Facebook on Tuesday unveiled a revamped internal search system that makes it easier for users to get information among the vast array of status updates, pictures, “Likes” and other content posted to the social network. Launched at a widely anticipated press event at Facebook’s Menlo Park, Calif. headquarters, the new service called Graph Search was presented by CEO Mark Zuckerberg as an alternative to the type of Web-based search tied to keywords and popularized by Google and other search engines. Instead, it is geared to answer specific questions and phrases in regular English related to a user’s social graph, such as “my friends in New York who like Jay-Z,” or “people from my hometown who like hiking.” The results are ranked based on people someone is closest with on Facebook based on their level of interaction. The beta version of Graph Search focuses on four main areas: people, photos, places and interests. That means people can look up things such as “photos I like, ”restaurants in San Francisco,” or even “movies liked by people who are film directors.” Zuckerberg gave the example of searching for “local friends who like ‘Game of Thrones.’” Graph Search appears as a bigger search bar at the top of each page and shows suggestions in a drop-down results page as a user starts to type. A toolbar on the right allows someone to refine a search by criteria including relationship, employer, school, and Likes. It rolls out to hundreds of thousands of users now on the desktop in the U.S (in English) to start. To date, Facebook’s search offering has largely been haphazard, with results ranked based on popularity for things like pages and apps, as well as the volume of connections for people. Last year it launched a Nearby tab in mobile to help people find local businesses. And since last summer it has allowed businesses to pay for sponsored search results. But the process of indexing of Facebook’s billion users, 240 billion photos and trillion connections involved in launching Graph Search has led to a smarter, if still internal search engine. For now, Zuckerberg said that the company isn’t focusing on monetizing the new search offering as it continues building out the service. But it’s clear that businesses and brands on Facebook may already be able to benefit from an improved search tool by making it easier for users to find them. Search results are based on factors including the information businesses share as well as the connections of the person searching. And results can include Facebook brand pages, apps, and places. Facebook said Pages and apps can still use Sponsored Results, which will appear at or near the top of search results, whether or not people have Graph Search yet. Agency executives said Facebook’s overhauled search system could eventually make it more of a competitor to Google, but cited the limitation of staying within the social network. “Theoretically, some advertising budgets currently dedicated to Google AdWords would shift to advertising via Facebook Graph Search," noted Hussein Fazal, CEO of AdParlor, a Facebook strategic marketing development partner. Jason Hartley, associate media director at 360i, agreed, but wondered whether people will really shift much of their search activity to Facebook now. “The question remains, is the social graph really going to be more useful than the search results I get from Google and Bing, that represent a much larger set of opinions about a wider set of options and are the result of a much more mature algorithm?” he said. Through its partnership with Bing last year, Facebook may make query suggestions in its search bar that can trigger Web searches that will display Bing results and Bing ads. That won’t change with Graph Search. Another question is about privacy in relation to the new search product. Zuckerberg emphasized Tuesday that Graph Search would allow users to sort only through content already shared with them. It makes finding new things much easier, but you can only see what you could already view elsewhere on Facebook," stated the Facebook press release. The company also suggested people review who can see information about them in their privacy settings, given fresh concerns about what shows in search. But given Facebook’s checkered history in safeguarding users’ privacy on the site, those worries are likely to increase when Facebook begins to ramp up search advertising. After a run-up in its stock price leading up to today’s announcement, Facebook shares fell slightly to $30.10 Tuesday. The company’s shares cracked $30 last week for the first time on optimism about the new product release and expectations for strong fourth-quarter financial results. Local review and recommendations site Yelp saw its stock price fall 6% to $20.61 in the wake of Facebook’s new search tool.
