Google is trying to sweeten the commercial pill for users by giving Adword advertisers a facility to include editorial-style images with their text ads. The image extensions are in the beta stage as Google fiddles about to get the results right, but hint at being a promising new avenue for advertisers who have not been able to use the image-based product listing ads (PLAs) shown in search results. They are also intended to do more than just make the search engine more exciting for advertisers. To avoid alienating users the company will only accept photographs of a certain standard – those that are beautiful, convey something useful and enhance the overall user experience.

Image extensions are a clear response to the challenge facing Google of keeping its searchers satisfied and on-side while increasing the opportunities for advertisers to tap into its vast audience. The photographs that accompany PLAs have proved very successful in encouraging click-throughs and boosting conversion rates but until now these were only available to ecommerce sellers with direct feeds to the product’s page in their online store. The new facility will open this selling potential to a wider range of online advertisers, particularly those in sectors such as travel, lifestyle and luxury cars who rely on beautiful images to do much of the hard selling work for them.

The text and image ads will only show in the top slot on the results page and it is too early to tell what effect they will have on the organic search results and non-image ads that are likely to be pushed further down the page. Google say the ads are only being seen by about one per cent of users in this test phase. The company has issued strict guidelines that have to be met for a photograph to be approved – high quality images, no animation or logos and specific requirements for sizing and proportion. This new revenue stream is clearly going to look as uncommercial as possible.

Facebook backs away from sponsored stories

Sponsored stories might just have been a step too far in Facebook’s drive to woo new advertising revenue. As part of a revamp of its ad formats the company says it is getting rid of the paid-for posts that have annoyed many users who get commercial links showing up alongside their posts as if they have personally endorsed them. Advertisers might have loved them – a friend’s recommendation is much more believable and powerful than a blatant ad – but it led to some embarrassing situations for users who found themselves linked to things they did not want to be associated with. Instead the company is halving its current 27 marketing formats and introducing a selection of standardised in-line ads. Could this mean Facebook is really listening to its users? They might lose some revenue from the popular sponsored stories but the thought of losing users must surely be a far greater worry.

The post Minnie’s Roundup: Google Ads with Images and Facebook Drops Sponsored Stories appeared first on Mediarun.

Much of the growth is expected to come from sales to tourists. Sixty four per cent of the brands surveyed said they would be targeting shoppers visiting the country from abroad by implementing measures that make it easier to pay with foreign currencies and by hiring more staff with language skills. Surprisingly it is Chinese visitors, and not those from Russia, who are seen as being the fastest-growing market for luxury goods. The dollar continues to be important as well with Americans making up a big proportion of high-end shoppers.

Looking abroad for the future of luxury

Britain’s luxury brands are also looking further afield to emerging markets in Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Southeast Asia. India was cited as an important market by those surveyed although growth there is hampered by bureaucracy and a lack of local infrastructure. Most eyes are on Brazil, however, as it prepares to play host to next year’s World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. Thirteen per cent of brands said they were currently trading in the country while 52 per cent said they were making plans to establish a presence there in the run-up to the games. Back home the focus for luxury goods is still London with its high-fashion shopping outlets, but 81 per cent of brands also have shops in other affluent cities like Edinburgh and Manchester.

For the future the luxury sector is pinning its hopes for growth on the internet, with most respondents saying that expanding their digital capability was the highest priority for this year. The study pointed to a high level of awareness among brands of the challenge posed by a new generation of shoppers who are totally engaged with the net and the social media. Technological innovation is seen as the key, coupled with a dynamic use of social media and other digital marketing strategies to target luxury shoppers who now see their computer or mobile device as having an integral role to play in any buying decision. Brands expect to invest heavily in e-commerce platforms and mobile commerce over the coming year to capitalise on the opportunities this brings.

The post Luxury Goods Set to Rise Above Recession appeared first on Mediarun.

The recent sunshine brought big smiles to the world of online fashion retailing as shoppers hit the internet in search of something suitably skimpy to wear. According to the latest Retail Sales Monitor, online sales of non-food items rose by 11 per cent in May and most of that was down to clothing and footwear. The figures, compiled by the British Retail Consortium and KPMG, show strong sales for swimwear and casual summer wear and even better results for children’s clothes, especially basic essentials.

