Sponsored Ads on Instagram – Will it work?

Companies utilizing Instagram to engage their community is nothing new. When Instagram announced that they would be rolling out sponsored ads there was a worldwide groan; yet another social media outlet would begin to require user to sludge through ads to connect with each other. In a recent blog post, Instagram gave the world a look at what their ads will look like. The sample ad resembles a typical Instagram image or video shared on the social network, except that it will include a sponsored label in the top right corner. What does help users feel better about the transition is that Instagram will offer users the option to hide each ad from their stream. Although many users likely follow a brand, or two, many wonder how the world will respond to ads that will take up an entire iPhone screen.

The biggest downsides I see of introducing these sponsored ads is the amount of space they will use on a feed and the process by which users require to block these ads. Instagram users love the ease of scrolling and the ease of interacting with an image with a simple double tap to ‘like.’ However, as previously stated these ads will take up an entire screen and require a user to click through in order to block the ad. Although I don’t think the ads will stop users from using Instagram, I do believe it will alter how we utilize the app. Users could potentially hit scrolling fatigue and stop trying to scroll through adds to interact with the accounts they prefer. So the questions becomes, what will happen if we users stop scrolling? Will they begin to simply worry about uploading their own pictures? Will user images be seen and interacted with? Will the ads be seen making them worth the investment of companies?

Like most new developments there are both positive and negatives and the roll out of Instagram ads is not different. Firstly, Instagram formalizing ads on the app will legitimize what many companies have already been doing; utilizing Instagram to present images that engage customers and tell their brand’s story. By allowing brands to sponsor their ads not only does Instagram look to make a profit off of brands using their platform but they also allow companies to ensure that the time they put into their social media marketing will be seen by a large audience. Finally I think the evolution of sponsored ads will also push companies and individuals to increase the value of their content. Through quality content that tells strong stories and resonates with Instagram users companies may able to decrease the chances of users blocking their ads.

Companies will be keeping an eye on the successes or failures of those companies that are quick to adopt this new marketing tool. Instagram will likely be prepared to make any adjustments necessary to appease both the companies paying money and their loyal users. While the companies prepare for these ads only time will tell the true impact of Instagram’s new ads of how users interact with the app and each other.

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via VR Media http://vrmedia.com.sg/2013/10/31/sponsored-ads-on-instagram-will-it-work/

Fiuzu creates a trip itinerary for discerning travelers

Fiuzu is a personal trip planner that provides a tool to build a complete itinerary based on the user’s budget, time constraints and interests. VR Media interviewed one of the startup’s founders, who stresses the focus on discerning travelers who would rather spend more time at their actual destination rather than planning for the trip.

Traveling can be stressful or relaxing, depending on how organized your trip is. While online services like Tripadvisor and Kayak would help you with booking your trip and hotel, a startup company caled Fiuzu will help you actually plan your itinerary based on a crowd-sourced review of establishments and locations. The best part: you can plan according to your budget.

Singapore-based Fiuzu was founded because of the frustration with existing travel-oriented online services. According to co-founder and Fiuzu engineer Ong Zhong Liang, it can be annoying having to spend days “sifting through reviews on traditional travel websites to find the best attractions to visit on vacation.” This can be especially true if you only have a limited budget, and if you only have limited time to spend in a particular place.

Ong says the service aims “to kickstart your personalized journey by generating an itinerary with activities that match the traveller’s time constrains, budget and interests.” Once a user has entered his places of interest, budget and time considerations, he or she can then modify it as necessary, print out the itinerary or save it on one’s profile for later viewing and sharing.

Fiuzu targets discerning travelers with limited leisure time. “Fiuzu.com targets independent travellers, espcially busy working adults whose leisure time is precious and should be better spent on enjoying the trip instead of planning before it,” says Ong.

Currently in beta, Fiuzu offers quick registration to users via Facebook Connect. A user will then need to key in the destination, after which the service will present a few places of interest. Users are asked their time (how many days they will spend in the place), budget and landmarks they want to visit.

The place of interest will then be mapped out, and users can add places they want to go to. These can be organized by day (Fiuzu supports up to seven days itinerary).

