Jim Spanfeller, President and CEO of Forbes.com, who also happens to be treasurer of the Online Publishers Association and Chairman Emeritus of the Interactive Advertising Bureau spoke his mind on the state of the online advertising industry in a guest post at PaidContent.org.
Searching For Jessica Biel Puts Users At Risk
Jessica Biel is now the most dangerous celebrity to search for on the Web, according to a new report from McAfee.
Fans searching for "Jessica Biel" or Jessica Biel downloads," Jessica Biel wallpaper," "Jessica Biel screensavers," Jessica Biel photos" and "Jessica Biel videos" have a one in five chance of visiting a website that’s tested positive for online threats, such as spyware, adware, spam, phishing, viruses and other malware.
Yahoo to Launch Arabic Versions of its Properties
Yahoo has announced its intent to acquire Maktoob.com, an Arab portal that reaches one in every three people online in its region. That accounts for about 16.5 million people. Yahoo says this is its largest geographic expansion in years.
Yahoo Unveils New Search Design
Yahoo discussed the future of Yahoo Search today. They are launching a new search design that goes along with the new look of the Yahoo Home Page, which was recently launched itself.
The new search has a three-column layout (Search Engine Land has a bunch of screenshots), with most of the changes occurring in the left-hand column. This is where filters and search applications reside.
Google on Online Ads Boosting Offline Sales
Google is talking about how online ads can boost in-store sales at a couple of its different blogs today. The first one looks at the relationship between POS (point of sale) and O2S (online to store).
MTV Launches New Online Video Ad Unit
Target and MTV Networks have partnered to launch a new online video ad unit called "The Scrubber."
The Scrubber is a custom video player that allows advertisers to insert product icons into the playback timer and highlight various items as the video plays. The unit is designed to be interactive, relevant and non-interruptive to the user.
Google Brings Video/Voice Chat to Your Home Page
Google now has a video chat application that can be used from your iGoogle home page. This is just the latest feature Google has added to its ever-growing list of products/features that make it more like a giant social network.
Facebook Expanding Staff By Around 50%
While we continue to slog our way through the economy (is it getting better, staying the same or worse?) there are a few companies that are defying the general downward trends. Apple’s iPhone has let them weather the storm quite nicely. Apparently, Facebook is doing quite fine as well.
Yahoo Signs On PointRoll To Smart Ads Program
Gannett’s PointRoll announced today it has joined the Yahoo Smart Ads program to help marketers focus on creating rich media ads and improve campaign performance.
As a member of Yahoo’s Smart Ads program, PointRoll will use Yahoo’s reach and targeting capabilities to provide more customized, relevant and scalable rich media campaigns. PointRoll will also use its ShopLocal retail ad program to offer improved Smart Ads for retail advertisers.
Toshiba Launches Social Network for Employees
Toshiba announced today it is launching a social business network called eXCHANGE, aimed at connecting its sales, service, administrative and corporate employees in the U.S.
Toshiba says eXCHANGE is similar to other social networks, such as Facebook, LinkedIN or MySpace and it will offer members an online forum to share and seek information, including best sales practices, user generated information and product tips.