Footwear also saw a strong performance with most retailers saying they were discounting less than in May last year. Women’s footwear did particularly well as the sun prompted shoppers to go in search of sandals and slip-on pumps. Indications were that the growth was largely due to retailers getting the timing right for their promotional activity, not an easy thing to do given the vagaries of the British weather. Short-term discounts and special offers also worked well, enabling retailers to clear out slow-selling stock.

It was a months in which online shopping proved to be the saviour of retail. Without these online sales neither the clothing nor footwear sectors would have seen any significant growth at all. Overall the retail market had a good month with sales up by 3.4 per cent but sadly, like the weather, it was not too last. As temperatures fell towards the end of May so too did the rate of growth.

Vine reaches out to Android

Apple iOS devices lost a little more of their exclusivity this week when Twitter brought out its long awaited Vine app for Android. The app, available on iOS since January, enables users to create and share six second videos on Twitter and has captured the imagination of 13 million users since its launch. It is widely used by amateurs and professionals, including a Turkish journalist who used it to broadcast images after a suicide bombing in Ankara.

Vine will now work on devices running Android 4.0 or higher, although some of the iOS features are not yet available. Twitter says it will introduce them soon, including search, hashtags, Facebook sharing and support for front-facing cameras. Android users can practise a little one-upmanship in one area, however, because they will have a zoom facility that is not available on iOS. Twitter is playing to the crowd by hinting that there may be future features exclusively for Android.

Google goes large

It seems Google is testing again. The unofficial Google Operating System blog reports that bigger thumbnails are showing up for some of the videos appearing in search results. The larger image appears to be used for results from YouTube and Dailymotion that show up first on a tablet screen, and has a +1 button added in place of the usual snippet. It does not show up on all devices, however, leading observers to suggest this is a very limited test for a new way of presenting results. Google, unsurprisingly, is keeping quiet.

The post Minnie’s Roundup: Boost for Online Fashion, Vine on Android and Google Runs More Tests appeared first on Mediarun.

The smartphone is fast emerging as every shopper’s best friend, the first thing they reach for before heading out for a splurge in the stores. Eight out of ten smartphone owners now use them for shopping and the vast majority of these users rely on them for help in deciding what they are going to buy and for how much. A new Google study has found that 84 per cent of smartphone shoppers use their phones while they are in a store to compare prices, read reviews and get product information. In appliance stores the days of trying to get advice from a clueless teenage shop assistant are long gone – 97 per cent of smartphone shoppers in this category turn to their phones for help instead.

The study, from Google’s Shopper Marketing Agency Council, makes essential reading for anyone still unconvinced by the power of mobile shopping. Among other things it shows that the amount people spend rises in proportion to the amount they use their phone. Frequent mobile shoppers spend as much as 50 per cent more than those who use their phones less often, but the buying decision is not always made quickly. Almost half the users said they used their mobile for more than 15 minutes per store visit before deciding what to buy and most of that time is spent checking to see whether they can get the product cheaper elsewhere. Appliance shoppers were the most price conscious with 74 per cent using their smartphones to look for savings.

This new breed of smartphone shopper is not convinced by the advice offered by dedicated store and brand apps. Most – 82 per cent – rely on search engines to get information on where products are sold, where they are cheapest and where there might be special offers. Just 21 per cent do their research using store apps. The results of the study have led Google to re-emphasise their advice for businesses to embrace mobile, saying it is no longer an option but an imperative. Given these figures, few in the SEO world would disagree.

Twitter is watching its TV tweeters

If things go according to plan Twitter could soon be watching you watch television. It sounds like something Orwell’s Big Brother would have dreamt up but this is just another attempt by the social media site to get more cash flowing into its coffers. Twitter’s plan is to give advertisers the ability to send their ads direct to users, based on the television programme the user is watching at that moment. It relies on the fact that many people tweet a running commentary as they watch a programme or a sports match, thus revealing what they are watching. Brands will also be able to send relevant messages to people who have just watched and commented on one of their television ads. Twitter, conscious as ever of not upsetting its tweeters, says there will be a limit on the number of ads a user sees in a day.

