Facebook marketing - Research, tips and news for marketers

Facebook has added Twitter-style clickable hashtags, letting users quickly find similar topics and like-minded users across the site, while giving marketers a new channel for their social media ad targeting.

13/06/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising behavioural targeting blogging demographics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook marketing social media and social networking Twitter user generated content

Google is to buy social mapping app Waze for around $1.3bn, after an intense bidding war with rival Facebook, according to news reports.

11/06/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Google Israel local Maps mobile marketing Travel

Amazon, Google, Facebook and YouTube are amongst the top 12 brands favoured by the UK’s ‘Generation Y’ of 16 to 34 year olds, according to a new survey.

07/06/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Amazon Apple brands Cadbury's Dell demographics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook FMCG food and beverages Google HTC Mars Microsoft O2 Samsung YouTube

Facebook is reducing its number of ad units by half, as the social network looks to encourage more advertisers to the site with a simpler format range, tailored to key marketing objectives.

07/06/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook media planning mobile marketing retail social media and social networking video

Facebook is introducing ‘Twitter-style’ Verified Pages, giving businesses and public figures an authentic blue check mark next to their profiles, helping to tackle the problem of misleading fake profiles on the social network.

30/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook social media and social networking

A single share on Google+ is worth more in revenue than a single referral on Twitter and Facebook, according to this new infographic looking at social media engagement from Addshoppers.

28/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Google Google Plus social media and social networking Twitter

Facebook has postponed the European launch of its ‘First’ smartphone following disappointing US sales and negative feedback.

28/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Android applications (apps) Digital Intelligence digital marketing Europe Everything Everywhere Facebook HTC mobile and tablets mobile marketing smartphones UK

Social media mapping firm Waze has become the target of a bidding war between Google and Facebook, according to news reports.

28/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Google Israel local Maps mobile and tablets mobile marketing

Dove’s latest viral marketing video ‘Real Beauty Sketches’ has racked up over 114 million views since its launch in April 2013.

23/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: agencies blogging brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Dove FMCG social media and social networking Unilever video viral marketing YouTube

Social media in Latin America continues to soar as Argentina and Brazil become the most engaged social networking markets worldwide, according to a new study.

22/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Argentina Brazil comScore digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook internet use Latin America LinkedIn social media and social networking South America time spent online Twitter

Facebook continues to reign as the leading social network in Latin America by a wide margin with 115.5 million visitors in November 2012, but other players in the sector have also begun climbing in the rankings, according to new research.

22/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Argentina Ask.com Brazil Chile digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Latin America Mexico Peru Pinterest social media and social networking Tumblr Twitter

As more and more consumers today come with smartphone attached, the opportunities for marketers to start a mobile dialogue with their consumers anywhere and anytime are ever expanding. While some are starting to successfully include an offline call-to-action as part of their mobile marketing strategy, many marketers still miss the opportunity. Digital Strategy Director Julian Smith offers his top tips for connecting with your on-the-go consumers through mobile, amplifying their engagement across all channels and boosting the effectiveness of your integrated marketing assets.

22/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: applications (apps) augmented reality Australia digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing FMCG food and beverages india marketing mobile and tablets mobile internet mobile marketing QR codes smartphones social media and social networking

Branded pages and organic posts on social media sites are not enough to produce an effective social marketing strategy, according to a new study.

20/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Google Plus LinkedIn Pinterest social media and social networking Twitter

Mail.ru is the largest free email service in Russia and leads in terms of visits and average time spent on the site. Vk.com is a popular social network in Russia and has the second highest average time spent on the site (343.2). Vk.com reported higher vists and time spent than popular social network Facebook, whose 13,114,000 Russian users spent less than 30 minutes on average on the site during February 2013.

17/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies digital data Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends email Europe Facebook Google internet use Mail.ru Russia social media and social networking time spent online video VKontakte Wikimedia Foundation Yandex

Facebook is expanding its ‘structured status updates’ to its mobile service, letting people add emotions and actions to their posts while on the move.

16/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising applications (apps) behavioural targeting digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook local mobile marketing social media and social networking user generated content

Almost a third of UK mums have decided against purchasing a product after reading a post, comment or review on online, according to a new report and infographic from Diffusion.

13/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: blogging demographics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook infographic marketing media newspapers search social media and social networking Twitter video

Facebook is in talks to buy Israeli mobile satellite navigation start-up Waze for $800m to $1bn, according to a news report.

Watch this video report from Bloomberg discussing the rumoured deal:

10/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook local Maps mobile marketing social media and social networking

Rovio Mobile has launched Angry Birds Friends for Apple and Android devices, letting players of the popular mobile game compete against Facebook friends.

03/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Android Angry Birds Apple applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Finland iPhone, iPod and iTunes Microsoft mobile and tablets mobile marketing Rovio social media and social networking Windows

03/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising China digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook global mobile and tablets mobile marketing social media and social networking USA

Facebook has rolled out its Promoted Page Like system globally, designed to offer a simple paid targeting ad tool for smaller businesses on the social network.

Watch this video explaining how Promoted Page Likes works below:

02/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising behavioural targeting brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook social media and social networking

Reports that Facebook has lost millions of users from its biggest markets have been denied by Socialbakers, the analytics firm whose figures were used for the story.

01/05/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: analytics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook global internet use social media and social networking Socialbakers The Guardian time spent online UK US

Facebook fatigue is setting in across some of its biggest markets, with users across North America, Europe, Japan and Australia leaving the social network despite the reported growth in overall active users, according to new data.

29/04/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Australia Brazil Canada digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook global India internet use Japan social media and social networking Socialbakers Spain time spent online Twitter UK USA

Facebook has bought Parse, a US start-up that helps developers build apps, as the social network looks to expand its mobile presence.

29/04/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook mobile and tablets mobile marketing smartphones social media and social networking USA

This chart shows the percent change at the major US display ad companies. By 2015, Google is forecast to report 36.9% growth, this is largely attributed to the display ads on YouTube. Twitter's growth has slowed dramatically since 2012, dropping from 93.8% to a forecasted 34.7% by 2015.

26/04/2013  |  Full story...

This data shows the leaders in US digital display ad revenue in billions (USD), and the predictions for revenue over the next two years. Google continues to extend its lead, attracting the most revenue each year since 2012. Facebook also showed growth over the period, with predictions pointing to them generating almost $4bn by 2015.

26/04/2013  |  Full story...

Adobe Social has new ad tool that predicts social engagement on individual pieces of content and automatically suggests ideal timing to improve how that content will perform.

26/04/2013  |  Full story...

The Facebook Home interface for Android phone was downloaded half a million times in the first two weeks of its launch, according to new data.

Watch this presentation video from Mark Zuckerberg (courtesy of the Daily Telegraph explaining how Home works.)

23/04/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Android applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Google mobile and tablets mobile marketing smartphones social media and social networking Twitter

Facebook is in talks with Apple to offer its ‘Home’ interface on iPads and iPhones, less than a week after launching on the Android platform.

18/04/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Android Apple applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook mobile and tablets mobile marketing smartphones social media and social networking

Internet ad revenues in the US hit record-breaking double digita growth in 2012, reaching nearly $37bn, with mobile ad revenues leading the growth, according to new figures.

17/04/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising brands Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends ecommerce IAB US mobile marketing Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) search social media and social networking USA video

Facebook Home is the social network’s boldest mobile move yet- so much so that founder Mark Zuckerberg himself is starring in one of the launch ads (alongside a screaming goat naturally). See why it’s our video of the week below…

16/04/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising Android digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook mobile internet mobile marketing smartphones social media and social networking video viral marketing

General Motors is returning to Facebook after a high profile decision to pull its $10m per year social media ad budget last year.

