At San Diego’s Comic-Con, the first insight to the movie was revealed by Marvel Studios, and remember to mark May 6, 2011 on your calendars as “Thor” storms into theaters!

Directed by Kenneth Branagh, the epic adventure “Thor” spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

The screenplay for “Thor” was penned by Mark Protosevich as well as Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz, and Don Payne. Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige will produce the film. Alan Fine, Stan Lee, David Maisel, and Marvel Studio’s Co-President, Louis D’Esposito, will executive produce.

The Internet was abuzz with more than half a million hits to the web site and tens of thousands of fans on Facebook. Hundreds of code entries were submitted even before the film was released to the North American market.

HOTEL HOLLYWOOD succeeds with an excellent storyline, gripping impact, and great camera technique. Never before has a film excelled at all three at the same time. Hotel Hollywood is set at an Indian wedding party that mysteriously went missing in a Los Angeles hotel. The film is based on a real story suspiciously hinting at a government cover-up. It builds to an action packed climax that keeps you glued to the edge of your seat. The film is shot from a first person camera perspective (a character in the film is the wedding cameraman who is shooting the events as they happen) – the filmmakers accomplished this without ever lying to the audience.

The movie features excellent camera work by Mathew Boyd and delivered with sensitive direction by Param Gill. The viewer finds it easy to relate to the story characters who are ordinary, everyday individuals thrown into an extraordinary situation that tests them to the limits of their endurance and beyond. Telling you anything more will spoil the suspense; watch it for anunforgettable experience.

“HOTEL HOLLYWOOD is an edge-of-the-seat thriller, not to be missed”, says Kapil Sethi of Net Effect Media, the company that is distributing the film.

“TERRIFYING ACTION AND SUSPENSE! I felt wary and fearful for 2 days after watching HOTEL HOLLYWOOD. And just think, it’s a story that really happened”, says Mac Ferguson, Film Critic.

“Its all about life and it’s story with Dolce and Gabbano who tells a story with their clothing collections. In wearing their clothes you become part of their movie about style”…..Jacob R Miles, GrapevineStar

Dolce and Gabbana, Congratulations on your success

These two Designers are adored worldwide and by the Hollywood stars who have made the duo their favorites: two Designers who dress all of the rock stars of the moment and who have elected them as their unquestionable leaders.
The Designers of Madonna, Monica Bellucci, Isabella Rossellini, Kylie Minogue and Angelina Jolie, amongst others.

The Dolce & Gabbana woman is strong: she likes herself and knows she is liked.
A cosmopolitan woman who has toured the world but who doesn’t forget her roots.
A woman who indifferently wears extremely sexy guêpières or bras that can be seen under sheer clothes, contrasting them with the very masculine pinstripe suits complete with tie and white shirt or a men’s vest. She always wears very high heels which, in any case, give her both an extremely feminine and sexy way of walking and unmistakable posture. She loves that so masculine cap imported from Sicily.
We salute DG, their style, their taste, their impact on trends and of course their clothes.

All India news
.But its biggest attraction is the price: $35.

Kapil Sibal, India’s human resources development minister, today unveiled the prototype of an unnamed Linux-based computing tool for students to be introduced in higher educational institutions by 2011.

“The aim is to reach such devices to the students of colleges and universities, and to provide these institutions a host of choices of low-cost access devices around $35 or less in near future,” the human resources ministry said at the launch of the computer.

The latest gadget is a thrilling prospect for the future of global education, says Anand Nandkumar, a professor of business strategy in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship at the Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business.

But it’s less symptomatic of India’s ambition to unleash cutting-edge innovation, he says, as much as its desire to tap into a new market. The touch screen device is the latest example of how technology and ultra-cheap innovations are bringing new options to India’s 1.2 billion people, whose per capita income is $1,030.

“It’s not like launching a rocket into space,” says Professor Nandkumar. “This kind of innovation is symbolic of the recognition of a vast, untapped market opportunity.”

According to a study last year by India’s Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry, by 2020 rural markets in India will grow to $500 to $600 billion from the current $487 million. Despite their minimal earnings, the nearly 742 million people across rural India are pushing retail demand faster than urban areas and accounting for more than 60 percent of the national demand, the study found.

And many new gadgets are catering to it.

In 2008, Tata launched the world’s cheapest car – the bubble-shaped Nano – priced at $2,500. Its low-cost engineering fulfilled the aspiration of millions of moped-riding Indians for whom a four-wheel drive was far out of reach. The same company last year launched the Swach water purifier – its two models priced at 749 rupees ($16) and 999 rupees ($21) – with the promise of providing clean drinking water to millions of India’s poor.

The price of the new computer is expected to fall to $10 in the coming years.

Cognito Executive Producer Daniel Burwen gave me a demonstration of the first few pages of his graphic novel Operation Ajax, which is an adaptation of Stephen Kinzer’s nonfiction book All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror. Animated transitions give the comic a cinematic feel, and also give the artist more control over how the page unfolds. The format provides an opportunity to make supplementary material such as photos and documents available within the relevant comics panel.

It’s different from anything I’ve seen in digital comics. Technologies like ComiXology’s “guided view” create a smooth experience by moving the reader from panel to panel, but you’re still reading your basic, old-fashioned comics page. (Comics critic Douglas Wolk wrote a persuasive essay about why the transition from printed page to iPad or iPhone can be a bit awkward.) Another startup is Graphic.ly, which has built its own reader for tablets and includes social features. Meanwhile, Marvel has also created “motion comics,” which use comics art as the foundation for an animated movie.

Operation Ajax lies somewhere in between, where you still feel like you’re reading rather than watching a movie — instead of being forced along at a movie’s pace, you can stare at a page or panel for as long as you like — but with content that you couldn’t include in print. And it has the benefit of being drawn for the iPad screen, which is smaller than most comic pages, so there’s no struggle to make the art fit.

The graphic novel is the launch project for a comics creation and reading technology developed by Tall Chair, called Active Reader. Again, the idea is to create comics specifically for the iPad, rather than to optimize existing material for the device. (Although at the end the process, artists should have pages that they can turn into a printed book as well.) Chief executive Dan Brazelton said it’s hard to compare the process of creating an Active Reader graphic novel with a print graphic novel, but he estimated that the interactive iPad version probably takes about 20 percent more work than normal.

On Operation Ajax, that work is being done by Burwen and Art Director Mike De Seve. They wrote the script together in consultation with Kinzer, De Seve is creating most of the initial art, then Burwen is translating that art into an animated iPad page. Brazelton said that some comics artists will be able to handle the iPad-ization on their own, while others will want to bring on an additional team member — he compared it to traditional comics creation, where some people are good at writing and drawing, while other form a team with a writer and an artist (and an inker and a colorist and a letterer).

The companies plan to release Operation Ajax and Active Reader sometime this fall. The book will be released in chunks, with a free preview followed by eight chapters costing about $1.99 each. That means the finished product should cost about as much as a print graphic novel.

Outside comics, Tall Chair has also created mobile games like Cowboys vs. Zombies and Warner Bros.’ Sherlock Holmes Mysteries. It has raised angel funding from the Venture Development Group and Jung Soo Kang.

Warner Bros will lead the way promoting its intellectual properties on and in the official comic-con bag that will be received by attendee.

Warner Bros. Entertainment and Comic-Con Team Up On Official Bag for Comic-Con International: San Diego 2010

One of 11 Unique Collectibles Will Be Distributed to Each Comic-Con Attendee During Official Check-In, Featuring “The Big Bang Theory,” “Chuck,” “Fringe,” “Human Target,” “Nikita,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” “The Looney Tunes Show,”"Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated,” “Clash of the Titans”or “Brightest Day”
BURBANK, Calif. (July 2010) — For the past four years, Warner Bros. Entertainment’s limited-edition, signature oversize canvas tote bags have been a must-have at Comic-Con, with tens of thousands of fans flocking to the Warner Bros. booth on the convention floor to snag one, and Entertainment Weekly once dubbing them the Con’s “ubiquitous accessory.” This year, Warner Bros. Entertainment (WBE) and Comic-Con are teaming up to put one directly in the hands of every attendee, with the Studio signing on as sponsor of the Comic-Con International: San Diego 2010 Official Bag.

•For Comic-Con 2010, the Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Marketing (WWTVM) unit has created 11 unique designs for the bags, with one side featuring the official Comic-Con 2010 artwork designed by WWTVM and the other side representing titles from across a number of WBE divisions, including Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Home Entertainment, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment
•More than 125,000 collectible bags (24″X29″) have been produced and will be distributed to attendees when they check in at Comic-Con throughout the five days of the convention, including Preview Night
WBE and Comic-Con are unveiling artwork for four of the WBE bags, as well as artwork for the official Comic-Con side of the bags:
◦Warner Bros. Animation series “The Looney Tunes Show,” coming soon to Cartoon Network
◦Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s “Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame,” inspired by Warner Bros. Animation’s hit animated series based upon characters from DC Comics. The Videogame is available on Wii and Nintendo DS September 7. New episodes of “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” air Fridays at 7:30 p.m. on Cartoon Network, and “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” Season 1, Part 1 is available on DVD August 17.
◦DC Comics’ best-selling “Brightest Day” comic book series
◦Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s Blu-ray™, DVD and digital download release of Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Clash of the Titans,” available July 27
•To download images of “The Looney Tunes Show,” “Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame,” “Brightest Day” and “Clash of the Titans” bag sides, as well as the official Comic-Con 2010 artwork side of the bags, please click here:
www.thewb.com/comiccon/officialbags2010
•To download images of the creative fashions that fans have put together utilizing the Warner Bros. bags in the past, please click here:
www.thewb.com/comiccon/bagswardrobe
•Other sponsored bags will feature the following titles:
◦Warner Bros. Television series “The Big Bang Theory,” “Chuck,” “Fringe,” “Human Target,” “Nikita” and “The Vampire Diaries”
◦Warner Bros. Animation series “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated”
•For additional information about Warner Bros. Television activities at Comic-Con, follow us on Twitter @TheWBdotcom and use hashtag #WBSDCC, log on to www.thewb.com/comiccon, and read news at www.thewb.com/blog.
Created annually since 2006 by the Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Marketing unit specifically for Comic-Con, the highly sought-after totes provide devoted fans with a handy carrying case for all the merchandise they take away from the Con and serve as mobile billboards for a selection of the Studio’s key Comic-Con titles.

Cartoon Network Enterprises and licensee Jazwares will reveal the first action figure for animated TV series “Robot Chicken,” which will lead up to the launch of a toy line. The 5-inch figure will be available this week, as well as an Adult Swim swag bag and an exclusive 2010 Comic-Con T-shirt. “Robot Chicken” co-creators Seth Green and Matt Senreich will also be on hand to sign autographs.

Toynami, which recently became the master licensee for UNKL, will also have a presence on the show floor. At Comic-Con, they will debut three toy lines with characters that include Gastro-Normous (the introductory character in the Dad Gummit Blobs line, which will be exclusively for sale at the show), SearchR and Viking. In addition, Fifth Sun has also recently partnered with UNKL for an apparel line (tees and hoodies), which will premiere in February at MAGIC. Licensing Street represents UNKL.

USA Network also returns to promote its original series “Burn Notice,” “Psych” and “White Collar” with cast- and producer-led panels.

Archaia, a graphic novel publisher, will be showcasing various properties and Archaia will host over 40 writers and artists for autograph sessions and meet-and-greet opportunities at its booth at Comic-Con …
GrapevineStar Entertainment will be at Comic-Con highlighting its MeMe and My World, Tex DunRight, World’s Favorite Cowboy and London Manga properties. Comic-Con has become one of the centers for new content and intellectual properties for film and TV… says Jacob R. Miles III, CEO of GrapevineStar

Meanwhile at this past weekend’s London Comic-Con, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and DC Comics featured an exhibition of cover art and an original prop display, including the Tumbler Batmobile from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. WBCP worked with London Film and Comic-Con to celebrate the 75th anniversary of DC Comics. The collaboration formed part of a yearlong slate of activities taking place around the world to mark the anniversary. The exhibition of DC Comics cover art from the golden age of comics through to the current day, featuring popular DC super heroes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern, were exhibited in a dedicated DC gallery that will be branded with DC wall murals from new WBCP licensee Coolerwalls. The DC Comics exhibition featured original movie props from DC movies Batman (1989), Supergirl (1984) and Superman (1978). Visiting fans also had the opportunity to pose for pictures with life-size models of Batman and Superman, and there was an on-site shop selling a range of DC-branded products, including wall murals from Coolerwalls, posters from Pyramid and mugs and bags from Half Moon Bay. London Film and Comic-Con was held at Earls Court

The service, launched in February by the Sequoia Capital-backed Bubble Motion, has soared to 2 million overall users in just a few months, quadrupling their first-month launch of 500,000 in March. Paid subscribers have been on a atmospheric rise, as well – the service had just 200,000 paid subscribers in April.

