AdNet Weekend

LookSmart's Search Advertising Network Approaches 500 Million ... WELT ONLINE, Germany - Oct 22, 2008 LookSmart, Ltd. (NASDAQ:LOOK), the search advertising network and management company, today highlighted metrics that demonstrated the company's delivery of ...LOOK

Merit Advertising Network Seeking Exciting Web Sites to Spotlight SYS-CON Media, NJ - Oct 23, 2008 ANDERSON, Mo. , Oct. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Merit Advertising Network has opened the door to streamlined advertising for both Internet and traditional ...

What Online Stores Sell: Data About You New York Times, United States - Oct 24, 2008 What I didn’t know was that Swatch sent information about my purchase to a company called Acerno, which runs advertising network that reaches 80 of the top ...

Mediapost.com

Glam Media Launches Men's Ad Network Wired News - Oct 20, 2008 By Meghan Keane October 20, 2008 | 11:19:22 AMCategories: Advertising Creating a newad network as dollars shrink out of the market may be a risky ... Glam Media launches Brash for the boys CNET News Glam Media Launches Brash.com Network to Revolutionize Digital ...istockAnalyst.com (press release) paidContent.org - Glam Media Finds Its Male Side, Launches Brash.com Washington Post Media Guardian

Online vertical ad network Networkplay.in to break even in 2009 exchange4media.com, India - Oct 23, 2008 Online vertical ad network Networkplay.in, which was launched on October 15 this year, aims to break even within a year of its launch. ...

MediaPost Publications

Akamai Drops $95 Million For Ad Network Acerno MediaPost Publications, New York - Oct 21, 2008 by Gavin O'Malley, Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 8:11 PM ET Content delivery giant Akamai Technologies has reached an agreement to acquire ad network acerno for $95 ... Akamai Introduces Advertising Decision Solutions; Announces ... MarketWatch Akamai Announces Merger, Launches Ad Decision Solutions xchange Magazine Akamai Bets $95 Million On Better Ad Targetting; Buys acerno Washington Post Wired News - ClickZ News

Mobile ad network AdMob hits profitability, raises $15.7 million VentureBeat, CA - Oct 21, 2008 Mobile advertising network AdMob has become a darling of Silicon Valley this past year, having grown large alongside the recent explosion of mobile web ... AdMob Turns Profit, Aims To Boost Mobile Advertising Sci-Tech Today What Recession? AdMob Wins Big Funding Round, Eyes Global Ad Markets ClickZ News Money is Still Flowing (to Mobile); AdMob Raises $15M+ Mashable Red Herring - New York Times Blogs

"Building a Virtual Ad Network: An Insider's View" to Be Presented ... Market Wire (press release) - Oct 23, 2008 Jerry L. Smith, president of Morefocus® Media, a health and education vertical advertising network, will present the topic. ...

Nokia funds Chinese mobile ad network Madhouse VentureBeat, CA - Oct 22, 2008 Madhouse’s ad network currently covers about 75 percent of China’s mobile traffic. This is a big boon for both Nokia and GroupM, considering how huge ... Nokia Invests in Chinese Mobile Ad Network Madhouse Digital Media Wire all 2 news articles »  NOK - AMS:NOKA - S

MediaPost Publications

Deal Creates Largest Ad Network For Internet Radio New York Times, United States - Oct 14, 2008 By Claire Cain Miller TargetSpot, an Internet radio advertising network, announced Wednesday that it has acquired Ronning Lipset Radio, an advertising ... TargetSpot Buys Ronning Lipset, Creating Huge Radio Ad Network ClickZ News /CORRECTION -- TargetSpot, Inc./ MarketWatch paidContent.org - CBS-Backed TargetSpot Buys Radio Ad Rep Firm ... Washington Post Wall Street Journal - FMQB

Social Media Weekend

Cision Launches Comprehensive, Enhanced Social Media Monitoring ... MarketWatch - Oct 24, 2008 The Cision Social Media Dashboard, a self-service, online portal that delivers real-time access to social media coverage, plus analysis and reporting tools ...

