Social Media Blog Posts

Marketing professionals are increasingly spending their budgets on interactive platforms such as viral marketing and social media, new research shows.

According to a recent survey carried out by the Online Marketing and Media Show (OMMS), marketers are no longer focusing their attention on traditional banner advertising but are spending more money on search, email and pay-per-click.

The study also revealed that over a third of all respondents plan to spend up to 25 per cent of their marketing budgets on online marketing and media this year – a 15 per cent increase from the predicted spend in 2007.

Some 75 per cent of marketers generate more accountable return on investment from their online marketing and media activity than with more traditional marketing tools, the findings also showed.

“As the industry starts seeing improved measurement tools in place for social media, marketers will begin experimenting and investing more online,” commented Sally Maltby, event director for OMMS.

MySpace received 73.8 per cent of the market share of US visits to social networks this month, according to figures from Hitwise.

Internet giant Yahoo! has filed a lawsuit against a group of email spammers for trying to con web users into believing they had won a lottery prize.

The phishing lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New under the Federal Trademark Act, the Federal CAN-SPAM Act and related state laws.

According to Yahoo!, email spammers "without permission or authorisation … wilfully masqueraded as Yahoo! and sent emails claiming that the recipient had won a lottery, prize or other award from Yahoo!".

The internet company noted that this kind of scam attempted to encourage unsuspecting customers into giving out personal information that could lead to them having money or their identity stolen.

Joe Siino, senior vice president of Yahoo! global IP and business strategy, said: "The unauthorised use of Yahoo!’s trademarks is misleading, fraudulent and has actually confused, misled and deceived the public."

He added that the company would enforce its intellectual property rights and would not put up with lottery hoax emails.

Meanwhile, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has issued enforcement notices to ten companies identified as being those used to register most domain names involved in spam emails; if a company does not comply with the notice, it could have its accreditation withdrawn.

A new rich media online strategy sees prime minister Gordon Brown ask the public to answer questions live on YouTube.

Prime minister’s questions – the half-hour session in which the prime minister takes questions from parliament – can now be viewed in web video form, from this week.

The prime minister has billed the initiative as a chance for the public to get involved in the Commons practice.

Mr Brown commented in an online clip: "I am here to answer your questions. Politicians get the chance in prime minister’s questions. I think it is time the public had a chance."

David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives, had earlier described Mr Brown as an "analogue leader in a digital age".

The premier spoke at Google’s conference in the UK this week, addressing the relationship between technology and access to education and health services.

Google has launched a new service that enables the online storage of medical records.

The legal status of internet downloads remains difficult to determine, one industry commentator has commented.

Speaking after an online music provider was sued by nine record labels for infringement of copyright, Ben Camm-Jones highlighted the hazy legal status of such services.

"Although precedents have been set, we’re still fairly unclear whether what they’re doing is wrong or not," he said.

Project Playlist is facing legal action from record companies including Interscope Records, Virgin Records America and Atlantic Recording.

Statistics revealed by NPD in January showed that 70 per cent of US nine to 14-year-olds downloaded music on the web, with 49 per cent using iTunes – the legal service from Apple – and 26 per cent using free feature LimeWire.

According to Mr Camm-Jones, a universal framework is needed in which the legality of music download provision can be assessed in a manner appropriate to the borderless nature of the web.

A study has revealed that almost half of employees in the UK are not worried about their bosses checking up on them via social networking sites, according to reports.

Zinc Research and Dufferin Research compiled the report as part of understanding modern attitudes to work and the internet.

When asked in the survey whether they felt wary about the content of the online profile, two out five even said they would consider showing them to their employers.

ClickAJob chief executive Yngve Traberg said that employers could use the technology to their advantage.

"On a social-networking site, it’s possible to get a fix on the actual teams themselves – the people, their backgrounds and the skills they can deploy," he said, according to online news source Onrec.

In related news, a recent survey by law firm Peninsula has found that seven out of ten employers now ban employees from using social networking sites during company time.

Many businesses believe the use of these websites during company hours could lead to reduced employee efficiency.