The Voice of Online Marketing | MEDIA KIT | NEWS TIPS
The latest practical news and developments at the intersection of search, email,
social media, mobile marketing, web analytics, online advertising, ecommerce and more.
Marketing News on Twitter Interactive marketing RSS newsfeed
Advertisement

Signs of doom

Articles about challenges to individual companies, sectors of Internet marketing industry or the fate of online media and marketing as a whole.

Narrow down your results by adding or subtracting another category. Numbers in the columns below indicate how many stories will be shown as a result of adding / removing each category. [ Help ]

Help

To narrow down your selection of articles, click on the "AND" or "NOT" next to any of the categories below. Say you’re currently browsing entries in category "A", you can then drill down into entries that belong both to category A and another category, or belong to category A but not another category. For instance, you could list entries about demographics in the automotive sector, or entries about email marketing that are not about spam. Numbers in the columns below indicate how many entries the selected operation will narrow your query to. You can combine multiple intersection and exclusion criteria to further limit the number of entries.


Your current selection AND NOT
» ad buying & planning 201 645
» ad pricing 36 810
» ad selling 121 725
» ad targeting 96 750
» ad technologies & vendors 89 757
» advertainment 13 833
» Advertising 2 844
» affiliate marketing 9 837
» agencies & ad departments 73 773
» alternative marketing 36 810
» Asia/Pacific 36 810
» automotive 20 826
» b2b 22 824
» best practices 29 817
» Beyond Marketing 1 845
» biz buzz 195 651
» branding 33 813
» broadband 62 784
» campaigns & creatives of note 32 814
» case studies 8 838
» co-op marketing & partnerships 17 829
» computers & tech 62 784
» consumer packaged goods 27 819
» CRM 2 844
» cross media 54 792
» deep coverage 1 845
» demographics 60 786
» direct marketing 99 747
» domain names 45 801
» don't believe the hype 42 804
» e-commerce 121 725
» email marketing 49 797
» entertainment 105 741
» Europe 64 782
» events 12 834
» finance 52 794
» global 21 825
» healthcare 14 832
» How-to 1 845
» I-PR & business communications 16 830
» instant messaging marketing 5 841
» interviews 2 844
» intrusive formats 58 788
» Latin America 5 841
» legal, government & regulation 230 616
» loyalty & retention 32 814
» major account moves 19 827
» major brands 151 695
» major players news 272 574
» measurement & analytics 51 795
» media convergence 53 793
» minorities 5 841
» mobile marketing 31 815
» multi-channel marketing 10 836
» new and improved 16 830
» nonsense & parodies 21 825
» online ad market 182 664
» pearls of wisdom 16 830
» people 70 776
» personalization 16 830
» political parties & organizations 42 804
» privacy 90 756
» promotions 8 838
» publishing 171 675
» real estate 6 840
» research & stats 253 593
» rich media 18 828
» search engine marketing 95 751
» seniors 8 838
» sex sells 3 843
» signs of recovery 28 818
» signs of what's to come 259 587
» small business 8 838
» spam & anti-spam 60 786
» Spanish-speaking 2 844
» syndication & RSS 12 834
» technical innovation 30 816
» telecom 19 827
» text ads 43 803
» tools & software 85 761
» top stories 140 706
» travel 10 836
» user experience 136 710
» viral marketing & social media 19 827
» weblog marketing 19 827
» women 17 829
» worst practices 241 605
» Youth 23 823

MARKETING JOBS
Advertisement

AP Software Tracks Appropriation of Content

The Associated Press is adding software to its articles, intended to inform readers of usage rights associated with the content -- and act as a policing agent, automatically informing the AP about how the article elsewhere online. Each article will be published with a digital "wrapper" -- data not visible to users that maximizes the content's ranking in search engines and tracks its movements across the web. The program will be introduced in stages stretching over the course of the next year,  [...]

Popfly Games/Mashup App Goes Belly-Up in August

On August 24, Microsoft will be discontinuing service and support for Popfly, a mashup and games creation app. A blog post by team leader John Montgomery reports that all sites, references and resources will be removed after August 24. Account access, and games or mashups created via Popfly, will also be discontinued. "However, Microsoft is still very much dedicated to helping you express your creativity,"   [...]

