Twitter proves itself a killer app for local businesses
Naked Pizza, a New Orleans pizza shop, has been marketing itself via microblogging service Twitter with great success. It recently began to track Twitter and found that an exclusive-to-Twitter promotion brought in 15% of the day's business. The owner is now working with Twitter to beta test some applications for small businesses, reports AdAge. AdAge, 18 May 2009
Huffington Post in diatribe against direct mail
In article entitled "Junk mail's endless summer" the Huffington Post says the US Postal Service "has turned itself into a junk mail delivery service". As the cost of a first-class stamp increased to 44 cents last week to help the USPS stem its losses (2nd quarter net losses: $1.9bn), the direct mail sector was given a break to help increase mail volumes. "You could be paying as little as 14 cents if you were sending junk mail to total strangers," HuffPost says. "Telemarketing calls at dinnertime used to annoy us too, but the Do Not Call Registry put an end to that. We can do the same for junk mail," HuffPost says, adding a link to the US Do Not Mail website. Huffington Post, 12 May 2009
Time to elect our Information Commissioner
In the database society, the Information Commissioner will be one of the main bastions of defence against excesses by the state and private enterprise. We should be able to elect him, argues The Guardian. The current holder of the role packed out the biggest hall of the QEII conference centre with interested parties. The Guardian, 14 May 2009
US casino industry driven by database marketing
America's $90bn a year gaming and casino industry is significantly driven by database marketing but could owners more accurately identify and predict which of their regular customers will lose the most money? Wharton faculty members have created a mathematical model, which identifies the most lucrative customers. Forbes, 14 May 2009
Australian Do Not Call list expanded
Sensis's Yellow directory could be one of the brands hardest hit by the Australian government's decision to expand its Do Not Call register to take in business and fax numbers. More than 2.3m private numbers have been listed on the register since it was launched two years ago, with the intent of preventing them from being contacted by telemarketers. The Australian, 18 May 2009
Google identifies search pattern on mobile phones
A Google search/GphoneGoogle study points to mobile search patterns linked to Apple's iPhone and smart phones running Android, which could change advertising and behavioural targeting for mobile search, reports Mediapost. The research suggests that iPhone searches mimic computer-based search behaviour in terms of query length, diversity and repeat search behaviour. Mediapost 11 May 2009
Database of all children launched
A controversial database which holds the details of every child in England has become available to childcare professionals for the first time, reports the BBC. ContactPoint, a response to Lord Laming's report following the death of Victoria Climbie, has been delayed twice amid data security fears. BBC 18 May 2009
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