What really makes television what it is? Is it the fact that it’s sitting in some dedicated space in your living room? Or is it the fact that it’s probably one of the larger monitors in your apartment or house? Maybe it’s not connected to a computer, and that’s what makes it a television (although they’ll all soon be computers). Whatever it is, Facebook is going head on with television not only through their new Brand Lift service but also through their numerous Ustream partnerships lately.

I’ve written numerous times about how social networks have rapidly become the new television…

[ Read the rest of the story in the original article... ]

A lot of us skip breakfast in the morning, be it because we don’t have time to make something, don’t have the patience, or for some other reason. Yuri Suzuki and Masa Kimura are aiming to make your breakfast a little easier, a little quicker, and a lot more interesting. Their latest project is a Rube Goldberg-like machine that does everything from fry your eggs to brew your coffee. The coolest part about this project is it was built with the help of the public. The two designers put out an open invitation for people to come help in constructing…

[ Read the rest of the story in the original article... ]

It’s time again for our weekly recap of the latest Facebook news stories! While Facebook didn’t acquire any companies, or surpass any significant milestones this week, there was still plenty of news for the fast growing social platform. We also have the second volume of the This Week In Facebook video series being produced by my sister. The video is jam packed with YoVillians, burglars, and a game of Risk so check it out!

Protests In YoVille
This week was a volatile one for the world of YoVille, as the much beloved widgets factory was transformed into a Sweets Factory.…

[ Read the rest of the story in the original article... ]

Facebook has been slowly rolling out tests to select developers that want to integrate with the Facebook gift shop. As of today there are approximately 5 companies that have been participating in tests: American Greetings, RealGifts, JibJab, GreetBeatz, and someecards. The latter three only recently began showing up in the gift shop. However Facebook has been testing out the gift shop as a platform for developers to sell virtual gifts over the past few months.

Back in August, the company also announced the addition of a number of non-profit companies that have begun using the Facebook gift shop as a…

[ Read the rest of the story in the original article... ]

We’ve finalized our agenda for the upcoming Social Ad Summit in New York City being held on October 5th. For today only we are providing all interested attendees with a discount of 50 percent off. The event is bringing together marketers, publishers, ad networks, and industry executives. As this space is constantly evolving, we think it’s important to bring together the current leaders and other participants to discuss the trends and the future of marketing on the social web.

If you are interested in attending the event, you can use the discount code “onedayfifty” to get 50 percent off via…

[ Read the rest of the story in the original article... ]

It appears that Social Hour, one of the few ad networks to be completely banned from the Facebook platform, has now relaunched under a new name: Dizzy Networks. According to one source, Social Hour had been looking for a new face for the company and according to the company’s website, they hired Jeremy Olsson, who was previously the Director of Performance Marketing for RockYou. While the company is still focused on trying to convert IQ quizzes, it doesn’t appear as though Dizzy Networks is running as aggressive of advertisements this time around.

It was only a matter of time before…

[ Read the rest of the story in the original article... ]

On September 21, 2009, Biscuits broke, people danced in the streets and boxes of candy was passed around – it was time to party in Agartala on Monday as residents cheered the tennis sensation and local hero Somdev Devvarman victory in South Africa, which took India to the world group Davis Cup for the first time in 11 years.Sports fans across age, welcomed Somdev sensational victory over South African Rik De Voest in singles play-off in Johannesburg on Sunday. Somdev Devvarman Pravanjan father, a former Commissioner of Income Tax, said: “We are very proud of him. He took a very…

[ Read the rest of the story in the original article... ]

There are two primary types of online advertising: direct sales marketing and branded ad campaigns. Direct sales models like online affiliate marketing or email marketing have already been proven. However large brands have only begun spending billions of dollars online, because there have been very few ways to monitor the effectiveness of campaigns. Let’s say that you set up a Facebook application which millions of users interacted with. How do you then measure the ROI of that program once it’s complete? Given that large companies spend hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars on advertising everywhere, it’s difficult to…

[ Read the rest of the story in the original article... ]