“‘How To’ content is experiencing exponential growth that can be seen in the dramatic increase in users consuming sites such as eHow.com, one of the seven popular Demand Media properties. This site alone attracts over 61MM people seeking answers in areas of personal interest from Arts and Entertainment, to Electronics, to Health and Travel,” said Nick Higgins, Director of Global Video for Adconion Media Group. “Demand Media has an acute understanding of their audience needs just as Joost has an acute understanding of our audience behavior. This exciting partnership symbolizes the future of content creation and monetization that will benefit both users and advertisers.”

By joining forces, the Joost Video Network will be able to present Demand Media’s growing global audience to its premium brand partners around the world through audience and vertical channel sales packages. As a part of this agreement, Demand Media will leverage the Adconion video ad serving platform to deliver all premium video campaigns sold by the Demand Media sales force as well as deliver network advertising pre-roll inventory to the Joost Video Advertising Network. As part of this partnership, Adconion will exclusively provide the Adconion video technology platform to power all of Demand Media’s in-stream video advertising needs, including trafficking, optimization, and reporting. The Joost video platform delivers millions of in-stream video ads to millions of targeted end users. Joost offers the technology and the targeting needed to comprehensively monetize Demand Media’s in-stream video advertising opportunities.

“Joost was the obvious choice for two reasons. Firstly, its end-to-end distribution and ad serving platform and secondly their ability to monetize our video inventory by leveraging their impressive Global Sales Force,” said Jeff Quandt, Director of Ad Management for Demand Media. “The Joost premium advertisers, complemented with our extensive and growing audience seeking out video content on Demand Media properties, are a natural match.”

Collectively, Demand Media’s award-winning portfolio of owned and operated media brands make it possible for more than 80 million people each month to engage in conversations and form passionate communities around topics of shared interest. A comScore top 20 (U.S.) network, Demand Media has created a diverse and wide-reaching portfolio of sites, including golflink.com, eHow.com, LIVESTRONG.com, Mania.com, Cracked.com and Trails.com

About the Joost Video Network and Joost.com

Joost is a fully owned subsidiary of Adconion Media Group (www.adconion.com).

DoubleVerified and iASH compliant, the Joost Video Network is a complete suite of online video advertising products and services, including in-banner and in-stream video advertising. The Joost Video Network provides the reach and quality of a video portal with the scale and efficiency of a network.

The Joost Video Network leverages Adconion’s heritage of a global audience network to provide massive scale and expert targeting, including the ability to target both pre-roll and in-banner campaigns with BlueKai data.

Joost.com provides professionally-produced online video content to a global audience. Working with content copyright owners, Joost collects and curates thousands of videos to provide online viewers with a wide selection of music, TV, movies and more.

The phenomenon of social media has brought up a lot of questions around how small and medium businesses (SMBs) are leveraging these tools as a marketing vehicle. While its clear that SMB social media usage is widespread, what is not as clear is which SMBs are actively engaging in social media, what social media tools are more commonly used, and how SMBs are using social media for business purposes.

In this report, AMI provides a deeper perspective on SMBs respective needs and goals, as it relates to their social media usage, habits and perception. In addition, we explore the top reasons why social media use should matter to ICT marketers targeting SMBs.

Key Topics Covered:

Introduction
Defining Social Media
Industry Definition
Social Media from an SMB Perspective
SMBs that are Using Social Media?
Overall SMB Social Media Usage
SMB Engagement Level for Social Media
Why SMBs Are Using Social Media
Low-Commitment Nature of Social Media:
Differentiation of Products & Services:
Establish & Maintain Credibility:
Top Reasons Why SMBs Use of Social Media Matters
Points of Influence:
Value Propositions:
SMBs are extremely diverse:
Conclusions for SMB Marketers
List of Figures
Figure 1: Snapshot of Importance of Various IT Issues
Figure 2: U.S. SMB Social Media Usage for Business/Professional Purposes
Figure 3: U.S. SMB Specific Social Media Sites and Social Media Tools
Figure 4: U.S. SB Social Media Tools Across Verticals
Figure 5: U.S. MB Social Media Tools Across Verticals
Figure 6: U.S. SB Social Media Tools Across Number of Years in Business
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/fc8528/2010_u_s_smbs_an

WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the second annual IAB Long Tail Alliance Washington Fly-In, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) assembled 46 small publishers to tell their elected representatives about the important role played by the advertising-supported Internet in empowering small business growth in America. The Long Tail web publishers representing 14 states spent yesterday on Capitol Hill meeting with 35 House Districts and 12 Senate Offices including members of the Senate Commerce Committee.

The IAB Long Tail Alliance Washington Fly-In launched in June 2009 with the release of “The Economic Value of the Advertising-Supported Internet Ecosystem,” the first comprehensive analysis of the economic impact of this ever-more important medium. Among its findings: 2.1%, or $300 billion, of the total U.S. GDP is contributed by the ad-supported Internet, which has created 3.1 million jobs, including 20,000 small businesses. At the same time, the IAB also released “I Am the Long Tail,” a seven-minute video that ties together vignettes from Long Tail publishers across the nation and puts a human face on the Long Tail. It is part of a larger, ongoing effort to collect and share the Long Tail story in online videos atiamthelongtail.com.

“Providing an opportunity for IAB Long Tail publishers to speak directly to Congresspeople is the best means to bring to life the very real threat posed by the proposed regulation of interactive advertising,” said Mike Zaneis, Vice President, Public Policy, IAB. “These business owners are the new face of ‘mom and pop’ shops. They represent a diversity of voices that simply could not exist without interactive advertising. This event provides them with a unique forum to be heard.”

This year’s Fly-In also included a full day of training sessions, strategic planning panels and roundtable discussions created specifically to address the business interests of small publishers. Long Tail members and ad network and advertising agency executives shared actionable insights on how the community of small publishers can improve their businesses. The two-day event also served as a unique networking opportunity for small publishers, who, for the most part, work from their homes and have limited opportunities to meet other small business owners like themselves.

For a list of the Long Tail publishers who participated as well as a detailed agenda of the two-day event, please go to:www.iab.net/flyin
The IAB Long Tail Alliance is a special member category for publishers who sell indirectly, through ad networks, or directly and have revenues under $1 million per year. To learn more about the Long Tail Alliance and to find out how to qualify for membership, please go to:http://www.iab.net/longtailalliance

To download a copy of “The Economic Value of the Advertising-Supported Internet Ecosystem,” please go to:
www.iab.net/insights_research/economicvalue

To view “I Am the Long Tail” and nearly 30 videos from Long Tail publishers, or to submit your own Long Tail video, please go toiamthelongtail.com.

About the IAB:
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 460 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visitwww.iab.net.

Palo Alto – AdGent 007, the only global media and technology company to provide both audience delivery systems and proprietary social media platforms for premium publishers and advertisers, announced it has released a JavaScript iPad interface for its popular Tweetology widget (formerly called the unpronounceable tweetedia).

On websites such as www.ufc.com and www.extratv.com, Tweetology enables site publishers to retrieve and display recent and relevant Tweets to the site in real time. The unit can be customized to match the design of the site or skinned to the benefit of advertisers.

For iPad, Tweetology allows users to curate the Twitterverse and publish only the most relevant tweets to a site while  in the field.

“The iPad compatible Tweetology has scores of uses. For example, users attending anything from industry to sporting events can use their iPad to curate and publish tweets in real time,” says Cameron Yuill (also unpronounceable), founder and CEO of AdGent 007. “News reporters in the field keeping an eye out for breaking developments can use their iPad Tweetology to curate and publish tweets from the Twitterverse from one screen simply by touching a ‘publish’ button next to individual tweets. Accidently publish something? Our iPad app lets you delete that tweet from your site with a simple touch of the trash can icon on every tweet.”

On the name change of the unit from tweetedia to Tweetology, Mr. Yuill says,”The product has evolved and we decided that we would retire the hard-to-pronounce name with the much-easier-to-recall Tweetology brand. We were trying to keep this a secret until today but our bonehead PR guy told some reporters about it recently, so I am not sure just how newsworthy anyone will think this is. But it is important to us.”

AdGent 007 (www.adgent007.com) is the only global media and technology company to provide both audience delivery systems and proprietary social media platforms for premium publishers and advertisers. Its social media platforms include consumer loyalty widget, TISM and Tweetology, a curation system for Twitter.  AdGent 007′s demand side, audience buying solutions provides advertising agencies and their Fortune 1000 clients the platform to reach any premium audience, anywhere on the Web. AdGent 007 handles all inventory, creative, trafficking, account management, campaign reporting, and currency exchange. Our proprietary platform and social media ad units allow advertisers to ‘join the conversation’ in a brand safe manner. AdGent 007′s experienced global digital media sales organization and proprietary targeting platform to cover the top interactive ad agencies in media centers all over the World. With sales teams in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Canada, London, Amsterdam, France and Australia, AdGent’s sales footprint is truly global and delivers significant revenue to publishers.

Founded in 2007, AdGent 007′s advisors include Rob Norman, CEO of Group M North America; Eric Ludwig, Senior Vice President of Finance and CFO of Glu, a leading global publisher of mobile games, Taek Kwon operating partner Texas Pacific Group and Greg Stuart, former  IAB CEO and advisor to CEO’s of numerous venture-backed Digital Media businesses.

MUMBAI, India – Komli Media, India’s largest and most successful digital media network platform, announced that it has acquired PostClick, Australia’s leading premium website representation firm, to become the leading digital media network platform across Asia Pacific. Together, the company now reaches over 30 million monthly unique visitors across the region.

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Sydney with offices across Melbourne and Singapore, PostClick exclusively represents Bloomberg and Hotfrog amongst other premium websites. It has built a strong reputation by partnering with various leading websites in Australia as well as bringing engaging brand solutions to advertisers and agencies.

