FargoTube, a new online service from F3 Technologies, allows content owners to skip the “middleman” by creating fan sites where they can profit directly from their works. The service is free for content owners, who collect a portion of revenue from the site. Fans can create profiles, e-mail other fans and set up their own networks of friends. Read more
Post first and ask questions later.
Recent reports from Digital Brand Expressions (DBE) and R2integrated (R2i) indicate that companies are diving in to social media without a plan. While both reports draw this conclusion, each provides complementary findings that flesh out the statistics in interesting ways. Read more
A study of over 1700 small and medium businesses (SMB) finds that those with owners who have deeper Internet involvement have greater market share than companies with less web-savvy owners. The study was conducted by American City Business Journals (ACBJ) and released by its affiliate Portfolio.com. Leading applications used by SMB owners are travel planning, researching and buying business products and services, accessing business news and keeping in touch with friends and colleagues. Read more
Get advice from qualified sources. Plan well. Start small. Check results and tweak the plan. Be persistent. Watch for orders. Those were the steps taken by niche B2B data transport company Fiberplex when it decided to advertise its LightViper brand on Facebook. LightViper’s approach has moderate costs, stays “within the box” and serves as a model for other B2B companies who are considering advertising on social media platforms.
Read more
One can only guess whether the Promoted Tweet for Toy Story 3 directly contributed to the film’s blockbuster opening. To get a better understanding of Twitter’s new advertising scheme, we presented a few questions to the company last week. Here are the responses. Read more
The first Twitter Promoted Tweet came as no surprise. Promoted Tweets and Trends were announced back in April. Last month, Twitter modified its Terms of Service (TOS) to prohibit third parties from injecting paid tweets into a timeline on any service built on the Twitter API. And it makes sense that the first Promoted Tweet was from a big, visible advertiser – Disney/Pixar. There was no user revolt and blogosphere comments range from inquisitive to supportive, with only a few criticisms. Twitter did it right.
Read more
These days, virtual goods mean social games, and we tend to forget about platforms like XBox Live or Gaia Online, who’ve been dealing with microtransactions as well. AT E3 this year, Microsoft revealed that the XBox Live transactions business is growing steadily, and sales of virtual goods like movies, music, clothes and accessories for players’ avatars have surpassed their subscriptions business.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) finds significant growth potential over the next five years for the entertainment and media (E&M) industries as they feed the growing global appetite for new media. The report states that conversing with consumers “provides the only reliable guide to the commercial viability of products and services” – a finding that should come as no surprise. Perhaps less expected is a willingness by consumers to pay for unique, convenient and personalized content. Read more
I recently traveled to Toronto to meet up with AdParlor CEO Hussein Fazal and discuss their new Facebook Ads product, among other topics. Hussein also explained the application install ecosystem and introduced AdParlor’s new Facebook Ads whitepaper, which we covered earlier this week. Watch the videos after the jump.
Read more
There’s no doubt that monetization solution providers like Offerpal, Super Rewards, Adparlor and others are racing each other to find publishers. The latest move in this booming field comes from the Berlin-based virtual currency monetization platform SponsorPay. Securing $5 million in Series A funding from Hasso Plattner Ventures, SponsorPay will use the investment to broaden growth in the international arena and continue expansion in the European markets. Read more after the jump.