The company now plans to roll out parallel launches in Japan, Indonesia and the Phillippines.

“Growth to date has exceeded our wildest expectations,” said Tom Clayton, president and CEO of Bubble Motion. “At this point, it really has started to take a life of its own. Moreover, we believe that we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg here, as our traction to date has come from only a fraction of the addressable market.”

In essence, Bubbly — BubbleBlog to users in India -– is a phone service that allows users to record voice blogs, which are then shared with their “followers,” who dial a special code to listen to messages. It has caught on with Bollywood celebrities, who record messages for legions of fans. While listening to messages from fans and family is free, subscribing to a celebrity blog costs 10 to 30 rupees, or $0.21 to $0.65 a month to get notifications when there’s a new message.

“With so many mobile social networks looking for scale and revenue, Bubble Motion is proving that a new model exists for such services and can make money even in emerging markets,” said spokesman Kevin Jordan.

Part of Bubbly’s success has been fueled by the sign-on from Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachan, whose Bubbly followers outstrip his Twitter audience, with 270,000 followers on Twitter and 350,000 on Bubbly.

The company partnered with service providers Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications to deploy the technology, which is available in all of India’s 23 telecom circles. As Bubbly catches on, content rises, with comedians and politicians signing on to record voice blogs, which in turn pushes subscription rates.

“Bubbly is being promoted differently in different circles, and what we’re seeing is that where we have regional and local stars voice-blogging, our adoption skyrockets,” Clayton said.

The technology behind the service has had to be retooled to handle the higher-than-expected volume, Clayton said -– with the initial goal of allowing a maximum of 100,000 followers to a blog (meaning the power to notify 100,000 subscribers instantly when a new voice message is available).

“Now, as our users have blown through those follower numbers — within the second month of launch, we have now designed the system to handle over a 1 million followers each and are quickly scaling that to 10 million-plus followers each,” Clayton said.

The service is already seeing its share of copycats in the fiercely competitive and booming mobile market in India, but Clayton said he’s confident his company has a head start and strong grip on the engineering

“There is a significant network effect here, so we’re moving fast to capitalize on this momentum and roll out the largest countries as fast as possible,” Clayton said. “Right now, we’re trying not to get distracted by new entrants, but rather are focused on execution and the ultimate goal of building communities and connecting people through voice.”

Background – Econsultancy was founded in the UK in 1999, it provides training, reports, research, case studies, buyers guides and advice for the digital marketing sector. The CEO and co-founder of Econsultancy is author, Ashley Friedlein. There is also an active jobs board. Econsultancy has over 85,000 members to date. In 2009, Econsultancy also launched an American office, operating from New York. Econsultancy won the Association of Online Publishers’ award for Specialist Digital Publisher 2009.

Here is a recent post from Econsultancy on Ten ways to advertise your business on Facebook.

By Econsultancy’s Kevin Gibbons
The marketing potential of Facebook is huge, but many companies struggle to devise a strategy that’s suitable for such a social platform.

But there are more than 400m active users of Facebook, meaning whatever your product or service, there’s a huge potential market there.

So, how can you use the platform to promote your brand? Here are some of the ways marketers can approach it.

Make a Facebook page

Let’s start with the most obvious; do you have a Facebook page?

Since the website began inviting users to ‘like’ business pages rather than ‘become a fan’ of them, it’s much less intrusive and people seem to be far happier about this slightly more subdued way of showing their approval.

If you’re marketing a lively brand or product, don’t make do with a dull standard Facebook page, make your landing page lively and interesting.

Promote your page offsite

Don’t expect your potential fans to find you on Facebook without a little support. Add a ‘Find us on Facebook’ button to your website, email marketing communications and even printed brochures, so that people know you’re on there.

You may disagree, but I think that having a Facebook page shows that a brand is interactive and personable. So, even if people don’t bother looking you up, they may be left with a better impression of your brand.

Make your page interesting

What are you going to do with your Facebook page? Will you post deals, links to blog posts, competitions, notes, photographs of your corporate summer party (guilty!)?

You need to add content to your page so that your fans have something to interact with and so that they see your brand in their news feeds, building brand awareness.

Have a clear content strategy before you start building the page, otherwise you could suddenly be left scrambling for something to say.

Have a clear idea of what you want people to do

What are you hoping to achieve with your Facebook page? If it’s just brand awareness then you want content that people will interact with on the page. If you want to get fans to click through to your site, you’ll need links to offers and exclusives.

If it’s to create brand advocates, you need to create applications and games that people will share with their friends.

If you don’t know what you hope to achieve, then you won’t be able to create appropriate content.

Use Facebook ads

Will your marketing budget stretch to some paid Facebook ads? You can use keywords from people’s profiles to target your advertising at relevant demographics, (female friends who’ve become engaged tell me they see nothing but weight loss ads from the moment they change their relationship status!).

So, you can target people of a specific age, gender, educational level, workplace, even location.

It is a fairly cost-effective way to market your brand. You may even decide to use your advertising to drive people towards your fan page and give it a proper kick off.

Build a Facebook app

Can you create an interactive app? Some of the cleverest Facebook marketing is app-based, with the potential to turn viral and suddenly create enormous interest in your company.

You can build games, quizzes and other types of dynamic content that people will use and share.

If you don’t have the skills inhouse to create this kind of content, many business have sprung up that will develop an app with you to market your brand.

Make your content easy to share

Do you have a blog back on your website? Linking works both ways, you shouldn’t just be driving people to your site through Facebook.

In fact, you should also give people the opportunity to alert their Facebook friends to interesting content on your company website. Add a button allowing people to share the article on Facebook, as well as to Tweet it, Sphinn it, Digg it, Buzz it, or whichever your social platforms of choice are.

Make it as easy as possible for people to spread your brand message.

Create and interact with Facebook groups

Join some relevant Facebook groups and maybe even create a few. This will allow more people to see your brand, giving you the chance to build a fan base without paying for advertising.

Of course, this is a dangerous tactic if you’re a bit blunt. You mustn’t simply charge in and start trying to sell to people who are busy socialising. Instead, you should offer tips, support and advice, building confidence in your brand.

Is there a cause or campaign your company believes in? Maybe you’re a debt management company campaigning against payday loans, or a restaurant campaigning for more local food to be eaten in your town?

Create a group that promotes your cause and you’ll be able to interact with people who wouldn’t necessarily ‘like’ a brand but are very willing to support a campaign they believe in.

Give your fans exclusives

If someone has updated their Facebook page to show friends that they like your brand, you really ought to reward them.

Give them exclusive deals, sneak previews of new products, discounts – special offers to show you appreciate their support.

Use Facebook analytics

Having created a Facebook page, you need to need to monitor the success of the page. Facebook’s analytics tools allow you to see what kind of content works well.

Once you’ve created a page, you’ll be able to access this information through Facebook Insights, meaning you can see how people are interacting with your content, what demographics they belong to, which countries they are in, how many people have signed up, how many people have unsubscribed.

Make use of this information. It’s free and it will inform your developing Facebook strategy.

Don’t forget

If you’re a marketing professional, it’s not just your business you can promote through Facebook – you can also market yourself and build connections with other people in your sector.

There are groups, discussions and a thousand other ways to connect. You can even have different settings for your work-related ‘friends’, meaning they never need to see that picture of you after 12 vodka shots…

In an effort to keep our readers informed on the leading edge of global digital content initiatives, platforms, strategies and resources we are alerting our India and global readers to the continuing growth and leadership of Infibeam. They exhibit world class leadership in digital content monetization.

They are the perfect partner for content creators and companies worldwide who want to participate in the high growth India market.
Infibeam.com Launches A Digital Platform To Assist Authors & Publishers In Online Distribution
The conventional paper books will take a back seat as the world looks towards more environment friendly options. With eBook Readers reigning in as the latest in thing in technology for bibliophiles, there is an increased demand for Indian eBooks and other digitized content. Keeping pace with its innovation in the books world, Infibeam.com has initiated a digital platform that will provide Indian authors and publishers an additional channel to reach out to book readers.

Speaking on the pioneering initiative, Ms. Neeru Sharma, Director, Corporate Development, Infibeam.com said, “In January 2010, we launched an eBooks store on Infibeam.com with a selection of eBooks and followed it up with our green initiative – a Reading Device called Infibeam Pi. At that time, we promised our customers, that we will continue to add more eBooks, especially Indian content, in our online store. Today, we have launched a digital content platform for Indian publishers and authors to digitize their content and make it easily available to book lovers all around the world with full rights management built in”. She added, “We have partnered with many publishers to increase the eBook selection via this platform”.

The digital platform comprises of an automated setup for digitization of paper books and other physical content. The solution will provide digital books in various formats including pdf, epub and mobi formats. Content delivery and usage will be restricted to authorized buyers through digital rights management (DRM). The digital books will initially be sold through Infibeam.com’s eBooks store. Infibeam’s digital venture will also act as a digital distribution channel for other websites, and will provide Print On Demand (POD) service as well.

Readers of Indian literature can look forward to digitized version of ‘out of print books’ and content in Indian languages such as Sanskrit being made available through the digital platform. Read books in an eco-friendly and a techo-friendly way – Buy an Infibeam Pi!

About Infibeam.com
Infibeam.com owns and operates an e-commerce retail portal www.infibeam.com as well as customized products portal http://www.picsquare.com/. The company also provides e-commerce and interactive marketing services to brands, retailers and media companies in India and internationally.

The company’s technology services include e-commerce engine with a set of configurable features that enables Web store functionality, such as product presentation, merchandising, shopping cart, and checkout. It also offers Web store management tools to manage the Web stores administration, product and catalog content, and reporting; Web infrastructure and managed hosting; order management and processing; and reporting and analytics services.

In addition, the company provides fulfillment services, customer care services, interactive marketing services, and online advertising and design services. Infibeam.com was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Social Gaming

Social Gaming and Virtual Goods
US market size for virtual goods will reach $1.6 billion in 2010, with social gaming contributing $835 million of that total. The report, “Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming” is the latest in-depth study in the Inside Virtual Goods series, co-authored by Justin Smith and Charles Hudson.

“2009 was the year that casual games like Zynga’s popular FarmVille took over the major social platforms and changed the way millions of people socialized with friends online. Casual games introduced a rich, new way of interacting with friends on social networks, and saw the highest engagement numbers that the online entertainment industry has ever witnessed,” Justin Smith, founder of Inside Network’s InsideFacebook.com & InsideSocialGames.com, says. “With tens of millions of returning users, and millions of new visitors daily, it is no wonder that the social gaming industry saw significant M&A activity: an up-to-$400 million acquisition of Playfish by Electronic Arts, and hundreds of millions of dollars in additional venture investments. Social games are now impacting businesses across the media landscape,” adds Charles Hudson, VP of Business Development at Serious Business, and host of the annual Virtual Goods Summit.

The second research report in the Inside Virtual Goods series, “Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming 2010″ concludes that social games will alone make up half of all virtual goods revenue in the United States this year.

To get in and fully understand and get in the virtual goods and social gaming game, here are some must attend conferences and events to be held this year:

Virtual Goods Summit 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 10:00 AM – 5:30 PM (PST)
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM (PST)

The Virtual Goods Summit is focused on the emerging market opportunity for virtual goods and economies. Once restricted to the world of online gaming, virtual goods and currencies are beginning to influence the development of social networks, community sites, and many other new and exciting markets. The market for virtual goods continues to grow – join us for two days of engaging talks and panels designed to highlight important trends in this fast growing market. With estimates suggesting this market will grow from $1 billion in 2009 to $1.6 billion in 2010, this is a must-attend event for those in the games, social media, and entertainment markets.

