Although the rivalry between Facebook and Google is already high, a new study from Appcelerator and the International Data Corporation (IDC) indicates some surprising results that will likely heat up the competition even further. The study, which surveyed, more than 2,000 mobile developers, found that 39 percent of developers plan to focus on Google initiatives instead of Facebook’s social graph this year.
Since this was a bit of shock to everyone, Michael King, Appcelerator’s principal mobile strategist, told us that the companies actually did a follow up survey to find out what was really happening. As he explained to WebProNews, developers think Google is better in terms of its network assets such as YouTube, search, maps, and Android. They also felt Google was better about engaging with them and offering guidance for how they should develop social applications for mobile.
King said that Facebook really needed to step up its efforts because, if not, Google could move ahead of it.
The study also found that developers have a smaller interest in Android apps, but that both HTML5 and cloud development are on the rise.
Do these results come as a surprise to you, or did you expect developers to gravitate toward Google instead of Facebook? Please share your thoughts.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Mar 24th, 2012. 
The Super Bowl is less than a week away and people are already talking about the commercials. What will the brands come up with this year? Which celebrities will appear in ads? Who will be successful and who will not?
These are just some of the questions that people are wondering about in regards to this year’s big game. WebProNews spoke with Peter Daboll, the CEO of ad analytics company Ace Metrix, who offered some insight into what we could expect to see as well as what works and what doesn’t.
For starters, he told us that celebrities don’t ensure success. In fact, he said that ads without celebrities generally work better than those with them. However, he did say that animals seem to always be effective because they appeal to a broader demographic and are much more likable.
It appears that Sketchers is finding this out since it recently dropped its spokesmodel Kim Kardashian for a dog.
Although we won’t know which brands will pull off successful ads until Sunday, Daboll said that we could likely expect effective spots from Coca-Cola, M&M’s, and Doritos since they consistently do well.
Do you prefer animals or celebrities in commercials? Let us know.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Jan 31st, 2012.
Anyone who has ever played Farmville (or has been asked by a friend to harvest her crops while she is at work) knows how incredibly addicting that game can be. I myself have been addicted at one point or another to “CSI: Crime City,” I ended up playing the game for hours and made it a priority more important than basically everything. Until I got bored, and now I stay on Facebook for a maximum of five minutes.
That type of mentality scares giants like Facebook and Google. The longer a user stays on a site the more advertisers want to place their ads, because there are more and longer viewers. Google has recently been dealing with this problem as searchers tend to only stay on their site for a few seconds while rivals like Facebook have users trolling for hours.
Not anymore. Now that Google + has adapted Facebook’s gaming strategy, users should be coming in and staying on in flocks. The games played directly on the site have been immensely popular already, and Google + has grabbed the hottest games around right now. Angry Birds and Bejeweled Blitz are coming to Google + with an established fan base.
Zynga poker, already very big on Facebook, is also joining Google +. Zynga does most of its business on Facebook but as they have just filed to go public Google has been investing and the two companies are now partners. Although Zynga’s most popular Farmville and Mafia Wars will not be making the transition, more are sure to come.
The best part for non-gamers about this transition is Google’s non-invasive strategy. To access the games one must only find the top of the news feed and you can see who is playing and what games are available. Thankfully, updates are only shared with a certain group of friends, meaning you will not be flooded with notifications about games you could care less about.
Google is holding events for gaming developers and application developers soon, it announced on Thursday. For now the invites to developers will go slowly, however, to emphasize quality over quantity.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Aug 13th, 2011.
While social media seems to be the newest and coolest form of marketing, we have seen that more traditional forms of marketing, such as email marketing, are still effective. Ben Lerer, the co-founder of lifestyle website Thrillist, further proved this idea in a recent interview with WebProNews.
He told us that even though social media was important, his company has found that its users embrace email in the same way that others share on social sites.
“We’re really good at getting people to forward emails and to use email as sort of social media,” he said.
Thrillist recently rolled out its own version of daily deals, called Rewards, which are geared especially toward young professional men. The company has, however, been able to successfully utilize Foursquare to promote its localized Rewards.
What works better for you: email or social media?
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Jul 13th, 2011.
The rumors about Facebook partnering with music services have been swirling for a while now. Last month, the New York Times reported that the company was in talks with several services on the development of a tab/widget that would display …
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Jun 20th, 2011.