Komli Media has built strong relationships and partners exclusively with top global publishers including Facebook, Expedia and Miniclip amongst others in India. The company is headquartered in Mumbai, India and has offices in New York, Toronto, Palo Alto and New Delhi.

“We are extremely excited to partner with PostClick to expand our presence in the Australian and South East Asian markets and bring Komli Media’s industry leading solutions to new advertiser and publisher partners,” said Amar Goel, Komli Media’s Founder and CEO.

The acquisition of PostClick will allow Komli Media to significantly accelerate the pace of innovation in digital advertising for its advertiser and publisher partners across several Asia Pacific markets. Together with PostClick, Komli Media will become Asia Pacific’s leading online media network platform with strong brand and performance products:

- Premium Brand Solutions – Starting with Komli Media’s exclusive representation of high quality publishers in India & Post Click’s in Australia, the company will now jointly address over 30 million of the most engaged and diverse audiences across Asia Pacific. Advertisers in the region stand to gain tremendously with access to these audiences as well as Komli’s suite of brand solutions including video, mobile and brand measurement. Publishers will be able to capture greater demand and improve monetization across their websites.
- Performance Marketing – Komli Media will also extend its industry leading performance optimization platform for marketers and publishers across Asia-Pacific. From search retargeting to dynamic optimization, advertisers will be able to target relevant messages to the right audience.
- Audience Measurement – India’s leading audience measurement platform, ViziSense (a Komli Media technology platform), has launched new products such as AdView providing the most sophisticated advertiser and publisher tracking of advertising spends in the region.

“Komli Media has been at the forefront of bringing leading solutions to the digital ecosystem and we are thrilled to be part of the Komli Media team,” said Andrew Lockwood, Founder and MD of PostClick. “We are confident that joining forces with Komli Media will help us deliver more value to our partners and grow our foot print across Australia and South East Asia.”

Prashant Mehta, COO of Komli Media added, “Our combined strength will allow us to accelerate our investment in our product and engineering teams and ensure we bring relevant solutions to our advertising and publishing partners to be successful.”

Andrew Lockwood will continue as Managing Director of PostClick and will continue to oversee the PostClick business. PostClick will operate as a division of Komli Media. PostClick was advised by Alister Coleman of A.G.Coleman & Co.

About Komli Media:

Komli Media is Asia Pacific’s leading digital media network platform. Its digital advertising technologies enable marketers to reach and acquire their audiences and publishers to maximize their revenues. Komli Media powers Asia Pacific’s leading ad network platform with solutions across performance marketing, social media, video advertising, audience targeting, rich media, online audience measurement and brand impact measurement. Headquartered in Mumbai, Komli Media is also present in New Delhi, New York, Palo Alto, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne and Toronto.

About PostClick:

Established in 2001, PostClick is Australia’s leading site representation firm, strategically positioned to offer media agencies and advertisers innovative, fully-optimised business solutions. PostClick services specialist mid-tail sectors across business, finance, news, lifestyle, and multi-cultural internet spaces. PostClick sites reach over 6 million monthly unique visitors and deliver over 70 million AU page impressions each month. PostClick is renowned as an industry leader offering site-specific, channel, run-of-network and bespoke offerings across more than 100 Australian and International websites. PostClick is a founding member of the new online advertising industry body IASH Australia, and has offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore.

NEW YORK – In an age when ground-breaking technologies and transformative platforms are redefining creativity in marketing and advertising, when consumers’ brand experiences are being refashioned in new ways, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced a stellar panel of judges for the 2010 IAB MIXX Awards. The cross-industry assembly brings together senior agency, marketer and publisher voices to collaboratively evaluate and select the brands and agencies who will win one of advertising’s most sought-after honors. The IAB also announced that it has revised and expanded the MIXX Awards to recognize not only distinguished campaigns but also single executions in such new categories as Experimental and Innovative, Mobile Apps and Viral, reflecting the vibrancy of interactive advertising.

The announcement was made at the IAB’s newly launched symposium, IAB Innovation Days: Content Conquers All, a two-day event that melds together IAB’s interactive and marketing content expertise with Internet Week, the annual weeklong series of events spotlighting New York City’s role as a leader in the digital and media industries.

“In what has been a remarkable year for interactive creativity, the professionals who’ve agreed to judge this year’s MIXX Awards are among the industry’s foremost experts on what differentiates outstanding advertising,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “We are honored to have their involvement in this important industry mark of distinction.”

The winners of the 2010 MIXX Awards, now in its sixth year, will be announced at a gala dinner on September 28, near the start of New York City’s Advertising Week, a gathering of the media and marketing industries that typically draws 10,000 professionals to conferences, seminars and parties celebrating advertising and its evolution.

The 2010 MIXX Awards panel includes:

Mathias Appelblad – Executive Creative Director & Director of Innovation, BBDO New York
Jeff Benjamin – Interactive Creative Director, Crispin Porter + Bogusky
Lincoln Bjorkman – EVP, Executive Creative Director, Digitas New York
Heidi Browning – EVP, Global Digital Officer, UM
Doug Chavez – Senior Manager, Digital Marketing, Del Monte Foods
Erin Clift – SVP, Global Sales Development, AOL
Andreas Combuechen – Chairman/CEO/Chief Creative Officer, Atmosphere Proximity
Marty Cooke – Chief Creative Officer & Partner, SS+K
Mark D’Arcy – President & Chief Creative Officer, Time Warner Global Media Group, and SVP, Time Warner
Maylinn De La Maza – Account Director, Zubi Advertising
Marjorie D. Dufek – Interactive Marketing Director, Brown-Forman Corporation
Marc Fonzetti – Advertising Manager & Internet Specialist, Reckitt Benckiser
Jane Grenier – VP, Executive Director, Creative Services, Condé Nast Digital
Cheryl Guerin – SVP, Group Head, Global Digital Marketing, MasterCard Worldwide
Brian Hunt – Senior Creative Director, Yahoo!
Marc Lucas – Chief Creative Officer, kirshenbaum bond senecal + partners
Wonya Lucas – EVP & CMO, Discovery Communications
Jean-Philippe Maheu – CEO, Publicis Modem
Andy Markowitz – Director, Digital Marketing, GE
Benjamin Palmer – Co-Founder, CEO, Barbarian Group
Suzie Reider – Head of Ad Sales, YouTube & Google Display
David Roman – SVP & CMO, Lenovo
Alan Schulman – Founder & Chief Creative Officer, U . D I G > The Digital Innovations Group
Baba Shetty – EVP, Chief Media Officer, Hill Holliday
Marla Skiko – SVP, Director of Digital Innovation, SMG Multicultural
Rick Song – Senior Director, Eastern U.S. Sales, Microsoft Advertising
Steve Wax – Managing Director, Campfire
Lauren Wiener – SVP, Meredith Interactive Media
Heidi Marie Youngkin – Senior Director, Corporate Communication, Johnson & Johnson

“This year’s MIXX Awards will spotlight the brands and individuals who are driving advertising creativity in new and exciting directions,” said David Doty, SVP, Thought Leadership & Marketing, at the IAB. “The MIXX Awards recognize the diversity of platforms and technologies that have forever changed advertising, and our panel of judges are themselves true experts and innovators in the field.”

The MIXX Awards are open to marketers and advertising agencies that have run any media, marketing or advertising campaign that was carried out during the qualifying period: April 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010. Full details are available at www.iab.net.

Founded in 2005 to honor creativity and effectiveness in interactive advertising, the IAB’s MIXX Awards have grown into the premier honor in digital marketing. Last year’s MIXX Award winners included many of the most prominent brand marketers in the United States, including Adobe, American Express, HBO, IBM, Pizza Hut and Proctor & Gamble, as well as leading agencies such as BBDO, Digitas, JWT, Ogilvy, and RAPP. In 2009, the gala’s ultimate honor, Best in Show, went to Tourism Queensland and CumminsNitro Brisbane for “The Best Job in the World.”

To view the complete gallery of the 2009 MIXX finalists, please visit: www.mixx-awards.com/gallery

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 460 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. – ISACA named the top five social media risks for business and recommended solutions to help businesses address security, customer service and corporate reputation risks raised by their employees’ use of social media—on the job and off.

In a complimentary new white paper titled “Social Media: Business Benefits With Security, Governance and Assurance Perspectives,” ISACA, a leading global association for enterprise governance of information technology, urges organizations to actively address the following potential risks:

- Viruses/malware
- Brand hijacking
- Lack of control over content
- Unrealistic customer expectations of “Internet-speed” service
- Non-compliance with record management regulations

Developed by a team of global ISACA experts, the white paper goes beyond the traditional look at social media in the workplace to address employees’ use of social media outside of work. It also provides detailed how-to tips for effective social media governance. A free copy can be downloaded at www.isaca.org/research.

“Historically, organizations tried to control risk by denying access to cyberspace, but that won’t work with social media,” said Robert Stroud, CGEIT, international vice president of ISACA and vice president of IT service management and governance for the service management business unit at CA Technologies. “Companies should embrace it, not block it. But they also need to empower their employees with knowledge to implement sound social media governance.”

Since tools like Facebook and Twitter don’t require support from the IT department, they can be introduced by a business unit, marketing team or individual employees, and bypass IT, HR and Legal. This issue is reflected in IT department attitudes—62% of respondents to the 2010 ISACA IT Risk/Reward Barometer rated the risk posed by employees visiting social networking sites or checking personal e-mail as medium or high.

“The greatest risks posed by social media are all tied to violation of trust,” said ISACA Certification Committee member John Pironti, CISM, CRISC, and president of IP Architects LLC. “Social media is built on the assumption of a network of trusted friends and colleagues, which is exploited by social engineering at great cost. That is why ongoing education is critical.”