Nissan has a lot of changes in strategy, on mobile vehicle marketing communications, and in the air. Literally. The air in Nissan's exhibition space at the North American International Auto Show was suffused with the scent of green tea. "The point is to create an atmosphere that stimulates the senses," says Jon Brancheau, VP marketing at Nissan North America's Nissan brand division. That's pretty much the kernel of 99% of auto product development and marketing, so there's no harm in starting with establishing an essence in the ether. And stimulating the senses is part of Nissan's plan for the redesigned Versa compact sedan and hatch, which go on sale in the U.S. this summer. He says the brand might take that green tea scent to its global retail and show spaces. The Versa's new name, Note, also aligns with Nissan globalism: Note is the car's name in the China market, although the U.S. -- Nissan's largest market -- gets concessions: here, it will be the Versa Note. "We want to have global consistency," says Brancheau, who tells Marketing Daily that the brand's "wouldn't it be cool" campaign -- launched last year first for the redesigned Altima, then for the Pathfinder -- reflects a drive for consistency in the U.S. "Differentiation for the Nissan brand comes partly from having a consistent, distinct position around innovation," he says. For the Versa Note, Nissan seeks 30- to-40-year-olds. "We want to attract younger people, who have very active lives, want great fuel economy and need versatility. We'll probably use the 'wouldn't it be cool' creative [which shows Nissan cars exploding into chunks that solidify into different vehicle features before reassembling as the car] but in a different way. It will be very relevant to that target, who are looking to integrate into their lifestyles: cycling, surfing, scuba, pets, family." He says creative messages will high-five the car's 40-mpg performance and its onboard Nissan Connect telematics and infotainment system. Also getting a global focus, by necessity, are Nissan's digital and social media efforts, per Erich Marx, director of interactive and social media marketing at Nissan. He tells Marketing Daily that digital elements have to reflect a global audience because U.S. consumers travel widely, and Internet and social media traffic constitute a de facto global audience. "Our Facebook likes are 55% international," he says, adding that the automaker has 1.2 million followers on its Facebook brand page. For the Americas, the automaker has a best practice launched a year-and-a-half ago that allows Latin American, U.S. and Canadian divisions to tap each other's ad creative when appropriate. "We recognized redundancy in advertising production," says Marx. "Now, when we do a TV shoot, creative might be used from other markets." He says Nissan's Americas teams converge once a month in a brand steering committee context. "It's marketers from Brazil, Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, all in the same room, where we share plans."
Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg made it clear Tuesday that search would become a proprietary tool on the social site, excluding companies like Google, Amazon and LinkedIn from accessing the data, but welcoming Microsoft, which holds a minority stake. The Graph Search feature will allow Facebook members to sift through interests, people, places and photos. Facebook will add the tool to its users' newsfeed and timeline. It indexes, or rather maps, data in the Facebook network, such as friends' activities. The service is being introduced in the U.S. under limited beta. While Graph Search concentrates on tying together data on the site, the tool ties into Web search through Bing. Engineers at the two companies have been working to combine the experience past Graph Search. When people want to search beyond Facebook they see Web search results from Bing with social context combined with information on Facebook pages. It would have been the worst oversight for Microsoft Bing not to support search on Facebook's Search Graph, as the company continues to build out a more complex search engine on the site. After all, Marc Andreessen, general partner of Andreessen Horowitz and Netscape co-founder, sits on social site's board of directors. Marketers can expect to see Facebook build out a mobile offering too. Search engine blekko CEO Rich Skrenta said Facebook Graph Search makes more sense on mobile than it does on the Web. The natural language interface also makes sense when paired with voice recognition, like Siri. Search marketers have been looking to define their remit for some time and the introduction of Facebook Graph Search should further aid those efforts, according to Chris Copeland, CEO at GroupM Next. "Graph Search presents immediate opportunities for brands focused on local and wanting to maximize the optimization of their content assets," he said. "The Facebook page optimization component will be key for brands, as will the ability to get individuals to connect with a brand as a result of compelling content. Both of these factors play well with the focus of search marketers today and represent clear opportunities in the immediate future through Graph Search." Macquarie Securities Analyst Ben Schachter wrote in a research note that given the "less-than-impressive Bing integration previously implemented," he wants to see how Facebook executes and users adapt to the changes before giving the company too much credit for truly unlocking the value in making its data more searchable and useful. "We think that Open Graph actions, particularly related to digital media, could be a meaningful driver of Graph Search use (we also expect Netflix integration with FB to increase significantly in 2013, which could be another key use of Graph Search)," Schachter wrote." We expect that users would find it very useful to be able to search the movie (and other media) recommendations of their friends and, potential, notable personalities." aimClear Founder Marty Weintraub said the transparency of data could make aspects of community management a bit easier. Any feature that helps marketers identify, follow, serve, engage, and buy ads to ever-focused audiences will become a greater value for marketers.
