Global Marketing News – 16th May 2016
Google declares war on payday loan sites
Google has taken the step to ban all payday lenders from its sites.
Any loans which are due within 36 days or with an interest rate of over 36%, will not appear on the company’s search results.
Google’s director of policy, David Graff said that the intention was to ensure that “fewer people were exposed to the misleading or harmful products”.
Whilst it is not the first time certain industries have been banned from the site, with weapons and tobacco both banned, The Online Lenders Association called the decision “disappointing”.
The Association went on to say that Google is presented as a site to “help give users full access to information”, but was instead was denying users the chance to find advertisements from legal businesses.
Ultra-high interest loans have been criticised in the past for targeting less affluent people, and aiming to trap them in a cycle of borrowing.
Study reveals how marketers should target US women
A survey in the United States performed by Fluent LLC shows a disparity in how marketing companies target women and how they prefer to be targeted.
The survey showed that 73% of women in the US receive marketing messages directed specifically at women over the internet, whilst 74% of those questioned said they would prefer to be targeted by gender neutral campaigns.
With over 1,400 women questioned, all over the age of 18, only one quarter said that they preferred marketing that was aimed directly at women.
Fluent also looked at how differing age ranges of women use social media or email marketing as a tool, finding that users between 18 and 29 were more up to 7% more likely to sign up to receiving emails or follow a favoured brand on social media.
South Africa amends online censorship plans
In March 2015, the South African government announced that it would changing its newly-launched policy on monitoring online publications.
The new policy meant that any online publishing run from the country, including YouTube or personal blogging, would have to pay the South African Film and Publication Board a fee to then vet any material published.
However, the organisation released an updated policy this week following much criticism from within and outside South Africa.
The new document now excludes any user generated content, admitting that the level of user content is far too numerous to police practically, and that it would have no say over any user content published in other countries.
The new remit differentiates between professional and amateur content, meaning that online films and videogames are still open to be targeted by the new law, but as an example of amateur production, user generated content is not.
Weibo sees surge in profits in Q1 2016
The microblogging portal, Weibo, has helped China’s Sina Corp swing to a profit in the first quarter of this year.
Sina Weibo saw its profits surge from 96 million US dollars, to 119 million US dollars in just twelve months, which is over the company’s projection and likely helped by the 25% increase in marketing that Weibo ran over the last year.
This resulting increase in profit is what has helped boost to its parent company Sina Corp’s profit over the same period.
Sina Weibo is currently the most used social network in China, having a 56% of the country’s internet users as active users on the site.
Yandex Maps to include pedestrian routes
And finally, Yandex has upgraded its Maps application to include pedestrian routes as well.
Following in the footsteps of Google, the app, which is available on PC’s as well as Android and iOS devices, will have the new option available to users in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Taking into consideration trip length and duration, it will also take into account traffic areas in order to keep the pedestrian away from harm on the roads.
Currently available in cities, Yandex.Maps will use data provided by users themselves to create its pedestrian routes.
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Cal O'Connell
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