The post Minnie’s Roundup: Shoppers turn to Smartphones and Twitter is Watching You appeared first on Mediarun.

What was most significant to me from an ecommerce point of view however, was the wealth of user ratings data that Amazon now owns. Collecting product reviews is a major challenge for any retailer. Even with a concerted effort in site design and customer follow-up most sites would be lucky to get greater than 2% of their customers to write a review after purchase, particularly for low cost FMCG products. Therefore large volumes of sales are needed to get a critical mass that delivers significant data, particularly across a long tail of products. Presumably, Amazon are also going to end Goodreads’ agreements with other sites that use their ratings (Google Books most notably) and set them back in the social proof stakes.

As many industry voices have stated, Amazon now has a ludicrously dominant position in the bookselling market and with that in mind, I will make my point. The literary world is familiar with the conceit that with great power comes great responsibility and I’d argue that now Amazon bears this responsibility and sets a new standard for online product reviews. This is particularly relevant to books which while they are products, are also cultural works occupying places in entertainment, art, historical record, education and more. It’s important therefore that a book website as prominent as Amazon recognises how influential the review scores are beyond simple commercial terms. Viewed even as a reference source, Amazon is unlikely to be rivalled by any non-commercial site for the volume of review data it can access.

Amazon led the way in online product reviews for years due to their sizeable user base, an excellent recommendation algorithm and a customer profile design that encouraged users to submit reviews. Recently however, there has been little innovation in this area and if anything, it has attracted negative attention for being easily corrupted by fake reviews from authors, publishers and third parties offering positive reviews for $5 a pop. Amazon have done work behind the scenes, clearing out suspicious reviews and profiles but it is impossible to tell how much irregularity is still present. Even with the dishonest reviews removed, there are numerous low quality and ill-informed opinions that degrade the system.

And this is where the main problem lies with the Goodreads review system. Even with a prioritisation system (driven by ‘likes’ of reviews) and a manual system of removing reviews that contravene their guidelines (abuse, off-topic, spam etc) there is a distinct regression to the mean for many popular book scores. As a result, a “difficult” book that may not be possible to appreciate under a certain reading age will receive a lot of low review scores from people who have heard its reputation but were disappointed when they read it. These scores will be counted in the average and therefore we see many literary classics with mediocre scores on Goodreads. As a result, they often score lower than hugely popular but critically dismissed books.

It’s official. Ulysses is rubbish.

So what can Amazon do with their wealth of review and user data? What standard should the internet expect now? I offer the following suggestions:

Greater Weight to Top Reviewers

Several of my suggestions relate to providing a weighting to the user profile itself. Amazon already attributes status to top reviewers but does not weight their scores when calculating averages. Interestingly, Goodreads does attribute authority to most ‘liked’ reviewers and use a weighting in their averages. That, for me, is the way forward but I would argue a stronger weighting than Goodreads’ is needed for the most popular reviewers.

Weight Reviewers Based on Authority

Similar to popular reviewers which are judged by a site’s user base, authority can be bestowed by other means. Meta review site Metacritic manually applies a hidden level of authority to every review source they feature, thereby weighting the average in favour of people who are theoretically more knowledgeable about their subjects. Likewise, Amazon could conceivably apply an authority score to profiles in a number of ways such as allowing professional critics, authors, academics etc to register their profile for inclusion; incorporating social influence scores; manually identifying authoritative profiles.

Segment Authority Based on Product Category

Reviews of other products should be treated separately to books when calculating a profile’s authority. A review of an olive pitter, for example should not have a great bearing on a user’s ability to review books. Authority weighting can therefore be category-specific and provide a truer score for products.

