Bloomberg Media and Twitter has just launched TicToc by Bloomberg — “the first-ever 24/7 global news network built for a social media platform that targets the next generation of on-the-go, mobile-first news consumers.”

TicToc by Bloomberg combines the global news gathering capabilities of Bloomberg’s 2,700 journalists and analysts across 120 countries, with the digital power and immediacy of Twitter, one of the world’s fastest and primary news distribution channels.

So how does it work? Here’s how the official word describes the offering:

The first iteration of TicToc by Bloomberg will feature a mix of live video and reporting from Bloomberg journalists around the world, as well as breaking news content from consumers, curated and verified by Bloomberg editors with a real-time distillation of the related conversation on Twitter. The news experience is designed to be interactive, rich with Twitter content and consumable on any device. Coverage will focus on general interest news worldwide.

“We’re seeing a shift in the media landscape today: more content companies are partnering with platforms to create hybrid businesses that better serve consumers and society. With TicToc by Bloomberg, we’re fusing the best of Bloomberg and Twitter to build a fast and credible modern news experience,” said Bloomberg Media CEO Justin B. Smith. “The launch of this new network further reinforces our strategy of driving innovation through exciting new products and services that touch a broad audience around the world.”

Seven sponsors have signed on as the Founding Partners of TicToc by Bloomberg: AT&T Business, CA Technologies, CME Group, Goldman Sachs, INFINITI, SAS, TD Ameritrade. TicToc by Bloomberg will feature branded native content and unique integrations woven into the video programming, created by Bloomberg in partnership with each sponsor.

“We know how critical education and information are to the investing process. And, in today’s fast-paced world, consumers want the latest news at their fingertips, in their format of choice, from a source they trust,” said Francie Staub, managing director of integrated and digital marketing at TD Ameritrade. “That’s why we’re so excited to work with Bloomberg as it reimagines the mobile newsroom – leveraging cutting edge technology to help create a more informed, confident investor base.”

To learn more or to check it out, click here.

The post Bloomberg Media and Twitter Launch 24/7 Global Social News Network appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

“For more than a decade, people have used social media to express themselves and inform and engage users across the globe. Now, a new study by Florida State University researchers examines the impact rising temperatures have on Twitter activity, and how government officials use the social media tool to warn the general public of heatwave conditions,” reads a statement emailed to MMW.

FSU doctoral student Jihoon Jung and Assistant Professor of Geography Chris Uejio co-authored the paper published in the International Journal of Biometeorology.

The big discovery? Researchers found in Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York City that as temperatures rose, the number of temperature-related tweets increased.

“If more agencies start to include social media and tap into what people are actually experiencing in real time, they can improve their extreme heat early warning systems,” Uejio said. “We are also hoping that these government groups will start to include more health information in their social media messaging.”

As the official report summary explains, extreme heat early warning systems are comprehensive programs where government officials communicate with the public and take actions such as opening cooling shelters or emergency distress lines that people can call if they have heat-related problems.

“A purpose of this study was to improve those early warning systems,” Uejio said.

The post A Tweet to Beat the Heat? New Report Reveals Hot Social Media Trend appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

As eMarketer puts it, “Twitter faces a conundrum: At a moment when its platform is more visible and influential than ever before, key measures like revenues and usage appear to be stuck in neutral.”

Then there’s Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who had to admit on the company’s fourth quarter earnings call — which revealed global revenues up a mere 1 percent while U.S. revenue declined 7 present — that influence and making bank are two different things.

“The whole world is watching Twitter,” Dorsey said. “While we may not be currently meeting everyone’s growth expectations, there is one thing that continues to grow and outpace our peers: Twitter’s influence and impact.”

Twitter’s recent popularity is proving to be a harsh mistress. Its visibility could be turning many users and many brands away from a venue they now view as potentially dangerous. In fact, eMarketer pegs Twitter’s user base will grow a paltry 1.9 percent in 2017 — and predicts that rate to decline further in successive years.

Could it be that politics and brand advertising don’t mix?

“Ironically, Twitter’s high visibility in a charged political environment could actually be a liability,” notes eMarketer. “The company has tended to rely on brand advertising for much of its revenues, and brands are skittish about being associated with controversy of almost any type, political or otherwise.”

Skittish about controversy? Whoo-boy. That could be a problem, unless someone near the Oval Office deactivates certain Twitter accounts soon.

The post The Downside of Popularity: Despite Visibility, Twitter Revenue and Growth Are Flat appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Twitter snapped up Vine in 2012. That was right before the social video app was due to launch.

