MKTG

Google’s Stealth Investment in Game Co Zynga Exceeds $100 Million

Popularity: 1% [?]

• Widgets
• Video content
• Video games
• Product comparison
• Travel
• eBooks

They might prefer to use different labels (so as to minimize fear in the marketplace & slow down regulators), and they might claim that aggregate statistics control the investments & thus they are not really publishers, but they plan on skimming a big piece off of the top of many big markets.

AdWords was just the start!

Videos, maps & product search…look how Google self-deals in each while managing to call it a value added feature (or some such).

If Google collects data, hosts data, sorts data, recommends personalized consumption habits, and then makes small investments in new content from proven past performers (and then give them a bit of stealth promotion on their network)…how is it possible for Google to lose money? (Outside of lawsuits)?

Google can claim they are “democratizing” media while showing a string of successful partnerships based on investing using real time data that nobody else as access to. Meanwhile if you are a publisher they are gutting your business model through paying people to snag your content and wrap it in their ads, while they also redirect user attention to the companies and acts they have invested in.

“One day we had a conversation where we figured we could just try and predict the stock market… and then we decided it was illegal. So we stopped doing that.” – Eric Schmidt, Google CEO

Note that there was no moral debate on the table. Their only internal limitation to setting up a hedge fund and swaying the markets to increase the profits of their trades would be that they thought it was illegal.

How much of the online ecosystem can Google consume before publishers promote other views of the web?

One way to fight this sort of strategy is Yahoo!’s sell or outsource everything but the logo strategy. It increases short term margins, but in the longrun it makes one that much more vulnerable. Google can always buy the partner of choice and then ride off the free promotion & validation that the acquisition gained from earlier partnerships. Sure adding more noise to a noisy market can bring in eyeballs, but fleeting ones. Death by a thousand compromises.

The other is to work in markets too small for Google to be interested in. Or to define & create a new vertical, like Zynga did. Even with as shady as Zynga’s founder is, longterm that company is in a better position than Yahoo! is.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Canadian Firm, German Govt File Against Facebook - Toronto-based Merchant Law Group filed paperwork seeking class action status in a lawsuit against Facebook this week claiming Facebook mishandled user data during the most recent privacy changes, and seeking the sum of the money the company made as a result of making user data public in that change. It’s not clear how strong the firm’s particular arguments are; what is clear is that some law firms pursue such cases when they think they can get money or at least publicity out of their efforts.

Meanwhile, perhaps more seriously, Germany data protection official Johannes Caspar said in a statement this week that his office had initiated a legal process that could ultimately cost Facebook thousands of euros in fines. The action comes over privacy issues, specifically, April privacy setting changes that exposed the information of people who don’t use the site through Facebook’s email importing settings. Facebook has until August 11 to respond to the legal complaint.

Facebook’s Economic Geography - Visual Economics created a really interesting map of what Facebook’s economy would look like if it were a landmass, representing app companies and Pages by size, and other interesting representations.

Microsoft’s Docs Integrates Facebook - Microsoft’s new Docs.com site has made some changes to its program that allows for better Facebook integration. Currently you can post a document to your Facebook Page. Docs.com users now have the ability to:  post documents for a Page, author a document as a Facebook page, add a Docs tab to your Page and share/manage docs with other Page admins.

Buy a Drink, on Facebook - It’s now possible for Facebook users to buy their friends drinks — real drinks — even if they live in different cities. Web developer Webtab uses Facebook Connect and its Bartab app to coordinate the purchase.

Basically after paying a $1 fee (on the site or via the app) a user can send a drink to someone in the app network in the form of a digital coupon; the indicated drinker must then go to the indicated bar to redeem the coupon.

DC Team Focuses on Privacy - The Hill interviewed Facebook Spokesman Andrew Noyes this week noting that the company’s D.C. team is setting its sights primarily, 90% to be precise, on privacy.

Facebook’s Buchheit Gives Gov a Hand – Code for America, a group working to “import the efficiency of the Web into government infrastructures,” is the beneficiary of the services of Facebook’s Paul Buchheit. The organization is working on several projects with a variety of government groups.

