Facebook attorneys told a federal appeals court Thursday that "likes" deserve free-speech protection, and anything less would "would result in chilling the very valued means for communication the Internet has made possible." As Bloomberg reports, the argument is part of a case in which an employee from the Hampton, Virginia sheriff's department says he was fired after "liking" a Facebook Page that belonged to his bosses' election opponent. That employee, Danny Carter, was one of six sheriff's employees fired after the election, Bloomberg says. The six sued their boss, claiming the firin [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Facebook | Facebook: Buttons & Plugins | Facebook: Legal

In an effort to get more app developers on board using sections, the Facebook Developer blog released a list of best practices for creating customized sections and added section timeline analytics to their App Insight tool. After replacing aggregations with app sections last month, Facebook has rolled-out sections to everyone, and according to the blog post, "...are seeing almost 200 million items added daily." With sections, users can rate movie, TV show and book content directly on their timeline, as well as include ratings from apps. By highlighting a number of apps already using section [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Facebook: Apps & App Center | Facebook: Insights | Facebook: Open Graph | Facebook: User Interface | Social Media Marketing

Google has just added apps from Facebook, Twitter, CNN and others for the Google Glass device and showed a preview of them to a packed house in the "Developing for Glass" session at Google I/O. Several new apps are now available for Android users via the MyGlass app that serves as the Glass' headquarters: Facebook Twitter Tumblr Evernote CNN Elle magazine Google's Timothy Jordan showed off a few of them during today's session. Based on the screenshots in his presentation, some of these apps/experiences are further along than others. Facebook On Glass It sounds for now lik [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Facebook | Facebook: Mobile | Featured | Google | Google: Glass | Top News | Twitter | Twitter: Mobile

In a sign of the strength of Facebook's retargeting ad network, Facebook Exchange (FBX) partner Triggit has secured $6 million in additional funding, led by North Atlantic Capital. FBX, which only officially launched last September, allows advertisers to target ads to site visitors when they are on Facebook. Triggit will use the funds to invest in engineering and staff to support Facebook's news feed retargeting capabilities that debuted in March and other new product developments. Triggit now claims to be the leading FBX retargeter with a reach of 1.1 billion monthly Facebook unique use [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Facebook: Advertising

Word-of-mouth marketing at scale has been one of the Internet's greatest -- and most elusive -- allures for brands. Through a new partnership announced today, social rich media platform Moontoast and user-generated video platform VideoGenie are aiming to make it easier for brands to achieve that scale through Facebook. In a first, marketers will be able to feature and promote user-generated video testimonials and stories from brand advocates within native ad units in users' Facebook newsfeeds. VideoGenie's video platform enables easy user-generated video creation and sharing, while Moont [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Facebook | Facebook: Advertising | Top News | Video

The folks from sketch comedy group Extremely Decent  have personified the frustration many users have felt upon seeing yet another update to the Facebook UI. Ready for your friends and friends-of-friends to have access to your music and photos? Want to find out about all the events you've been invited to? Take the tour! Here it is: A Facebook Update In Real Life [youtube]http://youtu.be/JvQcabZ1zrk[/youtube] [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Facebook | Facebook: User Interface

One of Google's top executives says the company is okay -- for now -- with Facebook Home's presence on Android devices, but it may change its mind in the future. Sundar Pichai, who recently took over Android in addition to leading Google's Chrome and Apps efforts, spoke about Facebook's new Android experience in an interview with Wired's Steven Levy. Home essentially replaces the primary Android experience by converting the home and lock screens into a Facebook-based content experience through what Facebook calls "Cover Feed." As soon as Facebook announced Home, many wondered if Google w [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Facebook | Facebook: Home | Featured | Google | Google: Android | Top News

It may not sound like much for a site with more than a billion users and 751 million mobile active users, but a million downloads of Facebook Home is significant. Facebook revealed the figure at a "whiteboard session" held yesterday at the company's Menlo Park, California headquarters. Home had 500,000 downloads as of April 21. So the number has doubled in a few weeks. Facebook also said the profile of users adopting Home was becoming "more normal" with each passing week. (It's not clear what "less normal" would mean in this context.) The Facebook Home app/launcher has been heavily malig [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Facebook | Facebook: Home | Facebook: Mobile | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Top News

Since Facebook purchased the filter-friendly photo app Instagram last year, brand adoption has skyrocketed, according to a new study of the top 100 brands by SimplyMeasured. Since purchase last year, the Facebook-owned Instagram has flourished. The post-purchase growth jumped 500% in just a year, going from 22 million active monthly users to nearly 100 million current active users. Brands have joined the filtered-photo migration as well, with 67% of the top 100 brands now on Instagram as of May 1st. This number jumped a whopping 14% from February 1st, making it the fastest growing social ne [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Facebook | Facebook: Instagram | Top News

Will Facebook acquire social traffic and navigation app Waze? TechCrunch ran an article today claiming that three Israeli papers, Calcalist, Ynet and The Marker, have reported that Facebook is in talks to acquire the company in a billion-dollar deal that would help further grow Facebook's mobile efforts. According to the article, a private source confirmed the deal along with a price range of $800 million to $1 billion, although a spokesperson from Facebook and from Waze both said they will not comment on rumors or speculation about the business. Waze uses crowdsourcing technology to let [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Facebook | Facebook: Acquisitions | Facebook: Apps & App Center | Facebook: Business Issues | Facebook: Mobile | Top News

