Just a year ago, Twitter hopped the pond and opened its first London office. Today, the service has 10 million active users in the UK and that number is growing. An overwhelming 80 percent of UK Twitter users access the service via a mobile device.

In the never-ending contest for top dog in the search world, we continue to bring you updated reports on how the major search engines are faring. In April, Bing’s share of U.S. searches grew to 30 percent, up 5 percent from the previous month and 11 percent from the previous year. Yahoo’s share of the search market continues to drop. In April, Yahoo’s search share fell to just 13.5 percent according to comScore; Experian Hitwise’s figures show it with 15.7 percent of searches.

To update readers on an issue we highlighted last week, Apple successfully acquired the domain iphone5.com after filing a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization. Previously, the domain was owned by a company in Wilmington, Delaware, and was used as a forum for discussions about the company and rumors about the newest version of the iPhone.

Facebook has been in the spotlight a lot this week regarding today’s IPO – and rightfully so. In April, 9 percent of all U.S. internet visits were to Facebook. Each day, Facebook is averaging more than 229 million visits! That’s almost as many visits as stories that have been written about the IPO.

At Internet Week New York (#iwny), the New York City government announced a new tech job directory, called Made in NY, that lists jobs from hundreds of local tech firms. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been adamant about growing New York’s tech industry, made the announcement Tuesday.

At RepEquity, we’re big users of GoogleDocs. On Tuesday, Google added a research pane to the docs that will allow individuals to use Google Search directly from the document to find information on certain topics (instead of having to open another window or tab). To add a finding to the document, you can just drag and drop the image, map, etc. onto the page. We can’t wait to try it out!

It seems that many people who use Foursqure are reluctant to also use Facebook Check-Ins. Now, Foursquare has made it easier for users to share their locations and check-ins on the social network. When Foursquare users send their info to Facebook, the check-in will automatically appear on their timeline maps – making it easier than ever for the Internet to know your every move.

And finally, something that we’d like to print out and distribute to clients – an illustrated list of server response codes. Happy Friday!

Remember when Facebook bought Instagram for one billion dollars? Well it seems that they weren’t the only party interested in the photo-sharing app. The Federal Trade Commission has spoken with both Twitter and Google following Facebook’s acquisition. While it’s not clear why the FTC wanted to speak to these social networks, rumors have indicated that they were also interested in bidding for Instagram. This knowledge may be the reason why Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg completed the Instagram deal so quickly and quietly.

As more companies begin to offer easy mobile-payment services, some countries are more prepared for the technology than others. According to MasterCard’s Mobile Payments Readiness Index (MPRI), the most prepared markets are in Singapore, Canada, the United States, Kenya and South Korea.

Domain name squatting is something we’re quite familiar with here at RepEquity. Engaging with someone who owns a domain name you’re after can be a seriously frustrating process. If you’re a company like Apple, though, it’s a lot easier. The company recently filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization, a United Nations agency that protects intellectual property, including cases of alleged cybersquatting. Apple asked the agency to shut down and hand over the domain iphone5.com

No more complaining when Google+ outranks your Facebook profile! According to a report (commissioned by Google) from professor Eugene Volokh, an expert on constitutional and Internet law, search engines are legally allowed under the First Amendment to give priority to self-promoting results in search. Google says it does not prioritize its own products in search results, but that the Google products appear in search results because they’re either the most relevant results or because they offer data relevant to a search query.

Are today’s Millennials the most engaged or distracted generation? According to Adora Svitak, a 14-year-old author, educator and speaker at last week’s Mashable Connect, today’s kids, teens and young adults are more engaged than ever. Mashable has a great article on the topic.

Next to complaints about Facebook’s ever-changing design are gripes about the network’s policy changes and updates. This week, Facebook aggregated all their policies and updates into once section, the “Facebook Terms and Policies Hub” located at www.facebook.com/policies. The topics mentioned cover Facebook’s privacy policies as well as the company’s position on controversial Internet topics like hate speech, bullying and intellectual property.

As Google and Apple continue to move in separate directions regarding their mobile devices, Apple has announced that it will replace Google Maps with its own product that it has developed after years of acquiring smaller mapping companies. The new maps will debut with iOS 6, expected later this year.

Contrary to popular belief, plenty of people are visiting Google+ on a regular basis. In March, the social network grew to 61 million users, a 27 percent increase from February. It’s still unclear how much time users are spending on the site. comScore reported that users only spent an average of 3.3 minutes on Google+ in the entire month of January.

