ITV

Category: Social Media

  • Google and Facebook will be the top two ad publishers in 2014: eMarketer study

    Google and Facebook will be the top two ad publishers in 2014: eMarketer study

    MUMBAI: A recent study conducted by eMarketer has revealed that the mobile ad spending in US is expected to near $9.6 billion in 2013 and account for a whopping 22.5 per cent of all digital ad investments.

    The report also highlights that both Facebook and Google are major drivers and recipients of this growing market, domestically and internationally.

    “The rapid growth of mobile ad revenues at Facebook has helped make the social network the second-largest digital ad seller in the US, behind only Google. This year, Facebook will take in 7.4 per cent of net US digital ad dollars, or $3.17 billion, while Google will account for nearly four in 10, or $17.00 billion,” reveals the eMarketer study.

    eMarketer had previously forecast that Facebook would remain slightly behind Yahoo! this year. “But the strength of Facebook’s mobile business has pushed the social network past Yahoo!, whose share is now expected to decline to 5.8 per cent in 2013, from 6.8 per cent last year,” says eMarketer in its report.

    The study reveals that even on a worldwide basis, Google and Facebook will be the top two ad publishers, with 31.91 per cent and 5.64 per cent of the market this year, respectively.

    eMarketer has also found that both Google and Facebook have grabbed the greatest shares of net US mobile ad revenues, with Facebook jumping from 9 per cent to 16 per cent between 2012 and 2013.

    “Globally, Google dominates the mobile ad landscape, with a 48.76 per cent market share,” eMarketer estimates. “Facebook has seen its share of global mobile revenues explode this past year, growing from 5.34 per cent in 2012 to 16.91 per cent in 2013.”

  • Lionsgate set to bring Twitter story on TV

    Lionsgate set to bring Twitter story on TV

    MUMBAI: Lionsgate, a leading global entertainment company, has optioned the rights to Nick Bilton’s New York Times best seller Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal, with Allison Shearmur set as executive producer.  Bilton, a columnist and reporter for the New York Times, will write the screenplay and serve as the producer. The announcement was made on 18 December by Lionsgate Television Group chairman Kevin Beggs. 

    Hatching Twitter presents a fascinating behind-the-scenes account of the creation of the social media service by four friends and its evolution into worldwide phenomena that has changed the accession of digital communication. Bilton sheds light on the relationships, battles, power grabs and betrayals along the way in one of the most talked-about books of the year.

    Published by Penguin/Portfolio on 5 November, 2013, Hatching Twitter is a New York Times Best Seller that debuted at number 14 on the E-Book Nonfiction list and number five on the Wall Street Journal’s Hardcover Business list.  The readers of the Wall Street Journal named it the Best Book of 2013.  It has also made it to the “best of year” lists in a number of other outlets, including The Economist, Gizmodo, Bookish and Mashable and was an Amazon Best Book of the month in November.

    “Twitter has transformed almost every aspect of our lives from politics to business to friendship, and I can’t think of a more compelling story to adapt for television right now,” said Beggs in a release. “Nick’s book has all the elements of a great drama with its complex characters, high-stakes power struggles and betrayed friendships, and we’re extremely fortunate to have Alli Shearmur onboard as executive producer,” he added. 

    “Hatching Twitter will go behind the scenes of a groundbreaking Silicon Valley company in a way that’s never been captured before on television,” said Shearmur. “The Social Network was a perfect film, and this series will be different, providing a longer view of the work life changes, gamesmanship and personal sacrifices made by a group of individuals who are building a company that will change the way that people communicate,” he added.

    “I am thrilled to work with Allison Shearmur and Lionsgate to adapt my book about the power, betrayal and billions of dollars that swirl through Silicon Valley,” said Bilton.  “The story of Hatching Twitter really speaks to a generation that has searched for friendship through technology and it will be very exciting to see it brought to life on screen,” he said. He further added on his website that, “I’m thrilled to announce that Hatching Twitter has been optioned by Lionsgate and we will be starting development of a TV series.”

    Lionsgate has enjoyed great success with book adaptations, including its blockbuster movie franchises Hunger Games and Twilight, which have collectively grossed more than $4 billion at the box office worldwide. Hunger Games’ Indian release of its latest installment, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has garnered a three-day collection in India of approximately – Rs 21 crore.

  • Big B is the undisputed king on Twitter among Bwood celebs

    Big B is the undisputed king on Twitter among Bwood celebs

    MUMBAI: In his career spanning more than four decades, no actor has been able to surpass the craze of Amitabh Bachchan. And now the shehansha of Bollywood seems to be ruling the social-media space as well. According to the “Bollywood Twitter Index”, a social media analytics report released by To The New, a leading digital services ecosystem in India, AB has been crowned the undisputed king of Twitter among his Bollywood counterparts.