Hacked Accts Divulge Twitter's Thirst for Solvency ... and Meditation

A French hacker that managed to penetrate a number of sensitive Twitter employee accounts has leaked documents that reveal the company's financial ambitions, pending profit models and a "growing sense of entitlement" among its workers, Valleywag reports. The hacker, who goes by the pseudo Hacker Croll, accessed the email, Paypal, Amazon, Apple, AT&T, MobileMe, and Gmail accounts of higher-ups  [...]

MySpace to Cut 30% of US Team

This week MySpace announced plans to cut 30% of its US workforce -- a total of 420 employees. "Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company," stated CEO Owen Van Natta. comScore figures suggest Facebook had about half of MySpace's US audience this time last year. But by May 2009, MySpace's audience plummeted to 70 million and is now outpaced by Facebook, which has over 300 million users worldwide. (The US userbase  [...]

McAfee Pegs 'Lyrics,' Free Downloads, Economic Crisis Keywords Risky

Online security firm Mcafee has released a report about the most dangerous search terms online -- terms that, once sought, may lead users to unsafe malware websites. Of the 50 riskiest expressions to search across sites like Google, Yahoo, Live, AOL and Ask, "word unscrambler," "lyrics," "myspace" and "free music downloads" topped all others:   [...]

Advertisement

College Facebook Users Have Lower GPAs

College students who use Facebook spend less time studying and have lower grade-point averages (GPAs) than students who have not signed up for the popular social networking site, according to a study by researchers at Ohio State University. While the study of 219 OSU graduate and undergraduate students did not uncover a direct cause-and-effect link between Facebook use and lowe  [...]

Time Warner to Divorce Company Balance Sheet from Ailing AOL

Yesterday Time Warner announced it shall move forward with its anticipated spin-off of AOL as an independent entity with separate, publicly traded stocks. The company owns 95% of the former online subscription service giant. Google owns 5% (worth $1 billion three years ago). Time Warner shall repurchase Google's stake in Q3 to prepare for AOL's solo release on the stock exchange. AOL's ad revenue fel  [...]

Americans Choose ID Protection over Weight Loss

Though two-thirds of US adults are now considered overweight or obese, nearly 60% of Americans would rather reduce their risk of identity theft by 20% than lose 20 pounds, according to a survey from Ipsos Public Affairs and ID Analytics.   [...]

Advertisement

26% of Mobile Users Text While Driving

Despite an increasing number of state bans on driving while texting (DWT) and numerous reports of texting-related accidents, more than one-fourth (26%) of US mobile-phone users send and/or receive text messages behind the wheel, finds a study from Vlingo. Vlingo's second annual Consumer Mobile Messaging Habits Report reveals that drivers in  [...]

B2B Media Revenue Falls; Online Offsets Some Print Losses

Business-to-business (B2B) media company revenue declined 2.2% in 2008 vs. 2007, but revenue growth in online, live events, and data products helped offset revenue declines for magazines, according to American Business Media's (ABM's) 2009 Media Financial Survey. The new survey, which attempts to accurately measure today  [...]

Bandwidth-Thirsty Developing World Poses Threat to Web's Bottom Line

Photo-sharing sites, social networks, and video distributors (e.g., Flickr, Facebook, YouTube) are booming in developing nations like Turkey, India, and Brazil - but struggling to turn a profit from online advertising alone. Internet entrepreneurs have always operated under the ideals of uniting everyone in a single online "village" by providing free services to   [...]

Yahoo Broadcasts Requiem for GeoCities

Last week Yahoo announced plans to shut down GeoCities, an old-school web hosting service, later this year. "We have decided to discontinue the process of allowing new customers to sign up for GeoCities accounts as we focus on helping our customers explore and build new relationships online in other ways," the company stated. "We'll provide more details about closing GeoCities and how to save your site data this sum  [...]

Poll: Society Too Dependent on Gadgets

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of Americans think today's society is too dependent upon electronic gadgets, and 39% do not think technology (mobile phones, Wi-Fi networks and GPS) really makes people more productive, according to (pdf) a recent Harris Poll from Harris Interactive. Surprisingly, the study found no significant age divide among those   [...]

Old Navy, Chrysler, Palm among Top 12 Brands Likely to Disappear

As the recession deepens, economic forces continue to drive consolidation in the retail industry, debt comes due and increasingly discerning consumers buckle down on discretionary spending. An analysis by 24/7 Wall Street predicts that a number of well-known brands are likely to disappear before the end of 2010. To determine which brands are most likely at risk,   [...]