Personalise Review Scores to the Visitor

Goodreads and LibraryThing both have a system that personalises book review scores towards an individual user, essentially providing recommendations. The systems involve comparing a user’s reviews of books to other profiles’ scores and predicting how much the user will like any book, using similar profiles. Amazon’s current recommendation system is comparable but simply outputs a recommendation rather than a score saying just how much you should like it. This is an objective system and therefore of interest for ecommerce where the goal is to sell books to individuals. It is a powerful selling tool and perhaps surprising therefore that the leading ecommerce site on the internet has not implemented it yet.

Reduce Weight of Reviewers with Extreme Score History

Some people see everything as superlative and give only minimum or maximum review scores. Also, the nature of online reviews sees people who have had extreme experiences with a product or service incentivised to complain or congratulate the supplier. While these views have validity, their extreme nature should be taken into account and when an individual profile provides consistently extreme reviews, they should be weighted down.

Reduce Weight of Reviewers with Poor Grammar and Spelling

This sounds like elitism but it can simply be applied to the most extreme cases. For book reviews in particular, the ability to write a sentence correctly should correlate with a basic reading age and experience. A review of a car by someone who can barely drive is of limited value.

Reduce Weight for Reviews with Flagged Key Words

The credibility of a review can be questioned should certain phrases like “didn’t finish”, “so boring” or “best book ever” or similar appear. Granted, the logistics of creating an algorithm that accurately finds these (ab)uses might be tricky, but we can dream.

Provide Users with a Separate Place to Review Value and Delivery Success

As alluded to earlier, reviews on retail sites can be about the experience of buying rather than the product itself. Amazon could segregate these reviews by providing a separate stream of reviews and scores for people wishing to comment on price, delivery, condition issues etc.

Amazon owes their mass of user reviews and data to their customers who have freely provided this over years. I would argue that they are far from reciprocating this generosity with the current ratings systems they provide. The userbase deserves a far better system that is worthy of their collective effort. It is time Amazon (or someone) set a new standard for product ratings that brings the technology into the new decade and sets a new benchmark for ecommerce and online experience.

The post Amazon, Goodreads and Ebook Retail: 8 Ways Amazon Can Improve User Ratings appeared first on Mediarun.

That cute little penguin has got the web world running for cover again. Google’s chief spam slayer Matt Cutts has announced an update to Penguin that is so major the company is billing it as a new generation algorithm, one that will have a deeper effect on webmasters than the original version. Although it is the fourth update of Penguin, Google are highlighting its significance by calling it Penguin 2.0 and renumbering the second and third as Penguins 1.1 and 1.2.

Cutts says the update, now rolled out for all languages, will affect 2.3 per cent of queries in English and possibly more in languages which have more spam. Similarly, sectors such as gambling, gaming and pornography can expect to feel the heat more as they are traditionally more prone to spam than others. For those who stick to sound SEO principles, however, the changes should bring no fear. Cutts insists they are after black hat spammers and have no quarrel with those who produce great sites with compelling content that users love.

The update has been live since May 22 so its full effect is not yet known. Early analysis, however, bears out predictions on who the losers might be. SearchMetrics’ list of the 25 sites who have lost the most includes a high proportion of games and porn sites. Inexplicably the Salvation Army is also there, so the penguin is either expressing an intolerance of brass bands or it needs a little fine tuning itself.

Twitter says it with cards

Twitter is hoping to have found a way to reconcile that awkward social media marriage between users and advertisers, the one based on selling to people in such a way they think they’re enjoying the experience. The company has introduced a new type of Twitter Card, called the Lead Generation Card, which makes it possible for users to register their interest in an offer or promotion with a single click. This automatically adds their username and email address to a mailing list for any future special offers. The Twitter Card is an expanded form of tweet that allows for the inclusion of other media experiences and tools, and this new addition is designed to give it a more commercial edge while keeping the users sweet by not expecting them to do very much at all.

YouTube brings shopping to the show

There is a similar hard commercial edge creeping in at YouTube where owners Google are introducing a new channel gadget that allows users to shop directly from the site. The ‘buy now’ gadget is designed to sit on channels displaying product information, typically those showing videos on how the products should be used. Tresemmé have been the first to try it on their channel which offers advice on hair care and styling, and has already had more than 2.7 million views. Clicking on the gadget lets the user find their nearest retailer, check availability and to compare prices, all without leaving their YouTube screen.