Study: Influencers are Alive and Well on Social Media Sites New York Times, United States - 21 hours ago By FREDERIC LARDINOIS, ReadWriteWeb The fact that 10% of users create 90% of user-generated content on any given social media site has become a standard ...

Social Media Expert Advises On How To 'Twitter For Business Success PR Web (press release), WA - 7 hours ago Twitter (www.twitter.com) is a social media site offering real-time short messaging service that transcends multiple networks and devices. ...

Forrester: Social Web Now Mainstream Adweek, NY - 22 hours ago The company's polling indicates 2008 has marked significant growth for social media, with a decided majority of users now taking part. ...FORR

Social Networking, Data Mining, Media and Privacy Media 3.0, NY - 17 hours ago He demonstrated not only how social media centered around a brand or organization can cultivate enthusiasm (and generally give an indicator of sentiment), ... A Social Media Marketing Primer ClickZ News B2B Marketers Still Hesitant to Get Social Destination CRM Forrester finds b-to-b marketers sticking with tried-and-true ... BtoB Magazine all 4 news articles »  FORR

Social Media Gains Momentum - Writers Gain Visitors And ... PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria - Oct 24, 2008 2008-10-24 14:06:49 - Keeping the social media spark alive after hours takes energy, talent... and a creative writing boost from programs like ThoughtOffice ...

Linkbaiting is dead: Why social media needs to kill the FUD ZDNet - Oct 23, 2008 Nor is Twitter, nor blogging nor IM nor public relations, nor any other service or social mediatrend that has been blindly pushed to an early grave by ... Digital Web Business News: Weekly Report - Oct. 23, 2008 ZDNet all 2 news articles »

Visible Technologies Recognized as Top 100 Fastest Growing Private ... MarketWatch - 20 hours ago The company's Software as a Service (SaaS) TruCast(R) 2.0 platform for social mediamonitoring and engagement platform was launched in May 2008. ...

Social Media Cafe venue selected Manchester Evening News Blog, UK - 2 hours ago The venue for the city's first ever Social Media Cafe event has been decided - it's The Northern at 56 Tib Street, Manchester, M4 1LW. Tel: 0161 835 2548. ...

Social media and enterprise IT demand gen — a wrong fit? ZDNet - Oct 22, 2008 While our PR fundamentals discussion was compelling, it momentarily branched into something that I feel is a bigger issue — how social media relates to ... Marketing via social networks a no-no? BizReport

Blog Weekend

Bleacher Report

JAMIE SAMUELSEN'S BLOG Wolverines must get defensive or MSU will ... Detroit Free Press, United States - 7 hours ago By JAMIE SAMUELSEN • FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER • October 24, 2008 Jamie Samuelsen can be heard on the morning show on WRIF-FM (101.1) and blogs for ... Live blog: Michigan State at Michigan MLive.com JAMIE SAMUELSEN'S BLOG Won-loss records don't detract from UM-MSU ...Detroit Free Press SHANNON SHELTON'S BLOG Dantonio won't take solace in Wolverines ...Detroit Free Press Detroit Free Press

Blog Bits: Socialism label; Obama, speak out Kansas City Star, MO - 12 hours ago Is a change of tax rates a socialist proposal to share the wealth? Is the creation of a tax credit for low earners an extreme form of socialism? ... Video: Eye To Eye: Obama And McCain CBS YM Blog-a-Thon: Why I'm Voting for Obama New America Media Negative GOP “Robocalls” Distress Many Ellsworth American Globe and Mail - Bangor Daily News

The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC, Dan Barkin column: TV blog helps ... Trading Markets (press release), CA - 3 hours ago I have found their blog a great way to at least pretend I know what's going on. Our bloggers got together after the departure of Danny Hooley, our TV writer ...DIS - OTC:CMTX

HELENE ST. JAMES' BLOG Ex-Wing Schneider calls Detroit one of best ... Detroit Free Press, United States - 14 hours ago BY HELENE ST. JAMES • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • October 24, 2008 Tonight's Red Wings game against the Thrashers brings a selection of former Wings, ...

