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  • Salesforce Has a New Partner, and Its Name is Google

    Salesforce Has a New Partner, and Its Name is Google

    Google and Salesforce have come to an agreement, one that will see the former’s G Suites productivity apps directly integrated with the latter’s CRM service. The impressive partnership between the two companies was one of the highlights of this year’s Dreamforce event.

    While the two companies have been associated with each other for more than a decade, the new arrangement will see Google Cloud becoming Saleforce’s prime choice of public cloud provider, as well as becoming its key cloud provider for the global expansion the company is said to be making.

    Not only will this partnership see the integration of Salesforce’s service with Google’s G Suite software, it will also give Salesforce’s clients a free G Suite subscription that will be good for a year. This means clients who run G Suite will have access and be able to share information from their accounts in Google Calendar, Gmail, Drive, Docs, and Hangouts. It will also feed data from the CRM platform’s Sales and Marketing Clouds into Google Analytics 360. It’s expected that Google Analytics 360 will already be embedded in Salesforce’s Sales and Marketing Clouds by the first six months of 2018.

    The alliance between Google and Salesforce will also see Quip being integrated as a live app in both Google Calendar and Drive. This will permit users to work in those apps inside a Quip document. The feature will be available to Quip license holders by the first half of 2018 as well.

    Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff described the partnership as a way for customers of both companies to have the best of both worlds. He explained that it will make it easier for companies to manage their business in the cloud, whether its analytics and emails, sales, service and marketing apps, and even productivity apps. Benioff also promised that the deal between Salesforce and Google will assist in making clients work smarter and become more productive.

    The integration of Salesforce’s data into the Calendar, Drive, and Gmail has already commenced, and other integrations are set to be released next year. What’s more, the tie-up with analytics is reportedly scheduled to be rolled out next year and will be offered for free.

    Salesforce and Google do not have time to rest on their laurels though, as Microsoft has been determinedly targeting the two companies’ services through the Azure and Office 365 platforms. Luckily, Google and Salesforce’s new alliance means that they have their own means to counter Microsoft’s prime selling points.

    [Featured image via Salesforce]

  • Watch Videos of the Top Amazon HQ2 Bids

    Watch Videos of the Top Amazon HQ2 Bids

    Amazon’s decision to build a second headquarter has resulted in a bidding frenzy, with the company amassing 238 proposals.

    Bidders for the project come from at least 43 states, with the Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia also showing interest. Three Mexican states and seven Canadian provinces also tendered their bid. Selection for Amazon’s second headquarters campus (HQ2) will be made next year.

    Amazon has set some pretty high standards for the project though. The company described their ideal location to be in a city with at least a million citizens and is near an international airport. The location should also have an environment that’s stable and business-friendly.

    The promise that the winning state’s local economy will receive a major boost and secure as much as 50,000 high-paying jobs have pushed city administrators to put on their thinking caps. The submitted video proposals range from the creatively brilliant to the downright strange but inventive. Here are some of the more memorable ones:

    Talent and Diversity in Philly

    There’s no denying that Philadelphia is one of the most diverse regions and the city is proud of it. Its proposal to Amazon definitely shows this as its pitch focused on the city’s deep cultural diversity. The clip also aimed for a human element as it showcased vital business and community leaders to emphasize local talent.

    Vibrant Las Vegas

    The city’s 5-minute pitch is the longest video proposal Amazon has received. It comes as no surprise though as Las Vegas boasts of a dizzying range of industries and activities. The resulting proposal is an overwhelming barrage of facts and videos crammed in one clip.

    Moving to Detroit

    Detroit’s Move Here pitch is one of the more compelling proposals of the lot. The video’s clean and crisp visuals and lyrical narration tugs at the heartstrings and celebrate the city’s tenacity in climbing back to greatness.

    It’s the Bottom Line for Boston

    No one can claim to be surprised that Boston opted to forgo the frills and just state the facts. The city’s video pitch emphasized how the region’s infrastructure would be beneficial to Amazon. The sleek but short clip underlined key points like the city’s public transportation and tracts of open land.

