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VKontakte App Banned From Google Play Store

By Elin Box on July 16, 2015

Global Marketing News – 16th July 2015

VKontakte app banned from Google Play app store

VKontakte’s app has been removed from the Google Play app store.

VKontakte is Russia’s most popular social network, with 85 million users, out of a total Russian population of 144 million.

The app is believed to have been removed following a copyright infringement complaint from one of 3 major music companies – either EMI, Sony Music or Universal Music.

VKontakte allows users to create and share music playlists, and third-party apps that allow users to download this music are freely available.

This is not the first time VKontakte’s app has been removed from an app store over music copyright issues.

In 2014, the app was removed from the Apple App Store on 2 separate occasions for this very reason, once for a few hours and again for a period of 90 days.

The app’s removal from the Google Play store may be more problematic, however, as Google’s Android operating system is the most popular OS in Russia.

Android’s loss may be the Russian government’s gain though, with the government having just announced plans to develop a local operating system. To help this project get off the ground, it will also be providing grants to app developers if they produce apps for platforms other than Android or iOS.

Social media use in South Korea drops dramatically

Research by Macromill Embrain and KPR Social Communication Research Lab has revealed that social media use in South Korea has dropped dramatically over the last year for several key social networks.

Over 200 social media executives were asked which social media channels their companies used in 2014 compared to 2015.

They found that Facebook usage dropped from 98% and 87%, Twitter usage dropped from 63% to 49%, YouTube dropped from 62% to 42%, and blogs dropped from 78% to 67%.

Pinterest, Google+ and Flickr also fell in popularity, although they started from low base points.

Two social networks did see increases in popularity, however. Instagram usage went up from 9% to 25%, and local network KakaoStory also went up, from 33% to 42%.

Around 27 million people use social media in South Korea, which is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world.

Global content marketing growing rapidly

Global content marketing is growing rapidly, according to research by PQ Media.

Amongst the catgories that have seen the most significant growth in the last 5 years are branded videos, articles, mobile apps, social media sites and sponsored events.

Revenues generated by content marketing companies went up by 14% in the first 6 months of this year, following a 13% increase last year.

Digitally-based content marketing has seen the fastest growth, with a 28% increase in the last 12 months.

Global content marketing revenue totaled 145 billion US dollars last year, with this figure expected to reach 313 billion US dollars by 2019.

Most content is being produced in the US, followed by Germany, Japan, the UK and France – with South Korea being the fastest growing market.

Wimbledon demonstrates how to do social media well

And finally, Wimbledon embraced social media this year, and its efforts generated substantial interest online.

It was active on Twitter, Vine, Periscope and Instagram.

On Twitter, it uploaded videos of current and older matches and interviews, and monetised on these videos using Twitter’s Auto Amplify tool. It also worked with Twitter to produce new emojis that appeared when a user tweeted #Wimbledon.

On Vine, it produced a variety of videos, including interviews with players, time-lapses of the crowds, and landscape shots of the skyline. It also employed a similar strategy on Instagram, posting a wide range of photographs, which typically got thousands of “likes” each.

On Periscope, the live-streaming video service, tennis star Roger Federer presented a 17-minute tour walking around the Wimbledon grounds, answering questions from viewers in real-time.

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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Elin Box

Content Marketing Manager at Webcertain
Elin is a Content Marketing Manager at Webcertain. She is responsible for Webcertain’s Self-learning platform, producing in-depth guides on a range of international digital marketing topics. She also helps run the Webcertain blog and is the writer of the Webcertain search and social report, an annual report summarising digital marketing best practices in over 50 countries. She is passionate about educating and empowering people to make the best decisions for their business and is proud to help share Webcertain’s wealth of digital marketing knowledge with the world. Elin is from the UK.

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