Wikipedia Takes Over Monmouth with QR Codes

January, 2012

Wikipedia has chosen Monmouth, Britain as its first attempt at using QR codes to provide awareness about a city. Wikipedia has placed QR codes around the town to allow locals the ability to write articles about what the city has to offer. They call this QRpedia, which was unveiled in April 2011. These codes are currently placed around the world in museums and other institutions to mobilize information for individuals that are seeking to learn more. To learn more about this endeavor please visit Mobile Marketer.

NASA Invites Followers to Mars Rover Launch

September, 2011

NASA is planning to invite 150 of its Twitter followers, @NASA, to the launch of the Curiosity Mars Rover. In addition to having a front row seat for the Kennedy Space Center launch in Florida, invitees will also be able to tour the facility and meet NASA staff members. For more information, please see @NASA Launch.

Intuit Launches Quickbooks for Android

July, 2011

Intuit has launched a QuickBooks Mobile app for Android. This is the same company that created QuickBooks accounting software, which gives you access to customer and sales info, as well as customer balances, the ability to create estimates on the fly and on-site invoicing. This software has been available to iOS users for a short while, but now Android fans can enjoy the same amateur accounting. For more information, please see QuickBooks Mobile.

Ad.ly Launches Social Analytics Platform

July, 2011

Ad.ly, the company that “links up advertisers with influencers and celebs and then distribute links to marketing campaigns through the celeb’s Tweet streams”, is now launching an analytics dashboard. The dashboard will give users audience demographics and reveal who their top followers, mentioners and retweeters are. For more information, please see Ad.ly Analytics.

OpinionLab Launches QR Product Research App

June 2011

OpinionLab, a feedback-management company, has developed software that enables smartphone-toting shoppers to interact with brands remotely. Using QR codes on their products, companies can now gain customer feedback without spending $100,000 on a wave of focus groups that span across the country. “The most successful companies in the future, I believe, will be those who become progressively more and more customer-driven,” said OpinionLab Chief Executive Rand Nickerson. For the full article visit Power of Tech.

SETI Gamifies Search for Alien Life

May, 2011

The Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence group (SETI) has announced a contest for social gamers to gamify the tedious process of sifting through data for clues that might lead to finding extra terrestrials somewhere in the universe.  SETI needs outside help to look through the large amounts of data they have amassed from their satellites.  The data requires people to manually flip through waterfall plots of signals and identify any anomalies that computers might have missed or not have recognized. SETI looks to engage the social gaming community to take on this tedious task in a game that will provide them with “enough entertainment value to get people hooked.” The initial contest is being hosted on Gamify’s website where users can submit ideas for the best way to “gamify SETI”.  Users can submit up to 3 ideas and the winner will be made into an actual game to help SETI sort through their data.  Gamify and SETI are hoping to engage people in the same way that social games such as SCVNGR and Foursquare have.  For more information see Mashable or see the Gamify/SETI contest page here.

49% Of Mobile Consumers Made Mobile Purchase

March, 2011

A new study by ROI Research found that 49% of mobile web users had made a mobile purchase over the past six months. 77% of the users also noted using mobile search more than five times during a monthly period, and 30% of these users have clicked a sponsored search. Other notable statistics include 84% of users searching for local retailer information (hours, locations, etc.) and 68% of users search for the best prices via mobile. Visit InternetRetailer.com for more information.

“Likes” More Profitable Than Tweets

March, 2011

Eventbrite’s study indicates that Facebook “Likes” are more profitable than Tweets. Using in-house social analytics tools, the company tracked ticket sales on their site. In the past six months, an average tweet about an event drove 80 cents  in ticket sales, while a Facebook like drove $1.34.  Only a small percent of their site visitors shared event pages on either site, but for those who did Facebook showed a definitive higher return. According to Eventbrite’s director of marketing-a former Forrester Research senior analyst, their findings apply broadly to all e-commerce businesses. Individual Facebook activity was 4 times greater then Twitter for Eventbrite cumulatively, which may also be attributed to Facebook’s wider reach.

Google Revises Search Engine

February, 2011 To reduce the amount of low-quality pages that appear in web searches, Google is revamping its search methods to increase the amount of relevant and quality results.  According to the New York Times, “Google said the change would raise the rankings of high-quality Web sites and reduce those of lesser sites, affecting 12 percent of search queries.”  Google hopes that the change will set it apart from other search engines providing users with this new benefit.  To read further, click this link <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/technology/internet/26google.html?_r=1&ref=business>

149 Million Facebook Users in the U.S.

February, 2011

Facebook now has 149 million users in the U.S. alone, with roughly 70% of these users logging in daily, reported Sarah Personette, Facebook’s head of U.S. agency relations. At an Ogilvy and Buddy Media event, she shared that in addition to the new U.S. numbers, there are approximately 29 million users in the U.K., 22 million in France, and 19 million in Canada. Roughly 50% of all Facebook users across the globe log-in to the site at least once a day.