Ladies Love Facebook – Oxygen Media and Lightspeed Research released a report about Facebook usage by women this week. Among the findings was that about one-third of women aged 18-34 check Facebook as soon as they wake up, even before heading to the bathroom. Other findings: 42% of women think posted photos of them “visibly intoxicated” are okay;  57% interact with people more online than face-to-face; 39% call themselves Facebook “addicts”; 21% check Facebook in the middle of the night; 63% network on Facebook; 79% think posted photos of them kissing are okay and 50% are friends with strangers.

Doctors Talk Health on Facebook - USA Today has a piece this week that explores how some health care professionals are using social media tools to help their patients.

Facebook Supports Rel-Me - Chris Messina posted a screenshot showing that Facebook now seems to be supporting the rel-me attribute on its site, used for identity consolidation. Links on one web site about someone connect to other Links about that person, establishing a bi-directional personal rel-me link.

Facebook Pushes Ad Quality, Privacy - The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Facebook is promoting its social-context banner ads service as superior to competitors — including by impression volume, as the graph from the article shows, below. Incidentally, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg wrote a company blog this week describing the way ads work, taking special care to spell out how user privacy is maintained.

Users Like Likes - A couple of different outlets reported on the number of Likes Facebook users are serving up. One promoted the figure of 3 billion Likes a day, with 350,000 sites using Facebook’s social plugins.

Popularity: unranked [?]

In a move that will likely be surprising to some, Facebook has just announced that it is closing its Gift Shop for virtual gifts in three weeks on August 1st.

Facebook launched virtual gifts a little over three years ago, and has done a variety of e-commerce experiments since. For example:

• Initially launching Facebook Credits in the Gift Shop in November 2008
• Pushing virtual birthday gifts on profile pages in January 2009
• Testing virtual currency gifting with branded virtual gifts in May 2009
• Adding content from third party developers, including e-commerce retailers of physical goods, in August 2009
• Adding licensed sports, music, and charity-benefit themed virtual gifts in October 2009

However, Facebook was never seemingly able to get its direct-to-consumer virtual goods business over the hump. While other niche social sites have increased virtual gift monetization by integrating gift content more heavily into the user experience, Facebook has kept integration to a relative minimum, primarily only displaying them on a user’s wall as just another type of rich feed item.

Instead, Facebook has focused more on its core value proposition as a communication and identity utility, while letting third party developers on its platform develop the rich application experiences that have proven so potent at monetizing through the sale of virtual goods. Now that virtual goods on the Facebook Platform have become such a large business, Facebook is getting involved through its universal virtual currency, Facebook Credits, around which there are a variety of sentiments in the developer community.

In our latest estimates of Facebook’s revenues, which we put at $700 million in 2009 and $1-$1.1 billion in 2010, we estimated that virtual gifts made up less than $10 million in revenue for Facebook last year. Most of Facebook’s revenues in this category this year will come from the growth of its Credits virtual currency business instead.

Nevertheless, it is a symbolic moment in the evolution of the company. Facebook has decided that it doesn’t want to be in the business of creating virtual goods for users to buy, but rather to be the platform on which others can build applications within which users can buy virtual goods with house-issued universal currency.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Life without the Web, Web paywalls and the e-bookstore war are in the reading list.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Life without the Web, Web paywalls and the e-bookstore war are in the reading list.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Life without the Web, Web paywalls and the e-bookstore war are in the reading list.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Life without the Web, Web paywalls and the e-bookstore war are in the reading list.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Life without the Web, Web paywalls and the e-bookstore war are in the reading list.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Life without the Web, Web paywalls and the e-bookstore war are in the reading list.

Popularity: unranked [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This week’s podcast includes a way to use cellphones to test eyesight, a push to educate consumers about safety online and “ransomware.

Popularity: 1% [?]

