Yesterday we heard that Facebook users will quit the social network over ‘too many ads, ahead of its mobile ad launch, and today we hear Twitter is to extend its Promoted Tweets ads to Twitter iPhone and Android apps.

Initially, a small number of users will see Promoted Tweets near the top of their timelines from brands they already follow as Twitter pushes its ad strategy across all platforms.

This infographic picks up on that and suggests that not only are consumers getting tired of being inundated with digital ads, but that as many as two thirds of consumers say they are turned off by unwanted ads on their smartphones. Read more »

Two weeks after Pay Pal’s Scott Thompson took the reigns at Yahoo, the ailing internet company’s co-founder Jerry Yang has announced his resignation. Analysts and investors who have viewed Yang as an obstacle to the corporation’s sale of its Asian assets are upbeat about his departure, writes Emily Tan. Read more »

A discussion arose recently about a memo sent to journalists working on a group of newspapers just outside Detroit of what was expected of them in the age of digital journalism and social media. The memo details an extraordinary list of requirements that is well beyond being achievable for most stories or pieces of content.

UPDATE -This story has just taken a little turn. HSBC says that the brief to agencies to come up with this plan was a “mock brief”.

But considering the brie was 35 pages long who spends that much time on coming up with a mock brief in such detail? Read more »

A week after The New York Times announced figures to that shows its paywall is working its longtime digital chief Martin Nisenholtz has announced his retirement.

Nisenholtz, a former ad man who spent 16 years at the paper, launched its paywall, as well as insisting that social media was crucial to its success, and leaves the paper in a strong place, but with issues to deal with. Read more »

Last night Twitter hosted a dinner for what was essentially a bunch of celebrities mostly you imagine to impress the boss CEO, Dick Costolo, who was over in the UK to press the flesh and meet the odd government minister and discuss ideas about possibly banning social media users should we have any more riots.

What was interesting about the gathered Top Tweeters was that as you can see in the picture (click to enlarge) they were largely celebrities including the likes of Jimmy Carr, Charlie Brooker, Sarah Brown, Stephen Fry, Phillip Schofield and Davina McCall among others. Read more »

Sean Garrett, Twitter’s VP of communications, is leaving the company and, of course, he announced the news to the outside world via Twitter although no reason was given for his exit.

The announcement came today through a series of tweets by Garrett in which he mentioned that his two years at Twitter were the favorite of his career, and that he was finally going to take more than a two week break between jobs. Read more »

The Guardian and its journalists have topped a list of the top 50 most influential news tweeters, according to PR agency Portland and Tweetminster, with the BBC coming in second.

The Guardian and its journalists accounted for nine of the top 20 places, but the top spot when to a Sky News journalist. While the Guardian, Telegraph, Financial Times and Independent all features prominently in this news oriented list there is one notable exception that doesn’t: The Times, which seems to suggest this list isn’t quite a far ranging as it needs to be. Read more »

Google last night opened up its social network service Google+ to brands and businesses with the launch of Google+ Pages.

In so doing it finally offers a much needed alternative to Facebook where many brands, which many brands are increasingly making the focus of their social media campaigns.

Already as Marketing reported major UK brands including Burberry, MailOnline, O2, Cadbury and Mumsnet are among the first to launch pages on Google+. Read more »

Back in the summer during the London riots, as the Sun and Mail blamed Twitter for fuelling them, David Cameron talked of pulling social networks in response.

This led to a meeting between Facebook, Twitter Blackberry and the Home Secretary Theresa May to discuss the issue of social networks and social unrest. While that idea seemed to die in the summer it is now back on the agenda as Twitter executives, including CEO Dick Costolo, went to number 10 today and a variant of that idea emerges that could see individuals banned from social networks. Read more »