The Facebook Sponsored Stories Lawsuit & Why It's a Big Deal
Quoting here from InsideFacebook:
Facebook today settled a proposed class action lawsuit that contested how the site uses names and images of users in its Sponsored Stories ad product.
The plaintiffs of Fraley et al v. Facebook, Inc. asserted that the social network’s new ad type turns users into spokespeople, and thus entitles them to compensation under California law. The company did not share terms of the settlement in court documents and representatives did not offer comment on the case. Had Facebook not settled, it might have risked what it sees as a major component of its future advertising business.
What's this lawsuit about, anyways? Well, California has a Right of Publicity statute that explicitly forbids a company from using any other person's name or likeness for advertising purposes without clear consent from the person being used. Facebook thought it was immune to this statute as a result of an exemption for topics that are considered newsworthy. Obviously, that argument didn't work.
Sponsored stories have been around for nearly a year and a half now - they debuted in early 2011 - and many advertisers feel they are cheaper and have better CTR thank traditional Facebook ads. Last year, TBG Digital revealed that a test consisting of 2 billion impressions found that Sponsored Stories received a 46% better CTR than traditional Facebook ads. Coupled with a 20% lower CPC, you can see why Sponsored Stories are a big deal. You'll find more on the original TBG Digital study here.
Now that Facebook is a public company, one can only expect greater scrutiny towards the world's largest social network. I think it's well-deserved, but lawyers should draw the line between breaches of the law (like this one) and simply going after the biggest target simply because it's easier to hit.
Related articles
- Facebook to settle class-action suit over Sponsored Stories (macworld.com)
- Facebook settles 'sponsored stories' lawsuit (news.cnet.com)
My Clickfire Media Mobile Panel Today
Today I'll be part of a panel by Click3X & Clickfire Media for Internet Week NY titled "Sweet Mobile Idea: How do you build it to fit your audience strategy?" Clickable thumb with more details below.
If you're interested in live-streaming the event, you can click on this link at 1pm today: http://clickfiremedia.com/iwnymobile/
4 Points About Crediting Pins on Pinterest
When you're thinking about Pinterest etiquette, there are a lot of intricacies. However, the best place to start is to follow this simply adage: give credit when credit is due!
Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
Just as I wouldn't steal pictures from Google Images to use on a blog post of mine -- I would instead buy stock photography and/or give proper attribution - I would hope that a Pinterest user would be sure to note where the original image came from.
Give credit. It's free.
Before pinning something, make sure you are giving credit to the original source! A quick Google search will help you ensure you're giving credit to the person who originally developed the content, not just the person who helped you find it.
Just because you can pin it, doesn't mean you should.
It is unacceptable for users to Pin without giving credit or linking back to the source. There are, of course, other sources that you should never pin from, including confidential or highly proprietary information. As a rule, if pinning someone's content has a near 0% chance of getting the original content developer any residual traffic, do not pin it. For example, awhile back, I saw someone pin another user's Slideshare presentation, slide by slide. As a result, the original content developer basically was ensured that no one would ever go to the original slideshare presentation to get additional information.
Effort's more important than style.
Don't worry about the exact format of how credit is given - just make sure you make an effort! If someone has enriched your life by providing great content, take the 10-15 seconds to run a quick Google search to link back to their Twitter ID, blog url, and so forth. It's a great way to encourage they keep providing great content for you to pin!
Let me know if you agree with my thoughts above. Plus, what are your biggest Pinterest etiquette suggestions? I'd love to hear via Twitter or Facebook.
Here's Why I Use Toodledo for Task Management
Recently, I become somewhat bummed out over my lack of productivity. I don't think I was unproductive per se; I just knew I could be more productive if I got better organized with respect to my tasks. I started looking for an easy to use app that works well with my iPad & iPhone and also had a strong browser-based interfaced as well, in order to keep track of all of my work (and home) tasks. I'm happy to say, I just found a pretty great one in Toodledo.