Turning Facebook into a cash register hasn't been easy, but a handful of investors who recognize the challenge have awarded Nashville-based Moontoast, which specializes in social media advertising, $5 million in Series B funding to build out its services. The investment led by the Martin Companies, with participation from previous investors, supports interactive and transaction-based rich media ads on Facebook, and other social sites. Marcus Whitney, Moontoast co-founder and CTO, said benefits support a familiarity with permission-based marketing, which aligns with direct marketing strategies. "The majority on impressions served up by social advertisers are the result of a 'like,'" he said. "On Facebook, the ad isn't some display image, but rather related to the content on a Web site. It's in a story form and entertaining." Whitney said the ads streaming in the newsfeed support permission-based advertising and lead generation, different from display ads on a Web site. It adds up to more than a simple like, share or click. The Moontoast platform supports brands like Universal Music Group, Lexus, Nike, Hyundai, Lady Antebellum, Time, and Simon & Schuster. It collects data from interaction with ads and transactional purchases on desktop and mobile. The country music group Lady Antebellum, for example, uses the platform to drive fan loyalty. The group has its own Web site store, but they reserve a portion of their inventory, such as music and t-shirts, to create flash deals on their Facebook Fan page. It also serves as a way to build an email list. Moontoast also has run campaigns for Reba McEntire, and Rascal Flatts. Overall, about 70% of Moontoast's business comes from Facebook, according to Blair Heavey, CEO for the company. Moontoast will use the VC investment to support development of Moontoast's Social Activation Platform, the company’s growing business development, sales and client services efforts, and the expansion of its marketing and product development teams. Heavey said the company will also expand relationships with existing development partners, such as ExactTarget, Demandware, Magento, Mercent, and PayPal, which provide lead-generation or reseller support.
Facebook on Tuesday unveiled a revamped internal search system that makes it easier for users to get information among the vast array of status updates, pictures, “Likes” and other content posted to the social network. Launched at a widely anticipated press event at Facebook’s Menlo Park, Calif. headquarters, the new service called Graph Search was presented by CEO Mark Zuckerberg as an alternative to the type of Web-based search tied to keywords and popularized by Google and other search engines. Instead, it is geared to answer specific questions and phrases in regular English related to a user’s social graph, such as “my friends in New York who like Jay-Z,” or “people from my hometown who like hiking.” The results are ranked based on people someone is closest with on Facebook based on their level of interaction. The beta version of Graph Search focuses on four main areas: people, photos, places and interests. That means people can look up things such as “photos I like, ”restaurants in San Francisco,” or even “movies liked by people who are film directors.” Zuckerberg gave the example of searching for “local friends who like ‘Game of Thrones.’” Graph Search appears as a bigger search bar at the top of each page and shows suggestions in a drop-down results page as a user starts to type. A toolbar on the right allows someone to refine a search by criteria including relationship, employer, school, and Likes. It rolls out to hundreds of thousands of users now on the desktop in the U.S (in English) to start. To date, Facebook’s search offering has largely been haphazard, with results ranked based on popularity for things like pages and apps, as well as the volume of connections for people. Last year it launched a Nearby tab in mobile to help people find local businesses. And since last summer it has allowed businesses to pay for sponsored search results. But the process of indexing of Facebook’s billion users, 240 billion photos and trillion connections involved in launching Graph Search has led to a smarter, if still internal search engine. For now, Zuckerberg said that the company isn’t focusing on monetizing the new search offering as it continues building out the service. But it’s clear that businesses and brands on Facebook may already be able to benefit from an improved search tool by making it easier for users to find them. Search results are based on factors including the information businesses share as well as the connections of the person searching. And results can include Facebook brand pages, apps, and places. Facebook said Pages and apps can still use Sponsored Results, which will appear at or near the top of search results, whether or not people have Graph Search yet. Agency executives said Facebook’s overhauled search system could eventually make it more of a competitor to Google, but cited the limitation of staying within the social network. “Theoretically, some advertising budgets currently dedicated to Google AdWords would shift to advertising via Facebook Graph Search," noted Hussein Fazal, CEO of AdParlor, a Facebook strategic marketing development partner. Jason Hartley, associate media director at 360i, agreed, but wondered whether people will really shift much of their search activity to Facebook now. “The question remains, is the social graph really going to be more useful than the search results I get from Google and Bing, that represent a much larger set of opinions about a wider set of options and are the result of a much more mature algorithm?” he said. Through its partnership with Bing last year, Facebook may make query suggestions in its search bar that can trigger Web searches that will display Bing results and Bing ads. That won’t change with Graph Search. Another question is about privacy in relation to the new search product. Zuckerberg emphasized Tuesday that Graph Search would allow users to sort only through content already shared with them. It makes finding new things much easier, but you can only see what you could already view elsewhere on Facebook," stated the Facebook press release. The company also suggested people review who can see information about them in their privacy settings, given fresh concerns about what shows in search. But given Facebook’s checkered history in safeguarding users’ privacy on the site, those worries are likely to increase when Facebook begins to ramp up search advertising. After a run-up in its stock price leading up to today’s announcement, Facebook shares fell slightly to $30.10 Tuesday. The company’s shares cracked $30 last week for the first time on optimism about the new product release and expectations for strong fourth-quarter financial results. Local review and recommendations site Yelp saw its stock price fall 6% to $20.61 in the wake of Facebook’s new search tool.
