Twitter adds Communities (Similar to Facebook Groups)

Taking on Facebook Groups and Reddit threads, Twitter has announced Communities. Now in testing, Twitter is adding communities based around content themes. “Imagine an alternative timeline where everyone just gets you…” Twitter posted in making the announcement. Twitter showed examples including: Plant lovers Black women photographers Sneakerheads Crypto Skincare Traveling solo It will take some

Big Changes Coming to Digital Ad Tracking: A Cookie-less Future?

We’re in for some big changes when it comes to tracking and advertising. While government regulators are making noise about taking action against major tech companies, the industry has not-so-quietly been making a couple of key changes that could lead to a cookie-less future. Cookies are those things websites use to track you as you

Bipartisan Legislation to Hold Internet Companies Accountable for Moderation Practices

SOURCE:  News Release U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet, and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), ranking member of the subcommittee, in introducing the Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency (PACT) Act, new bipartisan legislation to update Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The PACT Act would

NY State Data Tax: Legislation Would Tax Companies that Make Money from Consumer Data

A new bill working its way through the NY state legislatures wants to tax companies that sell or make money from the use of consumer data.  Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato wants to create a mutual fund from taxes that would pay a yearly dividend. New York State Assembly Bill A9112: Requires a five percent tax

More Bad News for Organic Search + New Research on Paid Search, Social Media, and Mobile Ads

If you’re hoping organic search is the way to increase conversions on Google, we’ve got some sobering news for you:  organic search on Google is producing just 22% of site visits, according to the new 3Q 2019 Digital Marketing Report from Merkle. Here are a few of the others insights from the report. Paid Search

Changing Channels: Direct to Consumer Brands Are Moving Digital Dollars Back to Traditional Advertising

Many D2C brands are moving digital dollars back to traditional marketing channels. Rising costs of digital mediums Need to build brand awareness, trust, and credibility They are finding out that the direct response type campaigns that can work on search and social media channels will only take you so far.  “As you evolve,” Melanie Travis,

Internet Trends 2019: Mary Meekers’ Annual Report Shows Big Changes

Mary Meeker is a venture capitalist and former Wall Street security analyst. She’s ranked by Forbes as one of the top 100 most powerful women in the world.   When she unveils her annual presentation on Internet trends, it makes news. This year’s report is no different.  You read the full report here:  Internet_Trends_2019.  It’s 333 pages

Long-form Content Results in 56% More Social Shares

Long-form content results in 56% more social shares than content shorter than 1,000 words, according to new research from BuzzSumo and Backlinko. The research, which analyzed over 900 million articles, also discovered that long-form content was correlated with better backlink performance. Specifically, posts weighing in at more than 3,000 words receive an average of 77.2% more referring

Optimizing Ad Performance: Measuring ROI for Digital Campaigns

The promise of digital was more transparency and access to metrics that demonstrate whether something is working or not.  Too often, though, the metrics establish action without establishing conversions.  In other words, the metrics show that someone clicked on an ad, but doesn’t demonstrate whether they bought the product.  Clicks are great, but making the