Virtual goods beyond games
Designing free-to-play games for maximum engagement
The virtual goods market in Asia
The virtual goods market in Europe
Virtual goods and mobile applications
Free-to-play MMOs and virtual worlds
Monetization infrastructure for virtual goods
Best practices for engagement and player lifecycle management

Social Gaming Summit
11th November, 2010
The first London Social Gaming Summit is a one day event focused on the intersection of games and the social web. The event focuses on helping social games developers build, monetise, and grow their social games. We’re bringing together the leaders in free-to-play games, social networking, and payments infrastructure for a full day of panels and talks.

Virtual Goods Summit
12th November, 2010
The first London Virtual Goods Summit is a one day event focused on the emerging market opportunity for virtual goods and economies. Once restricted to the world of online gaming, virtual goods and currencies are beginning to influence the development of social networks, community sites, and many other new and exciting markets. The market for virtual goods continues to grow – join us for engaging talks and panels designed to highlight important trends in this fast growing market. With estimates suggesting this market will grow from $1 billion in 2009 to $1.6 billion in 2010, this is a must-attend event for those in the games, social media, and entertainment markets.

GrapevineStar

MTV Networks Acquires Social Express, Forays Into Social Gaming           by Gavin O’Malley, from MediaPost
Hoping to refresh Nickelodeon Digital’s offerings, MTV Networks on Thursday agreed to buy games developer Social Express. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to MTV, the acquisition marks its first entry into the popular social gaming space.

Per the deal, MTV Networks will develop social games based on original IP, as well as shows and characters from MTV, Nickelodeon and its other brands, with the first games expected to be introduced in the third quarter of the year.

MTV Networks also expected to leverage Social Express to launch a publishing platform for independent game developers.

Social Express will be integrated into Nickelodeon Digital, with Social Express co-founder and CEO Tony Espinoza overseeing social gaming strategy and development as vice president and general manager of social gaming for MTV Networks’ Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group.

Neil Souza, co-founder of Social Express and FoulPlay Media, will be vice president of technology, social games.

Both will report to Dave Williams, senior vice president and general manager of games, Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group, who reports to Stephen Youngwood, executive vice president for Digital, Nickelodeon /MTVN Kids & Family Group.

“They are set to be a key part of our growth strategy,” Youngwood said regarding Social Express and MTV’s broader gaming strategy. In May, MTV Networks game sites attracted more than 22 million unique visitors and ranked as the number one destination in the online gaming category.

MTV Networks game sites include AddictingGames.com, Shockwave.com, Nick.com Games, Nick.com Arcade, Neopets, GameTrailers, and Xfire.

The acquisition of Social Express is the latest gaming initiative for the Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group, which has also launched AddictingGames on the iPhone with the AG iNetwork and introduced a virtual goods platform to the site in the past year.

Based in San Francisco, Social Express’s veteran management team boasts former executives and developers from Apple, AOL, Yahoo and Zynga.

Casual games are serious business these days. For one, they are believed to be largely responsible for continued traffic gains at Facebook. Over the past year, traffic to the social network increased 185% compared to the same week last year. As a result, Facebook surpassed Google in terms of overall traffic for the week ending March 13, according to Hitwise.

Perhaps in response, Google in April announced the acquisition of an Israeli startup named Labpixies, which develops casual games for both the Web and mobile devices. Terms of the deal were not released, but an Israeli news source reported that Google paid $25 million for the company.

Another Company acquiring Social Gaming companies is Grapevine Star Entertainment, “Social Games are at their infancy, the most popular social games will be the birthplace of new media’s next licensable character based intellectual properties”….says Jacob R Miles, Chairman of GrapevineStar

GrapevineStar is launching a social game strategy that leverages its cause and character based intellectual properties. The company is currently reviewing social gaming companies. Interested social game companies should contact the company at info@grapevinestar.com

And what else can provide you the cutting edge advantage, accept leveraging mobile hand-held is the best option. Mobile Application Development will help you to get your business with cutting edge advantage. Get develop your business logic and applications for mobile and smart-phones which helps you to connect each and every person while mobility and update them with latest information as well as give information. The smarter the applications the smarter the end result.

You may in need of a partner who provides the solutions and mobility to your system and IndiaNIC is one of them. IndiaNIC provides Mobile Application Development service and have expert team of Mobile Developer which helps you to transform your offline business to the world of mobility. Our Mobile developers has deep understanding of mobile technology, tools and has expertise in integrating it using different programming languages and systems.

Hire Mobile developer for different mobile platforms which includes…

iPhone Mobile Developer
The iPhone mobile developer at IndiaNIC takes an approach that needs to take advantage of the strengths of iPhone OS and forego features that might be irrelevant or impractical in a mobile environment.
Windows Mobile Developer
Windows mobile flexes, too, with a wide range of business applications designed for the devices your team wants, as well as interactivity with the technologies inside your organization.
Android Mobile Developer
Android Market is an Open Application Distribution System, for android platform which helps publishers to get their applications directly in the hands of users.
BlackBerry Mobile Developer
With BlackBerry Application Development at IndiaNIC, your business would be everywhere you are. No matter how large your organization or how diverse your workforce is. The world of business is changing.
Symbian Mobile Developer
IndiaNIC Symbian Mobile Developer has industry-leading expertise in delivering mobile Development for custom applications on different smart-phones platform including Symbian Application Development, for Series 60, Series 80, Series 90 and UIQ.

The tide of money washing in from emerging nations has already fuelled the recent property bubble in the West, while new patterns of trade have left the West increasingly dependent on risky financial services. Unless things change drastically, King argues, the increasing power of emerging markets, when coupled with poor internal regulation and an increasingly anachronistic system of global governance, will result in greater instability and income inequality, accompanied by the risk of a major dollar decline. And as Western populations age and emerging economies develop further, the social and political consequences may be alarming to citizens who have grown accustomed to living in prosperity.

Stephen D. King is the global chief economist at HSBC, for which he has written on a wide range of global issues, including China’s currency, demographics, and, more recently, the debt burden of Western governments. He is a regular contributor to the London Independent and makes frequent appearances on television and radio. He has provided both written and oral evidence on globalization to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee and the House of Lords Economics Committee.

Beautiful Africa - A New Way to Look at Africa

“Spain and the Netherlands may be in the championship game, but the true world cup champion is the continent of Africa” says Jacob R. Miles, Co-Founder with Lap Ngo of Beautiful Africa, who’s copyrighted tag line is “A New Way to Look at Africa” reflects the brands positioning and view of how Africa is viewed worldwide. 

Africa is a frequent subject in the international news. However that news usually is focused on violence and poverty. This is not the total picture. There is more positive things happening in Africa then their are negative. Violence and Poverty, you would think that all of the 53 countries located in on the continent of Africa are defined by violence and poverty, nothing could be further from the truth. The South Africa World Cup 2010 is the counter to this false media driven perception.

The Africa World Cup is a positive force and confidence builder for the entire continent of Africa. Everyone knows that the problem with all major media outlets is that they focus on the negative and the sensational. The bottom line is…South Africa’s hosting of the World Cup uplifts Africa in its entirety’s spirit and touches the spirit of the world. Thank You FIFA for having the courage and confidence to host the 2010 WORLDS CUP in AFRICA…..WE SALUTE YOU!!                                        It is Important to Think! …What Do You Think?

As demoed recently by Apple’s Steve Jobs, ads on computers are about to undergo significant changes. Everything from tracking to animation will be altered in the process (for the better). Ad agencies & video ad networks will be able to provide real-time, interactive experiences that aren’t limited by plug-ins.

Here are some of the ways ads are going to change:

Real-time, in-depth analytics. Analytics for video is often separated from web analytics, but with the HTML5 video tag, this will no longer be the case. Playing video natively in the browser allows for a whole new level of analysis, including all video actions, engagement, % complete and view through rate (VTR) being trackable and linkable to standard web analytics such as funnels and conversion rates. For advertisers, this will make it easier to measure the effectiveness of video ads.

Measured interaction. Being able to engage and interact with a video introduces a whole new experience for the user (and publisher). The ability to play video natively in the browser opens a new world for those posting video online while allowing them to gain valuable feedback from viewers. While this scenario above has always been possible on the web to some degree, the difference now is that it will be seamless and ubiquitous (no downloading software, plug-ins or annoying interruptions). A user will be able to watch a video, interact with an ad, buy a product, and then return to the exact spot in the video without interruption.

A more entertaining experience. Imagine watching a video of the latest fashion striding down the runway at Milan. Click items that interest you to learn more information or pull up the designer’s website for direct purchase. Viewers will have the ability to interact with ads without interrupting their viewing experience. Furthermore, these ads can be fully immersive and full-page, moving beyond just the video dimensions The advertiser can track what users are doing and respond accordingly, allowing them to dynamically change the ads within the video and the interaction points — on-the-fly, via small changes in HTML and JavaScript. No video production or re-encoding necessary.

All’s well that sells well. HTML5 is probably the most significant update for all kinds of rich media. Especially for video, which has long been awkwardly implemented in browsers, fortunately the path looks clear for the future of in-browser video. As any good advertiser knows, videos create emotion & emotions mean sales.

(C) Media Post Communications

Instead, Def Jam Rapstar is like a karaoke game – but with all rap tracks. It will come with over 40 tracks and a microphone, and cost $70 for the 360 and $60 for the Wii. Apparently it will also have some weird free styling, user generated feature. Like, you’ll freestyle over part of the song, record it, and upload it online.

What rhymes with terrible idea?

I don’t know, but I am actually interested in this game. With a strong enough track list, this could be a fun and awesome tool. For one thing, it’s not like Dre or 2pac has an incredible voice you could never hope to match – so you’ll actually be able to learn and perform the songs in this game. From there, how shocking would it be – assuming you’re as male and nerdy as we think you are – for you to bust out a perfect “Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang” while hanging out with your friends?

Of course, that’ll all depend on the quality of the track list. So far, 20 of about 40 tracks are known, and they are:

“A Milli” by Lil’ Wayne
“Best I Ever Had” by Drake
“Children’s Story” by Slick Rick
“C.R.E.A.M.” by Wu Tang Clan
“Da Rockwilder” by Redman and Method Man
“Gold Digger” by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx
“Juicy” by Notorious B.I.G.
“Just A Friend” by Biz Markie
“I Get Around” by 2 Pac
“I Get Money” by 50 Cent
“It Was A Good Day” by Ice Cube
“JJ’s Beat” by DJ Premier (Freestyle track)
“Live Ya Life” by T.I. featuring Rihanna
“Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang” by Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg
“On the One” by Just Blaze (Freestyle track)
“Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa
“Put On” by Young Jeezy featuring Kanye West
“So Fresh, So Clean” by Outkast
“They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)” by Pete Rock and CL Smooth

In past years it was common for Allen & Co. to invite leaders and moguls from traditional media, Film, TV and Publishing. The trend is to now add online media, technology entrepreneurs and executives in addition to the traditional gathering of film, television and publishing chiefs.
This year’s attendee list includes Facebook Inc.’s Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, who is attending for the first time. Mark Pincus, chief executive of online gaming giant Zynga Game Network Inc., will be there, along with some lesser-known tech insiders, such as Gina Bianchini, former CEO of social-networking start-up Ning.

The newer arrivals will share the spotlight with the conference’s regular array of media moguls, which have been attending for years. They include Walt Disney Co. chief Bob Iger, Viacom Inc. CEO Phillippe Dauman, NBC-Universal’s, Jeff Zucker, News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch, and Barry Diller, chief executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and others.

A few hundred executives and family members attend a schedule of sessions, meals and drinks. This is not a sign that the media convergence of new media and traditional media has converged.
Traditional media guys are cynics. If new media platforms don’t make money, they don’t talk about it. The way for new media to get traditional media’s attention is to make money, lots of it.

Lets take a look at will new media and traditional media be talking about this year?

Look for the traditional media moguls to discuss what Comcast Corp. will or will not do with NBC Universal, it’s CEO Jeff Zucker is a regular attendee and will surely be positioning for his next opportunity within or without Comcast.
The fate of ABC will be a topic of conversation. Disney denied rumors that it has considered selling ABC, but rumors persist. Hulu will definetly be a topic of conversation as well as Apple TV. With several moguls putting their content behind paywalls, expect talk about the emergence and viabilty of subscription models for newspapers and TV shows and the iPad.

