The 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act restricts telephone solicitations and the use of automated telephone equipment. Even though the law written before SMS messages were a reality, courts in California and Chicago have already interpreted the undefined term "any call" to include SMS messages if the messages are sent using an automated system. 

Integrated marketing communications agency Havas Worldwide has launched a new "Shared Owned & Earned" (SOE) media unit, a move that reflects a shift in the way brands evaluate their marketing campaigns outside of traditional channels. The SOE unit consolidates various agency disciplines around analytics, community management, and content strategy—bringing these areas into a single practice that will be available to all of Havas Worldwide New York. 

The Gozi virus, a malicious password-stealing software which the US government has called "one of the most financially destructive computer viruses in history," is believed to be responsible for up to $50 million in fraud. Federal authorities have identified and captured its developer, a 25-year-old Russian man named named Nikita Kuzmin. But the bulletproof host of the virus continued to orchestrate the distribution of malicious messages, and was the more interesting catch.

A recent study found that the average worker writes over 41,000 words of email replies in a year, enough to fill a 166 page novel. "The Week" magazine is running a contest where participants are asked to submit the name of their novel-in-emails. Entries are due by noon EST on Tuesday January 29th.

Google has released its latest transparency report containing information on the number of government requests and subpoenas for user information, indicating that it has received more than 42,000 requests in 2012. The 8438 requests in the second half of the year represent a 34% increase over 2011 and an 85% lift from 2010.

A new study by Boston Retail Partners reveals that SMS is a rising non-traditional marketing initiative for retailers. 40% of the retailers surveyed report that they are already using SMS, with another 23% planning to implement within the next two years. 

Emails containing gift guides rose in popularity in 2012. A study by Experian Marketing Services found that using the word "Best" in the subject line of gift guides had a significant impact on performance, lifting open rates by 8 percentage points and clicks by 2 points. 

A study of over 3.5 million leads from over 400 companies has found that text messages can lift conversion rates by 113% relative to average conversion of leads, but only when it is used as the only follow-up channel after the initial lead. Texting used before and after the initlal contact can lift conversion by 20%, but texting only before another means of contact depresses conversion rate by 5%. The study was conducted by Leads360.

Twitter has recently begun sending emails to members alerting them to some new followers of note, and also when people deemed of interest have shared content on the service. While the special followers' commonality may be a large following of their own, the targeting instead appears to be based on mutual interests. Twitter Co-founder Ev Williams downplays follower size as a meaningful metric, saying what is a better gauge of shared interest is retweets.

A new survey of media and marketing executives by AdMedia Partners identifies Mobile as the most disruptive media and marketing trend, ganering a vote from 25% of respondents. Social Media was next at 13%. 12% of respondents still see Digital as the most disruptive trend in media and marketing. Mobile was also identified in the survey as the top area of interest for M&A expansion for 2013.