What’s the busiest and most successful day for Facebook advertisers? The answer may surprise you. According to an analysis of the 66 billion ad impressions during the first three months of 2012, people are more likely to click on ads on Saturday more than any other day of the week. Monday is the slowest day for Facebook ads.

Want to buy an app from a developer? Soon, it may be as easy as visiting eBay. Apptopia is a marketplace where developers can sell their apps to interested buyers; the site will help the seller transfer everything, including ownership rights, code and more, but will take a 15 percent cut of the sale. Apptopia reports that the average app on the site sells for $7,500.

Earlier this week, the Maryland General Assembly voted to make it illegal for potential employers to ask individuals for their Facebook or Twitter passwords. A similar bill is expected to be introduced to the U.S. Senate in the coming weeks.

Say you take $200 and divide it evenly between advertising on Facebook and Google. Which will get more exposure? According to one industry leader, Facebook ads will reach 15 times the number of people and will receive 35 times the exposure than ads on Google for the same price.

This may not come as a surprise to some, but a study funded by Netpop Research shows that users with a higher number of Facebook friends tend to spend more time on the site. But it’s not just Facebook, according to the study. People with more Facebook friends tend to check email and other forms of communication more often as well.

A recent ABC and Washing Post poll shows that 82 percent of those surveyed (around 1,500 people) view Google favorably. Twitter was decidedly less popular; 36 percent of respondents said they view the service as unfavorable. Twitter also had the highest number of respondents (31 percent) who said they “don’t know” how they felt about the company, indicating that adults may not be familiar enough with Twitter to make an opinion.

Ever feel creeped out by search engines? With the introduction of personalized search results based on what sites you’ve visited and what you’ve shared via social media, it can sometimes seem like the search engines know you better than you know yourself. One company asked “Is Personalized Search Getting Too Personal?” and organized the answers into an attractive infographic. Take a look over at Search Engine Journal.

Since the official launch of Facebook Timeline, there have been some conflicting reports on exactly how much more (if any) engagement brands are seeing on their timelines.  Miranda with Search Engine Watch picks apart some conflicting reports.

Thirty-eight anti-trafficking organizations, including the National Association of Human Trafficking Victim Associates (NAHTVA), are accusing Google of profiting off illegal ads promoting female trafficking. Google responded to a bi-partisan letter from Representatives Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) in a statement indicating that the company is working with “law enforcement and other government authorities” to prevent human trafficking ads from appearing on Google web properties.

Pinterest’s growth since launch in March of 2010 has been exponential. In January, there were 21.5 million total visits to the site; 30 time the number of visits the site received in the previous six months.  In fact, the site now ranks as the United State’s third most popular social network after Facebook and Twitter.

Finally! This week Google announced that Adwords users now have the ability to target customers in more than 30,000 ZIP codes. Advertisers will be able to add up to 1,000 zip codes at a time. In addition, Adwords introduced Location Insertion, which lets advertisers with multiple locations create one ad and have information inserted depending on the user’s query or location.

Social media is helping some of America’s craftiest bartenders bring about a “Golden Age of Cocktails.” “Social media has helped fuel this great movement of cocktail culture. It’s allowed me to travel to other cities and have the work laid out before I show up,” says one bartender. Read the full story over at The Next Web. Is it happy hour yet?

Two online marketers were shut down Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission for selling weight-loss products on fake news sites. The two companies, Coulomb and Copeac, will be fined millions of dollars for misleading consumers. An FTC statement said that, in the future, companies will have to “make clear when their commercial messages are advertisements rather than legitimate journalism” – an important message for marketers to note whether you’re selling acai berry weight-loss supplements or not.

If you’re looking to increase the number of accounts you follow on Twitter, Time Magazine has your answer. This week, the magazine’s social media editor compiled a list of Twitter feeds that are influencing conversations online in 2012. It consists of exactly 140 accounts, appropriate given the number of characters available for tweets.

It’s springtime again, which means college seniors are graduating en masse. But be careful when you’re hiring – a recent study revealed that 92 percent of college students admitted to lying on their resumes. What should businesses do to avoid this? Look at a job-seekers LinkedIn profile; people are less likely to lie online according to researchers at Cornell University.

Do you ever wonder why people may choose not to follow you back on Twitter? Mashable has a list of eight possible reasons why – including that you may have some sort of polarizing aspect in your bio. Make sure to read and adjust your profile accordingly.