11/04/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising automotive digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook General Motors mobile marketing social media and social networking USA

Enterprise software provider Falcon Social has completed the rollout of its social media marketing platform across 44 countries for brewery group, Carlsberg.

11/04/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: analytics CRM digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing FMCG food and beverages global social media and social networking

Facebook has launched ‘Home’, a new app that that puts feeds from the social network on the home screen of Android phones.

Watch this presentation video from Mark Zuckerberg (courtesy of the Daily Telegraph)

05/04/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Android applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook Google mobile and tablets mobile internet mobile marketing smartphones social media and social networking USA

Facebook has sparked further rumours of a possible smartphone launch, inviting press to see its new ‘home on Android’ this Friday.

03/04/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Android applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Google mobile and tablets mobile marketing social media and social networking

Zynga has revamped its website, letting players sign in without needing a Facebook account, as the games publisher continues its drive for independence from the social network.

27/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook games social media and social networking Zynga

In a potential challenge to mobile networks, Facebook has expanded its Messenger app to the UK, offering uses with free voice calls with friends on the social network.

26/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Apple applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook iPhone, iPod and iTunes mobile and tablets mobile internet mobile marketing Skype social media and social networking telecoms video VOiP

An adult woman will spend 8 months longer than a man on social networking sites during her lifetime, according to a new study by inbound marketing agency, Browser Media.

26/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: demographics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook infographic internet use mobile marketing Pinterest social media and social networking time spent online Twitter UK

Social media’s ability to boost sales has come into question this month, with one of the world’s biggest brands claiming that online buzz from the likes of Facebook and Twitter has little impact of brand sales.

25/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising blogging brands Coca-Cola digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook FMCG food and beverages social media and social networking Twitter user generated content

When Domino’s employees were caught on YouTube defiling a pizza, the company took less than 3 weeks to claw back a 22% drop in customer sentiment. However, when Nestle and United Airlines suffered setbacks, the brands took considerably longer to recover. This infographic from software and consultancy firm SDL Social Intelligence looks at all three case studies and charts the ‘fail trail’ as companies recover from a social media crisis.

22/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: blogging brands CRM digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Dominos Facebook FMCG infographic social media and social networking Travel user generated content YouTube

YouTube has announced that it has more than 1 billion unique users every month, putting the video sharing site in the same club as Facebook, which reached the same figure last October.

22/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: demographics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Google internet use mobile internet mobile marketing smartphones time spent online video YouTube

The data shows that blogs are more likely to influence a consumer more than Facebook and YouTube. Bloggers tend to be more honest in their reviews, providing potential customers with impartial advice. Social networks such as Pinterest and Instagram where consumers can follow specific brands' influence few purchases with 12% and 3% respectively.

21/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: analytics blogging digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Pinterest social media and social networking Twitter YouTube

Facebook has launched ‘Lookalike Audiences’, a new tool that lets advertisers reach users similar to those already in their targeting lists.

21/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising behavioural targeting brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook social media and social networking

In just one minute, 204 million emails are sent, six million Facebook pages are viewed and 47,000 apps and 1.3 million YouTube clips are downloaded worldwide, according to new research.

20/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Amazon digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends ecommerce Facebook Flickr global Google Intel internet use media music social media and social networking time spent online Twitter video YouTube

Musicians are buying Facebook likes’ and YouTube viewers and Twitter follows to increase their popularity, according to a new report.

19/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook media music social media and social networking Twitter USA video YouTube

Facebook is reportedly set to introduce Twitter-style hashtags to its news feed, as the social network looks to find more ways of grouping users together for ad targeting.

18/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising blogging digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Instagram marketing Twitter

Corporate websites are still the top priority for digital marketers, but a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is becoming more important, according to a new survey.

18/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: adspend brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook marketing USA

After its rocky IPO last year, Facebook has started to see success with its mobile and web ad revenues- and Atlas could help it develop an ad network for social media to rival Google’s DoubleClick.

18/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising advertising networks behavioural targeting digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing DoubleClick Facebook Google Microsoft mobile marketing

Seemingly innocuous behaviour on Facebook can reveal intimate details about a user’s personality- which could in turn help advertisers predict their sexuality, political views and religion, according to new research.

13/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising behavioural targeting demographics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook social media and social networking

Last month, whisky brand Maker’s Mark reduced its alcohol proof from 90% to 84%, sparking outcry as customers flocked to Facebook and Twitter to discuss ‘watered-down whisky’ and switching to rival brands. After nine days of social media, national newspaper and TV coverage, the brand was forced into an extraordinary U-turn. This case study from Gemma Storey at Carrot Communications takes a day-by-day look at how the crisis unfolded for the premium bourbon brand and how it could have managed things differently.

06/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing email Facebook FMCG food and beverages media social media and social networking Twitter

Facebook is set to revamp its news feed tool once more, sparking rumours that the social network will ramp up features for smartphones as it looks to boost mobile ad revenues.

05/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising Design digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook mobile and tablets mobile marketing Privacy smartphones social media and social networking

After weeks of rumours, Facebook has bought Atlas from Microsoft for an undisclosed sum, as the social network looks to boost its ad targeting capabilities.

04/03/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising advertising networks behavioural targeting digital companies digital marketing Facebook Microsoft social media and social networking video

This video takes a look at the EU’s laws on personal data protection and some of the online privacy guidelines and best practices in this field.

28/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: behavioural targeting digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Europe marketing Privacy regulation

US consumers spend 20 percent of their online time and 30 percent of their smartphone time on social media—accounting for a whopping 121 billion minutes each month. And marketers are starting to adjust their ad campaigns and budgets to keep pace, according to a recent survey commissioned by Vizu, a Nielsen company.

26/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: adspend digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends media sales social media and social networking USA

Sony has announced the first official details of its upcoming Playstation 4 console, featuring a social sharing button, touch screen features, mobile compatibility and the ability to stream games via the web.

Watch this BBC report on the PS4 below:

21/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook games Japan mobile internet Playstation social media and social networking Sony Xbox

Facebook is reportedly planning to buy advertising platform Atlas from Microsoft, as the social network looks to overtake Google in the display ad sector.

21/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing DoubleClick Facebook Google Microsoft social media and social networking USA

Yahoo has overhauled its homepage with a raft of new features, including online content recommended by Facebok users.

21/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising Design digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook USA Yahoo

Facebook was targeted by a "sophisticated attack" by hackers last month, but the social network said it has found no evidence any user data had been compromised.

19/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook hacker newspapers regulation security social media and social networking

This chart shows which social portals will be attracting the most revenue from US marketers. Facebook is set to gain most, attracting 57% of the social media spend. Pinterest, which is a relatively new social space, will receive 2% of marketers' social spend.

15/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: blogging digital companies digital data Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Pinterest social media and social networking Twitter user generated content video YouTube

As Facebook and Google grow, so do their corporate structures. This infographic courtesy of Hierarchy Structure and Designed by Infographics looks at the workforce hierarchy of the two leading internet giants.

13/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Google infographic recuitment

Irish and German regulators have confirmed that Facebook has deleted all trace of European facial recognition data, following a privacy outcry last year.

12/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Germany images Ireland Privacy regulation search social media and social networking USA

Facebook is facing legal action over the use of its "like" button and other social networking features, after the widow of a Dutch programmer claims Facebook is using patented technology. The lawsuit, filed last week, claims that Facebook is infringing two patents owned by Rembrandt Social Media LP, a patent-holding company working on behalf of a dead Dutch programmer called 'Jos' Van Der Meer.

