California Bill Will Stop Bosses, Schools from Asking for Passwords by Erik Sass

Well, thank goodness for that: California lawmakers have voted overwhelmingly to make it illegal for employers to ask job applicants or employees for their social media passwords; it also forbids retaliation against employees who refuse to share passwords. The bill, AB 1844, was passed in a unanimous vote by California's Senate, 37-0. The bill next goes to the State Assembly for a vote, where it is almost certain to be passed. ...Read the whole story

  • Agencies Don't Pin Pinterest by Mark Walsh

    Pinterest may be the darling of the social media world, but it has not been widely embraced by agencies. A new survey by the Creative Group finds that only 7% of advertising and marketing executives said their firms are using the visual social network for business purposes and 44% have no interest in adopting Pinterest. ...Read the whole story

  • 'TV Guide' Updates Social TV App by Mark Walsh

    Building on its goal of one-stop-shop for TV listings and content cross-platform, the company launched a revamped version of its app for iOS devices Thursday. Features are geared toward greater personalization and social sharing. ...Read the whole story

  • Mobile Traffic Tops Desktop For Groupon, LivingSocial by Mark Walsh

    Mobile traffic for both Groupon and LivingSocial site now exceeds that on the desktop, according to comScore. If mobile use continues to expand for Groupon, it could also lead to higher conversion rates and higher spending per customer. ...Read the whole story

  • MIT Crowdsourcing Algorithm Competes With Google Search by Laurie Sullivan

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a method to aggregate and organize fragmented information from across the Web, which competes with Google projects called Knowledge Graph and Google Sets. ...Read the whole story

  • Fox, Ad Council Target Texting While Driving by Erik Sass

    Using dramatic scenes from "Glee," Fox and the Ad Council are illustrating the risks of texting while driving to teens nationwide with a new series of PSAs produced in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and all 50 state attorneys general. ...Read the whole story

  • Social Media Users' Age, Gender Impact Site Choices by Laurie Sullivan

    Social's influence on consumers continues to increase, depending on the network. Males seem to flock to tech-oriented sites, and females prefer more social-oriented sites. Marketers looking to target brand messages should note that age and sex, when accessing social media, is site-specific. ...Read the whole story

  • food Lindt Unveils New Federer TV Ad by Karlene Lukovitz

    The first tongue-in-cheek ad ("Airport," from 2010) conveyed the irresistibility of Lindor truffles (and Roger Federer) by showing female airport security guards confiscating his bag filled with the chocolates and threatening to strip-search the tennis star just for the fun of it. ...Read the whole story

  • automotive Vespa Launches 'La Vespa Vita' Lifestyle Site by Karl Greenberg

    Among other things, the site has a "Vespa Mosaic," where owners can post photos via Flickr or Instagram by using the hashtag #VespaVita; a Vespa Style Book, which is meant to be a user-generated review of people's sartorial inclinations. ...Read the whole story

The Whole Story: 2 Views Of Social TV by Mike Bloxham

Social TV -- in all it's forms -- is on a roll. More apps, more cross-platform promotion and apparently, more engagement. ...More

  • Digital Savvy Hispanics Get/Give Advice by Jack Loechner

    A new analysis by BIGinsight, from the Hispanic InsightCenter, shows that Hispanics (18+) tend to be more digital-savvy than their Non-Hispanic counterparts. In addition to face-to-face communication, they are using social media and mobile technology to give and seek advice about products and services, effecting the allocation of media when marketing to this consumer group. ...More

  • search SEOmoz Study: Search Experts Share Salary, Spend Data by Laurie Sullivan

    Some 17% of respondents participating in the SEOmoz 2012 survey spend more than $1,000 per month on tools and software. The largest segment -- at 17.5% -- spends $101 to $300 per month, followed by 10.5% at between $301 and $500. ...More

  • Making Sustainability Pinteresting by Jennifer Maxwell-Muir

    Your company's sustainability commitments can be some of the toughest stories to tell. There's often no "hard news," very few reporters actually cover the topic as a dedicated beat and initiatives often take place thousands of miles away, far from the backyards of the average consumer. ...More