As Google tends to favor its own properties more and more, the difference between taking the time to optimize your YouTube video and not could have drastic effects. This week, Ragan’s PR Daily offered a fantastic step-by-step SEO guide for YouTube videos – a can’t-miss for individuals who are promoting their videos and pages without help from an SEO agency.

While the 2014 World Cup in Brazil is still more than two years away, organizers (namely, FIFA) are taking steps to integrate the tournament into mobile and social arenas. This week, FIFA launched a YouTube channel that will feature items like highlights from past World Cups, media events and more leading up to the tournament. The Brazilian national tourism board has also launched a mobile game app that they hope will help visitors to the country become familiar with the 12 cities hosting World Cup games in 2014.

And lastly, RepEquity is happy to announce that we launched our Facebook Timeline this week. If you’re not a fan yet, we’d love if you liked us over there. Happy weekend!

While many Americans are wholly unfamiliar with QR codes, there is some promise. Among those who frequently scan QR codes it is interesting that the highest percentage of scanners are not in the youngest age groups. In June of last year, 37 percent of those who had scanned QR codes were between the ages of 25 and 34. The next closest age group is 35 to 44, comprising 20 percent of those who had scanned a code. Eighteen to 24-year-olds make up 17 percent of the group. Men are more likely to scan a QR code than women, but their lead is shrinking.

As the use of QR codes becomes more common, best practices for QR marketing are needed. In addition to lack of default QR readers, placement of QR codes can also be a barrier to engagement. When selecting a location for a code, marketers should consider the time it takes someone to grab their smartphone from their pocket, purse or briefcase, start their QR reader, and scan the code. Bad locations for QR codes should seem obvious: moving buses, trains, cars, and trucks; billboards on the side of the road (in the absence of pedestrian traffic); on websites; and anywhere that’s out of reach (too high or too low).

Good placement of QR codes involves a little more creativity. Marketers should put themselves in the shoes of an on-the-go person in their target market.  Where are they going?  How fast are they moving, or are they standing in one spot?  Are they likely to slow down long enough to notice the ad, let alone scan the QR code?  What is their mindset?

A great place for QR codes is where people are waiting or congregating, like a bus shelter or subway platform (although underground locations can pose a connectivity problem). Other placements to consider are newspapers, magazines, and catalogs; consumers generally spend a significant amount of time engaging with these types of publications.

Once marketers have decided where to locate their QR codes, serious conversation and thought should go into the design of the ad or announcement. Even if an ad is located in a great area where people are spending a lot of time and are interested in their surroundings, bad design can turn them away or even worse, not catch their attention at all.  QR codes that measure less than one inch square are likely to be overlooked and may not be scannable by QR readers currently on the market. A QR code can be nullified if a piece of artwork or text is placed on top of the code.

Ads with good design incorporate QR codes prominently and make it so that a passerby can’t miss the advertisements. The most important part of the ad is a clear call to action. With so many Americans being unfamiliar with QR codes, the call to action is especially important for unfamiliar or first-time users.

David Bone, our Director of User Experience Design, says “snap” is his favorite call to action accompanying QR codes. Matt Hageman, RepEquity’s Associate Design Director, prefers “scan,” a term that indicates the user must do something more than just ‘snap’ a picture of the code. An ad without a call to action runs the risk of giving away too much information and leaving passersby wondering why they need to scan the QR code.  Research conducted by Nellymoser, a mobile marketing and technology company, indicated that by Q4 of 2011, over 70 percent of QR codes were accompanied by calls to action that described what would happen after the codes were scanned.

Conversely, an ad containing little additional information besides a logo and a QR code could pique the curiosity of those who see the ad.  For example, this campaign from the School of Visual Arts is currently running in the New York City Subway. People are compelled to scan the code because of the poster’s lack of detail. A disadvantage here, of course, is that there is no cell service in the NY subways, meaning that unless the person scanning has an app that saves the QR code, the use of a QR code here will be useless.

One industry that is actively experimenting with QR code marketing is the food industry.  A fantastic application for QR marketing is being tested in South Korea by UK-based grocery store Tesco’s Home Plus. Working with advertising agency Cheil Worldwise, the company installed supermarkets inside some of the country’s largest subway stations. But instead of acting like a traditional supermarket, shoppers use their phones to select goods. Tesco hung large images in the stations that looked like the shelves of a grocery store. Each item pictured was accompanied by a QR code. Once consumers scan a code, that item is added to their virtual shopping cart. From within the app, they can submit a payment and schedule a home delivery of their groceries. Since it began, the virtual grocery stores have attracted 10,000 customers and boosted the company’s online sales by 130 percent.