12/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Netherlands regulation social media and social networking

Just 11% of US corporate social media ad budgets are targeting blogs and influencers online, where 86% of their key influencers are found, according to new research.

08/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising blogging brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends social media and social networking user generated content

Facebook will start revealing which ads have been behaviourally targeted to users on the social network, in a bid to ease privacy fears.

07/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising advertising networks behavioural targeting digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Privacy regulation social media and social networking

Japan’s social media landscape is diverse and fragmented, with many big players battling for dominance (and working together). Facebook and Twitter are popular, but local players Mixi and Gree also have lasting appeal across Japan, while mobile and social gaming sites are also hugely popular. We look at the top 6 social networks in Japan.

06/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Asia Pacific digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Gree Japan Line Mixi Mobage social media and social networking Twitter

Facebook has reintroduced its controversial tag suggest feature for photos, following its temporary suspension over privacy fears last year.

05/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook images Privacy regulation social media and social networking USA

A 35 minute power outage on the pitch at this Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVII led to a surge in traffic on social media, while Twitter thrashed Facebook in terms of advertising buzz, according to new figures.

05/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook FMCG food and beverages social media and social networking sport Twitter USA

Facebook's mobile users surpassed computer users for the first time, with mobile accounting for a quarter of all ad revenue for the social network, according to the company’s latest financial results.

01/02/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook mobile internet mobile marketing smartphones social media and social networking

Russian internet giant Yandex is to remove its recently-launched app Wonder from the US App Store following Facebook’s block on its API access. Lanched on January 24th, Wonder was Yandex’s first US-only product, but Facebook started blocking all API calls from the app just hours after it went live.

31/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook mobile marketing Russia search smartphones social media and social networking USA Yandex

Facebook has been forced to send emails to users that were used in some of its ads without permission, informing them they may be entitled up to $10 (£6.40) each in compensation.

29/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook government Privacy regulation social media and social networking

With 1 billion users and expectant shareholders, Facebook is under great pressure to improve its monetisation of users to turn its customer base into advertising revenues. In October 2012 Facebook launched the new Page Post Ad format, which shows each ad directly in a user’s newsfeed side by side with posts from friends.

25/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising analytics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook social media and social networking

Facebook has launched a new conversion measurement tool that measures the return on investment (ROI) of advertisements on the social network. The new tool lets advertisers track the performance of their campaigns on Facebook and see how many registrations or transactions are being driven from the website.

24/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising analytics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook social media and social networking

Back in the summer of 2012, Heinz promoted its new ‘Five Beanz’ range via a Facebook quiz offering the chance to win one of the five beans with their name engraved on it.

23/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: agencies digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook FMCG food and beverages Heinz social media and social networking

Going beyond the usual ‘like us a we’ll give you a discount’ tactic of many brands, last year Heineken offered to inflate one green balloon in its office for every new 'like' it got on its Brazilian fan page. The simple execution proved to be incredibly effective- gaining thousands fans in just one day.

23/01/2013  |  Full story...

During 2012, there were 2.4 billion web users and 1.3bn smartphones, recording 2.7bn Facebook likes and 175m tweets per day, according to new data.

21/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: blogging browser demographics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends domain email global Google Google Plus images internet use LinkedIn mobile internet mobile marketing social media and social networking time spent online Twitter user generated content video YouTube

In a challenge to traditional mobile operators, Facebook is letting iPhone users in the US make free calls via its messenger app, provided they have wi-fi or mobile data access.

18/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Apple applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook IM iPhone, iPod and iTunes mobile and tablets mobile marketing mobile phones social media and social networking VOiP

Facebook has overhauled its search engine in a bid to take on Google, letting users search for people, photos, places and other content that has already been shared on the social network. At a 'mystery event' from the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the service, dubbed Graph Search.

Watch Zuckerberg talk about the new service here:

16/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Google Privacy search social media and social networking

An Australian online shopping site has apologised for using the bush fire crisis in Tasmania to try to build the number of followers for its Facebook page. In an announcement on Facebook, Sellitonline.com.au promised to donate electricity generators to help those in Tasmania without power… but only if there were enough likes for its page. It posted a message saying: “What we need you do do is get everyone of your friends to join sellitonline Facebook page and the more people we get will determine how many generators we donate.”

15/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising Australia digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing ecommerce Facebook social media and social networking

A tool that shows Facebook's newly released local data sees Disneyland and Walt Disney drop out of the top ten US Facebook Pages. Social media analytics firm Socialbakers has released Facebook data that changes the rankings of the top US pages according to number of fans. Recently made available to developers, Facebook Local Page Ranks breaks down the total number of fans by country and allows for comparison with Facebook pages.

15/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook social media and social networking USA

Facebook has sent out invitations to a mystery event next week, sparking rumours that it is set to unveil a smartphone, shop or new marketing tools. The firm has sent out invites to US journalists for a special event at their usually secretive Silicon Valley HQ. The invites promise to allow attendees to 'see what we're building'. There is speculation that Facebook could be launching its own smartphone, although CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said the company has no such intentions.

11/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing ecommerce Facebook mobile and tablets social media and social networking

Dutch beer giant Heineken went social with this campaign, challenging two men to meet someone from every country in the world in one city, Amsterdam- all with a little help from Facebook volunteers of course. See why its is our video viral of the week below…

10/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook heineken Netherlands social media and social networking video viral marketing

Mobile now represents 20.3% of overall Facebook ad spend, with Apple dominating tablet spend and Android dominating smartphone spend, according to new research. The research comes from an analysis of more than two million Facebook ad clicks and conversions by global advertisers who use Kenshoo Social to manage their campaigns.

09/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising agencies digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook global infographic mobile marketing smartphones social media and social networking

Facebook has added a voice record feature to its Messenger apps for Android and iOS, with plans to introduce full voice calls in the near future. Instead of typing messages or sending photos and smiley faces, users can now record and send quick voice messages. To send a voice message, users need to tap the “+” sign next to the text field, and a new option to record a message will appear. Users then tap and hold the record button to record a message, and release it to send.

07/01/2013  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook IM mobile internet mobile marketing Skype social media and social networking VOiP

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...  |  Related stories: advertising applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook games global Google marketing media Microsoft mobile and tablets mobile internet mobile marketing search social media and social networking video Yahoo YouTube

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...  |  Related stories: advertising Apple applications (apps) behavioural targeting digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Google regulation social media and social networking USA

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...  |  Related stories: Asia Asia Pacific Bharatstudent digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook India LinkedIn Orkut social media and social networking Twitter

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...  |  Related stories: advertising applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook images Instagram mobile marketing Privacy regulation social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Entertainment Facebook film internet use music social media and social networking UK USA

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...  |  Related stories: brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends images social media and social networking user generated content video

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...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook marketing Privacy regulation social media and social networking time spent online

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Europe Facebook Google Italy regulation social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: advertising Apple China digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Google marketing Microsoft mobile marketing newspapers social media and social networking UK USA

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook mobile marketing Nielsen Online Pinterest social media and social networking Twitter

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Google Google Plus social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: Angry Birds applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook games global mobile and tablets Rovio social media and social networking Zynga

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies digital data Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: brands digital companies digital data Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook images social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: brands digital companies digital data Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising digital companies digital data Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook images mobile internet Privacy regulation smartphones social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook government Privacy regulation social media and social networking USA