    Forging Ahead in Pittsburgh

    Pittsburgh is another city that opted to go for realism and facts instead of flowery statements and visuals. The city’s video pitch highlighted Pennsylvania’s tenacity and strength, which can be seen in its companies to its workers. The short clip unabashedly admits to the city falling on hard times and how it’s now clawing back up, thanks to technology. It’s a move and a mindset that the e-commerce icon would no doubt appreciate.

    Arizona’s Prickly Proposal

    Of course, there was no dearth of bewildering proposals as well. Tucson decided that the best way to capture Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ attention was to go big. It did so by sending Amazon a 21-foot saguaro cactus. A representative of Arizona’s main economic agency, Sun Corridor, explained the massive cactus was a symbol of the long-term growth the company can enjoy if it chooses to build HQ2 in the state.

    A City Called Amazon

    Stonecrest, Georgia is pulling all stops in its bid to convince the company to build HQ2 in the area. Stonecrest doesn’t meet one of the company’s key requirement – that of having more than a million citizens – but it’s not letting that detail stop it. Stonecrest’s City Council is hoping that the idea of renaming 345 acres of de-annexed land Amazon would be enough to catch Bezos’ interest.

    It’s not surprising that cities are thinking outside the box. After all, Amazon will be investing $5 billion outright in the design and construction of its new headquarters. There’s also the possibility that the region will see the influx of tens of thousands of staff members. The company would also build its workforce from the area itself, a move that will provide employment opportunities for countless people.   

    [Featured image via Amazon]

  • Sprint, T-Mobile Hit a Stone Wall in Merger Plans

    Sprint, T-Mobile Hit a Stone Wall in Merger Plans

    Merger negotiations between Sprint and T-Mobile have hit a stone wall again, with the former’s parent company, Softbank, apparently ready to walk away from the table. The news came as a surprise as the merger was expected to be formally announced at the end of October or early November.

    It has been reported that Sprint and T-Mobile are once more at loggerheads over the merger. The problem reportedly boils down to whether Softbank or Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s parent company, that would end up having a bigger share in the deal.

    It has been widely believed that Deutsche Telekom would have a controlling share of the merged companies since T-Mobile has 10 million more subscribers than Sprint. Conventional business practice dictates that in a merger, the larger company would be assuming control.

    Softbank initially appeared to be amenable with the situation. However, Japan’s financial newspaper, Nikkei, reported that it’s not.

    According to reports, Softbank is determined to have the controlling share. The company’s board has allegedly voted last Friday to retain control of the combined companies and is apparently willing to end negotiations if it doesn’t get it.

    The disagreement between the two companies is just par for the course. In 2014, both Deutsche Telekom and Softbank ended negotiations when it appeared that the deal would be blocked by regulators. Talks were resumed after Donald Trump was elected president.

    It’s highly unlikely that the merger talks between the two companies would end that easily, as both Softbank and Deutsche Telekom have a heavy interest in the deal. In any case, they do have other options open to them, including new partners.

    There’s a possibility that Softbank is hoping the news that they will “propose ending the negotiations” will get T-Mobile’s parent company to reconsider some of their terms. Some industry insiders believe the move is a bluff by Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son to get a better deal from T-Mobile. The CEO has billed himself as an accomplished deal-maker, and some say Son would consider losing control of the combined corporation as a personal failure.

    If Sprint and T-Mobile do come to an agreement and merge, their combined assets will put them on the same footing as AT&T and Verizon. Instead of being a close third and fourth place in the market, the merged companies would be squarely in the third spot.

    The merger would also lead to a major change in America’s wireless sector, as the two medium-sized companies will be transformed into one of the industry’s major players.  

    [Featured image via T-Mobile/Sprint]

  • Big Tech’s Earnings Exceed Expectations on ‘Super Thursday’

    The country’s biggest tech companies might be battling criticism in Washington, but Super Thursday’s results clearly show that the public still loves them.

    Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft’s earnings went beyond what investors expected, as shares of these companies received a major boost and helped inject new momentum in the industry.

    It comes as no surprise that Amazon was the biggest winner of the day, with shares leaping almost 8 percent to trade at more than $1,000 in after-hours trading on Thursday. The company’s total revenue was pegged at $43.8 billion and its pioneering cloud system, Amazon Web Services (AWS), pushed past a $4 billion quarterly revenue.

    Alphabet was not far behind as its shares jumped 3 percent in aftermarket trading. The company broke through the $1,000 mark after parent company Google revealed a 24 percent increase in sales to $27.8 billion. Alphabet received a major boost from Google ads, especially in the Asian region.

    Microsoft also broke records with its $82.18 shares, which rose 3.6 percent. The company also went beyond the earnings estimates pegged by investors, giving it almost $630 billion in market capitalization. Aside from profiting from its Office products, Microsoft also got a shot in the arm from its cloud service, Azure, which grew 90 percent in revenue from 2016.

    The earnings from these tech companies have been dubbed “Super Thursday” by analysts from Wall Street due to how massive these companies are and because tech stocks have been a major influence in the stock market this year.

    Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos said his company’s earnings increase was partly due to the rising demand for its smart home products, which are powered by AI assistant, Alexa. To underline his point, Bezos said the past month alone saw the launch of five Alexa-enabled devices, the AI’s integration with BMW and Sonos speakers and Alexa being introduced in India.

    There’s also no denying that cloud computing also contributed to the impressive growth experienced by big tech. Azure has almost doubled its business this year, securing customers like Costco and generating an estimated $2 billion for Microsoft.

    Amazon Web Services and the Google Cloud Platform have also landed some key accounts this year. The former has already closed deals with Hulu and General Electric while the latter will be doing business with Kohl’s and PayPal.

    Research firm Canalys has estimated the cloud computing market was worth $14.4 billion in the third quarter of 2017, rising 43 percent from the previous year. Canalys also concluded that as the cloud market is still in the developing stage, it will continue to grow faster than the majority of the traditional information technology sector.

    [Featured image via Pixabay]

  • 5 Ways Retailers Can Beat Amazon This Holiday Season

    5 Ways Retailers Can Beat Amazon This Holiday Season

    There’s no denying that when it comes to holiday shopping, Amazon is the company to beat. The past few years saw the retail giant’s sales figures going up, especially during the holidays, as thousands of consumers opt to shop online because of convenience. As a matter of fact, the internet retailer accounted for 33.8% of online visits during the last two months of 2016.

    While retailers and small businesses can’t hope to match Amazon’s numbers this year, they can still do something to beat it at its own game. Here are ways that retailers can get a leg up on Amazon:

    Capture Consumers Attention During Vital Shopping Days

    Amazon will always be in the minds of countless shoppers during the holiday season, mainly because of convenience and fast delivery. So how can retailers compete with this? By finding a way to capture the consumer’s attention and imagination. One of the best ways to do this is to come up with a marketing campaign that highlights the company’s values in order to target loyal and high-converting clients.

    Image result for #optoutside

    Companies like REI did this by closing its doors on Thanksgiving and Black Friday and encouraging customers to spend the day outside instead with its #optoutside campaign. The movement inspired state parks to waive their entry fees and saw companies like Subaru and Outdoor Research teaming up REI to promote outdoor recreation. And even though REI closed its doors on Black Friday, the campaign generated a 26% boost in online traffic on that day.

    Treat Each Shopper as a Unique Individual

    One of Amazon’s weaknesses is its one-size-fits-all approach to its consumers. This means everyone gets the same deals and prices. But retailers can go in the opposite direction and show consumers that their unique and individual needs are taken seriously. They can come up with customized offers for different types of shoppers, like loyal consumers, senior shoppers or first-time buyers. Retailers can also ensure that the content and offers in their email ads are designed for each particular group of shoppers.