“In a post on Medium, Twitter did not provide a reason for the shutdown, but the social networking service has been unable to find a buyer and continues to lose money,” reported the Boston Globe, Ahead of the weekend.

User content may be safe for the moment.

“You’ll be able to access and download your Vines,” the company said in a post Thursday. “We’ll be keeping the website online because we think it’s important to still be able to watch all the incredible Vines that have been made.”

Mostly, Twitter is concerned about strengthening Twitter — its user base has stalled and buyout rumors abound — and Vine has likely become a project deemed unworthy of further effort and expense. However, Vine did boast more than 200 million active monthly users whose engaged audiences watched more than 1.5 billion “loops” (Vine’s term for video plays) per day.

“We have a clear plan, and we’re making the necessary changes to ensure Twitter is positioned for long-term growth,’’ CEO Jack Dorsey said in a company release.

The post Bye, Bye Vine: Twitter Announces End of Its Video App appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

“According to sources close to the situation, Google does not currently plan to make a bid for Twitter,” the report explains.

While the search giant has been among the buyers considered most likely to be a contender for social communications company, those familiar with the deal said that the company was not moving forward with an effort to buy it at this time.

Sources connected to Recode have reportedly admitted the same about Apple.

CNBC says that Apple is also “unlikely to be one of the possible suitors, with one saying Twitter should have ‘low expectations’ of getting an offer from the tech giant.”

The most vociferous chatter regarding a takeover of the microblogging giant had been reserved for Salesforce in recent days. But even that speculation has diminished some as this week rolls along.

In a chat with MMW on Wednesday,  Juan Margenat, COO of Marfeel, a mobile ad tech company, suggested that Disney may profit from an acquisition of Twitter.

“Disney and Twitter may prove to be a powerful combination with Disney as a traditional media company and Twitter as a media tech company,” Margenat tells us. “Twitter is the fastest news distribution network and appeals to a younger generation and with their new video apps may support Disney’s ABC news and ESPN to create a dynamite empire that engages millennials more than traditional TV.”

The post Google, Apple Not Interested in Twitter appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

As it turns out, it matters for many reasons. “As a platform, Twitter is short, sweet, and to the point,” the infographic’s creators write. “That’s what makes it the perfect fit for marketing.”

As for other compelling reasons in depth? Check out the visual below to see for yourself.

The post New Infographic Probes Why Twitter Matters to Marketers appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Now Twitter wants to help that happen more. Global advertisers can now use conversational ads and a brand-new ‘Instant Unlock Card’ that encourages people to Tweet to unlock exclusive content.

“Conversational ads contain compelling images or videos that include call-to-action buttons with customizable hashtags,” explains Twitter’s blog. “The new Instant Unlock Card builds on this by incentivizing users to Tweet by offering access to exclusive content (e.g., a film’s trailer or an exclusive Q&A) after the Tweet is sent.”

The formats — exclusive to Twitter — make it simple for consumers to help spread a brand campaign message.

“It’s a powerful way for advertisers to extend their presence across Twitter,” notes the social media site. “During the beta, brands saw an average 34 percent earned media rate. That means for every 100 paid impressions, an advertiser receives 34 earned impressions.”

In tandem, Twitter has introduced advanced analytics — via a Watchlist feature — so brands can track conversational ad units and see how they perform.

“Even more campaign insights are available to all global marketers through Brand Hub’s Watchlist feature,” noted Twitter. “See how many people are Tweeting your campaign hashtag, how many impressions your campaign earned, and check out the most influential Tweets. Select US advertisers can also track the impact conversational ads have on their TrueVoice score, a metric to help track share of brand conversation in real time.”

Want more details? The specifics of this program are available by visiting ads.twitter.com.

The post Boosting Brand Banter: Twitter Introduces Instant Unlock Card appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest contributed post from Bernard Perrine, co-founder and CEO of SocialCentiv.

With 145 million users signing on in just five years, a Twitter presence for businesses is a necessity and a Twitter marketing strategy essential. Here are the top four elements to keep in mind when developing a Twitter lead generating marketing campaign that results in real time ROI:

Geo-location: Using geo-location is a great way to create Twitter campaigns that zero in on a specific region. Using Twitter users’ profile location to target them ensures they are in the area for the campaign and are more likely to respond, as the outreach is relevant to them.

For instance, a clothing store in Columbus, Ohio, offering shoppers a discount via Twitter is useless for people in Denver. But by targeting users within a few miles of the shop, the owners will likely see a dramatic increase in traffic.