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...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook games social media and social networking Zynga

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...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Privacy regulation social media and social networking user generated content

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Privacy regulation social media and social networking user generated content

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...  |  Related stories: advertising brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook marketing social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Privacy security social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook social media and social networking TechCrunch

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...  |  Related stories: advertising analytics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing direct marketing Facebook social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: advertising Bing digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Microsoft mobile internet mobile marketing search social media and social networking Yahoo

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook LinkedIn recuitment social media and social networking USA

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...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook mobile marketing social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook recuitment social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook images Instagram marketing smartphones social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: advertising brands comScore digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends ecommerce Facebook financial services internet use retail Samsung social media and social networking time spent online

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...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook mobile marketing social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook social media and social networking Travel viral marketing

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...  |  Related stories: advertising applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook mobile and tablets mobile marketing social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: advertising behavioural targeting brands demographics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook FMCG media Pharmaceutical and healthcare social media and social networking video viral marketing YouTube

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook mobile internet mobile marketing recuitment social media and social networking technology UK USA

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...  |  Related stories: Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends education Election Facebook government social media and social networking Twitter USA user generated content

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...  |  Related stories: advertising brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook regulation social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook mobile marketing regulation social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: affiliate digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing ecommerce Facebook Pinterest retail social media and social networking USA user generated content

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...  |  Related stories: Africa Asia Asia Pacific digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Europe Facebook global internet use Latin America Middle East and Africa North America social media and social networking South America time spent online UK USA

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...  |  Related stories: advertising brands CRM digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook iPhone, iPod and iTunes paid content Salesforce.com social media and social networking

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

01/10/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing ecommerce Facebook retail social media and social networking USA

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...  |  Related stories: advertising demographics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook FMCG marketing Pharmaceutical and healthcare Proctor & Gamble social media and social networking video YouTube

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...  |  Related stories: advertising analytics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends ecommerce email Facebook marketing Privacy retail

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...  |  Related stories: brands CRM digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Experian Facebook infographic marketing Pinterest Privacy UK

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...  |  Related stories: AdMob advertising advertising networks Android Apple digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Google AdSense iAds iPhone, iPod and iTunes marketing mobile and tablets mobile internet mobile marketing social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: Android Apple digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook mobile and tablets mobile marketing social media and social networking TechCrunch

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...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends eMarketer Facebook Google mobile and tablets mobile internet mobile marketing smartphones social media and social networking Twitter

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...  |  Related stories: advertising analytics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook regulation security social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: advertising brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing direct marketing Facebook mobile and tablets mobile marketing social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: analytics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: Android Apple applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook images Instagram iPhone, iPod and iTunes smartphones USA

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...  |  Related stories: analytics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends ecommerce Facebook Play.com Rakuten social media and social networking UK

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...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook social media and social networking USA

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...  |  Related stories: advertising brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Privacy regulation social media and social networking USA user generated content

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...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook games Google music USA video Yahoo YouTube

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...  |  Related stories: advertising brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Privacy social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: Australia brands Diageo digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing FMCG Fosters IAB Australia regulation social media and social networking user generated content

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...  |  Related stories: blogging digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends direct marketing Facebook Google Google Plus internet use LinkedIn social media and social networking Twitter user generated content viral marketing

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...  |  Related stories: advertising Australia Diageo digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook FMCG Fosters regulation social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: advertising applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook mobile and tablets mobile internet mobile marketing social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: Australia blogging brands Diageo digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook FMCG food and beverages regulation user generated content

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...  |  Related stories: advertising blogging digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook local music retail social media and social networking USA

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...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook regulation security social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: Baidu.com China digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook global Google internet use Russia time spent online YouTube

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends eBay ecommerce Facebook retail social media and social networking UK

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...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing ecommerce Facebook music security social media and social networking

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company does not plan to create a Facebook-branded smartphone during a conference call with financial analysts and reporters this week. Building a phone, he said, "wouldn't really make much sense for us to do." Zuckerberg also said, however, that the company is looking to make the mobile Facebook experience more complete, and that he wants to "support a development ecosystem, where other apps can build on top of Facebook."

31/07/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook mobile and tablets mobile marketing social media and social networking

General Motors is ousting its Global Chief Marketing Officer Joel Ewanick, according to a news report. The Wall Street Journal cited 'unnamed people familiar with the situation’ as saying that Ewanick has taken heat from executives and company outsiders recently for high-profile moves, including a decision to stop paid advertising on social network Facebook.

30/07/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising automotive digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook General Motors USA

Facebook has announced Q2 revenues of $1.18bn (£750m), a 32% year-on-year increase from $895m (£570m) a year ago. Despite this, payments to staff share schemes following its IPO meant that the firm posted a total loss of $157m (£100m). If taken into account, adjusted figures would have shown earnings of $295m (£188m).

27/07/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Digital Intelligence Facebook global social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: advertising Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Microsoft

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...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook mobile internet mobile marketing social media and social networking Twitter

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook LinkedIn recuitment social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook mobile and tablets mobile internet mobile marketing social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Privacy social media and social networking

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...  |  Related stories: advertising analytics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook social media and social networking Twitter

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...  |  Related stories: advertising automotive digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Ford General Motors USA

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...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing ecommerce Facebook retail social media and social networking user generated content

Facebook has been criticized after it replaced users' email addresses listed on the site with its own @facebook system. The company claimed that it has acted to make communications more "consistent" across the social network. But many observers feel that this is part of plans to draw people into using the Facebook email system rather than the services of other providers.

27/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends email Facebook Privacy social media and social networking

Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer at Facebook has been named as a member of its Board of Directors, making her the first woman director in the eight-year-old social network company. Harvard alumna Sandberg joined the social network in 2008 and oversees Facebook's business operations including sales, marketing, business development, legal, human resources, public policy and communications.

27/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook recuitment social media and social networking USA

Facebook has integrated a new feature into its mobile apps and website, which allows users to spot nearby friends. The Find Friends Nearby page uses GPS coordinates and shows other people currently visiting that 'meeting room,' whether you're already friends with them or not. Non-friends will be listed in an 'Others' section.

26/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook local Maps mobile and tablets mobile internet Privacy social media and social networking

Zynga has opened its social gaming website to Facebook ads, as the social network looks to boost its ad reach amid mounting pressure from its new shareholders. The deal means visitors to Zynga’s site are being shown Facebook sponsored stories, ads triggered when a Facebook member ‘likes’ a certain brand or business on the social site. The financials of the deal between Facebook and Zynga have not been released, so it is unknown how they will split any revenue that comes from the advertisements.

25/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook games social media and social networking Zynga

Facebook is letting users edit the comments they make on status updates, photos videos or other content posted on the social network. While the social network did roll out a feature during April 2011 that allowed allowed users to edit comments within a few seconds of posting a reply, that restriction has been lifted and users can edit comments without any regard to a specific time limit.

25/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: design digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook Privacy social media and social networking usability

Facebook has revolutionised social media, changed the way marketers communicate and blended paid, owned and earn media into one platform.

Successful social conversation strategies demand the right consumer insights and effective reading of the social landscape.

To keep you on top of how Facebook is changing, this special report lists key developments, research and case studies from the last year - full stories and data on click-through.

