Facebook has asked an appellate court to dismiss a privacy activist's challenge to the company's $9.5 million settlement of a class-action privacy lawsuit stemming from the Beacon ad program. The trial judge "correctly found the settlement to be fair, reasonable and adequate," Facebook argues in papers filed last week with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The settlement stems from Facebook's now defunct Beacon ad program -- a controversial marketing platform launched in November of 2007 that informed members about their friends' e-commerce activity on outside sites. At launch the program operated by default, so that people who didn't opt out ended up sharing information about their purchases with all of their Facebook friends. The feature program caused an immediate backlash, and approximately three weeks after launching Beacon, Facebook said it would stop blasting notifications about users' retail activity without their explicit permission. (Shortly after that, Facebook offered users a way to permanently opt out.) The program also sparked a class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of 19 Facebook users. They reached a settlement with Facebook last year, but privacy activist Ginger McCall and a handful of others opposed that deal. The settlement calls for Facebook to launch a new privacy foundation, which will be directed by a three-person board that includes Facebook's Director of Public Policy, Tim Sparapani. The deal also requires Facebook to permanently shutter Beacon, but doesn't require the company to compensate users except for the 19 consumers who filed suit. Members of that group stand to receive amounts varying from $1,000 to $15,000. McCall, herself both a Facebook user and an attorney with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, argued that the settlement should be rejected because Facebook will wield too much influence over the new foundation. In October, she asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg's decision to approve the deal. Facebook disputes that it will control the new foundation, arguing that Sparapani won't have vote power over which projects will be funded by the new organization. "Although Mr. Sparapani may reasonably be expected to exercise his influence against any actions that could clearly and directly harm Facebook, the notion that the Foundation will be under Facebook's control is baseless conjecture," the company argues. McCall also alleges that the deal's benefit is "illusory" because the company had already effectively shuttered Beacon, but Facebook denies this claim. "Although Beacon was altered before the settlement, it remained in existence," the company argues. Lawyers for the 19 class-action plaintiffs also assert that Facebook's initial position in settlement talks was that the company wanted to keep Beacon operational. However, the lawyers contend, Facebook was unable to configure the program to make the opt-in feature work properly. McCall's court papers back up the claim that the opt-in never functioned as expected. She alleges that Facebook broadcast her activity at Blockbuster.com to her friends in February of 2008 without her consent-- even though Beacon was supposed to be opt-in at that point. McCall is represented by outside attorneys including Public Citizen (which is representing MediaPost in an unrelated matter.)
Cricket Communications, a unit of prepaid service provider Leap Wireless, has introduced what it calls the first music service from a carrier to be offered as part of a new wireless rate plan. Rolling out in January, the Muve Music service will feature a catalog of music from the four major record labels: Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music. For $55 a month, in addition to unlimited calling, text and mobile Web access, Muve Music customers will get unlimited full track downloads, ringtones and ringback tones on Cricket's 3G network. The system also uses a new SanDisk technology that allows DRM-free over-the-air downloads, stored and protected on a special flash memory card. The music service will debut on the Samsung Suede feature phone, which will sell for $199 and has a 3-inch touchscreen and Qwerty keyboard. It will also feature a dedicated button to give users one-touch access to Muve Music. Cricket said the new offering was the culmination of working with the record companies over the last two years toward a flat-rate plan to deliver music more conveniently on mobile phones. Ben Bajarin, director of Consumer Technology Practice at Creative Strategies, suggested Muve could herald a new mobile-centric model for digital music. "By tightly integrating the music service into the handset and the billing plan everyone in the value chain benefits and consumers have a complete music service where the phone is the hub not the PC," he said in a statement. Apple has long dominated mobile music through its iTunes download service in tandem with the iPod, iPhone and now, iPad. But Cricket's service is aimed at no-contract customers using handsets other than the iPhone, sold only by AT&T. Whether Muve Music helps drive more customers to Cricket, and has a wider impact on the wireless industry, should become more clear in the first half of 2011. An initial hands-on review by PCMag.com found the service to have a wide range of top hits and decent sound quality, even if not suited "for high-end audio aficionados." It also highlighted features like a "My DJ" function to analyze songs you've been listening to and suggest similar ones, and a "shout" option to send links to songs via SMS. Cricket is the nation's seventh-largest wireless operator, with about 5 million subscribers in 35 states.