About ISACA

With more than 86,000 constituents in more than 160 countries, ISACA® (www.isaca.org) is a leading global provider of knowledge, certifications, community, advocacy and education on information systems (IS) assurance and security, enterprise governance of IT, and IT-related risk and compliance. Founded in 1969, ISACA sponsors international conferences, publishes the ISACA® Journal, and develops international IS auditing and control standards. It also administers the globally respected Certified Information Systems Auditor™ (CISA®), Certified Information Security Manager® (CISM®), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT® (CGEIT®) and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control™ (CRISC™) designations.

SEATTLE – BlueKai, the world’s largest data auction marketplace for all audience data and online marketing’s largest source of user intent data, today announced the launch of a white-label version of the BlueKai Registry. Developed for publishers and marketers, the registry provides an out-of-the-box solution for supporting transparent consumer data collection.

Since its launch in September 2009, BlueKai has uniquely enabled consumers to see the anonymous targeting data that has been collected about their shopping preferences by BlueKai data providers.  Via an online tool available at http://www.bluekai.com/registry, consumers have the ability to edit their online preferences or opt out completely.  The white-label consumer registry functions the same way; enabling any site visitors to see what data is being collected by a particular site or opt out.  This is a complimentary tool for all BlueKai customers to encourage wider industry adoption of transparent data collection practices that promote consumer awareness, control and trust.  BlueKai plans to roll out a similar tool for all publisher sites and marketers in the near future.

“At BlueKai, we have recognized from the beginning that many consumers care about their privacy.  Two years ago, we created the BlueKai Registry, which provides consumers transparency and control over what marketers know about them.  Recent developments in Washington including proposed legislation make it incumbent on all site publishers and marketers to be more diligent with their audiences about their data collection practices,” says Omar Tawakol BlueKai’s CEO. “Our white-label registry makes it easy for any website to adapt the industry standard we have established with BlueKai’s consumer-friendly registry.”

“The NAI encourages continued, pro-consumer privacy innovation from our members,” says Charles Curran, Executive Director of the Network Advertising Initiative.  “It is an increasingly important focus for advertising providers and Web sites to offer improved visibility and control to consumers over the information used to provide them more relevant advertising.   We encourage BlueKai and others to share technology like this for industry-wide adoption. ”

“TRUSTe’s clients enjoy the benefits of a strong consumer privacy program and recognized trademark.  Data collection and disclosure has become an increasingly important topic to address as part of our clients’ web strategies,” says Fran Maier, President and Executive Chair of TRUSTe.  “The white-label consumer registry from BlueKai is a clear solution to an obvious demand in the market.”

This white-label registry marks another consumer-focused innovation that BlueKai has developed to further its consumer disclosure initiative on an industry level.  In November 2009, the NAI announced the release of a consumer opt out protector, also developed by BlueKai.

At the center of the digital data economy, BlueKai (www.bluekai.com) created the world’s largest data auction marketplace for all audience data.  BlueKai aggregates valuable shopping and research activities across the Internet to build the largest source of intent data on over 160M shoppers across 7 key verticals including auto, travel, finance and retail.  BlueKai now sees 200 million unique consumers each month and manages over 750 million data events per day.  In strategic partnerships with top data aggregators, the BlueKai Exchange collectively offers over 30,000 data attributes across in-market, demographic, geographic, lifestyle, and B2B categories to increase performance and scale for direct response and branding campaigns.

BlueKai is designed with consumer transparency and control in mind. The BlueKai Registry enables consumers to see what marketers know about them, edit their online preferences and gain rewards in charitable donations. The privately-held company is based in Bellevue, WA and is a recipient of the AlwaysOn 2009 OnMedia 100 award as a Technology Innovator in Advertising.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Continuing its commitment to be the center of people’s online lives, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) announced new product integrations that continue bringing the best social experiences from across the Web to Yahoo! consumers around the world.

“More and more, people rely on social sites to share and discover information that matters to them, making Yahoo! uniquely positioned to provide people with all of the mainstream methods of content discovery – social, search, communications, and editorial,” said Cody Simms, senior director of Social Platforms and Yahoo! Developer Network (YDN) at Yahoo!. “Starting with Facebook, we are bringing all of these elements together to give people one simple, trusted place to share information and connect. We think this offers great benefit to people across the web, and it’s key to helping Yahoo! extend our reach and increase engagement.”

The announcement covers:

- Facebook Integration — Yahoo! has reached an important milestone in its partnership with Facebook. Starting this week, people who use both Yahoo! and Facebook can link their accounts and view and share updates with friends across both networks. People who connect their accounts can consume their Facebook News Feed on the Yahoo! homepage and in Yahoo! Mail and other Yahoo! sites and services. Additionally, people who create and share content on Yahoo! sites – including Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, Flickr, and many Yahoo! entertainment sites, such as omg!, Yahoo! TV, and Yahoo! Movies – can easily share their actions with friends back on Facebook. Additional integrations will be ongoing.

- A Refresh of Yahoo! Profiles — Launched in October 2008, Yahoo! Profiles has allowed people to manage their identity and activities across Yahoo! from a central location. Yahoo! has refreshed the experience to make its privacy settings easier to use and to give people a central dashboard to manage what they share on Yahoo! from the external social accounts and apps that they have linked to Yahoo!, starting with Facebook and with others to come later this year. Yahoo! Profiles has been renamed Yahoo! Pulse to better reflect its broader ability to manage Yahoo! settings, privacy, and account links. The updated experience is available at http://pulse.yahoo.com.

“From news to sports to entertainment, Yahoo! sites provide ideal experiences to share with friends,” said Ethan Beard, director of Facebook Developer Network. “By integrating with Facebook on a global scale, Yahoo! is building upon an already valuable brand to give people easy ways to share the content they enjoy on Yahoo! with their friends on Facebook.”

Social and Yahoo! – Recent Milestones

Over the last few months, Yahoo! has been weaving the best social experiences from across the Web into the Yahoo! network to create more personally relevant online experiences for consumers worldwide, using its global cloud computing infrastructure. Upcoming and recent milestones include:

- Zynga Partnership – Later this year, Zynga, the company behind hit social games such as Farmville and Mafia Wars, has agreed to integrate its games into the Yahoo! Application Platform (YAP), making them available to people throughout the Yahoo! network.
- Koprol Acquisition – The recent acquisition of Koprol extends Yahoo!’s social, mobile, and local offerings and focuses on the intersection of location, community expertise, and mobile experiences.
- Yahoo! Updates “Firehose” – Earlier this year, the Yahoo! Updates firehose API — which aggregates social updates from Yahoo! and other sites across the Web and makes them easily available to publishers and developers — was rolled out.
- Citizen Sports Acquisition – Strengthening Yahoo!’s overall social strategy, the recent acquisition of Citizen Sports brings the world of sports to Facebook and mobile devices through innovative applications.
- Facebook Contacts Integration – Yahoo! Mail launched import contact functionality from Facebook into Yahoo! Contacts so people can build a more robust online address book.
- Facebook “Like button” – Facebook users who visit Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! Sports can now easily “like” items such as sports teams or stock quote pages and share those actions with friends on Facebook.
- Twitter Partnership – Earlier this year, Yahoo! announced a global partnership to integrate Twitter’s real-time social experiences across Yahoo!. Yahoo! Search results already draw from the full stream of public tweets, and the broader agreement is scheduled for implementation later this year.
- Developer & Publisher Solutions – A suite of social APIs and services enable publishers like the Huffington Post and thousands of others to leverage the power of the Y!OS social platform via partnerships with JS-Kit Echo, Meebo, Gigya, Jan-Rain, among others. More information is at http://developer.yahoo.com/publisher.
- Yahoo! is deeply committed to privacy – not just as a written policy, but as a fundamental consideration applied to each and every Yahoo! site and service. Yahoo! offers simple controls so that everyone can change who sees their updates, or turn off their updates stream at any time. To find out more, go to Yahoo.com and search for “Yahoo! privacy settings” or visit http://pulse.yahoo.com/y/settings.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! attracts hundreds of millions of users every month through its innovative technology and engaging content and services, making it one of the most visited Internet destinations and a world-class online media company. Yahoo!’s vision is to be the center of people’s online lives by delivering personally relevant, meaningful Internet experiences. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit http://pressroom.yahoo.com or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal (http://yodel.yahoo.com).

Innovative Model-Based Approach Uses Validated Marketing Mix Modeling Methods, Eliminates Need for Control Group Impressions, Improves Accuracy and Statistical Reliability

Reston, VA – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, announced the introduction of AdEffx Smart Control™, an innovative methodological approach representing the next generation  in measuring digital advertising effectiveness. The Smart Control methodology, based on validated and time-tested marketing mix modeling techniques, enables improved measurement of emerging segments of the rapidly changing digital advertising landscape, including homepage takeovers, integrated placements, and specific audience buys.

“The comScore AdEffx Smart Control methodology truly represents the next generation of digital ad effectiveness measurement,” said Anne Hunter, comScore vice president of Ad Effectiveness Solutions. “This new approach is superior to the traditional test-and-control methodology for most digital campaigns run today. Not only does it improve the accuracy and reliability in measurement of existing campaigns, but it allows us to measure the impact of advertising buys that were previously impossible to measure accurately. As the premier provider of digital marketing measurement solutions, comScore is delighted to introduce the innovative Smart Control methodology to the lasting benefit of publisher, advertisers and their advertising agencies.”

Current Challenges in Digital Ad Effectiveness Measurement
Digital ad effectiveness measurement is a fast-growing market that is improving media accountability in the digital environment. While current techniques, which are predicated on comparing a group of campaign-exposed individuals to a control group of non-exposed individuals, have significantly enhanced the ability to demonstrate the value of digital advertising campaigns, they have also had certain limitations.