Read the Digital Intelligence Facebook special report

Recent editions of Digital Intelligence

22/06/2012  |  Related stories: affiliate China digital data Digital Intelligence ecommerce Facebook games global Google India marketing mobile and tablets mobile internet mobile marketing online games regulation social media and social networking trends UK USA video

• Monthly active users - 901m (March 2012)
• Daily active users: 526m (March 2012)
• 400m users were active on at least six out of the last seven days (March 2012)
• People using Facebook mobile products: Over 500m (April 2012)
• Number of photos uploaded per day: 300m (on average)
• Number of Likes and Comments per day: 3.2 billion
• Number of languages Facebook is available in: More than 70
• % of active users outside North America: 80%
• Number of friend connections: 125 billion

19/06/2012  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook mobile marketing social media and social networking

When thinking about the design of your branded Facebook page be sure to take full advantage of the new features offered in the Timeline page design. Make sure that your cover photo and profile picture deliver strong brand imagery and messaging. Capitalise on the showcase apps & views to draw the audience into deeper page participation. Consider the use of Pin a post and Milestones to highlight key content. And overall, regularly fill your pages with engaging content that encourages fan likes / comments and sparks community conversations.

19/06/2012  |  Related stories: design Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook social media and social networking

As more and more consumers access Facebook on-the-go - via a mobile app downloaded to their smartphone - consider what this means for your brand page experience and the opportunities it provides for social, local and mobile (SoLoMo) promotions. Images and video needs to work on a mobile screen. Calls to action need to be simplified for mobile response. Promotions need to be geo-targeted - taking advantage of check-ins via FB Places. Consider also how you optimise your Facebook page for mobile search retrieval and the growing number of consumers searching when out-and-about.

19/06/2012  |  Related stories: Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook local Maps mobile marketing social media and social networking

When looking to build your Facebook presence it helps to consider the paid, owned and earned media opportunities available to you. If you are willing to pay to build your fan base then you can invest in a variety of Facebook ad formats as well as Sponsored Stories. You can build up fans by adding a Facebook Like box to your owned website or annotating your YouTube videos with the URL. And you can earn extra audience and impressions through fans – for example by enabling them to tag your page in their photos. It’s a blend of all three that works best.

19/06/2012  |  Related stories: brands Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook marketing social media and social networking

This chart depicts Facebook's growth between 2007-2011, throughout all global regions. Facebook reached 12% of the worldwide internet audience at the end of 2007 and by December 2011 had increased that reach to over half of the total internet population (55%). However, this growth slowed between 2010 and 2011 in the majority of regions except Latin America.

Click below for larger image

19/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Asia Pacific digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Europe Facebook Latin America Middle East and Africa North America social media and social networking South America USA

Facebook now accounts for accounts for 1 in every 7 minutes spent online, but how can brands harness both earned and paid media on the social network to drive sales? Online research firm comScore has launched a new report outlining how to get the most out of the platform.

19/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising brands comScore digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook social media and social networking

Facebook has bought Israel-based Face.com for an undisclosed sum, bolstering its facial recognition software. Launched in 2008, Face.com powers many Facebook apps that detect and "recognize" faces in photos. Thousands of developers, including Facebook itself, have built applications using Face.com's online software.

19/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Privacy social media and social networking

Facebook’s reach amongst the total internet audience has continued to increase over the past five years across all regions, according to research from comScore. Globally, Facebook reached 12 percent of the internet audience in December 2007 and as of December 2011 the social network reached over half of the internet audience, 55 percent (43 percentage point rise).

19/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Asia Pacific Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Europe Facebook global Latin America Middle East and Africa North America social media and social networking South America USA

The number of Facebook and Twitter shares a website accumulates is playing an increasingly crucial role in determining their Google search ranking, according to new research. The study, from SEO agency Search Metrics looked at the search results of 10,000 common keywords and 300,000 websites. One of the key findings of the study was the important role social media now plays in Google rankings.

18/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising analytics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook marketing search SEO social media and social networking Twitter

Facebook will soon let advertisers participate in real-time bidding to show ads on its website, as the social network looks to boost its ad revenue amid mounting pressure from its new shareholders, according to a news report. A service called Facebook Exchange will let advertisers reach users based on their browsing history elsewhere on the Web. Advertisers can bid on ad slots on the social network.

18/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising advertising networks digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook social media and social networking

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.

17/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: brands Coca-Cola Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook FMCG social media and social networking Starbucks Unilever

Social media ‘pinboard’ Pinterest is on the rise, but how can marketers tap into its potential? This case study looks at how US-based home improvement company Lowes combined its Pinterest board with Facebook to boost its follows by 32%.

17/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Pinterest social media and social networking USA

Emirates made smart use of Facebook’s new ‘timeline’ layout, attracting more than 300,000 fans within the first 3 weeks of the launch. The Facebook page used a series of teasers from their TV commercials as the cover image, attracting more than 3,330 likes and 1,300 comments over a 1 week period. This case study shows how Emirates used its Facebook page to amplify the effectiveness of the TV ads, allowing consumers to share and engage with the brand online.

17/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook social media and social networking Travel

In an example of how good customer service can pay dividends, Sainsbury’s response to a three-years old’s letter about renaming Tiger Bread went viral, ultimately resulting in the supermarket chain changing the name of its product in stores to ‘Giraffe Bread’. Despite being more than seven months old, the story was resurrected and has had more than 14,000 ‘shares’ on Facebook. The girl’s mother went on to upload the letters to Facebook, starting the 'Campaign to change Tiger Bread to Giraffe Bread at Sainsbury's' which went viral, registering hundred of Facebook 'likes' and comments, and nudging Sainsbury's into action.

17/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: CRM Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook FMCG Sainsbury's social media and social networking

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.

17/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: applications (apps) Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook FMCG Heinz social media and social networking

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.

17/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: brands Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook FMCG social media and social networking

Facebook has expanded its integration with WordPress, as the firm looks to tap into the publishing platform’s audience of 600 million monthly viewers to boost sharing on its own social network.
The plugin allows users of both platforms to cross-post their WordPress content to their timeline profiles and pages they manage, as well as to add the names of pages or friends to the posts.

13/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: blogging digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook media publishing strategy social media and social networking user generated content WordPress

Apple has ditched Google’s mapping software and made closer ties with Facebook, as the battle between the rival digital media giants intensifies. The move represents a major blow for Google, which stands to lose mobile advertising revenue and valuable insights about people's whereabouts if users of the popular iPhone and iPad devices switch to Apple's mapping service. Meanwhile, Apple is building Facebook into iOS 6, so users will be able to update their Facebook status by talking to their phones and declare that they "like" movies and apps in Apple's iTunes store.

12/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Apple applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook Google Google Maps local Maps mobile and tablets mobile internet social media and social networking

Proposed Facebook privacy policy changes have been rejected by Facebook users taking part in an official poll on the social networking site. However, Facebook has decided to ignore the results of vote due to 'too few users made their wishes known'. Just 13% of voters supported Facebook's proposed policy changes. However, the voter turnout of 342,600 came to just 0.1% of the number Facebook required to make the vote binding.

12/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Privacy social media and social networking

Facebook will be forced to reveal the identities of a group of four users who wrote abusive messages on the site about a 45-year-old Brighton woman. Facebook must now reveal the names, email and IP addresses of those behind the abusive messages, showing who they are and where they posted from.

12/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Privacy regulation security social media and social networking UK

In the US, Facebook is the largest single publisher in the terms of US ad impressions,and over a quarter of all online ‘engagement’ on the web comes from content posted on the Facebook newsfeed. This infographic from The Social Marketer provides some key insights into how Facebook is playing an increasingly important role in marketing.

11/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook marketing social media and social networking

Facebook has had a turbulent month, seeing its stock value plunge by a quarter since its IPO in May. But how can the social network market leader turn around its fortunes? This infographic from Infographic Labs looks at the key stats behind the company as it faces up to more scrutiny as a public company.

