October 2010
40 posts
Yahoo! Mail Integrates Social Media →
Still tens of millions of users ahead of Gmail, Yahoo! brings social media to the new version of their web-email client.
Google Gets Better with Local Search →
Google continues to work at being a smarter search engine. This time, when you are looking for a place nearby, say “bicycle shop,” it will be able to identify places in your area that fit that search. This should be rolled out to everyone already under the Places tab on the left.
Myspace is rebooting, ceasing to be a social... →
http://www.brandrepublic.com/go/news/article/1037242/myspace-relaunches-again-bid-reverse-decline/
Facebook To Adopt New PayPal Micropayment Service →
The company calls PayPal for Digital Goods the “online equivalent of dropping a quarter in the slot to buy a newspaper or play a video game.” With a few lines of code, developers can integrate PayPal micropayments into their websites.
In order to spread its digital goods product, PayPal has done everything it can to lower the barrier to entry for its platform. Payment transactions cost 5% plus...
Groupon Adds Self-Serve Deal Platform, Says It’s... →
Procter & Gamble Launches Widget To Convert Clicks... →
Starting today, P&G has launched a widget that bloggers can embed into their blogs. For each click they receive from readers, P&G will donate a day’s worth of clean drinking water (about two litres) to someone in need. The goal is to generate 100,000 days worth of clean water by the end of the year.
eBay Now Highlights Groupon Daily Deals →
Group-buying service Groupon and online auction house eBay just agreed to a business relationship that will place Groupon’s regional daily deals on the pages that eBay users visit. The site will determine each user’s location and show the deals available in his or her area.
Not very often I get to share a link that talks... →
Microsoft Launches its own Games on Demand Online... →
Gamers be glad. Microsoft is creating a hub for downloading digital copies of games. This will include oldies but goodies as well as new releases. The market will launch with over 100 titles in its library.
Do Photos of People Improve ECommerce Conversion? →
This one goes out to the XPers but design can definitely benefit from this, too. People verses Images verses Text… who helps close best on the call to action? Have you played with where the model’s eyes are looking before? I thought the test with Sunsilk was fascinating but it makes sense.
Netflix Web Video Streaming Through the Roof... →
Number of subscribers streaming videos more than doubled year to year. As the article points out, Netflix successfully shifted from just a DVD rental company to one of the most lucrative web video companies in the world.
Free Stuff: Amazon Web Services →
Potential cloud computing users can try before they buy now with Amazon’s Web Services. You can learn more about this free usage tier here: http://aws.amazon.com/free/
Ads Drive the Most “Likes” for Brands on Facebook... →
eMarketer reports that 75% of people that liked a brand on Facebook because of an ad or another form of direct outreach. Surprisingly, invitations and referrals from friends took second place at 59%. While still a substantial number, I would have thought that the old “people trust their friends more than brands” train of thought would have applied here. I suppose sometimes people...
Facebook News Feed Results Cracked [Experiment] →
Interesting share from Jen Martin. In an experiment by The Daily Beast believes it has cracked the code as to how the Facebook News Feed works. Some of this is common knowledge, but there are a few outcomes that are intriguing such as the bias it has on new members to Facebook.
Google Analytics Gets a Visual Layout →
The Average Teenager Sends 3,339 Texts Per Month →
No typo.
Twitter Influence Measurement Company, Klout, Now... →
Long overdue. Once connected to a Facebook account, Klout will pull in data such as likes, comments and your friendship network in order to determine your influence on Facebook. It can take up to 72 hours for the data to be processed and your Klout score to be updated.
Instead of representing Facebook and Twitter with different scores, Klout has decided to integrate them into a single Klout...
Skype X Facebook Screenshots →
Skype 5.0 was released this week with a series of big improvements. This article shows screenshots of the Facebook integration as well as group video chat.
Bing Adds Facebook Social Context to Searches →
The Facebook Module was added to Bing this week. This collaboration will bring social context to search for Bing.
One of the things this module will do is help for people/places finding. 4% of all searches are of people. Only 20% of the time do people reach who they are looking for. If you are looking for sushi in Cincinnati, you can enter Cincinnati sushi and the results will show which...
URL Shortener Bit.ly Now Generates QR Codes, Too →
Windows Phone 7 Debuted →
SAI has a great collection of links surrounding reviews, distribution, and more of Window’s latest mobile OS. Overall: People were pretty impressed.
[Rumor] Facebook Enhancing Comments with Voting &... →
North Face Tests "Geo-Fencing" for Customers →
Concept isn’t terribly new, but sending alerts to customers that are in the vicinity of a particular place does have some potential for cool programs. The alerts are for those that opt-in only, so consumers have the power to control whether they are participating or not. North Face is one of the first retailers to test this “auto check-in” feature across all of their stores at...
Twitter About to Start Raking it in →
100 Million Reasons why Yahoo would buy Groupon... →
Gap to Crowdsource Ideas After New Logo #FAIL →
Gap brand unveiled a new logo on Monday and shortly after the people spoke: they hated it. You can check it out at their website (gap.com), but check Facebook and Twitter for what customers are saying. The Gap quickly responded by fielding ideas from their fanbase for new designs.
Amazon prepping an App store, Starts with Android →
Amazon sent out “welcome packets” to developers this week. It looks as if they are gearing up for a store launch by the holiday season. Article makes note, that while app store segmentation could be an issue, it sounds to me like a win-win in terms of exposure for the developers, and a piece of the revenue for Amazon.
Google TV to Come Loaded with Twitter, Pandora,... →
Yahoo Search Gets a Makeover [Video] →
Yahoo released it’s new search experience today, making its web search more streamlined and visual, improving its mobile search and adding a list of hot search topics to its front page.
Now, when you search for entertainment or news-related topics, instead of a long list of results, you’ll get a box with vertical tabs, which give you several different ways to examine the topic.
Facebook's New Tools for Data Privacy &... →
Download a file that compiles all of your personal data: pictures, video, and everything else on Facebook.
There is also a new dashboard for seeing how apps use the data in your profile, etc.
New Facebook Groups →
Facebook Groups are a shared space where members can participate in communal activities like group chat, e-mail lists, document sharing and group photo-tagging. Groups are closed by default (but can be secret or open) and the most-viewed ones will automatically live in the left-hand navigation of the page for easier access.
This announcement is mainly:
about privacy
controlling who sees what
...
Facebook Ad Algorithm Cracked: The Secrets Behind... →
Sony's Google TV Remote looks awesome →
H&M and Social Media →
Related: http://www.wallblog.co.uk/2010/10/05/what-you-can-learn-from-hms-use-of-social-media/
Facebook Page Stories Get Condensed →
Some of you may be saying, “so what?” but if your brand is working towards harvesting an engaging community, this could be huge. While this cleans up a Facebook Page’s Wall, there is now an added click just to view comments and likes. We’ll have to keep an eye on our communities to see if our number of interactions decline as a result of this.
Google, Yahoo, AOL Join Self-Regulation Push for... →
Look out Flickr, Facebook upgrades their Photos... →
Beginning today and rolling out to all users soon, you will be able to upload and download hi-res photos up to 2048 pixels wide or high — that’s large enough for print-quality images.
These changes allow a whole new class of image-sharing, up to and including photography, modeling and graphic design portfolios.
Amazon is selling stuff through Facebook for the... →
First product? Pampers.
