Facebook announced this week that it would allow teenage users between 13 and 17 to make their posts public so that they can be seen by anyone on the social network, underscoring the competition between today’s social platforms to reach the teen audience and attract advertisers. Previously, the posts of teenage users could only be viewed by friends and friends of friends. While drawing criticism from privacy advocate groups, the move will enable Facebook to operate more like its rival Twitter. Continue reading Facebook Under Fire for Decision to Make Teens’ Posts Public

Smartphones can collect massive amounts of personal information, such as where users go, what they buy, and when they go to sleep. But current Web browser tracking software has become less effective for ads and cannot follow users across their devices. Based on the shift toward mobile, tech and advertising companies are looking into new ways to track consumers on their tablets and phones, while targeting them with specialized ads across all devices. Continue reading Startups Create Advanced Tracking of Users Across Devices

Twitter is planning to become a paid advertising service for TV networks. In recent months, Twitter has been attempting to lure television and advertisers with a more advanced marketing product called Amplify. Twitter is primarily a free service, and it can already create significant real-time traffic regarding specific TV shows. This traffic is gaining more recognition from companies, such as Nielsen, and competitors like Facebook. Continue reading Social TV: Twitter Launching Paid Ad Products for Networks

At this week’s Advertising Week conference in New York, Nielsen is expected to announce that it will start incorporating viewership on mobile devices into its TV ratings system in the fall of 2014. The move is in response to changing viewership trends in addition to networks and industry analysts that have been critical of the company’s slow adoption of new technologies. Nielsen’s ratings data helps determine how advertisers spend about $66 billion each year. Continue reading Nielsen to Include Tablets and Phones in TV Viewership Data

When marketers discuss social TV and growing trends involving second screens, they are often thinking Twitter, which has become synonymous with the sharing of TV-related content. Last week we reported that Twitter had acquired social TV tracking service Trendrr in a deal that further consolidates the social TV monitoring market. Understanding social TV is rapidly becoming vital to marketers. Earlier this year, Twitter purchased social analytics firm Bluefin Labs, and Nielsen acquired SocialGuide. Continue reading Despite Growing Competition, Twitter Leads Social TV Wave

Universal Music is developing a crowdfunding service that will support limited-edition releases of out-of-print vinyl records. The Vinyl Project aims to bring back rare and deleted records from Universal’s back catalog. CMU reports that releases currently being considered for availability to funders include “ABC” by The Jackson 5, Björk’s “Biophilia,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” by Elton John, “His N Hers” by Pulp, Def Leppard’s “Hysteria” and “Disraeli Gears” by Cream. Continue reading Universal’s Crowdfunding Effort to Save Out-of-Print Vinyl

Twitter has rolled out a new component to its #Music service for the Web that offers charts based on genre and artist popularity. The service is powered by the San Fancisco-based company We Are Hunted, which Twitter acquired in 2012. The charts provide compelling data that should be of interest to record labels and could potentially lead to artists engaging more directly with their fans on Twitter. Continue reading Twitter Introduces New Music Charts that Track Popularity

Google has announced a new data tracking service for Google Trends that offers information and related charts regarding the most-searched people, locations and assorted topics across more than 40 categories. The Top Charts feature provides those interested with details based on rankings by search interest for topics from movies to cities to sports teams to tourist attractions. The service is updated monthly and goes back to 2004. Continue reading Google Trends Adds Charts Feature for Tracking Searches