07/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising demographics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook social media and social networking USA

Facebook has launched a new ‘micro-advertising’ feature on its social network, allowing fan-page owners to create more prominent status updates for one off costs starting at $5. The feature was initially trialled in New Zealand and is now available to anybody with more than 400 'Likes' for their fan Pages.

Watch a video explaining how the service works below:

06/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook marketing social media and social networking

Nasdaq is reportedly set to compensate investor losses following computer glitches that tarnished trading on the first day of Facebook's $US16 billion IPO, according to a news report. The Wall Street Journal reports that Nasdaq OMX Group, which operates the Nasdaq exchange, has told brokers that it expects to submit plans on the issue to the Securities and Exchange Commission on how it might make up losses tied to its systems problems.

06/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook regulation social media and social networking USA

Salesforce.com has made a $800m bid for Buddy Media, in amove that could create the first enterprise level platform to have a fully integrated social customer relationship management (sCRM) module. The news was first reported by All Things D, which cites unnamed sources as saying the two companies have agreed to terms of the sale, though the purchase is not yet final.

06/06/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: analytics brands Buddy Media CRM digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing Facebook Google Salesforce.com social media and social networking

This new infographic from Wordstream looks at Facebook Advertising compared to Google’s Display Network. The illustration is not comparing Google vs. Facebook in total, instead concentrating on the display ad functions of both companies. Google’s display ads makes up roughly 20% of its total advertising business (with the vast majority made up from search ad revenues).

31/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising blogging digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends DoubleClick Facebook Google mobile marketing social media and social networking

The long-rumoured ‘Facebook Smartphone’ could finally become a reality next year, as the social network looks to boost revenue from the mobile sector, according to news reports. The New York Times cited unnamed sources, including Facebook employees, suggesting that the network had been hiring several smartphone engineers.

29/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook mobile and tablets mobile marketing smartphones social media and social networking USA

Apple is the most valuable brand in terms of dollar value, while Facebook is the fastest growing brand, making it to No. 19. This infographic looks at the key stats behind the biggest brands in the world.

29/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Apple brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook global Google Microsoft mobile marketing UK

Facebook has launched a Page Manager app, letting page owners keep their fans up to date while on the go. The Facebook Page app for mobile has always had the ability to manage Facebook pages, but not with the same features, and often with numerous bugs when it came to properly posting content.

28/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: brands digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook marketing mobile and tablets mobile marketing social media and social networking user generated content

Facebook advertising formats are changing again, and so is the way you buy them. As the social network continues to evolve, the premium Facebook advertising formats can now be bought online through simple self-service tools. Facebook will only unlock greater monetisation of its ad platform if it removes the bottleneck, and this is a good example of thinking more smartly. More on the Facebook advertising formats…

25/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising advertising networks digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook mobile marketing social media and social networking

Facebook's short life as a public company has been tumultuous, with its share prices plunging by about 13% on Tuesday. This means that its founder Mark Zuckerberg, who made $19bn on Friday, has lost $2.055bn in the three days since. Now the social network is facing lawsuits amid accusations of insider trading.

24/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook regulation social media and social networking USA

Apple is remains the most valuable brand in terms of dollar value, while Facebook is the fastest growing brand, making it to No. 19. The world’s biggest brands have continued to grow in value during the current economic uncertainty, according to WPP company Millward Brown’s annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study.

23/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Apple brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook global Google mobile marketing retail UK

Facebook has acquired gifting application Karma, marking the social network’s first move as a publicly traded company. The move comes as founder Mark Zuckerberg changed his status to 'married' in a surprise wedding, capping off an extraordinary week for the 28-year-old. Karma offers a free app, available for Apple and Android, which uses Facebook to remind users of their friends' birthdays and other special occasions. The tool then lets them purchase and send gifts like champagne and chocolate along with personalized messages.

Watch a video explaing how the Karma app works below (source: CNET)

22/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence ecommerce Facebook mobile marketing social media and social networking

Last week, General Motors pulled all of its $10 ad budget from Facebook citing the ‘ineffectiveness of paid ads.’ But some analysts, and rival car-maker Ford, have been quick to jump to the social network’s defence, implying that GM wasn’t getting the most it could from the platform. The shock decision from GM came ahead of Facebook's historic $104bn IPO, and has caused jitters in the marketing community, with some analysts fearing that other big brands could follow suit. But this is apparently not the case if bigger rival Ford is anything to go by.

21/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising automotive brands digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook General Motors media planning social media and social networking Twitter USA

More than two out of three Americans that were active online visited Facebook during March 2012, equalling roughly 152 million unique US visitors, according to new research. The findings, from Nielsen, found that internet audiences in Brazil, New Zealand and Italy were even more engaged than in the US, underscoring Facebook’s transcendence of borders around the world – and on the world wide web.

21/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Australia Brazil digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook global Italy MySpace New Zealand social media and social networking UK USA

Facebook has floated on the US stock market with a market worth of $104bn, in the highest ever first-day valuation of a US public company, ahead of the likes of Amazon, Disney and Kraft. The valuation comes despite concerns about the company's long-term money making potential. The $38 a share price tag means Facebook would trade at over 100 times historical earnings versus Apple's 14 times and Google's 19 times.

Watch Mark Zuckerberg's pitch to investors below in this Bloomberg video:

18/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising Apple digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook Google regulation social media and social networking USA

India is forecast to overtake the US as the world`s largest Facebook market by number of users as early as 2015, according to a new report from Gartner. The report attributed the growth to a rapidly increasing internet penetration in India, combined with high rates of growth in mobile connections.

18/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Brazil digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook India internet use social media and social networking time spent online USA user generated content

In a shock move ahead of Facebook's IPO this week, General Motors is reportedly pulling all of its $10m- worth of ads from the social network saying that paid ads are 'ineffective' on the platform. The report, from The Wall Street Journal, cites people familiar with the matter Facebook, saying the car giant still intends to do marketing through Facebook but that's not going to put any money in Facebook's pocketbook.

17/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising automotive digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Ford General Motors marketing media planning social media and social networking

Ahead of Facebook’s historic IPO this week, Experian Hitwise and Techlightenment have provided 10 key data points about the social network's UK usage, and a further five points about the way users interact with brand Pages.

17/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Hitwise internet use media social media and social networking time spent online UK

Just days before the most anticipated initial public offering in history, new data looks at how powerful the 901 million-member Facebook platform is for big brands looking to expand their global footprint and penetrate emerging markets. The study, from social media analytics provider Socialbakers, found that Kraft had the fastest growing brands globally, with three products (Halls, Trident and Chiclets) in the top 5 movers.

16/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: brands Brazil digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook FMCG global Kraft Latin America marketing Proctor & Gamble South America telecoms Unilever

Facebook's Instagram deal could be delayed by as long as a year after a federal agency launched an investigation into the $1bn purchase. According to a report by Reuters, the US Federal Trade Commission has reached out to Google and Twitter to look into the acquisition. It was not immediately clear what specific information the FTC was looking for, Reuters quotes a source as saying.

14/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook government images Instagram mobile and tablets regulation smartphones social media and social networking USA

The top 10 Facebook content providers reach more than half of the total gaming audience on Facebook. Social network games are currently experiencing exponential growth that is expected to continue through 2014.

