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Google Can't Shake Arizona AG's Location Privacy Suit https://ift.tt/3Axmxel Arizona's top law enforcement official can proceed to trial against Google on claims that the company misled consumers about the privacy of their location data. The ruling, issued by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Timothy Thomason, comes in a lawsuit brought in May of 2020 by state Attorney General Mark Brnovich. He accused Google of “widespread and systemic use of deceptive and unfair business practices,” in order to obtain location data about users. Brnovich claimed Google violated the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act, which prohibits companies from deceiving consumers in connection with the sale or advertisement of merchandise. The allegations stemmed from a 2018 Associated Press report that Google stores location data gleaned from some services, including search and maps, even when users have attempted to prevent the data collection. The Associated Press reported that even when the "Location History" setting is turned off, Google collects and stores some location data unless people turn off a separate setting -- "Web and App Activity." After that report came out, Google revised a “help” page by adding language informing people that turning off Location History doesn't affect other location services, and that some location data may still be saved. advertisement advertisement The revelations in the AP report are also at the center of lawsuits against Google filed Monday by attorneys general in Washington, D.C., Indiana, Texas and Washington state. Brnovich's lawsuit focused on alleged misrepresentations to three groups of people -- smartphone buyers, users of apps like search and maps, and advertisers that purchase targeted advertising. Google urged Thomason to rule in its favor without first conducting a trial. Among other arguments, Google said none of the alleged misrepresentations were made in connection with the sale or advertisement of smartphones, and therefore couldn't have violated the state's consumer protection law. Thomason rejected that contention, essentially ruling that the dispute involved factual questions that could only be answered by holding a trial. “The state has ... alleged and presented evidence of deceptive conduct that is directly in connection with the initial sale of devices,” the judge wrote Tuesday, referring to Nexus and Pixel phones, and Android devices. “As such, Google is not entitled to summary judgment.” Google also said Brnovich shouldn't be able to pursue claims that the company deceived users of its search engine or maps app, arguing that those services were free and therefore outside the scope of the state's consumer protection law. But Thomason said in his ruling that whether the services were “free,” or whether Google was effectively selling those services to consumers in exchange for data, was a factual question that required a trial. “There is a tenable claim that the consumer is provided a service in exchange for information data,” Thomason wrote. “Therefore, there is a plausible claim that the exchange is in connection with the sale of merchandise.” Thomason did award Google summary judgment on one point: He ruled that Brnovich couldn't proceed to trial on a claim that Google sold targeted advertising based on location data allegedly obtained through deception. “The state’s theory is that Google deceives one group of people -- users of its services -- about the collection and use of their location data, and then uses that data to secure ad purchases from an entirely separate group of people -- advertisers,” the judge wrote. Those allegations, even if proven true, wouldn't prove that Google violated the state's consumer protection act, the judge said. A Google spokesperson said Tuesday that the judge “made a significant legal ruling against the Arizona Attorney General." The spokesperson added: "Unfortunately, just before today's decision, four other state attorneys general rushed to file similar lawsuits making similarly inaccurate and outdated claims.” Earlier in the proceedings, Brnovich urged the judge to rule against Google without first conducting a trial. Thomason rejected that request last year. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 25, 2022 at 06:04PM
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Twitter Adds Free Performance Ad Tools To Woo Advertisers https://ift.tt/3tTmMiK Twitter on Tuesday introduced improvements to its ad capabilities, building off the company’s 2021 product roadmap to improve performance advertising and measurement on the platform in 2022. The company is on track to rid its portfolio of software that might sidetrack its progress in an effort to further develop and improve on its owned-and-operated products. The idea is to provide advertisers with features that allow them to measure success. Early this month, Twitter completed the sale of its mobile ad platform, MoPub, to the mobile marketing software provider AppLovin for $1.05 billion in cash. Twitter's three new free products — Site Visits Optimization, Aggregated Measurement, and Events Manager — which Twitter calls “foundational updates,” are aimed at improving campaign performance to drive traffic to a company’s website. The products support