For the first time ever, advertisers this year will spend more online than on newspaper ads -- including both print and online -- according to new data from eMarketer. While perhaps inevitable, the projection marks a major milestone for online advertising, and the waning age of broadsheets. "It's something we've seen coming for a long time, but this is a tipping point," said Geoff Ramsey, CEO of eMarketer. "Marketers are devoting bigger shares of their budgets to digital media as they see more customers shifting time toward the Web." This year, online ad spending will grow 13.9% to $25.8 billion, while advertisers are expected to spend just $22.78 billion on print newspaper ads -- down 8.2% year-over-year, according to eMarketer, which benchmarks its U.S. newspaper ad spending projections against data from the Newspaper Association of America. Together, newspaper ad revenues from print and online ads are expected to total $25.7 billion this year -- still short of the $25.8 billion advertisers will spend online. According to Ramsey, increased consumer use of the Web isn't the only reason marketers are putting more dollars online. "The bad economy has actually accelerated the shift to digital advertising," Ramsey said. "Online ads -- especially search ads -- are increasingly seen by many marketers as a more reliable bet than print ads, which are often difficult to tie to a measurable financial result." While total ad spending in the U.S. is expected to bounce back for the full year, growing 3% in 2010 to $168.5 billion, newspaper spending is expected to continue its decline next year. EMarketer estimates that print newspaper ad spending will slide to $21.4 billion in 2011 -- down 6% from 2010. On the other hand, online ad spending is expected to grow 10.5% in 2011 to reach $28.5 billion. By 2014, eMarketer recently predicted that growth in spending on online display ads will outstrip that for paid search -- although search will continue to take a greater share of dollars. This year, both search and display are on track to outpace overall U.S. online ad spending, estimated by eMarketer at 13.9%. Between 2011 and 2014, however, eMarketer projects that online display spending will grow faster than overall online spending, while search spending will lag slightly behind. The increase in display advertising will be driven partly by the dramatic rise predicted in online video advertising, set to grow by at least 34% every year through 2014. Banner ads will experience more moderate gains of between 7% and 16.2% annually, while rich media spending will stagnate.
Apple, Google, Microsoft and others may have to find another way to recruit for jobs if companies want to prevent media and analysts from dissecting open posts. The Internet makes it easy to list jobs, but also just as easy to view. A description on Apple's job board for experienced map software developers went up nearly as quickly as they came down after the posts seemed to confirm that the Cupertino, Calif. company would create its own mapping service and geolocation tools to go head to head against Google and Microsoft. The assumption has been floating around since Apple acquired Poly9 in July -- and shortly after, Placebase, both mapping technologies. One job description sighted Monday described a need for engineers with "computational graph theory," "Linux server development and navigation software" experience. With knowledgeable engineering and the technology Apple could integrate geolocation and ad targeting into the iAd platform and network. Integrating maps in ads can increase click-through rates between 15% and 30%, according to Google Mobile and Local Product Specialist Frank Albert Coates, speaking at LeWeb 2010 in Paris, France. He demonstrated the task by showing how local businesses registered in Google Places can use maps to gain better visibility in paid and organic search results. In a move to cut ties with Google, Apple began building location-based services soon after the iOS shipped on the iPad. Meanwhile, Apple also released iAd Producer Monday. The tools and resources for the iAd network aim to make design and creation of high-impact, interactive content for the iAd network easy. The Web explains how iAd Producer manages HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript behind the iAd to make creating beautiful, motion-rich iAd content as easy as point and click. Through the iOS Development Center, paid developers can get access to the app for free. </ </p>
AOL on Monday appointed Amber Lawson to the newly created position of Head of Video Programming. With a special focus on the company's consumer audience, Lawson will be responsible for procuring, programming and promoting all of AOL's original video content. Reporting to Ran Harnevo, SVP of AOL Video, Lawson will lead a team that oversees AOL Studios, AOL Video hub, AOL.com and third-party production houses to build a slate of original programming. Lawson comes to AOL from Babelgum, where she oversaw the international comedy business, developing, producing, packaging, marketing and distributing original series across Babelgum's IPTV, fixed and mobile platforms. In 2010, Lawson is credited with expanding Babelgum's comedy division, launching more than twenty new series and rolling them into Film and TV properties. Closely aligning video with its overall content push, AOL has aggressively sought to establish itself in the space over the past year. Between July and November, AOL video streams increased from 192 million to 566 million -- an increase of 195%, according to comScore. In particular, "You've Got..." -- the video series that launched on the new AOL.com in November -- generated nearly eight million views in its first month. Appearances by President Obama, Matt Damon, and Kelly Ripa helped the show's cause. In the second half of 2010, AOL has closed deals with more than 20 premium content partners and digital studios to deliver a mix of programming. To continue its momentum, AOL announced several new video franchises, including partnerships with Vuguru, Ben Silverman's Electus, Telepictures Productions, and the Ellen DeGeneres Show Web site. Other video franchises across AOL properties include AOL Sessions; The Engadget Show; Tanslogic on AOL Autos; a number of shows on Cambio.com -- Cambio Connect, Cambio Style, and Cambio Goes Home; and The Secret Millionaire's Club on AOL Kids. Prior to Babelgum, Lawson served as VP of programming and ultimately EVP of branded entertainment for maniaTV where she worked with various brands including ATT mobility, Wrigley's, Doritos and Samsung.
OMMA magazine has named its 2010 agencies of the year, with Wieden + Kennedy and SapientNitro taking top honors (Gold and Silver, respectively). Other agencies recognized include HUGE, Mullen, Pereira & O'Dell, Phonevalley (which cited for best use of mobile for the second year in a row), and Rockfish Interactive. All the agencies will be celebrated in New York on January 11. Gold: Wieden + Kennedy Silver: SapientNitro Bronze Best Web Design and Dev: Rockfish Interactive Best Media Planning and Buying: Mullen Creative: Pereira & O'Dell Best Use of Search: 360i Best Use of Mobile: Phonevalley Best Use of Social: HUGE