:: Future of Journalism

Will Larson: People like chicken nuggets & other things we learned from Facebook

Digg.com :: January was a good month for Digg with an increase in page views by 35% (our highest level since October of 2010) and Facebook referral traffic up by 67%. It also marked the first month for Digg Social Reader, our Facebook Timeline App. But increased engagement has only been half of the benefit. The greatest learning has been a better understanding of the type of news stories that people add to their Timeline and why.

Continue to read Will Larson, about.digg.com

Google changing the way it thinks about design?

Gizmodo :: Kevin Fox is one of the foremost user experience designers working today. He’s been a key figure at companies like Facebook, FriendFeed, Mozilla, and Yahoo. More to the point, Fox was a senior user experience design lead at Google, where he was responsible for some of its biggest properties, like Gmail, Calendar, and Google Reader. Which is why his analysis of Google’s seemingly new approach to user experience design, posted by Fox on his Google+ page, caught our eye. Although Fox originally intended this post for a smaller audience, we thought it deserved a wider one, and received his permission to repost it in its entirety.

Continue to read Kevin Fox, www.gizmodo.com.au

Which companies will rule Facebook's mobile ads? 6 winners and 6 losers

Business Insider :: Now that Facebook's launch of Timeline for brands is imminent (and its ads for Facebook's mobile apps are right behind that) it's time to consider which brands are likely to do well in the new mobile environment and which might as well not bother. NewMediaMetrics, a New York-based brand strategy firm, believes it already knows which brands will have a built-in mobile advantage, and which won't. Each year, the company surveys 3,500 consumers aged 13 –54 to gauge their "emotional attachment" to 330 brands and more than 350 media properties.

Continue to read Jim Edwards, www.businessinsider.com

Facebook, YouTube and Twitter data guide investment decisions: "How tweet it is"

Wall Street Journal :: Some investors think they have found a way to profit from the most ephemeral of data sources: the Twitterverse. More than a dozen hedge funds and high-frequency traders now make trades guided, in part, by data from social-media sources, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, according to Gnip, a Boulder, Colo.-based company that provides social-media data to the funds. Topsy Labs, a social-media analytics firm in San Francisco, released a white paper in January that claimed to show how its analysis of tweets would have predicted moves in the price of Netflix stock last fall.

Continue to read Joe Light, online.wsj.com

Facebook behind budget on Q1 ad revenue

Venture Beat :: The introduction of upgraded ad formats, according to one prominent financial analyst, is a last-ditch effort on Facebook’s part to meet advertising revenue budget goals for the first quarter of the year. “We’ve confirmed with sources close to the company that Facebook is indeed behind its projections for ad revenue for the first quarter,” financial data company PrivCo CEO Sam Hamadeh told VentureBeat. “It certainly doesn’t look good for Facebook frankly.”

Continue to read Jennifer Van Grove, venturebeat.com

Facebook recipient of seven in ten of all US social networking ad dollars

Facebook vacuums the U.S. social networks advertising market, not to forget that, what the social network absorbs is missing elsewhere.

emarketer :: Worldwide social network ad revenues are still going strong and set to grow nearly 50% this year, according to eMarketer estimates. eMarketer forecasts advertisers will spend $7.72 billion on social network advertising this year, including paid advertising on social sites and in social games and applications. Facebook is the recipient of most of these social network ad revenues, taking in around seven in 10 of all US social networking ad dollars.

Continue to read www.emarketer.com

Wall Street Journal’s Facebook pages target of ‘comment flashmob’

Wall Street Journal :: A number of Facebook pages run by The Wall Street Journal were the target of an apparent spam attack by a group claiming links to the online hacking group Anonymous. The Anonymous Kollektiv, which appears to be based in Germany, called for a “comment flashmob” on The Journal at 3:15 p.m. local time. “ATTENTION PLEASE! 3.15 p.m. – Comment flashmob on the site of the WSJ! We hope for active participation,” the group wrote on its Facebook page.

Continue to read blogs.wsj.com

Facebook, Google look to expand offices in Dublin

Washington Post :: When Bill Clinton told American executives that they’d be “nuts” not to invest in Ireland, many were already ahead of the former president. U.S. companies were behind almost 40% of offices bought or leased in Dublin in 2011 and the trend is likely to accelerate this year. Internet companies including Google Inc. and Yelp Inc. are looking for additional space in the Irish capital.

Continue to read Neil Callanan, www.washingtonpost.com

English High Court, UK: Legal claims can be served via Facebook

"Legal claims can now be served via Facebook in Britain, after a landmark ruling in the English High Court," writes Katherine Rushton, The Telegraph, UK.

Telegraph :: Mr Justice Teare gave the go-ahead for the social networking site to be used in a commercial case where there were difficulties locating one of the parties. Facebook is routinely used to serve claims in Australia and New Zealand, and has been used a handful of times in Britain. However, this is the first time it has been approved at such a high level.

Continue to read Katherine Rushton, www.telegraph.co.uk

Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon compete in India over mobile, social networks, e-commerce

FastCompany :: Google's getting into hardware to take on Apple. And Apple could be planning a smaller iPad, to edge out Amazon's Kindle Fire. Facebook filed a whopping big S-1 for an IPO this year, while Amazon pondered a retail store. It's clear the Great Tech War of 2012 is going strong, and India is one of the most desirable regions in the skirmish. Let's take a look at the latest developments.

Continue to read Nidhi Subbaraman, www.fastcompany.com