The online battle for TV ad dollars continues to heat up. Yahoo, AOL, YouTube among others, and now Facebook are all aiming their sites on the burgeoning online video ad market and a share of TV's outsized ad budgets. As first reported in December, Facebook has been shopping new video ad units to agencies. Now, it appears Facebook will be bringing video ads to users' newsfeeds in July, according to The Financial Times. The video ads will appear in newsfeeds on desktop computers as well tablets and smartphones and will be set to autoplay on mute. If a user clicks on a video ad, it will [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Facebook: Advertising | Facebook: Business Issues | Video

After posting higher than expected profits in 2012, Apple ranked No. 6 on today's 2013 Fortune 500 list. Not only was this Apple's first time among Fortune's top ten companies, they were the only Silicon Valley technology company to break into this year's top ten list since Hewlett-Packard fell to No. 15 after reportedly suffering the biggest loss of any Fortune 500 company. Ranking companies by total revenue for their respective fiscal years, Fortune magazine released its annual list of Fortune 500 companies today with Walmart reclaiming first place after sliding to No. 2 in 2012. Other t [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Channel: Industry | Facebook | Internet Marketing Industry

Google and Facebook combine to take up seven spots on Apple's newly-released list of the Top 25 all-time free iPhone apps. Apple published that list -- and three others -- as part of its countdown to 50 billion App Store downloads, which the company expects to happen soon. (Apple is giving away a $10,000 App Store credit to whomever completes the 50 billionth download and $500 credits to 50 others.) Those lists look at the most popular iPhone apps (free and paid) and iPad apps (free and paid). On the paid side, the majority of apps on both lists are games. But, there's more variety in th [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Apple: iOS | Apple: iPad | Apple: iPhone | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Facebook: Instagram | Facebook: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Top News

Facebook has settled its trademark-infringement litigation over the term Timeline. This was first reported by InsideFacebook based on an SEC filing: We are also party to various legal proceedings and claims which arise in the ordinary course of business. Among these legal matters, in two cases, Summit 6 LLC v. Research in Motion Corporation et al., and Timelines, Inc. v. Facebook, Inc. , we have reached agreements to settle the matters. The cost of settlement in each case, which is included in the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 20 [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Facebook: Business Issues | Facebook: Legal | Legal | Legal: Copyright & Trademark | Top News

One of the five predictions in my recent 2013 mobile predictions post was that mobile analytics and measurement would get a seat at the "adult table" this year. In particular, one of the areas in which I am seeing tremendous growth is location-based listening and analytics. As more and more companies adapt a listening strategy -- in many cases, using advanced tools like Sysomos and Radian6 (now part of Salesforce.com's MarketingCloud) -- some are starting to look at the possibilities of going deeper. During a recent interview with colleague and co-author of Digital Marketing Analytic [...]

Related Topics: Analytics | Channel: Local | Check-In Services | Facebook: Mobile | Foursquare | Mobile Marketing | Mobile Marketing Column

Facebook just announced Q1 2013 earnings. Revenue was nearly $1.46 billion, up 38 percent year over year (YoY). That beat financial analysts' estimates. Net income was $219 million, which was below estimates. Allaying fears of a decline in usage and engagement, Facebook saw 26 percent growth in daily active users (now 665 million). Monthly active users also increased 23 percent to 1.1 billion. Mobile active users were 751 million, a significant jump compared with 680 million in Q4 2012. Ad revenues were $1.25 billion (85 percent of total revenue), which represented a 43 percent increase [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Facebook: Advertising | Facebook: Business Issues | Facebook: Mobile | Facebook: Statistics | Top News

First introduced in the U.S. last December, Facebook has now made Promoted Page ads available globally. The ads are designed with small businesses in mind to help them garner more Likes for their pages without needing large budgets or sophisticated targeting. Page administrators can launch a Promoted Page ad directly from the Admin Panel The ads will show in users' news feeds as well as in the right column on desktops. Facebook will actually create three versions of a Page ad automatically, including a Sponsored Story ad. Admins can pause or edit the ads from within Ads Manager. Here [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Facebook: Advertising | Top News

A new GlobalWebIndex study analyzing international social media behavior revealed that mobile use and older Internet users are driving growth for Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn. To conduct the Social Stream Q1 2013 study, GlobalWebIndex surveyed 31,779 consumers in 31 different countries, examining global social media behaviors during the first quarter of this year. According to the findings, Android and iOS users were more likely to be on social networks than average Internet users. In Japan, iOS users were 133 percent more likely to use Google+ than average Internet us [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Facebook: Statistics | Google: Google+ | Mobile Marketing | Pinterest: Statistics | Statistics: Online Behavior | Statistics: Social Media | Top News | Twitter: Statistics

Facebook's Creative Council evaluated hundreds of Facebook ad campaigns submitted by brands and agencies from across the globe to select winners for the 2013 Facebook Studio Awards. This year's top winner was Oreo, taking home the Blue Award for the Oreo Daily Twist Campaign, a social program that marked Oreo's 100th Birthday Celebration by posting 100 pieces of social content referencing culturally-relevant events in 100 days. This was the second year Facebook hosted their Studio Awards. Both years, the award levels have included Blue, Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards, all given to campaigns [...]

Related Topics: Branding | Channel: Social Media | Facebook: Advertising | Facebook: Pages | Social Media Marketing | Top News

Yahoo's unique video viewers rose to 50.3 million, up from 43.6 million in February, bumping the company up a rung to the  number four U.S. Online Video Content Property according to comScore's March 2013 US Online Video Rankings, In March, the number of Americans watching online content videos rose 2.5% from February. Nearly 182.5 million Americans watched 39.3 billion online content videos. Ad video views hit an all-time high at 13.2 billion, up from 9.9 billion in February. Yahoo moved up a rung to number four and closed in on VEVO this month. (It will be interesting to watch what impac [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Facebook: Statistics | Google: YouTube | Statistics: Market Share | Yahoo