It’s the year of mobile! It’s the year of mobile! Well it looks like we’ve finally stopped crying wolf. Mobile Internet use and interaction is on the rise in a big way. Here are some reports, studies and generally fascinating stuff on the platform marketers have been drooling over for years.

Assorted Musings on Mobile Ad Platforms and Devices: Take a listen to today’s episode of SEM Synergy. Some of the highlights include Bruce’s thoughts on the launch of Apple’s iAd platform and whether it might possibly live up to Steve Jobs expectations to conquer half of the mobile ad market by the end of the year.

Bruce also turns a critical eye on a study on mobile audiences by JiWire that reports 52 percent of smartphone users say they’ve acted on an advertisement in a mobile app and 18 percent say they’ve made a purchase from a mobile app in the last month. Mobile tech specialist Michael Martin also joins the program to offer insight on mobile advertising, location services and popularity of smartphone devices.

Mobile Marketing Reports Round-Up: Along with speaking at conferences and sharing his info with SEM Synergy listeners today’s guest Michael Martin regularly shares his finds and analysis on the mobile space on his blog. His most recent post is a collection of several important marketing reports covering the mobile realm. The growing volume of reports itself highlights the fast-paced growth of consumers and advertisers in the mobile market. There are lots of fascinating insights within the links and data collected by Michael in this post, including the opening graph and the AdMob smartphone traffic report, so give it a read.

Text Me!: For a long time I received text message alerts from my favorite local froyo place giving me their deals of the day. I finally quit because everyday it seemed to be the same offer and because I was also learning the same thing from their posts on Twitter. However, it seems my interest in tasty texts is in line with the rest of America. Groceries, national restaurant chains and fast-food items were among the top four most popular categories as reported by those receptive to opt-in mobile marketing. Other strong segments included entertainment, electronics, travel and beauty/fashion.

App development, text marketing, location services — pick your mobile flavor and start developing that strategy!

Looking Into the Future: Mobile Marketing — SEM Synergy Extras was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services and SEO tools provider.

Popularity: 1% [?]

It’s the year of mobile! It’s the year of mobile! Well it looks like we’ve finally stopped crying wolf. Mobile Internet use and interaction is on the rise in a big way. Here are some reports, studies and generally fascinating stuff on the platform marketers have been drooling over for years.

Assorted Musings on Mobile Ad Platforms and Devices: Take a listen to today’s episode of SEM Synergy. Some of the highlights include Bruce’s thoughts on the launch of Apple’s iAd platform and whether it might possibly live up to Steve Jobs expectations to conquer half of the mobile ad market by the end of the year.

Bruce also turns a critical eye on a study on mobile audiences by JiWire that reports 52 percent of smartphone users say they’ve acted on an advertisement in a mobile app and 18 percent say they’ve made a purchase from a mobile app in the last month. Mobile tech specialist Michael Martin also joins the program to offer insight on mobile advertising, location services and popularity of smartphone devices.

Mobile Marketing Reports Round-Up: Along with speaking at conferences and sharing his info with SEM Synergy listeners today’s guest Michael Martin regularly shares his finds and analysis on the mobile space on his blog. His most recent post is a collection of several important marketing reports covering the mobile realm. The growing volume of reports itself highlights the fast-paced growth of consumers and advertisers in the mobile market. There are lots of fascinating insights within the links and data collected by Michael in this post, including the opening graph and the AdMob smartphone traffic report, so give it a read.

Text Me!: For a long time I received text message alerts from my favorite local froyo place giving me their deals of the day. I finally quit because everyday it seemed to be the same offer and because I was also learning the same thing from their posts on Twitter. However, it seems my interest in tasty texts is in line with the rest of America. Groceries, national restaurant chains and fast-food items were among the top four most popular categories as reported by those receptive to opt-in mobile marketing. Other strong segments included entertainment, electronics, travel and beauty/fashion.

App development, text marketing, location services — pick your mobile flavor and start developing that strategy!