    The report is based on a research by ThoughtBuzz, the social media analytics’ arm of To The New. The Bollywood Twitter Index reveals that Amitabh Bachchan continued to reign over the micro-blogging site with the highest number of followers, clocking a growth of 87 per cent over the last year, followed by the Khan-brigade – Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan. Making an appearance at number five, Priyanka Chopra is the only actress in the top five Indian movie celebrities’ list.

    Despite gaining the maximum number of followers over the last one year with 151 per cent increase, Bollywood’s Dhak-Dhak girl, Madhuri Dixit narrowly missed making it to the list this year. She was nudged out by B-town fashionista, Sonam Kapoor, who hung on to the number 10 position with an 87 per cent increase in followers since last year.

    Other significant gainers include Akshay Kumar with a 99 per cent increase and Deepika Padukone with an 82 per cent increase in the number of followers over the last year.

    One of the most interesting things to note is that despite being virtually inactive, Aamir Khan has continued to attract fans, having amassed nearly two lakh new followers in the last two months. Aamir’s only tweets in the current year are about narration of his experience of meeting David Cameron, Prime Minister of United Kingdom and #ThankYouSachin during the cricketer’s last test match in Mumbai.

    Other revelations that the study makes: Around 27 percent conversations that Bollywood celebrities indulge in on Twitter are about promoting their work or films; around 24 per cent of the tweets are about their personal experiences or general interactions with their fans; the rest of the Twitterverse discussions are based around promoting their own brands (9 per cent), favourite quotes (7 per cent), opinions about specific issues (6 per cent) and social causes (4 per cent).

  • Twitter gives power to woman

    Twitter gives power to woman

    MUMBAI: In the last two years, Twitter has just seen a rise in the number of users. It has become a phenomenon. But the microblogging site was criticised time and again for gender imbalance in the top ranks. However, the social media platform seems to have rectified it by bringing on to board executive Marjorie Scardino to its director ranks.

    Scardino is not just Twitter’s first female director; she’s also one of the first person with an experience in old media. Scardino with whom the Twitter board to expand to eight members, is a former chief executive of publishing company Pearson and has served as an editor for the Associated Press, a publisher of a Georgia Gazette newspaper and is also the former CEO of The Economist Group and a former board member of phone maker Nokia.

     

    In a regulatory filing, Twitter said that Scardino will replace David Rosenblatt on Twitter’s audit committee. However, Rosenblatt will continue to be on the compensation committee.

  • India fourth in phishing attacks

    India fourth in phishing attacks

    NEW DELHI: India has ranked fourth in phishing attacks in the third quarter of 2013, said RSA, a division of EMC.

    India received three per cent of the total attack volume, said  RSA  in a statement.

    Other countries targeted by phishing attacks were US (53 per cent), Germany (17 per cent), UK (eight per cent) and South Africa (three per cent). In top countries by attacked brands’ India ranked third with seven per cent of the total phishing volume worldwide. The US with 27 per cent and UK with 12 per cent topped the chart.

    RSA identified 46,119 phishing attacks in September globally with a rise in 36 per cent increase as compared to the month of August (33, 861). Phishing attacks in the month of September also mark the highest number of attacks in this quarter while July 2013 saw 45,232 numbers of attacks. Top countries to host these phishing attacks include US (42 per cent), Canada (nine per cent), Germany (five per cent) and UK (four per cent).

    The total amount of losses incurred in third Quarter of 2013 was $1.66 billion.
    Brands in the US, UK, India, and Australia were targeted by almost 50 per cent of phishing attacks in Q3 2013.

    US remained the top country on the chart, targeted with 53 per cent of the total phishing volume in Q3 2013.

    US incurred a loss of over $882 million followed by Germany with $294 million and UK with $133 million.

    Meanwhile, cyber attack is likely to cost the average home user $418 in multimedia files, but a lot of this loss could be prevented if users purchase digital content after checking that the content is secure.

    Kaspersky Lab in a statement that users can lose files in a number of different ways: losing a device, having a device stolen, or falling victim to malicious users.

    According to the B2B International survey, 27 per cent of respondents encountered a cyber attack in the last one year. At the same time, over 60 per cent of users who were victims of malware that either damaged or destroyed data admitted that they had not been able to fully restore their files. During the same period, approximately 14 per cent of users dealt with the loss, theft or crash of their device.

    Respondents in the 16-24 age group would face an average loss of $670, while those in the 25-34 group would incur an average loss of $455; users aged 45 and older would lose an average of $227.

    Residents of China and Russia were likely to incur the highest average losses at $816 and $807 per user, respectively. This figure is considerably lower in Europe ($378) and North America ($342).

    In order to protect digital assets, users not only need to back up their data on a regular basis – they also need to secure their personal devices against malicious attacks designed to steal or extort data. Smartphones and tablets should also have additional tools to help locate a lost device or to mitigate the potential damages of device theft.

