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Power to the People! Netflix Scraps Qwikster

posted on October 10, 2011

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is one of those guys that lives a high profile business existence. He’s the CEO and chief promoter of Netflix, he is on the board of Facebok and more. You would think it might be lonely at the top like you hear. What he has experienced recently shows, however, is that there is plenty of room at the top these days for people to push and shove to try to knock someone down a few notches. Hastings knows.

The great “Price Change Debacle” of the past few months has tarnished the once stellar reputation of the content distribution player and today is the final mea culpa of a person that, at one time, seemed to be able to do no wrong with his business.

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Tis the Season to be Mobile?

posted on October 10, 2011

A great gauge of just how deeply anything is being adopted in the Internet space is how much it is used during the holiday buying season. We come into this year’s holiday season with enough concern and trepidation due to the current economic status of just about everyone on the planet but as Internet marketers we have to overlook these things and see if something is working despite these concerns.

We have been ushering in the year of mobile for at least the last half decade but it’s finally safe to say that the mobile age is truly upon us. eMarketer reference a survey performed by PayPal and Ipsos to see what percentage of people may use mobile devices (phones and tablets) to purchase this year

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Inbound Marketers Win With Respect

posted on October 8, 2011

In marketing, practitioners are tasked with taking a company’s message (usually in the form of a product) and putting it in front of the right people (their defined target market) in the right place (where they may be more likely to buy), at the right time (when they are ready to buy) so the target prospect has the best chance to become a lead which grows up to be a paying customer.

That’s how it has been done for quite some time. It’s marketing’s equivalent of a fishing expedition done without the aid of radar. In other words, you go where you think the fish are, drop your line or nets and hope for the best. Often you come up empty but sometimes you catch a few. Do this enough times and you might make a living. Might.

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Facebook’s New Partner Warns of Danger, Danger!

posted on October 7, 2011

Facebook has partnered with Websense in order to make the web safer for you and yours. The new protocol is designed to scan every clicked link inside Facebook’s walls, automatically returning only those that are deemed safe.

If a link is suspicious, the clicker will get a warning page advising them not to go on. The pop-up does offer an “I don’t care” option, so you can continue anyway, but Facebook warns that you’ll be doing so at your own risk.

Keeping users safe from malware seems like a generous thing to do, but surprisingly (or not) the comments surrounding the announcement have been mostly negative. They include such sentiments as:”So, if a site’s now getting security warning’s on Facebook clickthroughs for no apparent reason, you’re to blame?” Along with cries of censorship.

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Online Coupon Users Spend More to Save More

posted on October 7, 2011

Couponers are often viewed as cheapskates who ration toilet paper squares and dumpster dive for savings. But the reality is, couponers actually spend more money than the average web shopper and WhaleShark Media has the numbers to back it up.

According to a recently published survey, conducted by Forrester Research, active couponers (those who redeemed more than 6 coupons in the past 12 months) spent more than $800 per year online than light users.

The study also showed that coupon usage is on the rise which means more sales for businesses and more savings for customers.

In addition to higher sales totals, coupon users are also more flexible than your average customer. They’re willing to try new items and switch brands if they can get a deal. A full 60% said they’re reconsider a product they decided not to buy, if they were offered a coupon for the item. That means a reduction in shopping cart abandonment.

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72% of Antitrust Lawyers Do Not Feel That Google Hurts Competition

posted on October 7, 2011

While this is an admittedly small sample size and may not be representative of antitrust lawyers on a more widespread basis, a poll taken at an American Bar Association event at Stanford University reveals that nearly 3/4 of the antitrust lawyers present didn’t feel that Google was hurting competition.

The event was a debate and polling before the debate had attendees of the debate set at 61% not feeling that Google has hurt competition.

Those on the other side of the debate? Before it got underway 19% felt that Google was hurting competition and that number lowered slightly to 17% following the exchange.

So what’s this prove? Well, nothing really. Since this group of lawyers is more likely to be from the Silicon Valley region there could be more bias toward protecting one of the biggest players not only in the region but the entire planet.

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What’s Not To Like With Brands On Facebook? Plenty

posted on October 7, 2011

As Facebook evolves it continues to ride the fine line of telling users that what is being developed (Timeline, Ticker etc) is for their benefit while creating a more effective advertising vehicle to get to Facebook’s real end game: cash. I appreciate all the “world changing” rhetoric that comes from Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, but whenever I hear that I go back to his true feelings about people who hand over information to him.

The trick is for brands to take this sharing mentality and do much the same as Facebook. Get people to “like” them on Facebook so they can get to their end game: cash. Apparently though there is a significant number of people who are staying on the sidelines when it comes to brands and Facebook. eMarketer shared some data from ExactTarget showing these hurdles.