Shopkick, a location-based shopping app, recently partnered with Constellation Brands Inc. to feature alcoholic beverages. The app, which boasts more than 4 million iPhone and Android users, rewards shoppers for visiting and engaging with products at brick-and-mortar locations. The partnership with Constellation Brands means that shoppers can earn “kicks” (i.e., redeemable rewards points) when they […]

Gloomy numbers from IBM be damned: According to Kenshoo Social, Facebook is becoming a more prominent destination for holiday gift ideas and purchases. According to Kenshoo Social, Facebook ad interaction rates in the U.S. have risen 46 percent after Thanksgiving. The company defines interactions as “any interaction with a Facebook ad following a click such […]

By Muhammad Yasin, director of marketing for HCC Medical Insurance Services

One billion people use social media throughout the world. Of those, 80 percent only share one category of content — usually something about which they are passionate. When people shop, a little over half use social media to research what they buy, where the best price is, or the highest quality. In short, social media has changed the way we operate. But have we, as marketers, kept up with the change in the way consumer behavior is changing? Unfortunately, in most cases, we have not.

As a follow-up to its report on the data broker industry and the opening of a formal investigation into data brokers’ practices in October, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued orders asking nine data brokerage firms to provide the agency with information regarding how they collect and use data about consumers. The nine companies […]

Opera recently published its retrospective of mobile advertising in 2012, which includes the top 10 highlights of the year. 1) The iPhone 5 was the most successful new mobile device of the year. About four months after it launched, Apple’s smartphone accounted for 16.1 percent of all iPhone device traffic on Opera’s mobile ad platform. […]

CMSWire, a Web magazine focused on social business, online customer experience and information management, has shared an infographic that offers an overview of 2012 from a social business standpoint. “In this original infographic, we aim to summarize not only the progress that specific social media networks have made during the past year, but the tools […]

For users and brands that are already getting frustrated with the cluttered and opaque nature of Facebook’s site and overall user experience, get ready to roll your eyes once more: According to AdAge, Facebook is set to unleash hell video ads into users’ news feeds no later than April of 2013. While specific features are […]

Instagram created a furor from its users when it announced its new privacy policy and terms of service, to be implemented on Jan. 16, 2013. After anger about the possibility of the company using its users’ photos in advertisements, among other things, co-founder Kevin Systrom wrote a blog post on the company’s site clarifying things: […]

Groupon recently unveiled an updated version of its Groupon HD iPad app. One of the new features is a “Nearby” tab, which gives users the ability to explore Groupon deals filtered by proximity and category. “The Nearby service is more than just being out and about,” said David Katz, vice president of mobile. “It’s about […]

Today we’re featuring Yumani in our series of profiles of local and e-commerce companies. The purpose of these Q&A interviews is to give merchants, marketers and others in the industry a glimpse at what some companies out there are doing. These profiles are also meant to offer different perspectives on the future of the industry. […]