Looking Into the Future: Mobile Marketing — SEM Synergy Extras was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services and SEO tools provider.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Foursquare was created to motivate people to discover interesting things around them. As the platform has evolved, we’ve started to experiment with many different ways to encourage users to explore, from surfacing great tips that come from the friends you trust to rewarding users who frequent the gym or commute via public transit. Thousands of merchants, too, are actively claiming their venues in the system and providing additional incentives on the platform in the form of special offers and mayor offers. Some of these are sole proprietors such as the Mermaid Inn in our hometown of New York City, while others are nationwide initiatives from the likes of Starbucks, Sports Authority, Ben & Jerrys, and Whole Foods. 

 
We continue to be inspired and excited as we observe merchants leveraging the platform to engender customer loyalty, drive foot traffic and boost customer acquisition.
 
Some examples:

+ Starbucks: Starbucks offered $1 off any size  Frappuccino® for its mayors. Since running their  mayor special on foursquare, Starbucks (already the most checked in retailer on the platform prior to running the special) has seen a 50% increase in check-ins at its locations. Also, not only are our users excited about the competition the mayor deal creates but they’re also welcoming the opportunity to try new products!




+ our friends at Monique’s Chocolates in Palo Alto have acquired over 50 new customers and saw well over 100 redemptions as a result of running a special offer over the past seven weeks:



The owner of Monique’s, Mark, also told us that he is running the same special in his local newspaper (cost of ad = $300!) and has acquired only one customer with one redemption from that print ad. He adds that for those who redeem the special via foursquare “more than 25% return regularly to get something, to check in, to see who the mayor is…the gaming part of foursquare really does resonante with people and we’re excited about it!” 
 
 
+ AJ Bombers, a local burger spot in Milwaukee has seen a 30% increase in menu item purchases from running both a special (free cookie if you add a tip!) and mayor offer (free burger!)
 
Joe, the owner, has leveraged foursquare in other innovative ways to drive foot traffic – he was the first to hold “Swarm Badge” and “I’m on a boat” parties for customers!



We LOVE stories like these. We’re deeply motivated to build the best tools to help our merchants use foursquare to get their customers excited about frequenting their venues, while offering sweet deals for our users.

We are taking what we’ve learned so far from these early experiments and introducing a few changes today to make the experience better for users and merchants.

Loyalty offer variability (“Specials Nearby”): 
Starting today, users will no longer see the same loyalty offer (Special offer or Mayor offer) over and over but rather see some variability by seeing rotating offers in the “special nearby” tab.

The “reach” for special offers: 
The current location range for offers “nearby” is approximately 200 yards, but will, in the future, be variable based on the user’s  location. In more densely populated areas, 200 yards will provide adequate variability. In areas outside of cities, we’re going to increase that range to provide better results for users in less densely populated areas.

Participation from employees: 
Thousands of merchants are running specials on the platform and the majority of specials in the system are frequency-based (i.e. “every 5th check-in gets you a free appetizer!”). There are also merchants, like Sports Authority, who are running mayor deals. In the past, we’ve not allowed users identified in our system as employees or managers of venues (see staff tool below) to be eligible for mayorships or participate in Foursquare mayor offers.



This restriction remains true, but we are going to make the process of designating employees as staff on foursquare venues much clearer to merchants. We can’t expect all merchants to require employees to mark themselves as such but we can do better (and we will!) as it relates to communicating to our merchants about the benefits of doing so.

Redemption: 
User experience is paramount to anything that happens within the Foursquare universe. These early experiments are helping us make a better product and ensure that future offers are as easy to redeem as ever. While the ultimate responsibility rests with the merchant, we want to make sure they have the tools and documentation necessary to teach everyone involved about our programs. As technology advances and Point of Sale systems get smarter, this responsibility can move from humans to barcode scans, loyalty card integrations and other means, thus reducing the potential friction.
 
As always, we thank you all for the feedback! We will continue to work to build the best product possible for our users and merchants and we welcome the feedback as we continue to iterate the platform based on these early experiments.
 
— foursquare biz dev team —

Popularity: 1% [?]

