Facebook boasts its accuracy. At an AdTech event at its headquarters Wednesday, Facebook discussed its competitive edge as a tool for targeting audiences. Brian Boland, Facebook vice president of ad tech, touted the granularity of its user data. "That gives us the foundation for what advertisers want," Boland said, "and to get messages in front of people. We’re moving from a mass reach product to a personalized product." He said that while general online advertising is just 59 percent accurate identifying users’ gender, Facebook scores better than 90 percent. And when it comes to age groups, Facebook achieves 89 percent accuracy, compared compared with an aggregate score of 35 percent.
¡No Google News para ustedes! Piqued by a new Spanish copyright law due to go live in January, Google is pulling the plug on the news portal in Spain and remove Spanish publishers from Google News worldwide."This new legislation requires every Spanish publication to charge services like Google News for showing even the smallest snippet from their publications, whether they want to or not," blogged.Richard Gingras, head of Google's news service. "As Google News itself makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site) this new approach is simply not sustainable.
Best Buy's worst tweet? The urge to use popular hashtags has led brands to make some awful moves on Twitter. (Remember when DiGiorno used the #WhyIStayed campaign against domestic violence to promote its pizza?) Thursday, it was Best Buy's turn, when the electronics retailer posted a tweet joking about a 1999 murder in a Best Buy parking lot that has been featured in the NPR podcast "Serial." One detail in the case centered on whether the convicted killer had called from a payphone at the death site. (The spot has become a macabre cult destination for amateur sleuths.) Rising to the occasion, a feckless Best Buy sfaffer tweeted, "We have everything you need. Unless you need a payphone. #Serial." Ouch. The company has removed the tweet and apologized.
Yahoo restructures in Southeast Asia. Yahoo is closing offices in Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia as it seeks to restructure international operations and make Singapore a key hub. The company is laying off 25 people in Vietnam, 50 in Indonesia and 15 in Malaysia.
British Columbia explores virtual reality. Because what says "great outdoors" like an Oculus Rift on your face? Destination British Columbia has gone high-tech with a VR tour of Canada's Western province. Set in the Great Bear Rainforest on the Pacific Coast, the campaign lets prospective tourists decide whether they want to explore waterfalls or coast in a small boat looking for seals.
Orthodox Church 1, Tolkien 0. It was a nice idea, but a Russia art group has been compelled to abandon plans to display an enormous Eye of Sauron on a Russian skyscraper in support of "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies." The Luminescence group ran afoul of the Orthodox Church, which characterized the symbol as "demonic," and the city government, which said it was an advertisement unapproved by City Hall.