Facebook is getting into the verification business. The blue check mark identifying verified pages and profiles will appear in timelines, stories, search results, news feed ads and while users hover over the name of a page elsewhere on the site.
Yahoo's front-page news stream now displays personalized ads alongside news articles and other features. Stream Ads will have a similar look and feel to the news articles that will share space with the ads on Yahoo's home page.
Facebook's ad products delivered $1.25 billion, or 85 percent, of total revenue during the quarter while payments carried the remainder, lifting the company's net income to $219 million. Total advertising revenue grew 43 percent year-over-year.
Facebook is combining what it knows about its users’ behavior and activities on Facebook and off, with the help of data brokers like Acxiom, Datalogix and Epsilon. Brands can now target users across desktop and mobile – and offline entirely.
The Facebook phone will arrive on April 12, giving the social network giant a new window into its users' mobile habits and a more consistent, always-on connection for members of the Facebook community. Search won't be exclusive to any one provider
While the company positions for broader interest in its paid media products, it is expanding the tools and services it offers marketers to encourage more small- to mid-sized brands to increase engagement on the platform.
Facebook has expanded its custom audience targeting feature to now include "lookalike audiences." By porting their CRM databases to Facebook, advertisers can reach existing customers and users who share similarities with their customer base.
Despite all the newfangled channels and technology by which marketers can reach consumers in a digital capacity today, email is still the most effective and inclusive, according to new research from ExactTarget.
Video ads are coming to LinkedIn. The professional-focused social networking site announced that its LinkedIn Ads platform is now capable of delivering 300x250 video ad units for advertisers. Ads can be bought as pay per view and pay per click.
LinkedIn's new featured update functionality gives brands the ability to more prominently display updates they want to highlight above the fold in their update feed. The free feature enables firms to promote news and updates for up to 48 hours.
Following a four-year effort in the incredibly lucrative TV ad business, Google has decided to pull the plug. Traditional TV ads are out. Going forward Google plans to focus exclusively on digital with YouTube and AdWords for Video.
Twitter has enhanced its paid products for advertisers with a new targeting option that includes more than 350 interests. Brands can now target their Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts to specific subsets of users based on their interests.
