Facebook announced Monday that it will add Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg to the company’s Board of Directors, emphasizing Sandberg’s integral role in the newly-public company’s rising success. Read more »
After years away, Rags Gupta returned to online publishing only to discover a brave new world in advertising. But although the formats, tools and technologies have changed, there are truisms that continue to hold. Gupta warns that we would be well-advised to remember them. Read more »
The social network said Wednesday that it plans to launch Facebook Exchange, a real-time bidding platform, in the next few weeks. Read more »
The adoption of tablets, social media and new interfaces and the changing nature of the TV itself mean the digital living room will continue on its path of rapid change, thanks to new ways of creating, viewing, bundling, distributing and selling content. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
AdKeeper today said that it’s launched a new holding company, Keep Holdings, in addition to two new products, Swizzle and Keep.com. Read more »
A new Google report looks at trends in the display advertising business, including growth by geographic area and content vertical. Read more »
In the mid-1990s, DoubleClick co-founder and CEO Kevin O’Connor developed a platform for data-driven advertising. With his latest startup, FindTheBest, he’s aiming to do the same thing for content. Read more »
The power of network owners to bundle channels together — to force pay-TV operators as well as subscribers to buy programming as a package — is at the heart of the current TV ecosystem. If it’s being lost today, it’s not because people are cutting the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Privacy is a bit like the weather — everyone talks about it but no one does a damn thing about it. Sure, it’s creepy that these companies track you and munch your personal information. But are you really going to ditch Facebook and every other online convenience of modern life? Read more at paidContent »
Google-co-founder Sergey Brin recently said he believes the future of the “open Internet” is at risk. Then why is the company trying to build its own closed network? Because the open vs. closed debate is more complicated than it first appears when it comes to Google. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In the first quarter of 2012 all eyes were on the screen, both big and small. Apple’s new Retina display pushed video streaming, and broadcast-TV streaming service Aereo’s launch was quickly followed with litigation. These events and more are discussed in a new quarterly report. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s co-founder, spoke at Ad Age’s Digital Conference and talked about how it’s helping usher in the transition from search to social. He said the new standard in advertising is ads that are engaging and are ripe for sharing. Read more »
Members of social sites can get prickly when it comes to advertising. But even the most buzz-worthy social media startups need revenue to survive. Whether you use sponsorships, ads, or affiliate marketing, SkimLinks’ CEO Alicia Navarro has tips to help you monetize your social site. Read more »
Has Pinterest created an entirely new way for users to share content? A survey conducted on GigaOM asked just that question, and a new GIgaOM Pro report delves into the various implications for the social network. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
These days, the digerati are not showing a lot of love for Google. Last week, a Gizmodo piece summarized much of the criticism of the search giant, and encouraged others to pile on. There has been much scoffing – if not outright derision – for recent ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
It looks like Facebook wants to address the big weaknesses in its mobile business model before it has to deal with nagging questions of its investors. According to FT, Facebook plans in March to include sponsored posts in its mobile news feeds. Read more »
This report outlines the myriad issues at play in Facebook’s move, from examining how CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to rewire the world to understanding the company’s infrastructure dependency. But from every angle, it’s clear the effects will ripple throughout the startup and tech communities. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Wall Street is unhappy and confused about Google. To return to its usually stellar growth, the company should prioritize vertical search and display advertising. Other products, including mobile search and advertising, should be moved to the back ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Almost a year after it angered users with its ‘quick bar’ advertising, and several months into its new Promoted Tweet service, Twitter’s ad platform seems as shaky as ever. Is targeted advertising a myth, or can Dick Costolo and team turn it around? Read more »
Ad-targeting company 33Across is acquiring link-tracking specialist Tynt Multimedia, resulting in a combined user graph spanning 1.25 billion users. Both are storing and analyzing billions of transactions daily, and they will use that data to help publishers compete on ad sales against mega sites like Google. Read more »
Google SVP of ads Susan Wojcicki said on the company’s earnings call that 60 percent of all video ads that appear on YouTube are TrueView ads, meaning that viewers can skip it and move on to the video if it’s not relevant or interesting. Read more »
The fourth quarter may have lacked a dominating big-event product announcement like Q3’s Facebook platform extension or Q2’s unveiling of Google+, but the NewNet world continued to buzz along. In the battle for mind share, everyone wanted to be a platform. Meanwhile, consumer and social technologies continued to gain momentum, and new vehicles for content and service discovery presented both challenges and opportunities for NewNet companies. And it is hard to ignore the overcrowded but growing world of daily deals. This quarterly report analyzes these trends and others, and it also provides a near-term outlook of trends, technologies and companies to watch in 2012. Companies mentioned in the report include Amazon, Facebook and Socialcast. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Last week Yahoo announced it had hired Scott Thompson, currently the president of eBay’s PayPal business, as its new CEO. Thompson has product and technology cred, which means Yahoo should be fixable. With that in mind, here’s what he should do to get Yahoo growing again ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Rich media ad firm Medialets is launching Medialets Private Marketplace, a buying platform that lets advertisers directly plan, buy and execute on Medialets’ collection of top publishers. The marketplace reflects the emergence of private exchanges in mobile and the growing maturation of mobile advertising. Read more »
A breathless report says Facebook is going to use its new Timeline feature to appeal to advertisers. But is this really surprising? Like most free web services, Facebook has always relied on advertising — and adding social elements to advertising is the future of the medium. Read more »
Last week, companies including Google, Facebook and NetShelter introduced new products and services that, while unrelated, all promise to be new vehicles for web content discovery. And with so many new offerings coming to market, content companies must evaluate whether and how to best use services ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Long a big force in online media, Yahoo and its once-successful online portal business model is struggling. So we decided to ask GigaOM readers what they thought Yahoo should do, and we published the results in a flash analysis on GigaOM Pro. Read more »
Last quarter’s big headline in social media and real-time technologies came from Google, which launched Google+, its first social tech product that seems legit. In the third quarter, things were back to normal. Google+ is still growing, but Facebook’s platform update dominated the news. And as Google+ passed 25 million users and won some raves from the digerati, its competition with Facebook intensified. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Zynga, Salesforce, BranchOut and Foursquare. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Hulu has worked hard to improve the amount of choice in advertising available to its viewers, and now it’s taking that innovation one step further. Its new Ad Swap product will give its users even more control in deciding which ads they want to see. Read more »
With people spending more time than ever online, it makes sense for advertisers to go where the eyeballs are. But the Internet has largely lagged when it comes to garnering big ad dollars. New data shows that online ads are finally moving into the big leagues. Read more »
Adchemy, the six-year-old online ad technology company, has raised $61 million in a Series E funding round led by Microsoft. This round brings the total venture capital invested in Adchemy to $116 million, Adchemy CEO Murthy Nukala told me in an interview on Tuesday. Read more »
The rise of gamification has become an increasing point of contention over the past year. Now it seems a spat between two leading figures has left the movement facing a divisive split. The controversy centers on a new book by Gabe Zichermann called Gamification by Design. Read more »
Last week, Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft reportedly pitched a premium advertising exchange to advertisers and brand-name publishers. The object would be to raise the value of their ad inventory and compete more effectively against Google and Facebook. Could this trio of portals pull it off and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Social games and app developers got a bit of a shock when Facebook snuck out some Platform Policy changes. So what can an app developer do to get the most out of Facebook and insulate itself as much as possible from Facebook changes? Build its own ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Thanks to a new product from Nielsen and Facebook, the Internet could be on the cusp of become a first-class citizen in the advertising world for good. But there’s just one problem: Do Facebook users want to be part of a Nielsen family? Read more »
