Weekly Digital Roundup (2.10.14)
Every blue moon, Microsoft makes headlines. This past week, they made a few, beating out Facebook and Super Bowl brands, in our book. Without further ado, here’s what we found to be the biggest news, so you may comfortably remain snuggled under a rock.
Microsoft Makes Waves
The tech giant did more than crown Satya Nadella as CEO this week. They also staked a $15M claim in Foursquare, signing a licensing pact with Foursquare to use the network’s mobile data to improve its Bing search engine, Windows Phone, and other services. Big week for Microsoft!
A Decade of Facebook
Facebook turned 10 years old this past week! To celebrate, they introduced a new “Look Back” video feature that spotlighted users’ activity throughout their Facebook experience. Have you made yours? Go on, shed a tear.
Super Brands
Ad Age and ListenFirst partnered up to cook up this infographic visualizing which brands scored the most social followers during the Super Bowl. Some success stories include Chevy expanding their social following by 500% and Esurance’s $1M cash giveaway netting more than 2,000% growth of Twitter followers. Talk about ROI.
Mobile Pinterest Audience
More than 75% of Pinterest usage takes place on phones and tablets. That’s why Pinterest is making it easier to reach your growing mobile audience. Read their latest blog post for tips on how to optimize your Pinterest strategy for folks on the go, with key tips like adding Pinterest mobile software development kit (SDK) and making pins searchable.
The Struggle for Mobile Search
Last Friday Yahoo announced they have been working on two mobile-focused “secret initiatives” to get Yahoo back into organic and paid search. Should these initiatives succeed, the search alliance deal between Bing and Yahoo would end.
Meanwhile, Facebook is dipping a toe into mobile search this week by testing a mobile version of their graph search. The mobile version would allow you use location-specific features to search for things like “Restaurants in Orlando my friends have been to.”
Bing on the Games
Bing gets a gold medal for getting into the winter games spirit with a special results view just for Olympic-related searches. Some of the features include a medal count graphic, individual athlete statistics, and event details.
A Declarative Doodle
Google has kicked off the 2014 Olympic Opening Ceremony with a controversial Doodle that stands up to Russia’s anti-gay legislation. Unlike most of Google’s other Doodles, this one is followed by a blurb of text under the search box that emphasizes that the Olympic Charter is against such discrimination. Our judges give Google a 9.9 for this bold move!
Time to watch some curling.
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