When implied popularity can be purchased, a problem will arise. That's exactly what has been plaguing social media, a blatant spamming to help promote accounts, updates or links. Social spam is so popular that it has even become a multi-million dollar business. Politicians, celebrities, sports figures and Internet marketing "gurus" have been purchasing handfuls of followers in order to  instantly add implied popularity. Purchasing followers and retweets is cheap, and it can make you look good ... for now. Yesterday, the The New York Times featured two researchers that called out celebri [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Twitter | Twitter: Statistics

(screenshot via CNN) Twitter is warning media outlets to be "extra vigilant" in light of today's incident involving a fake tweet sent out by hackers that had gained access to the Associated Press' Twitter account, @AP. It's also good advice for brands and marketers -- and for all Twitter users, actually. Shortly after 1:00 pm EST today, the AP's account sent out a (fake) tweet saying that President Obama was injured after "two explosions in the White House." The Dow Jones stock market index momentarily tanked almost 150 points. The AP disabled its Twitter accounts, at least temporari [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Legal: General | Top News | Twitter | Twitter: Accounts & Profiles | Twitter: Business Issues | Twitter: Legal

The Financial Times (FT) is reporting that Twitter has struck a major deal with agency Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), which is part of agency holding company Publicis. The deal, according to FT, is worth "hundreds of millions of dollars over a multiyear period." SMG clients include major brands such as Burger King, Comcast-NBCU, Honda, P&G, Coke, Microsoft and many others. The deal is being characterized as a "partnership." Years ago Publicis announced something similar with Google. As the FT points out, this announcement comes just ahead of the TV "upfront" where advertisers commit [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Top News | Twitter | Twitter: Advertising | Twitter: Business Issues

Smart social media marketers know that some tactics are totally off the table. Spamming that Google Plus community with your off-topic links? That's a no-no. Auto-DMs to new Twitter followers? No way. Then there are tactics that aren't inherently bad, but you may not want to use them every day. Like pop-up ads, advertising jingles or re-targeting campaigns, these tactics can be just shy of annoying if used incorrectly, but often get the kind of results that make them irresistible to try. Let's call these "yellow light" social media tactics. When you come to a yellow light in traffic, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Facebook | Google: Google+ | Pinterest | Social Media Marketing | Social Media Marketing Column | Twitter

Next week, Comedy Central is launching a unique 5-day comedy festival that brings comedians directly to their audience. Well, directly to their audience's Twitter stream. Next week, a Twitter-only festival will be released that features some of comedy's elite including Mel Brooks, Amy Schumer and Carl Reiner. The event starts next Monday and will use the  hashtag #ComedyFest. The event will leverage mixed media and tweets, thanks to the collaboration between Viacom and Twitter. #ComedyFest will feature live-streaming video, snippets from comics on stage and the sharing of 6 second Vines. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Twitter | Twitter: Business Issues | Twitter: Vine

Twitter's music app is live today and can be downloaded from the App Store or used via the Web version which can be found at music.twitter.com. Based on a user's activity, the app will offer recommendations on popular tracks and emerging artists. Users will be able to locate and listen to specific artists' music from the artists' profiles, as well as tweet the songs directly from the app. Twitter #music songs are sourced from iTunes, Spotify and Rdio, but the default application to preview songs is iTunes. To hear full tracks via Spotify or Rdio, subscribers must log into their Spotify or R [...]

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Keyword targeting isn't new for Twitter advertisers -- they've been able to target keywords in Twitter search results since late last year. Starting today, advertisers can also target keywords in user timelines. The new targeting is available to all advertisers in all languages and markets, the company says. Here's how Twitter describes the new targeting: "...this new feature enables advertisers to reach users based on the keywords in their recent Tweets and the Tweets with which users recently engaged. This is an important new capability – especially for those advertisers looking for [...]

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

Twitter is set to launch an update its ad platform, according to reports by AdNews and MarketingWeek. That news comes amid reports that Twitter is in talks with NBC and Viacom to stream TV clips and sell ads around the content. AdNews, out of Australia, received word that Twitter's announcement will unveil “a significant enhancement to [Twitter's] advertising capabilities," and points to the UK’s MarketingWeek report that suggests an analytics partnership could be part of the announcement. MarketingWeek also refers to the launch of a new advertising “product,” rather than a platf [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Twitter

If only Epicurious had been using Social Flow or Buffer, it might've avoided the headaches associated with social media's latest tragedy-related faux pas. But it appears the food-lover's website wasn't using either of those social management services, and sent out a couple tweets on Tuesday that looked like an attempt at self-promotion in the aftermath of a terrible event. Twitter user Thomas Powell seems to have been the first to notice (that's his image above), and coverage on other websites has quickly picked up steam, as is always the case when brands take this route with their s [...]