Traditionally, the test-control methodology has required publishers to “burn” available inventory to use for the control groups (which do not receive the campaign ads). Consequently, publishers may have had to provide less desirable inventory for these control groups, resulting in a test which can cause substantial swings in data accuracy from publisher to publisher depending on how they are allocating inventory for the control groups. The test-and-control methodology also requires larger samples to be able to generate statistically significant results and does not measure the holistic impact of the campaign but only the impact to the point in time when the survey research was conducted. Finally, test-and-control is not feasible for new types of advertising formats such as homepage takeovers, audience targeted impressions and integrated placements, where using true control cells is cost prohibitive and usually not technologically feasible.

How Smart Control Works
Smart Control determines advertising impact without the traditional test-and-control methodology, yielding more comprehensive and accurate results. The methodology looks at the change in consumer response (either attitudinal or behavioral) by varying frequency of advertising exposure using a Bayesian regression model, from which the “control” response (i.e. frequency = 0) is derived. This approach is similar to marketing mix modeling techniques, which have been used in traditional media measurement for decades.

The Smart Control methodology has several clear benefits versus the traditional test-and-control methodology. It is more sensitive and therefore more likely to produce a statistically significant result, with an average lift variance 91 percent lower and average confidence interval 68 percent narrower than test-and-control. This means that campaigns can achieve the same statistical significance with substantially smaller sample sizes than traditional test-and-control designs.

“The Smart Control methodology will take digital ad effectiveness measurement light years into the future,” added Harvir Bansal PhD, SVP of research at comScore and inventor of the Smart Control methodology. “It can provide more accurate and granular measurement for a wider range of ad campaigns, with less operational complexity based on the way that digital advertising is being bought and sold today. We are confident that this solution truly has no peer in the industry.”

Clients and Industry Leaders Voice Support for Smart Control
“This is a welcome innovation from comScore. Smart Control aims to solve key industry challenges involved with implementing tests to measure impact of digital campaigns. We are looking forward to exploring and testing the product. Smart Control has strong potential for complementing traditional test vs. control and providing more accurate and granular survey results, greater efficiencies and a timelier reporting of advertising campaign effectiveness.” — Terry Cohen, SVP of Strategy & Analysis, Digitas

“Smart Control is potentially an exciting innovation for the agency and advertiser community. This model-based approach may offer the ability to overcome some of the inherent challenges in measuring the effectiveness of digital ad campaigns. Anything that could do this with accuracy and reliability would be a welcome solution in this industry.” — Andy Fisher, EVP, Global Data & Analytics Director, Starcom MediaVest Group

“A year ago, the Journal of Advertising Research published findings by comScore that proved ‘the click’ is only a small part of the impact that digital advertising creates. If not the click, then what? comScore should be applauded for attempting to more completely address the ROI of digital advertising in the context of fully integrated marketing campaigns.” — Joel Rubinson, Chief Research Officer of the ARF

“comScore’s Smart Control Methodology delivers an exciting solution that caters to today’s digital advertising landscape and fills a growing research need resulting from new forms of media buying.” — Hernan Lopez, President of .Fox Networks and COO of Fox International Channels

“Yahoo!’s innovative advertising opportunities for marketers are often difficult to measure accurately using traditional methodologies. comScore’s Smart Control methodology delivers a solution that enables more accurate measurement of the specific value that Yahoo! brings to advertisers. This new methodology helps address a number of publishers’ research challenges:  it reduces wasted impressions, simplifies campaign implementation, and aligns more closely with offline research techniques.” — Radha Subramanyam, VP, Head of Corporate and Media Research, Yahoo!

“Smart Control represents an important step forward in the field of online ad effectiveness research.  Finding adequate and representative control sample has been a persistent issue for the industry. By applying research theory long validated by offline marketers, Smart Control will help Disney Online more efficiently and effectively measure large integrated campaigns and demonstrate our value to advertisers.” — Kristi Manclow, Ad Sales Research, Disney Online

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

NEW YORK – ContextWeb, Inc., which operates the ADSDAQ Ad Exchange, the largest independent ad exchange, announced a series of initiatives that create open and transparent ways for online ad networks and publishers to work with one another.

First, ContextWeb is introducing PubVantage, (www.PubVantage.com), a new destination integrated into ADSDAQ, that enables Internet publishers to research, rate and review any ad network and connect to them via ADSDAQ. Second, ContextWeb is announcing the PerformancePrice which auctions each and every publisher ad impression to all advertisers and networks trading on ADSDAQ, creating a level playing field for buyers to compete for publishers’ inventory.

”PubVantage makes the ad network selection and integration process transparent and breaks down the barriers that have inhibited small & mid-sized publishers and ad networks from working together,” said Anand Subramanian, ContextWeb’s Founder and President of the ADSDAQ Ad Exchange. “Publishers are able to choose those networks that are most appropriate for them to use and connect to them via our exchange. The PerformancePrice then ensures that publishers get the best price for their inventory by having multiple networks and advertisers compete for each impression on the exchange.”

Networks have indicated that finding, vetting, managing and paying small publishers is typically a hassle. As a result, millions of small publishers that reach highly-desired audiences are not always able to participate in networks. With these new offerings from ContextWeb, all that is changed.

“The goal of providing advertisers with virtually unlimited access to online inventory lies at the core of our business model,” explains CPX Interactive Pres. & COO, Rob Rasko. “We are excited to be able to work with ContextWeb and seamlessly plug into the ADSDAQ Ad Exchange in order to add that valuable inventory to our offering of proprietary relationships and 3rd party partners.”

“The power of the ADSDAQ Ad Exchange comes from being able to connect to multiple ad networks effortlessly with just a few clicks. This ensures that I maximize revenue for every impression that I sell from our site. It also eliminates the need to create a long daisy chain of ad networks which speeds up loading. In addition I can maintain fewer business relationships and get a single payment from ContextWeb covering all network providers working through ADSDAQ,” said Rick Jaworski, Co-owner of Joyofbaking.com. “Using the exchange, I am also able to learn from other publishers what their experiences are with the various ad networks and share my thoughts on them to help my peers in the publishing community.”

For publishers, the PerformancePrice works by automatically monitoring what a publisher earns from its back-up ad networks and lets other buyers compete for that inventory. As a result, the PerformancePrice can deliver higher eCPMs than publishers get from their back-up ad networks. Ad Networks benefit from getting access to publishers’ inventory that they would not otherwise have been able to bid upon.

PubVantage is the largest single source for publishers to research, rate and review more than 450 different ad networks. In the future, the exchange will give networks a similar ability to research, rate and review their experiences with publishers.

There is no fee for networks or publishers to join ADSDAQ or to participate in any of these programs.

About ContextWeb, Inc.

ContextWeb operates the ADSDAQ Ad Exchange—the only online ad exchange where advertisers and publishers both enjoy complete control. The ADSDAQ Ad Exchange works with more than 12,000 ad buyers and ad sellers every day. Using page-level, contextual technology the ADSDAQ Ad Exchange delivers category-specific, brand-safe inventory along with extensive in-category reach, all with a purchase comparable to a site or portal buy.

The ADSDAQ Ad Exchange ranks among the top 20 ad-supported properties according to comScore. ContextWeb, Inc.’s investors include leading venture capital firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson (“DFJ”), DFJ Gotham Ventures, DFJ New England, Updata Partners and Investor Growth Capital. For more information, please visit: www.contextweb.com.

The U.S. Internet Publishing & Broadcasting Industry report, published annually, contains timely and accurate industry statistics, forecasts and demographics. The report features 2010 current and 2011 forecast estimates on the size of the industry (sales, establishments, employment) nationally and for all 50 U.S. States and over 900 metro areas. New to the report this year are: financial ratios, number of firms and payroll estimates.

The report also includes industry definition, 5-year historical trends on industry sales, establishments and employment, a breakdown of establishments, sales and employment by employee size of establishment (9 categories), and estimates on up to 10 sub-industries, including internet information retrieval.

Please note, this report offers statistical information only and does not include an analysis of the figures.

Key Topics Covered:

Users’ Guide
Industry Definition and Related Industries
Industry Establishments, Sales & Employment Trends
Industry Ratios
Establishments, Firms & Payroll
Sub-Industries – 2009 Estimated Industry Sales ($Millions)
Sub-Industries – 2009 Estimated Number of Establishments
Sub-Industries – 2009 Estimated Number of Employees
5-Year Trend – Estimated Industry Sales ($Millions)
5-Year Trend – Estimated Number of Establishments
5-Year Trend – Estimated Number of Employees
2010 U.S. States – Estimated Number of Establishments
2010 U.S. States – Estimated Industry Sales ($Millions)
2010 U.S. States – Estimated Number of Employees
2011 U.S. States – Estimated Number of Establishments
2011 U.S. States – Estimated Industry Sales ($Millions)
2011 U.S. States – Estimated Number of Employees
2010 U.S. Metropolitan Areas – Estimated Number of Establishments
2010 U.S. Metropolitan Areas – Estimated Industry Sales ($Millions)
2010 U.S. Metropolitan Areas – Estimated Number of Employees
2011 U.S. Metropolitan Areas – Estimated Number of Establishments
2011 U.S. Metropolitan Areas – Estimated Industry Sales ($Millions)
2011 U.S. Metropolitan Areas – Estimated Number of Employees
Definitions and Terms

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2e32a1/2010_u_s_internet

The global advertising industry is showing definite signs of a recovery, after one of the worst-ever slumps in advertising. Media-buying firms, TV broadcasters and radio and billboard companies are making positive noises about the future. Print advertising looks more promising and several US magazines saw ad pages increase quite dramatically.

The future of the ad industry is not in doubt – things will get better, but only companies that have positioned themselves correctly will be able to capitalize on the upswing. To do this, many firms are looking toward technology as the point of departure for huge returns. The convergence of the Internet with television, the growth of wireless communication, and the increasing use of digital video recorders all offer new avenues and challenges for advertisers. Further consolidation across national borders is also expected as ad firms try to deliver global capabilities in an increasingly competitive market.

