Global Marketing News – 7th December 2015
Belgium sets Facebook precedent for Europe
Facebook has agreed to stop tracking non-users in Belgium.
The announcement comes one month after a Belgian court ordered Facebook to stop tracking users who are not members of the social network.
The order relates to a Facebook cookie that tracks the activities of anyone who visits the website, regardless of whether the person is logged in to the social network or not.
The cookie gathers information such as which pages the user visits and how long they stay on each page.
Belgian law says that this counts as “personal data” and that companies must have explicit permission from users before gathering such data – something that is not the case for non-members.
Facebook has said it will now stop tracking non-users and will endeavour to delete all cookies that are already tracking non-users.
It will also require people to log in in order to view any content on the Facebook site.
The social network has said it will appeal the ruling in the meantime, arguing that the cookies are necessary in order to protect the security of user accounts.
It is possible that data protection watchdogs all over Europe will be looking at this case with interest. Privacy commentator Paul Bernal spoke to the BBC on the matter, saying: “Belgium isn’t applying Belgian law, it’s applying European law, so if they’re applying it in Belgium why shouldn’t they apply it everywhere in Europe?”
New social network Tale launches in US
The Japanese social messaging company Line has just launched a brand new social network aimed at the US.
The social network, called Tale, allows users to post text, images, videos and links along with hashtags.
These posts can then be given positive or negative ratings by other users in a manner similar to Reddit.
To use Tale, users can either set up a Tale account or log in using their Facebook account.
A spokesperson from the company explained how the social network works, saying: “Discover a vibrant community behind each of the trending hashtags displayed on the app’s main screen. When you submit content of your own, include up to three hashtags to help others locate your post.”
Baidu teams up with Amazon in China
Baidu, the leading search engine in China, has teamed up with Amazon in the country.
Baidu will now be the default search engine on Amazon Kindle and Amazon Fire products. It will also distribute Amazon’s video content in the country.
The online video market is hotting up in China at the moment.
Baidu’s tech rival Alibaba recently bought Youku Tudou, the most popular online video platform in China with around 500 million monthly active users.
The international giant Netflix is also set to enter the Chinese video market later this year.
Mobile usage growing rapidly in France
Mobile usage is growing rapidly in France, according to research by Omnicom Media Group and SFR.
Over half of web traffic now comes from mobile devices in the country, with the average French household now containing 3.2 mobile devices.
79% of respondents said they went online using their smartphone every day, with 62% saying they went online using their mobile several times a day.
The top activities on smartphones and tablets were different. Checking emails was the most popular activity on smartphones, whereas using search engines was the top activity on tablets.
Dutch online ads site sees 1 billionth posting
And finally, the most popular classifieds website in the Netherlands recently saw its 1 billionth posting.
Marktplaats, which operates in a similar way to eBay but is focussed on the Dutch market, has been running since 1999.
It reached the 500 million ad milestone in 2011 and has now achieved another 500 million ads just 4 years after that.
The billionth listing was an advert for a drum kit from a user in Rotterdam.
Marktplaats has around 7.3 million monthly users, with around 4 ads being posted on the site every second. The average Dutch citizen posts 7 ads on the site each year.
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.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Cal O'Connell
Latest posts by Cal O'Connell (see all)
- Facebook to decrease visibility of business posts - January 16, 2018
- Naver criticised for manipulating suggested search terms - January 9, 2018
- Google Launches Google Go App For Emerging Markets - December 8, 2017
