Internet Marketing Weekly News Update #027 December 23, 2009

Privacy debate over Facebook changes becomes a legal matter.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center and nine other organizations have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission over changes Facebook recently made to user privacy settings. Those changes made previously private information generally available, unless the users acted to secure the information again.

Holiday sales turn upward, especially online.

Economists and retailers continue to anxiously watch holiday sales figures for indications of the state of the economy. After an early-December lull, retail sales appear to have turned upward in the second week of the month, and sales represented a 1.1% increase over the corresponding week last year. Online sales did even better, representing a 4% year-over-year gain.

AOL's Seed seeks collaborative approach with advertisers.

There has been a great deal of effort directed at targeting advertisers based on user information, but AOL's new content platform named Seed seeks to take an even more collaborative approach with advertisers. AOL offers to use information on consumer trends and interest levels to help inform advertiser content and campaign planning.

Search deals may bring profitability to Twitter.

Up until recently, Twitter had achieved massive popularity without figuring out how to turn a profit. However, inside sources claim that recent deals to make Twitter content searchable on Google and Bing could earn the company $25 million, which should edge the company into profitable territory. Financial details are somewhat sketchy, as Twitter is not a public company.

Social media marketing objectives become better defined as budgets grow.

In overwhelming numbers, companies across a variety of industries are increasing their social media marketing budgets, led by retail/e-commerce companies. 79% of marketing managers in that category report an increase in social media marketing budgets for 2010. Increasing Web site traffic is the number one goal of these programs, followed by increasing lead generation, and increasing sales revenue.

Snowstorm boosts online sales.

Online retailers got a boost from an unexpected source. A massive snowstorm worked its way up the East Coast over the weekend before Christmas, discouraging people in several metropolitan areas from doing their shopping in person. As a result, they seemed to have turned to the Internet instead, as online retail sales were up 22.4% compared with the same weekend in 2008, according to Coremetrics.

Online shoppers find value to go along with convenience.

Online shopping has an obvious edge over in-store shopping when it comes to convenience, but a new survey shows that shoppers also feel online shopping is the way to find the best deals. 45% of poll respondents reported having found the best deals online over the prior 30 days, compared with 34% of respondents who reported finding the best deals at in-store locations.

U.S. online sales enjoy biggest day ever.

As marketers anxiously watch comparisons between this year and last to see if growth has returned to online sales, indications are the online sales results for most of the holiday shopping period have exceeded 2008's numbers. The highlight so far? An all-time record for U.S. online sales of $913 million, set on Tuesday, December 15th.

eBay taps Click Forensics to crack down on click fraud.

eBay has hired Click Forensics to fight click fraud on their site. This effort is intended to help eBay retain credibility with its advertisers by assuring them that the site's activity numbers are credible.

Mobile phones make even in-store shopping a digital experience.

Not only is online shopping growing, but more and more shoppers are using mobile Internet to augment their in-store shopping efforts. According to a survey by Deloitte, one in five shoppers intends to use a mobile phone to help them shop this holiday season. 45% of those intend to use the mobile phone to research prices, 32% said they would use it to find coupons or read reviews, and 25% plan to make purchases via their phones.