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Microsoft is not likely to win over advertisers with its decision to turn on Internet Explorer 10's Do Not Track feature in the RTM version of Windows 8.

The Do Not Track, or DNT, feature is designed to stop third-party Web sites from tracking your online activity. Web sites that find Do Not Track turned on in your browser are supposed to back off. Most browsers leave the setting turned off, leaving it up to the user to decide whether to enable it.

But a blog post from Microsoft Chief Privacy Officer Brendon Lynch confirmed that the company is … Read more

A U.S. District Court judge has some concerns about the settlement Facebook struck over privacy concerns with its "Sponsored Stories" feature.

Judge Richard Seeborg yesterday heard the details of a settlement Facebook had inked with plaintiffs in a suit related to the way in which the social network was displayed Sponsored Stories. The five plaintiffs, which aimed at representing over 100 million members in a class-action suit, argued that by displaying their likeness and pages they had liked in a Sponsored Stories listing across the site, Facebook was violating their privacy. However, back in May, the parties agreed to a $20 million deal … Read more

With Facebook's first earnings report coming down today, everybody is weighing in on how the social network can do mobile and advertising better, including one company that uses Webcams to track eye movements on sites.

EyeTrackShop uses tracking to help companies with ad placement, with the idea to get the ad in the place where eyeballs naturally go.

"Where your ad goes is so critical and really if you are doing branding, the only way to know where people are looking at is to track it," EyeTrackShop President Jeff Bander said.

This type of study has been … Read more

When Facebook reports its first quarterly earnings as a public company later today, all eyes will be on how well the company is doing with mobile. More and more users are accessing Facebook via smartphones, yet the company only recently started running ads on mobile devices.

Those ads -- and they are only Facebook's first efforts to make money from mobile users -- are in the form of what Facebook calls sponsored stories. Companies can create "stories" that show up in a news feeds of a brand's fans and their friends. Facebook only started adding sponsored … Read more

People don't go to Facebook to shop for necessities, or even for luxuries, so it's not surprising a survey released today found that folks don't want to share their personal data in return for service on the social-networking site.

The survey -- done by Placecast, a location-based marketing firm -- found that U.S. adults are more than twice as likely to trust Amazon than Facebook with personal information. The firm aimed to gauge Americans' comfort with relinquishing private data in exchange for receiving marketing promotions offline, online, and through mobile devices.

Sixty-six percent of U.S. … Read more

Apple's iOS devices are bigger and more user-friendly, making mobile advertising on iOS more successful than on other operating systems, according to a report released today by Opera Software.

This seems like a no-brainer when it comes to advertising -- bigger screens equal more real estate for ads, which equals more engaging ads with more info, and more clicks. Trying to hit that sweet spot between portability and screen size may be a challenge for some device makers, but it's working for Apple, judging from the report's numbers, anyway.

Advertising on iOS sees more traffic and a … Read more

Twitter introduced targeted promoted tweets today, which means advertisers can send tailored messages based on where users live and what devices they're on.

"What if you want to make an offer just to New York Twitter users? Until today, it's been impractical to send these kinds of highly tailored Tweets, since there was no way to reach people in New York without also reaching followers in Norway, Nebraska and Nigeria who can't take advantage of your offer," Kevin Weil, a Twitter product manager, wrote in a blog post.

This advertising tool is meant to appeal … Read more

Note: The headline of this story, and the story itself, have been altered to reflect a retraction by the study's author, TBG Digital. See the note at the bottom of this post for more information.

Facebook's average cost per thousand impressions has increased by 58 percent in the second quarter of 2012 compared with the year-ago period, meaning Facebook is earning more and more from its ads.

Breaking down by country, the U.S. saw an increase of 25 percent, while Canada saw 21 percent and the U.K. saw 7 percent. The data comes from a study … Read more

While brands and advertisers have flocked to Facebook to promote their wares and connect with consumers, the jury's still out on the true value of the site for marketing.

The BBC recently completed an investigation into the effectiveness of the social network as a promotional tool. Running a campaign for a fictitious business called VirtualBagel, BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones spent $10 advertising the company's Facebook page.

At the time of writing, the company's page -- which contains only an image of a bagel and the address Ealing, London -- has amassed 3,113 "likes" … Read more