Pinterest, the online notice board, has added another billion dollars to the value of social media as it raises $100m from investors and picks up a valuation of $1.5bn. The valuation is more than a seven fold increase on the $200m it was valued at the end of last year.

The valuation puts it on a par with Instagram which was bought by Facebook last month for $1bn in cash and stock. Read More »

The growth of social media usage is by now well known and well documented. But publishers and broadcasters are also increasingly interested in building a social media presence.

For media brands who are used to talking to large audiences, a platform like
Twitter seems to provide new opportunities to create deeper levels of engagement and loyalty, as well as to reach wider audiences through word of mouth and ‘earned’ media. Read More »

Brands are becoming ever more sensitive about how they are perceived online – nobody wants to become the latest Addison Lee.

This has led to them become more receptive to responding to complaints and queries posted by consumers in social networks. A new study by Fishburn Hedges shows that 65% of those polled felt social media was a better way to connect with a company than the traditional call centre. Only 7% thought they were worse off using social. Read More »

Since Sainsbury’s Justin King made his comment in February, that smaller retailers should simply accept their fate and die gracefully, the ‘death of the high street’ has been the talk of the media.

E-Commerce has been identified as one of the culprits responsible for the troubles of bricks and mortar establishments, but this is not a fair judgement.  Read More »

The WSJ is reporting that General Motors is planning to stop advertising on Facebook after deciding that paying for ads on the social network has little impact on consumers when it comes to car purchases.

That is a significant blow to Facebook as it prepares for its IPO on Friday. Yesterday Facebook increased the planned price range for its stock to $34 to $38 per share amid growing investor excitement. The new price will see it raise about $12.8bn and values Facebook as high as $104bn, but without big advertisers that figure could quickly fall. Read More »

The tension between journalists and bloggers has raged ever since “web 2.0” emerged in the new millennium. The journalist is educated and trained, and considered the voice of the nation. Surely they are above other wannabe hacks? But the internet came along and broke this business model, allowing “citizen journalists” to share what they wanted with the world.

Yes, that leads to a lot of dross. But there are some people who can write well, deliver a balanced opinion, and actually share real facts. So what’s the difference between these writers and ‘journalists’? The difference is that journalists get paid by newspaper brands that add credibility and scale with which they can broadcast their views. Read More »

We’ve been asking a number of agency heavy hitters here in the US “How do you successfully bring brand stories to life through digital storytelling?”

One answer from Matt Walsh – VP / Executive Experience Director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky – turned in a total of four, as he spelled out the main considerations you have to make before setting out on a campaign. Read More »

As Twitter today celebrated its first birthday in the UK today, Brand Republic held a lunch time chat with Twitter’s head of sales Bruce Daisley.

We spoke to Daisley about Twitter advertising, some of the brands who are doing it well and why Twitter is a very different platform for advertisers compared to Facebook. Read More »

The Times has given an update on digital subscription numbers and says  The Times and Sunday Times now have 131,000 digital subscribers across all platforms.

That is an improvement on figures it gave in February when News International said its two UK newspaper websites behind paywalls had 119,255 digital subscribers for The Times and 113,818 for the Sunday Times. Read More »

The FT is reporting today that Yahoo’s chief executive Scott Thompson, who resigned from his post at the weekend, walks away with a settlement of $8m in cash and stock after five months.

The deal was promised to Thompson when he joined Yahoo from eBay-owned PayPal. Yahoo could have contested $2.5m of the settlement, but waived the right to do so. Read More »