agency: TAMBA, The Workroom | Format: Online Games, iPhone & Android Apps

View a video of the campaign: Reckitt Benckiser | View the Facebook page | View the official website: CrazieRBrands | View Tamba's Case Study

14/07/2012

Heinz used a Facebook App to allow users to send friends personalised soup tins, with messages appearing below the iconic brand. The campaign allowed fans to choose their soup variety, personalise with the friend’s name and pay £1.99 to get the can delivered to their friend in days. This case study shows how with Facebook App, Heinz got fans to send out personalised soup cans friends in the cold and flu season. The campaign combined F-commerce and personalisation with seasonality to create positive brand image and increase engagement. The campaign also led to mentions on other social platforms such as Twitter.

More on this Case study …

Brand: Heinz |Media: Facebook | Country: United Kingdom |Sector: FMCG | Agency: We are social | Format: Facebook App

Read the case Study here: We Are Social | Visit the Facebook page here Heinz

14/07/2012

Groundbreaking econometric modelling from Brand Science has established online advertising’s impact on McDonald’s offline sales and helped to boost Return on Investment (ROI) by optimising media choices. Following hugely successful campaigns in Denmark and Sweden, McDonald’s extended the strategy to Finland – with spectacular results.

Download the MSN case studies compendium

14/07/2012

Fake profiles could be responsible for a significant proportion of Facebook 'likes', causing inflated figures that lead brands and advertisers to waste time and money on social media campaigns, according to a new report. A BBC investigation set up a site for fake firm VirtualBagel on Facebook with a modest $10 ad campaign on the social network.By the end of his campaign’s first week, VirtualBagel had 2999 likes.

16/07/2012  |  Full story...

When is the best time to make that important social media announcement to your fans? This infographic from agency Raka Creative offers a guide to getting your timings right. The graphic uses data from URL shortener bitly, and highlights the best times to share content on Twitter or Facebook if you’re looking to drive traffic to your site (or any site).

16/07/2012  |  Full story...

This iPad app and video campaign from Kraft harks back to school days and macaroni art. See why it’s our video viral of the week below…

16/07/2012  |  Full story...

Following the announcement of Google’s Nexus 7 tablet Experian Hitwise looks at how the news had changed the way that UK consumers are searching online for tablets. The newly released Google Nexus 7 entered the rankings as the second most popular tablet for UK consumers, accumulating over 16% of all tablet-related online searches.

16/07/2012  |  Full story...

Yahoo has appointed Google executive Marissa Mayer as its chief executive, becoming the firm’s third boss in a year. Mayer, 37, was Google's 20th employee and first female engineer, has led a number of its businesses, and was credited for envisioning the clean, simple Google search interface still in use today. In a statement released by Yahoo, Mayer said she was "honoured and delighted" to lead the company.

17/07/2012  |  Full story...

Sky has launched Now TV, its pay -as-you-go online TV service Now TV, offering movies from 99p or £15 for a month’s subscription. The service will initially be available for PC, Mac, and selected Android devices, with iOS devices due to get it later in July. It will come to Xbox, PS3, and Roku before the end of the year.

17/07/2012  |  Full story...

LinkedIn has added "social gestures" such as "like," "comment" and "share" as the business-based social network looks tp compete with Facebook and Google+. The new home page, which will be rolled out to all members over the next few weeks, places the company logo and several quick links at the top in a black and gray bar across the top - a mix of what users see on Facebook and Google+. The new LinkedIn home page also has a less cluttered design with more emphasis on photos.

17/07/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon has launched GameConnect, a new service targeting gamers, letting developers deliver virtual goods direct to people’s Amazon game accounts. In a bid to get massively multiplayer online (MMO) gamers using the service, Amazon is offering them “exclusive in-game content”.

17/07/2012  |  Full story...

Online video ads made up 8% of online display ad revenue in Europe during 2011 according to new research. The research - a collaboration between sell side video ad management platform, Videoplaza and analyst house IHS Screen Digest - found that TV remains first choice for reaching audiences at a national scale for building brand awareness.

17/07/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook has bought social bookmarking firm Spool, as the firm looks to expand its mobile services amid mounting shareholder pressure. In a blog post, the Spool team said its technology makes it easier to consume content on a mobile device. "We firmly believe that solving these problems will be increasingly important as the world accesses the Internet primarily through mobile devices."

17/07/2012  |  Full story...