the measurement and the optimization solutions launched in 2021. advertisement advertisement Site Visits Optimization is a new optimization goal within Website Traffic, renamed today from Website Click & Conversion. It is dedicated to finding and serving ads to audiences most likely to visit the brand’s website. When enabling the Twitter Website tag, the technology can track actions made on an advertiser's website and attribute them to the Twitter ads campaigns. In early tests with advertisers looking to increase traffic to their websites, Site Visits Optimization outperformed existing offerings and saw an average lower cost-per-site-visit of 31%. Building off of the updates made to improve our mid-funnel offerings, our teams will be focused on the development of new product features that will expand on ad conversions (for example, adding items to a cart or driving purchases) to better help you drive your business outcomes. Twitter also introduced attribution with Aggregated Measurement, intended to provide conversion metrics by counting events in aggregate for audiences that opted out of tracking on iOS devices. In the Twitter Ads Manager Reporting, advertisers can see an aggregated view of site metrics and conversion events to gain a complete view of campaign results. Twitter says early tests show a 31% increase in attributable Site Visit Conversions in Twitter Ads Manager, across advertiser campaigns. Events Manager will become the central hub for advertisers to manage Twitter Website Tag, as well as its web-based conversion events. It aims to give advertisers more tools to manage tracking ad campaigns. The update -- which focuses on improving diagnostic and measurement capabilities with privacy enhancements -- includes an interface that increases clarity when setting up the Twitter Website Tag. It also provides prompts to provide guidance on how to set up conversion events, and an ability to see updates on the tracking status of conversion events. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 25, 2022 at 12:16PM
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Marketers Harness Email For Communication, Engagement With Consumers https://ift.tt/3nZhyy5
The … Reminder: You are seeing this premium content because you are a subscriber to MediaPost's Research Intelligencer and/or a member of the Center for Marketing & Media Research. This content cannot be viewed by non-subscribers/non-members. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 25, 2022 at 10:34AM
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Attorneys General Sue Google Over Location Privacy https://ift.tt/3KR0Hrc Google duped consumers about its practices regarding the collection and use of location data, attorneys general in Washington D.C., Texas, Washington state and Indiana alleged in new lawsuits filed Monday. “Since at least 2014, Google has deceived consumers regarding how their location is tracked and used by the Company and consumers’ ability to protect their privacy by stopping this tracking,” Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine alleges in a complaint filed Monday in District of Columbia Superior Court. “Google leads consumers to believe that consumers are in control of whether Google collects and retains information about their location and how that information is used. In reality, consumers who use Google products cannot prevent Google from collecting, storing, and profiting from their location,” Racine adds in a 43-page complaint. He claims Google violated a location consumer protection law by allegedly misrepresenting its practices. advertisement advertisement Attorneys general in Texas, Indiana and Washington filed similar cases in their states on Monday. Google spokesperson José Castañeda says the attorneys general cases are “based on inaccurate claims and outdated assertions about our settings.” He adds: “We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data. We will vigorously defend ourselves and set the record straight.” The new lawsuits are similar to a 2020 case brought in Arizona state court by Attorney General Mark Brnovich, as well as to a consumer class-action pending in front of U.S. District Court Judge Edward J. Davila in San Jose, California. Google also faces separate privacy class-action complaints for allegedly tracking Chrome users, including people who browse in incognito mode, and for allegedly sending analytics data to app developers. Many of the allegations in Monday's cases stem from a 2018 Associated Press report that Google stores location data gleaned from some services, including search and maps, even when users have attempted to prevent the data collection. The AP specifically reported that even when the "Location History" setting is turned off, Google collects and stores some location data unless people turn off a separate setting -- "Web and App Activity." After that report came out, Google revised a “help” page by adding language informing people that turning off Location History doesn't affect other location services, and that some location data may still be saved. Racine alleges that, after learning of the AP report, the District of Columbia began investigating Google's location tracking practices. That probe “revealed that Google also offers other settings that purport to give consumers control over the location