Aruvian’s Research’s report on Analyzing the Global Advertising Industry thoroughly explains the global advertising industry by establishing a clear demarcation of the industry components and the top spenders as well as the service providers in the global context. This helps the reader understand the industry in a nutshell overlooking the competitive activity in the industry.

The report also builds a geographical mapping of the major advertising markets worldwide namely the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, Japan, Canada, Spain, The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and the United States. In this section, the report explains each of these markets in detail with their commercial characteristics along with the major players which are active in these markets thereby drawing up the overall business picture for advertising in these markets.

The report presents a future outlook for the global advertising industry in order to better equip the researcher with the projected growth variants for this industry.

Key Topics Covered:

A. Executive Summary

B. Profiling the Global Advertising Industry
B.1 Industry Definition
B.2 Industry Synopsis
B.3 Industry Segmentation
B.4 Competition in the Industry
B.5 Understanding the Market Pie

C. Looking at the Major Advertising Markets Worldwide
C.1 Looking at the UK Advertising Market
C.2 Looking at France’s Advertising Market
C.3 Looking at Germany’s Advertising Market
C.4 Looking at China’s Advertising Market
C.5 Looking at Japan’s Advertising Market
C.6 Looking at Canada’s Advertising Market
C.7 Looking at Spain’s Advertising Market
C.8 Looking at Netherlands’ Advertising Market
C.9 Looking at Italy’s Advertising Market
C.10 Looking at Belgium’s Advertising Market
C.11 Looking at the US Advertising Market

D. Major Industry Contributors
D.1 Omnicom Group Inc.
D.2 WPP Group plc
D.3 Interpublic Group of Companies
D.4 Publicis Groupe S.A.
D.5 Dentsu Inc.D.6 Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide

E. Global Advertising Industry: Future Perspective

F. Appendix

G. Glossary of Terms

Companies Mentioned:

Omnicom Group Inc.
WPP Group plc
Interpublic Group of Companies
Publicis Groupe S.A.
Dentsu Inc.
Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/d984d1/analyzing_the_glob

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – BUZZMEDIA (www.buzz-media.com), the Web’s fastest growing entertainment publisher, announced the addition of six established and influential music sites, including PureVolume, PopMatters, Gorilla vs. Bear, The Hype Machine, Concrete Loop and RCRD LBL. Each of these web properties are market leaders in their respective areas of music coverage, and together connect with over five million fans every month.

Complementing BUZZMEDIA’s current music properties like Stereogum, Buzznet, Idolator and Absolute Punk, the addition of these publications further cement BUZZMEDIA’s Music Division as the largest independent publisher of music content on the Web, as measured by comScore Media Metrix (April 2010).

“All of these web publications are widely recognized by millions of fans as leading music authorities and fit into BUZZMEDIA’s mission of being the leading publisher of pop culture content on the web,” said Tyler Goldman, BUZZMEDIA’s CEO.

“Marketers are looking to the web to connect with consumers in an authentic manner,” said Doug Rohrer, Chief Revenue Officer. “Adding these top music sites to our already terrific offering further grows BUZZMEDIA’s ability to provide marketers with the ability to leverage the authentic voices that are defining the latest trends to reach young, social, and influential pop culture addicts on a large scale.”

About BUZZMEDIA

BUZZMEDIA is the web’s fastest growing entertainment publisher reaching more than 50M monthly pop culture, music and celebrity enthusiasts worldwide. Its influential and authentic social media properties afford brand advertisers unique access to impassioned and engaged audiences through a blend of professional editorial, expert opinion, user contributions, and customized marketing solutions. BUZZMEDIA’s more than 40 category-leading brands include Buzznet, Celebuzz, Stereogum, TheSuperficial, Absolute Punk, JustJared, WWTDD, GoFugYourself, SocialiteLife, Idolator and the official sites for celebrities like Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian, Nicole Richie, and others. For more information, visit http://www.buzz-media.com.

PureVolume

Launched in 2003 by 3 students, PureVolume has since been widely recognized as a premier social music website for the promotion and discovery of new artists and emerging music. The site showcases streaming music via one of the web’s highest quality music players, videos, exclusives, photos, news and updates across an extensive range of music genres. Throughout the years, the property’s renowned PureVolume House has been home to some of the most exciting and exclusive performances and parties at major music festivals including South by Southwest and the CMJ Music Festival.

PopMatters

Founded in 1999, PopMatters, the #1 independent pop culture and music news site on the web, is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that is dedicated to documenting our times and promoting cultural understanding. PopMatters cultivates smart writers from the world-at-large. PopMatters recognizes that creative, compassionate intellectuals reside in all types of societies, and it values their ability to provide intelligent, entertaining cultural criticism in the form of thoughtful essays, interviews, and reviews.

Gorilla vs. Bear

One of the web’s most influential music sites covering the most relevant artists in all genre’s. Gorilla vs. Bear has been widely recognized as one of the best for independent music MP3s, videos, news, reviews, and for their renowned use of Polaroid film and Holga cameras for artist portraiture and live music coverage.

The Hype Machine

Every month, over one million people rely on The Hype Machine to help them discover new music. Founded in 2005 by Anthony Volodkin while he was in college, The Hype Machine is independently owned and operated.

Concrete Loop

ConcreteLoop.com is a recognized voice in urban lifestyle and culture, covering news, music, fashion, entertainment and politics. The site is home to a highly influential, educated and affluent audience, and has been referenced by African-American tastemakers such as Sean Combs and Kanye West as a leading site for the black community.

RCRD LBL

RCRD LBL is the premiere online destination for free, curated, legal, MP3 downloads from the hottest marquee and emergent artists. With more than 10,000 free singles, remixes, exclusive tracks and rarities from a diverse, handpicked roster of artists, the site combines the allure of leading music discovery and download services with the editorial clarity of a trusted music blog.

American Advertising Federation National Conference & Ad Expo
IRVINE, Calif. – WebVisible (www.WebVisible.com) launched a nationwide contest and a new original Web video series – both calling attention to the still-vast divide that separates consumers looking for local products or services and the very businesses they’re seeking.

From the business owner whose daughter is helping her learn to use “Happy Face” (aka, Facebook), to the one who doesn’t believe people go online to look for a barber, it’s clear – there’s still a Great Divide. View the series premiere here: http://www.webvisible.com/the-great-divide/ and here: http://www.youtube.com/greatdividemovie.

WebVisible will unveil a new episode of this landmark documentary series every few weeks. Later installments will follow small business owners, telling their stories and offering a day-in-the-life glimpse into what it means to run a small business in today’s Internet economy. A dentist, florist, lawyer, restaurant owner, barber, eyelash salon owner, garbage hauler and others invited WebVisible and its camera crew behind the scenes to discuss the challenges of “being found” by consumers today. Each episode will showcase a different component of online advertising – mobile, social, search and more.

The Great Divide Watch & Win Contest gives U.S.-based small businesses two chances to win three months of free advertising services through WebVisible, valued at $1,500 for each winner (new customers only).

To win, watch The Great Divide and answer this question in 140 characters or less: “What is the biggest challenge in growing your business?” Answers can be submitted online at http://www.webvisible.com/the-great-divide/contest.php or via WebVisible’s Twitter page at http://twitter.com/webvisible. Submit answers by 11:59 p.m. EDT, June 30.

“Some local business owners still don’t believe that consumers want to find them online – but today, even so-called ‘walk-in’ traffic is often driven by searches conducted on a mobile phone while walking down the street,” said Kirsten Mangers, WebVisible CEO. “Advertising has to follow audience, but when the audience moves at lightning speed from one search engine or iPhone app to the next, it’s hard to keep up. Small businesses are losing potential customers if they don’t make themselves visible in all the different places consumers are searching today. Our contest winners will gain much more than $1,500 in advertising – they’ll gain the new business that results from being visible to potential customers online.”

Two winners will be selected by WebVisible to receive a full-service package, including search engine advertising on Google, Yahoo!, and Bing, a call tracking number, and a multi-function landing page that includes video, form fill and SMS text lead delivery. WebVisible will provide the winning merchants with three months of search engine advertising with a $500/month budget. Existing WebVisible customers and employees or employee family members are not eligible.

Landmark Documentary Series Explores Small Business America

To kick off the contest, WebVisible is unveiling its new original Web series, The Great Divide, featuring real business owners and their real stories. In this documentary series, WebVisible explores The Great Divide – where small businesses and consumers fail to connect.

Last year, WebVisible partnered with Nielsen Online to reveal compelling data showing that consumers and business owners were using the Web to find local products and services, yet business owners were not fully embracing the Web as a marketing tool for their own businesses. Now, WebVisible has taken its cameras over the counters and into the factories, warehouses, shops and offices of small business America, to get total access into their lives, their struggles, their ideas and their insights into marketing their businesses and finding those elusive new customers.

The first episode, released today, poses the question: Where do consumers turn to find a business in today’s “local is wherever I am” environment? The Web? Yellow Pages? Mobile apps? Social networks? WebVisible’s cameras hit the streets of America, asking consumers how they are finding local businesses, and giving small business owners a chance to sound off about their own marketing efforts and examine how they’re evolving in this inter-connected, global marketplace.

“Our goal with The Great Divide Web series and contest is to shine a light on these issues in an entertaining way, and to take the mystique out of online advertising and simply help local businesses get found by their customers,” said Mangers.

About WebVisible, Inc.

WebVisible makes it easy for small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) to be found online, where and how customers are looking. The leading provider of local online marketing products and services since 2001, WebVisible was among the first to pioneer the use of search as a reliable, measurable avenue to connect directly with a buyer’s needs. The company has helped more than 100,000 SMB customers from more than 4,000 industries in 14 countries to create innovative and accountable Internet advertising campaigns. SMBs partner with WebVisible directly and through its many partner companies, including Intuit, AT&T, British Telecom and The New York Times Company. WebVisible is based in Irvine, Calif. For more information, visit www.webvisible.com or call 949-255-9677.