Ethical Shopping App

February 2011

“The Good Shopping Guide” is a new mobile app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad by the Ethical Company Organization lets consumers make real-time comparisons of a company’s ethical behavior. With research on over 700 brands and 72 product categories, consumers can see how a company compares to others in terms of the environment, animal welfare, and human rights. They can also see a quick summary chart using the Ethical Company Index of the best performers in each product category.  The transparency provided means shoppers can now make purchase decisions based on the ethical (or not) decisions of a corporation

Android is Gaining on iOS Market Share

January, 2011

Nielsen recently reported data from a smartphone market share study conducted in Novemeber 2010 that shows Android beginning to catch up to the iPhone. While iPhone is retaining it’s top position in overall U.S. smartphone market share, the Android platform came close with 25.8% of the share. These numbers are up for Android by 6% from another Nielsen survey conducted October 2010. The survey also examined purchase of smartphones in the last six months and found Android based phones to be on top, making up almost 40% of purchases in the U.S.

eBay Studies Events Effect On Mobile Shopping

January, 2011

eBay released a study sharing the effect of world events on mobile shopping. The online marketplace found an increase in the purchase of sports memorabilia in Canada during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, as well as an increase in German sports shopping during the 2010 World Cup. Increases in spending leading up to holidays include an increase in video game purchases during the week before Valentines day, and an increase of 134% in mobile sales from November to December of 2010. For more information regarding this study, please visit Mashable.com.

Marketers Use Apps For Behavioral Data

December, 2010

Marketers are tracking smartphone users’ actions and identities via mobile app usage. Apps collect user data then send the information to marketers to help them analyze consumer behavior. In an interactive chart provided by the WSJ, marketers can review the behavior of app users.

8% of all US Internet users on Twitter

December 17, 2010

Twitter users account for 8% of all internet users in the United States reports the Pew Research Center in a recent report.  The report also showed that women were slightly more likely to use Twitter than men.  Young adult internet users (ages 18-29), with 14% of the group using Twitter, are significantly more likely to use the site than all other demographics.  Minority internet users, specifically African-American’s and Latinos, were more than twice as likely as white internet users to use Twitter.  The most commonly reported profile updates posted were related to personal life, activities, interests, and work life.  The report shows the expanding influence of social media sites online and the potential growth in the future.  In 2008 only 6% of internet users reports using any type of social media service (twitter, Facebook, MySpace etc) to share updates about themselves online.  This number increased to 24% in 2010. For the full report, see the Pew Research Center.

STUDY: Time Spent on Internet/TV Equal

December, 2010

A new study by Forrester found that internet usage has equaled TV usage during the past year. People spend an average of 13 hours a week on the internet and watching TV. Forrester noted that despite the internet’s increase in usage, TV usage has been the same for the past five years. In addition, the study found that roughly one-third of the internet usage was for work purposes.

Mobi-Sites Increase Brand Engagement By 85%

November, 2010

A Brand Anywhere and Luth Research, Inc. study found that retailers who featured mobi-specific websites saw an 85% increase in consumer engagement. In addition, 51% of consumers who participated in the study said they would be more likely to purchase from a brand who offered a mobi-site in addition to their website. Dan Flanagan, managing partner at Brand Anywhere, San Diego, CA, said, “We think the key finding is that retailers have an amazing opportunity to engage consumers on the mobile Web, and to date very few are taking advantage of it.”

Nearly 30% of Adult Mobile Users Use Apps

September, 2010

A Pew Internet Project study found that nearly 30% of adults use mobile apps. The study also found that over half of those who  had downloaded an app said to have done so within the last month, and one-third of those respondents had in the last week. Apps most typically used by adults include gaming apps (60%),  news/weather (52%), maps and navigation (51%) and social networking (47%). Noticeably low were shopping apps at only 24%. The study also found social networking apps to be more popular with women, while men tended to use more financial and banking apps. More from the study can be found at Mashable.com.

Women Download Apps More Than Men

May, 2010

Women account for twice as much of all mobile downloads than men says a Mobile Marketer study. In April, women accounted for 4.5 million of all downloadable content while men only accounted for 2.2 million of the downloads. Women also prefer to use Blackberry devices over men’s choice in Android platforms. For more information on this study, please visit Mobile Marketer.

Half Mobile Internet Time on Social Networks

April, 2010 A recent study by Ground Truth reported that more than half the amount of time spent on mobile Internet is on Social Networks.  Falling behind Social Networks in time spent on mobile Internet are Portals, Operators, Messaging and Downloads.

Comscore/GSMA Launch Mobile Ad Metrics in UK

February, 2010

Comscore and GSMA have recently released the first metric standard for mobile advertising in the United Kingdom. The metrics will be gathered by collecting browsing rates of the major UK mobile carriers through opt-ins by a small group of mobile subscribers. Along with Comscore’s participation, the GSMA will also be working with the Mobile Marketing Association and Internet Advertising Bureau.

Facebook Most Popular Mobile Social Network

January, 2010

According to Opera’s State of the Mobile Web report, Facebook is the most popular social network on the mobile web. Seeing a growth of over 600%, Facebook outgrew the previous leader, VKontakte. On another note, Twitter grew the most with a 2800% increase in mobile usage from last year.

Airline Case Study: Higher CTR With Mobile Ads

January, 2010

Continental Airlines have found they had a higher Click Through Rate with their mobile ads as opposed to their mobile app advertisements. Ads placed on mobile websites earned 80% more airline ticket sales than their mobile application did. The case study, found here, also states that the ads had better results when placed at the top of the mobile site than near the bottom.

SMS Growing Among Older Generations

January, 2010 Research done by mobile solutions company Tekelec, shows that texting is becoming more and more popular among older adults. The research claims that 60% of 45 year-olds and older are as likely to text as to make phone calls on their mobile phones. The research also shows that texting is more popular among women than men. Marketing a brand’s mobile platform to a younger generation may miss out an entire population of mobile users.