Global Marketing News – 12th May 2016
Baidu forced to reduce number of ads in its search results
Baidu has been ordered to reduce the number of paid adverts it can include in its search results.
This is just the next step in a continuing story that started after the death of Chinese student, Wei Zexi, who died after the experimental cancer treatment he found on Baidu, didn’t work.
Following his death, Baidu subsequently came under fire for supposedly selling top medical listings to the highest-bidder, without sufficiently checking their claims.
Amongst the changes ordered by the Chinese regulators, were “ensuring that paid-for promotions [didn’t make up] more than 30% of search results per page”, and “preventing medical institutions that had not been approved by the government from being promoted on Baidu”.
The Chinese search engine has said that it will now completely overhaul its current search results so that they will be ranked by credibility in future.
Snapchat overtakes Twitter in US
Twitter has been overtaken by Snapchat when it comes to number of downloads on Android phones, in the US.
In April it was announced that Twitter was currently installed on 21.8% of Android devices, whilst Snapchat was installed on 22.7% of devices, making this the first time that the photo sharing app has found itself ahead.
Snapchat has since been noted as a rising risk for both Twitter and Facebook, with Argus analyst Jim Keller saying that he was “concerned that Twitter may be ceding potential and active users to sites such as Snapchat” which he noted worked better in the “’selfie’ era.”
However, despite Snapchats rise, it still falls behind Facebook’s collection of apps, with Facebook itself currently the most popular, being installed on 68% of Android devices, followed by its own Facebook Messenger app, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Weibo-Nielsen deal to give advertisers more data
Marketers in China have had a significant boost after Weibo agreed a deal with data management firm, Nielsen.
The new deal will enable marketers to see if their advertising campaigns on the social media site, are reaching their intended targets.
According to Nielson, it will provide a digital measurement ratings standard, created from data taken from Weibo itself.
The two businesses will work alongside Tencent, to develop a means of being able to more accurately measure ROI.
According to Wang Yajuan, vice-president of Sina Weibo, the new system will “establish metrics that can help enterprises’ transition to mobile internet.”
Often seen as being similar to Twitter in the way it promotes a micro-blogging format, Weibo has 100 million messages posted every day in China, with around a 30% penetration rate.
Due to the high amount of usage, the new deal will enable advertisers to accurately target large audiences online more successfully.
Facebook to open office in Malaysia
Social networking giant, Facebook, is to open an office in Malaysia.
Over 18 million Malaysians use Facebook every month, with over 6.5 million using the sites subsidiary company, Instagram.
Facebook’s Asian-Pacific vice-president, Ben Neary said in a blog post that “Malaysia is one of the leaders in digital adoption and innovation across Southeast Asia”, and that the country was “leading the charge in the region, and its digital transformation has positively impacted both people and businesses.”
However, the new office, set to be opened in Kuala Lumpa, is likely due to the fact that the country’s usage of Facebook is high above the global average, with Malaysians being twice as likely to like a page whilst also being likely to have 60% more friends.
Google Maps offers sneak peak at Rio Olympic venues
And finally, Google has launched an update to Google Maps, that allows users to visit the venues of the upcoming Rio Olympics.
Around 500,000 foreigners are expected to visit Brazil in the summer, and Google have aimed to make the maps as useful as possible for visitors.
The content is accessible through either your phone or desktop and includes full maps of all the venues, that include toilets, different floor levels and information desks amongst other features.
Users can also enter the venues virtually and use the newly implemented 360-degree view of some of the events venues, including the Maracanã Stadium in Rio.
This new feature comes not long after a real-time transit information update was added to the app, for the host city.
Webcertain’s global marketing news bulletins are daily 5-minute videos, providing marketers with the latest international digital marketing news in an easy-to-digest format.
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Gemma Houghton
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