NEW YORK – In order to support advertisers’ strategies to reach diverse consumer groups, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the formation of the IAB Multicultural Council. The IAB also released “U.S. Latinos Online: A Driving Force,” a comprehensive presentation that uses multiple data sources to describe the Hispanic online population, identify the trends and key dynamics in this increasingly important advertising target and provide a resource for communicating with Latino online audience segments.

The IAB Multicultural Council, which replaces the former IAB Hispanic Committee, will focus on key issues that impact marketing and advertising within the multicultural marketplace including

- Audience measurement and ensuring that all segments of the U.S. population, especially minorities are properly measured and accounted for in online media measurement
- Educate marketers and agencies on how to create successful digital marketing strategies to reach multicultural markets
- Equip multicultural publishers and agencies with the tools necessary to address the needs of marketers who want to reach multicultural markets

“The work of this Council will drive a better understanding of the diverse populations and audiences that make up multicultural America and help marketers use interactive media to reach these market segments,” said Sherrill Mane, SVP, Industry Services, IAB. “The U.S. Latinos Online presentation that we are announcing today is just one example of the important work that the Multicultural Council will engage in on behalf of the industry.”

“The Multicultural Council will provide our industry with an important forum where we can work towards critical marketplace improvements. We also want to further our efforts in educating marketers and agencies to innovate and connect with this growing audience,” said Mark Lopez, Chief Operating Officer, Terra Networks, and Co-Chair of the IAB Multicultural Council. “The U.S. Latinos Online presentation is something we plan on updating quarterly so that it can be a resource for all industry stakeholders.”

“The IAB Multicultural Council and the Hispanic Research presentation will serve as an important forum for our advertising clients and partners to learn more about achieving maximum ROI in the Spanish-language market in an increasingly digital media environment,” said Borja Perez, Vice-President, Integrated Solutions And Digital Media, Telemundo.

To review U.S. Latinos Online: A Driving Force, please go to iab.net/us_latinos
To learn more about the IAB Multicultural Council please go to http://www.iab.net/multicultural_council.

About the IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 460 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

EMMAUS, Pa. & NEW YORK – Rodale Inc., the authoritative source for health, fitness and wellness content around the world, is delivering content from its brands, including Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Prevention, Runner’s World and Bicycling, on a new online health and wellness destination focused on diet, fitness and nutrition through an alliance with MSN. The new site, which will launch in Fall 2010, will deliver the most groundbreaking, inspirational and actionable content, information, tips, tools, and videos via an interactive, multimedia experience.

“For the past 80 years, Rodale’s focus has been on improving the health and wellness of the individual, community and environment,” said Gregg Michaelson, President, Integrated Marketing & Sales and Chief Marketing Officer at Rodale. “Our partnership with MSN is a natural fit as it equips Rodale with another valuable platform from which to provide people with the tools to live a healthier lifestyle.”

“Lifestyle continues to grow in popularity among consumers and advertisers, and we see great opportunity in expanding our current lifestyle offerings by delivering a new experience that is unique to the health category,” said Scott Moore, regional partner executive producer for MSN at Microsoft Corp. “Rodale is a leading and trusted health brand, and we’re excited to extend our successful partnership to deliver a compelling new diet and fitness experience for MSN customers and advertisers.”

Drawing from its heritage and expertise, Rodale will provide content and tools to inspire and enable people to improve their lives. The new health and wellness site, similar to MSN lifestyle sites Glo.com and Wonderwall.com, will be distributed through MSN and promoted on Rodale Web sites and magazine properties.

About Rodale Inc.

Rodale is a global media company with a heritage, mission, and authority dedicated to the health and wellness of the individual, community, and planet. Through a broad portfolio of leading media properties, Rodale reaches more than 70 million people around the world through multiple distribution channels, including magazines, books, online, e-commerce, direct-to-consumer, and video. The company publishes some of the best-known health and wellness lifestyle magazines, including Men’s Health, Prevention, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Bicycling, Running Times, and Organic Gardening, and is the largest independent book publisher in the United States, with a collection of bestselling titles, including Al Gore’s Our Choice, Flat Belly Diet!, and Eat This, Not That! Rodale is also a leader in direct-response marketing and has more than 25 million active customers in its database. www.rodaleinc.com

LOS ANGELES – the Rubicon Project, the digital advertising technology company, has acquired SiteScout, the malware security technology provider, to build upon the technology that drives the brand protection and security layer of its REVV for publishers™ platform. The acquisition is part of the Rubicon Project’s commitment to engineering comprehensive technology that ensures premium Web publishers a safe, efficient and profitable platform through which they can transact with all demand channels for their audience and ad inventory.

Recent malware attacks on popular sites and apps have reduced site traffic by as much as ten percent in a single month, and with that, a parallel reduction in revenue. Across the industry, this represents a net monthly risk of nearly $600 MM, as publishers across the Internet, from Twitter to Facebook to the New York Times, are falling victim to a massive influx and growing complexity of threats related to malware or “malvertising.” Since most malware is distributed through advertisements and content served through legitimate websites, it falls on publishers to protect their brand, revenue, and customers (consumers and advertisers) from these malicious attacks. Publishers who are not proactively protecting their sites create the risk of customers becoming infected through an attack initiated on their site, spend a lot of time and money trying to chase down problems when they occur, and create a bad reputation.

There is currently almost nothing – technology or otherwise – within legacy ad server products that protects publishers, their visitors or their advertisers from malware attacks. As detailed in the Rubicon Project’s manifesto, “Principles of a REVVolution, or the ad server is dead,” the company is committed to offering publishers technology that counteracts these risks, delivering efficient and safe to all sources of demand, and providing protection to consumers. This commitment drove the company’s decision to acquire SiteScout.

“We began to look for the right security partner to help address this growing issue for publishers in 2009, evaluating several solutions in this space to complement our industry-leading brand protection technology,” said Craig Roah, COO and Founder of the Rubicon Project. “In side-by-side tests, in a live production environment with real ad tags on premium websites, SiteScout was hands-down the most effective technology. In addition, the technology is easily integrated with our platform, and the SiteScout team is a perfect fit with our strong company culture. This acquisition will enable us to protect premium publishers with the most effective and highly scalable technology solution to address the very real, very dangerous and fast-growing problem of malvertising.”

“The threats are transient, the bad guys are smart. Solving the problem of malvertising requires serious technology engineered by security experts that runs in the background to protect websites 24 hours per day, 7 days a week,” said Rob Lipschutz, CEO of SiteScout and who is now tasked with leading the Rubicon Project’s Brand Protection offering. “We are excited to integrate our team’s combined 40 years of security experience and SiteScout’s proprietary technology with the Rubicon Project and its digital advertising technology platform, REVV, to ensure publishers have a complete technology solution that enables them to keep digital media free for consumers.”

There are unique risks to publishers, advertisers and consumers from malvertising attacks:

Publisher risks include: Revenue loss, customer loss, damage or loss of advertiser relationships, negative publicity, damage to brand, lower product sales
Consumer risks include: Virus-infected computers, compromised privacy, decreased willingness to spend online, financial info theft, identity theft
Advertiser risks include: Legitimate ads ‘hijacked’ for ill-intended purposes, loss of brand reputation, damage to the very consumers they’re trying to target
The new comprehensive malware protection powered by SiteScout security is available exclusively to REVV for publishers customers as an extension of the Rubicon Project ad technology platform; the SiteScout malware reporting and other product tools are slated to be available within the REVV platform in the third quarter of 2010.

Lipschutz will be tasked with leading the security and brand protection team to continue building technology innovations for the REVV platform. In addition, the Rubicon Project will open a Seattle office in the Pioneer Square district directly across from Qwest Field. The company will take advantage of the rich engineering talent in Seattle, with plans to hire in the areas of engineering, product and security.

About the Rubicon Project

Headquartered in Los Angeles, the Rubicon Project launched in 2007 with a mission to automate the $65 billion global online advertising industry. The company’s digital advertising technology & data platform, REVV for Publishers™, is engineered to accelerate revenue for premium publishers. Backed by $42 million in funding from Clearstone Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, IDG Ventures and GE/NBC Universal’s Peacock Equity Fund, the Rubicon Project serves premium publishers like NBC Universal, Gannett and CareerBuilder; optimizing more than 45 billion ads each month and reaching more than 500 million unique Internet users. the Rubicon Project also helps ad sales channels around the world gain access to precise audience-segmented inventory, at broad scale.

Thousands of AOL Employees and Alumni Join Company Leadership and Founders for Anniversary Celebration and Building Dedication Ceremony

DULLES, Va. – AOL, an iconic brand, turns 25 years old celebrating its pioneering role in Internet history. The company, responsible for bringing tens of millions of people online, made “You’ve Got Mail” one of the most ubiquitous phrases around the world. More than a thousand AOL employees and alumni gathered with company founders and executive leadership to celebrate AOL’s official 25th anniversary and recommit the company to its founding values of helping people in everyday life and its rich heritage of innovation and creativity. The event, held at AOL’s Dulles, Virginia campus, was marked by a ceremony in which three buildings were dedicated to AOL co-founders Steve Case and Jim Kimsey, and AOL Vice Chairman Emeritus Ted Leonsis.

“It’s an honor to be back on the AOL campus and witness first-hand the abiding commitment to the company’s core mission and founding values. AOL’s staying power is a testament to its everyday relevance in American lives. That’s what keeps AOL thriving and allows it to evolve as it embarks on what promises to be another exciting 25 years marked by unprecedented innovation and creativity,” remarked AOL Co-Founder Steve Case.