Look for the new media moguls to discuss potential combinations and content-swapping deals, AOL Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., as all three plot ways to compete with ever-expanding Google. The escalating competition between Google and Apple Inc. is another hot topic of conversation. Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs is not normally in attendance at this or any other events other then his own. However his not being there will have no effect over Apple’s growing influence on changes effecting new and traditional media.

One thing that could get both sides buzzing would be a deal between traditional media and new media, particularly an Internet and Broadcast focused one. But despite signs that deal-making is picking up again, several investment bankers interviewed for this article say they do not expect any large deals to come out of this years conference.

About Allen and Company
The Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference is an annual conference hosted and wholly independently funded by private investment firm Allen & Company. The conference has taken place in Sun Valley, Idaho for one week each July since 1983. The conference typically features business leaders, political figures, and major figures in the philanthropic and cultural spheres. Previous conference guests have included Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren and Susan Buffett, Tony Blair, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch, eBay CEO Meg Whitman, BET founder Robert Johnson, Former Time Warner Chairman Richard Parsons, NBA player LeBron James, Katharine Graham of The Washington Post, Diane Sawyer, InterActiveCorp Chairman Barry Diller, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams (blogger), Linkedin co-founder Reid Hoffman, and Washington Post CEO Donald E. Graham.
Allen & Company is a private investment firm formed in 1922, located in New York. Allen & Company has advised, helped found and/or invested in numerous companies including BET, InterActiveCorp, Oxygen Media, Discovery Communications, News Corporation, The Coca-Cola Corporation and Google.

If you thought that Lady Gaga’s large doe-eyes in her “Bad Romance” video looked just a little well, too doelike, that’s because they were. Her eyes were digitally altered to appear bigger.

FDA has not approved new contact lenses that give the appearance of wider eyes. But that hasn’t stopped the exaggerated, cartoonish look from catching on among the fashion-conscious, creating a demand for special circle contact lenses that are sold illegally in the U.S. — which doctors say could be dangerous for those who wear them.

Like any contact lens, prolonged wear can lead to infections that, although rare, can be serious, experts said. If the contacts don’t fit properly — too tight or too loose — they can scratch the cornea, which can cause vision problems.

“This is our first time exhibiting at the Anime Expo, and we think that our lineup of titles launching over the next six months is the perfect fit for the show’s attendees,” said Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO at Natsume. “We have highly-anticipated new entries in the Harvest Moon and Rune Factory series with Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar and Rune Factory 3, the triumphant return of the Lufia series with Lufia: Return of the Sinistrals, and the fun and fright-filled rhythm game, Gabrielle’s Ghostly Groove.”

Information on each title is listed below. For more information on Natsume or any of these titles, please visit www.natsume.com

Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar (DS)

The bazaar is now open! Zephyr Town’s bazaar was once the grandest in the world, drawing customers and peddlers from all four corners of the Earth. These days, though, the bazaar has more tumbleweeds than customers. Maybe you can turn its fortunes around! Raise animals, harvest crops, craft rare delicacies, and then sell your wares at your very own shop! Can you bring prosperity back to Zephyr Town?

Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals (DS)

The Sinistrals, four beings of legendary power, have returned to bring humanity to its knees. It’s up to the fiery monster hunter Maxim and his eclectic band of adventurers to put a stop to them once and for all. Their adventures will take them across an expansive world packed with dangerous enemies, powerful items, and diabolical puzzles!

Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (DS)

It’s an adventure that will transform you! The people of Sharance and their horned Univir neighbors are embroiled in a bitter conflict. An age-old hatred between humans and monsters divides them. You are an adventurer with an unusual secret: you’re half human and half monster. Are you the one who can unite the humans and the Univir? And will you be in time to stop the growing evil force that threatens to destroy them both?

Gabrielle’s Ghostly Groove (DS)

Gabrielle’s having a bad day. She sneezed her soul right out of her body! She’ll have to travel to Monster Town, the home of all things that go bump in the night, to get help. Only by busting out the ghostliest dance moves and thrilling and chilling people will she be able to scare up the power she needs to get herself back into her body! It’s a spooktacular rhythm adventure!

For more information on any of these titles, please visit www.natsume.com. You can also follow all of the latest Natsume news at www.natsume.com/facebook and www.twitter.com/natsume_inc.

About Natsume

Natsume Inc. is a worldwide developer and publisher that specialize in unique and family-oriented interactive entertainment software for a variety of platforms. Most known for publishing Reel Fishing and Harvest Moon, Natsume is dedicated to producing quality video games. For more information about Natsume Inc., visit www.natsume.com

As business marketers, we feel obligated to participate in social media. But beyond the basics of setting up a Facebook page and Twitter profile, marketers are still finding ways to measure results. While some believe the intangible benefits of having a voice for your brand engaged in various social media channels is reward enough, other marketing departments need to provide the CMO and CEO with a more quantifiable answer. The best way to accomplish this is by demonstrating the value social media brings to lead generation. Not just lead quantity (volume), but lead quality (scoring) and conversion rates. However, truth be told, tracking business leads from social media is neither straightforward nor easy. It requires a serious investment in time and/or technology to get it right.

This Place We Call Social Media

Social media is a seemingly cluttered landscape with numerous vendors and customers vying for attention and voicing their opinions in 140 characters or less (in the case of Twitter). The origin of social media, which gained popularity with consumers, remains a space dominated by a collection of many individuals and few businesses. Admittedly, the challenge of reaching B2B customer prospects via social media is definitely more challenging than reaching individuals or consumers. Generating even one qualified business lead against this noisy backdrop may look and feel impossible.

Ironically, the very noise of this environment can play into your favor. Although many companies are using social media, only a handful of them are using it effectively to actually engage in a meaningful dialogue with their audience.

The key is to match a call-to-action with a state of mind, so you can properly engage customers — businesses or individual consumers — and move them through the purchase cycle. For example, a call-to-action on a blog post should match the visitor’s state of mind. Start with the simple assumption that visitors to a blog post are not there to buy the company’s product or sign up for a free account (at least, initially). Rather, they are there to read interesting content or learn more about the space. Therefore, the call-to-action should match that state of mind and prompt the visitor to “learn more” or “download a white paper.” These types of call-to-action align with the visitor’s reasons for visiting your Web site and are more likely to convert a visitor to a lead.

Social Media Takes it Personally

The biggest difference between social media and traditional media is the level of personalization. Social media is highly personal and interactive — it’s a two-way, interactive form of communication in real time. Traditional media is not.

In addition to being a more personalized communication medium, social media leads are more targeted than those generated through other online channels. This is a major bonus for marketers. If a call-to-action is strong, it can do an amazing job of bringing in solid leads.

If the channel and activity align, meaning you are using activities that are appropriate to the channel you are using, leads tend to be more engaged and thus more enthusiastic about a given product or service. As a result, leads involved in social media outreach tend to be more forgiving of problems with your product, as they feel more connected to the product and the company.

At the same time, social media opens up feedback channels and discussion loops that are muted or not present at all in traditional media. For example, if customers are disappointed in a particular product or service, social media provides equal opportunity to spread their own messages in their own words. Some control will be forfeited. This introduces new risks not associated with traditional media, as the reputation of your brand now rests in other people’s hands.. These effects on a brand, both positive and negative, are often said to be hard to track and measure.

Better Business Leads

The bottom line is that social media has the potential to generate more business leads. These leads are more targeted and they know what they want. If your call-to-action is relevant and aligned with your message, leads generated from social media can be highly qualified. On the other hand, as with traditional marketing, some leads from social media will be less qualified and require more lead nurturing. The key, as a marketer, is to establish a set of objective criteria and automated lead scoring that can help sales distinguish a “hot lead” from a cold one once they hit your site.

Consider the following six suggestions to begin capturing stronger, more qualified leads.

Six Tips for Generating Business Leads from Social Media:

1. Think like publishers:
- Break through the noise and get people interested in what you have to offer.
- Choose unique, eye-catching headlines and titles, and incorporate good images.
- Content is the bait. If you don’t make content sound and look good, no one will read it.

2. Create good, interesting content:
- Social media with no content is like a bicycle without a wheel: You’ll put a lot of effort into riding, but you will go nowhere.
- Again, content is the bait.

3. Organize your efforts into campaigns:
- Campaigns are easier as a way to create and shape the right message and call-to-action.
- Enable easy tracking and monitoring.
- Can be measured and analyzed as a learning tool for future activities.

4. Invest the time to make a campaign worthwhile:
- Social media takes time. It might be cheaper in dollars spent, but it’s definitely not free in terms of time invested.
- Use time management tools to track and measure the time you invest in social media, so you can truly measure your ROI.

5. Track and score your visits and leads:
- Qualify and score leads accurately to ensure the best conversion rates.
- Focus and align marketing and sales and force a discussion about what constitutes a good lead.
- Help with analyzing and prioritizing efforts.
- Focus on channels and campaigns that offer a higher lead quality based on your lead scores.

6. Measure and report in real time for ongoing success:
- Prioritize your efforts and invest the time in the places with the highest payoff.
- Measure based not just on quantity, but based on quality too.
- Track all the way to a sale, not just to a lead. This will help you refine your lead score and truly measure ROI.

Is social media going to disappear into the background after the hype winds down, or is it here to stay? This author’s opinion is that social media is not just a fad that will go away –it has become a significant marketing channel that can drive leads and increase revenue. Don’t be consumed by the hype and forget all your other channels; marketing is a mix, and social media is only one component.

This commentary is insightful. I recommend it to others.

Post your response to the public Performance Insider blog.

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Erez Barak is co-founder and vice president of products at Optify, where he defines and leads the company’s strategic product direction. Previously, he served as director of product marketing for Hewlett-Packard’s Software Business Unit.

Kate is one of several dozen people profiled by gravitytank, a Chicago-based strategy and design consultancy, as part of a comprehensive new study examining the social, cultural, and technological impact of today’s mobile software applications. As part of the survey, gravitytank:

- surveyed 804 smartphone users, 301 of whom own app-enabled phones (either Apple’s iPhone or HTC’s G1) to develop a quantitative picture of how they use their handsets and integrate apps into daily life

- studied (ethnographically) 20 app-phone users in their native environments

- interviewed 20 mobile app developers to understand the business opportunities they see, the challenges they face, and the realities of what it’s like to compete in an increasingly crowded app marketplace

This much is clear: app-enabled phones are transforming the way we live in meaningful ways. App-enabled phones herald the rise of a new mobile computing platform that culminates a revolution in miniaturization, connectivity, and speed that has been guiding the technology industry for many years. This shift is having deep impact on how people connect to each other, how they inter act with brands, what they buy, and how they buy it. Less than 12 months after Apple opened its App Store, these changes are already having a direct impact on people’s daily routines and be haviors, because they tap into a deep-rooted desire to lead more optimized and productive lives. gravitytank’s research reveals that apps and app-enabled mobile devices have become digital Swiss Army knives for modern living, because they provide con sumers with near-instant access to the information and services they need to enhance the opportunities each day presents — any place they go.

For example, Kate doesn’t use apps frivolously. “I don’t need iFart, iGirl, or iBeerpong,” she says. Instead, she uses them to get more done personally and professionally, to track and achieve goals, and (every once in a while) to have some fun. “I just want to get the information I need faster and better,” she explains.

Kate is not alone. According to gravitytank’s research, 50% of app-phone users view apps as essential tools for getting more done and staying organized. They view apps as an indispensable tool to manage information, tasks, work, and relationships in their busy lives. The profile of today’s app users doesn’t match the male-dominated, business-focused image of the stereotypical smartphone owner. The new generation of serious app users is gender-balanced and highly educated. Their ranks include plenty of full-time moms and college students.

What’s consistent across these users is that they’re time-pressed, and they want help: 78% of app phone users believe there are never enough hours in the day, and 77% report they are always looking for ways to use their time more effectively. That makes the fact that app phone users report spending, on average, two hours per day with their phones, with almost 40% of that time devoted to app use (not including text, email, and calls), all the more remarkable. Most of that is spent in short bursts — our survey shows that app users interact with their phones 30 times a day. All that time spent with app-phones comes at the expense of other devices: Serious app users report that they now use their TVs, laptops, and MP3 players less because of the functionality enabled by their mobile apps.

Users who see apps as essential tools to get things done are willing to pay for their benefits: 69% of these users tell us they have purchased an app in the last month, spending a total of $6 on average. Of the average 21 apps currently on their phones, approximately 25%, are paid. As Greg, a sales manager and app user from Chicago, told us, so long as an app delivers, “paying is a no brainer, if you think it’s going to make your life better.”