  • Video on child prostitution goes viral

    Video on child prostitution goes viral

    MUMBAI: The truth, as they say, is stranger than fiction. So strange that often society chooses to look the other way despite knowing it.

    For instance, how many of us know that over 1.26 lakh cases of child trafficking were registered in India during 2011-12 or the fact that nearly forty girls under the age of fifteen are forced into prostitution every day in this country?

    And so we have a new video uploaded to YouTube by Delhi-based NGO, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), in collaboration with PaapiPet Pictures, which sends out a clear message to people, urging them not to ignore the inhuman things happening to innocent children around them.  
    Watch the video: #dontlookaway

    Aptly titled ‘Don’t look away’, the video, brings to the fore the grim reality of the flesh trade, and has gone viral, garnering a staggering 595,921 views within days of being uploaded.

    ‘Don’t look away’ rolls with a little girl, nicely dressed, standing by a busy road. The street is dark with just the traffic lights; evidently, it’s late in the evening. An old tailor eyes the girl from his shop across the street even as she fidgets, throwing nervous glances all around.

    While viewers are left guessing what next, she simply crosses the road and walks towards a car parked at the corner. She turns back to look at the old tailor and he just nods. The girl enters the car and the camera pans to the middle-aged man at the driving seat. An evil smile on his face, he tries to give her a chocolate which she isn’t too keen about receiving. The man then keeps the chocolate on her thighs… and his hands follow suit…

    BBA hopes that after watching this video, viewers won’t look away the next time they see something like this. According to Rajesh Sengar of BBA, the film is but a small effort to send across a message of righteousness. “One shouldn’t look away. In the last 33 years that we have been working for the cause, we have rescued 82,000 kids,” says he.

    The video is directed by Jaydeep Sarkar, who drew inspiration from two different personal experiences. The first instance, which he regrets he ignored which happened while he was stuck in a traffic jam at the Andheri highway. “I saw a little girl crossing the road, her eyes seeking help and still, I couldn’t do anything as I was stuck in traffic and helpless. Those eyes kept haunting me for days,” he recalls.

    The second incident – something a close relative experienced – which moved him deeply. “This couple had rescued a small girl in her early teenage years from the clutch of the sex business. They anticipated that something really wrong was cooking up in their neighbour’s house and when they dug deep, it was this horrific case that they discovered,” says Sarkar, who discovered while making the film that people don’t really want to be associated with such murky issues.

    Sarkar says they struggled even with finding a good song for the video as no music composer worth his melody wanted to be associated with a video on child-trafficking. “However, my producer Rheyan Johari made me listen to a song, These Streets by Scottish singer-songwriter Paolo Nutini, which not just touched my heart but also reflected the theme of the movie. We wrote to Warner Music, London that released the album and we soon got a go-ahead,” says Sarkar, concluding on the note the cause would find supporters not just in India but abroad as well.

  • #ThankYouSachin trends on Twitter for over a week

    #ThankYouSachin trends on Twitter for over a week

    MUMBAI: He is not called the living legend for no reason. As Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar bid adieu to international cricket, there was frenzy on the social media sites. Good wishes started pouring in for the cricketer from all quarters on Twitter.
    #ThankYouSachin trended for over a week on Twitter.

    According to Asterii Analytics that took a sneak peek into the magnitude of the hashtag, which was used to send wishes to Sachin, there were over 1.2 million tweets as on 17th November, 2013 with the hashtag #ThankYouSachin. Since, this hash tag was popularised by BCCI in order to send people personalised picture of Sachin with his photograph, the trend took off really well.

    Interestingly, it was in October when a Twitter user originally used the hashtag to thank Sachin and Dravid, but BCCI picked it up in November after looking at its popularity.
    Umpteen blogs were also written on Sachin using the hashtag to pay a tribute to the cricketing legend. Out of the total number, 46 per cent of the tweets were replies, while 34 per cent were original tweets and 20 per cent were retweets.

    Other hashtags like #SRT200, #SachinSachin, #Respect, #Legend etc., also trended over the week.

    As expected, around 90 per cent of the tweets were generated in India but countries like Pakistan, UK, and USA also contributed to this trend.

    Interestingly, 87 per cent of the tweeters were male while 13 per cent comprised of female fans.

    “I am really touched with #ThankYouSachin messages. Your support all these years have inspired me to give my best.” by Sachin Tendulkar was the most re-tweeted tweet. It was re-tweeted 15,772 times and was a favourite of 10,406 people on Twitter.

  • International organisations have devoted followers on Twitter

    International organisations have devoted followers on Twitter

    MUMBAI: If you thought only the people in the showbiz are active Twitteratis and have got fan following, think again. Burson-Marsteller, a leading global public relations and communications firm, released the latest edition of its “Twiplomacy” (http://twiplomacy.com) study that reveals that international organisations and their leaders have a good fan following on the social networking site too.

