Releasing his creation for free 30 years ago, the inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, famously declared: “this is for everyone”. Today, his invention is used by billions – but it also hosts the authoritarian crackdowns of antidemocratic governments, and supports the infrastructure of the most wealthy and powerful companies on Earth. Now, in an effort to return the internet to the golden age that existed before its current incarnation as Web 2.0 – characterised by invasive data … [Read more...] about Tim Berners-Lee’s plan to save the Internet: give us back control of our data
Guest Post
Digital hoarders: we’ve identified four types – which are you?
How many emails are in your inbox? If the answer is thousands, or if you often struggle to find a file on your computer among its cluttered hard drive, then you might be classed as a digital hoarder. In the physical world, hoarding disorder has been recognised as a distinct psychiatric condition among people who accumulate excessive amounts of objects to the point that it prevents them living a normal life. Now, research has begun to recognise that hoarding can be a problem in the digital … [Read more...] about Digital hoarders: we’ve identified four types – which are you?
Why the gig economy fits well with the lives of Baby Boomers
We Baby Boomers are benefiting significantly from the gig economy, says author, speaker and optimist Tim Drake. Not just as consumers by it providing lower prices and more convenience, but as participants too. It’s an important bolt-on to something bigger, he says, enabling new ways of doing business to emerge, and a fresh outlook on what ‘work’ is. But is it something we should think about taking a much more active role in? Baby Boomers fit into what I call Generation Cherry. Indeed, that … [Read more...] about Why the gig economy fits well with the lives of Baby Boomers
Ad-blockers: naughty or nice?
The issue of ad-blocking, and its impact on sustainable revenue, has been simmering for quite a while says guest author Justin Maxwell, founder and CEO of microdonations and micropayments platform tibit, who suggests one way of addressing the problem head on. Some recent events have pushed ad-blocking into boiling territory over these past couple of months, first with Apple allowing ad-blocking apps into their app store, and then Yahoo trialing a system where some ad-blocking users found … [Read more...] about Ad-blockers: naughty or nice?
Idle thumbs: Why commuters are the best audience
A guest post by Simon Bailey, CEO of Axonix, an advertising technology company backed by Telefonica and Blackstone. Any marketer worth their salt knows all customers were not made equal, and that's particularly true of commuters, where getting the bus or train into work is now a prime opportunity to check our smartphones and tablets to catch up on the latest news, gossip and games. With the average number of devices set to exceed four per person by 2020, we're increasingly reliant on the … [Read more...] about Idle thumbs: Why commuters are the best audience
Mobile can grow, but publishers are losing out on revenue
A guest post by Simon Birkenhead, CEO of Axonix, an advertising technology company backed by Telefonica and Blackstone. Facebook recently announced its Q3 results and, for many in the industry, the most headline-grabbing statistic was that mobile ads now make up an incredible 66% of the social network’s total advertising revenue. And yet, I reacted to the announcement with little surprise. After all, it shouldn’t be news to anyone that mobile advertising is growing at a remarkable rate … [Read more...] about Mobile can grow, but publishers are losing out on revenue
Factory Media talks Programmatic and Native Advertising
Guest author Chris Talintyre is Head of Audience Development & Activation at Factory Media and talks about the power of understanding huge audiences in real-time and the opportunities it’s bringing to leading brands targeting sports enthusiasts. As consumers increasingly share content, it’s creating a huge amount of data to analyse giving us insight on not just our readers (think boarders, skaters, surfers, BMXers) but their friends, colleagues and contacts. We can better understand and … [Read more...] about Factory Media talks Programmatic and Native Advertising
If you want my data, reward me
At the moment, we provide our personal details free to data-gathering giants like Facebook and Google. That won't always be the case, says guest writer Daniel de Bruin. Data security promises to be one of the main issues facing organisations in 2014. During the past year two main threats to data security have emerged. First, inadequate and weak security mechanisms have been used by most organisations. Second, it has been revealed that government security agencies have gained access to a vast … [Read more...] about If you want my data, reward me