“Until very recently, ‘mobile productivity’ meant email and calen dar access — the tools you use in connection with your job,” says Michael Winnick, managing partner with gravitytank. “With the shift to apps, we’re seeing a much broader definition of what it means to be productive. In addition to calendars, to-do lists, and note-taking tools, the category of users we call Life Optimizers are equally attached to the apps they use for nutrition, exercise, finance, shopping, hobbies, and access to media content. In the same way that the distinctions between “life” and “work” have become increasingly blurry within the population at large, the new definition of productivity includes these life-enhancing tools alongside such standbys such as spreadsheets, instant messaging, and presentation slides.”

Put another way, apps are a very personal kind of software. Indeed, it’s useful to stop thinking about them as software at all, and instead compare them to music. Like music, apps are a social phenomenon — we love to talk about them, try them, compare them, and share them. They have one-hit-wonders, instant clas sics, and America’s Top Forty (in the guise of the Apple Top 25). They have different genres, from somber, to shocking, to frivolous. And just like music, the collection of apps on our phones tells us — and others — something important about who we are, what we care about, and what we want to become.

The comparisons to music hold for app developers as well. With the advent of dedicated apps marketplaces like Apple’s App Store, mobile carriers no longer control how apps are distributed. The result has been a stunning proliferation of creativity and in novation among software coders and entrepreneurs. The new apps marketplaces are open to one and all — from self-taught teenagers who build apps after school to venture-backed startups founded by wannabe software moguls. With tens of thousands of app titles to choose from, competition is fierce and the pressure to land a spot on a Top 100 Downloads list is intense. Suddenly, app development has become a hit-driven business that places a premium on creativity, utility, and user-experience. To generate real sales, however, developers need to learn new skills; namely, the ability to promote and market their apps in a crowded sales environment.

gravitytank’s research indicates that app-enabled phone hand sets that will change how we organize and live our lives in pro found ways. As this trend continues, we anticipate these changes will extend beyond individual phone owners, and even beyond the traditional domain of the technology or mobile wireless indus tries. Apps are poised have a dramatic impact in a wide range of fields, from education and health care to retail and financial ser vices. “As software, apps are very lightweight,” says gravitytank’s Winnick. “Yet they represent something large and important: the advent of a mobile technology paradigm that may be just as sig nificant as the birth of the Web during the mid-1990s. When we look at how apps will influence consumer behavior and the way in which software will be developed, distributed, and sold, we see that we are just beginning a social and technological transformation that will have major implications for years to come.”

Michael Jackson Estate Secures Official Merchandiser
Bravado, a global music merchandiser, has been chosen as the official manufacturer and distributor of Michael Jackson-branded products worldwide. “Bravado is the perfect partner for the estate of Michael Jackson merchandise,” says John Branca and John McClain, co-special administrators for the estate of Michael Jackson, in a joint statement. “The reputation of Tom Bennett and his team for creating compelling merchandise and providing strong product support is stellar. We are delighted to be working with them.”
A collection of licensed product is already available at retailers such as Hot Topic, Target, Old Navy and JCPenney, as well as online at www.michaeljacksonmerch.com. The line of more than 200 items includes T-shirts, “Thriller”-inspired jackets, “Who’s bad?” onesies, sunglasses, handbags and novelty items.

“We are thrilled to expand our services to become the exclusive merchandiser for Michael Jackson-related products,” says Tom Bennett, chief executive officer of Bravado. “Creating this new line alongside Michael was a privilege of a lifetime; it truly celebrates Michael’s unmistakable style and irreplaceable talent, and helps commemorate and preserve the legacy that is Michael Jackson.” The deal expands upon another with AEG Live, which had Bravado as the exclusive merchandiser for Jackson’s London tour.

“Michael Jackson merchandise will follow the leads of Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Tupac expanding and growing for many years to come” says Jacob R. Miles III,  CEO of GrapevineStar Entertainment, a new media, licensing and products focused company.

Just about everyone who ever met Michael Jackson will be on television tomorrow, as the anniversary of his death brings a blizzard of reports on either how it happened or what it has meant.

Those who prefer to remember Jackson primarily for his music can turn on the radio, where several stations will go all-Michael.

Jackson died a year ago tomorrow, at age 50, on the eve of a comeback tour. Those who will talk about him include his mother, Katherine, in a paid interview for “Dateline NBC.”

His brothers Jermaine and Tito will talk with Don Lemon on CNN, while ABC’s “2-0/20″ will look at unanswered questions about his death.

The CBS “Early Show” will have artists like Marc Anthony and LL Cool J talk about Jackson, and TV Guide will show a new documentary, “Gone Too Soon.”

Here are some TV programs, all tomorrow unless noted:

ABC: “2-0/20″ special, “Michael Jackson: After Life,” 9-11 p.m.

CBS: 8 a.m. hour of “The Early Show” is devoted to Jackson.

CNN: “Michael Jackson: The Final Days,” 8 p.m., with Don Lemon, followed by a Larry King special tribute, 9 p.m.

E!: “True Hollywood Story” (repeat), 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.; “The Last Days of Michael Jackson,” 10 a.m., 3 and 8 p.m.; “Michael Jackson,” 11 a.m., 4 and 9 p.m.

Fuse: Starting today, in heavy rotation through Sunday: “A Tribute,” “The Inside Story,” “Remember His Time,” “Devotion.”

MTV: “Michael Jackson Top 10 Video Countdown,” 5-6:30 p.m.; “Michael Jackson’s Influence,” 6:30 p.m.

NBC: “Dateline,” 9 p.m., Katherine Jackson interview.

TV Guide: “Gone Too Soon,” 9-11 p.m.; “Michael Jackson’s Entourage: Where Are They Now,” and “Michael Jackson: His Family Dynasty,” 11 p.m.

VH1: “The Jacksons: An American Family,” noon-5 p.m.; “Famous Crime Scenes,” 11:30 p.m.

And on the radio:

WBLS (107.5 FM): Musical features all weekend and comments from celebrities and friends. Supporting the Rev. Al Sharpton’s tribute tomorrow afternoon at the Apollo.

WCBS-FM (101.1): Listener-voted countdown of top 40 Michael songs, tomorrow at 9 a.m., plus Jackson songs all weekend in “Hall of Fame.”

WHTZ (100.3 FM): A Jackson song every hour tomorrow.

WKTU (103.5 FM): “MJ All Day,” 24 hours tomorrow, followed by Jackson music and specials all weekend.

WKXW (101.5 FM): Tribute with Joe Henry, tomorrow at 7 p.m., leading to a Jackson weekend.

WRKS (98.7 FM): Kicks off all-Jackson weekend tomorrow at 6 a.m. with the D.L. Hughley morning show. Also supporting “Throwback Comes to Harlem” concert at the Apollo, tomorrow night at 9, celebrating Jackson.

WXRK (92.3 FM): Jackson in a 5 p.m. minimix tomorrow.

Sirius/XM: Hourly Jackson songs tomorrow over “80s on 8,” “70s on 7″ and other channels.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2010-2014, global entertainment and media spending is expected to rise from $1.3 trillion to $1.7 trillion by 2014, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 5.0%. The US E&M market is expected to grow at 3.8% CAGR reaching $517 billion in 2014, from $428 billion in 2009. Fast changing consumer behavior is expected to be the catalyst of the entertainment and media industry change over the next five years,

Ken Sharkey, US leader, entertainment, media & communications practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers, notes that “… the digital pace of change has proven to be even quicker than anticipated with consumers embracing new media… and digital downloads at often-unexpected speeds… the continued fragmentation of the E&M sector will fuel greater experimentation by both established industry giants and niche players… ”

Digital services continue to be the primary growth engine, but traditional revenue streams are expected to remain significantly larger throughout the forecast period. The industry will need to embrace digital not as a competitor to traditional services, but as a complement. Digital spending in the US is expected to account for 26% of all E&M spending in 2014, up from 19% in 2009.

While there are signs of a rebound, advertising is unlikely to return to former levels. By 2014, the US advertising spend is expected to still be 9% below its level in 2007. Overall US advertising is expected to increase at a 2.6 % CAGR from $159 billion in 2009 to $180 billion in 2014. In the US, Internet advertising is expected to surpass newspaper advertising spend in 2010.

Advertising spending for Internet, television, radio, out-of-home, and video games are expected to be larger in 2014 than in 2009, while consumer magazines, newspapers, directories and trade magazines are expected to be smaller. These projections reflect the market fragmentation and consumer behavioral changes. The advertising industry is responding to consumers’ shifting attention and migrating towards total marketing or total brand communication. Brands are changing their focus from advertising on a medium, to marketing through, and with, content.

Consumer feedback and usage provides the only reliable guide to the commercial viability of products and services, and the global consumer base is being used as a test-bed for new offerings and consumption models. PwC has identified three themes that are expected to emerge from changing consumer behavior and the industry must anticipate and pre-empt the needs and wants of consumers.

Rising power of mobility and devices: Advances in technology are expected to see increasingly converged, multi-functional mobile devices come of age as a consumption platform by the end of 2011. By 2014, US mobile Internet access subscribers are projected to increase to 96.1 million, a 40% CAGR from 2009.
Growing dominance of Internet experience over all content consumption: Increasingly, the consumer has moved beyond thinking of the Internet as an end in itself, and expects all forms of media to embed the convenience, immediacy and interactivity of the Internet. People are already consuming magazines and newspapers on Internet-enabled tablets, and streaming personalized music services in preference to buying physical CDs.
Increasing engagement and readiness to pay for content-driven by improved consumption experiences and convenience: Consumers are more willing to pay for content when accompanied by convenience and flexibility in usage, personalization and a differentiated experience that cannot be created elsewhere. Local relevance is also expected to enhance the content providers’ ability to charge.
Digital migration and consumer behavior changes have put extreme pressure on existing business models. The proliferation of platforms and rising consumer expectations mean companies can no longer ‘be everything.’

“The industry must radically rethink its approach to monetizing content in capturing new revenue sources, from transactions or from participation with others operating in the evolving digital value chain… ” added Ken Sharkey.

Segment highlights In the US:

Internet access and Internet advertising is expected to continue to outperform the other E&M segments, with 8.8 % and 7.7% CAGR, respectively
Video games (6.4% CAGR)
TV subscriptions (6.5% CAGR)
TV advertising (5.3% CAGR)
Radio (4.6% CAGR),
Filmed entertainment (3.6% CAGR)
Out-of-home advertising (3.2% CAGR)
Consumer and educational book publishing (2.5% CAGR)
Business-to-business publishing (0.9% CAGR)
Recorded music (-2.4 CAGR)
Newspaper publishing (-2.8 CAGR)
Consumer magazine publishing (-0.5 CAGR)
Overall, US consumer/end-user spending is expected to grow by 3.7% CAGR

Reasoning Mind is a highly acclaimed math program that makes learning math in second through sixth grades not only easy but downright fun.

“Reasoning Mind engaged our students from grade 2 to grade 4, and that has been expanded to grades 5 and 6,” said Gerald McElvy, vice chairman of the program. Until he retired a few weeks ago, McElvy was president of the Exxon Mobil Foundation, which has given $4.4 million over the last five and a half years to Reasoning Minds, about a fourth of the program’s financial support.

Reasoning Mind uses computers and artificial intelligence to help children realize that they can do math, McElvy said.

“After receiving an initial review of the program, Dallas ISD executive director Shirley Ison-Newsome and a team of Southeast Learning Community principals visited several schools in Houston, where the program was being used successfully.

“Very young children were able to articulate the operations they were engaging in using mathematics vocabulary; the children maintained math journals and could explain what they had written and the mathematics behind it.”

Reasoning Mind classes started in 26 DISD schools in January, and the program has been well-received by teachers and more than 3,000 students.

“For our teachers, it has been great to watch the partnership and support they are provided as they ‘grow’ little mathematicians in their class,” McElvy said. “I look forward to watching the full year of implementation on next year, not only to see the growth in mathematics academic achievement, which I know will happen, but to also see the confidence and ‘I can do’ attitude of the children continuing to grow and develop.”

McElvy said that DISD leadership wants to evaluate the program after a full year of use before deciding on broader implementation.

