Professional networking site LinkedIn will work together with the New York Times to create custom headlines for users who opt in to this feature. Visitors can see “the five latest Times articles relevant to LinkedIn members based on non-personally identifiable attributes.” Headlines are divided into categories based on industry.
http://learn.linkedin.com/nytimes/
TechCrunch “NYTimes To Customize Headlines For LinkedIn Users”
Like many of my peers, I love Facebook. As soon as I got my college acceptance letter, I was ready to add photos, update my profile, and make “friends.” (My group was never into MySpace…too emo.) However, this application business has gotten out of hand. If I want to write on someone’s wall for their birthday, I don’t want to have to scroll for years past virtual aquariums, bars, flair, and other uselessness.
Which is why I’m secretly overjoyed to read on TechCrunch that Facebook is finally putting its virtual foot down on misbehaving apps. Slide’s TopFriends (the MySpace-esque popularity contest) was out for a week, Socialhi’s SocialMe has been gone since July 1, and RockYou’s Super Wall (an amped-up, not-super version of the regular Wall) had its viral components turned off. SpeedDate – because not everyone has time to go to an actual dating site – is the newest “victim”…the app has disappeared from the list.
Keep up the good work Facebook. Now if only someone would get rid of VH1’s “I Love Money” SuperPoke (Thanks Slide, for making my favorite quality television a little less classy.)
The Associated Press filed several takedown requests to require social news site the Drudge Retort to remove quotes from their stories. According to the AP, the excerpts violate fair use laws; Drudge Retort owner Rogers Cadenhead disputes this claim. Many other bloggers have removed AP quotes out of fear of litigation.
Director of Harvard’s Citizen Media Project David Ardia said courts look at whether an excerpt harms the original content. “Not only is it not cutting into the market for the Associated Press’s articles, but it is actually driving traffic to sites,” Ardia said. “That’s what’s so strange from a legal and policy standpoint.”
(Source: MediaPost “Drudge Retort Considers Lawsuit Against AP”)
Yahoo has announced that they have ended all talks with Microsoft about a possible merger or acquisition. While Microsoft released a statement that they would continue to push for their “alternative transaction” of purchasing Yahoo’s search assets. Yahoo dismissed this possibility as “such a transaction would not be consistent with the company’s view of the converging search and display marketplaces, would leave the company without an independent search business that it views as critical to its strategic future and would not be in the best interests of Yahoo stockholders.”
(Source: AdAge “Yahoo and Microsoft Declare It’s Over”)
After avoiding a Microsoft buyout, Yahoo has created a new partnership with Google. Over the next 10 years, Yahoo will outsource “search monetization” to Google. The deal is nonexclusive, so Yahoo can continue to display ads from other third parties. It remains to be seen if this deal will help or hurt Yahoo.
(Source: AdAge “Yahoo, Google Strike a Deal on Paid Search”)
Yahoo and Coupons, Inc. are working together to bring consumers mobile coupons through Yahoo Mobile. Younger consumers have traditionally resisted coupons, feeling “uncool” about using them in front of their friends. Mobile coupons (where the clerk can scan a barcode on the user’s mobile device) are one way to make coupons cool again.
(Source: MediaPost “Mobile Coupons Go National Via Yahoo Deal”)
According to a study at Ohio State University and the University of California, employees tend to have more conversations through instant messenger, but individual conversations don’t last as long. So while some unimportant chats may occur, IM services allow employees to communicate quickly without the interruptions or time required for a phone call or Email. “We find that employees are quite strategic in their use of instant messaging,” Mr. Garrett said. “They are using it to check in with their colleagues to find out if they’re busy before interrupting them in a more intrusive way.” (R. Kelly Garrett, an assistant professor of communication at Ohio State)
(Source: NYT “What’s Online”)
Google’s Gmail Lab brings engineers together to develop new bells and whistles for their popular Email service. Currently, users can opt-in to the new additions. (The first group contained 13 updates, from a break for so-called “email addicts”, to an “old school” snake game).
(Source: NYT “Bits” Blog)
Around 1/3 of iPhone purchasers are women. The use of all forms of smartphones is increasing much more rapidly with women (more than doubling in the last year to 10.4 million). Smartphones have long been used by businesspeople, including women, but they are becoming extremely popular with women from stay-at-home moms to company CEOs. The diverse group of users is bringing smartphones out of the realm of the “techie” or businessman.
(Source: NYT “Smartphones Now Ringing for Women”)
According to comScore, nearly 148 million U.S. consumers, or 81% of Web users, viewed widgets in November of last year. Widget ads, meanwhile, are expected to boost social network advertising by 70% to $1.6 billion in 2008, according to a recent projection by eMarketer.
(Coming To A Social Network Near You: Self-Service Widgets by Gavin O’Malley)
Since the dawn of time, a key issue for advertisers has been how to put their message in front of consumers in an interesting and unobtrusive way that will still be noticed. Generally, consumers don’t like being forced to receive advertising information they do not seek out themselves.
Enter the widget. This application allows an advertiser to stay right in front of their target without being obnoxious. Often in fact, internet users will actively seek out widgets to streamline their online experience (they are becoming extremely common in social networking sites, for example).
At their WWDC on Monday, Apple unveiled its App Store and the new applications being developed. EBay, for example, created an application to allow users to more easily manage their account. Consumers will want the widget for ease of use, but it will also help eBay. (See future post about how Apple and the iPhone will rule the world.) Widgets are an amazing way to appeal to certain consumers while helping them at the same time.
