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Native advertising is hot right now, even if nobody seems to know exactly what it is. Solve Media, a digital advertising firm, has attempted to solve that problem with this infographic, which takes a stab at a standard definition: "Native advertising refers to a specific mode of monetization that aims to augment user experience by providing value through relevant content delivered in-stream."

Actually, that's pretty good. As the rest of the graphic shows, native advertising is clearly where the money is going in the industry. At the very least, when ad execs are throwing the term around at Christmas parties, they can be on the same page.

With the rollout of the Facebook timeline complete for personal profiles, Facebook has now, quite brilliantly, pivoted their attention onto brand pages, which is why when you logged in this morning, you saw the little notice at the top of your Fan Page saying:

"On March 30, 2012, all Facebook Pages will get a new design. Preview your page now to see what it looks like and try out the new features."

Effective next month, your dealership's fan page will have a fundamentally different look. You see those cool tabs underneath your dealership's profile picture ("Inventory", "Welcome", "Photos", etc)? Those tabs will no longer be there once you activate the Timeline look. Your entire page will be rearranged. While this does sound a bit scary, especially to those who have put ample time into designing interactive tabs for pages, there is a distinct advantage. Of course, I'm talking about the Cover Photo. 

The Cover Photo is the photo at the top of your current Personal Facebook page (assuming your page has the Timeline feature). Essentially, the cover photo is replacing your welcome tab. It will be the first thing everyone sees when they visit your page. You'll have your own virtual billboard. A billboard with no limits, except for size :) You can play around with the cover photo until it suits your dealership's needs. You can design one in which you're Thanking your customers, or one in which you featuring a quote from a satisfied customer, and or just a simple variation your current Profile picture. There's so much you can do with it to benefit your brand. 

The Facebook Timeline manager, Sam Lessin, had this to say regarding the new rapid change, "Organizations have identities too." And, he's completely right. Thanks to the implementation of the Timeline for Brand Pages, you'll be able to distinguish yourself from your competitors. With the cover photo (billboard!), you'll be able to brand your dealership in a much more effect way.

What do you think of the Timeline rollout for Brand Pages? Are you on board with it? Or, still partial to the traditional Fan Page?

Source: Facebook Timeline Brand Pages are Here [Mashable]

Afraid of Losing Your Phone? You May Have Nomophobia Like Half the Population (RePost From Mashable - Written By Samantha Murphy)

If you know the panicked and disconnected feeling of leaving your mobile phone at home, you might be one of the many suffering from nomophobia.

A recent survey by U.K.-based mobile security service provider SecurEnvoy conducted among 1,000 people found that two thirds (66%) of respondents fear losing or being without their mobile phone — a fear called nomophobia. The phobia also includes the anxiety someone feels when not in the range of a cell tower to receive optimal reception.

Not surprisingly, nomophonia is on the rise — up 13% from just four years ago — as more consumers become strapped to their smartphones.

However, women (70%) worry more about losing their phones than men (61%). According to Andy Kemshall, chief technology officer and co-founder of SecurEnvoy, men were more likely to have nomophobia in 2008 but feel less overwhelmed now. Why the change of heart? Men are 11% more likely than women to carry around two mobile devices.

Younger demographics are also more likely to be nomophobic, as 77% said they fear being without their phone. Meanwhile, those ages 25 to 34 are the second most nomophobic group, followed by mobile users over 55.

SecurEnvoy also cited a recent study published by the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology found that people check their phones about 34 times a day on average. If you do misplace your phone, it won’t take very long to realize it.

Do you have nomophobia? What tech item can’t you live without? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mbbirdy

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Jesse Thomas is the CEO and Founder of JESS3, a Creative Interactive Agency. JESS3 designs products and experiences for brands like Google, Nike, Facebook, MySpace, C-SPAN, Microsoft and NASA.

“Likes,” views and followers were all the rage in 2010. Despite the social media community emphasizing engagement instead of reach, media agencies quickly learned that engagement doesn’t scale easily, making it difficult to sell. Enter Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. As consumer use of social media spiked, the leading social networks retooled their advertising products to satisfy the newfound demand from brands. Instead of fizzling out like the popular online communities of yesteryear, they are driving toward profitability after several years of trying to figure out what they wanted to be when they grew up.

On the flip side, as consumers incorporate social media more into their daily lives, alternatives to the “big three” in the form of niche and location-based social networks have increased in appeal. Advertisers willing to experiment with media campaigns on these networks will have a distinct advantage moving forward as consumers become desensitized to text, display and even rich media ads. Whether they choose to go big or small, the social web equips advertisers with significantly more consumer data points than ever before to improve the targeting and relevance of online advertising.

Below are six predictions for digital advertising in 2011."

Read the rest of the article and watch the videos here!

http://www.dealersynergy.com

http://www.internetsales20group.com  

Facebook appears to be on the verge of launching a new design of its Fan Pages. This change seems to include the site’s location-based Places checkin functionality, enabling “likers” of the page to check in to it. Although

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is said to be giving a sneak peak at the new Profile Pages design on 60 Minutes tonight, it seems that more change is in store; you can already see the new Pages design in action on select pages, such as Ellen DeGeneres’s Fan Page. On Ellen’s page, you will notice a count for the number of checkins the Page has. According to Facebook spokesperson Meredith Chin, the Ellen Page is a merged page that includes the functionality for checkins available shortly after the feature launched a few months ago. Basically, your brand page will then take on the Places page designs, which appears to be the inspiration for the new profile pages that are to be released as well.

“As long as the address of the official page and the place page match, it should show you a prompt and ask you if you want to merge them,” Chin said.

You can see screenshots of the new design below.

Current Pages Design -----------------

The current Pages design, similar to Profile Pages, has the Page navigation tabs (Wall, Questions, Photos) at the top.

New Pages With Checkins

The new Pages design includes checkins, profile information (which includes some basic information about the page and the Wall postings below it), a narrower left column and more.

New Tabs

The new Pages also feature the navigation tabs on the left-hand side.