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Patents row over for Facebook and Yahoo

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:36:00 GMT

Facebook and Yahoo have revealed they're tired of fighting - putting their patents dispute to bed and opting instead to form an ad alliance.

In a joint statement, the two companies announced they would cross-licence innovations and collaborate on future patents. No money was paid to either party.

Yahoo took legal action against the social network in March, claiming Facebook infringed 10 of its patents relating to advertisements, privacy controls, news feed, messaging and website personalisation. Facebook then countersued - alleging Yahoo violated 10 of its patents, many of which formed a huge portion of the flagging internet giant's business.

However, following the appointment of interim CEO Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo immediately began taking steps to resolve the dispute.

"We are excited to develop a deeper partnership with Facebook, and I'm grateful to Sheryl and her team for working hard together with our team to develop this dynamic agreement. We are looking forward to building on the success we have already seen to provide innovative new products and experiences for both consumers and sponsors," Yahoo's interim CEO Ross Levinsohn said in a press release.

"Combining the premium content and reach of Yahoo as the world's leading digital media company with Facebook provides branded advertisements with unmatched opportunity."

Facebook's chief operating officer was also involved in negotiations.

"I'm pleased that we were able to resolve this in a positive manner and look forward to partnering closely with Ross and the leadership at Yahoo," said Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer at Facebook.

"Yahoo's new leaders are driven by a renewed focus on innovation and providing great products to users. Together, we can provide users with engaging social experiences while creating value for marketers."

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BBC to stream Olympics on Facebook

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 06:00:00 GMT

The BBC's new tie-in with social media giant Facebook was launched today in the form of an app that will live stream the summer big events including the Olympics and Wimbledon. Its first transmission was live coverage from the Wimbledon tennis championships.

24 simultaneous streams will be run by the BBC during the Games, in addition to its main TV channels. The app is currently in beta test mode and provides up to six simultaneous streams of Wimbledon tennis matches. This is the first time that the BBC has used Facebook to broadcast events live.

Other international broadcasters have also set-up similar alternative streaming services. American broadcaster NBC is working with YouTube to provide live coverage on their new Olympics site.

Phil Fearnley, General Manager BBC News & Knowledge, said in a BBC press release: "It's a core part of the BBC's mission to bring our quality content to audiences wherever they are, so I'm very excited to be able to offer sport fans on Facebook a really distinctive live streaming experience."

"With our Facebook app we aim to bring even greater value to our online audiences, enabling them to watch together and share their excitement. We hope to use it to test the benefits of social viewing, as part of our ambition to deliver more innovative and transformative experiences to sports fans."

The BBC has stated there are currently no plans to stream other live events on the social network in the near future.

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IE10 to have default 'Do not track' setting

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:12:00 GMT

The new touchscreen-optimised Internet Explorer 10 is to have the 'Do not track' setting switched on as a default, giving users the option whether or not to accept cookies.

Microsoft is supportive of the idea of 'privacy as the default state,' putting the user in charge of their privacy.

"Consumers should be empowered to make an informed choice and, for these reasons, we believe that for IE10 in Windows 8, a privacy-by-default state for online behavioural advertising is the right approach," said Chief Privacy Officer Brendon Lynch in a Microsoft blog post.

"Our decision to turn on DNT by default in IE10 for Windows 8... helps to provide clarity on one side of the discussion - when and how browsers send the DNT signal - and because it advances the idea of privacy as the default state."

With the exception of Chrome, most browsers have 'Do not track' as a feature built-in, but without it automatically switched on. IE10 is the first browser to have DNT as a default option.

However, not all websites go along with the DNT setting. There is no legal requirement for them to honour this preference at the moment.

Microsoft's DNT decision has raised concerns within the advertising industry.

The Digital Advertising Alliance told the BBC that Microsoft's move risks "limiting the availability and diversity of internet content and services for consumers."

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Most Facebook users don't click on ads

Wed, 16 May 2012 02:36:00 GMT

Most people do not click on Facebook ads according to a new survey by CNBC and Associated Press.

Figures show 57 per cent of Facebook users never click on or use any of the commercial content on the site, as well as another 26 per cent stating that they rarely do so.

This is a blow to the social networking giant as its commercial plan for public flotation is mainly based on users responding to adverts. The CNBC/Associated Press report comes on the same day as General Motors announced they will no longer advertise on Facebook, due to the lack of impact their ad campaigns had had on users.

GM is the third biggest advertiser in America and their abandonment of Facebook as a platform shows up a major flaw in the social network's flotation strategy.

"This does highlight what we are arguing is the riskiness of the overall Facebook business model," said Brian Wieser, Internet and media analyst at Pivotal Research Group, to the Daily Telegraph.

