Digital News Roundup: March 19, 2010

SXSW week brought us more news from Twitter and Facebook, as well as new Hitwise traffic figures that might surprise you and a statement from Google on the future of display. Revisit all of the excitement from Austin by checking out our behind the scenes interviews, which were made possible by the sheer tenacity of David Berkowitz and some cool technology from Kyte.

Twitter Unveils @Anywhere at SXSW

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="470" caption="The publishers above have already signed up for @anywhere."][/caption]

Twitter announced a new platform at SXSW this week, which will allow publishers to integrate the service deeper into their site and create “open interactions” with readers directly from third-party sites (instead of Twitter.com). Early publishers to get on board include Amazon, Yahoo, Bing, Digg and the New York Times. For publishers, this means better interactions on their site and opportunities to accrue more followers.

In a Digital Connections post this week, David Berkowitz posed two questions that marketers should ask when considering how @anywhere will pan out in the future.

1. How important is Twitter for helping me achieve my marketing objectives?
2. How important do I want Twitter to be?

If Twitter’s an important communications channel, traffic driver, or a sales channel, then you need to follow @anywhere (literally, by following the account, and figuratively, by following related updates) and consider integrating it when it’s live.

If Twitter isn’t as essential yet, but you’re investing more resources into using it effectively and you see its influence rising (such as the share of traffic it sends to your site), then you can probably afford to be a fast follower – or a not so fast follower, where you can learn from how other sites use it before deciding how deep you want to dive in, if at all.

Hitwise: Last Week Facebook Got More Traffic than Google

According to Hitwise data, Facebook passed Google to become the most visited Web site in the U.S. for the week ending March 13. This has happened before, generally on holidays (Christmas Day, New Year’s Day etc.) – but this is the first time it has happened on a non-holiday. According to the data, Facebook.com’s market share of visits increased by 185 percent last week as compared to the same week last year. Google’s share of visits rose by 9 percent.

The news may seem staggering – and it indeed seems to signal the growing prowess of Facebook; however, ClickZ puts the stats into some more perspective, pointing out that the study specifically centered on traffic to Google.com and Facebook.com. “Though those numbers are encouraging for Facebook, they bear little relevance to the relative health of the two companies’ businesses, since they essentially compare two specific products,” writes Jack Marshall.

Facebook Adds Fan Pages to Notifications

This week, a small change was made to Facebook’s notification system that could mean big things for companies who manage Fan Pages. Brands now have the ability to appear in fans’ “Notifications” feeds on Facebook if the fan has engaged with Fan Page content. After a fan likes or comments on a Fan Page and the brand responds through a comment, the brand’s activity will pop up in the fan’s toolbar as a new notification, saying “Brand X has commented on their status” (or post, link, photo, etc.).

How does this change the game? Appearing in fans’ Notifications gives brands additional visibility and extends their relationship with consumers on the platform. This should encourage Fan Page admins to carefully consider how and with what frequency they should respond to fan comments on their Pages. You can read our full POV on the update in this post from Social Marketing Strategist Christine Hsu.

Google Looks Ahead at the Future of Display

In a post on the Official Google Blog this week, Susan Wojcicki (VP of Product Management of Google) provided a comprehensive recap of how Google is integrating DoubleClick technology into the heart of its business. Here are some of her main points:

• Display as evolved tremendously. The best ads today are like “mini-websites” with complex features and “stunning” graphics, and many have interactive elements. They’re more relevant and they’re bought & sold easier, too.
• Google and DoubleClick will continue working to ensure advertisers get better results. Right now they’re working on a solution to allow advertisers and agencies to plan, buy, create, serve and measure within one interface.
• New tools have been paramount and will continue to be. She cited DoubleClick Exchange, DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Studio as evidence of Google’s innovation in the display space.
• With more advances in measurement, creative and targeting, Google believes that display will grow dramatically. Wojcicki concluded the post with a prompt to follow the Google Blog for more important announcements about its evolving display program.

Google has set the pace for innovation in other areas of its business (namely the search space), so it comes as no surprise that the company is trudging forward in other areas like mobile and display. As the landscape continues to evolve, the combination of better technology and more personalized, interactive creative will mean opportunities for marketers to reach consumers more efficiently – and effectively – than ever before. We look forward to hearing about new opportunities from Google, in addition to other key players, in the near future.