Packaging is one of the most powerful advertising platforms you have - the core of your free 'owned' media. Find the highest volume SKUs and look for ways to incorporate the web address into those. You don't need to be on every product that ships, and to reduce supply chain costs, restrict the number of changes you're making to those that will have the greatest impact.

18/07/2012

Use your packaging. In the FMCG industry it's one of the most powerful advertising platforms there is. But go further than just including the URL - give consumers a reason tp 'like' your brand. Show the value of the content updates you're creating and hint at the enjoyment they'll get. By landing this message on the packaging your'e giving consumers a reason to believe, and a reason to like you.

18/07/2012

This chart depicts each industry's average content engagement rate compared with their average number of Facebook fans. Engagement goes beyond simple 'likes' and looks at fans commenting and interacting with branded content. FMCGs attract most fans to their pages (2.3 million) but the content posted yields low engagement (0.072%). The automotive industry however has a low average number of fans (0.85 million) but they engage far more with the online content (0.207%).

18/07/2012  |  Full story...

This chart depicts the top 20 brands in terms of Facebook fans in the food and beverage sector. Coca Cola is at number one with over 45 million fans, surpassing its nearest rival starbucks by nearly 15 million fans.

18/07/2012  |  Full story...

Companies in the Fortune Global 100 were mentioned a total of 10,400,132 times online during a month-long period, with the majority of these mentions appearing on Twitter, according to a new report. The Burson-Marsteller Global Social Media Check-up 2012 examined the Fortune Global 100’s use of popular social networking platforms including: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and, for the first time, Google Plus and Pinterest. This year, Visible Technologies provided data on social media users’ discussions of companies online.

18/07/2012  |  Full story...

Across Latin America, the growth of online marketing continues to be rapid as brands unlock a smarter communications mix.

This briefing gives a snapshot of market growth across Latin America. In digital training programmes we explain how to read the landscape, identify priority digital channels and apply 'tipping point' thinking...

It all starts with understanding the channel mix of your consumers and reading the landscape correctly.

Read the Digital Intelligence Latin America special report

Recent editions of Digital Intelligence

18/07/2012

Google Nexus 7 goes on sale across a number of territories today including the UK, as the firm looks to rival Apple's iPad in the growing tablet market. Google Nexus 7 is Google's first branded tablet, priced from £127 for the standard version which makes it more affordable than the iPad. The 8GB version costs £159 while the 16GB memory gadget costs £199.

18/07/2012  |  Full story...

TiVo has bought ad analytics company TRA for $20m, as the TV-on-demand service looks to boost its targeting abilities. TRA's Web-based platform analyses real time tuning data combined with household purchase behaviour.

18/07/2012  |  Full story...

Software maker Autodesk has bought social-video service Socialcam for about $60 million to expand in consumer markets. Socialcam offers a smartphone application and Web-based service that lets users capture, edit and share videos. The application, available at Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, has been downloaded more than 16 million times since it was introduced in 2011, Autodesk said today in a statement.

18/07/2012  |  Full story...

United Biscuit’s cake and biscuit brand McVities has launched a ‘Bring Out The Cake’ campaign, designed to get Facebook fans sharing coupons to promote the brand’s cake range. The firm is working with Coupons.com to manage the digital coupon element of its national campaign created by independent marketing agency, RPM.

Watch the YouTube ad here:

18/07/2012  |  Full story...

UK advertisers are reacting to consumers’ increasing mobile usage, by shifting search advertising budget towards tablet devices, according to new data. The report, Marin Software’s Online Advertising – Q2 2012 Report, shows advertisers were rewarded for embracing the shift with mobile devices accounting for a 20% share of clicks against a 13% share of spend throughout June 2012 in the UK.

18/07/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook's mobile "Sponsored Stories" ads are much more effective than mobile ads displayed on Twitter, according to a study by TBG Digital, a large buyer and manager of Facebook campaign media. TBG studied 24 million Twitter impressions across multiple clients and sectors in Q2 2012, and saw an average click-through rate of 0.266%. But Facebook's mobile ad click-through rate in the same period —indicated on this chart as "Mobile Newsfeed" — is four times more than that of Twitter's rate.

19/07/2012  |  Full story...

Most smartphone users (92%) still text despite access to IM and social networking messaging services, according to new research looking into the psycology of SMS. The study, from Acision, examines the behaviours behind text message usage. The study, which was evaluated by leading psychologist Graham Jones, questioned 2,000 respondents in the UK and US this year and provides a comprehensive observation of text messaging habits across different age groups and genders and shows why we still love to text.

