MySpace: We're No Longer a Social Network

Fast Company: "With Facebook surging, cofounders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson have gone back to their roots -- music, pop culture, and a proven cash-flow ad model -- to spur a next phase of growth."

Yahoo mixes old and new in Internet-age news service

Yahoo! News: "Yahoo is building an Internet-age news service, leveraging its global audience of a half-billion people to win exclusive interviews with world leaders.

Unlike websites that just aggregate news stories plucked from the Internet, Yahoo is cutting content deals with wire services and other 'traditional' outlets as well as investing in a bullpen of its own reporters.

'Yahoo News is a news organization,' director of editorial programming Jessica Barron told AFP in an interview this week.

'We have been doing a lot of original reporting and we are going to be doing a lot more.'"

Report: Mobile Web Advertising Impacts Brand Awareness

Mediaweek: "Advertising on mobile Web sites and applications has the potential to impact brand awareness, at least in these still early days of the nascent medium, according to a new report issued by online ad research firm Dynamic Logic.

The report found that on average, awareness of a particular brand increased by 23.9 percentage points among those who were exposed to a mobile ad campaign compared to those who were not."

Caution - Driver May Be Surfing the Web

NYTimes.com: "Today, Chrysler is poised to offer in its 2009 models a new entertainment option for the children: Wi-Fi and Internet connectivity. The problem is that the entire car becomes a hotspot. The signals won’t be confined to the Nintendos in the rear seat; front-seat occupants will be able to stay online, too."

NBC, like Phelps, in record pursuit at Olympics

Los Angeles Times: "Reached by phone Tuesday in Beijing, Wurtzel, president of television research and media development for NBC Universal, called the Olympics an 'extraordinary research laboratory' for the company to learn how to deliver content on multiple platforms and understand viewer behavior.

Researchers are using a new technique -- what's called Total Audience Measure index (TAMi) in NBC's corporate jargon -- to track viewers' exposure to various platforms. And they plan to apply this to other network programming when the Olympics are over, Wurtzel said.

'Far from being a cannibalizer, the Internet increases both [viewers' engagement] with TV and their use of it,' Wurtzel said."

The AOL flub has analysts revisiting Google

SF Chronicle: "'Other than search, what has Google done right? They have 1,001 products in beta, but what's been successful?' Chowdhry asked."

Some Web Firms Say They Track Behavior Without Explicit Consent

washingtonpost.com: "Several Internet and broadband companies have acknowledged using targeted-advertising technology without explicitly informing customers, according to letters released yesterday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee."

Online Publishers Turning to Video, Marketing Enhancements and Consumer Insights to Offset Ad Network Pricing Impact, Says New IAB/Bain Report

Jack Myers: "The IAB/Bain Digital Pricing Study reports that video advertising is generating costs-per-thousand averaging two-to-three times higher than publishers' average direct display advertising costs and twenty-to-thirty times higher than display advertising sold through ad networks. Average ad network inventory generates CPMs to publishers of $0.60 to $1.10; directly sold display advertising is generating CPMs in the $10 to $20 range; and video advertising is generating costs-per-thousand averaging $40 to $50."

Facebook: No. 1 Globally

BusinessWeek: "Facebook owes its results, in part, to its technology-driven international strategy. Rather than launch local-language versions of Facebook for new markets, complete with a local Facebook bureau, Facebook opted to provide translation tools that let users take the existing site and personalize it in their own tongue."

U.S. Lawmakers Query 33 Companies on Web Advertising

Bloomberg.com: "U.S. lawmakers broadened their investigation of Internet advertising, asking AT&T Inc., Google Inc. and 31 other companies whether they target ads based on consumers' Web surfing habits.

Representative John Dingell of Michigan and three other lawmakers told the companies in a letter today that they are concerned about targeted Web ads' potential impact on consumer privacy."

Music industry ‘should embrace illegal websites’

FT.com: "The music industry should embrace illegal file-sharing websites, according to a study of Radiohead’s last album release that found huge numbers of people downloaded it illegally even though the band allowed fans to pay little or nothing for it.

“Rights-holders should be aware that these non-traditional venues are stubbornly entrenched, incredibly popular and will never go away,” said Eric Garland, co-author of the study, which concluded there was strong brand loyalty to controversial “torrent” and peer-to-peer services."

Google to Extend Reach With Venture-Capital Arm

WSJ.com: "Google Inc. is working on plans to start a venture-capital arm, according to several people briefed on the discussions.

The group will be led by David Drummond, Google's senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer, according to two of these people. Google has hired William Maris, a 33-year-old former entrepreneur who has worked as an investor, to help set up the venture. How the group will be structured and what sort of investments it is likely to target remain unclear."