There’s never a dull moment in the world of internet marketing. This week saw Google unveil a new version of its popular Analytics platform; Facebook celebrate the Like button’s first birthday; two software engineers uncover the iPhone’s dirty secret; some major downtime for social media; and Google’s bid to compete with the company it couldn’t buy: Groupon.
Internet Marketing News 2011 04 25
Google Unveils New Version of Google Analytics
Last week Google rolled out its new version of Google Analytics to users. The new version offers several major enhancements including a streamlined interface with multiple dashboards, improved report performance and event goals like tracking PDF downloads. It’s hard to imagine Google Analytics being any more useful, but this update certainly paves the way for an even more detailed analytics platform.
Facebook Like Button Turns 1
It’s been over a year since Facebook’s ubiquitous Like button began sprouting up across the web. With a reportedly 10,000+ websites adding the Like button every day, it had shown no signs of slowing down. In fact, Facebook has stated that 80% of the top 100 websites in the U.S. have integrated the Like button. Like this post? You know what to do.
Your iPhone is Tracking Your Every Move
An unnerving discovery by a former Apple Software Engineer and his colleague was made public this week. The two discovered a file that logged the iPhone’s latitude and longitude along with a timestamp. The two have stated that this was probably a “mistake” by Apple. It seems more likely that they know that saying otherwise could land them in court.
Amazon’s EC2 Server Takes Down Much of the Social Internet
You may have noticed some of your favourite social media sites were down last week. Sites including Reddit, Foursquare and Hootsuite experienced major downtime due to disruption to the Amazon EC2 (Elastic Computing Cloud) service. Amazon’s EC2 cloud computing service works on a variable pricing model that allows companies to scale as they grow. Last week’s downtime led to tricky situations for those of us in social media.
Can Google Offers Oust Groupon?
Late last year Google was in talks to buy Groupon, a group-based local online coupon company with a loyal 35 million person userbase; but it turned out that $6billion wasn’t enough. Not deterred by the failed deal, Google announced its own competing service: Google Offers. Google has initiated a trial in four US cities. Will exclusivity and a lot of free buzz be enough for Google to enter the local coupon space? Time and customer loyalty will tell.