This application is a smash hit because it works well and fits consumers’ needs. Working adults around the world are busier than ever. If marketers can use QR codes to provide services that help people save valuable time, the power and popularity could be limitless. On the way home from work, the last thing I want to do most of the time is trudge to the grocery store to pick up dinner. If I could purchase ingredients on the commute home and have them on my doorstep when I arrived, I would be a repeat customer without a doubt.

General Mills, parent company of Jolly Green Giant, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, and producer of a large line of cereals, is another leader in QR marketing. Mark Addicks, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, hopes to further engage and entertain consumers through updated package design and the use of QR codes. Currently, Addicks is focused on using QR codes on one of our country’s most widely read mediums: the cereal box.

“Because of the digital technology that resides in people’s hands… we can now deliver content that engages and enhances the experience,” he said in an interview with USAToday. “You point to a logo and things start to appear… you might see entertainment and games coming from a cereal box. What I’m hoping for is pure entertainment.”

Addicks’ desire to entertain consumers is unique. Today’s QR codes lead users to many different locations; some are designed to entertain while most aim to educate or entice buyers. As QR marketing becomes more defined, it will interesting to see the correlation between where (or to what) a QR code leads and the conversion or usage rate. Many QR codes in use today lead to websites or social media profiles; they usually don’t provide enough of a benefit to create returning customers. And in the worst iterations, QR codes send people to non-mobile websites.

In the future, we’d like to see marketers get more creative. QR codes could lead to short videos that educate viewers about a company or product in an entertaining way that fits on their smartphone screens. QR codes could also be used to enter the user into a contest or make a donation. Coupons are a great idea, even though widespread use and acceptance may be farther away.

Details and statistics on the conversion rates of QR codes are slim; reporting is difficult to standardize because the codes lead to a variety of pages. Some studies do indicate that people are displeased with QR code marketing as it is today. In a study conducted by Minneapolis marketing firm Russel Herder, only 31 percent of respondents reported that what they received in return for their scan was always or usually worth their time; 17 percent said scanning was rarely or never worth their time.

There are two main barriers to the widespread adoption of QR codes. From one angle, advertisers are assuming too much of the people who will scan their codes.  Codes are used without ample thought regarding design of the ads or resulting mobile content. On the other hand, until QR readers are default technology and QR codes are standardized, the general public will be slow to really “get” the idea of QR codes.

Bone suggests that the lack of QR code standardization in marketing and design, along with the comical implementation of these codes, could prevent critical mass adoption in the U.S. Perhaps it’s the companies that give us our own personal QR code, like Starbuck’s mobile apps, which will get us to adopt QR code usage, rather than marketers catching us with our phones in our pocket.

Direct Connect was announced in 2011, giving Google+ brand pages a leg up on Facebook Pages, Twitter, and other branded profiles. The link appeared just under the search box, so it essentially it acted like a search result above the search engine page.

However, a member of our search team thinks it will be rolled out to all major brands participating on Google+ once there’s more overall adoption. This post makes it pretty clear that Google+ is a critical initiative for the company.

From the money.cnn link above regarding Google+:
“That turned into corporate priority No. 1 when Larry Page took over as the company’s CEO. ‘Social’ became Google’s battle cry, and anything that didn’t support Google+ was viewed as a distraction.”

Google told Search Engine Land the following prior to the recent change:

“We’re continuing to experiment with the ways we can help you find and interact with the people you’re looking for or who may be related to the topic you’re searching for.”

It’s important to note how this, once again, alters the paid search landscape. Prior to this “experiment” for select brands mentioned above (for now) the right sidebar of the results was mainly dedicated to paid search advertising.

You can check out some of Google’s other major changes in recent years, which we’ve made every effort to stay ahead and keep you informed of: Google OneBox, Plus Box, Direct Answers & The 10-Pack.

If you find any other examples of branded “recent posts” being favored in the search results we’d love to hear about them below.

Last year, Google disabled more than 130 million ads that were offering fraudulent services, selling counterfeit goods, or otherwise taking actions that categorized them as scams. This was a 50 percent reduction in bad ads from previous years due to Google’s improved technologies and detection methods.

Smashing Magazine took a look at some of the current web design trends that are on the verge of morphing into an epidemic. Have you been caught using some of these fads, like 19th-century illustrations or zig zag borders? Visit the Smashing website for the full list.

Think that social media is a trend that has just exploded in the last several years because of Facebook and Twitter? Think again. Social Times is featuring an infographic that highlights social media sites dating back to 1960!