“These attributes distinguish fiuzu.com from existing travel tools, as it is the first tool of its kind to generate a complete itinerary based on the user’s budget, time constraints and interests,” says Ong.

In addition, Fiuzu also lets users connect with friends as a “social media platform for the sharing of trips where different people can search, share and collaboratively edit plans.”

Apart from simply offering a platform for travelers to plan their trips, Fiuzu also enables locals to act as virtual tour guides by adding in new places of interest, which can include the estimated budget one will need to spend to tour that place. Locals can “play the role of his personal information assistant at the destination so that he can easily execute his personalized plan.”

In terms of business model, the startup plans to partner with establishments and companies such as airlines, in order to get commissions from sales. “The commissions come from a few sources – the booking of local guides through a secure payment system in fiuzu.com, and from partnering with airlines, hotels and transport providers,” reports Ong. However, the team is currently focusing on building and refining the online service itself, with focus on “building the infrastructure for the above transactions, as we prefer to first have a working core product.”

The company will offer its service under a freemium model, in which the site itself will offer access for free, but users will need to spend for other services rendered. The app is currently accessible through web, but the team intends to release a mobile app soon: first on iOS and then on Android.

Fiuzu is a bootstrapped activity, currently financed by the co-founders, many of whom are based in Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s (A*STAR) IHPC.

Fiuzu’s personal trip planner can be found at http://fiuzu.com

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via VR Media http://vrmedia.com.sg/2013/10/16/fiuzu-creates-trip-itinerary-discerning-travelers/

EBay to Buy PayPal’s Rival “Braintree” for $800 Million

To boost the business of electronic payment services, EBay has now declared to acquire Braintree for a sum of $800 million in cash.

EBay is the owner of PayPal which is fast becoming a successful electronic payment service all over the world. EBay believes that doing so will greatly benefit the company as it will help in expanding the mobile transactions business. EBay also briefly described the functionality of Braintree as being a global payments platform that collaborates with online/mobile-only businesses like “Airbnb” (room rental service) or “OPEN” (OpenTable Inc. which is an online restaurant-reservation company). Braintree is currently based in Chicago, USA and will soon become a part of PayPal.

PayPal being the number one fastest growing business for EBay is working towards expanding its core functionality from processing payments of online goods and services to processing payments in physical stores as well. Since the boom of smartphones and tablets in the last couple of years, consumers all around the world have started a trend to make online purchases. This has given rise to a multiple competitive companies in the payments industries such as Square Inc. or GOOG (Google Inc.). While talking about the soon-to-acquire Braintree, John Donahoe, the Chief Executive Officer for EBay, proudly stated in an interview:

“We’ve made a significant investment in mobile over the past couple of years. It’s a natural fit.”

The news has definitely impacted the financial status of EBay whose share rose by a 3.4% to $56.08 at 10:10 a.m. in US. It’s a good news to EBay since it had gained only 6.3% in the year of 2013 through yesterday as compared to a 19% increase for the “Standard & Poor’s 500 Index”.

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In 2002 PayPal was acquired by EBay for $1.18 billion. EBay claimed that Braintree is expected to have payments worth a $12 billion this year which will add to a gigantic sum of $20 billion that the company already expects to process in 2013. Furthermore, it has also been decided that Braintree CEO, Bill Ready, will have to report to the PayPal President, David Marcus.

Speaking on this breaking news, an RBC Capital Markets analyst, Mark Maganey, noted:

“This deal makes reasonable sense strategically as it expands PayPal’s distribution and removes a competitor. The deal is EBay’s biggest since March 2011, when it acquired GSI Commerce Inc. for $2.4 billion, a company that hosts retailers’ websites and offers marketing services to customers.”

Although the declaration of this acquisition may sound sudden, but PayPal and Braintree have actually been working together for more than a year – that is where the possibility of an acquisition arose and was sealed over the last month according to Donahoe.

EBay will not only acquire Braintree’s brand name. The company has 180 employees and owns Venmo, which is a payments startup whose technology allows for users authentication in a single application to be recognized in others. Vemno mobile app is also part of the advantageous deal for EBay.