    Streamline Your Shopping Cart

    There’s no question that the ease that someone can order from Amazon is a contributing factor to its popularity. In order to compete in the same league as Amazon, retailers should take a critical look at their shopping cart and see what their customers’ experience. They should pay particular attention to details like the number of steps it takes to fill their cart, the number of decisions that the customer must make during the checkout stage (ex. gift wrapping, shipping) and whether every step is necessary. Retailers should consider whether some steps can be streamlined by combining decisions and actions. After all, there’s nothing more frustrating than spending more than 10 minutes just trying to pay for something you want.

    Offer Worry-Free Shipping and Returns

    Free shipping is now the norm.While this might be a huge obstacle for some companies, there’s no denying that it’s what customers are now expecting from online retailers. There’s no better way to drive your customers to Amazon than by having high shipping costs during the holiday season. But aside from implementing this strategy, retailers should also ensure that they push this message to their consumers, like through the company’s homepage, pop-ups and social media ads. Promoting free shipping to your website’s visitors will also give them an additional incentive to browse through and hopefully purchase something.

    Retailers should also take advantage of Amazon’s less than stellar reputation when it comes to returns. Designing a system where shipping and returns won’t become a thorn on the shopper’s mind will definitely give a retailer an edge over Amazon.

    Provide Special Touches

    Image result for gift wrapping

    Customers will definitely love the special touches that companies offer, particularly during the busy holiday season. A simple gift-wrapping service or a program for storing items purchased ahead of time and to be delivered close to the holidays will be appreciated. Knowing that the company has taken the time to make life easier during this busy season will be more than enough to keep them coming back.

    Amazon might be an eCommerce behemoth, but small retailers can still hold their own against it. Remember that the best way to compete with such a big company is to look at the details it neglects and to give customers a truly personalized experience.   

    [Featured image via Pixabay]

  • Amazon Prime Now Offers Business Shipping

    Amazon Prime Now Offers Business Shipping

    Amazon has rolled out a new paid membership program for businesses in the United States and Germany, a clear indication that the company now has its sights on corporate customers.

    The program, dubbed Business Prime Shipping, extends Amazon Prime’s free, two-day shipping features to everyone with an Amazon Business account and allows them to purchase office supplies. Some sectors will undoubtedly see this new program as a threat to office supply shops likes Office Depot and Staples, retailers like Walmart and stores like Costco, which specializes in warehouse deals.

    According to Amazon’s press release, the pricing for the new membership model is determined by the number of users on the business account. The base price starts at $499 for a company with about 10 users and $1,299 for businesses with 100 users. The most expensive is $10,099 for companies with more than 100 users.

    Once a company signs up for the program, all the employees or users will be notified through email about the benefits they are entitled to. New users added to current Amazon Business accounts will also be automatically enlisted in the program.

    Greg Greeley, VP of Amazon Prime, said the company is excited to introduce the new shipping program and described it as combining the vast selection of products open to Amazon Business clients with the convenience and speed that Prime is famous for. He also assured customers that the company would keep innovating to ensure easier business purchasing.

    Amazon Business was launched in the US in 2015 and was later introduced to countries like Germany and the United Kingdom. The service was recently expanded to include Japan and India.

    Aside from the usual benefits offered to Prime subscribers, Amazon Business provides other features big businesses need, like being able to compare offers between sellers, exclusive pricing on more than 5 million items, bulk discounts, integration with 30 or more purchasing systems, and reporting and analytics.

    Amazon did not reveal when the new shipping program will expand beyond Germany and the US.

    Companies can also sign up to try out Amazon’s Business Prime Shipping for free for 30 days.     

    [Features image via Amazon]

  • LinkedIn Names Top 25 Skills of the Year

    LinkedIn Names Top 25 Skills of the Year

    Just as it did last year, LinkedIn revealed the top 25 skills that can get you hired this year.

    “With 2015 in the rearview mirror, LinkedIn analyzed hiring and recruiting activity and uncovered the 25 hottest global skills in the past year,” a LinkedIn spokesperson tells us. “As these skills were continually sought by companies well into the final months of 2015, we expect them to continue driving demand in the early part of 2016.”