"It is not a sure thing. It sure looks likely that it will be one of the most important ad-supported media properties, but it's not certain because there will be marketers who are challenged to prove the effectiveness of the marketing vehicle."

GM will carry on maintaining its free Facebook pages, using them to promote products and services.

Facebook will reportedly start trading on the Nasdaq on Friday. Despite the advertising strategy and revenue problems, there is strong investor demand with its offering increased by 25 per cent to raise $15 million.

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Tumblr to blog paid ads

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:12:00 GMT

Popular microblogging platform Tumblr will begin displaying ads on user dashboards from 2 May, despite Founder and CEO David Karp telling the Los Angeles Times in 2010: "We're pretty opposed to advertising. It really turns our stomachs."

Soon, advertisers will be able to purchase branded blog posts that will show up on user profiles as ads using Tumblr's "Radar" tool. The blogging platform has reportedly already secured partnerships with fifteen advertisers - including the Cartoon Network, IBM and EMI Music.

Launched in 2007, Tumblr now boasts more than 52 million individual blogs, and the platform has become known for sharing memes and in-jokes - including its most recent viral sensation, Texts from Hillary Clinton.

Currently, the site boasts more than 21.4 billion total blog posts, and averages more than 53 million posts daily.

Speaking at the Ad Age Digital Conference in New York, Mr Kamp announced the advent of paid ads on the Tumblr platform, admitting he had been an "idiot" for publicly saying he was "opposed to advertising" in his 2010 LA Times interview.

Tumblr spokesperson Katharine Barna told Business Insider that the advertising space being offered was "not an 'ad unit' per se, but a package of native promotion for the Tumblr post - the most essential and versatile piece of our network."

Others were left scratching their heads over the announcement - internet media strategist Rex Sorgatz, who was at the conference, told Beta Beat:

"It was the strangest 'closing keynote' speech I've ever seen. He was scheduled to talk for half an hour, but I think the whole thing lasted 7 minutes. He cited some growth number, mentioned how much he appreciates the creativity within the advertising community, and then broke the news that Tumblr would be opening up that spot to advertisers.

"He gave no specifics, other than that it launches 2 May. He flashed his email address on the screens, took no questions, and then zipped out the building."

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How often do 'friends' see Facebook posts?

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 07:49:00 GMT

As more and more people join the mighty Facebook, it may be easy to complain about the deluge of mundane information you get about your "friends" - but, apparently, users could be seeing a whole lot more.

At the first Facebook Marketing Conference held in New York City this week, the social network revealed just how often posts get seen.

According to the Huffington Post, Facebook has a handy little algorithm that sorts through the cascade of content produced by status updates, picture uploads, link sharing, likes, comments, et al - and a user's News Feed only gets posts that Facebook thinks they'll find amusing.

In real terms, this amounts to Facebook friends only seeing about 16 per cent of what a user posts. And, the same is true for a company's fans.

The percentage, however, varies according to different factors, such as how often someone visits Facebook and how many friends they have.

"That's the average across all posts from all profiles and all pages of all different audience sizes and all different networks," said Chris Cox, Facebook's vice president of product.

"For any given post or given profile owner, you might see a totally different number, but this [number] is to present an order of magnitude."

And, it's an important factor for brands who are seeking to reach customers online via social networking sites. As such, Facebook released the statistics as part of its pitch for a new advertising product - the Reach Generator.

The new tool will help marketers increase the number of Facebook fans who view their content by paying for better placement on the site's homepage, and in users' News Feeds and Facebook's log out screen.

Facebook claims this can help a company increase its footprint from 16 per cent to 75 per cent in a month.

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Google and Mozilla remain friends - and competitors

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:00:00 GMT

Recent research said Firefox users have higher IQs, so it appears that Google has made a smart decision to renew its search engine deal with Mozilla.

The Mozilla Corporation recently announced it "negotiated a significant and mutually beneficial revenue agreement" with Google for the next three years.

As a non-profit foundation, Mozilla relies heavily on the income generated by search partnerships.

"Under this multi-year agreement, Google Search will continue to be the default search provider for hundreds of millions of Firefox users around the world," said Gary Kovacs, Mozilla's chief executive.

Alan Eustace, Google's senior vice president of search, commented: "Mozilla has been a valuable partner to Google over the years and we look forward to continuing this great partnership in the years to come."

The previous deal between Google and Mozilla, which was set to expire in November, had been signed before Google's Chrome browser gained a presence in the so-called 'browser war.'

