Social Media

Zynga and Facebook's Chill Turns Icy
March 22, 2013

Zynga announced Thursday that it will be rolling out the full version of Zynga.com next week as part of the gaming company's ongoing process of decreasing its dependence on Facebook's social platform. Currently, gamers looking to play Zynga offerings such as Farmville have to sign in with their Facebook login.

Brands Wasting Their Digital Ad Dollars, Study Finds
March 21, 2013

Brands may be shifting more money to digital advertising and social media marketing efforts, but so far that's not buying them a lot of trust from consumers, according to a new report from Forrester Research. Seventy percent of more than 57,000 U.S. consumers surveyed trust brand or product recommendations from family and friends, while digital ad formats all rank below 20 percent.

The Perils of Making Up Your Social Media Policy as You Go
March 21, 2013

Social media and its close relative, social CRM, allow you to connect with customers in new and meaningful ways, on a greater scale and at a greater velocity than ever before. When it's done right, that is. When it's done wrong, like anything in this era of increasingly automated communication, your mistakes are amplified and intensified by customers.

New Targeting Tools Help Ads Zero In on Twitter Users
March 19, 2013

After a year of testing and much feedback, Twitter on Monday released a set of tools for small businesses and self-service advertisers -- tools that will give businesses more of an opportunity to speak directly to consumer interests. Targeting was the most requested feature in the feedback that the social network gathered from select advertisers.

Microsoft Dynamics Gets Major Overhaul
March 19, 2013

Microsoft opened Convergence 2013 Tuesday morning with a keynote address from Microsoft Business Solutions President Kirill Tatarinov -- and the debut of an upgraded CRM application. With 11,000 attendees, this is the largest Convergence Microsoft has held to date, said Seth Patton, senior director of marketing for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. "The key theme for the event is uniting business and IT," he said.

Spam Boom Prompts Call for Businesses to Ditch Email
March 18, 2013

Just when we thought the spam scourge was over, it appears it's making a comeback. After four straight quarters of decline, spam volumes on the Internet rose 92 percent in February, according to security firm Eleven Research Team.Phishing emails jumped 69.8 percent.

New IBM Lab Explores the Science of Personalization
March 15, 2013

IBM pushed deeper into the customer experience space with the launch on Thursday of its Customer Experience Lab. The lab brings together various elements of IBM's expertise, technology and staff to integrate mobile, social, cloud, Big Data and advanced analytics for its users.

FTC Puts a Damper on Freewheeling Digital Advertising
March 13, 2013

The Federal Trade Commission released its updated Dot Com Disclosures guidance on Tuesday, emphasizing the requirements for advertisers targeting mobile devices. In short, the rules that apply to ads in newspapers, radio and television also apply to mobile devices and social media. The update is the first since the guidelines were released in 2000 -- an era when smartphones and tablets were far, far less ubiquitous.

Netflix, Facebook Integration Brings Back the Water Cooler
March 13, 2013

Movie and TV buffs will soon be able to share what they've watched on Netflix more easily, the service announced Wednesday. Users in the United States will be able to take advantage of "frictionless sharing" with their friends on Facebook in the coming days. The sharing will be available only on Netflix by default. Users will be able to allow their friends to see which titles they viewed and to see their friends' ratings.

Pinterest Analytics Lets Marketers Pin Down Who's Sharing What
March 13, 2013

The social bookmarking site Pinterest, one of the fastest-growing social networks of the last two years, released a new analytics tool Tuesday so that users -- especially businesses and marketing professionals -- can do a better job of tracking traffic and sharing aspects of the site.

Likes Can Tell the Story of Your Life
March 12, 2013

It is possible to predict intimate personal characteristics such as sexual orientation by studying a person's Facebook Likes, according to findings released Monday by University of Cambridge researchers. Just by studying Likes, the team was able to determine a person's race, age, IQ, personality type, level of substance use and political views with a surprising degree of accuracy.

HTC May Be Taking Another Swipe at a Facebook Phone
March 09, 2013

A day after Facebook announced a mobile-centric makeover of its News Feed, rumors have resurfaced that HTC may be working on a phone that features special integration with the social network. The spark for speculation is the Friday publication on the Web of the device's specifications.

Facebook's Rejiggered News Feed: The Ads Have It
March 09, 2013

Facebook unveiled its new look this week, providing bigger photos and more links in users' News Feeds, along with additional ways to view specialized streams based on topics of interest, such as music. This is apparently an attempt to corral all the random musings and disjointed pictures users are accustomed to sorting through. Facebook's move seems geared toward bringing order to the chaos.

New Facebook News Feed Features In-Your-Face Photos
March 07, 2013

Facebook on Thursday announced a major makeover of its News Feed page with an emphasis on bigger images, more user control and a recognition that more members are accessing the social network on mobile devices. "News Feed has become primarily about visual content," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

China Starts Arm Wrestling Android
March 07, 2013

Android -- and, by extension, Google -- has too much control over China's smartphone industry, according to a white paper from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Android is used by handset manufacturers such as Huawei and ZTE, as well as Samsung, which has a solid footprint in China.

Facebook Denies Promoted Post Hanky-Panky
March 05, 2013

Facebook has flatly denied the suggestion by a New York Times columnist that it might be gaming its own system -- that is, that the way it pumps up views of fee-based promoted posts could be by limiting the sharing of ordinary posts. "This is not true," Facebook says in a post labeled "Fact Check."

The Socially Responsible Role of Social Media in Crisis Management
March 05, 2013

Hurricane Sandy, which struck the U.S.' Eastern seaboard last October, exemplified the use of social networks in disaster communications. Millions of residents were affected. For many, real-time information was provided through independent, citizen-generated Facebook pages like Jersey Shore Hurricane News and Twitter.

Exploring the New World of Travel Apps
March 01, 2013

When Richard Rygg, the co-founder of HipGeo, sailed with his family last year through the islands of French Polynesia, he used his company's app to document the experience. The result is a multimedia blog complete with a GPS track of his adventure, and a collection of dozens of geo-tagged photos of sunsets, beaches and bays.

Facebook's New Ad Tool Targets You Online and Off
February 28, 2013

Facebook users will soon see ads in their feeds that are more specifically targeted to what they like and where they've shopped -- both online and offline -- thanks to a series of agreements with data companies announced Wednesday. The agreements expand the social network's Custom Audiences program released last September, which was designed to allow advertisers to target their existing customers via Facebook.

Hackers: The Flies in Social Media Marketing Ointment
February 25, 2013

Did you hear? McDonald's has just acquired Burger King! Also, someone at the company apparently has a potty mouth. Another unusual and unexpected corporate trade also happened last week -- Cadillac acquired Jeep. These events, of course, didn't really happen. In both instances, hackers gained control of the brands' Twitter accounts and began sending out false and sometimes very offensive tweets.