    According to the company, January is when the largest percentage of LinkedIn members are looking for a new job.

    “If your skills fit one or more of these skills categories (a grouping of related skills), there’s a chance you either started a new job or attracted the interest of recruiters last year,” says LinkedIn’s Sohan Murthy. “We noticed that companies were still recruiting and hiring for these skills well into the final months of 2015, so we expect these skills will remain in-demand in the early part of 2016. This means if you have one or more of these skills, you’re likely to continue getting interest from recruiters in the new year.”

    The biggest trends LinkedIn points to are a rapid increase in members listing cloud skills like Hadoop, HBase, and Hive, as we well as continued prevalence of data mining/analysis skills and the cooling off of game development, online marketing, SAP ERP systems, computer graphics/animation, integrated circuit design, and recruiting. The company notes that employers are still looking for all of these skills – just not quite as much as last year.

    Here’s a look at last year’s results.

    Images via Wikimedia Commons, LinkedIn

  • Report: Retailers Not Ready For Cross-Channel Integration

    Report: Retailers Not Ready For Cross-Channel Integration

    There’s a new report out form Yesmail. The main conclusion is that in general, retailers are not ready for cross-channel integration.

    They polled about 200 retailers at the Shop.org summit.

    The report finds that nearly a third of retailers indicate that integrating email with other digital channels is a top priority for this year, but many are failing to properly collect consumers’ email addresses, which Yesmail refers to as “the most simple task of all”.

    According to the company, before retailers can integrate email across channels, they must first master the basics of email marketing.

    “Given the number and variety of modern marketing channels – like social media, mobile apps and native advertising – it’s no surprise that today’s retailers want to reach consumers by integrating email with every trending channel and new technology,” Yesmail says in the report. “As billions of consumers turn to popular digital avenues like social media and mobile, it’s only natural for brands to want to integrate emerging channels, technologies and platforms with their email marketing efforts. However, before they can do so, marketers must first master email basics.”

    “When it comes to email capabilities – like collecting data, crafting email content and capturing results – retailers do not derive full value from the email channel,” it says. “Before retailers pursue integration, they must determine if their teams have mastered the basics of email marketing. Only then will brands be prepared to capitalize on cross-channel opportunities and successfully compete with those that have already done so.”

    The study also found that half of brands don’t collect email addresses via social media or in-store. Meanwhile, 17% still fail to secure website visitors’ email addresses. Over two-thirds don’t collect consumers’ addresses when they interact with mobile apps.

    Screen Shot 2016-01-11 at 10.58.00 AM

    You can find the full report here.

    Images via Thinkstock, Yesmail

  • Yahoo Said To Be Considering Sale, Unrelated Report Claims Company Has Massive Ad Fraud Problem

    A month ago, Yahoo announced that its board of directors had unanimously decided to suspend work on the pending plan announced earlier last year to spin off Yahoo’s remaining holdings in Alibaba. It said the board would now evaluate “alternative transaction structures to separate the Alibaba stake, focusing specifically on a reverse of the previously announced spin transaction.”

    It went on to say that Yahoo’s assets and liabilities other than the Alibaba stake would be transferred to a newly formed company. In other words, Yahoo would spinoff its core web business.

    Now, according to a new report from Bloomberg Business, the company is considering an outright sale. From the report:

    Yahoo still hasn’t concluded that it has to sell and hasn’t hired a bank to run an official process or contacted potential buyers, said the people, who asked not to identified because a final decision hadn’t been made. Nonetheless, there has been a shift in the internal thinking at Yahoo, in part because the company and its advisers now believe they need a new plan in light of an expected proxy fight by an activist investor, said the people.

    Obviously Yahoo isn’t commenting.

    Meanwhile, a report from CNBC has come out citing multiple sources suggesting that the company’s programmatic video ad platform (powered by BrightRoll) generates “mostly fraudulent ad traffic, and otherwise does not work as promised.” From that report:

    One company that used Yahoo’s programmatic video ad platform said it discovered 30 to 70 percent of its ads were not running in areas where Yahoo was claiming they were. Most of the problems were tied to the fact that although it was paying $20 CPMs (cost per thousand views) for pre-roll advertising (ads that appear before a video), its ads were appearing in videos inside banners, which should have only been one-tenth of the price.