Nissan has a lot of changes in strategy, on mobile vehicle marketing communications, and in the air. Literally. The air in Nissan's exhibition space at the North American International Auto Show was suffused with the scent of green tea. "The point is to create an atmosphere that stimulates the senses," says Jon Brancheau, VP marketing at Nissan North America's Nissan brand division. That's pretty much the kernel of 99% of auto product development and marketing, so there's no harm in starting with establishing an essence in the ether. And stimulating the senses is part of Nissan's plan for the redesigned Versa compact sedan and hatch, which go on sale in the U.S. this summer. He says the brand might take that green tea scent to its global retail and show spaces. The Versa's new name, Note, also aligns with Nissan globalism: Note is the car's name in the China market, although the U.S. -- Nissan's largest market -- gets concessions: here, it will be the Versa Note. "We want to have global consistency," says Brancheau, who tells Marketing Daily that the brand's "wouldn't it be cool" campaign -- launched last year first for the redesigned Altima, then for the Pathfinder -- reflects a drive for consistency in the U.S. "Differentiation for the Nissan brand comes partly from having a consistent, distinct position around innovation," he says. For the Versa Note, Nissan seeks 30- to-40-year-olds. "We want to attract younger people, who have very active lives, want great fuel economy and need versatility. We'll probably use the 'wouldn't it be cool' creative [which shows Nissan cars exploding into chunks that solidify into different vehicle features before reassembling as the car] but in a different way. It will be very relevant to that target, who are looking to integrate into their lifestyles: cycling, surfing, scuba, pets, family." He says creative messages will high-five the car's 40-mpg performance and its onboard Nissan Connect telematics and infotainment system. Also getting a global focus, by necessity, are Nissan's digital and social media efforts, per Erich Marx, director of interactive and social media marketing at Nissan. He tells Marketing Daily that digital elements have to reflect a global audience because U.S. consumers travel widely, and Internet and social media traffic constitute a de facto global audience. "Our Facebook likes are 55% international," he says, adding that the automaker has 1.2 million followers on its Facebook brand page. For the Americas, the automaker has a best practice launched a year-and-a-half ago that allows Latin American, U.S. and Canadian divisions to tap each other's ad creative when appropriate. "We recognized redundancy in advertising production," says Marx. "Now, when we do a TV shoot, creative might be used from other markets." He says Nissan's Americas teams converge once a month in a brand steering committee context. "It's marketers from Brazil, Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, all in the same room, where we share plans."
Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg made it clear Tuesday that search would become a proprietary tool on the social site, excluding companies like Google, Amazon and LinkedIn from accessing the data, but welcoming Microsoft, which holds a minority stake. The Graph Search feature will allow Facebook members to sift through interests, people, places and photos. Facebook will add the tool to its users' newsfeed and timeline. It indexes, or rather maps, data in the Facebook network, such as friends' activities. The service is being introduced in the U.S. under limited beta. While Graph Search concentrates on tying together data on the site, the tool ties into Web search through Bing. Engineers at the two companies have been working to combine the experience past Graph Search. When people want to search beyond Facebook they see Web search results from Bing with social context combined with information on Facebook pages. It would have been the worst oversight for Microsoft Bing not to support search on Facebook's Search Graph, as the company continues to build out a more complex search engine on the site. After all, Marc Andreessen, general partner of Andreessen Horowitz and Netscape co-founder, sits on social site's board of directors. Marketers can expect to see Facebook build out a mobile offering too. Search engine blekko CEO Rich Skrenta said Facebook Graph Search makes more sense on mobile than it does on the Web. The natural language interface also makes sense when paired with voice recognition, like Siri. Search marketers have been looking to define their remit for some time and the introduction of Facebook Graph Search should further aid those efforts, according to Chris Copeland, CEO at GroupM Next. "Graph Search presents immediate opportunities for brands focused on local and wanting to maximize the optimization of their content assets," he said. "The Facebook page optimization component will be key for brands, as will the ability to get individuals to connect with a brand as a result of compelling content. Both of these factors play well with the focus of search marketers today and represent clear opportunities in the immediate future through Graph Search." Macquarie Securities Analyst Ben Schachter wrote in a research note that given the "less-than-impressive Bing integration previously implemented," he wants to see how Facebook executes and users adapt to the changes before giving the company too much credit for truly unlocking the value in making its data more searchable and useful. "We think that Open Graph actions, particularly related to digital media, could be a meaningful driver of Graph Search use (we also expect Netflix integration with FB to increase significantly in 2013, which could be another key use of Graph Search)," Schachter wrote." We expect that users would find it very useful to be able to search the movie (and other media) recommendations of their friends and, potential, notable personalities." aimClear Founder Marty Weintraub said the transparency of data could make aspects of community management a bit easier. Any feature that helps marketers identify, follow, serve, engage, and buy ads to ever-focused audiences will become a greater value for marketers.
Turning Facebook into a cash register hasn't been easy, but a handful of investors who recognize the challenge have awarded Nashville-based Moontoast, which specializes in social media advertising, $5 million in Series B funding to build out its services. The investment led by the Martin Companies, with participation from previous investors, supports interactive and transaction-based rich media ads on Facebook, and other social sites. Marcus Whitney, Moontoast co-founder and CTO, said benefits support a familiarity with permission-based marketing, which aligns with direct marketing strategies. "The majority on impressions served up by social advertisers are the result of a 'like,'" he said. "On Facebook, the ad isn't some display image, but rather related to the content on a Web site. It's in a story form and entertaining." Whitney said the ads streaming in the newsfeed support permission-based advertising and lead generation, different from display ads on a Web site. It adds up to more than a simple like, share or click. The Moontoast platform supports brands like Universal Music Group, Lexus, Nike, Hyundai, Lady Antebellum, Time, and Simon & Schuster. It collects data from interaction with ads and transactional purchases on desktop and mobile. The country music group Lady Antebellum, for example, uses the platform to drive fan loyalty. The group has its own Web site store, but they reserve a portion of their inventory, such as music and t-shirts, to create flash deals on their Facebook Fan page. It also serves as a way to build an email list. Moontoast also has run campaigns for Reba McEntire, and Rascal Flatts. Overall, about 70% of Moontoast's business comes from Facebook, according to Blair Heavey, CEO for the company. Moontoast will use the VC investment to support development of Moontoast's Social Activation Platform, the company’s growing business development, sales and client services efforts, and the expansion of its marketing and product development teams. Heavey said the company will also expand relationships with existing development partners, such as ExactTarget, Demandware, Magento, Mercent, and PayPal, which provide lead-generation or reseller support.