Related Topics: Branding | Channel: Strategy | Features & Analysis | Marketing Tools: Social Media | Social Media Marketing | Top News | Twitter

Twitter has been busy diversifying services in what looks to be a clear path that leads to an IPO. This year alone, Twitter has announced video services like the Vine iPhone app, to Twitter Music, an ads API to global expansion. Today, Bloomberg reports that Twitter is in the process of featuring television content online with partnership talks with Viacom and NBC Universal. According to the report, the partnerships would allow Twitter to stream videos and clips with ad revenue being split between entities. Rumors have a deal date for one or more deals by mid-May of this year. Twitter has r [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Twitter

According to an online survey conducted by SurveyMonkey, the popularity of content on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ significantly impacts the likelihood it will be read. Out of 629 participants, 374 were given a survey asking how likely they were to read an article on Facebook that already had 451 Likes. The remaining 255 respondents received a survey asking how likely they were to read an article with only 11 Likes. Survey responses demonstrated users were more likely to read an article with a higher number of Likes on Facebook. The same was true for Twitter, with respondents more likel [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Content Marketing | Facebook: Insights | Features & Analysis | Google: Google+ | Statistics: Social Media | Top News | Twitter: Statistics

With a number of unconfirmed announcements and Twitter's own "Coming Soon" page, there is a steady buzz building for Twitter's new music app. If rumors are true, Twitter users will receive artist and song suggestions within their newsfeed based on the Twitter accounts they follow, as well as listen to music and watch videos from the Twitter app. After confirming the acquisition of the online music service We Are Hunted, some are speculating that Twitter's new music app will be announced at the Coachella music festival this weekend. It appears at least one high-profile personality already [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Twitter

It's no secret digital video consumption continues to increase as TV Everywhere expands and mobile audiences grow. The U.S. Digital Video Benchmark 2012 Review from Adobe looks at digital video trends and ways publishers and advertisers can make the most of their video content and campaigns. Adobe's Digital Index team looked at 19.6 billion video starts on media websites and 10 billion ads served by Adobe media customers as well as 450 million Facebook posts. Mobile Video Takes Hold Video consumption continued to grow on PCs last year, but 2012 was the year that video on mobile devices ga [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Statistics: Online Advertising | Statistics: Online Behavior | Statistics: Social Media | Twitter | Video

It's not just Hollywood that's embracing advertising on Vine, the political machine is dipping its toes in the same water, and the six-second attack ads are already looping for eternity. Via the Wall Street Journal comes news that the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has posted an ad that accuses Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch (yes, Stephen Colbert's sister -- she's running for a seat in Congress) of potentially hurting jobs in South Carolina due to her support of labor unions. The NRCC is calling it "the first time a political organization has launched an actual ad o [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Social Media Marketing | Top News | Twitter | Twitter: Vine | Video

The music discovery service We Are Hunted has announced that it's joining Twitter. The news hit almost at the same moment that American Idol host Ryan Seacrest tweeted about "playing with @twitter's new music app." Together, those two items should open new marketing opportunities for artists to be found and connect with fans on Twitter. In a follow-up, Seacrest said that the Twitter music app "shows what artists are trending" and "also has up and coming artists." In its announcement, We Are Hunted only hints at what's in store as it joins Twitter: While we are shutting down wearehun [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Social Media Marketing | Top News | Twitter | Twitter: Business Issues

Twitter's contentious relationship with developers took another turn today when it shut down a new product from Ribbon that enabled in-tweet payments for products, services and more. Ribbon announced the new product at 11:00 am PT today and immediately captured a fair amount of buzz in tech and marketing circles. Less than 90 minutes later, co-founder and CEO Hany Rashwan wrote an update announcing that Twitter had already shut the product down: At around 12:24 PM PST, with no heads up, our integration of Twitter Cards was taken down, and now Ribbon links go back to Ribbon.co without the i [...]

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The season of marketing conferences is upon us, which provides opportunities to discuss Twitter marketing with brand-side and agency marketers from near and far. It was at one such conference, the famous SxSW, that Twitter debuted back in 2007. Now that six years has gone by, was Twitter still the talk of the show in 2013? Gemma Craven (@gemsie), the New York Group Director at Social@Ogilvy, suggested that with the recent launch of Twitter's new advertising dashboard, advertising API, the collaboration with AMEX, direct marketing tools for brands, and its prominence as a topic of many pane [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Twitter Marketing Column | Twitter: Marketing

'Tis the season of mobile advertising forecasts. Within the last week three have been released from eMarketer, BIA/Kelsey and now IDC. Emarketer said that US mobile advertising was worth $4.1 billion in 2012, BIA estimated $3.2 billion and IDC now asserts that US mobile ad revenues came in at $4.5 billion for the year. IDC expects mobile advertising to reach $7 billion by year end, compared with eMarketer's $7.29 billion and BIA's $5.39 billion. The IDC forecast also says the following about 2012 mobile ad revenues: Search: 61 percent of mobile ad spending  ($2.8 billion) Display: [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Facebook | Facebook: Advertising | Facebook: Business Issues | Facebook: Mobile | Google: Business Issues | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Statistics | Statistics: Market Share | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Spend Projections | Top News | Twitter: Advertising | Twitter: Business Issues | Twitter: Mobile

[caption id="attachment_38369" align="alignright" width="300"] Photo credit: caribb via photopin creative commons[/caption] My dad was proud of his new "Internet-smart" TV and wanted to show it off to me on St. Patrick's Day weekend last month. He showed me how he could log onto Facebook and view photos, update his status, etc. As he was showing me, all I could think was, "Would anyone really use this?” Judging by the time it took him to navigate to my profile, I concluded that surfing social media sites through a TV isn't ideal. But, he was excited because he could log into Facebook [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Facebook | Social Media Marketing | Social Media Marketing Column | Twitter | Video

Good news for brands, marketers and anyone with a highly visual or image-based Twitter presence: The "view all" option for Media Galleries is showing again on Twitter profile pages. Visit any Twitter profile and you should see the "View all photo and videos" link below the most recent six images/videos that the user has tweeted or retweeted. Here's an example from @gap (The Gap): The "view all" option was present when Twitter launched galleries back in the summer of 2011, but it curiously disappeared sometime this past winter. When the link went away, the only way to see an accoun [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Top News | Twitter | Twitter: Accounts & Profiles | Twitter: User Interface