RepEquity BlogRepEquity Blog

Twitter announced this week that the social media service would be adding a designation to tweets that may contain sensitive information. The ability to flag tweets will only be available on those containing links and when someone flags a tweet as possibly sensitive, other users will see a warning in the media details pane of the tweet to warn users before they click through. This option will give Twitter users more control over the information they see and prevent any embarrassing situations at the office.

The top five airline companies have a combined 2,566,000 fans on Facebook. Southwest holds 65% of that total, or approximately 1,667,900 Facebook fans. As more airlines and travel companies move online, they’re finally seeing traffic online translate to a growth in website traffic. In fact, 69 percent of all travel companies saw traffic growth from Facebook and 46 percent saw traffic growth from Twitter. TechCrunch posted an infographic this week with these statistics and more.

Not only was Apple named the world’s top vendor of smart phones this week by Strategy Analytics, but we learned that the tech giant now has more money in reserves than the United States government. Strategy Analytics reported that Apples accounts hold a balance of $75.9 billion. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the U.S. government has a current operating balance of $73.8 billion. Continue Reading…

Last Wednesday I had the privilege of attending my first industry networking event here in DC. Months ago, when moving to the city was just a hope and a dream, I began following the Twitter account of the Social Media Club’s DC chapter. The group holds a variety of events, from panels on corporate blogging to happy hours – something for everyone! Wednesday’s event was the group’s Summer Social, hosted at the chic restaurant and chocolate shop Co Co. Sala. For this month’s event, SMCDC had partnered with ScoutMobDC, a new website sharing local deals through their mobile app. [The great thing about ScoutMob is that you don’t have to pay beforehand… and there’s nothing to print!] There were stick-on mustaches and watermelon juleps abound (and, of course, I got to talk to some pretty neat people).

I was honored to meet SMCDC President and UNC alumna Rachel King, who was so kind to stop and speak to fellow Tar Heels for a few moments. We talked a little about what we did and how we got to our current positions. Even though Rachel is several years older than me, it was nice to hear that we shared the same reaction to our jobs: “They’re paying me to do this?! But it’s so fun!” Continue Reading…

Inside Facebook released a list today of the most liked pages on Facebook. Number one? Facebook, of course. Zynga, Eminem, YouTube and Rihanna round out the top five.

In the third quarter of 2011, Apple reported $28.57 billion in revenue, a ridiculous amount on its own. These third quarter profits, though, pushed Apple over the $100 billion mark in revenue for the last calendar year – the highest amount of annual revenue the company has ever seen. That’s a whole $30 billion dollars ahead of Microsoft, who earned $69.94 billion in the past year. Pocket change, right?

Ninety-seven percent of Google’s revenue comes from advertising, according to an article posted on the Blue Fountain Media blog. For those businesses and individuals using Google’s AdWords (like many of our RepEquity clients), that means it is important to take another look at the cost of your PPC keywords to avoid giving away your hard-earned dollars to the media giant. Keywords to avoid: Insurance ($54 per click), Loans ($44), Mortgage ($47), Attorney ($47) and Credit ($36). Continue Reading…

As mentioned in a previous blog post, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will begin accepting applications for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) on January 12, 2012. By most estimates, the domain space will increase as never before and some groups fear that cyber squatting abuse will rise with this expansion.

The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) has recently drafted a letter asking for the U.S. Congress to reexamine existing cyber-squatting legislation, and the Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) from 1999. In the words of the organization:

“In order for the ACPA to be effective today and in the future, it needs to be revised to make cyber-squatting unprofitable and too risky to undertake. CADNA’s campaign aims to spur Congress to sufficiently improve ACPA before domains in new gTLDs become available for registration – this way, cyber-squatters in .COM and other popular extensions will be forced to return or delete infringing domains and abandon the practice before they have the opportunity to expand into the new gTLD space. CADNA believes that resetting the bar in this way will lessen the burden on trademark owners because there will be less urgency to register their trademarks defensively in new gTLDs like .NYC, .MUSIC and .ANYTHING else that comes to light.”

What are your views on this most recent move by ICANN? Do you support CADNA? Do you see this new opening will become a new outlet for nefarious internet activity?

• Since its June 28 launch, 10 million users have already registered on Google+, according to CEO Larry Page. Several tracking websites are reporting that between 73 and 87 percent of those 10 million users are male. Regardless of gender, Google+ users are sharing approximately one billion items per day.
• In 2010, email open rates fell to 17 percent on average, a loss of nine percentage points from 2009’s average of 26 percent. The tech sector recorded the lowest average of email open rates last year, according to an article published by Marketing Profs.
• Publishing your businesses blog? The highest percentage of users read blogs in the morning (men, however, are more likely to read them in the evening or at night). The average blog gets the most traffic on Monday; Mondays and Thursdays are the best days for inbound links. Find more blog posting facts here. Continue Reading…