Reasoning Mind is also helping DISD in a communitywide effort to improve math performance by engaging organizations to provide tutoring and other support for students. The United Way of Metropolitan Dallas is providing office space and services, and discussions are under way with Big Thought, YMCA and the Boys and Girls Clubs.

The program at the Salesmanship Club’s private J. Erik Jonsson Community School in Oak Cliff has resulted in math proficiency levels that match those of students in the Park Cities, principal Sandy Nobles said.

This fall, under the leadership of Ison-Newsome, 25 to 30 DISD elementary schools will adopt the program. If funding can be obtained, as many as 50 DISD elementary schools could take part.

Seeing progress

A Russian mathematician who settled in Houston with his family, Dr. Alexander R. “Alex” Khachatryan, is the founder, president and CEO of Reasoning Mind.

He found that with the Reasoning Mind program, it took just one semester to close the achievement gap between the scores of the predominantly Hispanic students of an inner-city school in Houston and those of the average white student. Similar improvements were reflected among advanced math students.

The program caught the attention of Houston businessman Ernest H. Cockrell, who is now chairman emeritus of the program, and Cockrell recruited oilman and civic leader Forrest Hoglund, who has homes in Dallas and Houston, to serve as vice chairman.

Hoglund, now chairman of the program, and his wife, Sally, have donated millions of dollars to Reasoning Mind through their foundation. And Hoglund, who led the expansion of Houston’s Museum of Natural Science and is chairing the capital campaign to build the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, has been the engine driving Reasoning Mind after accepting the torch from Cockrell.

Reasoning Mind, which is based in Houston and also has a corporate office in Moscow, says its goal is to serve a half-million students by the middle of this decade.

It uses program coordinators to train teachers and visit each campus biweekly.

Reasoning Mind recruits students from leading universities to serve as program coordinators, including Yale, Cornell, the University of Chicago, Princeton, Rice, Baylor, Columbia, Stanford, Spelman, Duke, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Texas and Texas A&M.

Teachers get extensive training in mathematics, and students get a curriculum that builds deep understanding through a logical progression of mathematical ideas.

Students master each objective before moving to the next lesson, meaning each student progresses at his own pace.

By offering problems of various difficulties and using artificial intelligence to adapt what each student sees based on previous performance, Reasoning Mind ensures that advanced students are challenged and that struggling students get the help they need.

Every problem comes with a step-by-step solution. An attractive interface, colorful graphics and games are interspersed with the curriculum.

Students read and watch mathematical concepts being illustrated on the screen and then demonstrate their understanding through interactive exercises.

Happy students

Using the Internet to distribute the program to schools helps keep costs low – Reasoning Mind costs the school districts around $150 per student per year, and philanthropy pays an additional $100 per student. The goal is to lower the schools’ costs to $70 per child.

In a survey taken earlier this month by more than 5,000 students who used Reasoning Mind this year, 93 percent said they liked learning math with the program, and 70 percent said they liked math more after using Reasoning Mind.

With math mastered, chemistry, physics and biology lessons propelled by Reasoning Mind will not be far behind, Hoglund said.

Besides the Hoglunds and the Exxon Mobil Foundation, other big donors include Jim and Judy Gibbs, McDermott International , Gerald and Sylvia McElvy, the Meadows Foundation, MediSend, the Harold Simmons Foundation, the Wachovia Foundation and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

To donate to Reasoning Mind, call Julie Fry at 832-476-9241 or e-mail jaf@reasoningmind.org.

Almost three-quarters of chief financial officers at major entertainment and media companies say digital and mobile represent the industry’s biggest growth opportunities, despite a challenging business climate.

CFOs say they are finally seeing measurable growth in digital revenue even as declining sales from traditional media and the economic downturn combine to leave overall industry revenue stagnant, according to a new Ernst & Young report.

Figuring out how to manage that shift while maintaining pricing is the difficult balancing act they face. “Revenues are dropping due to the unbundling of media and the reduction of per-unit pricing, challenging CFOs to identify innovative ways to reach their financial objectives,” said John Nendick, global media and entertainment leader for Ernst & Young. “However, as the demand for digitally delivered entertainment continues to increase significantly, CFOs feel optimistic about revenue potential.”

But they can’t be happy with the downward pricing trends. The consulting firm estimates that by 2012, the average per-unit price of video and music content will decrease by almost 25% from the per-unit price in 2009. That’s on the heels of a 55% and 12% drop, respectively, in the prices of music and video between 2006 and 2009.

Total home video and music spending this year — including digital and physical products — is estimated at $28.5 billion, down from $36.4 billion four years ago.

The Ernst & Young study, which surveys CFOs at 75 global media and entertainment companies, also revealed that executives have aggressively adopted cost-cutting measures to offset contracting revenue and view technology as a way to produce content faster and more cheaply.

More than two-thirds of CFOs consider that emerging media platforms, such as e-books and mobile content, will have the greatest impact on the industry in the next two to three years. Underscoring the rise of digital media, Ernst & Young projects that 27% of households worldwide will have broadband connections by the end of the year and 55% will have 3G devices by year’s end.

The firm’s index of digital media users, growing at an annual rate of 32%, is expected to reach 2.2 billion by 2011 — more than double the total for 2007. To keep up with new media trends, CFOs say getting real-time information on where consumers are heading will help their companies better adapt product offerings, keep pace with current demand and anticipate future trends.

But the report warns that even as companies experiment with new business models, “they need to focus on maintaining revenues in the areas that have been their mainstay in decades past. CFOs cannot forsake traditional earning in their quest for the digital jackpot.”

Executives surveyed in the Ernst & Young study spanned companies including News Corp., The New York Times Co., ABC, Facebook, Hulu, Interpublic, Major League Baseball, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Warner Music Group.

LIMA) today announced that The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the second installment of Summit Entertainment’s blockbuster film series based on the popular vampire romance novels, was named License of the Year at last night’s Opening Night Awards Ceremony at Licensing International Expo 2010 in Las Vegas. In addition, licensing programs supporting the Twilight property were honored in the entertainment and retail awards categories.

In all, LIMA presented 16 International Licensing Excellence Awards recognizing the best and most successful licensed properties and products in seven categories: Art, Character/Toy, Corporate, Film/Television/Celebrity/Entertainment, Sports and Sports-Themed Entertainment, Promotion and Retailer. Nominations were solicited from across the licensing industry and winners chosen by a vote of the LIMA membership.

“This year’s International Licensing Excellence Award winners include classic brands such as Barbie and Scrabble as well as new properties and products that are popular with a wide variety of audiences,” said Charles Riotto, President of LIMA. “The association congratulates all of our winners, who exemplify the creativity of our industry and the strength of licensing as a brand builder.”

All awards are based on calendar year 2009. The winners, by category, are:

ART
• Best Art Program: Paul Frank
• Best Art Licensee: LF USA’s Kids Headquarters Investments Division (for Paul Frank Apparel)

CHARACTER/TOY BRAND
• Best Character/Toy Brand Program: Barbie (Mattel, Inc.)
• Best Character/Toy Brand Licensee – Hard Goods: Digital Blue (for LEGO electronics)
• Best Character/Toy Brand Licensee – Soft Goods: Mighty Fine (for Peanuts T-shirts)

CORPORATE
• Best Corporate Brand Program: Food Network
• Best Corporate Brand Licensee – Hard Goods: Creative Designs International, a Division of JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (for Black & Decker Junior role-play products)
• Best Corporate Brand Licensee – Soft Goods: adidas Originals (for Vespa footwear and apparel)

FILM, TELEVISION, CELEBRITY OR ENTERTAINMENT
• Best Film, Television, Celebrity or Entertainment Program: The Twilight Saga: New Moon
• Best Film, Television, Celebrity or Entertainment Licensee – Hard Goods: Cardinal Industries, Inc. (for The Twilight Saga: New Moon The Movie Board Game)
• Best Film, Television, Celebrity or Entertainment Licensee – Soft Goods: National Entertainment Collectibles Association (for The Twilight Saga: New Moon apparel and accessories)

SPORTS AND SPORTS-THEMED ENTERTAINMENT
• Best Sports and Sports-Themed Entertainment Program: ESPN
• Best Sports and Sports-Themed Entertainment Licensee: Electronic Arts (for FIFA videogames)

PROMOTION
• Best Licensed Promotion: Scrabble at Subway (Hasbro, Inc.)

RETAILER
• Best Retailer: Nordstrom (for The Twilight Saga: New Moon)

OVERALL BEST LICENSED PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit Entertainment, LLC)

Hassenfelds Inducted into LIMA Licensing Industry Hall of Fame
Following the awards presentation the licensing industry honored the lifetime achievements of licensing industry pioneers Alan G. Hassenfeld and the late Stephen Hassenfeld of Hasbro, Inc. Among the first to recognize the impact toys and games could have in telling a story, the Hassenfelds built the company into a top toy licensing partner for many brands, and many of Hasbro’s own brands have become licensing juggernauts in their own right. Noted for their philanthropy, the Hassenfelds have been involved in hundreds of charitable and social causes through The Hasbro Children’s Foundation and other endeavors.

Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation Charity of Choice for 7th Consecutive Year
For the seventh consecutive year, LIMA selected the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation (CBTF) as its charity of choice. The Foundation works to improve the treatment, quality of life, and long-term outlook for children with brain and spinal cord tumors. All proceeds from sales of a special tribute book honoring the Hassenfelds and the Licensing Excellence Awards nominees were donated to the CBTF.

There’s no arguing that word of mouth (WOM) marketing impacts sales. And while a large number of people talk about content they found online, three-quarters of the time those conversations take place offline.

A recent study from Yahoo on WOM marketing demonstrates that the Internet has grown more influential when it comes to informing people through conversations about brands, even more so than TV in certain categories. The study also finds that the best vehicles for influencing WOM come from consumers who play in social networks. These “Conversation Catalysts” drive a disproportionately higher percentage of WOM activity.

While many marketers have little doubt that the Internet can influence WOM marketing nearly as much as TV, the huge gap in budgets for online versus television tells a different tale, says Radha Subramanyam, Yahoo vice president, who heads corporate and media research. “There’s a bit of an intellectual gap in how marketers spend their budget that doesn’t exactly tie to ROI,” she says.

Although only 7% of all brand-WOM conversations occur online, 38% of people have brand-WOM conversations both online or offline influenced by the Internet, which Yahoo estimates at 74 million people.

Among the media channels influencing WOM, the Internet has grown while others like television and print remain flat. The level of Internet references rose to 15% in January 2010, compared with nearly 12% during the same time in the year-ago period.

Despite the buzz around social media and its role in WOM, most conversations take place face to face. Media — both online and off — are influential in driving these conversations, but it’s important to note that 76% of WOM conversations take place in person.

Two-thirds of WOM is positive, and only 8% is negative, according to the study.

Certain categories such as financial and automotive appear to do better than health and health care and personal care and beauty. The study recognizes a 17% impact on finance from the Internet, compared with 8% for television. Yahoo believes that impact has a 1% bump to 18% on its network.

The study finds that Yahoo’s audience drives more WOM marketing for automotive and finance categories. While the Facebook and YouTube audiences both have a considerable reach, a much higher volume of auto and finance WOM occurred among the Yahoo audience since January.

Automotive in Yahoo’s network drove 54% of WOM marketing volume compared with 48% in Facebook; 46%, YouTube; 21%, MSN; 17%, AOL; and 15%, Hulu. Finance in Yahoo’s network drove 55% of WOM marketing volume, compared with 48% in Facebook; 40%, YouTube; 23%, MSN; 17%, AOL; and 14%, Hulu.

Conversation Catalysts have become the most valuable WOM segment, because they have a large social network, belong to clubs, organizations and social groups, and often give advice in five or more product categories. They are 20% more likely to mention the Internet in brand WOM conversations.

This trend is driven by millennials, Subramanyam says. “This generation is moving into the years of life where they think about purchases. These kids are now becoming adults,” she says. “This generation is the first that literally grew up with the Internet.”

As millennials become the new adults, marketers will see an interesting cultural shift, Subramanyam says.

Even so, there’s a missed opportunity in understanding that traditional Internet marketing has a bigger impact on word of mouth, says Brad Fay, chief operating officer at Keller Fay Group, and marketing consultant at McKinsey. “There’s a big opportunity to drive word of mouth using something as simple as a brand Web site,” he says. “The study found it’s the number one component to drive word of mouth through the Internet.”

