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SEO, Flash developers big losers in new tech jobs data round-up

Tablet Nation: Should you ditch the site and go all-app?

This is one of those questions that admittedly is being asked in just a handful of companies these days. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be a pressing question for brands, publishers and organizations of all stripes who seek to reach a global audience on the device they prefer. A new forecast on tablet sales may just accelerate the conversation at the board level. According to Forrester, the sale of tablets will hit 375 million per year by 2016, at which point the installed base of tablets will top 760 million. Here’s the growth story in chart form: Here’s where it gets really interesting. It’s clear that there is a compelling business rationale on the enterprise side to consider the tablet-friendly interface.

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Tablet Nation: Should you ditch the site and go all-app?

In-app advertising becomes a multi-multi-billion-dollar business

Smartphone users are, en masse, expected to download more than 32 billion applications and games this year, generating revenues of more than $26 billion. That’s good for a staggering 30% year-on-year growth rate and it’s bound to be good news for content publishers and games makers. But there’s a sector that appears to be even more bullish: mobile advertisers. According to the latest market forecast by Strategy Analytics, amid all this go-go growth in the global mobile media spend is one particularly promising nugget: the out-of-nowhere surge in ad buys that occur inside apps and games. “The strength of the apps ecosystem,” says Strategy Analtyics, “is also demonstrated by advertiser spend For example, across the USA and major Western European markets as a whole, revenue from display ads on the mobile web ($934.5 million) has been overtaken by in-app advertising ($1.7 billion).” The in-app ad revenue in both markets has more than doubled year-on-year as the chart below shows: Adds David MacQueen, Strategy Analytics’ Director of Wireless Media Strategies: “In the eyes of many advertisers, web browsing on the smartphone is playing second fiddle to the app economy.” The other big gainer is video, but it’s not quite the revenue-generator, the researchers add. And, we can’t let this round-up close without a word about social media, or mo-so-lo as some geo-followers call it. According to Strategy Analytics, mobile social media revs is expected to increase by 16.1 percent to $17.6 billion – accounting for 11.8 percent of all mobile media revenues.

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In-app advertising becomes a multi-multi-billion-dollar business

Social apps review: The new Instagrams?

Crisis Communications: why you should use social media when disaster strikes

I’ve been speaking to a lot of communications professionals lately about how to update their crisis communications strategy for the Twitter age. It’s true that social media has completely changed the game for crisis comms pros as now the crowd informs the crowd about how a disaster, natural or corporate-made, is likely to impact their community. But smart companies can use this technology as well to improve their communications strategy with the public. Here’s another reason why. Firstly, it makes sense to pre-plan your social media crisis comms strategy in advance. A plan of attack will be of a huge help as you try to pull in your organization’s social media monitoring firepower to help defuse a smoldering crisis. Secondly, it’s imperative you bring that advanced training back to your team.

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Crisis Communications: why you should use social media when disaster strikes

The Instagram effect on your business

A few weeks ago we wrote about the “mission-critical” importance of Tweeting business leaders. Why is that? Put simply, CEOs who communicate freely using social media are held in higher regard – not just by employees, but by customers too, study after study shows. An organization where the boss Tweets is an organization where internal communications is more dynamic and transparent. That then has an impact on external comms, or the brand image portrayed to the public. Let’s head to another end of the organization now, to the developers, engineers and coders where some of the best ideas and brightest innovations are emerging in the business world, as evidenced by the run-away success of Instagram. I’ve professed my fandom for Instagram in this column before. In under 18 months, it has amassed a user base of 35 million people who swap photos on the go.

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The Instagram effect on your business

Engagement soars with new Facebook Timeline: study

Last week we got the latest IAB figures showing a booming digital ad sector , helped by the continued rise of social + mobile + video. Today, a new global digital ad report is out, showing social search is one of the fastest growing segments of online search, which itself is still far and away the largest revenue-generator in digital advertising. Deep into the findings of Adobe’s Global Digital Advertising Q1 2012 Update – a title only a search engine could love – comes this interesting fact: Facebook post engagement has grown 176% since the start of the year, thanks to the new pic-friendly Facebook Timeline. Here’s what it looks like in chart form: This mirrors a study we looked at a few weeks back, which found the new Facebook format has boosted brand content engagement by 46 percent for 15 of the world’s biggest brands, including Toyota, Walmart, Coca-Cola and Ford. The Adobe study also goes on to say that the global ad spend on Facebook has increased by 93% year-on-year, accounting for as much as 5% of global search spend. Looking ahead, the CPC rate (cost per click) for Facebook advertisers is expected to stabilize and even decelerate in the year ahead. And, fan engagement is expected to increase as more brands make the switch over to the new Timeline.

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Engagement soars with new Facebook Timeline: study

Infographic that explains why Facebook paid a cool billion for Instagram

A billion dollars for a 13-person app-making startup that’s never made a dime? That’s the headline head-scratcher coming out of yesterday’s blockbuster acquisition of the super-popular photo-sharing app Instagram by Facebook. But take a closer look at the numbers and you see what Facebook gets out of it: a global, mobile powerhouse. Name the region, and Instagram is BIG there. The Yanks seem to be the most prolific at snapping and swapping Instagram photos, followed by Japan, Brazil and much of Europe. Of course the boom in Instagram, with over 30 million users, follows closely to the penetration of iPhones. Now, it’s on the Android system, it’s quickly padding its numbers. Here’s an Infographic on Instagram’s stunning rise that goes back a few months

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Infographic that explains why Facebook paid a cool billion for Instagram

The social, mobile pay-off and how to cash in

If we sound a bit too cheery here at SMI lately, I can assure you our optimism around the social sector is well-founded. The trifecta of social, mobile and video are transforming not just the world of marketing, but business as well. This powerful trio is driving sales, helping brands hone their marketing and improving customer relations, building deeper bonds that could lead to improved messaging and improved products. As we reported this week, the ad revenues around social+video combined now represents a £443 million market in the UK alone. These two are the fastest growing segments of digital. And digital itself is driving the overall ad sector in most markets.

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The social, mobile pay-off and how to cash in

Social apps review: B2B goes app-crazy

There’s something quite wonderful about conducting day-to-day office admin while out and about: sipping a coffee and people-watching, perhaps. Or soaking up the rays on a luxury yacht on the Med (we wish). Long gone are the days when business-folk were chained to their desks, or made to lug heavy slabs of creaking technology around. Nowadays everything is streamlined and easy, as these new apps show.

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