11/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies digital data Digital Intelligence digital trends EA Facebook games mobile and tablets Playdom social media and social networking Zynga

Facebook has launched its own app store, offering apps personalised to users’ entertainment habits, as the social network looks to prove its mobile credentials ahead of its much-anticipated stock market flotation. The move will put the social network in competition with Apple, Google and Amazon in the growing app store wars. For the first time software developers can sell apps to consumers directly on Facebook.

11/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Amazon Android Apple applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook Google mobile and tablets smartphones social media and social networking

As Facebook ads grow in popularity amongst big brands, are advertisers getting better exposure for their money than they would on other mediums? This infographic from the Wall Street Journal takes a look at what money invested in a Facebook Sponsored Story could buy you instead…

08/05/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising blogging digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Google magazines marketing media media broadcasting, TV and radio media planning media sales social media and social networking USA Yahoo

Many UK parents are ignoring Facebook’s age limit and letting under 13-year-olds access the social network, according to a UK government minister. Children’s minister Tim Loughton believes parents are putting their children at risk by helping them to set up Facebook profiles and were even helping their child ‘lie’ to go on the site.

27/04/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Daily Mail digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook Google Privacy regulation security social media and social networking UK

Facebook has paid Microsoft $550m to buy about 70% of the patent portfolio the tech giant itself acquired from AOL for more than $1bn just a fortnight ago. The move forms the latest chapter in the battle for intellectual property in the digital sector, as the likes of Google, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft tussle with each other over the rights to provide their clients and customers with the best technology.

25/04/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: AOL Apple digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook Google Microsoft regulation technology

Topshop remains the top UK brand on both Facebook and Twitter, in terms of the number of followers, according to new research. The study measures how brands are using the top social networks and the subsequent effects on their follower base. Topshop continued to reign at the top of the social media leagues having reclaimed the Twitter top spot from ASOS and breaking through the 2 million ‘likes’ barrier with their Facebook page.

23/04/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: blogging brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook Google Plus marketing social media and social networking Tesco Topshop Twitter UK

Coca-Cola has struck a promotional partnership with music streaming service Spotify, that will see the beverage giant run a social media campaign on its Facebook pages. Coke will integrate Spotify on its Facebook pages, which boast more than 40 million fans, and use the company's technology to power its Coca-Cola Music program. As part of the deal, Coke and Spotify will also launch a joint app in the coming months.

20/04/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: applications (apps) brands Coca-Cola digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook media mobile and tablets music smartphones social media and social networking Spotify USA

Facebook has bought Instagram for a massive $1bn (£629m). The popular photo-sharing smartphone app crossed its tipping point last year. Learning from the experience of the sluggish response to Twitter, Facebook has acted in a way that's fast, determined and retains its leadership in photosharing.

10/04/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: blogging digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook images social media and social networking Twitter USA

Brands are getting an average 46% more engagement with Facebook’s new Timeline profile, according to new research. But closer inspection indicates that status updates may actually be losing engagement. The study, from Simply Measured, drew its results from just 15 Facebook brand pages.

03/04/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook marketing social media and social networking

Searches for ‘facebook’ now account for 2% of UK searches, while four retail brands are among the top 10 brands, according to new research.

02/04/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Amazon Argos digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends eBay Facebook Google Hitwise Hotmail Next search UK

Independent research of 1.7 million Facebook Pages reveals that 82% of Facebook company and brand Pages issue less than 5 update posts per month - hugely underutilising the platform and falling short of fully engaging fans. The research, conducted by Recommend.ly, the new innovative Facebook Page management tool giving SME and Enterprise Page admins never before available insights into the culture of their Fans is believed to be the largest independent research of Facebook Pages.

30/03/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook local marketing social media and social networking

Facebook has sparked concerns from privacy groups after a draft proposal changed its privacy policies in an attempt to supposedly make its methods more transparent. Facebook’s draft included semantic tweaks, like taking the word "privacy" out of Facebook's "privacy policy," and renaming it "data use policy." Many users have responded on Facebook's comment page with a wholesale rejection of the new terms.

26/03/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook Privacy social media and social networking

Eight million brands have switched to Facebook’s new Timeline profile just 10 days after its launch, according to the social network. Facebook claims that some businesses find the switch is helping them reach a broader audience on the 845-million-member social network.

16/03/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook marketing social media and social networking

Recently departed Google employee James Whittaker has criticised his former company, claiming the firm has sacrificed its focus on innovation to morph into an “advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus”, and that focus is Google+. He wrote on his blog this week that when he joined Google, it was “a technology company first and foremost; a company that hired smart people and placed a big bet on their ability to innovate”.

15/03/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Google Google Plus recuitment search social media and social networking

Gowalla has shut down, three months after being bought by Facebook, which will integrate the firm's staff and technology into its own location-based tools. The check-in service was a rival to market leader Foursquare. It allowed people to share the details of their location by checking-in to different venues with their smartphones.

13/03/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: blogging digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Gowalla local Maps mobile and tablets smartphones social media and social networking USA

Social media ads are generating a 55% greater lift in ad recall than non-social ads on average, according to a new study from Nielsen. As social networks have picked up a greater share of digital ad dollars, a key differentiator they emphasise to brand advertisers is the ability to harness the power of friend recommendations when it comes to sharing experiences and content.

12/03/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising blogging digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook marketing Nielsen social media and social networking viral marketing

Channel 5 has agreed to refund Big Brother viewers that lost out on the broadcaster’s Facebook voting scheme last year. The move comes after UK media watchdog Ofcom upheld complaints that viewers that had purchased Facebook credits to vote on the show’s contestants were unable to use them at certain times.

07/03/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Channel 5 digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook media broadcasting, TV and radio Ofcom social media and social networking UK

Online purchase decisions can be positively and negatively influenced by displaying the Facebook and Twitter icons next to products, according to new research. The study was conducted by the University of Miami School Of Business administration, in collaboration with Empirica Research and StyleCaster Media group, and surveyed nearly 200 consumers.

06/03/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends ecommerce Facebook retail social media and social networking Twitter USA

Zynga has launched a new website, giving players access to their games outside of Facebook and app stores, as the firm aims to become a standalone gaming platform. The firm is tesing the ‘Zynga Platform’, which will initially allow customers to play five of its popular titles, such as CityVille, Hidden Chronicles, Zynga Poker, CastleVille and Words With Friends, from its website.

05/03/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook games mobile and tablets smartphones social media and social networking Zynga

Facebook has rolled out its new look ‘Timeline’ profiles to brands, with Manchester United, Red Bull, Dove and Burberry signing up as the initial partners. The new look Facebook Pages service has been designed as a "mission control for businesses", according to the company.

02/03/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: brands digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook marketing social media and social networking sport

Facebook is letting companies place ads on its mobile version for the first time, and to advertise on the log out screen, flowing the launch of its new ‘Premium’ service. Users will see the new premium adverts from brand in their newsfeeds if a friend has "liked" the brand's pages, for example.

02/03/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence ecommerce Facebook marketing mobile and tablets mobile marketing smartphones social media and social networking

Facebook has denied reports that it is spying on users is spying text messages and other personal data sent from users’ smartphones. The claims came in a report in the Sunday Times, saying Facebook is foremost among mobile app companies that are using permissions obtained when users download apps to access and read text, intercept phone calls and track users’ locations.

28/02/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook mobile and tablets Privacy smartphones social media and social networking The Times UK

2011 marked the year that many FMCG brands went social. For some it was small-scale exploratory activity. For others the creation of a Facebook Fan Page or Twitter profile was a social land grab to directly counter the plethora of unofficial pages/profiles that have emerged. However for some of the more forward thinking brands it was the start of a proactive marketing strategy seeking to engage consumers in the social space and then influence their path to purchase through various promotional marketing activities.