     

    The study shows that all leading international organisations have a Twitter account, and half of their leaders have active personal accounts on the social network.

     

    Some of the surprising revelations were: United Nations Children’s Fund (@UNICEF) is the most followed international organisation with more than two million followers. @UNICEF is also the second most effective organisation after the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (@CERN) because both organisations’ tweets are retweeted on average more than 100 times.

     

    The heads of the Arab League, the IMF and NATO are the most followed heads of international organisations on Twitter.

     

    Those international organisations who signed up to Twitter in 2007 and early 2008 are also among the most followed today. Five of them have more than a million followers each, namely @UNICEF, the @UN, the World Economic Forum (@Davos), the UN Refugee agency (@Refugees) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (@WWF). All international organisations combined have a total of 18,325,589 followers.

     

    “Understanding the use and application of social media is now essential to effective strategic communications efforts,” said Burson-Marsteller’s Worldwide Chair and CEO Don Baer. “Our Twiplomacy study has become the industry standard for advancing that understanding and is a prime example of what we mean by Burson-Marsteller, Being More.”

     

    “This study illustrates how organisations can use Twitter in a novel way with the innovative use of hashtags, Twitter Q&As and direct message campaigns that can make a big impact regardless of the number of their followers,” said Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of Burson-Marsteller Europe, Middle East and Africa. “It is interesting to see that while half of the heads of international organisations have personal Twitter accounts, few tweet themselves.”

     

    The World Economic Forum (@Davos) and the @GlobalFund have recently run direct message campaigns, reaching out directly to their most influential followers on Twitter to push their reports and campaigns. They are also among a handful of accounts which allow any follower to send them direct messages, effectively opening up a new two-way channel of communication.

     

    “Credit goes to the social media managers in each organisation who are often alone to manage an organisation’s Twitter account and other social media platforms on top of their day job. Organisations that put more resources into their digital communications are the ones who will be most effective over the coming years,” remarks Burson-Marsteller’s Digital Practice Leader EMEA and author of the report Matthias Lüfkens.
    The complete analysis of these findings can be accessed at: http://twiplomacy.com

  • Microsoft’s Xbox One aimed at greater linkage between PC and live TV

    Microsoft’s Xbox One aimed at greater linkage between PC and live TV

    NEW DELHI: Microsoft has created an extensive video walkthrough of the Xbox One dashboard, taking one through the general UI and how to access video games, apps and the new integration with live TV.

    The 12-minute tour by Microsoft’s Marc Whitten and Yusuf Mehdi is a thorough and accurate representation of the general Xbox One user experience. The pair show what is available on the Home tab, as well as how to save favourite content in the Pins area over on the left-hand edge.

    Visually, it does not look too different from the Xbox 360 but the customisation option and personalisation offered by the Xbox One appears impressive, says thewebnext.com. The dashboard will change automatically depending on who is signed in; the updated Kinect will identify who is in the room and then adjust the on-screen tiles and pins accordingly.

    It does not matter which console is being used as all preferences will carry over as soon as one logs in with an Xbox Live account. If multiple players are logged-in simultaneously, one can also switch between custom dashboards using the phrase: “Show my stuff”.

    App switching also looks snappy and responsive. Whitten calls out a series of oral commands to alternate between Hulu, Netflix, Internet Explorer and live TV, and the Xbox One appears to handle it all with only a minimal amount of lag.

    The video walkthrough also shows how notifications will be presented over live TV. One can be completely removed from the dashboard experience, but the Xbox One will give an alert whenever Skype or multiplayer requests come through on the system.

    Most of the focus and media coverage around the Xbox One has concerned its launch line-up, hardware specs and controversial DRM policies (all of which have now been reversed). As Microsoft ventures further into the casual market however, it’s increasingly important that the Xbox One offers an accessible, stress-free user experience. If owners are frustrated or confused by the new dashboard, the chances of them using their Xbox One as the default input for all of their games, streaming and live TV will be nil.

  • Cybercrimes proliferate in Pakistan

    Cybercrimes proliferate in Pakistan

    NEW DELHI: More than 10,000 cybercrime cases are pending in Pakistan while 250 alleged culprits has been set free because of inefficient law.

    The boom in the usage of internet and smartphone in the past 10 years in the country has also led into criminal use of this technology, says Pakistan’s MoreMag.

    From blackmailing women to harassment on social media, from fake job offers to internet calls for extortion money, our cyber space has been ravaged by criminal elements of the society.

    Kidnappings are occurring in the country by faking friendship on social networking websites.

    Pakistan only has a defunct cyber-crimes law in form of “Cyber Crimes ordinance” that was last updated in 2009.