BBC News

US presidential election blog: Joe Biden was right, but that does ... Sofia Echo, Bulgaria - 21 hours ago The John McCain-Sarah Palin campaign is running attack ads against Barack Obama on the basis of Joe Biden’s prediction that there could be a “generated ... Video: Obama On The Defensive CBS Information about candidates lacks substance Statesman Journal Joe the plummer? Toronto Star Canada Free Press - Business Media Institute

JAMIE SAMUELSEN'S BLOG Millen may have had a hand in leaking Farve ... Detroit Free Press, United States - 21 hours ago By JAMIE SAMUELSEN • FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER • October 24, 2008 Jamie Samuelsen can be heard on the morning show on WRIF-FM (101.1) and blogs for ...

HELENE ST. JAMES' BLOG Lilja practices, likely for Monday's game Detroit Free Press, United States - 22 hours ago BY HELENE ST. JAMES • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • October 24, 2008 Update from Joe Louis Arena and Red Wings practice today: Andreas Lilja skated today but ...

Sydney Morning Herald

JOHN LOWE'S BLOG On biggest stage, Phillies aren’t always a hit show Detroit Free Press, United States - 23 hours ago By JOHN LOWE • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • October 24, 2008 Thursday night was the 15th anniversary of the homer by Toronto’s Joe Carter that abruptly ended ... Phillies still confident they can win World Series Philadelphia Daily News

CNET News

Manage WordPress blog comments in AIR CNET News, CA - 15 hours ago If you're keen on moderating blog comments in near real time and would prefer to do so without a browser window open, you should check out Moderator. ...

Weekend blog: When a bath is more than just water Sofia Echo, Bulgaria - 6 hours ago The Sofia central baths have been a source of fascination since I first saw them three-and-a-half (already) years ago. Were they barricaded at that point? ...

Don’t Be Evil? Google Uses Shady Ad Tactics To Edge Out Competitor

Ed: The network advantage.

Don’t Be Evil? Google Uses Shady Ad Tactics To Edge Out Competitor

from TechCrunch by Jason Kincaid

Two weeks ago we wrote about Yamli, a powerful transliteration engine that allows users to use their Latin keyboards to type in Arabic text. The service has gotten rave reviews (see the comments), and serves a very large audience that has largely been neglected.

Now we’ve gotten word that Google has launched its own competing service, and is using a dubious advertising scheme to get the word out. Running searches for “Yamli” or “Yamli.com” on any of Google’s Arabic portals (like Google.ae) will prominently display ads for Google’s competing service alongside the search results.

Google’s AdWords policy is to only ban names trademarked outside of the United States, The UK, and Canada from being used as ad keywords. I contacted Yamli’s CEO, who says that his trademark is filed in the United States (though he has plans to apply for one elsewhere), so it sounds like Google isn’t directly violating its own policies. But the practice is undeniably shady. And searches for other competitive sites don’t return results for Google products (for example, a search for “Wikipedia” doesn’t return an ad for Google Knol).

Google has long been criticized for using its own AdWords advertising service to promote its own products (other search engines do the same, and have fallen under similar scrutiny). Google may not technically be breaking any of its own policies with these Yamli ads, but it’s ignoring its oft-spoken mantra: “Don’t Be Evil”.

Update: Google has removed the ad.

Ed: Too many companies track users, profiles, social graphs of friends and interests, and behavior to send targeted ads. This threatens privacy.

tEarn focuses on the social graph of the publication. Thus we define a unique model for targeting that does not threaten the privacy of the user. 

ADVERTISING

A Push to Limit the Tracking of Web Surfers’ Clicks

By LOUISE STORY

Published: March 20, 2008

AFTER reading about how Internet companies like Google, Microsoftand Yahoo collect information about people online and use it for targeted advertising, one New York assemblyman said there ought to be a law.

Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times

Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, the sponsor of a New York bill to limit how companies collect data on computer users.

Related

Bits: The Mother of All Privacy Battles (March 20, 2008)

Blogrunner: Reactions From Around the Web

So he drafted a bill, now gathering support in Albany, that would make it a crime — punishable by a fine to be determined — for certain Web companies to use personal information about consumers for advertising without their consent.

And because it would be extraordinarily difficult for the companies that collect such data to adhere to stricter rules for people in New York alone, these companies would probably have to adjust their rules everywhere, effectively turning the New York legislation into national law.

“Should these companies be able to sell or use what’s essentially private data without permission? The easy answer is absolutely not,” said the assemblyman who sponsored the bill, Richard L. Brodsky, a Democrat who has represented part of Westchester County since 1982.

Mr. Brodsky is not the only lawmaker with this idea. In Connecticut, the General Law Committee of the state assembly has introduced a bill that focuses on data collection rules for ad networks, the companies that serve ads on sites they do not own.

•

The New York bill, still a work in progress, is shaping up as much broader. Although it is likely to see some tinkering before it comes to a vote — which Mr. Brodsky hopes will happen this spring — it aims to force Web sites to give consumers obvious ways to opt out of advertising based on their browsing history and Web actions.

If it passed, computer users could request that companies like Google, Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft, which routinely keep track of searches and surfing conducted on their own properties, not follow them around. Users would also have to give explicit permission before these companies could link the anonymous searching and surfing data from around the Web to information like their name, address or phone number.

Because there is no federal legislation on these subjects, Mr. Brodsky’s bill — and, to a lesser extent, the one in Connecticut — could set interesting precedents.

“A law like this essentially takes some of the gold away from marketers,” said Joseph Turow, a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. “But it’s the right thing to do. Consumers have no idea how much information is being collected about them, and the advertising industry should have to deal with that.”

Web companies in the advertising business, which have spent the last few years busily courting advertising agencies to persuade them to shift their clients’ ad dollars to the Internet, are now lavishing their attention on Albany. In recent weeks, Microsoft and Yahoo have sent lobbyists to meet with Mr. Brodsky, and AOL, a unit of Time Warner, is planning a meeting. Unlike most Web companies, Microsoft favors legislation about online privacy and advertising practices and has lobbied federal lawmakers to establish regulations, said Michael Hintze, associate general counsel for Microsoft.

Microsoft asked Mr. Brodsky to broaden his bill to include all sorts of companies that serve ads around the Web, not just those that show ads based on users’ behavior. Such a change would create a bill that more clearly includes Microsoft’s chief competitor, Google.

Mr. Brodsky says he has asked the Web companies point-blank if they would support legislation similar to what he has proposed. Microsoft gave him a firm “yes,” but Yahoo, he said, seemed to be opposed to any sort of regulation. Yahoo declined to comment on its meeting with Mr. Brodsky.

Targeted advertising, the kind based on consumer data, is one reason that big brands likeCoca-Cola and General Motors have been shifting their ad budgets to the Web. The largest Web companies collect data about Web-surfing consumers hundreds of times a month and use the information to help clients show different ads to different people, based on their demographics and interests.

It is unclear how much consumer data is really needed for effective online advertising. The attitude among Web companies is that more is always better, but Mr. Brodsky said there might be a compromise position that enables many ad practices but enhances consumer protection.

“What we have with this new technology is a conflict between the economic model of the Internet and consumers’ reasonable expectations of privacy,” Mr. Brodsky said.

He has sponsored three recently passed laws that relate to Internet security, but the pending bill is his first involving online advertising. Mr. Brodsky said he became concerned with advertising practices last spring when privacy activists contacted him about Google’s plan to buy DoubleClick, a company that delivers ads to Web sites. That deal, now worth about $3.2 billion, drew antitrust scrutiny but has recently cleared all regulatory hurdles; it was one of many that have helped consolidate consumer data in the hands of a few Internet companies.