About 15% of all conversations include something from people who found the information online, Fay says. People sit side-by-side with a mobile device in hand, talking about restaurants, clothing stores or services they read about online, he says.

The study concludes that Internet content can significantly impact WOM activity, especially on sites that serve this market segment known as Conversation Catalysts.

Yahoo partnered with Keller Fay to observe WOM activity from more than 18,500 survey respondents between August 2009 and January 2010. WOM conversations were tracked with the assistance of a 24-hour diary and follow-up contacts to answer standardized questions about brands and companies they talked about.

IAC will relaunch an online media company Thursday that connects Web and mobile publishers with local advertising organizations. The strategy renames Citysearch LLC as CityGrid Media, which becomes the umbrella for local advertising network CityGrid, as well as publishing sites Citysearch, Insider Pages and Urbanspoon.

CityGrid Media will continue to connect the 750,000 advertisers with the more than 100 million consumers who visit the sites through about 150 publishers. Jay Herratti will run the CityGrid Media group as chief executive officer. About a year ago, he brought in Kara Nortman as senior vice president for the publishing group.

As the local market “explodes” as Google, Microsoft and Bing move deeper into the space, Herratti will continue to build a network of sites and services to support local businesses. The people supporting the business have been in place for at least a year. Herratti laid out the strategy in 2008.

“The local industry is growing at about 15% annually,” he says. “I want to beat that. And if things go well, I expect that to happen.”

Today, CityGrid Media has made incremental changes, but if Herratti plans to reach his goal it will take “growth in multiples, and I’m not there yet, because I’m just starting,” he says.

CityGrid Media went public with the plan in January. This is version 1.0, he says. The next step is to focus on improving the company’s core ad engine and data because better pricing and geotargeting keep partners happy.

We’re moving past the recession, but digital now faces an even bigger challenge: an innovation crisis. Starcom CEO Lisa Donohue discusses how a secret weapon will help the industry thrive again.

Though it’s only been two years of managing recessionary business issues, it seems like a decade must have passed in terms of the changes weathered and obstacles overcome in the digital industry. Yet the need for change is what digital was founded on, and for those nimble professionals ready to embrace the opportunities it can bring, today may be nothing less than a renaissance for advertising innovation.

“It’s our time to seize the day,” says Lisa Donohue, CEO of Starcom USA, during her keynote presentation at the iMedia Agency Summit in Austin, Texas. Donohue contends that with clients reassessing the new industry landscape and realizing the increasing need for new ideas, models, and partnerships, digital is tragically mired in outdated structures, processes, and policies that are creating an innovation crisis.

The good news, says Donohue, is that the industry already has the power to steer and control the crisis, and just needs to place more of a priority on strategies that embrace change, reward experimentation, and let creativity lead the way for others to follow.

“The recession really was good for our industry,” says Donohue. “For all the pain it caused, it gave us a clean slate. We can push the reset button on our industry. We can begin from square one where we can reinvent ourselves.”

In the social space, Starcom is adjusting by learning how to keep pace with customers, rather than focusing on what other players in the space are doing. She feels that agencies must first build the necessary tools to understand the consumer mindset and to know what behaviors they are changing. She also believes that to develop these tools and adaptation strategies, change first needs to come from within. “We need to eliminate labels between creative and media, between campaigns and advertising, between traditional and digital,” she says. “These limit us. We need to be more open source. We need to pull information from both within and outside of our own companies.”

The new world order requires new business models

Donohue believes there are four Cs that should be the focal point of the flexible, creative business models that the digital agency of tomorrow needs to be founded on: community, conversation, content, and currency.

Community. We must renew our focus on how to join, build, and communicate with groups of people, based on how those people are doing this in their own social circles.

Conversation. Agencies need to work harder to find and participate in a natural connection with consumers.

Currency. We need to be taking a good, hard look at how we earn loyalty and attention through a dialogue. This applies both to our consumer outreach and among the employees of our own organization.

Content. Content will be the key to the future of digital. We need to stop thinking about our jobs as a means to create advertising and start thinking in terms of how we can create content and messaging opportunities.

Learning to embrace change

Donohue says she takes a look at the capabilities Starcom needs to build to address the future on a daily basis. “The recession allows us to focus on this. The limited resources we’ve had to work with are empowering us to be more creative.” Donohue also stresses the need to consider data to be an aid that can unlock insights into our creative mission, rather than an impediment. “We can use it to prove our worth, rather than explain our value [to clients],” she says.

In order to drive this shift in perception, Donohue contends that we need to develop a new entrepreneurism — and that it all boils down to talent.

But is talent also in crisis in digital marketing? While there is certainly no shortage of innovative minds and creative problem solvers, the industry needs to start fostering business cultures that let entrepreneurial minds take the lead in the industry’s forward momentum.

“Our industry has operated in a walled garden for too long. We hire people from the same old pools of advertising programs. Job descriptions haven’t changed much in 10 years. But walled gardens don’t last forever. Smart people chafe at being restricted,” says Donohue. “What we do isn’t a mystery. We need to invite others in to see how it works and create new ideas.”

How we need to change

Donohue points to three key areas where change should start: structure, culture, and recognition. We need to break down the old world hierarchy to make room for talent to thrive. We need to move from organizational cultures that focus on job descriptions and segmented responsibilities to positions that allow for shared experiences and responsibilities. And we need to shift from recognizing the accomplishments of our team members through financial compensation to a system that provides a variety of meaningful rewards.

“Company leaders are not determined by title or length of service, but rather by how they respect and support each other within the organization,” Donohue says. “It doesn’t all have to be about the money. The next generation of leaders will be about learning and experience.”

Donohue closed by reminding Summit attendees that no matter what the specific reason was that drew them to this industry, there is a commonality: the need to be challenged intellectually and creatively. And this vital quest to realize the possibilities of imagination is the lens through which we must view tomorrow’s digital marketing industry.

“At the heart of this, we are all problem solvers. We want to find creative solutions to the business challenges we face. Now, we need to take those same skills and apply them to our industry itself,” Donohue says. “In leadership, you have to model the behaviors that you seek.”

Jodi Harris is senior editor at iMedia Connection.

Want to hear the latest from this week’s iMedia Agency Summit? Follow the conversation on Twitter #iMediaSummit.

According to the McKinsey sixth annual survey asking executives about the forces shaping the world economy, there is little change in how respondents view the importance of global trends compared with previous years, either for business in general or for their own companies’ profits. The online survey, in the field in March 2010, generated responses from 1,416 executives around the world, representing the full range of industries, regions, functional specialties, and seniority.

Impact Of Trends On Companies’ Profitability Over The Next 5 Years (April 2010; % of Respondents)

Trend
Viewed as Very or /Somewhat positive

Growth of consumers in emerging economies/changing consumer tastes
58%

Development of technologies that empower consumers and communities (eg, online connectivity)
64

Increase in labor productivity in developed markets
N/A

Shift of economic activity between and within regions
48

Increasingly global markets for labor and talent
52

Growth of public sector
44

Increase in sophistication of capital markets
30

Growth in consumer demand for corporate contributions to the broader public good
33

Increase in constraints on supply or usage of natural resources (eg, regulations)
31

Geopolitical instability
14

Source: McKinsey, May 2010

Companies are shifting their strategic planning from crisis mode to a more balanced consideration of short-term profitability and long-term strategic issues, says the report. One-third now focus equally on the short and long terms, compared with one-fifth in 2009.

An ongoing shift in global economic activity from developed to developing economies, accompanied by growth in the number of consumers in emerging markets, are the global developments that executives around the world view as the most important for business and the most positive for their own companies’ profits over the next five years.

Executives also identify two other critical positive aspects of globalization: technologies that enable a free flow of information worldwide and, increasingly, global labor markets. These four trends are the ones that half of the respondents say their companies have taken active steps to address.

The findings show that the global economy faces significant challenges as it continues to integrate. 63% of respondents expect increased overall volatility to become a permanent feature of the global economy, and another 23% see sharply higher levels of volatility that will undermine the economy’s robustness. In addition, high levels of public debt are a headache in Europe and North America, where most executives fear the debt will have a negative impact on GDP growth.

Emerging markets, with populations that are young and growing, will increasingly become not only the focus of rising consumption and production but also major providers of capital, talent, and innovation. This will make it imperative for most companies to succeed in emerging markets. However, no more than 40% of executives at companies headquartered in developed economies expect a quarter or more of revenues over the next five years to come from emerging markets-and 10% expect none.

To capture growth from emerging markets, the actions most often taken, each cited by around half of the respondents, are building a local presence, developing partnerships or joint ventures with local companies, recruiting talent from emerging markets, and developing new business models. Executives representing Chinese and Indian companies report they are developing new business models at a significantly higher rate than companies from any other region. Perhaps more surprising, respondents at companies headquartered in North America report significantly lower rates of actions to capture emerging-market growth than those from any other region, with fully 20% reporting no actions at all taken to capture emerging-market growth. In addition, large and public companies significantly outpace small and private ones in pursuing actions to capture emerging-market growth.

Growth In Emerging Markets (% of respondents)

Specific actions company taking to capture growth from emerging markets
% of Respondents

Building local presence
54%

Developing partnerships/joint ventures with local companies
50

Recruiting talent from emerging markets
47

Developing new business models
45

Deploying talent to emerging markets
42

Reconfiguring the price/value proposition of product offerings
33

Building relationships with governments in emerging markets
33

Investing directly in local companies
23

Developing local brands
20

No actions are aimed at capturing growth from emerging markets
14

Source: McKinsey, May 2010

Executives cite the top four risks faced by their companies in emerging markets as:

· Breach of intellectual property (40%)

· Volatility of currency or exchange rates (38%)

· Geopolitical instability (26%)

· Lower safety and quality standards (26%)

Executives at North American, high-tech, and telecom companies are most concerned about IP, while companies in the financial sector worry most about currency volatility and energy companies about geopolitical instability.

In addition to questions on individual global trends and emerging markets, the survey explores for the first time four interconnected themes that highlight the opportunities and challenges faced by global economic integration itself and by companies seeking to profit from it:

· Labor productivity and talent management

· The global flow of goods, information, and capital

· Natural-resource management

· The increasing role of governments

Finally… looking ahead the report concludes:

· Capturing the opportunities offered by growth in emerging markets, the trend executives say is the most important, will require retooling existing business models and reconfiguring companies’ price/ value equations.

· Respondents express a great deal of trepidation about geopolitical instability and market volatility in emerging markets, so strategies to assess the likelihood of these conditions and manage their risk will be vital.

· Technology will continue to materially reshape consumer awareness, choice, and interactivity models, and companies should be striving to tap the power of technology to improve their competitive advantage.

To view the complete details of this comprehensive study and report, please visit McKinsey.

The greatest Culture Content Trade Market in Asia!!

About Asia Content Entertainment (ACE) Fair

ACE Fair is the global event for buying, selling, financing, licensing and distributing cultural Contents across all platforms. It provides one of the largest Cultural contents trade markets in Asia by offering excellent opportunities to showcase cultural contents to Asia’s key decision makers.

Do not miss out on the opportunity to network with leading attendees from all over the world at ACE Fair.

Exhibit at ACE Fair?

ACE Fair is your opportunity to increase brand awareness, enter new markets and realize the revenue potential of your property. In just four days, meet with people from exhibitors and buyers from areas of Broadcast * Audiovisual * Game * Character * Animation * Edutainment Contents and Licensing in the world and make deals to put your best ideas on shelves across the globe.