The post Minnie’s Roundup: Penguin 2.0, Twitter Lead Generation and ‘Buy Now’ on YouTube appeared first on Mediarun.

A slick looking website may be great for a company’s image but it does nothing for the bottom line if it fails to persuade visitors to become customers. Conversion is the key to success for most web sites and the most effective tools for achieving this are landing pages. Whereas a home page offers a virtual shop window on a company’s services and products, a landing page can be a powerful means of persuading a visitor to take an action such as buying a product, registering for a newsletter, sharing the page or enquiring about a service. There are three simple guidelines to creating a landing page that becomes a conversion machine for your company.

Know what you want

A landing page should have one specific job to do and it needs to do it well. The first step in getting those essential conversions is to identify exactly what you want the page to achieve. Everything on the page should be focussed on the central goal of getting a viewer to click on the call-to-action button. If there are other actions you would like them to take put those on their own landing pages – on this page you do not want a visitor confused or led astray by other choices or options. Keep additional links and news of other deals to a minimum to avoid diluting the central purpose of your landing page. Ideally these should have landing pages of their own.

Keep it simple, keep it fun

Once you have established your primary goal the next step is to build it in to every part of the page to take the reader on an easy-to-follow, hassle-free route to conversion. The headline, content and overall design needs to convince them quickly that the call-to-action offers something relevant and tangible. If there is a contact form to complete only ask for information that is absolutely essential. A name and email address is about the most you can expect the average viewer to be bothered to complete. You want to make the process as simple and enjoyable as possible so make it easy for them to find what they are looking for – and make that call-to-action button stand out. No-one wants to go ferreting about on the bottom of a page for an obscure link.

Make it punchy

From headline through to the action button your landing page needs to grab a visitor’s attention and hold it long enough to tell them why they are on the page and what is in it for them. Make it punchy, use your keyword in the heading and early on in the text and avoid overburdening them with details. Highlight the key benefits but don’t list them all – big slabs of text might have them clicking away before they hit the button. Ultimately the offer must be worth the actions they are required to take to get it. So make it snappy, short and simple, then sit back and watch those conversion figures rise.

The post Smooth Landings for Killer Conversions appeared first on Mediarun.

It is an undeniable truth that marketing in the fashion industry is dominated by bloggers and their blogs. Fortunately this is a situation that, if handled correctly, can serve to benefit the blogger and brands alike. One area that we highlight at Mediarun is forming comprehensive outreach strategies that rely less upon relationship that have been brokered and more on organic relationships that come from bloggers being good matches for brands, innovative outreach ideas and solutions, and relationships fostered across a number of platforms.

Here is our step to step guide to building relationships with bloggers:

Find your Audience

The first part of any outreach strategy is about identifying your audience. This comes from understanding your USP and how a market interacts with you. To take two examples, the demographic interested in Urban Outfitters is likely to be different to those attracted to Hockley. Urban Outfitters is a high street fashion brand targeting trend conscious individuals in their twenties. The audience of Urban Outfitters is tied into the temporality of trends whereas the audience of Hockley is interested in Heritage, Prestige and Luxury. Their target audience has to be able to afford the items they sell. This normally focuses their trade to more affluent clients looking for a luxurious brand. Taking the client’s USP and target market into consideration changes the types of outreach targets and content. The methodology of audience profiling and targeting all lead from having a clear picture of what your audience what and how they perceive you brand.

From this point you can use social media to garner a better understanding of who will be interested in your brand and how they use the web to interact with you and other comparible fashion brands. The social profiling techniques that I quickly outlined in a previous blog post is the an excellent way to get a snapshot of your audience. A great place to start is to look at who is already following you. These people express a clear desire to know more about your brand. From this point you can examine who they follow to see the other types of accounts and blogs they follow.