data Google collects and uses,” the complaint alleges. “Google’s misleading, ambiguous, and incomplete descriptions of these settings all but guarantee that consumers will not understand when their location is collected and retained by Google or for what purposes,” the Washington, D.C. complaint continues. “And, in reality, regardless of the settings they select, consumers who use Google products have no option but to allow the company to collect, store, and use their location.” Racine goes into detail about several different Google settings -- including ones for location history, web and app activity, and ad personalization. All of those settings allegedly mislead users in various ways, according to the complaint. For instance, according to the complaint, from 2014 to 2019 Google told Android users that if they enabled “location history” -- which is presented as an opt-in setting -- Google would save their locations. That representation was deceptive, according to Racine, because it omitted that Google “collected and saved users’ location data when using Google products whether or not the user enabled location history.” He adds that even with location history set to off, Google allegedly collects and stores some location data through a separate “web and app activity” setting. Another allegation relates to the company's ad settings, which allow users to opt out of receiving personalized ads. “This setting only provides an illusion of control,” Racine writes. “In reality, Google continues to target ads based on a user’s location -- both on and off Google products -- even if the user opts out of ads personalization.” In recent years, Google has revised several privacy settings. Among other changes, in 2019 Google launched “incognito mode” for Google Aps, which allows people to get directions without saving the data to their Google Accounts. The following year, Google said it would automatically delete activity data older than 18 months. The company also recently changed the way its search function gathers location data, so that it only estimates the users' general geographic area, instead of storing precise locations. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 24, 2022 at 08:43PM
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Americans Cutting Back On Instagram Use To Improve Their Mental Health https://ift.tt/3AthXOk New research from insights agency Opinium shows that two in five Americans are cutting back on the time they spend on Instagram in order to improve their mental health. The data was collected from a survey of 2,000 US adults (ages 18+) from November 11-12, 2021. The study found that 38% of users are reducing the amount of time they spend on the app, and have made other, significant choices users to foster better mental health. Eighteen percent of users have deleted the Instagram app from their phones, while 21% have set screen-time limits and 17% have changed their in-app settings so they are unable to see the exact number of "likes" on their personal posts. advertisement advertisement When it comes to Instagram’s use of influencer marketing, 30% of those surveyed agreed that it was “annoying” but still found themselves paying attention to it, while 26% said they found influencer content fun and/or interesting, yet dislike influencer culture. Twenty-one percent agreed, but found themselves buying products that influencers recommend, and 50% thought influencer marketing is here to stay. When respondents were asked who was responsible for managing the mental health of users on social media platforms such as Instagram, 17% pointed directly to the social media companies. This number was higher among younger age groups, with 18- to-24-year-olds at 28%. However, 40% of respondents feel the responsibility is mostly with the individual user. Still, 79% of respondents agreed that social media companies should do something to address the negative mental-health effects their products have on users. Fifty-five percent of respondents called for social media companies to do more to remove offensive and toxic content, while 34% believe they should do more to remove content that specifically promotes an unrealistic body image. Twenty-seven percent wanted to see Instagram change its algorithm to show more content promoting positive mental health, and 15% thought the app should impose time limits on users. “It’s long been documented that social media use can have a negative impact on our mental well being,” said Giulia Prati, vice president of research U.S. at Opinium. “Surely, based on this research, as well as the recent rise in the sharing of fake news on social channels during the Covid pandemic, there is more to be done by these social media giants to protect their users.” Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 24, 2022 at 02:20PM
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'New York' Doubles Crossword Puzzle Frequency, Launches Pop-Culture Puzzle For 'Vulture' https://ift.tt/3qVjhGs
New York