“Today’s event is not just meant to honor that rich history, but celebrate the next 25 years of helping people through innovation and creativity. We’re certainly proud of our past, but we’re even more excited about what we have in store for customers as we move forward into the future,” said AOL Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong.

Today’s event is part of a week-long celebration of commemoration activities that kicked off on May 20 with a global employee volunteer day across 18 cities. The activities will conclude later this week with the launch of the Project on Creativity in partnership with legendary American artist Chuck Close. This project will span the company’s 25th anniversary year, yielding iconic portraits by Close of some of the world’s leading innovators and creative visionaries.

AOL was founded on May 24, 1985, and now reaches a domestic U.S. audience of more than 100 million unique visitors per month and more than 250 million unique visitors globally, according to comScore Unified March 2010 data. From its origins as an access provider, AOL has grown into a leading global web services company and is focused on leveraging its core strengths and scale in quality content, premium advertising and consumer applications to position itself for the next phase of growth of the Internet.

Landmarks in AOL’s First 25 Years

Here are key dates in the history of AOL:

1985: AOL is born (then called Quantum Computer Services)
1989: Members hear “Welcome! You’ve got mail!” for the first time
1989: Instant Messenger launches
1991: Quantum is renamed America Online, Inc.
1992: AOL goes public on NASDAQ (symbol AMER)
1993: AOL surpasses 500,000 members
1993: Disk mailings make AOL a household name
1994: First advertisers appear on AOL
1995: AOL reaches 1 million members, AOL.com is launched
1995: AOL Germany is launched as AOL’s first international venture
1996: AOL moves to the NYSE under the symbol “AOL” and reaches 5 million members
1996: Running Man debuts on Instant Messenger
1996: AOL Canada, UK and France launch
1998: AOL acquires CompuServe
1998: The movie “You’ve Got Mail” with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan is released
1998: AOL’s Buddy List Network enters the Smithsonian’s permanent collection
1999: AOL acquires Netscape and Moviefone
2000: AOL acquires MapQuest
2001: AOL and Time Warner merge
2002: Five million members download AOL 8.0 software in two weeks
2003: AOL blocks 2 billion spam e-mail messages in one day
2004: AOL acquires Advertising.com
2005: AOL become the first Internet company to win an Emmy for online programming with its coverage of the global Live8 concerts
2005: Revitalized AOL.com launches, providing Web users free access to much of AOL’s content
2006: America Online, Inc. officially changes its name to AOL LLC
2006: AOL begins offering its e-mail, software, content and most of its services free to Web users
2007: AOL launches more than a dozen new targeted sites and relaunches a dozen existing sites
2008: AOL launches 14 downloadable apps for the iPhone, including AIM for iPhone, one of the most popular free apps
2009: AOL Running Man inducted into the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame
2009: AOL begins trading on the NYSE after separating from Time Warner
2010: Lifestream available as standalone product for desktop, as well as iPhone and Android

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE:AOL) is a leading global web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

*Display ads include static and rich media ads; excludes video ads, house ads and very small ads (< 2,500 pixels in dimension)

“Following a severe ad recession that began in late 2008 and continued through the first three quarters of 2009, we’ve been seeing a strong resurgence in the online display ad market,” said Jeff Hackett, comScore senior vice president. “The first quarter of 2010 posted strong volume in online display ads, coinciding with increasing expenditure from advertisers and higher CPMs for publishers. This pickup in activity should bode well for the online advertising industry as we move forward in 2010.”

Facebook Ranks as Top Display Ad Publisher in Q1 2010
Popular social networking site Facebook.com led all online publishers during Q1 with 176 billion display ad impressions, representing 16.2 percent market share. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 132 billion impressions (12.1 percent), followed by Microsoft Sites with 60 billion impressions (5.5 percent) and Fox Interactive Media with 53 billion impressions (4.9 percent).

_________________________________________________________________________
Top 10 U.S. Online Display Ad* Publishers Q1 2010
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore Ad Metrix
_________________________________________________________________________
Total Display Ad     Share of Display
Impressions (MM)     Ad Impressions
Total Internet        1,089,732                 100.0%
Facebook.com            176,307                  16.2%
Yahoo! Sites            131,555                  12.1%
Microsoft Sites          60,187                   5.5%
Fox Interactive Media    53,823                   4.9%
AOL LLC                  32,100                   2.9%
Google Sites             25,852                   2.4%
Turner Network           15,685                   1.4%
Glam Media                7,819                   0.7%
eBay                      7,483                   0.7%
Tagged.com                6,804                   0.6%
_________________________________________________________________________
*Display ads include static and rich media ads; excludes video ads, house ads and very small ads (< 2,500 pixels in dimension)

AT&T Ranks as Top Display Advertiser in Q1 2010
AT&T led competitor Verizon as the top online display advertiser in Q1 with 26.3 billion impressions, accounting for 2.4 percent of display ads. Verizon held the second position with 21.9 billion (2.0 percent), followed by Scottrade Inc. with 16.4 billion (1.5 percent) Experian Interactive with 15.6 billion (1.4 percent) and Sprint Nextel Corporation with 10.1 billion (0.9 percent).

_________________________________________________________________________
Top 10 U.S. Online Display Advertisers Q1 2010
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore Ad Metrix
_________________________________________________________________________
Total Display Ad     Share of Display
Impressions (MM)     Ad Impressions
Total Internet                1,089,733                100.0%
AT&T Inc.                        26,342                  2.4%
Verizon Communications Inc.      21,897                  2.0%
Scottrade, Inc.                  16,406                  1.5%
Experian Interactive             15,638                  1.4%
Sprint Nextel Corporation        10,113                  0.9%
Netflix, Inc.                     9,347                  0.9%
eBay Inc.                         9,319                  0.9%
Intuit Inc.                       8,719                  0.8%
Privacy Matters 1-2-3             8,579                  0.8%
IAC – InterActiveCorp             8,202                  0.8%
_________________________________________________________________________

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Key benefits to SearchCenter Plus include the following:

Management and Optimization – Use management templates based on conversion metrics to create automated and effective bid strategies
Integrated Analytics – Seamless integration of impression, click and cost data from Facebook with site conversion data to optimize for ROI
Robust, Flexible Reporting – Deliver complete campaign overviews from one interface to manage and report performance results
Campaign Groups – Organize campaigns, ads or placements within custom groups to easily report and manage based on business criteria
Facebook Ad Buying – Create and manage targeted ad buys in the same application you use to measure and optimize campaigns

“At www.SimplyBusiness.co.uk we are always looking to try new things so we were very pleased to see that Omniture was rolling out new features almost as quickly as we wanted to use them,” said Alastair Douglas, head of marketing and analysis of Xbridge, one of the fastest growing technology companies in the UK and the firm behind online business insurance comparator SimplyBusiness.co.uk. “The Facebook integration means that we can run all of our new advertising trials in the same place as our more traditional PPC campaigns and analyse all the data that is stored in one place.”

“Social media channels, and Facebook specifically, continue to be an avenue of keen interest for marketers to build intent and customer loyalty,” said Brett Error, vice president and general manager, product and technology, Omniture Business Unit. “SearchCenter Plus helps our customers through the entire social media advertising process including planning, delivering, measuring and optimizing. As an integrated analytics, search marketing and advertising solution, SearchCenter Plus can help drive increased results for Omniture customers.”

SearchCenter Plus is available immediately. For more information, please contact your Omniture account manager.

About Omniture, An Adobe company

Omniture, a business unit of Adobe Systems Incorporated, is a leading provider of online business optimization software for managing and enhancing online, offline and multi-channel business initiatives. Hosted and delivered via on-demand subscription service and on-premise solution, Omniture software enables customers to capture, store and analyze information generated by their websites and other sources, providing business insights into the performance and efficiency of marketing and sales initiatives and other business processes. For more information, visit www.omniture.com.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

April 2010 U.S. Core Search Rankings

Google Sites led the U.S. core search market in April with 64.4 percent of the searches conducted, followed by Yahoo! Sites (up 0.8 percentage points to 17.7 percent), and Microsoft Sites (up 0.1 percentage points to 11.8 percent).

Both Yahoo! Sites and Microsoft Sites have experienced gains due in part to the introduction of new site navigation experiences that tie content and related search results together within several channels. These features provide search results to users as they navigate through topical content and meet comScore’s established criteria for counting search queries. Ask Network captured 3.7 percent of the search market, followed by AOL LLC with 2.4 percent.

_____________________________________________________________________________
comScore Core Search Report*
April 2010 vs. March 2010
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore qSearch
_____________________________________________________________________________
Core Search Entity   Share of Searches (%)
Mar-10    Apr-10    Point Change
Apr-10 vs. Mar-10
Total Core Search    100.0%    100.0%       N/A
Google Sites          65.1%     64.4%      -0.7
Yahoo! Sites          16.9%     17.7%       0.8
Microsoft Sites       11.7%     11.8%       0.1
Ask Network            3.8%      3.7%      -0.1
AOL LLC Network        2.5%      2.4%      -0.1
_____________________________________________________________________________
* Based on the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.

Americans conducted 15.5 billion searches in April, up slightly from March. Google Sites accounted for 10 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! Sites (2.8 billion), Microsoft Sites (1.8 billion), Ask Network (574 million) and AOL LLC (371 million).

_____________________________________________________________________________
comScore Core Search Report*
April 2010 vs. March 2010
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore qSearch
_____________________________________________________________________________
Core Search Entity   Search Queries (MM)
Mar-10    Apr-10    Percent Change
Apr-10 vs. Mar-10
Total Core Search    15,427    15,532        1%
Google Sites         10,048    10,006        0%
Yahoo! Sites          2,605     2,752        6%
Microsoft Sites       1,802     1,829        1%
Ask Network             593       574       -3%
AOL LLC                 380       371       -2%
_____________________________________________________________________________
* Based on the five major search engines including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.