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via VR Media http://vrmedia.com.sg/2013/09/27/ebay-buy-paypals-rival-braintree-800-million/

Pinterest Announces Promoted Pins

Pinterest the online pinboard network, has announced its first type of paid advertising, to be called “promoted pins”. This is the first ad initiative of the image sharing site since it launched over three years ago. It is assumed that the company is coming under pressure to find a revenue model. It has been heavily funded by investors, who have put $338 million into the start-up, and the company is currently valued at $2.5 billion. Perhaps it is time for Pinterest to justify their valuation.

Pinterest has shown a very healthy growth period in the last few years, however there are still some users out there that don’t understand the power of the network, compared to other social networks. Some users believe it is little more than a site for people to collect pictures of things, without provoking any action. Maybe this move into monetisation will let Pinterest prove it’s worth.

The site is responsible for a huge percentage of referral clicks, ie where users are sent to the source of a product, and actually make a purchase. So much so, that the company recently tried this as a monetisation technique, secretly adding affiliate links on the website through a partner, Skimlinks. However, the affiliate links were removed after the company came under scrutiny for not being open and transparent.

Users are concerned that the new form of advertising will impede on their user experience. However Pinterest CEO, Ben Silbermann, has assured the public that they are determined to avoid using banner ads. Instead the promoted pins will be borrow from the Facebook and Twitter style of advertising where companies will be able to promote their pin in a search. It will also be very easy to differentiate promoted pins from regular user pins. Silbermann gave the example of a search for “Halloween” returning pins from a promoted costume shop such as a Darth Vader costume.

Since the launch in 2010, the site has been working to strengthen its appeal to potential advertisers. They initially added the ability to add a price banner to any pin, including the price in the description, and more recently, introduced analytics functionality to help users to track the performance of their campaigns. It is clear that their current focus is to find a sustainable revenue model.

Pinterest is only exploring the use of the promoted pins with select businesses for now, but it is expected to be rolled out more widely in the near future.

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via VR Media http://vrmedia.com.sg/2013/09/22/pinterest-announces-promoted-pins/

Has Apple Gone Green?

Apple is piloting a new trade-in program that lets you get credit for your old iPhone when upgrading to a new version. You will be able to walk into an Apple store with your old iPhone and walk out with a new one, with a discount, without any hassle. This is in preparation for the release of the new iPhone 5S that has been sparking speculation for months.

How Does It Work?

The trade-in has to be done in person in an Apple store. Any model iPhone can be brought in for a valuation by the Apple staff, provided it’s in working order and without any water damage. However, the trade-in is can be used for a new on-contract iPhone only. You won’t be given credit towards any other products. The good news is that it works for all models ranging from the most prehistoric iPhones to the latest iPhone 5, with the trade-in price adjusted accordingly.

Why Is Apple Doing It?

According to a spokesperson for Apple; “iPhones hold great value. So, Apple Retail Stores are launching a new program to assist customers who wish to bring in their previous generation iPhone for reuse or recycling. In addition to helping support the environment; customers will be able to receive a credit for their returned phone that they can use toward the purchase of a new iPhone.”

It is unclear at this stage whether the motivation is primarily driven by environmental concerns or is a pre-emptive sales ploy to encourage users to upgrade, and boost falling sales.

What’s In Store For The New iPhone 5S?

As usual, the rumour mill has been going into overdrive for the pending release of the iPhone 5S. Some websites are claiming that it will be released with a new colour range including graphite and gold. There will be the usual increases in processor power, camera quality and software. However, the most interesting, and hopeful, rumor is the replacement of the home button with a fingerprint scanner. These are all unconfirmed at this stage and will only be made certain when Apple formally releases the new model.

It’s difficult to know at this point in time whether or not the trade-in program will be beneficial to both Apple and its customers. There is always the option to privately sell an old iPhone, which will generally fetch a higher price. However, the ease and simplicity of the trade-in program is what makes it attractive. Apple’s customers have been known to pay a premium for this ease and simplicity and it is, after all, what Apple does best.

via VR Media http://vrmedia.com.sg/2013/09/03/has-apple-gone-green/