is expanding its print and digital crossword offerings, expanding what has been a staple of the magazine for decades, and bringing “ New York’s audience of solvers even more of what they want.” The expansion will cover both print and digital, and offer new and engaging approaches, the magazine said in a press release. It will include a new daily Vulture-branded 10x10 puzzle and newsletter focused on entertainment, as well as a reimagined crossword in the print magazine. The Vulture daily puzzles will be created by Malaika Handa and Stella Zawistowski, who have collectively created puzzles for various outlets, including TheNew YorkTimes, USA Today,The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic. Since its first issue in 1968, starting with Stephen Sondheim’s elaborately themed cryptic crosswords and Mary Ann Madden’s long-running “New York Competition,” New York has featured puzzles. For many years afterwards, New York was the American outlet for the Times of London cryptic, under the title "World's Most Challenging Crossword.” In addition, Maura B. Jacobson’s and Cathy Allis’ beloved American-style puzzles appeared in itspages for decades. advertisement advertisement New York’s flagship 21x21 puzzle by Matt Gaffney, which has run on alternate Sundays online since 2019 and in each print issue, now increases its cadence to weekly, appearing online every Sunday night. The print-issue reimagining includes one 21x21 puzzle and three 10x10s in every issue. All puzzles will be available on desktops and mobile devices here. The first Vulture 10x10 is online now. Gaffney’s newest weekly will drop on Sunday, Jan. 30. New York is published biweekly in print, and six include the verticals Intelligencer, delivering national news and sharp commentary on politics, business, technology, and media; the Cut, covering style, self, culture, and power; Vulture, the premier site for culture news, criticism, and service; the Strategist, dedicated to shopping the internet smartly; Curbed, covering cities and city life; and Grub Street, home to food news and authoritative restaurant criticism. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 24, 2022 at 12:25PM
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Building On Business Intelligence: Instantaneous And Autonomous SEO https://ift.tt/3FYVfPf Last year was a defining year for search engine optimization (SEO), with demand reaching record levels. The global pandemic and shifts in consumer behavior certainly shone a light on the need for such a cost-effective and multi-beneficial channel. In addition, advancements in technology and AI and the better use of search data as a form of business intelligence this year will help marketers get and stay ahead in an increasingly instantaneous and autonomous society. Time is now a consumer's most precious commodity Consumer expectations are constantly changing, and the demand for real-time information, reaction, and transactions is rising as time is becoming a scarce commodity. Consumers are dealing with lifestyle changes that range from working at home and dealing with COVID-19 to transitioning to digital-first communication. This means that marketers and brands need to instantly respond to consumers' needs. Many are already doing this. advertisement advertisement For example, in 2019, Fast Company reported that Meituan-Dianping, a logistics company in China, delivered orders to consumers in less than 30 minutes. And Starbucks' mission is to deliver its customers any type of drink anywhere and anytime, and Amazon One-Click and same-day delivery are typical examples that follow this lead. Business intelligence needs to be delivered in real-time In order for marketers and brands to deliver instant information, content and relevant experiences, and rapid end transactions, data and intelligence are paramount to success. SEO is changing faster than ever before, and SERPs and algorithms evolve daily in response to shifts in consumer behavior in real-time. Over 90,460 Google searches (as of March 2021, according to Internet Live Stats, 2021) occurred per second, which equates to: - 5.4 million Google searches per minute - 325.65 million searches per hour - 7.81 billion searches per day - 54.71 billion searches per week - 37.75 billion searches per month and 2.85 trillion per year Without utilizing the right types of real-time business insights, many SEOs will struggle to keep pace with change and meet business and customer objectives. This year it will be vital to utilize real-time data to: - Understand market, industry, and consumers shifts as they happen - Research and discover opportunities in the moment as they arise - Identify gaps and understand how the competition stacks up Insights are only valuable if action is taken at the speed of search Just as a contact is largely irrelevant without a relationship, insights have little value unless action is taken. This is especially true in SEO, where marketers have to react to rapid consumer behavior variance and the sheer velocity of algorithmic changes. Real insights highlight new and immediate opportunities to encourage future and fast action to: - Save time sifting through large amounts of data from multiple sources to manually find opportunities - Identify key market trends and changes in consumer behavior to capitalize on immediate and important opportunities in real-time (not just historically) - Improve and deliver better online experiences tailored for multiple personas - Help create content based on user intent that can be optimized quickly - Take action (with the use of automation) with regard to website fixes, content, sales, and product development - Report on