April 2010 U.S. Expanded Search Rankings

In the April analysis of the top properties where search activity is observed, Google Sites led the search market with 14.0 billion search queries, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 2.8 billion queries and Microsoft Sites with 1.9 billion. Amazon Sites experienced sizeable growth during the month with an 8-percent increase to 245 million searches, rounding off the top 10 ranking.

_____________________________________________________________________________
comScore Expanded Search Query Report
April 2010 vs. March 2010
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore qSearch
_____________________________________________________________________________
Expanded Search Entity          Search Queries (MM)
Mar-10    Apr-10    Percent Change
Apr-10 vs. Mar-10
Total Internet                  23,866    23,658       -1%
Google Sites                    14,252    13,996       -2%
Google                      10,547    10,556        0%
YouTube/All Other            3,705     3,440       -7%
Yahoo! Sites                     2,689     2,839        6%
Yahoo!                       2,676     2,827        6%
All Other                       13        12       -8%
Microsoft Sites                  1,862     1,883        1%
Bing                         1,604     1,575       -2%
Microsoft/All Other            258       308       19%
Ask Network                        742       719       -3%
ASK.COM                        332       327       -2%
MyWebSearch.com/ All Other     410       392       -4%
craigslist, inc.                   664       685        3%
eBay                               659       641       -3%
Facebook.com                       647       624       -4%
AOL LLC                            594       604        2%
AOL Search Network             319       302       -5%
MapQuest/All Other             275       302       10%
Fox Interactive Media              406       312      -23%
MySpace                        402       309      -23%
All Other                        4         3      -25%
Amazon Sites                       226       245        8%
_____________________________________________________________________________

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

New York, NY – AdSafe Media, the rating standard of online media, today announced a partnership with iCrossing (http://news.icrossing.com), a global digital marketing agency, to provide preventative brand protection for clients across all online display advertising campaigns.

AdSafe’s Brand Safety Firewall ensures that only ad placements compliant with brand guidelines and insertion orders are served. AdSafe technology will enable iCrossing to execute brand safe display advertising campaigns for their premium brand advertisers, while maximizing the reach and efficiency of campaign spend.

― Many of our clients have invested heavily in innovative display tactics – including search and site retargeting and social targeting – as part of their overall performance display marketing programs,” said Dax Hamman, vice president of display media at iCrossing.

―Still, any display tactic that includes media bought from media exchanges carries with it an increased risk of aligning the brand against unfavorable content. With AdSafe, we see a way to combine innovation with preventative protection for display advertising.

― iCrossing has a proven track record of developing relationships between consumers and brands across digital channels. “This partnership allows iCrossing to continue to drive these connections while maintaining the level of brand safety and protection that is demanded by brand marketers,”commented Kent Wakeford, Co-Founder and EVP of AdSafe.

About AdSafe Media
AdSafe Media is the rating standard of online media. AdSafe uses proprietary algorithmic modeling and human verification to rate the brand safety of content on commercially supported web pages via the AdSafe Content Rating System. AdSafe’s Brand Safety Firewall enables Brands, Agencies and Ad-networks to prevent advertising from appearing on publisher web pages that do not conform to brand guidelines. AdSafe’s Content Monitoring Platform enables Ad-Networks and Publishers to identify and segment problematic site content, increasing monetization of display inventory. AdSafe is headquartered in New York, NY with operations in Santa Barbara, CA and London, England. For more information visit www.AdSafeMedia.com or follow @AdSafe on Twitter.

About iCrossing
iCrossing is a global digital marketing agency that combines talent and technology to help world-class brands find and connect with their customers. The company blends best-in-class digital marketing services — including paid search, search engine optimization, Web development, social media, mobile, research and analytics — to create integrated digital marketing programs that engage consumers and drive ROI. iCrossing’s client base includes such recognized brands as Epson America, Toyota, Travelocity and 40 Fortune 500 companies, including The Coca-Cola Company and Office Depot. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company has 550 employees in 12 offices in the U.S. and Europe. For more information, please visit www.icrossing.com.

EADP Conference
IRVINE, Calif. – WebVisible (www.WebVisible.com) announced a three-year agreement to provide its award-winning online advertising platform to Sensis (www.about.sensis.com.au) and its 600,000 Australian small business customers.

WebVisible will provide Sensis business customers with an effective, local and targeted search engine advertising solution – whether their goal is to generate foot traffic, website visits or phone calls. Sensis advertisers will have access to the full range of product offerings from WebVisible, including packages based on total number of either clicks or conversions delivered to the business. WebVisible supports those who are new to online advertising all the way to sophisticated users of search marketing strategies.

Sensis is Australia’s leading information resource – its White Pages® and Yellow Pages® directories are distributed to almost every Australian home and business. In addition, Sensis’ online properties attract more than 3 million unique visitors who conduct more than 15 million searches each week1.

Sensis conducted several pilot tests over the past two years and concluded it could gain efficiencies and scale in its online advertising solutions by using WebVisible’s Geneva Technology Platform, which was named 2008 Internet Product of the Year by TechAmerica.

“This arrangement puts WebVisible technology within reach of businesses throughout Australia,” said Kirsten Mangers, WebVisible CEO. “We manage a company’s online advertising to help local businesses get found no matter where, when or how a customer is looking. Sensis is by far the most dominant provider of local advertising in the country, and we’re thrilled to join forces to help Australian businesses thrive. This shows the global reach of WebVisible and that our online advertising solutions truly know no boundaries.”

About WebVisible, Inc.

WebVisible makes it easy for small and mid-size businesses (SMBs) to be found online, where and how customers are looking. The leading provider of local online marketing products and services since 2001, WebVisible was among the first to pioneer the use of search as a reliable, measurable avenue to connect directly with a buyer’s needs. The company has helped more than 100,000 SMB customers from more than 4,000 industries in 14 countries to create innovative and accountable Internet advertising campaigns. SMBs partner with WebVisible directly and through its many partner companies, including Intuit, AT&T, British Telecom and The New York Times Company. WebVisible is based in Irvine, Calif. For more information, visit www.webvisible.com or call 949-255-9677.

About Sensis

Sensis is Telstra’s (www.telstra.com) advertising business and Australia’s leading directories information resource, helping Australians find, buy and sell. Sensis delivers innovative and integrated local search and digital marketing solutions via print, online, voice and mobile channels to connect Australians 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sensis’ powerful, multi-channel portfolio provides an unparalleled local information source incorporating the White Pages® and Yellow Pages® directories; the MediaSmart digital advertising business; the Whereis® digital mapping business; the Citysearch® entertainment and lifestyle website; the sensis.com.au search engine; the 1234 operator-assisted, premium voice information service; and the accommodation website gostay.com.au. Sensis is also a partner in some of China’s most popular websites including real estate and home furnishings website, SouFun.com; auto websites Autohome.com and Che168.com; and digital devices websites IT168.com and PCPop.com.cn.

1 Roy Morgan Single Source, Australians 14+, December quarter 2009.

AMSTERDAM – AVG Technologies, developers of the world’s most popular free anti-virus software, revealed research into a very aggressive, expansive push by rogue applications on Facebook this past weekend. AVG researchers indicated that from midnight to 9 a.m. EST on Saturday, May 15, 2010, AVG software detected and blocked more than three hundred thousand rogue applications. That rate was more than three times the rate of the number two for the day for rogue anti-spyware.

“This latest issue really underscores how powerful, while at the same time vulnerable, social networking applications are. This attack was actually stunning in terms of scale,” said Roger Thompson, AVG’s Chief Research Officer. “Facebook is very responsive to threats when we identify them, and removing these applications as soon as they find them, but they’re still able to generate huge traffic, just because of the viral nature of social networks. It is staggering how many threats were propagated before they were stopped.”

Ironically, the attack, which offers a picture of a girl in a bikini to entice the victim to install an adware-supported viewer, was not viral according to AVG researchers, and was first seen in different forms last week. AVG’s malware detection servers are set to alert the research team when certain nefarious behaviors and activities are detected. By 9 a.m. EST, AVG’s servers had detected more than 200,000 of this particular threat. By comparison, the second highest detection at that same time was about twenty-four thousand of a particular rogue anti-spy, so at one point, this push was nearly ten times the number two detection.

Last week’s rogue push peaked at about 80,000 for the day, and had dwindled to just a couple of hundred per day by Friday, May 14, 2010. At that point AVG researchers were hopeful that the adware attack would cease; however, all indications point to the fact that they were just gearing up for a fresh start… and a powerful one at that.

Thompson added, “Interestingly, they launched it on a Saturday. I guess they figure we don’t watch on the weekend, but malcode researchers are all cut from the same cloth as Inspector Gadget… we’re always on duty.”

AVG recognizes the power that social networking brings to our professional and personal lives and does not advocate giving up on the technology altogether. However, AVG does have some recommendations on how to best protect yourself:

1. Make sure you practice safe surfing. AVG LinkScanner is a free web tool that can identify threats in real-time and let you know if a page or link is poisoned, before you click.

2. If you ever have to install a viewer to watch a video, something is probably not right. Go to the video player application’s official website and download the application there. Never download through a link.

3. Make sure your anti-virus and security software is up to date. If you don’t have anti-virus software, you can download AVG Free here.

www.avg.com

AVG is a global security software maker protecting more than 110 million consumers and small businesses in 170 countries from the ever-growing incidence of web threats, viruses, spam, cyber-scams and hackers on the Internet. AVG has nearly two decades of experience in combating cyber crime and one of the most advanced laboratories for detecting, pre-empting and combating Web-borne threats from around the world. Its free, downloadable software allows novice users to have basic anti-virus protection and then easily upgrade to greater levels of safety and defense when they are ready. AVG has nearly 6,000 resellers, partners and distributors globally including Amazon.com, CNET, Cisco, Ingram Micro, Play.com, Wal-Mart, and Yahoo!