24/02/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence ecommerce Facebook FMCG marketing social media and social networking

Facebook staff moderating user posts are ordered to delete all forms of sexual activity, but violent and gory images are allowed, according to a leaked document issued buy a disgruntled former employee. A 21 year old Moroccan man, who claims he was paid $1 an hour screening Facebook content through an out-sourcing firm, has reportedly leaked a document that sheds light on how the social networking website censors content.

23/02/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: blogging digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Privacy regulation social media and social networking

Facebook is testing new actions alongside its iconic ‘like’ button in its Sponsored Stories ad format, in a bid to boost ad clicks through friend recommendations. A select number of Facebook advertisers are testing new actions such as "want", "own" and “played” to Facebook and sites that use its plug-ins. The ads are targeting the social network’s users who have played particular video games, watched specific videos, or listened to certain songs.

17/02/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising blogging digital companies Digital Intelligence ecommerce Facebook retail social media and social networking

Consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser has embarked on a new Facebook campaign, using the social network as the exclusive platform to sell its latest Cillit Bang cleaning product. The Cillit Bang Facebook page and shop, allows consumers to buy the product direct from the Facebook page, without having to pay for postage and packaging, and is delivered within three days.

10/02/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook FMCG marketing Reckitt Benckiser social media and social networking UK

Budweiser, Snickers and Volkswagen are brands featured amongst the top 10 most ‘liked’ Super Bowl ads on Facebook from the past 10 years, according to new research. Super Bowl ads are known for generating buzz—and viewers—but not all creatives are created equal. Nielsen reveals America’s most liked commercials over the past five years, and the NFL itself tops the list.

07/02/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook media broadcasting, TV and radio social media and social networking sport USA video

Marketers are increasing advertising spend with Facebook at a much faster pace than paid search advertising, according to new research. The findings, from digital marketing software provider Kenshoo, a are based on analysis of more than 100 billion ads delivered on Facebook worldwide through its Kenshoo Social ad platform. Kenshoo Social customers spent 109 percent more on Facebook in Q4 of 2011 than they did in Q3.

07/02/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: adspend advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook search social media and social networking UK

Is battle about to intensify as two of the social giants go head to head? The mobile marketing strategies of Facebook and Google are under the spotlight again after Facebook raised concerns that Google could be putting hurdles in the way for Facebook on Android. The big push from Google for integrating Android with Google+ and the single Google cookie is yet to come, but when it does, here’s why Facebook thinks it matters...

06/02/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Android digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Google Google Plus mobile and tablets smartphones social media and social networking

Facebook's initial public offering acknowledges that though nearly half of its 845 million monthly users are logging in to the social network via mobile devices, that segment "does not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue." Of the 845 million monthly users Facebook reported in December, 425 million accessed the site on mobile devices. At present there are no ads on Facebook's mobile sites or services.

06/02/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook internet use marketing mobile and tablets smartphones social media and social networking time spent online

The full extent of Facebook’s reliance on Zynga was revealed this week, with the social network receiving 12% of its revenue from the games maker last year. In its S-1 regulatory filing Wednesday, Facebook reported that it received 12% of its revenue in 2011 from Zynga, whose social games such as CityVille and Mafia Wars have drawn several hundred million players to Facebook over the years. Zynga launched its own IPO in December. With $3.7 billion in total annual revenue for Facebook, that translates to roughly $444 million in direct payments from Zynga.

03/02/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook games mobile and tablets paid content smartphones social media and social networking Zynga

Facebook has increased its lead in the US display ad market, accounting for 28% of impressions in 2011, according to new data. The findings, from comScore, indicate that Facebook had 21% of impressions - the number of times an ad is presented for viewing - in the previous year.

31/01/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising comScore digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Google Microsoft social media and social networking USA Yahoo

Rovio has anounced that Angry Birds will launch on Facebook next month, as the Finnish game developer company looks to take on the likes of Zynga’s Farmville on the market leading social network. The news comes in the form of a Facebook Event entry titled “Angry Birds coming to Facebook!”

27/01/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Angry Birds applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook games mobile and tablets Rovio smartphones social media and social networking Zynga

Of the 379.4m Europeans who went online in November 2011, nearly half (47.8%) visited at least one newspaper site,, with a considerable number visiting the top 5 newspaper sites preceded by a visit to Facebook, according to new research. The study, from comScore, assessed Internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated into the European region. The Daily Mail attracted the largest online audience with 20.1m unique visitors, followed by the Guardian at 15.7m unique visitors.

23/01/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: Bild Daily Mail digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Europe Facebook Germany Google Guardian newspapers social media and social networking Turkey

Brands are continuing to invest in Facebook advertising and focusing on fan acquisition, with spend in social media advertising is now additive to existing budgets rather than subtracting from other digital media channels, according to new research. The report examined digital marketing trends across the US in the fourth quarter 0f 2011. It found that brands continued to acquire Facebook fans at 9% per month.

19/01/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising brands digital companies Digital Intelligence digital marketing digital trends Facebook marketing mobile and tablets search smartphones USA

Facebook developers can now reward consumers who complete advertisers' offers with app-specific virtual currency as an alternative to Facebook Credits. Consumers can perform actions such as registering for a Flixster account or getting approved for a Discover credit card in exchange for in-app currency.

11/01/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising applications (apps) digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook marketing social media and social networking

As 2011 came to a close, Nielsen reviewed the top social media sites during the year, with Facebook getting three times more visits than its closest rivals Blogger and Twitter. During 2011, 137.6 million U.S. people, on average, visited Facebook from home and work computers.

09/01/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: blogging digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Google Nielsen social media and social networking Twitter USA

India and China have the most active social media users, while web users in the US, Europe and Japan are less likely to post information on social networks, according to a new report. The global survey by Forrester Research, found that three out of four Chinese and Indian web users write blog posts or upload pictures and music. The online survey collected from 95,000 Internet users in 18 countries.

09/01/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising behavioural targeting China demographics digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Europe Facebook India internet use Japan marketing social media and social networking time spent online UK USA

Google was the most-visited U.S. Web brand, while Facebook held its lead among social networks and blogs, according to new data from Nielsen. During 2011, 153.4 million U.S. people, on average, visited Google sites from home and work computers.

06/01/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Google Microsoft USA Yahoo

Social networking was the most popular online activity of 2011, with Israel leading the way for user engagement, according to new global data. The study, from comScore, found social networking accounted for nearly one in every five minutes spent online globally in October 2011, ranking as the most engaging online activity worldwide.

03/01/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: blogging comScore Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook global Israel mobile and tablets smartphones social media and social networking Twitter

The top ten U.S. search terms included four variations on Facebook - Facebook.com, Facebook, Facebook login and www.facebook.com – marking the second year the social networking giant has had four top ten slots, according to new research.

03/01/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence digital trends Facebook Hitwise search social media and social networking USA

Facebook is to allow advertisers to buy space in the social network’s main news feed, rather than just on the right hand column of the main page. Beginning this month, Facebook ads will now appear within your primary news feed as well, emerging sporadically between other, more legitimate posts from friends.

03/01/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: advertising digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook marketing social media and social networking

An audit of Facebook’s privacy policies by the Irish data protection commissioner has concluded the social network must go further in warning users how it and third-party apps handle personal information, following concerns that it was illegally creating “shadow profiles” of non-members.

03/01/2012  |  Full story...  |  Related stories: digital companies Digital Intelligence Facebook government Ireland Privacy regulation security social media and social networking