- Ability to set up tasks & organize into different folders (i.e. home, work, etc.)
- Reminders when a task due date is approaching by SMS, email, or Twitter
- Collaborate with others - i.e. share your list/see others' lists
- Set up notes which can be auto-synced to your iOS device
- Share accomplishments on your social channels & assign yourself new tasks via Twitter
- Get statistics as to how you're working & managing tasks
- Scheduler: When you're feeling indecisive, all you need to do is specify how much time you have available to work and the app will recommend what to do.
Twitter Needs to Compete with Facebook's Open Graph. Here's Why:
This just in from InsideFacebook:
Twitter already has an official Facebook integration that lets users post tweets to their profiles and friends’ News Feeds. It does not share retweets or @replies. An Open Graph app could leverage Ticker, allowing retweets and replies to appear in the lightweight feed and other tweets to show in News Feed. This would be similar to how Spotify publishes individual song listens to Ticker but puts stories about users listening to artists, albums and playlists in News Feed.
The Inside Facebook goes on to discuss how integrating with the Open Graph would allow tweets to have a dedicated section of timeline's designated for them. Check out Twittus, an unofficial app that does this already.
I don't disagree with Brittany Darwell's approach per se. However, I have another point of view: why would Twitter cede the "open graph" space across the entire Internet to Facebook? Why not directly compete with Facebook's Open Graph in some way? While Twitter doesn't have the ability to directly compete with Facebook purely on its merits and capabilities, plenty of large Web players would back Twitter if it could provide a Facebook alternative for carrying one's social identity across the Internet.
Many people love the adage "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." If I was Twitter, my motto would be "if you can't beat 'em , beat 'em anyway."
Why Google+ Hangouts Office Hours are a Great Idea
Google has started to host office hours in Google+ hangouts, making it incredibly easy to meet with folks on the Google Webmaster Central team. I'll test this shortly, but my first thoughts are that this is a great way to get webmaster-centric questions answered and provide feedback to Google staffers about how the company is doing.
These office hours will be held a few times weekly and announced a few days ahead of time. Each session will typically last an hour, and will cover any topics related to Google search, such as developing sitemaps, Google Webmaster Tools, dealing with duplicate content, and more. You just need, you guessed it, a Google+ account to play. A webcam and headset will help too, obviously.
Here are some of Google's next Office Hours:
- Thursday, 15 March, at 10am Zürich time, English office hours with John
- Thursday, 15 March, at 2pm Seattle time, English office hours with Jonathan
- Friday, 16 March, at 2pm Zürich time, German office hours with John
- Friday, 23 March, at 2pm Zürich time, German office hours with John
You can find the rest of the Office Hours listed here.
Thanks to Lee Odden, my Google+ chum, for helping me to notice this. Ultimately, I think this is a great example of Google leveraging Hangouts in a positive way. After all, the big G isn't known for support and most people don't think there are enough reasons to use Google+ Hangouts; this essentially kills two birds with one stone. And isn't that what business should be about?
Why Steve Jobs wouldn't have launched "New iPad" this way
As you know unless you live under a rock (and it would have to be a particularly heavy rock), Apple announced the "New iPad" yesterday. I'm not saying this won't be a big success; after all, inertia is such a tremendous factor, and Apple certainly has enough to make "New iPad" a runaway success. I just don't know if it's something Steve Jobs would have done.
Steve Jobs did lend more than a fair share of intrigue to all of his product launches, particularly the more recent ones. However, Jobs did one thing well that didn't happen yesterday: he didn't distract from the product launch itself. When I look at news stories today, while many of them are talking about the "New iPad" features, many are also talking about why the naming convention was a bit odd, which isn't the conversation that increases initials sales of the new device. Why isn't it iPad 3? Or iPad HD? Would a name like that have proved less of a distraction? I'm pretty sure those names would have allowed the social media chatter to be focused on the technical specs as opposed to the name.
