U.S. consumers’ spending on in-game mobile virtual goods this year is set to exceed $168 million, according to a joint study by research firm Magid Associates and software developer Aurora Feint. The mobile virtual goods market is still nascent and holds great promises for marketers for the future. Here’s why.
The study finds that 70 million Americans own smartphones, representing 23% of the overall population. Some 45% of those device owners play games on their smartphones, and out of that chunk (are you still with me?), 55% are interested in buying virtual goods. At the moment, only 16% spend an average $41 a year on in-game virtual goods but, the study says, it’s already enough to surpass $168 million…
comScore has released its latest report on social networking activity in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China). The study found that 50.8 percent of the total online population in the Asia-Pacific region visited a social networking site in February 2010, reaching a total of 240.3 million visitors.
Image by SESConferenceSeries via Flickr
Facebook.com ranked as the top social network across the majority of individual markets in the region, while competing brands commanded the top position in certain markets, including Orkut in India, Mixi.jp in Japan, CyWorld in South Korea and Wretch.cc in Taiwan.
It’s being rolled out to Direct Messages first, where much of the spamming occurs.
All links sent through Direct Messages will be submitted to this service. They’ll be checked for spam and then shortened using a twt.tl root link.
Twitter says that even if a bad link has already been sent out through a Direct Message, if a user clicks, Twitter will be able to protect them.
After failing to acquire Twitter, will Google now compete?
You can already put current status in your GTalk display. Apparently, now, GMail users will be prompted to share what’s up with them. However, when they update again, the previous update will disappear for good.
At least, that’s according to a report in Wall Street Journal (subscription required). The new feature isn’t official yet, but the Wall Street Journal is hardly ever wrong. They seem to be the go-to source for leaks – likely quite official leaks.
It’s a tough time for job seekers, but SimplyHired.com has released new features on their job search site to maximize the search for those looking. The update expands upon integration with social networks LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
“Given the competitive employment landscape, it is now imperative for job seekers to leverage all possible resources in pursuit of their dream job,” said Gautam Godhwani, co-founder and CEO at Simply Hired.
For the citizens of Haiti, real-time search may have arrived just in time. The 7.0 earthquake that shook the poverty-stricken nation hit just 5 hours ago, but you can easily find information about the disaster, and, most importantly organizations to donate to.
On each of the top four search engines, searching “Haiti relief” yielded extremely useful information. Google and Bing were the most comprehensive:
Haiti-related search terms were already included in query suggestion features on Google and Bing:
Meanwhile, on Twitter, Haiti is the top trending term.
Facebook has released a new email feature that will streamline the conversation process for many users. Now, when you get an email notification of a comment on an update, you can respond by replying to the email.
Since some employers block Facebook, this is a way to keep up with some aspects of your social networking while at work.
Social media marketers in charge of Facebook campaigns will find this an extremely efficient way of engaging with consumers.
This will also be great for you productivity/GTD junkies.
If you’ve wanted to add some social functionality to your website but aren’t a hardcore developer, then things just got a bit easier – if you’re using Drupal or Joomla. The two content management systems can now incorporate Google Friend Connect to any site with the ease of a handy dandy plugin.
If you do so, then visitors to your site can interact by signing in with their Google, Yahoo or Twitter accounts. You can promote Featured Content, get opinions with Interest Polls – and even integrate monetization through AdSense. (In fact, Google uses interests on Friend Connect to serve up relevant AdSense ads.
LinkedIn updated their iPhone app this week. Here’s a visual tour of what to expect.
The homepage features icons that enable users to easily navigate the app:
One of the coolest things you can do is find people near you on LinkedIn. Just make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your phone. When you’re out networking, this is an easy way to automatically add new people to your network.
The app also lets you view items you’re more familiar with on LinkedIn.com, such as updates from your network:
SHOP.com has added a bunch of new features to enhance and encourage social sharing on the comparison shopping site.
The biggest announcement is a new social hub. It’s called SHOP.com Community and it features their Facebook and Twitter updates.
Shoppers can already share searches with their social networks, but now SHOP.com is making it rewarding to do so with their new SHOPstar networking program. Members of the program get a little kickback when they refer sales.
