Latest News

One of the world's biggest providers of Internet classified advertising abruptly shut down the "adult services" section of its U.S. Web sites this weekend, apparently in response to criticism from prosecutors that it had become a tool for prostitution.
But it was unclear whether Craigslist - an icon of the new media transformation of American society - had closed the site to placate those critics, or to hit back at them, casting itself as the victim of censorship. On its famously bare-bones Web sites, the blue-lettered link for adult services was gone. It had been replaced with a black box, containing one word: "censored."
Craigslist's usually outspoken leaders gave no explanation for their move and no signal as to whether it would be permanent. Last year, the site increased the screening of these ads after authorities in New England said a man had killed one woman and attacked two others he'd contacted through Craigslist.
On Craigslist sites in other nations, the "erotic" sections remained open.
The site's critics greeted the change with praise and wariness.
"They lack either the will or the wherewithal to effectively screen for prostitution ads. Which is why we [said] to them, 'Shut down the site,'" said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D), one of 18 attorneys general who made that demand in a letter to Craigslist last month. He added, "we hope that their example in doing the right thing will lead others to follow them."
The long-running battle over Craigslist's "adult" or "erotic" ads - which can be thinly veiled as advertisements for a massage or can contain explicit photos and text - illustrates the complexity of policing the Internet. On one side is an iconoclastic company defending what it sees as a major virtue of the Web: the ability to create a self-regulating virtual commons. On the other are prosecutors and anti-prostitution activists who say that the anonymity of the online world can be a great vice.making it easier for people to exploit women and children in the real world.
By choosing the word "censored," Craigslist seemed to signal that the battle will continue, said Jason Schultz, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
"Maybe what [Craigslist is] trying to do is raise the other side of the issue, which is that there's serious First Amendment, freedom-of-information issues" on their side, Schultz said. "This seems to me completely adversarial, still."
Craigslist began as an e-mail newsletter in San Francisco in 1995, and grew into a hub for free classified ads that has more than 700 local sites around the world. The company says it has more than 50 million users in the U.S., competing with The Washington Post and other newspapers for classified ads in their circulation areas.
Most of the site's ads can be placed for free. But "adult" ads cost $10 apiece, and there are enough of them to bring in about $36 million in revenue estimated early this year - about a third of the company's total - according to a recent analysis by the Advanced Interactive Media Group.
But both prosecutors and anti-prostitution groups say these ads have become a bazaar for prostitutes and pimps. Instead of taking the risk of meeting customers on the street, the activists say, they can arrange visits in hotel rooms.
(Source: Washington Post) 

 Egypt Yellow Pages Ltd, the Local Search Company, announced this week that the number of visits per month on Yellow.com.eg surpassed the 1-million mark.
At times, Yellow.com.eg is witnessing over 50,000 visits in one day, says Egypt Yellow Pages Ltd management. As well, more than 70% of the visits are transactional, meaning that seven of 10 of these direct searches lead to users making purchases.
The more than 1 million visits to Yellow.com.eg are substantially supported by a string of strategic partnerships that Egypt Yellow Pages Ltd has signed over the past year. Notably, Egypt Yellow Pages Ltd is now partnered with NAVTEQ, NOKIA, Al Masry Al Youm, Otlob.com, Ticketsmarche, ccegy.com, Hotel Reservation Service Ltd, and Akhbarak.net.
“Our new strategy over the past year is certainly paying off,” says Marc Lambert, Regional Managing Director for Egypt Yellow Pages Ltd. “We see a direct correlation between our aggressive pursuit of online partnerships across all business sectors and the significant rise in visits to Yellow.com.eg,” he added.
Based in Maadi, Cairo, Egypt Yellow Pages Ltd is the official publisher of Yellow Pages-branded products in Egypt. Egypt Yellow Pages Ltd is the exclusive owner of the Yellow Pages™, Walking Fingers & Design™, and Yellow.com.eg™ trademarks in Egypt, and is supported by over 400 employees and 12 regional offices throughout Egypt. Yellow Pages distribution surpassed 370,000 print directories in 2009, as well as delivering millions of page views on Yellow.com.eg electronic properties. 
(Source: PR Urgent)

