Nokia Corp. is jumping into the social networking market, establishing a presence right here in Emerald City with the acquisition of Twango Inc.
Twango, which is currently comprised of just ten people lets users store and share photos, video and other media online, all for free. What makes Twango different from other media services is that it combines a wide array of media, and allows anyone to access files without having to sign on. According to co-founder Serena Glover, Twango also makes it easy to upload files from a variety of devices, including mobile phones.
Nokia considered about 75 companies offering similar services before deciding on Twango, said Gerard Wiener, vice president of mergers and acquisitions in Nokia’s multimedia group. Twango stood out in part because of its founders. They are Microsoft Corp. alumni who are photography enthusiasts and also well versed in Internet services, Wiener said. Nokia will rely on them to evolve the service as the market demands, because such social media and content services tend to require evolution to keep thriving, he said. [24×7]
MSN adCenter Demographics: Let Us Use them With Parameters
At the Search Engine Strategies Travel Show held last week, Microsoft Search Media Analyst Janine Patrick, reminded those assembled at the Marriott Waterfront from Hilton Hotels to TripAdvisor, that adCenter demographics can allow advertisers to target age, gender, and geographic location in their search campaigns — something Google and Yahoo! have yet to touch.
I could not resist asking the obvious follow-on, at least obvious to me as one of the first certified MSN adExcellence members in the the Pacific Northwest, why the demographic features have not been tied to MIcrosoft parameters.
Imagine, for example, if you could use adCenter demographic targeting and incremental bidding, and that the system would allow you to customize the parameters of your MSN-Live Search ad so that it displayed a customized message tailored exclusively for the user profile being targeted. Such is the power of demgraphic mining IF the result can be combined with targeted message delivery. “An excellent idea!” Janine praised, and she will see that it finds it way to the product develpment team. [24×7]