Pinterest is one of the fastest-growing social networks, but can it deliver customers for retailers? Social media is part of everyday life. We’ve gone social and mobile en masse, impacting all forms of communication. Because of the cultural and social shifts involved, retailers are paying close attention to social media and its potential. It’s viral and sticky because the social network is so powerful. Because they’re personal, social networks have significant influence on opinion; and influence is a valuable commodity for businesses and brands. According to the Sociable Labs Social Impact Consumer Study, 57% of shoppers are more likely to buy after receiving opinions from their friends, proving that there can be a “network” effect on shopping decisions. The same study found that 62% of all online shoppers read product-related comments from friends on Facebook, with 75% of these clicking through to the retailer’s site. The Pinterest Effect By January 2012, comScore reported that Pinterest had 11.7 million unique visitors, making it the fastest site in history to break through the 10 million unique visitor mark. Pinterest set out to “connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting.” A lofty goal, but at its core, Pinterest promotes the social experience of discovering and sharing ideas. Pinterest was not the first to offer ‘pinning.’ But what Pinterest did well was make it simple, fun and social, with a consistent experience across Web and mobile. The model has been successful in building a large community – estimates are now at more than 20 million unique users each month. Among online shoppers using Pinterest, 70% say they use it to get inspiration on what to buy – that compares with just 17% of Facebook users, according to a BizRate Insights survey conducted in August 2012. If a greater number of consumers are influenced to make purchases on Pinterest over Facebook, it becomes even more interesting to retailers. Retailers are watching Pinterest’s growth with interest, not only because of its impressive growth, but also its relationship to consumer apparel and goods. But is its influence something retail can capture and capitalize on? Is it strong enough to drive shoppers into stores? There have been some early success with brands on Pinterest – but the most successful (measured in terms of followers) are taking more than a traditional one-way “branding” approach to encourage re-pinning. While there’s value in brand awareness, retailers are more interested in the influence that drives consumers into stores, a value directly proportionate to sales and revenues. Because the data around ROI for retail isn’t yet proven, many retailers are taking a “wait and see approach” to Pinterest. Retailers Look Beyond Pinterest Pinterest has proven it can build a large audience that wields a strong social influence, however, for retailers specifically, it was not built with the consumer-retail relationship in mind, lacking a few important things: 1. Pinterest is an online playground and wasn’t conceived as a tool for retailers. While Pinterest can spark imagination, inspiration, word of mouth and potentially purchases, it’s not a shopping marketplace. 2. Pinterest doesn’t help retailers create meaningful engagement with local communities of consumers or drive shopping traffic into the local retail store. 3. Pinterest’s focus is on “discovery” and not shopping. It wasn’t designed to track local sales, allow you to make shopping lists or interact with your friends about shopping in a meaningful way. Nor was it designed to follow the customer throughout the shopping journey — discovery, decision and execution. It’s important for retailers to explore strategies around Facebook, Pinterest and other emerging social networks.
Some 44% of total open emails occur on mobile devices. About 52% of marketers have used animated gifs in their email campaigns, and 78% of brands use sales associates to collect email addresses as leads. Some consider email campaigns the lifeline connecting consumers to Web sites, mobile and social channels. That lifeline can start at the search campaign or at the point-of-sale register in the physical store. More than 66% of marketers offer -- or say they intend to offer -- e-receipt options to in-store shoppers. Experian expects more marketers to use e-receipts for promotional messaging in the next few months and years. The emailed receipts not only serve as environmentally friendly reminders, but an additional touchpoint with customers and a simple way to collect more information -- especially email leads and addresses. Emails should give consumers a reason to search for information, whether on an engine or a brand's Web site. Experian Marketing Services' 2012 E-Receipt Study identified increased sales with support from e-receipts. The emailed receipts created six times higher transaction rates and eight times higher revenue per email compared with bulk mailings. Marketers that are concerned about data integrity will want to personalize content from sources like rewards programs, where a user is less likely to enter a fake name, according to Experian. (Although I hate to burst anyone's bubble, that's not entirely true.) My Starbucks card reads "first" and "last" for the name: it was initially done as a joke, but now it's an initial point of conversation in the retail store. Some 48% of marketers said collecting the first name is the most important -- or mandatory -- piece of information, followed by 45% for last name and 32% for ZIP code. Surprisingly, 29% of marketers said they don't make any field mandatory, and 14% said they don't collect any of these fields, along with date of birth, country, phone number gender or full mailing address. The study also suggests that the majority of marketers do not offer incentives for filling out a survey, with 59% stating they send no offer. Regardless, marketers see strong completion rates, with 62% reporting 10% or higher completion rates -- especially after a purchase. "Laptop with a magnifying glass photo from Shutterstock"
Instagram riled users last month when it issued startling new terms of service. Among the most surprising changes, the service said it reserved the right to license users' photos to advertisers. Many users responded by saying they planned to defect from the service, which was recently purchased by Facebook. Faced with the uproar, Instagram quickly withdrew the new terms and sent its lawyers back to the drawing board. The company indicated that it never intended to start licensing people's photos, but that doesn't excuse it for issuing terms with such expansive language. Instagram then came out with another round of revisions that no longer contained the controversial language about licensing people's photos to advertisers. But those terms still aren't as user-friendly as the original ones. For instance, the new terms state that most types of disputes will be resolved in arbitration and that users can't bring class-actions. The whole fiasco may or may not have cost Instagram users, but it certainly didn't help the company's reputation. It also could result in some new legal battles. Already, two potential class-action lawsuits have been filed since the new terms were issued. One lawsuit, by Lucy Funes, alleges that the new terms amount to a breach of contract with users. The gist of her grievance seems to be that Instagram might at some point in the future roll out a sponsored-stories program; if and when that day comes, she will no longer be able to sue in court under the new terms. Legal experts are mocking the lawsuit, pointing out that not only is it premature, but that users like Funes can always leave the service before the new terms go into effect. The other case, by Instagram user Steven Gutierrez, is based on allegations that the service uploaded users' information -- including their address books -- without their consent. Instagram had already been named in a separate lawsuit about address-book uploads, so those allegations in themselves weren't particularly new. That complaint, filed by attorney Joseph Malley (who has also brought privacy lawsuits against NebuAd, Facebook and other Web companies), doesn't appear to be subject to the new ban on class-actions because it was brought before the new terms took effect. This week, Instagram sent emails to users reminding them that the new terms are effective as of Jan. 19. "As we announced in December, we have updated our terms of service and privacy policy. These policies also now take into account the feedback we received from the Instagram community," the email says, according to AllFacebook.com. "And remember," the company adds, "these updates don’t change the fact that you own your photos that you post on Instagram, and our privacy controls work just as they did before."
