Trinity Mirror has announced a major shift in the distribution of its local titles. Berkshire titles, the "Reading Post," the "Wokingham Times" and the "Bracknell Times" will close. In the West London region, titles in Uxbridge, Ealing and Hounslow will be taken exclusively under the GetWestLondon Web site in an online-only capacity. In addition, the "Harrow Observer" will close, with the publisher completely abandoning the region. The "Surrey Herald," the "Surrey Times" and the "Woking Informer" will close.

Nearly three-quarters of UK consumers have heard of Black Friday, the nickname given to the Friday after Thanksgiving when retailers cut their prices and offer promotions, according to research from eDigitalResearch. This year's Black Friday -- the U.S. equivalent of Boxing Day sales -- takes place on 28 November. According to eDigitalResearch, 2014 will see more UK consumers join in the sales extravaganza, which made its way over the Atlantic in 2010 thanks to Amazon and last year saw Walmart's ASDA lead the charge in the UK.

The IPA has questioned the data in an ISBA-commissioned study that found that creatively, brands consider agencies are like "factories" with the big names focusing on television. The IPA said the stats in the study -- which was carried out by the Advertising Research Centre -- are between six and nine months old and do not represent the full range of advertisers, given the low number of respondents. The research, which was commissioned by ISBA, presented findings from 93 surveys completed between February and April.

The 10th Marketing Gap study by fast.MAP shows a wide disparity between consumers' attitudes and what marketers believe they think. The biggest concerns relate to companies keeping promises when seeking permission to use contact details. Two-thirds of consumers are very concerned and 17% are fairly concerned that companies won't keep their promises. They also worry about companies passing on details, with 68% very concerned and 17% fairly concerned.

eBay is stepping up its mobile ad offering with the launch of a suite of native formats, which will in time be sold programmatically, according to its head of advertising Phuong Nguyen. The auction site, which now trades the majority of its inventory programmatically, is aiming to roll out a series of mobile native ad formats before the end of the year, designed to seamlessly fit with the site environment. The native mobile ads will initially be traded directly, but eBay is also looking at opening up the inventory to programmatic trading in 2015.

Facebook's new 'Privacy Basics' section informs users how to manage their account, promising "You're in charge." The new microsite shows how other Facebook users interact with your account; what, if any, of your content they can see; and how to tailor what you see on your home page. The site also addresses the adverts which appear on home feeds. Users can now query why they have been targeted in a move that will make the site more transparent. They can tweak which content is sent to them.

The divide between editorial and advertorial content is not clear enough, according to a new study -- which found that nearly one in three consumers (30 percent) are unsure whether they have read advertorial content or not. The research, carried out by native advertising company Vibrant Media, found that nearly half of these confused consumers (49 percent) felt they had been misled. Of those who felt misled, nearly half (49 percent) believed that the advertiser or publisher had set out to mislead them intentionally.

Standard & Poor's Ratings has assigned Twitter a junk-grade rating while also describing it as having strong growth prospects. The ratings agency gave the company a BB- corporate credit rating, which places it firmly in the middle of junk-grade territory. The outlook is described as stable. Shares of Twitter fell 5.7% to $40.12 in late afternoon trading on Thursday. The stock has lost more than a third of its value in the year to date. S&P predicted that Twitter would see healthy growth in active users and revenue.

Jet2.com, the budget airline based at Leeds Bradford Airport, and its sister package holiday company Jet2-holidays have appointed MEC Manchester to their GBP11 million media account. The agency will be responsible for driving awareness and customer acquisition for both brands across media, digital and paid-search channels. MEC Manchester's appointment follows a competitive pitch, and Jet2.com and Jet2holidays become the agency's biggest client. Carat Leeds formerly held the account and re-pitched for the business.

They are traditionally the bitterest of rivals, but now a BBC olive branch to regional newspapers has been given a cautious welcome by an industry whose sales have been in dizzying decline. James Harding, the BBC's director of news and current affairs, has looked to build bridges with beleaguered editors with the offer of free licence fee-funded content and the prospect of the corporation picking up the tab for local court reporting.