Analysts heavily speculated Google would back out of the deal, as Chrome's launch and subsequent growth put it in direct competition with Firefox, all while Google remained financially responsible for Mozilla's survival.

However, Whit Andrews, an analyst for Gartner, said Google's decisions shouldn't be all that surprising.

"What Google really wants is more advertising on the internet. It's very simple. If it drives more ads on the internet, they're into it," he said.

"Google want[s] the shelf space. There's a shelf sitting there and they've got a product. The fact that the shelf is with a competitor, they don't really care. The alternative is that another competitor gets the shelf."

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Microsoft gets in on the app action

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 01:36:00 GMT

Microsoft is looking to get in on the app action, taking on Apple and Google with the launch of their own "app store."

The Windows Store is slated for a late February opening along with the release of a test version of Microsoft's next generation Windows 8 operating system.

"I think we are going to do great," Windows Web Services vice president Antoine Leblond said. "The reach of Windows is absolutely huge and can't be matched."

To date, Windows has only had a small presence on smartphones and tablets, where the majority of third-party applications are bought. As a result, applications written for the Windows Store will work on any devices powered by the Microsoft Software - allowing them to be downloaded to smartphones and tablet devices as soon as they become available on the market.

Additionally, the Windows Store is being pitched as a welcomed alternative to the Apple App Store - which notoriously puts applications through a strict vetting process before approving them to be sold online and requiring financial transactions to be done in-house.

"Today, one of the most frustrating things for building apps are the constraints on what you can do and what you can sell," said Leblond.

"Developers create apps to put in Apple's App Store only to have Apple stand between them and the customer while taking 30 per cent. We won't get in the way of your app and your business model."

The Windows Store will let developers set their own prices for applications in a range from $1.49 to $999.99, and will also support free applications that make their money through advertising.

Microsoft will take 30 per cent of the revenue from application sales, but after selling $25,000 worth of applications, the developer's share will increase to 80 per cent. Developers will also be allowed to keep all revenue made from in-application transactions.

The Windows Store will feature only free applications when it opens in February.

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Facebook acquires Gowalla

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:49:00 GMT

Facebook has reportedly acquired location sharing service Gowalla for an undisclosed sum.

Neither Facebook nor Gowalla have formally commented on the deal, and details of the potential acquisition remain unconfirmed.

According to CNN, the Gowalla team will relocate to Palo Alto and work on the social network's new Timeline - a feature that's set to roll out to Facebook's 800 million members in the coming months.

An unnamed source close to the deal told CNN: "It's a perfect match. As far as the big picture, Gowalla's vision is about people telling stories, and Facebook's vision for timeline is about stories and important moments in life."

The Austin-based location sharing service launched in 2009 - but struggled to compete with the likes of rivals like Foursquare until it eventually rebranded as a social travel guide.

While Facebook and Gowalla continue to dodge requests for comment, AllThingsD has posted a cryptic email reportedly from Gowalla CEO Josh Williams to investors saying:

"CNN just broke the news that Gowalla has been acquired by Facebook. This story leaked from an unknown source.

"The ink on the deal is not dry, so our holding pattern is that we do not comment on rumours and speculation. I have another email penned that was ready to send you today, assuming you would get this news before the story was officially released.

"But now it is all over Twitter, so you have likely heard. A longer email will be sent soon. Until then, I am so very grateful for what you have done to make Gowalla a success."

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Google to make text jump off the page

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:49:00 GMT

Google has acquired multimedia company Apture to bring users beyond the realm of 2D in Chrome.

Founded in 2007, Apture's technology is designed to help users make 'contextual searches', where relevant information and text 'jumps off the page.'

"We've always believed that by transforming flat web pages into interactive multimedia experiences, we could enable readers to see, hear and truly experience the ideas on the page," Apture said.

Apture's in-page search technology gives users instant access to additional information including text, images and video from sources across the web without leaving the page - a feature that, when powered by Google, could prove an incredibly useful resource for Chrome users.

The feature also gives publishers an added opportunity for revenue - for example, a mention of a local sports team on a webpage could prompt an Apture search of that team and return results for videos, images, and ticket sales.

Apture's past customers have included the New York Times, Financial Times and Reader's Digest.
Google has yet to disclose financial details of the merger or whether Apture will move from its headquarters in San Francisco to Mountain View.

Apture did however post a statement on their homepage to announce the merger:

"After enhancing more than a billion pages with our products, we think now is the best time to expand our efforts with another team just down the road that shares our vision of making the web better.

"We've been acquired by Google and will be joining the Chrome team to continue driving innovation and creating a better user experience on the web. The modern web is an amazing platform, so stay tuned for even more enhancements to your Chrome using experience."

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