Court Rules Certain Keywords Potential Trademark Violations

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a ruling in a Google case that may impact the way AdWords operates nationwide. Reversing a 2006 ruling that judged advertisers could buy trademarked search terms without violating trademark law, the Court concluded that recommending and "selling" a mark to advertisers -- for the purpose of triggering a sponsored link -- could violate trademark law. It also claimed product placements could be subject to trademark law if the trademark holder ca  [...]

Amazon Pulls Plug on Paid Search Associates' Fees

As of May 1, 2009, web retail giant Amazon will cease paying referral fees to Associates that use pay-per-click programs on search engines to send traffic to amazon.com, amazon.ca or endless.com. The news was covered in the Amazon Associates FAQ section and is a permanent change. According to Amazon, the decision was made after an overall review of how the company invests its advertising resources. Only Associates   [...]

Google to Cut 200 in Global Marketing, Sales

Google is making plans to cut 200 sales and marketing jobs -- half of which are based in North America, reports Advertising Age, which labeled it the biggest round of layoffs in the firm's history. Early this year Google announced it would discharge a "substantial number" of temporary and contract workers. Figures were not provided, but i  [...]

YHOO Folds Up FareChase Travel Bargain Site

Yahoo is shutting down FareChase, a travel bargain website it acquired in July 2004 and relaunched in '06. After this afternoon, visitors to FareChase will be redirected to its primary travel site, travel.yahoo.com. FareChase enabled users to run price-comparison searches for flights, hotels, cruises and cars. According to TechCrunch, FareChase's technology and user base did not provide sufficiently significant enhancement  [...]

Ad Spend Falls Thru '09, Forecasts Slightly Better for '10

Ad spend is expected to drop 12% in 2009, but signs indicate a leveling-off in 2010, according to a recently released Media Business Report from Jack Myers.com Media Network. The Myers report predicts a double-digit drop in total ad spending in 2009, following a 4% decline last year. It also projects this decline to continue into 2010, with a 5% dip for the full year, albeit off of a smaller base, MarketingCharts   [...]

Arnold Cuts Jobs, Salaries

Havas-owned Arnold is cutting about 7% of its headquarters workforce - about 40 employees - and is trimming salaries in its three primary offices. The job cuts are taking place only at the Boston office. The pay cuts are believed to be a first for the agency business in this downturn, writes Adweek (via Medi  [...]

Apple's Wings Clipped By Recession

Apple's Mac business has slowed and is expected to shrink this quarter, reports Business Insider. Last year, Apple's March quarter Mac shipments grew 51% year-over-year. Financial analysts expects Apple's Mac unit shipments to drop 4% year-over-year this quarter to 2.2 million units. Several factors combine to stop the phenomenal growth it had last year: a huge drop in the PC   [...]

Revised TOS Gives Facebook Perpetual Rights to User Content

This month Facebook revised its Terms of Use, a document it is legally permitted to update at any time without informing users. Users demonstrate tacit acceptance of the Terms by continuous use of the site. The revision grants Facebook complete, perpetual ownership of content up  [...]

Google to Exit Radio Ad Business, Cut 40 Staffers

Google is shutting down its Audio Ads and Adsense for Audio products. It is also making plans to sell Google Radio Automation. About 40 employees working in Google's broadcast radio advertising sector can expect to lose their jobs. The move comes a month shy of Google's decision to shut down its print ad business. In January, services like Dodgeball, Jaiku and Google Video, were either   [...]

Media Industry Layoffs Higher than Avg; 'Net Companies Add 7% More Jobs

The advertising and media industry has cut 65,100 jobs since the recession began in Dec. 2007, according to AdAge DataCenter's analysis of figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (via MediaBuyerPlanner). Media companies cut 41,000 US jobs, or 4.6% of staff, since the recession began -- while advertising/marketi  [...]

IAC Suffers Dismal Q4, Repositions Ask (Again)

This week InterActive Corp. reported a 19% drop in Q4 media and advertising revenue -- a plummet more significant than any experienced by other publicly-traded internet search providers. (Time Warner's AOL ad unit came close, however. Its Q4 ad revenue clocked an 18% drop.) Search ad prices for IAC fell 8-12% compared to the same period last year. The company projects media and ad revenue to decline by over 20% in 1Q  [...]