“We hear a huge influx of people saying, ‘How can I get someone to help me create an infographic or a dashboard or an interactive visualization?’” says Visual.ly creator Stew Langille. Visual.ly, which launched this week at SXSW, aims to be the Microsoft PowerPoint of infographics, allowing anyone to create data-filled and visually exciting pieces.

Two weeks after Facebook’s announcement of timeline for pages, one in four brands has launched an updated, customized page. All of the site’s 37 million brand pages will convert to the new layout on March 30 automatically.

YouTube changed its video suggestion algorithm this week so that instead of recommending videos based on the number of people who clicked on the videos, it will now recommend videos that were watched for the longest amount of time. This means that a 5-minute video that people watch for just 1 minute is less likely to be suggested than a 1-minute video watched for 50 seconds.

Oops! At a SXSW session this week Google’s Matt Cutts let a comment slip about Google starting to penalize sites for “over optimization.” Cutts said that Google was “looking for those who abuse it, like too many keywords on a page, or exchange way too many links or go well beyond what you normally expect.” We’re not quite sure what this change will entail, but we’ll be on the lookout for more information.

Like a recent update to Google Analytics, Facebook Page administrators will soon be able to see real-time activity on their page. Once the feature is rolled out, admins will have instant access to real-time results for metrics including People Talking About This, Engaged Users and Reach. This comes as part of Facebook’s preparation for its $5 billion IPO.

A new comScore report reveals statistics about Google+ that you won’t likely hear from Larry Page himself. In January, the Google CEO announced that the social network had surpassed 90 million users. This large number is due, in part, to Google’s decision to include Google+ account creation in the signup process for new Google users. The comScore report shows that those 90 million people aren’t hugely interested in what the search giant has to offer by means of social networking. Users are only spending a total of three minutes per month on the site, a statistic that encouraged The Wall Street Journal to call the Google+ a “virtual ghost town.” Search Engine Journal has some other interesting statistics related to the report.

Yesterday, FBI Director Robert Mueller warned a group of cybersecruity experts that hackers and online attacks could replace terrorists as the biggest threat to America. While counterterrorism remains the FBI’s top priority, the agency has also placed cyber defense division in every FBI field office. These groups are trained to identify digital crime from mortgage fraud to terrorist recruitment drives.

According to a new Pew report, the percentage of adults with smartphones has grown 11 percent in the past nine months. The number of adults using smartphones now accounts for roughly 46 percent of the market; 41 percent own devices that are not considered smartphones. This marks the first time that smartphone ownership has surpassed other cell phones. Surprisingly, 12 percent of those surveyed by Pew reported having no cell phone…

Studies have shown that there is a threshold for how long website visitors are willing to wait for a page to load. That number use to be two seconds, which seems rather quick. More recent research, according to an article in the New York Times, says that a significant number of users drop off if a page hasn’t loaded in 400 milliseconds, the time it takes to blink an eye.

A firewall outage this week in China resulted in millions of Internet users gaining access to websites that are usually blocked by the government’s strict controls, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The firewall, down on Monday and Tuesday, was working again by Wednesday.

According to a blog post by YouTube this week, the caption functionally for videos has been widely extended. There are now over 155 supported languages for manual captions and subtitles. Users now have the option to select automatic captions and transcript synchronization. For YouTube users who are feeling creative, font size and color can now be selected from the caption settings.

In a long overdue move, Facebook is finally rolling out verified accounts. Like Twitter and Google+, users must still use their real names in order to qualify for a verified account, but they do have the option of submitting an alternate name (Lady Gaga would be required to sign up using her birth name, Stefani Germanotta). Strangely, Facebook will not display a badge or any other icon indicating that the account has been verified.

Podio, an online work and project management platform, is popular in the RepEquity office, so the recent announcement that it will incorporate Google Docs into their features was well received. In its announcement, Podio indicated that the inclusion of Google Docs was one of the top feature requests from the 40,000 companies currently using the platform.

In a new report about social recruiting activity it appears that LinkedIn still leads Twitter and Facebook in job recruiting. It is important to note, though, that the study only focused on activity by recruiters and not individuals searching for a job.

Just when the hoopla of Facebook’s IPO died down, another expected IPO is making headlines. Yelp has reported that its $100 million IPO is set for March 2. The company will sell 7.15 million shares to the public for between $12 and $14.

A month after Facebook allowed third-party apps to integrate into its timeline feature, the social network is creating new usage for non-gaming apps likes Pinterest, Yahoo and Myspace.