When Eduardo Mandri and a group of entrepreneurs started Tuango.ca last June, they were one of only three offering daily deals for businesses and events in Montreal.
By the end of this year, there will be eight such companies, and the space will get even more crowded next year.
Tuango is based in Old Montreal, and competes with Toronto-based Teambuy.ca, and Guelph, Ont.'s StealtheDeal.com. In the next few months, Yellow Pages will launch competing ventures, with English and French offerings. Four other companies are also looking to establish themselves in this rapidly growing market.
The trend is called group buying, or social buying, and it was made popular by the wildly successful Chicago-based company Groupon.
Group-buying companies come to agreements with merchants to get a large number of people to try out their services, at heavily discounted prices (typically from 50 per cent to 90 per cent). They offer deals like $50 worth of goods for $25, which can be bought on the group-buying websites. There must be a critical mass of people buying the deals for them to be honoured.
The payoff for retailers is they can tap into the vast networks of the group-buying companies and reach a new clientele. The groupbuying companies generally get 50 per cent of the value of the deal, so in the above case it would be $12.50 per coupon sold.
Usually, retailers working with groupbuying companies are local ones, with limited advertising budgets, but Groupon recently had a national campaign with the clothing store The Gap, which was a huge success, evidence - group buying is more - just a fad.
Groupon, - started in 2008, - on pace to - $500 million in revenue this - and is valued now at about $1.35 billion. It could be the fastest company to achieve $1 billion in revenue, outpacing giants like Google, Amazon and Priceline.
Mandri, one of the entrepreneurs behind the website travelalerts. ca, said he started Tuango because there appeared to be a void in the Montreal market. Although Groupon is present in 22 countries, and has established a presence in Toronto, it has yet to come to Montreal.
"It required a lot of investment to start it up," Mandri said. "It looks simple, but we had to get the technology, we had to hire salespeople and get them out there, and we had to spend a lot of money on online advertising."
Mandri said so far he's surprised by how quickly the business has grown. About 40,000 people subscribe to Tuango.
He said the company is turning a profit, and plans to expand to offer deals in Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver.
Mandri is also preparing his company to face stiff competition in the coming months. This year, Yellow Pages Group bought the website Redflagdeals.com, and plans to launch a feature called Deal of the Day through the site next month. The French daily deal will be offered on the paid classified site LesPac. com.
Other upcoming new entrants in this sphere are locally based iget.it, ilovemtl.ca, rabaisdujour, and Washington D.C.-based Livingsocial.com.
Derek Szeto, the founder of Redflagdeals.com, said group buying has become a hot sector because the business model is easy to replicate in any market. He added that the group-buying companies also tap into a market that had until recently been reluctant to spend on online advertising.
"For small businesses that generally don't spend a lot of money online advertising, this is a very effective way to do that with a low risk," Szeto said.
Sebastien Provencher, an entrepreneur, social media guru and former head of online strategy for Yellow Pages, said the concept was tried in 1999, but failed miserably. He said the advent of social networks has helped spread messages quickly, and now people can find out about a deal in a matter of minutes. He said the recent recession also created perfect timing for the launch of a discount-based company.
"People have been looking for deals, and merchants have been trying to find new ways to market more efficiently," Provencher said. "With group buying, you get customers who are sure to come to your store and buy something."
He said because of the deep discounts, companies don't make a lot of money, but they're betting on getting repeat customers, or hoping that customers will spend over and above the discounted rate.
Provencher said group buying isn't revolutionary, but it is game-changing.
"It's essentially an evolution of the coupon concept," Provencher said.
"It's a new option that small businesses will be able to use as a tactic to bring people to their stores."
He added that he expects traditional media companies like newspaper publishers will start their own ventures or buy out existing ones, because group-buying sites are now " eating their lunch."
In the coming months, Provencher expects such mass media companies as Quebecor, Gesca and Transcontinental to launch group-buying initiatives in the coming months or years.
"They must be thinking about it," he said. "It makes sense for their business models."
And it's a good idea for Yellow Pages to get into this market because it already has an extensive marketing strategy, and good brand recognition, Provencher said. He added this will allow the company to diversify its revenue, rather than relying on annual subscriptions.
(Source: Montreal Gazette)

