Pinterest Adds Duplicate Warnings on Site and Search Features on Mobile

Want to know something Pinteresting? America’s favorite image pinning site just added a bunch of new features on the web and on the mobile app!

Okay, I can’t take credit for the whole “pinteresting” usage, but it’s cute, it works, so let’s run with it. . . straight to the website.

pinterest repeat

This is Pinterest’s new duplicate warning system. It will pop up and warn you when you’re about to pin something you already pinned. Pinterest says users have been asking for this feature which is funny because there are billions of images in the world, so what are the chances that you’d accidentally pin the same image twice?

ABC Reveals Plan for Unified Advertising Across All Platforms

abc watchABC just completed their 2013-2014 TV Upfront presentation. They did it with their usual dose of self-deprecating humor and lots of jabs at the other networks. Their new season is full of crazy comedies and high-concept fantasy shows such as Once Upon a Time in Wonderland  (Is Alice mentally ill),  Resurrection (a boy returns from the dead 32 years later.) and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

With shows like these, you know ABC is in for another season of high ratings in the young demographics and lots of social media buzz. Because of that, the network is pushing forward with two concepts that will help advertisers reach that coveted audience.

The Line is Blurred Between Work and Home, But Workers Still Say Email is a Blessing

I respond to almost as much business email at 10 in the morning as I do at 10 at night. I always assumed this was a freelancer issue – when you work from home you’re always at work.

But a new study from GFI Software shows that even 9-5 office workers answer email at night. . . and on the weekend. . . while on vacation. . even at funerals!

check work emailOutside of regular work hours, six out of ten workers say they check email once a day. 12% check in “real time” which I assume means they have some kind of alert set to let them know there’s a message.

Microsoft’s Animated Skype Opera Uses Story to Showcases Ad Opportunities

skype proposalBuying and selling advertising space isn’t very entertaining. It’s all facts and figures, boxes and percentages – it’s boring. Sorry, ad sellers, it is. . . but it doensn’t have to be.

Microsoft UK set aside the facts and figures in favor of a sweet, animated video series called a SkypeOpera. These digital shorts use storytelling to show how effective advertising on Skype can be. The current series is called Skype: The Proposal. It’s a five-part series featuring Charlie and Lizzie. Charlie wants to create an amazing proposal experience but things never go as planned.

In each episode, the couple uses Skype to get in touch with each other and with friends. Along the way, they encounter all the different types of Skype advertising. Each ad is perfectly tailored to their current situation (of course) and contrived though it may be, it’s still a solid example of how Skype ads can work for your business.

Twee-Q Fights for Gender Equality on Twitter

Think about all the retweets you sent over the last week. Would you guess that you forwarded more tweets from men or from women? As a woman, you’d think more of my retweets would be from my fellow females but take a look at this:

tweeq

According to Twee-Q, I’m a very anti-equal opportunity retweeter! I kind of figured this would be true on a rough guess, but seeing it here in red, yellow and orange gave me pause to think. Why am I passing on the wisdom of men more than women? Are they providing better information via Twitter? Are they more clever? Is it simply that I follow less women and if so. . . why is that?

Study Shows Vine is Slowly But Surely Winding Its Way Through Twitter

download vine

Vine made a big splash back in January with the introduction of the six-second video loop. In just a few months, the app has wormed its way into the hearts of Twitter followers everywhere and now users share an average of 5 Vine tweets per second!

What’s neat about Vine is that the one-touch record mechanism allows you to easily edit together a succession of single frames flipbook style. That means you can make inanimate objects dance and play with very little effort. (Here’s my Pirates at Play video)

Of course, you can also use Vine to post six seconds of anyone doing anything. The most retweeted Vine video to date shows Harry Styles and the One Direction crew (that’s a boy band) getting their hair done prior to going on stage.  This riveting clip was shared more than 47,000 times.

Shoppers Who Use Mobile In-Store, Spend More [Infographic]

Consumers like to use their smartphones when shopping to find more information or get a better deal. That’s not new news. I know. But every time I see a new study and / or infographic it gets me thinking and that gets me writing. Here’s what started the fire today — a new post from Google’s Think Insights.

Here’s the top half of the infographic.

google buy more

79% of smartphone owners are ‘smartphone shoppers.’ Got that. 84% use their phone while they’re shopping in-store. Got that. Now, take a look at the categories. Nearly every smartphone shopper uses their phone when shopping for appliances. Brick and mortar owners complain about showrooming, but in this case, I say it’s their own fault.