In the new Pew Internet & American Life Project teens and social media report, Facebook is shown to be by far the dominant social network -- in some ways surprisingly so. I say surprising because the Pew data seem to be partly contradicted by anecdotal evidence that many teens are ignoring or abandoning the network in favor of other social sites such as Instagram (also owned by Facebook), Snapchat and even Twitter. (My general write-up of the Pew study's findings is here: Pew: 94% Of Teenagers Use Facebook, Have 425 Facebook Friends.) The first chart below shows the percentages [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Facebook | Facebook: Business Issues | Facebook: Statistics | Top News

Teenagers use Facebook by far more than any other social media site and have over 400 friends on it. But Twitter and Instagram have massively increased their usage in the past year, according to a new survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, together with Harvard's Berkman Center. The new report covers US teens and social media. There are an enormous number of findings in the document, which was compiled using both surveys and focus groups. You can read or download the full report online. Facebook Tops, Twitter & Instagram Growing According to the report, 95 percent [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Facebook | Facebook: Privacy | Facebook: Statistics | MySpace | Top News | Tumblr | Twitter | Twitter: Business Issues | Twitter: Statistics

That was fast. After consumers protested against Nutella coming down on a fan-based "World Nutella Day" event, Ferrero -- the maker of the popular hazelnut-spread -- has resolved the issue, expressing "gratitude" and saying its cease-and-desist letter was caused by some "misuse" of the Nutella brand on the fan page. Nutella sent us a copy of its letter sent to Sara Rosso, the founder of World Nutella Day. Ferrero wrote: World Nutella Day: a positive conclusion Positive direct contact between Ferrero and Sara Rosso, owner of the non-official Nutella fan page World Nutella Day, has brough [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Social Media Marketing | Top News

Apple is once again listed as the most valuable brand on earth, while Google inched closer to the top spot and Microsoft fell out of the top five in the 2013 Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands. This is the eighth year that Brandz has compiled its list, which comes from research involving two million consumers and more than 10,000 brands, the company says. Apple tops the list again this year, with Google moving up from third place to second. Microsoft was ranked fifth last year, but fell to seventh this time around. IBM, at No. 3, is the fourth technology company in the top 10. [...]

Related Topics: Amazon | Apple | Branding | Channel: Industry | eBay | Facebook | Google | Microsoft | Samsung | Top News | Yahoo

Google is putting Google Checkout out to pasture and placing its payment processing future solely on Google Wallet. The company has announced it will retire Google Checkout in six months. The news comes a week after Google announced several new features for the Google Wallet platform. The new Instant Buy Android API is designed to make it easier for users to buy physical goods and services in native Android apps in as few as two clicks. The Wallet Objects API allows merchants to integrate their loyalty programs and offers into Google Wallet. And a new integration with Gmail will enable [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | Google | Google: Business Issues | Google: Wallet | Top News

Yahoo followed up its acquisition of Tumblr today with a relaunch of a "better, brighter Flickr" at a press conference in New York City. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said she challenged the Flickr team to "make Flickr awesome again." The new Flickr puts photos first. Acknowledging that Flickr had become a mishmash of small thumbnails, links and words, today's launch showcases the new approach to an immersive photo experience. "We want all your photos" Adam Cahan, SVP of mobile and emerging products at Yahoo announced that all photos are full resolution and each user will have a free tera [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Internet Marketing Industry: Acquisitions | Top News | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: Flickr

On a conference call to discuss Yahoo's exceptional $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr, Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer's admiration for Tumblr's achievements and culture was refreshingly transparent. Tumblr will continue to operate independently, David Karp will remain CEO, and Yahoo has promised "not to screw it up." Tumblr has more than 300 million monthly users and is signing up 120,000 new users per day. The deal is expected to increase Yahoo's total audience by 50% to more than a billion monthly users. Traffic could grow by 20%. In the press release, David Karp, CEO of Tumblr, addressed [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Featured | Internet Marketing Industry: Acquisitions | Top News | Tumblr | Yahoo: Business Issues

In an effort to make its pins (images) more useful and actionable Pinterest is introducing more information into selected categories of pins: movies, products and recipes. These new "rich pins" provide additional background and information, depending on the category. After looking for some time this evening, I was unable to find any rich pins "in the wild." However, you can see what it looks like in a screenshot provided by the company (below). The additional information beneath the image is what's new. In the case of food/recipes, ingredients and cooking times are provided. Product pins [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Featured | Pinterest | Pinterest: Business Issues | Top News

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of Facebook's public offering. It has arguably been the most volatile and momentous period in the company's roughly eight-and-a-half year history. Facebook went public in May of last year at $38 and closed Friday at just over $26. The low, last September, was $17.55. The volatility of the stock and the fact that it hasn't fully returned to its offering price may give many institutional investors reason to complain; but, most other statistics and metrics are up from a year ago. For example, Facebook has impressively been able to grow its mobile reven [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Facebook | Facebook: Advertising | Facebook: Business Issues | Facebook: Home | Facebook: Mobile | Facebook: Statistics | Featured | Features & Analysis | Top News

