With speculation that Facebook might be launching an RSS reader at its press event next week, it’s important to think about why users loved the Google Reader experience. Hint: it wasn’t because Google Reader was social. Read more »
A survey of journalists in fifteen countries reveals some interesting differences in attitudes to social media. Here are some highlights. Read more at paidContent »
Belly is offering a bunch of new tools to small businesses to help them amp up their loyalty programs and market to new customers. Read more »
If you were interested in making a purchase on Twitter or Facebook through Chirpify, you might start to see lower prices on the service, as the company replaces PayPal processing with its own system to reduce fees for sellers. Read more »
Pinterest is adding a much-requested feature from its users that will let them perform a search of just their pins. The update comes as Pinterest is launching plenty of new features and adds integration with big brands. Read more »
Just as the Mad Men of the 50′s and 60′s tapped into consumer desires and emotions for a new school of advertising, modern companies like Instagram and Pinterest will need a similar revolution in how we think about ads if they want to make money. Read more at paidContent »
Twitter is rapidly expanding its “multi-screen” ad offerings through a range of new partnerships with sports, news and other media companies. Read more »
Comment trolls are often used as an example of why blog comments are a waste of time, but a recent series by the Climate Desk showed how they can quickly be turned into human beings. Read more at paidContent »
What are teenagers up to on social media? Twitter use has grown dramatically since 2011, while Facebook stays dominant but shows flat growth. Read more »
There are plenty of reasons why the announced Yahoo Tumblr deal makes sense for those companies. But Marissa Mayer might have seen a much greater payoff from acquiring Pinterest instead. Here’s why. Read more »
Few companies today have the time or the analytics expertise to apply statistics and complex data modeling to regular or even daily business decisions and operations. Now, however, an ecosystem of companies is emerging to fill this need. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The New York startup ecosystem will get a big boost from the $1.1 billion sale of Tumblr to Yahoo. The exit, one of the biggest New York has seen, shows that with content becoming important, New York is finding its footing on the startup stage. Read more »
Pinterest is unveiling a new pin structure for different types of products and an integration with a large number of retail brands, as it continues buildng up the platform and paving the way for growth. Read more »
NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen says that many of the cultural barriers to doing “networked journalism” have been lowered, and he is trying to help media outlets develop smart tools and ways of making use of crowdsourcing. Read more at paidContent »
With its acquisition of Lucky Sort, Twitter seems to be acknowledging that it’s a data company after all. The plan appears to be building a services that would do for Twitter equivalent to services such as Google Trends and Google Analytics. Read more »
As more sites focus on longform content, Fast Company disclosed some statistics on how its longer pieces have been doing — but the data shows that the real secret isn’t length but ongoing engagement with readers. Read more at paidContent »
We are used to thinking of a “mass media” market made up of large newspapers and TV networks as the normal state of affairs in media, but what if that was just a historical anomaly? Read more at paidContent »
Twitter says it doesn’t have any interest in hiring reporters or performing other journalistic functions — but regardless of whether it does so, it is still a powerful media entity and one that grows stronger by the day. Read more at paidContent »
Branch might have set out to connect the world’s conversationalists on one platform, but it’s interesting to see how companies are adopting the resource as a more limited way to connect with customers. Read more »
The battle of adults versus teens has taken on a new format in #followateen versus #followanadult. Read more »
A new study finds that Facebook likes and interest data could be used to map obesity prevalence. Read more »
From shopping and buying to owning and using products, consumers’ experiences largely determine the success of both retailers and brands. By voting with their feet, wallets, and social media, consumers reward companies that make their lives easy, risk-free, and pleasurable. As proof, you can witness the […] Read more at GigaOM Pro »
As more and more photos are shared across the web on Pinterest and Facebook, it’s a challenge for companies to bring customers back to their sites from those photos has become a challenge. Pict looks to make it easier to keep track of your customers. Read more »
Are all those Facebook posts about political candidates amounting to much when it comes to civic engagement? A new report from the Pew Research Center breaks down civic participation and social media. Read more »
The conversations you’re having about music on Twitter could do more than build up artist fan bases — you could be helping power an entertainment television show called Trending 10. Read more »
By connecting its customer-relationship-management system with social-media monitoring and publishing tools it’s taken on in the past two years, Salesforce.com looks eager to become an advertising and marketing destination. Read more »
To help businesses focus their ad spending on specific social-media users, Salesforce.com is adding the ability to combine existing customer-relationship management lists with social monitoring and publishing tools. Read more »
“Social customer service” refers to those services that provide customer support via social media channels. Providing such services is no longer merely a niche or specialty sideline. Challengers, or disruptors who were early with the new technology, are working to expand and integrate their offerings into enterprise systems and processes. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
When it comes to forming a bond with customers, one expert suggests using big data to help them form a bond with each other. Read more »
For The Win wants to take a BuzzFeed-style viral media approach to sports media. The new site, which will compete with rivals like Deadspin, will focus on finding “shareable” content that will be appealing even to people who don’t follow sports. Read more at paidContent »
What’s the trick to getting consumers talking about your products and shopping on mobile? Fashion retailer Modcloth isn’t afraid to try out a lot of tactics. Read more »
The big news events of today are increasingly becoming participatory, thanks to growing and hyper-connectivity. This new landscape means, the media and its process — but not its real job – has to evolve. Read more »
This week’s news wrap up examines new media both in the immediate wake of the Boston attack as well as it’s slow evolution as an industry. Read more »
While both Twitter and Reddit have come under fire for distributing incorrect information about the Boston bombings, mainstream outlets have done so as well. In a real-time news environment, having more sources is ultimately better. Read more at paidContent »
When you’re in official lock-down, piecing together what’s going on a mile from your house requires triangulation — police scanners, Twitter, Facebook, radio and TV — all come into play. Read more »
Brands claim they’re taking to social media, but they’re really inserting ads into other people social engagement streams — not engaging themsleves, says the founder of the Dachis Group. Read more at paidContent »
Content owners, whether they are publishers, retailers, or marketers, are always looking for new ways to deliver a unique experience to their customers. We call this content personalization. Key trends in this area are led by a collection of technologies that we call post-programming curation. These technologies use the best of behavioral tracking, collaborative filtering, audience targeting, and dynamic content presentation. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
For online media companies, social platforms like Facebook and Twitter bring many opportunities as well as risks. An intelligent and proactive social media strategy can expand a brand’s reach. But the more heavily a media company relies upon a social media platform the more it relinquishes control over the customer experience. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Social business technologies remain in the foreground of discussions about business transformation, but the events of the first quarter of 2013 raised as many questions as they answered, or more. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Google has a useful new tool to manage your “digital afterlife.” The feature sends passwords to trusted contacts if you have been inactive, and provides a way to send on many aspects of your digital life — except for any media you bought. Read more »