performance to multiple stakeholders internally For example, knowing that an opportunity exists in a category such as home improvement where demand spikes during COVID-19 allows rapid targeting. Furthermore, we have found that by keeping on top of these trends, these spikes can turn into long-term trends. Automation will allow marketers to improve performance and scale According to research from Salesforce, priorities and challenges are two sides of the same coin. This is especially true in search where spend of engagement and response are critical competitive advantages. Automation also gives marketers the capability to scale. Allowing technology to do some of the heavy lifting of repetitive tasks helps reduce time and resources so SEOs can focus on more impactful, profitable creative, and impactful work streams for their customers. To drive real-time interactions and transactions that consumers now demand, embracing automation enables marketers to respond to these demands instantly at speed and with accuracy. AI-based automation can help: - Detect website anomalies and errors and auto manage fixes (pages and links) - Keep on top of algorithmic change and best practices automatically - Tailor and auto-optimize current content and produce more content of high quality - Respond to consumer trends and target intent with speed and accuracy - Deliver content across multiple digital channels (email, video, social and mobile) Make 2022 the year that you take your SEO to the next level. To do that and keep pace with Google's changes as well as consumer behavior, you should lean heavily on real-time business intelligence, embrace automation to help you quickly identify and fix website errors, build new content and improve the overall online experience. Look to scale your team and utilize SEO intel to work across multiple business functions and ensure that SEO is engrained in your organization. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 24, 2022 at 10:57AM
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CBS Rebrands National/Local Streaming News Service https://ift.tt/3qXUAJO Looking to amp up its TV news streaming brand among a growing number of competitors, CBS News is rebranding its CBSN service with a new name: CBS News Streaming Network. As part of this effort, the network will expand new programming -- weaving national and local live TV news along with existing CBS news programming such as “60 Minutes,'' “48 Hours,” “CBS Sunday Morning” and “Face The Nation with Margaret Brennan. Plus, CBS will now have 13 locally-based streams -- adding CBS News Miami. The bulk of CBS News Streaming Network efforts will center around live daily newscasts of up-to-the minute news. Last year, all CBS News’ streaming channels delivered 1 billion streams for the second year in a row in 2021. Looking specifically at just CBS stations, local streams grew 37% in 2021 from 2020. Some new shows include “Here Comes The Sun,” a new weekly series spotlighting the original reporting from "CBS Sunday Morning," and “Person- to-Person,” a new interview series hosted by CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell. The free CBS News Streaming Network is available on more than 30 platforms across mobile, desktop and connected TV. advertisement advertisement Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH January 24, 2022 at 09:25AM
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Three Steps to Elevated B2B Marketing in 2022: Innovate, Collaborate, Accelerate https://ift.tt/3Iwgzxk B2B marketers have faced unprecedented challenges over the past two years but I am one of those people that genuinely sees these times as an opportunity. Working in the marketing industry, especially at a B2B marketing agency, means being adaptable and engaged in a constant state of improvement aka ABO (always be optimizing). Information overload, changing buyer behaviors towards digital first information experiences and the dramatic increase in content competition mean B2B marketers cannot win simply be creating more content or chasing the latest shiny object tactic. In these times of elevated digital savviness and access to digital content consumption, creation and engagement, we are all creators. We are all influential. We are all in market to engage on topics relevant to the brands that serve us. As marketers, we are also increasingly pressed to prove our impact to the business. Winning at B2B marketing in 2022 and beyond requires a more strategic approach to creating marketing experiences that are more empathetic to customers in ways that are differentiated from competitors that can can connect more authentically through partnerships with trusted voices in the industry at both a macro and micro level. The increased emphasis on marketing to prove its contribution to the business also means improved accountability for impact. To help B2B marketers elevate their 2022 B2B content marketing more strategically, provide better experiences to customers and demonstrate impact to the business, here are three key areas of focus: InnovateResearch shows there is more content being created now than ever but B2B company execs do not feel all this content is particularly valuable. To stand out, B2B marketers need to "break free of boring B2B' to escape the status quo trap of trying to win customer attention