Keyword targeting: A well-thought out Twitter lead generating marketing campaign will have a list of relevant keywords (keywords on Twitter are more conversational than those used for SEM/SEO) to watch for that indicate when a user may be interested in that product, offer or call to action. For instance, someone tweeting about needing more caffeine would be in the market for a free coffee or coupon to a coffee shop.

These are necessary to set up and establish before starting a campaign to know what words will indicate an interested user. Keywords can be found using services such as Google’s Keyword Tool.

A burger shop, as an example, may target keywords like “hungry,” “burger,” “lunch” and “dinner,” while a clothing shop may look for keywords such as “shopping,” “dress,” “blouse” and “shoes” or even “I need a new look.”

Social listening: A large part of developing and executing a successful Twitter marketing lead generating campaign is paying attention to the social landscape. This involves monitoring what is trending, what target audiences are interested in and what topics are currently top of mind. This ensures whatever content is being developed for the campaign is relevant and current.

It’s basic social media monitoring. If it’s summertime and everyone is talking about wanting cool beverages, it wouldn’t do much good to offer a discount code for hot chocolate. Integrating trending hash tags within a target audience into timely tweets can keep the promotion relevant and top of mind. At the end of the day, social listening helps marketers gain a better understanding of their target markets and how to more effectively tap into those specific interests.

Response time: This is a simple yet crucial element in a Twitter marketing lead generating campaign. When brands are timely with their promotional tweets or replies to users, it increases the possibility of a person seeing the message and taking action before that tweet is lost. Because Twitter moves at such a fast pace, brands should respond sooner rather than later in order to catch users while they would still be interested.

If a consumer is Tweeting about wanting a burger for lunch or commented on how she needs a new pair of shoes for an event that day, a matter of hours can make a big difference. It doesn’t do much good for a company to Tweet a burger offer to someone in the middle of the afternoon when the person was in the market earlier in the day or wait until the next day to share a shoe offer with someone when the event was the night before. Remaining timely on these campaigns is key, because it increases the likelihood the user is still in the market for that product or service.

Developing and executing a Twitter marketing campaign takes time and dedication but can yield impressive results. These elements fit together like pieces of a puzzle, and taking the time to ensure they are all in place can turn a moderately OK campaign into a highly successful one. Customers are on Twitter and ROI can be reached in real time if approached in the correct manner.

The post The ABCDs of Twitter Lead Generating Marketing appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The advertising partnership, a provided statement to MMW reads, will provide access to campaign-based analytics and custom research, strategic advertiser tools and resources, and first-to-market advertiser innovation in 2016.

For example, LeEco will be one of the first brands from China to get access to First View, a new video-based advertising product from Twitter, to reach a global audience.

Twitter’s new First View helps marketers achieve improved audience reach with exclusive ownership of Twitter’s most valuable advertising real estate for a 24-hour period.

In short, when users first visit the Twitter app or login to twitter.com, the top ad slot in the timelines will be a Promoted Video from that brand. Now, marketers can tell a powerful visual story across the Twitter audience.

“Twitter has been helping Chinese companies go global for well over a year and we’ve seen export advertiser adoption grow exponentially. We are pleased to partner with LeEco in their digital transformation journey as a globally recognized brand,” said Aliza Knox, Vice President of Online Sales for Asia Pacific and Latin America at Twitter. “As one of the few digital marketing platforms with a global audience reach of over one billion people, Twitter is a strong partner for Chinese companies like LeEco that are targeting overseas markets and we can be their live connection to global culture.”

The post LeEco Teams with Twitter for Global Brand Expansion appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Ng is being tapped to drive sales in new markets and expand the company’s current programmatic capabilities to burgeoning social media platforms like Twitter.

Under Ng’s leadership, Manage says it is creating a “single mobile advertising platform for marketers to access and buy high quality mobile in-app and social channel inventory.”

From an announcement being released by the company on Tuesday:

Ng brings to Manage deep expertise in programmatic and social marketing. Previously, he served as head of mobile app promotion at Twitter, where Ng was responsible for growing the mobile app download business revenue by more than 100 percent year-over-year spanning mobile gaming, mobile commerce, travel, retail, finance, media and entertainment sectors. As general manager and vice president for mobile advertising solutions at Criteo, Ng built a global team and brought to market the company’s mobile offering both pre and post IPO. Ng also led business development and global partnerships at data management platform Blue Kai, which was later acquired by Oracle, as well as served in leadership roles at eBay and Yahoo!.

We’re told that Ng holds an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a B.S. in applied economics and management from Cornell University.

The post Exclusive First Look: Manage Taps Former Twitter Executive as CEO appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.