Understand your Audience

This is a crucial part of our service offering at Mediarun. By analysing your sample audience we are able to present clients with an in-depth analysis of their social sphere and outreach opportunities. Our analysis includes, but is not limited to:

• Key blogs & websites for outreach (our analysis looks at Domain authorities but also examines their social presence).
• Most linked-to websites
• Types of content (are people using websites or social platforms that our client were unaware of) Content theme
• Who is talking to who?- Understanding the conversations around fashion can be a great way to ingratiate yourself in the right circles

This information is priceless in forming an Outreach strategy and a target list for blogger we wish to approach for clients.

Be Innovative

Once you have identified the bloggers that you think are a good match for you brand it is now time to sell yourself! Fashion bloggers want to collaborate with big brands and those which are at the forefront of industry tactics. Make sure you don’t bore them into passing up an opportunity to work with you! Having learnt about your audience and the bloggers, excite them with the level of insight and understanding before you seal the deal with your creative ideas for engagement.

Get links, but be aware of other avenues

Getting links is a great tactic for improving search visibility but one of several goods including traffic and subsequent social promotion. When viewed alongside the glacial shift of Internet-based companies towards social search and peer reviews it is clear that social is playing a massive part in digital marketing campaigns and outreach strategies. This has been recently emphasised by Klout’s integration into Bing, Facebook’s Graph Search and the looming presence of Google+.

When you identify blogs and bloggers it is essential that you create a full picture of the size of the opportunity. Make sure you look into their social profiles as well as the popularity of their blog. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest are all great ways in which you can increase your brand exposure in the right circles and look to develop links naturally.

Let’s look at a key blogger in the fashion industry to get a better understanding of the potential for different types of opportunity in social media.

Coco’s Tea Party

Ella Gregory’s blog has a Domain Authority of 52 and is heavily sought after for getting brands’ products featured. However, her blog is not her only powerful tool. Let’s look at her whole social profile to see how a relationship with this blogger could benefit your brand.

Twitter

Her twitter profile is well followed and is very active. Having a conversation with her over twitter or getting a product mentioned by @cocosteaparty on Twitter could drastically increase your own follower count and traffic to your website. Being associated with the right fashion blogger is always going to be positive for your brand. Remember a relationship can begin with a simple hello.

Pinterest

Whilst Coco’s Tea Party is an established blog there are certain platforms that are less developed. This could mean an opportunity for creating a new form of interaction for her with fashion brands and followers. Her Pinterest page may only have 1,605 followers but it is worth remembering the value of the platform: any endorsement will perpetually remain on a pin board with an active link to your product page. This can be a great way to build brand identity and see tangible increases in traffic to your website.

It is also important to remember that building a relationship with the blogger can be as important as the type of feature you receive. If you are able to help a successful blogger push and promote a part of her strategy that is yet to take off, they are bound to remember this and you could see benefits in the future.

Facebook, Google+ and Instagram

The same tactics apply as I have outlined earlier on. Understand the blogger you are approaching, the platform they are using and the potential benefits for both parties.

Pose

Sometimes it is the little known platforms that can make the biggest difference to marketing strategies. Pose is yet to fully take off in the UK but it is growing rapidly. Users of Pose are reportedly viewing 120 million images a month. A mixture of Instagram and Pinterest, Pose is a real opportunity for UK fashion brands to stake their claim before this platform explodes in the UK.

Note: Fashion marketing is about relationships!

The key point to take away from this blog post is that outreach (particularly in the fashion industry) is all about building relationships and imparting the personal touch. This begins with understanding your audience needs and ends with building lasting partnerships with bloggers. A final point of consideration is the bloggers network. If you treat your bloggers well word will spread, but be warned, the wind can change quickly if you decide to neglect these bloggers!

If you have any questions about our methodology please get in contact or leave a message in our comments section below.

The post How to Work with Fashion Bloggers appeared first on Mediarun.

While Facebook is doing everything it can to make itself more attractive to advertisers, arch rival Google+ is clearly going the other way in an attempt to get more people to join its gang. The company has just announced a whole string of user enhancements which it says are designed to make the site more about relationships and sharing and less about technology.

The refinements, some of which are neat and some of which might actually prove very useful, are intended to create a seamless experience across the many devices people now use to access their social media. The Google+ stream gets a new multi-column layout which will adapt to fit the screen it is being viewed on, while photographs and videos can now fill the entire width of the stream.