•

Not surprisingly, executives in the advertising industry say that concerns like Mr. Brodsky’s are unwarranted.

“There has really been no harm shown by behavioral targeting or third-party advertising, so this rush to regulate the Internet is really unnecessary,” said Mike Zaneis, vice president for public policy for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, an industry group that represents companies like Google and Yahoo.

Moreover, Mr. Zaneis said, the New York bill threatens to undercut the business model that supports the Web. “If you take the fuel out of this engine, you begin to see the free services and content dry up,” he said.

Another view is that the genie is already out of the bottle. Data collection by online ad companies is already widespread. Advertisers have come to expect Web companies to sell them ads based on copious consumer data, and it might be difficult to beat back that expectation.

Furthermore, some Web executives say the Internet is changing far too fast for lawmakers to keep up. “Taking a snapshot of what should be the standard today probably will not be a lasting and durable solution,” said J. Trevor Hughes, executive director of the Network Advertising Initiative, a group of online advertising networks that voluntarily produced and agreed to a set of privacy standards.

The Federal Trade Commission, which regulates advertising on the national level, has proposed voluntary privacy guidelines and is receiving comments about those rules until April 11. A spokeswoman for the commission declined to comment on the bills pending in New York and Connecticut.

Mr. Brodsky said he welcomed input about his bill and was working to modify it. “In the end, I don’t have a philosophical objection to targeting, if it’s done with permission,” he said. “But it is absolutely clear that people right now do not understand what they’re actually giving up.”

Presidential election brings blogs into the mainstream

Presidential election brings blogs into the mainstream

Blogs and independent news sites are booming according to comScore.inc, and this boom is being driven by the US Presidential election.

HuffingtonPost.com's unique visitors in September are up 474 percent from 792,000 a year earlier. Politico.com visitors are up 344 percent on last year.

It is not ony the well kown blogs that are thriving, with other political blogs seeing at least a doubling in their traffic figures, these sites includeDailyKos.com, Townhall.com, Newsbusters.org, TalkingPointsMemo.com, MichelleMalkin.com and RedState.com.

Andrew Lipsman, a senior analyst at comScore, said, "With each new election cycle, the Internet is playing a more significant role in shaping the stories of the day that are so crucial in formulating public opinion on issues and candidates." He went on to say, independent blogs "are really beginning to enter the mainstream public consciousness with this current election cycle."

Despite this success, the majority of Americans still go to the established media outlets for general news. Yahoo News drew 41.2 million unique visitors in September, MSNBC attracted 34.2 million, with CNN hitting 33.8 million.

Selected Stand-Alone* Political Blogs & News Sites

September 2008 vs. September 2007

Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore Media Metrix

 

Total Unique Visitors (000)

Sep-2007

Sep-2008

% Change

Total Internet : Total Audience

181,858

189,468

4

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

792

4,545

474

POLITICO.COM

532

2,362

344

DRUDGEREPORT.COM

1,215

2,059

70

REALCLEARPOLITICS.COM

192

1,129

489

FREEREPUBLIC.COM

1,022

987

-3

Capitol Advantage

794

959

21

DAILYKOS.COM

192

923

381

TOWNHALL.COM

407

884

117

NEWSBUSTERS.ORG

113

732

547

WORLDNETDAILY.COM

411

636

55

TALKINGPOINTSMEMO.COM

32

458

1,321

MICHELLEMALKIN.COM

103

247

140

REDSTATE.COM

38

235

514

CROOKSANDLIARS.COM

122

218

79

RAWSTORY.COM

219

212

-3

POLLSTER.COM

N/A

194

N/A

MEDIAMATTERS.ORG

145

178

23

FIVETHIRTYEIGHT.COM

N/A

169

N/A

CQPOLITICS.COM

N/A

139

N/A

AMERICABLOG.COM

N/A

104

N/A