If you're going to launch a new edition of an existing product, don't you want 100% of the conversation to be about why you need the new edition, as opposed to 80% about the new technical specs and 20% about why the new name is a bit odd?
Come Join Me at Prestashop's 3/20 Barcamp Event!
In case we haven't spoken recently, you might have missed the chatter about Presto Changeo. My good friend Abe Shaw, VP Marketing at Presto-Changeo (the leading provider of Prestashop modules/add-ons and website dev provider), is helping organize Prestashop's is holding their Barcamp event here in NYC on March 20th. I'd love it if you could come, hang out, meet me, yada yada.
If you don't know about Prestashop yet, you should absolutely come and learn about the platform. It's like Magento, but plenty of pros like it more. It's an open-source, free e-commerce solution founded out of Paris & has offices in Miami too. The underlying technology has a strong undermining, based on the Smarty template engine, and is currently used by 100K+ ecommerce sites worldwide. PrestaShop was named the Best Open Source E-Commerce Application in the Packt 2010 Open Source Awards and the Best Open Source Business Application in the 2011 Open Source Awards.
Get all the details here: http://barcamp.prestashop.com/
In addition to everything Prestashop has planned (some great keynotes speakers, workshops, and of course, cocktails), Presto-Changeo will be holding "360 Degree Social Media Integration" workshops throughout the day.
Hope to see you there, and please pass this note along to anyone interested! I'd love to meet you guys there.
Retweet-worthy: @jeremarketer News Roundup for 2/21/12
I'm trying something new, in that every day I'll share my Twitter links that get retweeted (RTed) the most the previous day. In case you're not following me yet, I tweet as @jeremarketer.
Here's what you need to know:
Google TV adding Siri-like voice controls: A Google patent unearthed by Patently Apple finds that Google will be adding voice controls to their upcoming TV offering. Thanks to Rue Liu of Slashgear for the writeup.
9 Hot Tips for Small Business Marketing on Facebook: Really helpful post from Mashable which originally appeared on the Amex OPEN forum. By Christine Erickson. If you're a small business, there's a pretty good chance you're not doing all of these!
Sorry, Pinterest Users: Websites Can Now Block Pinning [VIDEO]: A nice piece by Joann Pan on Mashable about how Pinterest is catching up in regards to what it will need to do to avoid backlash as it grows. For one, Pinterest etiquette is becoming more normalized, with proper procedures for one to cite his or her pins. For those of you who don’t know, Pinterest follows the Digital Millenmium Copyright Act, and is currently removing any images that someone claims is violate copyright laws. It will be interesting to see how Pinterest deals with the copyright backlash as the service grows.
Why Veterans Are a Good Fit for Tech Jobs [INFOGRAPHIC]: Good infographic courtesy of Payscale. If you’re in tech and in hiring, pay attention to the bottom part of the image in particular!
Gmail gets stricter about keeping children out: I liked this Indian Express piece in that it touches on something I think is a tremendous business opportunity on the Internet: children. If there is a way for a business to do a good job of marketing to parents and provide parent-gated services like email to the younger crowd, there will be a tremendous market. Provided, of course, there are strong parental controls. I just don’t think it’s reasonable anymore to say that children under 13 have to be 100% unexposed to the Internet; it just has to be done in the right way.
Data Primer: Nathan Yau: If you’re into data visualization, hopefully you’re reading the FlowingData blog! If not, take a look, we’ll wait. Nathan Yau is the PhD candidate in stats who is behind FlowingData, and Matt Carmichael of AdAge sat down with him for this great Q&A. Definitely worth a look if you’re into data visualization half as much as I am.
Want to discuss this post, or any of the articles contained in this post? Shoot me a message to my @jeremarketer account and I'd love to discuss. Happy reading!
Publishers And Agents List
http://publishersandagents.com/com
Just found this on Diigo. Not a bad way to start your research if you're looking for publishers and agents for your work.