There are also some neat animations which will delight anyone stuck on a train and needing something to play with. On the useful side, Google+ will now scan posts and assign them a hashtag to enable users to delve deeper and follow conversations on particular topics. Hangouts also get an upgrade with a stand-alone version that combines posts, photos and live video across all viewing devices.

Google is also sharing a much bigger chunk of its cloud by offering unlimited free storage for standard sized photographs and 15Gb – up from 5Gb – of free storage for everything else. Users get a host of other features as well to store, tweak and manage pictures once they are in the cloud. It’s an attractive package and one which might just leave some of the Facebook crowd wishing they had thought of it first.

Bothered? Not in Britain

It seems that when it comes to online privacy half of all British internet users just simply can’t be bothered. A Microsoft survey has found that although 84 per cent of UK users are concerned about privacy issues, this concern does not often extend to the point of doing something about it. The company is using the survey to underpin a major TV and digital ad campaign aimed at making users aware of their digital footprint and encouraging them to use Internet Explorer’s security features, including the recently introduced tracking controls. It remains to be seen whether the target audience can be bothered to watch it.

If you want to get ahead get an app

The internet throws up some astonishing figures and the latest from Apple are no exception. The company has just celebrated the download of the 50 billionth app from its App Store – that’s around seven downloads for every person on the planet or 100 for every iOS device ever sold. The figures highlight the huge potential of the apps market and the seemingly insatiable curiosity of users to try everything at least once. Apple says it has paid out $9 billion to developers since the launch of the App Store which, with its 30 per cent commission, means the company has made $3.86 billion on apps alone in the last five years. The birds might be angry but they’re also very rich.

The post Minnie’s Roundup: Google+ Updates, Security Online and the 50 Billionth App is Sold appeared first on Mediarun.

The team behind Klout has made the startling discovery that the best place to go for advice might just possibly be another trusted human being. The site, which ranks and rewards the influence of its users through their social media activity, has just integrated with Bing to provide real answers in search results from people rated as Klout experts. Don’t expect any insights into quantum physics however – the answers are limited to 300 characters and so are better suited to issues like how to care for tulips.

The deal with Bing brings Klout’s results in from the search engine’s social sidebar where they have nestled since Microsoft bought a significant chunk of the company last September. Instead they now appear in the main search listings. Klout says it has so far collected 150,000 answers to questions harvested from Bing search results that have not provided satisfactory answers. Initially the answers will only be available to around 15 per cent of users. Clicking on an answer, shown in full in the results, takes users to the expert’s Klout profile.

It will be interesting to see if there is any response from Google which is spending millions on fighting legal challenges from Microsoft and others who claim it gives unfair prominence to results from its own services. The Klout answers are not flagged to show they come from a site in which Microsoft has an interest, but then the size of its stake has not been disclosed so it could be a tough case to argue.

Facebook’s Search for Revenue takes it to the Top

When you are trying to cosy up to the ad industry it pays to go straight to the top and Facebook has done just that by appointing the former president of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising as its new head of European operations. Nicola Mendelsohn, currently executive chairman of ad agency Karmarama, will take over from Joanna Shields who now leads the government’s TechCity project. Ms Mendelsohn has a tough balancing act to perform – boosting Facebook’s ad revenue without making the experience so commercial that users lose interest and drift away. Facebook is obviously taking the challenge very seriously – it took six months to find the right person for the job.

Money Makes the Web go Round

Everyone’s trying to extract more money from the web these days and YouTube is about to jump on the bandwagon by introducing new channels which will only be available to paying customers. The video site is said to be on the verge of announcing a monthly subscription scheme which will offer a financial incentive to video makers who until now have had to rely on revenue from the ads attached by YouTube to their videos. It is thought the subscriptions will only apply to new channels, of which there are said to be dozens in the pipeline, with the vast majority of YouTube videos remaining free to all. These must be nervous times for the cable television industry.

The post Minnie’s Round up: Bing adds Klout, Facebook Makes New Appointment & Monthly Subscriptions on YouTube appeared first on Mediarun.