Retailers use social media to advertise Black Friday deals

May 5th, 2009 Recession forces new focus in e-commerce marketing NEW YORK — Online retailers are shifting their marketing from traditional advertising to less expensive tools like Facebook.com and Twitter and e-mail as they seek market share or just work to retain customers, according to an industry study being released Tuesday. Conducted by Internet analysis firm Forrester Research for Shop.org — the online arm of the trade group National Retail Federation — the survey found that merchants believe online business is better suited to withstand an economic downturn than physical stores or catalogs, though they acknowledge challenges for both.

October 8th, 2009 KnowEm is the new buzz in the social networking media that filters unclaimed usernames at 120 social media sites. Well, social media is expanding and too soon you would see all media going social.

April 21st, 2009 LONDON - Comedian Ashton Kutcher has beaten American news giant CNN to become the first user to have a million people following his updates, or 'tweets' on social-networking website Twitter. The 31-year-old challenged CNN earlier this week to see who could be the first to attract a million followers and promised to donate 10,000 mosquito nets to charity for World Malaria Day if he won and 1,000 if he lost, while the broadcaster agreed to do the same, reports the Daily Mail online.

January 31st, 2009 BANGKOK - Thailand's Culture Ministry is urging authorities to crack down on a rising trend of Thai students using the internet for prostitution, media reports said Sunday. Culture Minister Theera Salukpetch asked the education ministry, the communications technology ministry, police and internet service providers to increase their vigilance against website prostitution, which he blamed on faulty values among the country's youth, The Nation newspaper reported.

February 13th, 2009 Social media and social networking have become an indispensable part of our lives. There is hardly any web-addict who is not crazy about at least one social media or social networking site.

June 11th, 2009 IAC to shutter Web site aimed at black community NEW YORK — IAC/InterActiveCorp will shut down the year-old RushmoreDrive, a search engine geared toward the black community. Spokeswoman Stacy Simpson said Wednesday that the Barry Diller-led Internet services company will close the site Friday after an unsuccessful effort to sell it.

August 21st, 2009 Court: Yahoo's LAUNCHcast not 'interactive'LOS ANGELES — A federal appeals court in New York says Yahoo's LAUNCHcast music service is not "interactive" enough to require separate licensing deals with recording labels. The 2nd U.S.

October 5th, 2009 Ask.com mines online coupons with new aggregatorSAN FRANCISCO — Ask.com hopes to persuade consumers that are fond of discount Web sites to bring their bargain hunts to its search engine. On Tuesday, Ask is rolling out Ask Deals, a service that will let visitors search for online coupons and bargains that it indexes from several dozen popular coupon Web sites, along with retail Web sites, message boards and blogs.

September 21st, 2009 Travel brands and deals on Twitter: Who to followNEW YORK — What are you looking for when you follow a travel brand on Twitter? News? Deals? Exclusive offers? And which Twitter travel feeds are the most popular? DealBase.com researched airlines, hotels and booking sites on Twitter and found that of the brands surveyed, JetBlue's Twitter feed had the most followers mid-September with 1.2 million. Of the Travel booking Web sites DealBase looked at, Travelocity had the most followers with nearly 25,000 and among hotels, Marriott had the most followers with more than 15,000.

October 26th, 2009 LONDON - A recent survey done in the UK has revealed that the cost to the economy due to use of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook by office workers during office hours could be over 1.38 billion pounds per year. The survey on 1,460 office workers commissioned by Morse, an IT services and technology company, found that more than half of office workers used these social networking sites for personal use during the working day, and admitted to wasting an average of 40 minutes a week each.

January 23rd, 2009 VATICAN CITY - An appeal by Pope Benedict XVI to the new 'digital generation' marked Friday the Vatican's launch of its own channel on video-sharing internet site, YouTube. New media technologies including the internet are helping 'create a great family that knows no boundaries,' Benedict said in a video posted on the new site.

September 2nd, 2009 AP Sources: YouTube may offer online movie rentalsLOS ANGELES — YouTube, Google Inc.'s online video streaming service, is in talks with Hollywood studios to rent new release movies online, according to people familiar with the talks. The move follows similar deals by Apple Inc.'s iTunes and others.

November 10th, 2009 Stryker set to acquire OtisMedKALAMAZOO, Mich. — Implant maker Stryker Corp.

September 17th, 2009 EBay calls on EU to change luxury brand rulesBRUSSELS — EBay Inc. called Thursday on the European Union to change antitrust rules that allow luxury manufacturers to choose who can sell their branded goods online.

June 3rd, 2008 What happens when too many social networking sites are taking you away from real life? The first video has a hilarious take on the issue. Kind of explains why people flock to MySpace, when their real life sucks in comparison.