19/07/2012  |  Full story...

81% of UK adults are now online compared to a European average of 65% according to IAB Europe's Mediascope Europe report. UK internet users spending on average 16.8 hours per week online compared to European average of 14.8 hours says flagship media consumption study totalling over 50,000 consumer interviews.

19/07/2012  |  Full story...

When a consumer spots a recipe they like online, make it as easy as possible for them to send the list of ingredients to themselves as an email or save them to a mobile platform like Evernote. Consumers see many recipes within their media day so you want to make it as easy as possible for them to remember yours when they get to the supermarket. Create a simple button which will create a correctly formatted ingredients list making it easy for the consumer to save. Don’t forget to include some subtle branding so they remember where they got the recipe from!

19/07/2012

Think about how you can use low cost videos to illustrate key steps within a recipe or professional techniques for common jobs such as slicing onions or peeling vegetables. To make these cost effectively use simple “soft studios” such as kitchens you already have built in the office, use non-celebrity chefs and host them on YouTube. Keep the videos short and quick to load so that a user can watch whilst they are preparing the recipe. Remember as well to make sure the video is formatted for phone or tablet, this is what they are likely to have in the kitchen!

19/07/2012

Are you creating online video content? Are you optimizing online video effectively? Are you wanting to build strong always-on online content? If so, then the latest tips come in the form of this YouTube Playbook for marketing managers.

The YouTube Playbook that has been produced by YouTube’s owner, Google, and pulls together best practice examples from across the globe and across dozens of industries. It explains the processes to really help your YouTube strategy fly, and here at the Digital Training Academy is part of our deep dives in video content design.

The Playbook is split into a number of practical sections that illustrate how you can make an always-on video strategy that delivers real value.

• How to use and develop a successful branded YouTube channel?
• How to design content and program calendars?
• How to optimize the content so it is discovered through search?
• How to build a community through YouTube and engage with consumers?
• How top integrate branding and calls to action that work and deliver real value.
• Using analytics with YouTube so that you can tell when you are winning and real optimize to deliver the highest ROMI.

Read full report: YouTube Playbook for brands and agencies

19/07/2012

For many foods brands the web presence is already all about the recipe, but they miss a trick by not going further and rotating recipes throughout the week.

Consumers are looking for inspiration, so why not structure your home page with a changing recipe of the day, gradually cycling through the relevant content you have. That’s a great way to make more out of all the recipes the brand has already created, and with some smart planning it can be automated to remove any operational cost after the quick set-up.

19/07/2012

Lead with photos of the recipes rather than the brands. When people visit your home page you have a few moments to engage them. Sites should be consumer centric, and no matter how much we love our brands, the consumer benefit is in the great meal your brand is helping them make.

Remember all of the principles of taste-appeal in food photography? It’s the same set of rules online, you just have more scope for using photos in the preparation phase as well as the final recipe.

19/07/2012

How can you get the most out of Twitter? Social media tool Buddy Media has issued a new report on how businesses can use Twitter to heighten engagement and produce favourable results. The report states that to more effectively leverage Twitter as a marketing channel, businesses need to know "when to Tweet, what to Tweet and how often to Tweet."

20/07/2012  |  Full story...

Fewer than half of all mobile phone users in the UK (47%) - make at least one voice call per day, compared to 58 per cent who send at least one SMS text message daily, according to the latest data from Ofcom. According to the Ofcom Communications Market Report, those figures show an ongoing drop in voice activity on both landlines, which have dropped 10 per cent over the last year, and mobiles, having dropped five per cent.

20/07/2012  |  Full story...

Microsoft has posted a loss of $492 million in the past quarter, the first ever for the software giant, as results were hit by a previously announced writeoff for its online ad business aQuantive. The software company, which was launched 26 years ago, had warned two weeks ago that it would take a $6.2bn (£3.9bn) charge in the April to June quarter because its 2007 purchase of online ad service aQuantive had failed to help it compete with Google.

20/07/2012  |  Full story...

The latest mobile advertising formats that are getting good response rates are also getting widespread use. Find out about the updated mobile ad unites the industry is moving to in America, and increasingly worldwide…

20/07/2012  |  Full story...

Google has reported a profit of $2.79 billion in the second quarter, up 11% over the same period of last year, as its search ad clicks increased by a massive 42%. The details were announced in the company's first financial statement since it finalised its acquisition of Motorola Mobility in May.

20/07/2012  |  Full story...