Social media marketing IS content marketing. And, if you’re a content marketer, you’re a publisher, a writer, an editor and a community manager. The following are six books to help you be a better content marketer – and none of the six are directly about social media, content marketing or publishing. “It's Always Personal: Navigating Emotion in the New Workplace” by Anne Kreamer What: Stories of emotions in the workplace and the science (both recent and time-tested) to help explain it all. A large focus on how women can better navigate a historically male business landscape, but hugely relevant to both sexes. Why: If you’re a content marketer, you are a creator. If you are a creator, you are a creative and will invariable have to navigate the touchy and prickly emotions that come with being creative. Favorite quote: "As a result, through sheer necessity, I happened on one of the most effective ways to deal with the kind of imposter anxiety we experience when trying new things far beyond our usual skill set. Just admit when you don’t know something. Ask questions. It’s that simple." “Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work” by Matthew B. Crawford What: A call-to-arms for the relevance and value of skilled manual labor that lays out a rationale for why our country and our souls will be stronger if we embrace the ability to fix and create things of lasting physical entity. Why: As workers in the digital space, we often need grounding and a reality check that there is a world powered by more than the Internet. And, with the rise of communities like Etsy and backlash against collection of personal data, we should know what it is like to trust the physical more than the digital – because many of our target audience might feel that way in the not-so-distant future. Favorite quote: "The craftsman is proud of what he has made, and cherishes it, while the consumer discards things that are perfectly serviceable in his restless pursuit of the new." “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” by Chip Heath & Dan Heath What: An incredibly quick, easy read that brims with information on how to make ideas sticky. A mixture of practical tips and never-fail strategies for ensuring your ideas resonate with your target audience. Why: Your content is battling against other brands, other people, other media – not to mention other platforms where you might not be cultivating your audience. Making your copy, promotions and campaigns sticky is a must. Favorite quote: "You don't have to speak monosyllables to be simple. What we mean by simple is finding the core of the idea." “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk & E. B. White What: The seminal text on making writing more effective. Why: Sometimes you only have 140 characters, so you’d better make all those characters count. Favorite quote: "Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he should avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every sentence tell." “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything” by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner What: Economists (and, thus, mathematicians) tackle interesting questions you never thought to ask and look at common questions from angles you didn’t think existed. Why: Learning how to tell stories through numbers and answer intriguing questions no one thought to ask packs your content quiver with many more arrows. And, by making sure you ask the right questions, you protect your content from making a fool of itself (and you). Favorite quote: "It’s possible that X causes Y; it’s also possible that Y causes X; and it may be that X and Y are both being caused by some other factor, Z. Think about this correlation: cities with a lot of murders also tend to have a lot of police officers. Consider now the police/murder correlation in a pair of real cities. Denver and Washington, D.C., have about the same population—but Washington has nearly three times as many police as Denver, and it also has eight times the number of murders. Unless you have more information, however, it’s hard to say what’s causing what." “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell What: The science behind split-second reactions – when to trust them and when not. Why: Your readers are scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. Knowing how to capitalize on decisions that happen in the blink of an eye will help your content get read in a sea of text. Favorite quote: "The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding. We are swimming in the former. We are desperately lacking in the latter."