Overview of ACE Fair 2010
Title : ACE Fair 2010 (Asia Content & Entertainment Industry Fair 2010)

Duration : September 9(Thu) ~ 12(Sun), 2010
Venue : Kimdaejung Convention Center, Gwangju, Republic of Korea

Organizer : Gwangju Metropolitan City

Management : Kimdaejung Convention Center (KDJCC)

Gwangju Information & Culture Industry Promotion Agency (GITCT)

Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA)

Honam Cable Television and Telecommunications Association(HCTA)

Gwangju Design Center (GDC)

Sponsors : Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea (MCST)

Korea Culture and Contents Agency (KOCCA)

Korea Cable Television Association (KCTA)

Korea Communications Commission (KCC)

Korea Radio Promotion Agency (KORPA)

Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA)

Korea Association of Game Industry (KAOGI)

Media Sponsors : Guide to the Licensing World, I Love Character, Character goods,

Rakhshan Movies Network

Exhibits : Broadcast • Audiovisual • Game • Character • Animation •

Edutainment Content • Licensing

* Special Exhibition : 3D Technology and Display Exhibition

Conferences : 3D World Conference (Organized by GITCT)

Asia Culture Forum (Organized by MCST)

Exchange Forum of International Cultural Industry Cities (Organized by MCST)

Studies of Strategies for New Market Place Expansion (Organized by SMBA)

Lectures by Cultural Industry Experts (Organized by GITCT)

Global Game Industry Development Forum (Organized by KAOGI)

Licensing Expo : Business Matching for Cultural Content Buyers and Sellers

Events : Gwangju e-Sport Festival (Organized by GITCT)

Gwangju Cultural Content Showcase (Organized by GITCT)

The 3rd National Youth Broadcasting Content Producing Contest (Organized by KDJCC)

The 4th International Character Design Competition (Organized by GDC)

2010 ACE Content Award (Organized by KDJCC), and Exhibitors’ Various Events

Result of ACE Fair 2009

Early bird discount

The exhibitor registration closes on July31. If determined to participate, exhibitors are advised to register early. The 20% early bird discount ends on May 31. Registration is simple. Just access to the official ACE Fair website (www.acefair.or.kr) and register! Don’t miss the precious opportunity to make your presence at Asia’s most significant contents trade market.

Booth information

Category
Size
Fee
Note
Special Early Bird rate

Space Only
3m×3m(9㎡)
US$ 1,500/

Booth
Space Only
US$ 1,200/

Booth

Shell Scheme
US$ 2,000/

Booth
Space and basic installing tools
US$ 1,600/

Booth

*Shell scheme Booth, Security Service and Directory Publication (Korean& English) Charge included.

*Minimum Participation Unit: 1 Booth (3m×3m,9㎡)

*Early Bird Fee: 20% discount of the application fee by May 31, 2010.

If you want to know more about ACE Fair 2010, please visit our website, www.acefair.or.kr, e-mail me at ace_en@acefair.or.kr or call to +82-62-611-2247 with feeling free.

Sincerely,
Holly Kim
International Sales Team of ACE Fair

With Yahoo!’s recent acquisition of Associated Content, the controversial new category dubbed “content farming” moves into the mainstream. At our last OMMA Behavioral conference, we devoted a “Grill the Vendors” panel to these companies, including Associated Content, Demand Media and AOL’s Seed project. Understandably, all three companies took exception the term.

Generally, these companies are leveraging the search-driven content engine economy to create and push media that people want into the Internet bloodstream. In some cases, their libraries are filled with user-generated nano-niche content that fills specific needs for how-to material other publishers don’t carry.

In other cases, the companies are deftly reading the search trends to anticipate and then commission useful content. There is nothing outlandish about crafting content that anticipates user needs. Several traditional media providers scout under-served search terms in order to craft packages that will perform well in searches.

But many publishers complain “content farms” deliver mediocre content that is so well optimized for search, it crowds out the quality. Actually, you have to wonder why publishers with their own long tails of archived online content aren’t doing more to feed the search economy material from their own “farms.”

That is what a Idealab spinoff Perfect Market, Inc. is trying to achieve. The company evolved from a frustration among some traditional media companies that weren’t getting enough from the search economy. “We always gave the search ad opportunity short shrift,” admits Robertson Barrett, Perfect Markets Chief Strategy Officer and a veteran of Tribune Interactive, Time Inc. and Primedia. “You will generally see search ads at the bottom of pages, and they may not be very relevant, especially at news sites.”

The search-driven news economy has created duel audiences at many news sites. First, there are the brand loyalists coming to a specific news provider and generating value via long hang times and many page views. On the other hand, masses of drive-by users are coming off of search, usually to a specific page for a single hit before they are gone.

Publishers know how to monetize their well-defined loyal users (via targeted, high CPM placements, email, etc.), but they have not figured out how to monetize all of that search traffic. “Our idea is that people coming through the search engines to your site should have a different experience based on what they want,” says Barrett.

The search-driven customer is entering a site from a different mind-set, usually in research mode and in need of more evergreen content. Demand Media and others have built their businesses serving that user with the right content at the right time. But Barrett contends that traditional publishers are leaving money on the table by not realizing some of their own travel, business, auto or other content could fill this need.

Barrett uses current partner LA Times as an example of traditional media being able to play the content farm game. On a search for travel to Buenos Aires, Demand Media had already created an article that was prominent in search results and involved tips for packing and planning travel to Latin America. But the newspaper also had in its archives a multipart series on South American travel and a Buenos Aires itinerary.

The Perfect Match system uses algorithms to see what topics are not only in high demand but also have the highest revenue potential from contextually relevant search ads. They will host and create pages for publishers that optimize that material and that are also optimized for the search user rather than the brand loyalist.

“Intent-driven traffic has specific things they are looking for — the subject not the brand,” says Barrett. To maximize the revenue from that user, you want a page that will emphasize CPC advertising that best targets the intent that brought the user in the side door. And so the new landing page expressly for search-driven customers will have contextual text ads placed much more visibly than they would be on a standard page of the Web site.

Part of the model is that Perfect Match helps give search engines more granular information about the page to render better advertising. And they can help surface the keywords on pages that are falling under the radar. “We can expose more content to the ad networks so they crawl the pages better.”

But the page for intent-driven traffic also makes better use of the host publisher’s own content. “We know there are semantic clusters around relevant ideas that have high revenue potential,” he says. “We can look in the publisher’s library to see what content they already have and optimize links to that content.

Barrett says that the early results have been encouraging, with 20x and 30x the conversions on CPC ads placed on the landing pages. Barrett claims revenue-per-user lifts of $1 to $10. The company takes a share of the lift.

In the great transition from analog to digital media, intent-driven content models were a tech-fueled opportunity that seemed to elude or just offend traditional media publishers. It will be interesting to see if these publishers can start taking control of the very technologies that threaten their old models, then use them to leverage the one advantage they have left: quality.

What is and always has been unique about Louis Vuitton is a very special blend of tradition and innovation, craftsmanship and creativity, history and modernity. It was in 1837 that Louis Vuitton arrived in Paris and apprenticed himself to Monsieur Maréchal, a reputed layetier-emballeur, the term used in those days for packers of travellers’ trunks. He inaugurated his own Maison in 1854, one that became, over time, a luxury house renowned for its savoir faire and its expertise in the making of special orders.

Today, the Asnières workshop in France designs and makes some 450 special orders a year, complying with the most exceptional requests. The company’s original vocation as a layetier-emballeur is thus respected, for Louis Vuitton has always created cases to carry its clients’ most treasured belongings.

It is with that in mind that FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter decided to place a special order for a case for the most coveted trophy in the world: the FIFA World Cup Trophy. “The FIFA World Cup Trophy is our most precious asset. It’s the most coveted trophy, not only in the world of football but beyond. It succeeds in uniting fans all around the world in a healthy competition for the final prize. A trophy as precious as the FIFA World Cup Trophy deserves a travel case of the same elegance and prestige. From now on, the trophy will not only travel in safety, but it will also travel in style.”

Today, Louis Vuitton is honoured to be able to bring its savoir faire to the most exceptional sporting competition of our time by accompanying the legendary trophy on its future travels around the world.

Antoine Arnault, Head of Communications for Louis Vuitton, commented: “We are very proud to have been chosen by FIFA to dedicate our know-how to creating the case for the most beautiful trophy: the FIFA World Cup Trophy. From the legendary bed-trunk developed by Georges and Louis Vuitton in 1868 for the explorers, to the case for the oldest sporting trophy – the America’s Cup – and the special order for the iPod case from a well-known designer, the Maison has always combined clever and elegant ways to satisfy the very specific needs of its clients, allowing them to express their uniqueness or achieve their dream.”

Promoted Tweets will be the only sanctioned ads within the Twitter timeline, but users like Kim Kardashian will still be allowed to receive ad dollars in exchange for their posts. “We will not allow any third party to inject paid tweets into a timeline on any service that leverages the Twitter API,” Twitter Chief Operating Officer Dick Costolo said in a blog post today.

The move, intended to preserve the integrity of the Twitter timeline, will sharply curtail the activities of a number of Twitter ad startups, including Ad.ly, Sponsored Tweets, 140 Proof and Magpie, while giving more prominence to Twitter’s own ads, called “Promoted Tweets.”

Promoted Tweets, Twitter’s version of a search ad, appear at the top of a user’s timeline based on “resonance,” a metric that includes the number of clicks on an included link or the number of times the tweet has been passed around. Twitter shares revenue with the applications that distribute the ads.

Twitter’s Promoted Tweets will be the only sanctioned ad within the Twitter timeline, but the new rules do not ban Twitter users themselves from taking ad dollars in exchange for Twitter posts, such as Kim Kardashian (also an Ad.ly client), who can charge $10,000 to tweet messages to her followers.

As part of the new rules, Twitter clarified that its users own their tweets and are free to do or say what they want with them, including selling them to advertisers.

New boundaries
The new Twitter rules still allow third parties to place ads around Twitter feeds in other applications or next to Twitter search results, but they cannot resemble actual tweets, and there must be clear separation between the timeline and the ads.

The new rules also don’t appear to affect those selling ads against Twitter search results, which is the model for TweetUp, a startup founded by search pioneer Bill Gross, and search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo, which also index Twitter’s real-time results. If Twitter content is the basis of the sale, Twitter requires that you share revenue or license the content for commercial use.

Since Twitter was founded in 2006, a vibrant community of startups has grown up around it, including applications such as TweetDeck and HootSuite that allow users to access the service and businesses to manage Twitter accounts.

While Twitter was building its service, a number of startups started monetizing Twitter. One of the largest and most prominent Twitter ad network, Ad.ly, has signed up more than 70,000 Twitter users hoping to convert their tweet streams into ad revenue, and it just raised a $5 million first round of venture funding.

Contacted by Ad Age, an Ad.ly exec said the company was still trying to assess the impact of Twitter’s new policy on their business, and had called an all-company meeting to assess their options.

A Twitter spokeswoman said no startup tapping into Twitter should be surprised by any of the changes. “We don’t seek to control what users tweet, and users own their tweets. We aren’t going to speculate on the impact this will have,” the company said in a statement.

Mr. Costolo cast the switch as an attempt to preserve the integrity of Twitter itself, which he believed would be threatened by third parties serving ads into Twitter streams. He said Twitter itself is responsible for preserving the “enduring value” of the service, and that “third-party ad networks are not necessarily looking to preserve the unique user experience Twitter has created.”

Japanese clothing brand UNIQLO is the most hotly discussed topic on Twitter on the morning of May 24. The store, which is renowned for its low-cost but fashionable clothes, takes out the first and fifth places with the terms “UNIQLO LUCKY LINE?????” and “#uniqlo_line”. Twitter users are tweeting about UNIQLO in hope of winning one of the contests being held for the company’s 60th anniversary.

“Nigerian Monkey Pox” is trending in second place. “Nigerian Monkey Pox was a joke from the TV show “The Boondocks” that was on tonight”, explains one Twitter user.

In third place is the hashtag “iknowsomeonethat”. Microbloggers are spreading stories about the people they know, sharing their friends’ and acquaintances’ good and bad traits.

The hit American TV show “Lost” has finally come to an end after six seasons on air. The finale was aired on May 23 and fans of the show are tweeting about the much-anticipated ending with the terms “#lostfinale” (in fourth place), “About Lost” (in seventh place), “Series Finale” (in eighth place) and “Purgatory” (in tenth place).

According to recent news reports, Simon Monjack, the husband of late American actress Brittany Murphy, was found dead at his home in LA, USA on Sunday May 23. Twitter users are passing on their condolences with the term “Monjack,” which is currently trending in sixth position.

The name of Indian Bollywood film “Kites” is in ninth place. Twitter users are posting their micro reviews of the popular movie.

The top 10 most talked about topics on Twitter on May 24 at 9:30 AM GMT are:

1. UNIQLO LUCKY LINE?(new)
2. Nigerian Monkey Pox (new)
3. #iknowsomeonethat (new)
4. #lostfinale (new)
5. #uniqlo_line (new)
6. Monjack (new)
7. About Lost (new)
8. Series Finale (new)
9. Kites (new)
10. Purgatory (new)