Foursquare was created to motivate people to discover interesting things around them. As the platform has evolved, we’ve started to experiment with many different ways to encourage users to explore, from surfacing great tips that come from the friends you trust to rewarding users who frequent the gym or commute via public transit. Thousands of merchants, too, are actively claiming their venues in the system and providing additional incentives on the platform in the form of special offers and mayor offers. Some of these are sole proprietors such as the Mermaid Inn in our hometown of New York City, while others are nationwide initiatives from the likes of Starbucks, Sports Authority, Ben & Jerrys, and Whole Foods. 

 
We continue to be inspired and excited as we observe merchants leveraging the platform to engender customer loyalty, drive foot traffic and boost customer acquisition.
 
Some examples:

+ Starbucks: Starbucks offered $1 off any size  Frappuccino® for its mayors. Since running their  mayor special on foursquare, Starbucks (already the most checked in retailer on the platform prior to running the special) has seen a 50% increase in check-ins at its locations. Also, not only are our users excited about the competition the mayor deal creates but they’re also welcoming the opportunity to try new products!




+ our friends at Monique’s Chocolates in Palo Alto have acquired over 50 new customers and saw well over 100 redemptions as a result of running a special offer over the past seven weeks:



The owner of Monique’s, Mark, also told us that he is running the same special in his local newspaper (cost of ad = $300!) and has acquired only one customer with one redemption from that print ad. He adds that for those who redeem the special via foursquare “more than 25% return regularly to get something, to check in, to see who the mayor is…the gaming part of foursquare really does resonante with people and we’re excited about it!” 
 
 
+ AJ Bombers, a local burger spot in Milwaukee has seen a 30% increase in menu item purchases from running both a special (free cookie if you add a tip!) and mayor offer (free burger!)
 
Joe, the owner, has leveraged foursquare in other innovative ways to drive foot traffic – he was the first to hold “Swarm Badge” and “I’m on a boat” parties for customers!



We LOVE stories like these. We’re deeply motivated to build the best tools to help our merchants use foursquare to get their customers excited about frequenting their venues, while offering sweet deals for our users.

We are taking what we’ve learned so far from these early experiments and introducing a few changes today to make the experience better for users and merchants.

Loyalty offer variability (“Specials Nearby”): 
Starting today, users will no longer see the same loyalty offer (Special offer or Mayor offer) over and over but rather see some variability by seeing rotating offers in the “special nearby” tab.

The “reach” for special offers: 
The current location range for offers “nearby” is approximately 200 yards, but will, in the future, be variable based on the user’s  location. In more densely populated areas, 200 yards will provide adequate variability. In areas outside of cities, we’re going to increase that range to provide better results for users in less densely populated areas.

Participation from employees: 
Thousands of merchants are running specials on the platform and the majority of specials in the system are frequency-based (i.e. “every 5th check-in gets you a free appetizer!”). There are also merchants, like Sports Authority, who are running mayor deals. In the past, we’ve not allowed users identified in our system as employees or managers of venues (see staff tool below) to be eligible for mayorships or participate in Foursquare mayor offers.



This restriction remains true, but we are going to make the process of designating employees as staff on foursquare venues much clearer to merchants. We can’t expect all merchants to require employees to mark themselves as such but we can do better (and we will!) as it relates to communicating to our merchants about the benefits of doing so.

Redemption: 
User experience is paramount to anything that happens within the Foursquare universe. These early experiments are helping us make a better product and ensure that future offers are as easy to redeem as ever. While the ultimate responsibility rests with the merchant, we want to make sure they have the tools and documentation necessary to teach everyone involved about our programs. As technology advances and Point of Sale systems get smarter, this responsibility can move from humans to barcode scans, loyalty card integrations and other means, thus reducing the potential friction.
 
As always, we thank you all for the feedback! We will continue to work to build the best product possible for our users and merchants and we welcome the feedback as we continue to iterate the platform based on these early experiments.
 
— foursquare biz dev team —

Popularity: 1% [?]

