Facebook Data to Enhance Bing Search

Microsoft Corp. and Facebook now have an agreement that will allow Bing to pull information from Facebook Inc. users into its Internet search results.

Under the terms of the partnership, Bing users signed into Facebook will be able to see search results instantly populated with information from their contacts on the social-networking service, including opinions and advice on restaurants, books and films.

In turn, Bing search results are to become available on Facebook users’ pages.

Microsoft has been partnering in different ways with Facebook since 2006, and purchased a small ownership stake in the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company in 2007.

Search gets used in many ways, but one usage mode is finding information to help people make decisions about what to buy, where to go or what to do. To the extent that Bing gets used that way, the new integration with Facebook will be helpful.

The new deal will allow Bing users to benefit from Facebook recommendations. When a user searches for something on Bing or in web results on Facebook (powered by Bing), users will be able to see your friends' faces next to web pages they've liked.

For some people, doing some things, some of the time, that probably will be quite useful.

Facebook | The Facebook Blog

Telecom New Zealand Tries Again for National Broadband Contracts

Telecom New Zealand has re-priced its bid for involvement in the national Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) initiative, after being largely shut out of the next round of contract negotiations, reports the New Zealand Herald.

The national telecom operator's plan to offer a nationwide rollout across all 33 regions was dismissed in favor of a region-by-region approach in September, significantly favoring other providers whose bids were deemed less expensive.

TNZ lost out to three regional bidders, led by electricity network companies in Timaru, Whangarei, and the Central North Islands, and apparently has decided to submit a lower bid in hopes of being reconsidered.

Telecom New Zealand breaks its silence on UFB bidding process

Twitter Really is a "Real Time" Media

Sysomos recently found that 29 percent of all tweets produced a reaction, in the form of a reply or a retweet. Of this group of tweets, 19.3 percent were retweets and the rest replies. This means that of the 1.2 billion tweets Sysomos examined, six percent, (or 72 million) were re-tweets.

Sysomos also discovered that 92.4 percent of all retweets happen within the first hour of the original tweet being published, while an additional 1.63 percent of retweets happen in the second hour, and 0.94 percent take place in the third hour.

The obvious take-aways are that Twitter really is a "real time" medium and that most people read, but don't write.

Replies and Retweets on Twitter

LTE Window Might Exist for Over-the-Top VoIP Providers

There's no telling how big a window might exist for over-the-top voice providers on some fourth-generation networks, but there is a window of some sort, as some operators have launched, or will launch, 4G networks in "data-only" mode at first, adding native 4G voice capability later.

Operators are not in a hurry to deliver voice services over LTE networks, says Robert Poe, Heavy Reading analyst, at least in part because they can use existing 3G or 2G networks to deliver voice services. Many, perhaps most customers, won't care. But some will, and that means Skype, fring, Nimbuzz and others have a shot at snagging some customers before the mobile operator can offer all-IP communications.

Of course, at least some early 4G networks launched fully in data-only mode, aiming at the mobile PC user rather than the mobile handset user.

Light Reading Mobile - 4G/LTE - LTE Voice Lag Leaves Operators Vulnerable

Internet Ad Revenues Break Records

Internet advertising revenues in the United States were at $12.1 billion in that period, setting a new half-year record that represents an 11.3 percent increase over the first half of 2009, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PwC.

This is also the highest second-quarter revenue on record, up 13.9 percent over the same period of 2009.

Display-related advertising—which includes banner ads, rich media, digital video and sponsorships—totaled more than $4.4 billion in the first six months of 2010, showing a significant increase of close to 16 percent over the same period in 2009.

Digital video continues to experience record growth, this year achieving the highest half-year performance ever and up 31 percent over first half 2009.

Search advertising remains the largest percentage of overall interactive spend at 47 percent, representing more than $5.7 billion for the first six months of 2010, up 11.6 percent from the same period in 2009.

Internet Ad Revenues Break Records, Climb to More Than $12 Billion for First Half of ’10

Android Leads Smart Phone Sales in 2Q

Makers of Android handsets were among the fastest-growing firms among the top-10 smart phone brands in the second quarter, according to the mobile and wireless research firm iSuppli Corp.

Droid phone specialist HTC Corp. achieved industry-leading growth, with its smart phone shipments rising by a stunning 63.1 percent in the second quarter compared to the first.

On the strength of its Android-based Galaxy line of smart phones, Samsung Electronics posted the second strongest performance, with a 55.6 percent sequential growth.

New Android licensee Sony Ericsson came in fourth in terms of growth, with shipments rising by 15.4 percent. Also, Droid-focused Motorola Inc. ranked fifth, with an increase of 12.5 percent.

Android Becomes Smart Phone Market’s Secret Sauce for Success in Q2

So What are Businesses Doing with Their Ad Budgets?

There's a question we ought to be asking about what businesses might be doing with their ad budgets. Though overall advertising in the U.S. market appears to be up about four percent, business-to-business advertising is down about 19 percent. One suspects portions of those budgets have shifted to social media, websites, online and other channels.