More than 300 million consumers around the world will have used mobile coupons by 2014 and this usage will generate a redemption value close to $6 billion globally, according to a forecast and report by Juniper Research.
The report, “Mobile Coupons & NFC Smart Posters: Strategies, Applications & Forecasts 2009-2014,” predicts that as more and more users acquire smart phones, the apps revolution will continue to trigger growth of new mobile coupon services, especially in developed markets. In turn, consumers will exploit the improved capabilities of their devices, especially to save money.
“We found that with the growth of smart phones, a growing number of coupon-specific downloadable apps are being launched, often linked to location based searches.” said Howard Wilcox, senior analyst at Juniper Research. “For example, when you are in the mall and you have your smartphone on you with your downloaded coupons app, then you should be able to find your way to a good offer nearby.”
The research points to the fact that mobile coupon campaigns sent using location based applications can be much more effectively targeted than the scatter-shot approach of traditional coupons.
However, the report also identifies several constraints. For example, some users are concerned about their privacy and could be reluctant to share their mobile number to participate in coupon schemes for fear of spam and fake coupons. Despite this and the lack of progress on NFC coupons because of the poor availability of near-field-communication (NFC) phones, the mobile coupon usage is still set to triple over the next 5 years, Juniper said.
Additional findings:
1. ARPU from NFC coupons and smart posters will exceed ARPU from NFC payment transactions.

2. The vast majority of mobile coupon redemption value will be generated by the Far East & China,

3. Western Europe and North America in 2014.
The vast majority of the current users are QR code and FeliCa-enabled phone users in Japan. 
(Source: Marketing Charts) 

Sensis has this week given Aussies the ability to opt-out of receiving White and Yellow Pages phone directories using an online portal called "Directory Select".
"It's an online extension of a service we provide over the phone already ... should [people] wish to not receive a White or Yellow pages. It's a service where you can order books or cancel deliveries," said Sensis corporate affairs manager Stephen Ronchi.
The web interface allows you to choose which books you would like delivered and which you would prefer not to receive as Sensis looks to provide more choice for those who use online and app-based phone directories and those who need a physical book.
"It's not about moving people online or offline, we recognise that there are millions of people using print and millions of people using online services. We feel it's important to give people a choice," Ronchi said. 
(Source: ZDNet)

Facebook's goal for its new Places feature may be even more ambitious than we realized. Facebook wants to be the central platform for location data across all Web services, a company spokesman said today at a New York Times developer conference.
The statement reinforces the image of a world where the majority of the population is catalogued in Facebook's growing database. The long-term vision for Facebook Places is starting to take shape: Facebook wants to dominate the location-based Web.
Facebook demonstrated that it wants your profile to be your identity on the Internet with Facebook Connect (see Facebook Wants to Be Your One True Login). Basically, it now wants you to add location to that identity.
Covering the basics
Places is restricted to basic location-confirmed check-ins - who is where, when - shunning mayorships and badges and leaving any sort of advertising up to third-party developers. This minimalist functionality leaves out some of the fun out of checking in, but it makes sense if Facebook's plan is simply to place its 500 million users on a dynamic map.
And Facebook hopes that soon, any app developer who comes up with a new location-based service will turn first to Facebook's massive trove of data.
Early projections
The full manifestation of Facebook Places is still five to ten years out. The feature is available to all users in the U.S., but not everyone is using it.
For one thing, Places requires users to check in from a GPS-enabled device, but less than a third of Americans have smartphones, according to Nielson. That's changing rapidly - Nielson estimates that half of Americans will own a smartphone by the end of 2011.
Trusting Facebook with location data
And all this is contingent on people sharing their location information with Facebook, of course. That's no guarantee given the company's history of privacy slip-ups (see The Facebook Privacy Debate: What You Need to Know). But whether people use the service will depend on how much utility they get from it, as it did when Facebook introduced the News Feed feature. Users initially rejected the change, it now drives much of the activity on the site because it's useful and fun.
Users, developers and advertisers should all be excited for the possibilites for location-based services, from social shopping and rewards programs to real-time travel guides. The question is whether Facebook can persuade its users to trust it with their location data. Users might prefer to give their location data directly to individual applications, or another company might rise up to collect this data.
What do you think? Are you ready to trust Facebook to handle your real-time location for the apps of the future? 
(Source: ReadWriteWeb)