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Facebook Gives Marketers a New Set of Tools March 01, 2012 Facebook introduced a slew of new ad initiatives at its marketing conference, fMC, held in New York on Wednesday. Most had been leaked to industry publications prior to this first-ever event. However, few had been expecting the preview of a distribution channel called the "Reach Generator." Although key details about how it will work were missing from the presentation, it clearly represents a new avenue for marketers.

Twitter Flitters Further Into Mobile Advertising February 29, 2012 Twitter launched an expansion of its mobile advertising system Tuesday, putting promoted tweets into the timelines of users accessing the service from mobile applications. Users accessing Twitter from iPhone and Android apps have been able to search out promoted trends and tweets before, and promoted tweets have been appearing in timelines for users accessing the site from a mobile Web browser.

Google to EU: Delay? No Way! February 29, 2012 Google on Tuesday rebuffed a request by a European Union privacy body to delay implementation of changes in the search giant's privacy policies set to take effect on March 1. "[W]e have notified over 350 million authenticated Google users and provided highly visible notifications on our homepage and in search results for our non-authenticated users," said Google's Peter Fleischer.

Yahoo Stares Down Facebook Over Website Patents February 28, 2012 Yahoo is pressuring Facebook to pay licensing fees on several patents covering a variety of website functions like advertising, website personalization, social networking and messaging. Yahoo has a responsibility to its shareholders, employees and other stakeholders to protect its intellectual property, Yahoo spokesperson Micheline Tang said.

White House Looks to Nail Down Online Privacy Regulations February 23, 2012 Undeterred by its battle to convince Congress to pass the cybersecurity legislation it proposed last May, the White House on Thursday unveiled a proposal for an online consumer privacy bill of rights. This is part of a blueprint to improve consumer privacy protection in the United States.

Microsoft Calls Google a Cookie Monster February 21, 2012 Google is tracking users of the Internet Explorer Web browser without their knowledge, Microsoft has asserted. After news emerged last week that Google had bypassed the privacy settings of Apple's Safari browser, Microsoft researchers began looking into whether the search giant was also playing fast and loose with IE's settings.

Content Intent, Part 3 February 11, 2012 The dissemination of content throughout the Web has forced companies and marketing firms to rethink how they advertise. The swell of venues that are housing content has dueling effects: It increases the potential reach of an advertisement but also dilutes the customer pool for the original publisher.

Facebook's IPO: What's Its Game? February 07, 2012 As Facebook prepares for an IPO of its stock that may value the company at US$100 billion, it's important to know what sport it's in and if, like the Chicago Bulls with Jordan, dynasties can last. Michael Jordan was probably the best basketball player to play the game of hoop. He had a halo effect. But baseball just wasn't his sport at the level basketball was.

Facebook May Be Chasing Mobile Ad Pot of Gold February 06, 2012 Facebook is reportedly working on a system to put ads in its mobile services. The news comes just days after the social networking giant filed for an initial public offering, hoping to raise $5 billion. In its IPO filing, Facebook stated that the number of active mobile users of its social network is growing.

Google on EC's Privacy Request: How About No? February 06, 2012 Google has rejected the request of European regulators that it delay the implementation of its new privacy policies to give authorities time to review the changes and ensure that users' data will remain secure. The European Commission's Article 29 Working Party asked Google to hold off on launching its new policies until after the committee could analyze the changes.

Content Intent, Part 2 February 03, 2012 It can be a little tricky talking about how and why media outlets allow, and indeed encourage, the diffusion of their content throughout the Web. For starters, people tend to be tightlipped about this strategy. No one from CNN, Fox News, MSNBC or Viacom agreed to speak on the record for this article. They are, apparently, much less eager to discuss sharing content than they are to actually share it.

Super Bowl Advertisers Pile On With Multimedia Blitz February 01, 2012 Superbowl Sunday, the biggest, flashiest U.S. sports event of the year, is also the country's biggest advertising event of the year, carrying some of the cleverest ads on TV. This year, Superbowl Sunday may also mark a watershed in advertising, with advertisers reaching out beyond TV to go into digital media in a big way.

AOL Dumps a Lighter Load of Bad News February 01, 2012 AOL delivered a little bit of something for everyone with its Q4 earnings report -- good news, bad news, and hope that its many different initiatives are on track to pay off for the company. First the bad news: AOL reported a profit of US$22.8 million, or 23 cents a share, that was down from the $66.2 million, or 61 cents a share, it earned in the same period a year earlier.

Content Intent, Part 1 January 27, 2012 As far as exclusive interviews go, you could do a lot worse than getting Herman Cain, and a lot worse than getting him on Nov. 28. That was, after all, the day that a woman unleashed accusations of a 13-year affair with Cain, the third racy allegation levied against Cain in a matter of weeks. And those charges were but part of the Cain saga. There was also the Nov. 15 Libya gaffe...

Tynt Deal Could Make 33Across Irresistible to Microsoft January 25, 2012 Brand graph company 33Across has acquired Tynt, a company that tracks user behavior for publishers. Both companies were mum about the amount of the all-stock deal. Tynt will take 33Across into a new market; the combined companies will reach 1.25 billion users globally, according to 33Across.

Facebook Gets App-Happy January 20, 2012 Do you like to garden? Share coupons? How about bike riding? If so, there's an app for that -- on Facebook, that is -- or soon will be. As promised at last year's f8 developer conference, Facebook rolled out about 60 new apps to be used on its site this week. They are designed for users to express more precisely how they are interacting with content on Facebook.

WebMD Looking a Little Green Around the Gills January 12, 2012 It has been a rocky week for the medical news website WebMD, and it appears that the remainder of 2012 may be equally tumultuous. On Tuesday, WebMD CEO Wayne T. Gattinella resigned, and the company announced it was not looking for a buyer after all. It informed shareholders that 2012 revenue could clock in at 2 percent to 8 percent below 2011's revenue.

Barnes & Noble's Nook: Life Preserver or Dead Weight? January 07, 2012 The arrival of the Amazon Kindle Fire gave Apple reason to worry, but it may have given Barnes & Noble a reason to completely freak out. Its Nook Tablet Android device arrived about a month after the Kindle Fire was announced, and the Nook may be in a much more vulnerable position than the iPad.

PayPal's Thompson to Fill Yahoo's Leadership Vacuum January 04, 2012 Yahoo finally gets a leader. The company announced Wednesday the appointment of Scott Thompson as CEO, effective Jan. 9. Thompson was also appointed to the board of directors. Interim CEO Tim Morse will resume his role as chief financial officer. Yahoo fired former CEO Carol Bartz four months ago for failing to turn the company around.

Google Red-Faced Over Chrome Advertising Goof January 03, 2012 Google has become the subject of a series of withering articles calling it out for violating its own advertising policies. The company reportedly has run sponsored marketing ads for its Chrome browser using techniques that last year's Panda algorithm change was designed to prohibit. The paid sponsorships apparently resulted from a misunderstanding between Google and its marketing company, Unruly Media.