This week the remnants of last week’s global cyber attack has continued to hold news. A security blogger known as ‘MalwareTech’, managed to halt the global attack by accidentally finding a hole in the software code. The blogger found the web address attached to the malware unregistered and bought it for eight pounds! This allowed him to see where the computers were accessing it from, instantly triggering a code to halt the spread. Elsewhere, AI maintains a strong position in media news, particularly on the subject of Chatbots and voice-activated devices. Juniper Research predicts Chatbots will save UK businesses £6 billion every year until 2022, the areas of predicted savings are in the healthcare and banking industries. Whilst in connection to voice-activated devices, Amazon remains dominant as American Express has launched payment using Alexa and the new ‘Echo Show’ starts shipping next month.
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As always, please share anything you find interesting at #OMDFWD
With the continued popularity and hype around Pokemon Go, the spotlight on Augmented Reality is bright with attention on Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality also increasing. The future of these technologies is still uncertain but hints of what is to come can be seen in recent industry headlines. Whilst the battle for which technology platform becomes the norm continues, the BBC has launched BBC Sport360 and NBC has an called NBC Sports, both of which will put you at the the heart of the Rio Olympics through VR capabilities. Sports fans are able to experience the closing ceremony, athletics, boxing and many more activities through 360-degree storytelling. Not all of us will have this technology lying around the house, but Facebook mentioned in April that more than 1 million people had used their VR Gear (a Facebook Samsung collaboration) for an array of experiences – from sports and movies to video games. Even more exciting is what type of product and user experiences VR will unlock for brands as the spotlight on this technology increases. Share anything you spot that is interesting with #OMDFWD
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Facebook wants to be known as a place to search for mentions of current news in hopes of drawing more public chatter that normally ends up on Twitter. With that in mind, Facebook is now seeing 2 billion searches per day of its 2.5 trillion posts. That’s compared to 1.5 billion searches in July 2015 and 1 billion in September 2012, a 33% climb in just 9 months. While more posts and search queries could open up monetisation opportunities through paid search ads, Zuckerberg cautioned this would not be anytime soon.
Whilst Facebook recruited 60 million users this quarter compared to Twitter’s 3 million, their users are not accustomed to fleeing to the platform to proactively post publicly about current events. Facebook’s goal will now be to highlight why users should bring this type of conversation to the table. As ever, please share anything you spot with #OMDFWD
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- 84% of Facebook’s total ad revenue comes exclusively from mobile. That and other gems in their Q2 financial review and how the platform will make you talk in the future
- Uber is pouring $500m into its map service, aimed at challenging consumer reliance on Google Maps
- The total number of paid clicks on Google grew by almost 30% year on year – that and other insights from their revenue report
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- What’s the trump card to pull in a presidential race? The marketing strategy, obviously
- How Kickstarter pushed crowdsourced investments into the mainstream and generated more than $5bn in the process
- Given Snapchat has purchased Bitmoji, there are some implications for brands and marketers to explore
Finally, the US army could be about to have their own hoverboards and Kanye could be the creator of your next Ikea bookcase.