    Another source said that it found BrightRoll’s traffic was mostly coming from data centers’ IP addresses, suggesting most of the ad views were nonhuman and fraudulent.

    Yahoo has commented on that bombshell, denying such claims.

    Earlier this week, reports emerged that Yahoo is facing a class action suit over alleged text message spam.

    So it’s been an interesting week for Yahoo to say the least.

    Image via Marissa Mayer (Twitter)

  • Google Faces Another Complaint From German Publishers

    Google is still battling German publishers over including their content among Google News links as it faces a new legal complaint related to a war that just won’t end.

    Will this end up with Google shutting Google News down in Germany? Time will tell.

    VG Media, a consortium of German news publishers, has reportedly filed a new complaint against the company for what common sense dictates is free traffic to their websites (go ahead and try to make sense of it). Reuters reports:

    They justified the step by saying that Google still did not want to pay to use their publications: “So bringing a civil claim before the responsible court is the only way to enforce the ancillary copyright for press publishers against Google,” the VG Media spokesman said.

    VG Media represents about 200 publishers.

    Once upon a time, the consortium pushed for an ancillary copyright law to force Google to pay for using snippets of content, but Google got around it. Eventually, Google just stopped showing snippers for the publishers in question, and then VG Media turned around and said they could again use snippets because they were “being forced to take this step because of the ‘overwhelming market power of Google.’”

    It was a head scratcher then, and it sill is.

    Google faced a similar situation in Spain and ultimately just shut down Google News. According to a study that came out last summer, the effects of that were damaging to the industry.

    Will the same thing happen in Germany? We’ll just have to see how the story plays out. So far, Google is keeping quiet.

    Image via Google

  • Yahoo Looks At Why Smartphone Users Replace Apps

    Mobile apps are a major part of how people interact with and consume digital media with the number of people using smartphones growing all the time. The app ecosystem is even playing more of a role in search now.

    There’s never been a better time to have a mobile app and get consumers to put it on their devices. That’s easier said than done, of course, and even if you do manage to get people to download it, there’s a very good chance they won’t keep it.

    Yahoo has a new study out looking at what makes people replace the apps on their phones.

    “As the app ecosystem continues to grow exponentially, app replacement has become a huge issue for developers looking to increase retention rates,” a spokesperson for the company tells WebProNews.

    According to the company, apps are replaced by nearly half of all smartphone dominant users every week.

    “To help developers and app marketers understand how they can avoid the replacement cycle and how to prevent it, Yahoo took a deep dive into this phenomena to analyze the behavior of smartphone users in the U.S. between the ages of 13-64,” the spokesperson says. “The report, released today, yields some interesting insights in regards to app longevity, drivers of app downloads, and the future of the app ecosystem.”

    It found that “app clear outs” tend to be performed at least once or twice monthly as boredom often triggers deletion. In other words, your app needs to remain relevant.

    Here’s a look at general prompts for downloading a new app:

    Screen Shot 2016-01-07 at 4.03.43 PM

    “Utilize advertising to reinvigorate app usage, as half of users would re-start using an app due to an ad,” the spokesperson says. “Optimize your presence to deliver on relevancy for the consumer, who is open to discovery via searching app stores. Encourage reviews and ratings, and set the right pricing.”

    “With the rapid adoption of larger phablet devices, the use of content apps has increased significantly. Make sure your apps are optimized to make the most out of a larger screen.”

    You can find the full report here.

    Images via Thinkstock, Yahoo

  • Some Things Businesses Should Know About Facebook Messenger

    Some Things Businesses Should Know About Facebook Messenger

    Facebook is touting its progress with Messenger, announcing that it recently surpassed the 800 million-user milestone. As Messenger evolves into a greater business tool, this massive user base is key.

