Pew: 94% Of Teenagers Use Facebook, Have 425 Facebook Friends

May 21, 2013 at 6:52pm ET by Greg Sterling   

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 [...]

---

Nutella Gives In, Allows Fan To Continue With “World Nutella Day”

May 21, 2013 at 3:22pm ET by Danny Sullivan   

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 [...]

---

Apple Remains Most Valuable Brand, While Facebook Falls & Yahoo Returns To Top 100 [Brandz]

May 21, 2013 at 3:07pm ET by Matt McGee   

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 [...]

---

Google Sunsets Google Checkout To Put Focus On Google Wallet

May 21, 2013 at 10:28am ET by Ginny Marvin   

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 [...]

---

New Flickr Debut Puts Photos First, Free Terabyte Of Space For Each User

May 20, 2013 at 5:54pm ET by Ginny Marvin   

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 [...]

---

Yahoo Buys Tumblr For $1.1 Billion, Promises “Not To Screw It Up”

May 20, 2013 at 10:44am ET by Ginny Marvin   

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 [...]

---

Pinterest Introduces “Rich Pins” With More Content To Drive More Actions

May 20, 2013 at 2:05am ET by Greg Sterling   

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 [...]

---

After The IPO: Facebook Survives Its “Year Of Living Dangerously”

May 19, 2013 at 5:30pm ET by Greg Sterling   

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 [...]

---

What’s Tumblr Worth To Yahoo? Board Says $1.1 Billion.

May 19, 2013 at 3:02pm ET by Barry Schwartz   

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 [...]

---

Microsoft Slams Google In Nasty, Internal Parody Of Chrome Ad

May 17, 2013 at 8:08pm ET by Matt McGee   

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 [...]

---

Google: “Game Changing” Features Will Boost Google+ Adoption

May 17, 2013 at 3:27pm ET by Danny Sullivan   

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 [...]

---

Twitter, NBA Score Deal For Basketball Game Highlights, Ads In Tweets

May 17, 2013 at 2:38pm ET by Matt McGee   

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 [...]

---

Will Tumblr Be Yahoo’s Big-Splash Acquisition?

May 17, 2013 at 9:31am ET by Greg Sterling   

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 [...]

---

GAN’s Closing May Push Retailers Toward Better Affilliate Advertising Results

May 17, 2013 at 8:45am ET by Amy Gesenhues   

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 [...]

---

Congress Sends Google CEO Larry Page Letter Asking About Google Glass Privacy Concerns

May 16, 2013 at 7:24pm ET by Amy Gesenhues   

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 [...]

---

Google Shows Off New Twitter, Facebook Apps Available Now For Google Glass

May 16, 2013 at 2:27pm ET by Matt McGee   

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 [...]

---

User-Generated Video Ad Units Come To Facebook Newsfeeds Through New Partnership

May 16, 2013 at 10:39am ET by Ginny Marvin   

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 [...]

---

Microsoft To YouTube: Where’s That Interoperability Larry Page Was Talking About?

May 15, 2013 at 8:08pm ET by Matt McGee   

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 [...]

---

Google+ Stream Gets Fresh New Look & Automatically-Added Hashtags At Google I/O

May 15, 2013 at 4:13pm ET by Amy Gesenhues   

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 [...]

---

New Google+ Hangouts App Enables Cross-Platform, Multi-Media Conversations

May 15, 2013 at 4:00pm ET by Ginny Marvin   

Google announced the new Google+ Hangouts app at Google I/O today. The new app combines Google’s chat, voice and video services into one product. The stand-alone version of Hangouts allows users to combine images, video conferencing and text chats (now complete with emoji) in one experience. Video calls can include up to 10 people. As [...]

---