Nearly every American (98%) says there are things that cause them to distrust the information found on the Internet, and 93% say their satisfaction with online information could be improved, according to the results of a new poll. Business 'ask and answer' firm Mancx announced the findings of its online survey of over 1,900 American adults who look for answers online conducted by Harris Interactive in late June 2012.

20/07/2012  |  Full story...

Nokia has posted worse than expected Q2 results, including a drop in smartphone sales of 34% as the number of devices sold fell 39% year-on-year.

The firm, which was until recently the world's biggest mobile phone maker, posted a net loss of 1.41 billion euros - about four times the 368 million euro loss posted during the same period a year ago, and more than double the loss anticipated by analysts.

23/07/2012  |  Full story...

Rupert Murdoch, the chief executive and chairman of News Corporation has resigned from his directorships at NI Group Ltd, NewsCorp Investments and Times Newspaper Holdings.

23/07/2012  |  Full story...

Google is testing a new feature that lets users share links in their search results on the social network, as the web giant looks to boost the reach and influence of its Google+ social network.

23/07/2012  |  Full story...

Facebook is testing new "Sponsored Results" ads that will let advertisers promote their businesses in the social network's drop-down search results, according to a new report. TechCrunch reports that the service will let advertisers bid against specific pages, apps or places (rather than just keywords).

23/07/2012  |  Full story...

China has crossed a tipping point in technology as China's mobile internet use has overtaken traditional PC internet access. With over 530m people connected by mobile, this is a reminder that the mobile web experience will be the first internet experience for many consumers in the world's largest internet market.

23/07/2012  |  Full story...

Jimmy Carr, Father’s Day and 50 Shades of Grey are among fastest moving search terms in the UK in June, according to new data.

24/07/2012  |  Full story...

Google has launched Gmail SMS across Africa, a new tool that lets Gmail users who own a simple feature phone to send and receive emails using only text messages.

24/07/2012  |  Full story...

Mail Online - the world's leading online English-language newspaper website - has turned its first ever profit as revenues rose 80% year-on-year, predominantly driven by online advertising sales. Revenues for the quarter were boosted in the UK by the Queen's Jubilee and Euro 2012 football championship.

24/07/2012  |  Full story...

Baidu the Chinese search giant has posted net profits of 2.77bn yuan ($436m) for Q2, up from 1.63bn yuan in the same period last year. Revenues were up 60% and reached 5.46bn yuan ($858.8m).

24/07/2012  |  Full story...

YouTube has launched a new tool letting users "blur" the faces of subjects before uploading them to the website.

24/07/2012  |  Full story...

Subscriptions to Microsoft's Xbox Live online gaming service have risen 15% over the last year. The figure follows Microsoft's revelation in February that total membership numbers had reached over 40m members.

25/07/2012  |  Full story...

Twitter's chief executive Dick Costolo has confirmed to the New York Times that the company is working on a tool that will allow users to export and download their entire archive of tweets.

25/07/2012  |  Full story...

Apple’s operating system iOS is the most effective platform for driving mobile ad impressions, according to new data.

The study forms part of Opera Software’s first State of Mobile Advertising report, highlighting key data and trends in mobile advertising worldwide.

25/07/2012  |  Full story...

A botnet called "Grum", which was responsible for over 18% of all the world’s spam email, has officially been shut down, according to a new report.

Online security firm FireEye worked with local internet service providers and spam-tracking service SpamHaus, they were able to locate the “Grum”-net command and control servers in Panama, Russia, and Ukraine.

25/07/2012  |  Full story...

Amazon is set to open a new London-based site for some of its design and development teams. The centre, based near London's "Silicon Roundabout" will house hundreds of staff including software development engineers, graphic designers and teams from both Pushbutton and Lovefilm.

25/07/2012  |  Full story...

A new study from comScore has found that Chile ranked as the most engaged online video market in Latin America with viewers watching an average of 176 videos per viewer during May 2012, an increase of 60% from the previous year.

“Online video consumption in Chile has grown immensely in the past year, fuelled by an increase in content options available to consumers,” said Rodrigo Daie, comScore country manager for Chile. “In recent years, we have seen online video evolve from a purely user-generated content venue to a channel where professionally produced, long-form content is now widely available. This expansion of video content brings tremendous potential to advertisers that are looking to reach their key audiences during this highly-engaging online activity."

25/07/2012  |  Full story...

This chart depicts the yearly growth of media in terms of advertising spend. Global internet ad spend outpaced other media formats between Q1 2011 and Q1 2012 with over 12% growth.