I start this Friday’s Signal with good news – the oligarchy is shrinking! Just a few months ago, I read that the top five Internet destinations controlled nearly 80 percent of all spend. Now it’s “just” 64%. That’s progress, to my mind. At least, until they buy their way back up….to the links:
CHART OF THE DAY: These Five Companies Control 64% Of All Online Ad Spending (SAI) As I said, this is an improvement over the 70-80% I’ve heard in the last year.
The Lost Art of the Handwritten Card (Currency) Having just done 60 handwritten thank you notes to Web 2 Summit speakers, and having a continuing practice of writing notes to each FM employee on their anniversary at the company, I must argue that sometimes, a note just says more.
The Dos And Don’ts Of Time Travel (The Awl) Just fun reading.
Livestand from Yahoo! — A personalized living magazine for your …(Yahoo) The much anticipated news reader from Yahoo. Reviews are in… and so far, a bit mixed. But I’d say give it time…
Yahoo Doesn’t Understand What Makes Flipboard Special (Wired) “If Flipboard is “social,” Livestand is “personalized.” These two approaches are very different.”
The Long Haul to Capitalizing on Web Trends (NYT) Points I’ve made here in the past – it’s not always a straight line to success in the marketing online game if you have a platform.
Big Brands Like Facebook, But They Don’t Like to Pay (WSJ) Oh, yes they do. To the tune of billions next year, I’d warrant.
With Square’s Card Case, Pay By Saying Your Name (RWW) An interesting development in the world of payments.
Article: Customer Data, Social Media Top Marketing Priorities for CMOs Worldwide (EM) And those are the right priorities.
Ex-Googlers Raise $5.8 Million to Help Retailers Track Foot Traffic (ATD) This is really interesting stuff. Analytics for realspace.
It’s Time for Online Advertising to Move Beyond Old-Fashioned ‘Audience’ Buying (AdAge) Always has been. But this argues for more finely tuned data to drive results.
Google Launches Major Update that Will Impact 1 Out of 3 Searches (SF) Any time something this big happens, I note it here.
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FM’s program of the day is Makeup.com from L’Oreal.
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