    Do you expect Messenger to become a significant part of your business communication efforts? Share your thoughts in the comments.

    Facebook put out this small infographic looking at 2015 additions to the product as well as 2016 trends:

    If you look at the “features introduced” section, it really demonstrates just how much Messenger has already improved as a tool. The platform component means developers can build all kinds of useful integrations – some with business potential.

    The video calling feature can certainly be useful for internal communications, and potentially B2C communications.

    The Businesses on Messenger component is self-explanatory, but in case you missed it, this was a major announcement last year. In a nutshell, Facebook is letting businesses enable their customers to opt into communications through this channel. For a closer look at what that entails read this.

    The ability to send and receive money is also self-explanatory. While the feature is largely for P2P exchanges, he potential here is obvious, particularly as Messenger trends toward more B2C interactions.

    Faster speed, updated location sharing, virtual business cards, and M all have the ability to play notable roles in business interactions as well.

    M is the digital virtual assistant within Messenger. It’s still in testing, and Facebook considers it to be “very, very early days,” but says the growing AI capabilities are bringing “unparalleled convenience to simple, every day tasks like booking a restaurant, sending flowers, and making plans.”

    Now Facebook is even giving developers tools to build more bots to help users within Messenger.

    “2015 was a year when we made significant improvements to how we enable people to communicate. Among other things, we made Messenger blazing fast, we introduced video calling, the ability to customize conversations with colors, nicknames and emojis, and with Businesses on Messenger, we introduced a new way for businesses to engage their customers by providing them with a delightful, personal experience,” writes David Marcus, VP of Messaging Products. “We rolled out the ability to send and receive money to friends right from conversations, launched Messenger Platform for expression apps, and updated the way you can choose to share your location. We added helpful information at the top of new conversations so you always have the context of who you’re talking to if it’s not a Facebook friend, and with Message Requests, we built the foundational step of enabling you to find and talk to anyone. We also made photo sharing with friends easier than ever with our new feature Photo Magic. Additionally, we started testing M, a digital virtual assistant, and closed the year by launching our transportation platform with Uber. It was a busy year! We created all these experiences with a mindset of helping hundreds of millions of people manage their daily interactions with people, businesses, and services more seamlessly than ever.”

    In a blog post, Marcus goes into more details about each of the 2016 trends listed in the infographic.

    For the “disappearance of the phone number,” he’s basically saying that you can communicate with people in a variety of ways (text, stickers, photos, videos, voice clips, GIFs, location-sharing, sending money) without knowing a person’s phone number. I’m not sure that the phone number will literally disappear because of Messenger, but it is indeed a powerful platform for communication. No doubt about it.

    On “threads are the new apps” Marcus says, “We’re seeing a paradigm shift in how people engage. At Messenger we’re thinking about how we can help you interact with businesses or services to buy items (and then buy more again), order rides, purchase airline tickets, and talk to customer service in truly frictionless and delightful ways. It is so much easier to do everything in one place that has the context of your last interactions, as well as your identity – no need to ever login – rather than downloading apps that you’ll never use again and jumping around from one app to another. Our early tests in 2015 with brands are showing that interactions will happen more and more in your Messenger threads, so we’ll continue making it easy for you to engage with businesses, and we’ll also do more to enable additional businesses and services to build the right experience in conversations.”

    Last month, Nielsen released released data showing the top ten smartphone apps in the U.S. for 2015. Messenger was number three, and showed the fastest growth by far with a 31% year-over-year change, nearly catching up to YouTube.

    At that rate, it should easily surpass the video app in the very near future if it hasn’t already.

    If you’re on the fence about whether or not you should even think about using Messenger for business in the future, just stop and consider that for a moment.

    What do you think? Is Messenger going to make a big splash in business this year? Share your thoughts in the comments.

    Images via Facebook, Nielsen

  • Yelp Shows Users View Counts For Their Reviews

    Yelp Shows Users View Counts For Their Reviews

    Yelp announced that all users can now see how many people have viewed their reviews for the 90 days prior. This should only encourage people to post more reviews, because people love to see stats about the things they’ve done online.

