Beliefnet joins
the News Corp family

Facebook:

• Coke is setting the record straight, saying it's impossible for it to have halted its involvement with Facebook's Beacon system because the company never joined in the first place.
• Federated Media has signed with two major Facebook application developers to sell ads within their apps.

Forecasts:

• The amount of money expected to be spent on online advertising in 2008 should be enough to keep the advertising industry from being impacted if a recession hits the US economy.
• The money being spent online is to some extent coming from existing budgets, resulting in less spending on other media.

Mobile:

• Nielsen says the mobile usage patters of pre-teens differs as dramatically from that of teenagers as that of teenagers differs from adults.

Video:
• Nick Jr. says its trippy kids show, Yo Gabba Gabba, is a hit on TV but an even bigger sensation online, where it's attracted an adult audience as well.
• comScore says that while the number of online viewers of video continues to climb, the rate of growth has slowed somewhat in the last half of the year.

Biz Buzz:

• Disney has reportedly acquired iParenting Media, the operator of a number of sites geared toward families and parents. The content from that network will likely be rolled into Disney's own family-targeted online ventures.
• News Corp. bought Beliefnet, a site focusing on spiritual and religious topics. News Corp. was reportedly attracted to the site's niche topic areas and upcoming social network plans.
• Both Google and Yahoo say their respective print and newspaper initiatives are doing just great.

Magazines:

• Consumers Union continues to find success with a paid-readership business model, bucking the recent trend of dropping paid access in favor of ad support.
• Magazines and other print pubs are scrambling to partner with established online health resources in an effort to serve a public anxious for health care and treatment information.
• Everyone is soliciting user-generated videos, images or other content for their websites in an effort to build brand interest and loyalty.
• Fortune is looking to expand the depth of its Fortune 500 coverage with video and other tweaks online.