simply by creating more content. More than ever, it is important to create content that is more in lime with customer experience expectations. Our own analysis and research has found that innovation of our content means going beyond creating blog posts, social content, presentations and reports to emphasizing short form videos for thought leadership as well as practical topics, episodic and story form content, publishing on story based platforms like IG reels, TikTok and even leveraging AI avatars for certain content creation. Content innovation for your B2B brand might be similar or very different. The important thing is to be empathetic towards customer expectations and data informed with an emphasis on looking forward to how buyers are discovering, consuming and engaging with content. Of course there is a cost to experimenting with new content formats and speculating that becoming prominent in emerging publishing channels will help your brand stand out to customers. There is also a cost to reacting to the new challenges of digital first buyers and changing behaviors simply by creating more of the same kinds of content.CollaborateVirtually everyone in business is empowered to publish through any of a number of digital devices. Millenial and Gen Z generations are digital natives to electronic content consumption and creation. As B2B buyers increasingly pull themselves through the majorithy of the sales journey through researching solutions options through digital content, peer networks, search engines, social media and industry content, B2B brands have an opportunity to elevate their content marketing with authentic voices. We've all seen statistics about the lack of trust customers have for brands and their advertising / marketing messages. We've also become increasingly aware of how important it is to have the trusted voices in the industry talking about and even advocating for our brand. Every day there are conversations about the very topics that drive buyers to choose solutions happening with people influential towards decision making. B2B brands can either continue trying to push their own messages towards these buyers or they can become part of the conversation by engaging relevant industry experts, media and even prospects/customers in content collaboration. By identifying and targeting key industry influencers, prospects, media and cusotmers for content collaboration, B2B marketers can create value and impact in multiple ways:
AccelerateIn 2020 many B2B marketing budgets were put on pause and expectations for marketing to deliver impact increased significantly. As brands pivoted and embraced digital transformation, marketing budgets have opened up but those increased expectations for marketing to deliver value to the business have remained. Research has shown that new digital go-to-market models have performed as well better and B2B brands are not going back to their old "boring B2B ways" anytime soon. With these increased expectations of impact, B2B marketers must focus on acceleration. From moving prospects through the sales journey more quickly and in greater volume to increasing the size of deals, better sales and marketing collaboration and technology integration are essential. B2B brands must do a better job of leveraging customer insights for more personalized content experiences using strategies like Account Based Experiences supported by platforms like Demandbase (client). Additionally, improved thought leadership can help B2B brands connect as a "best answer" solution for buyers across the customer lifecycle from awareness to purchase to advocacy. Research being put out by The B2B Institute at Linked is incredibly insightful about these opportunities. B2B brands cannot afford to sit and wait for their content marketing to work like throwing digital spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. They must be proactive at elevating the marketing experience to create trust, credibility, confidence and speed of decision making with what we call "best answer content strategies". The changes that have occurred in the past few years in the B2B marketing world are not a speed bump for us to get over, they are a launching pad for something greater for our industry. In marketing and business, if you're not growing you're dying. The B2B marketing industry needs to continue the transformation started during the pandemic to elevate the marketing experiences for customers and impact for B2B brands. With a strategic approach to content innovation, collaboration and acceleration, B2B marketers can achieve all of those things and more.The post Three Steps to Elevated B2B Marketing in 2022: Innovate, Collaborate, Accelerate appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®. Mobile Marketing,SEO via Hubspot https://ift.tt/2wiHYzh January 24, 2022 at 08:30AM
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Under Armour Expands RFID Capabilities For Greater Inventory Visibility https://ift.tt/33WInMn Using Nedap ID Cloud, the performance athletic brand aims to unlock a powerful omni-channel strategy by creating a seamless, connected shopping experience for its consumers. Get More Ideas With The PSFK Daily Newsletter Mobile Marketing via PSFK http://www.psfk.com/ January 21, 2022 at 08:54PM |
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