The blogging platform Tumblr has teamed up with Yahoo7 to launch in Australia last Thursday night. Australia is the first non-American market to be commercialised for the platform. Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp explained, “part of why Australia was the first stop for our international rollout was that it is one of the biggest organic markets in the world.”
The youth orientated platform has found that there are currently around 4.6 million Tumblr users within Australia and growing, with half of those users estimated to be between 18-35 years of age.
So with all the social platforms that are out there what is it that makes Tumblr a platform that is different from the others? “Tumblr offers the best of two online worlds; combining the creative control of a traditional website with the active audience of a social platform. Tumblr’s users are actively seeking out content that inspires and entertains them, opening the doors for brands to be more creative and tell their story in new and more authentic ways” explained Ed Harrison, CEO of Yahoo7.
The first comprehensive study on the business of blogging in Australia
A survey on Australian bloggers by Catablog.com.au has found some interesting statistics about how lucrative blogging is as a business. What the study found was that half of the bloggers earning income consider it as extra spending money, while 20 percent said their earnings were equivalent to part time work and 11 percent full-time.
Most of the income that bloggers gain is from sponsored blog posts, but as there is no industry standard price “half believe the average invoice for a sponsored post is anything up to $250, while 20 percent say it’s between $250 and $400. Others say it’s closer to $600.”
Interestingly though, bloggers are not in it just for the money. When asked about their motivations for doing it, they said that they enjoyed blogging as it assisted them in helping and inspiring others and also in creating a community.
Google and Twitter get cosy with desktop search result integration
It is now possible to view tweet feeds and hashtags on the desktop version of Google’s search results. Twitter and Google announced a new partnership in February, and Twitter integration has been available on Google’s mobile website and apps since May, but it’s nice to see the pair getting along so well with another public display of affection on all of our desktops…
Facebook overtakes Google as traffic source for news and media
Traffic analysis from Parse.ly with data from over 400 major news and media outlets, has revealed that Facebook has overtaken Google as a traffic source and bolstering the theory that search has hit a plateau while Facebook’s growth trajectory continues to head skyward.
Facebook finally gifts pages and ads with gifs
After rolling out gifs to individual users in May, Facebook has now allowed select business pages to use the flashy graphics. It has been reported that Mark Zuckerberg has in the past held reservations about flashing banner ads in case they negatively affected user experience. I’m less bothered about flashing images and more about the constant penis enlargement ads I’m served. The user reaction to gifs will be monitored closely before a full roll-out to all businesses.
Coca-Cola’s Brazilian brand Kuat’s first gif offering
Facebook is planning to spruce its events offering right up
It’s time for Facebook events to get an overhaul and new details have been confirmed by the Facebook product manager for Facebook Events, Aditya Koolwal. One main goal is to separate out public and private events more significantly. Koolwal has also revealed that the ultimate goal is for Facebook to offer users a tailored list of what’s going on in any given city at any given time. Now please excuse me, I have a ‘WORLD’S LONGEST Slip ‘N’ Slide!!!!’ to attend.
Twitter ads now being served through mobile apps
Brands can now access more users with Twitter creative, through mobile apps (that aren’t Twitter) via the Twitter Audience Platform (TAP). Macy’s, who has used the technology reported engagement rates much higher than industry benchmarks. See below how the Twitter ads appear to users. I’ll just type Twitter one more time now. Twitter.
Twitter CFO calls for patience as stock falls below IPO price for first time
Bad times for Twitter as its stock dropped below $26 last week, the price set during its initial public offering in November 2013, against a background of ongoing concerns about a lack of growth in its user-base. One reason offered by Twitter for its trouble attracting new users is that it remains “too difficult to use” to truly reach a mass market beyond celebrities and journalists. I’ve taken it upon myself to look into the matter in depth myself. A quote from my mother: “I agree”.
Kik receives $50M cash injection from China’s Tencent
Tencent, the biggest internet company in China, who also own WeChat, is set to help Kik realise its dream of becoming the “WeChat Of The West” through a strategic partnership and a $50m investment. Kik, according to GlobalWebIndex, is currently the 4th placed messenger app amongst 16-24 year-olds in US, behind Facebbook Messenger, Snapchat and Skype. Kik plan to use the money for innovative development in the hope of taking on the the big players of the messaging world, with ambitions of taking on even Facebook Messenger.
Old Spice get it right again by cracking tough Imgur crowd
After its ‘loony’ Instagram adventure game, those mentalist nutters at Old Spice are all aboard the banter train once again with a new batch of promoted content on Imgur. The notoriously picky users of the platform have responded well to the ‘Gif off’, with one erudite user exclaiming: “The beautiful bastards in your marketing department understand me better than any man.”.
Man from UNCLE Instagram hack brings out the secret agent in users
The Warner Brothers UK team have used Instagram to hide a secret message for users. The message is revealed by regramming the image and applying a certain filter with the chance of winning a swanky watch fit for a spy. I’d love to tell you which filter it is but if I did I would have to kill you.
A photo posted by Warner Bros. UK (@warnerbrosuk) on
Ronald McDonald’s WLTM Tinder audience to advertise to
McDonald’s have surprised Tinder users in Australia this week after launching a competition on the dating app where users can win a trip to Thailand by swiping right when faced with the brand’s profile. With more late night trysts with sauce-covered hot chicken McNuggets than I care to mention, I’m confident for a match.
UK vlogger guidance issued followed Kim Kardashian’s banned selfie
New guidelines have been issued in the UK to vloggers after claims have been made that influencers have been put under pressure to keep commercial partnerships a secret from their fans. The new rules outline exactly what you can and can’t do within the UK advertising code and will act at the go to guide to help vloggers push back on unreasonable requests.
