Digital Marketing Blog

Gartner predicts that blogging will peak next year

Gartner yesterday released its ten key predictions for business and IT in 2007 and beyond. These included forecasts that PC prices will halve by 2010, and that Vista will be the last major Windows release.

Another prediction caught the eye though - that the blogging phenomenon will peak next year and level out thereafter.

by Graham Charlton 14 December 2006 12:50pm 4 comments

New York Times allows user comments - on third party sites

The New York Times announced on Monday that it will allow its stories to be commented upon, yet it stops short of embracing user-generated content by allowing comments only through third party sites (Digg, Facebook and Newsvine).

It is the first time the newspaper's online site has added a news-sharing tool, which will allow users to discuss its stories on social news sites, though in truth users can do this anyway...

Nevertheless, the paper has embedded links to all three sites onto many of its online stories.

by Graham Charlton 14 December 2006 12:15pm 1 comment

Are PR firms paying Digg users?

Calacanis-flavoured rumours doing the rounds in the blogosphere suggest that some of Digg's top posters have been paid, or offered payment, by PR firms.

He may have resigned from his position at Netscape, but Jason Calacanis is still keeping an eye on events surrounding Digg. He reports in his blog that a number of Digg's top 50 users are on the payroll of a leading (unnamed, of course) PR firm.

by Graham Charlton 14 December 2006 11:44am 0 comments

Sethi leaves TechCrunch UK after dispute with Arrington

Intrigue and confusion over at TechCrunch UK following what appears to be a dispute between Sam Sethi and TechCrunch head honcho Michael Arrington, with Sethi losing out and moving on.

In his (now removed) final post Sethi wrote:

"Following yesterday’s post about Le Web and Loic’s retort. It seems Mike Arrington has disagreed with my post and opinion believing my actions to be vindictive towards Loic. What was said between Mike and I will remain confidential but suffice to say I can no longer remain with TechCrunch UK & Ireland.

"It is a very sad after all the work that has gone into TechCrunch UK and Ireland. I wish all of the UK and Irish entrepreneurs well. I will be personally blogging back at www.vecosys.com and looking for something new to keep me busy. Bye."

by Chris Lake 13 December 2006 18:39pm 2 comments

Skype founders' Venice Project now in beta

The Venice Project, the internet TV project from Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, has gone into public beta testing.

The Venice Project will stream TV to its users’ PCs, thereby avoiding the long download times of other internet TV services like Channel 4's recently launched on Demand service.

by Graham Charlton 13 December 2006 12:52pm 0 comments

Google claims click fraud rate is lower than 2%

Andy Beal at MarketingPilgrim has an interesting article, in which he reports claims from Google that their click fraud rate is less then 2%.

Andy has been talking to Google’s business product manager for trust and safety, Shuman Ghosemajumder, about click fraud detection. He was shown a PowerPoint presentation which was normally for Google employees' eyes only.

by Graham Charlton 13 December 2006 12:34pm 0 comments

Le Web 3: France 'behind' in web commerce, culture

France is lagging behind in online innovation because the government has not created good enough conditions for entrepreneurs, according to French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

Staking out his e-commerce credentials in the 2007 presidential election race, Mr Sarkozy on Tuesday told 1,000 bloggers and web professionals France had come late to the internet party, and he painted a bleak picture.

by Robert Andrews 13 December 2006 11:26am 2 comments

Reaping the rewards of consumer brand ownership and Web 2.0

Opinion piece by Douglas M. Smith

Recently, I sat in a meeting with the Chairman of a well-known entertainment brand, which few would label as being the most advanced company in terms of online marketing.

Being able to present to any major company Chairman is in itself, a clear sign of the shifting corporate priorities towards digital related marketing techniques...

by Guest Author 12 December 2006 18:28pm 0 comments

Le Web 3: Mainstream bloggers sometimes need prompting

One in 10 posts on new blogging service Vox are the result of prompts from owner Six Apart.

Mena Trott, co-founder of the blogging software provider best known for Movable Type, told the Le Web 3 conference here in Paris that the new service's Question of the Day feature encouraged users to write blog posts when their creativity was running on empty.

by Robert Andrews 12 December 2006 16:44pm 0 comments

Le Web 3: Second Life firms 'not yet strong enough'

Despite a raft of headlines about its potential as a shopping environment in recent months, Second Life creator Linden Labs has conceded that few of its resident stores are yet making fortunes in the virtual world.

"Most of the brands that have come in have not created a strong enough presence to create a significant business for them at this moment in time," Linden Labs marketing director Glenn Fisher told the Le Web 3 conference in Paris this afternoon.

by Robert Andrews 12 December 2006 15:01pm 0 comments