AllThingsD reports the anticipated Tumblr acquisition was approved by Yahoo's board today for the amount of $1.1 billion. Kara Swisher from AllThingsD said the deal was a "foregone conclusion and was an unanimous vote" by Yahoo's board. They plan to announce the deal tomorrow, Monday, morning. This will be Marissa Mayer's largest acquisition as the CEO of Yahoo. It appears Tumblr will remain as a standalone brand, similar to the Flickr brand. The Wall Street Journal adds that it is not clear if the Tumblr board has approved the deal as of yet. Tumblr was founded in 2007 as a microb [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Top News | Tumblr | Yahoo: Business Issues

You're not supposed to see this video. Unless you work at Microsoft. It's a fake Chrome ad that's part of Microsoft's ongoing "Scroogled" campaign against Google, but it was supposed to remain internal. It appeared first on a blog called iCosmoGeek and has now been picked up by the Los Angeles Times. The Times says it has confirmation from Microsoft that the video was made for internal purposes. The video plays up many of the same charges that Microsoft has been making throughout the Scroogled campaign -- tracking users to target ads, not respecting users' privacy and so forth. He [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google | Google: Business Issues | Google: Chrome | Google: Critics | Microsoft | Microsoft: Business Issues | Top News

Nearly two years after its launch, Google is still dealing with people who question why they should bother with Google+. But in recent weeks, the company has released what it considers "game changing" features that it feels will better enlist both marketers and developers to embrace its platform. "You're now seeing us put out, on a constant drumbeat, tools and capabilities for developers and marketers that I think are game changing, that they may not get anywhere else," said Seth Sternberg, product management director for the Google+ Platform, when meeting yesterday with a small group of re [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Featured | Features & Analysis | Google: Google+ | Top News

Twitter's expansion into the wider content world beyond 140-characters continues with news today that it will be showing highlights of NBA playoff games inside tweets. And, as Bloomberg reports, the deal also includes video ads that will show along with the highlight videos. The NBA will post highlights from the current NBA playoffs using the #NBARapidReplay hashtag, and ads will show from sponsors including Sprint Nextel, Taco Bell and Sony Pictures. Adam Bain, Twitter's head of global revenue, declined to discuss financial details with Bloomberg. Earlier this week, Twitter and ESPN [...]

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Yahoo is trying to buy social blogging platform Tumblr for $1 billion (or more). That would represent about a third of the company's existing cash -- though it stands to make more cash from its remaining Alibaba stake. It's a big bet and the type of high-impact acquisition that Marissa Mayer has wanted to make since becoming CEO of Yahoo. Why buy Tumblr? The reasons are almost self-evident. Yahoo is a media/content company whose primary revenue source is display advertising. Tumblr is a massive user-generated content machine with a huge audience and page views (read: inventory). It's a t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Features & Analysis | Top News | Tumblr | Yahoo | Yahoo: Business Issues

With the announcement of Google Affiliate Network closing its doors in July, many retailers are being forced to find new alternatives for their affiliate advertising programs during the coming weeks. While such a major task may not be at the top of any marketers favorite things-to-do list, the move could result in improved numbers for retailers using GAN that have put off migrating to a new network. After speaking with two former GAN clients, both reported significant increases in their affiliate advertising revenue since migrating from Google. One Retailer's Story Matt Khalili, a marketi [...]

Related Topics: Affiliate Marketing | Channel: Content Marketing | Features & Analysis | Google | Interviews | Top News

In the midst of the 2013 Google I/O developer conference currently being held in San Francisco, Google CEO Larry Page received a formal letter from eight-members of congress addressing Google Glass privacy issues. The letter from Congress outlined eight specific areas of concern, asking specifically: Does Google have plans to prevent Google Glass from unintentionally collecting data about the user/non-user without consent? (After referencing  Google's agreement to settle charges in 2010 for collecting information from encrypted wireless networks without permission.) What proactive st [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Google: Glass | Google: Legal | Google: Privacy | Legal: Privacy | Politics | Top News

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 [...]

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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

Microsoft and Google are involved in a battle over the YouTube app for Windows Phones, and Microsoft has followed a cease-and-desist letter from Google by questioning Google's commitment to interoperability and working together. As The Verge reported today, Google sent Microsoft a cease-and-desist letter demanding that Microsoft remove the YouTube app from its Windows Phone Store because Microsoft's version of the app doesn't include Google's ads. Microsoft has responded today in a statement shared with Marketing Land that says Google hasn't given Microsoft access to the necessary APIs t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google | Google: Business Issues | Google: YouTube | Legal: General | Microsoft | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: Windows Phone | Top News

Google announced a number of Google+ upgrades during the keynote presentation at today's Google I/O, including a new responsive, multi-column layout for Google+ Stream. Now, users will see one, two, or three columns of content depending on their device's screen size and orientation. Photos and videos have been enhanced as well, fitting the entire width of the stream. According to the Google+ blog, the new media sizes make images and videos, "...easier to scan and nicer to look at." Users will also notice new animations in their stream with a bouncing sharebox, cards that "flip and fade" an [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Google: Google I/O | Google: Google+ | Google: User Interface | Top News