Foursquare was created to motivate people to discover interesting things around them. As the platform has evolved, we’ve started to experiment with many different ways to encourage users to explore, from surfacing great tips that come from the friends you trust to rewarding users who frequent the gym or commute via public transit. Thousands of merchants, too, are actively claiming their venues in the system and providing additional incentives on the platform in the form of special offers and mayor offers. Some of these are sole proprietors such as the Mermaid Inn in our hometown of New York City, while others are nationwide initiatives from the likes of Starbucks, Sports Authority, Ben & Jerrys, and Whole Foods. 

 
We continue to be inspired and excited as we observe merchants leveraging the platform to engender customer loyalty, drive foot traffic and boost customer acquisition.
 
Some examples:

+ Starbucks: Starbucks offered $1 off any size  Frappuccino® for its mayors. Since running their  mayor special on foursquare, Starbucks (already the most checked in retailer on the platform prior to running the special) has seen a 50% increase in check-ins at its locations. Also, not only are our users excited about the competition the mayor deal creates but they’re also welcoming the opportunity to try new products!




+ our friends at Monique’s Chocolates in Palo Alto have acquired over 50 new customers and saw well over 100 redemptions as a result of running a special offer over the past seven weeks:



The owner of Monique’s, Mark, also told us that he is running the same special in his local newspaper (cost of ad = $300!) and has acquired only one customer with one redemption from that print ad. He adds that for those who redeem the special via foursquare “more than 25% return regularly to get something, to check in, to see who the mayor is…the gaming part of foursquare really does resonante with people and we’re excited about it!” 
 
 
+ AJ Bombers, a local burger spot in Milwaukee has seen a 30% increase in menu item purchases from running both a special (free cookie if you add a tip!) and mayor offer (free burger!)
 
Joe, the owner, has leveraged foursquare in other innovative ways to drive foot traffic – he was the first to hold “Swarm Badge” and “I’m on a boat” parties for customers!



We LOVE stories like these. We’re deeply motivated to build the best tools to help our merchants use foursquare to get their customers excited about frequenting their venues, while offering sweet deals for our users.

We are taking what we’ve learned so far from these early experiments and introducing a few changes today to make the experience better for users and merchants.

Loyalty offer variability (“Specials Nearby”): 
Starting today, users will no longer see the same loyalty offer (Special offer or Mayor offer) over and over but rather see some variability by seeing rotating offers in the “special nearby” tab.

The “reach” for special offers: 
The current location range for offers “nearby” is approximately 200 yards, but will, in the future, be variable based on the user’s  location. In more densely populated areas, 200 yards will provide adequate variability. In areas outside of cities, we’re going to increase that range to provide better results for users in less densely populated areas.

Participation from employees: 
Thousands of merchants are running specials on the platform and the majority of specials in the system are frequency-based (i.e. “every 5th check-in gets you a free appetizer!”). There are also merchants, like Sports Authority, who are running mayor deals. In the past, we’ve not allowed users identified in our system as employees or managers of venues (see staff tool below) to be eligible for mayorships or participate in Foursquare mayor offers.



This restriction remains true, but we are going to make the process of designating employees as staff on foursquare venues much clearer to merchants. We can’t expect all merchants to require employees to mark themselves as such but we can do better (and we will!) as it relates to communicating to our merchants about the benefits of doing so.

Redemption: 
User experience is paramount to anything that happens within the Foursquare universe. These early experiments are helping us make a better product and ensure that future offers are as easy to redeem as ever. While the ultimate responsibility rests with the merchant, we want to make sure they have the tools and documentation necessary to teach everyone involved about our programs. As technology advances and Point of Sale systems get smarter, this responsibility can move from humans to barcode scans, loyalty card integrations and other means, thus reducing the potential friction.
 
As always, we thank you all for the feedback! We will continue to work to build the best product possible for our users and merchants and we welcome the feedback as we continue to iterate the platform based on these early experiments.
 
— foursquare biz dev team —

Popularity: 1% [?]

YouTube announced Wednesday that it is updating its mobile Web site for the iPhone and Android platform with a number of new features that rival a native application experience.

Popularity: 1% [?]