advertising

Facebook and GM restore ad relationship after public spat

When General Motors pulled its $10 million advertising campaign from Facebook last year, it caused quite a commotion. Now, the carmaker seems to be having second thoughts.

GM has confirmed that it will reignite its ad campaign on the social network, according to Ad Age. This is a major turnaround from last year, when it proclaimed that Facebook ads simply didn't work.

"Chevrolet is testing a number of mobile-advertising solutions, including Facebook, as part of its 'Find New Roads' campaign," Chevrolet's U.S. VP of marketing, Chris Perry, told CNET. "Yesterday, Chevrolet launched an industry-first, '… Read more

Apple's new campaign: iPad is still lovable, kids

It's always troubling when a salesman looks into the future and tells me that I'm going to love something.

How can he possibly know? It makes me feel so terribly obvious, devoid of secrets and subtlety.

Oddly, Apple has decided to use the opportunity of this weekend to tell me why I'm going to love the iPad.

How does Apple know I don't? Perhaps I dated it for a while and decided it was too short or too demanding or just too beautiful for me?

A new Web campaign for the iPad swoops in after a similar exercise for the iPhone, … Read more

Facebook tests a new ad strategy

CNET Update is watching where you click:

Update highlights Facebook's Plan B for advertising in the News Feed. Instead of just showing you sponsored stories based on your profile, Facebook is tracking your Web browsing habits to serve targeted ads in the News Feed. If not done right, this can turn away users who are already uneasy over privacy.

Also in the tech news roundup:

- Spring cleaning could earn you a couple bucks -- that is, if you live in an area participating in eBay's "Sell it Forward" program. eBay is working with Goodwill to … Read more

Apple sets deadline for retiring old device ID system

It's official. Apple will longer accept new apps or app updates that access UDIDs. The company has set a May 1 deadline for this new policy.

"Starting May 1, the App Store will no longer accept new apps or app updates that access UDIDs," Apple wrote on its developer Web site today. "Please update your apps and servers to associate users with the Vendor or Advertising identifiers introduced in iOS 6."

UDIDs are the unique string of numbers that individually identifies each iOS device. Typically, they have been used by developers as a way to … Read more

Klout looks to score points with brands

Online influence-tracking startup Klout today launched Klout for Business to flip its scoring system for the benefit of brands.

Founded in 2008, Klout measures influence by scoring a person's activity and relationships across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other sites. The San Francisco-based company has primarily used its scientific formula on status to show people how they measure up against their peers. Klout says it's scored more than 100 million people, and claims to analyze 2.7 billion pieces of content and connections each day.

Klout does bring in some money -- likely low double-digit millions this year, according … Read more

Facebook lets advertisers target people with same traits as customers

Facebook today announced the global release of "lookalike audiences," a new targeting option that lets advertisers reach people who share similar traits to current customers.

The specialized audience targeting tool, which the social network has been testing with select advertisers for a few weeks, goes a step beyond the company's custom audiences targeting option, introduced last fall, to help marketers intelligently go after new business.

With custom audiences, advertisers can serve Facebook ads to their existing customers. Lookalike audiences extends the targeting option so that advertisers can target ads, based on demographic qualities or geographic region, to … Read more

Microsoft: 68 percent of digerati use multiple devices at once

A new survey, paid for by Microsoft Advertising, found that 68 percent of computer users in five countries multitask on multiple devices at the same time.

The survey, conducted in Chicago, London, Toronto, Sydney, and Sao Paulo, looked at the different ways folks use multiple devices at the same time. The most common use of multiple devices is something researchers Microsoft dubbed "content grazing." Those folks, the 68 percent of computer users, will check email on their smartphone while watching television, for example.

The survey, conducted by research firms Flamingo Research and Ipsos OTX, found that 57 percent … Read more

Google yanks ad-blocker apps from Google Play

Users in search of ad-blocking apps on Google Play won't have any luck as of today. Google has reportedly launched a campaign to remove apps that interfere with advertising from its app store.

Several app developers for apps such as AdBlock, AdAway, and AdFree received notices from Google today saying that their apps had been taken down, according to Phandroid. Apparently, these apps were in violation of Google Play's Developer Distribution Agreement.

This agreement says that developers must agree not to "engage in any activity with the market, including the development or distribution of products, that interferes … Read more

Twitter working on a music app

CNET Update sings along:

Twitter is working on a music app called Twitter Music, CNET has learned. First, Facebook adds a Music News Feed, now Twitter works on an app for discovering music. Is everyone trying to be more like MySpace?

Also in Wednesday's tech roundup:

- Samsung's Galaxy S4 may not have eye-scrolling technology, but we'll know for sure on Thursday. Follow CNET's live blog of the announcement. Coverage begins at 3 p.m. Pacific, 6 p.m. Eastern.

- Whatever Samsung announces, there will be plenty of promotion. A report shows Samsung spends more than Apple on marketing. … Read more

FTC places new rules on celebrity tweeters

The Federal Trade Commission has updated its consumer protection rules for online activities, and has specifically taken aim at celebrity tweeters.

The agency released the rules yesterday (PDF), and outlined how celebrities who want to promote a product on Twitter should do so. To illustrate its point, the FTC used a fictional celebrity it called Juli Starz. The original tweet shows her endorsing a "Fat-away" pill that helped her lose 30 pounds in six weeks. That tweet was accompanied by a URL to the product's site.

According to the FTC, that kind of endorsement is now illegal. … Read more