    “For years Yelpers have been taking the time to share local insight knowing their reviews and photos help others find the best businesses out there,” says Yelp product manager Jake B. “Compliments let you know when someone finds your review especially useful, funny, or cool, but that’s just a fraction of the people your reviews are reaching. Now users in all Yelp countries can see just how many people are benefiting from their contributions on Yelp with the addition of total views for the last 90 days of their reviews, photos, and profile. These stats are visible only to the user and can be seen on Yelp desktop and mobile. Views are compiled from activity across all platforms.”

    “We know it’s a commitment to be a Yelper, and we’re continually grateful for the time and effort our community puts into sharing their wisdom,” he adds. “It’s fun to share your opinions, but it’s even more fulfilling to know that thousands of people are led to the best ham sandwich they’ve ever tasted, or the small bridal shop where they purchased the perfect wedding gown, or have avoided some wonky dental work, all thanks to the experiences you and your fellow Yelpers shared.”

    The company said in October that its cumulative reviews grew 35% year over year, reaching 90 million in Q3.

    Images via Yelp, Yelp’s Flickr

  • Netflix Is Now Everywhere

    Netflix Is Now Everywhere

    At CES, Netflix made the big announcement that its service is now available worldwide. It’s been saying it was aiming to complete its global expansion in 2016, but I don’t know how many were expecting it to be complete this early.

    Netflix announced it to the world in a series of tweets, to be followed by a Facebook broadcast from Chelsea Handler:


    As you’d probably expect, stock is rising.

    Image via Netflix

  • Here’s What Amazon Workmail is All About

    Here’s What Amazon Workmail is All About

    Amazon unveiled a preview of Amazon Workmail last year. It’s a managed cloud email and calendaring product that works with existing desktop and mobile clients.

    The company announced that it is now generally available in three Amazon Web Services regions: US East, US West, and Europe.

    Security features include location control, encryption of stored data, message scanning (for spam/virus protection), and policies & actions for controlling mobile devices.

    Amazon’s Jeff Bar runs down features they’ve added since the preview launch in a blog post. These include: integration with Key Management Service (KMS), certifications, regional data control, easy setup, additional client support (Apple Mail, Outlook), resource creation, and migration/interoperability. Barr writes:

    We are working on interoperability support that will allow users of Amazon WorkMail to benefit from a single Global Address Book, and to access free/busy calendar information across both environments. I’ll have more information on this feature in the near future.

    We are also working on an email journaling feature. This feature will allow you to use your existing email archiving system to capture and preserve all Amazon WorkMail communication.

    The service costs $4 per user per month. This includes 50GB of storage per user. There’s a 30-day free trial for up to 25 users.

    Image via Amazon

  • Yahoo Faces Class Action Suit Over Alleged Text Message Spam

    Yahoo Faces Class Action Suit Over Alleged Text Message Spam

    Yahoo will face a class action lawsuit related to unwanted text messages it allegedly sent to Sprint customers. According to reports, the company was ordered by a federal judge on Monday to face the suit, which claims it sent unsolicited messages to over 500,000 customers, who could potentially be part of the class.

    The messages in question were “welcome” messages received when other users sent customers separate messages using Yahoo Messenger. The lawsuit maintains that Yahoo’s welcome messages are unauthorized advertising for Yahoo and violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

    If Yahoo loses the case, it’s looking at damages of up to $1,500 per message.

    Back in October, a federal judge ruled that Yahoo would not have to face a class-action suit for violating the TCPA when Rafael David Sherman and Susan Pathman sought it, but the company’s luck changed this week with the suit brought by Rachel Johnson.

    According to Reuters, which first reported on the news, the judge declined to certify a separate class of T-Mobile customers for similar messages, claiming that these messages were consented to.

    Yahoo has yet to publicly comment on the suit.

    Last month, Yahoo relaunched Yahoo Messenger with a new design and added functionality.

    Image via Yahoo