Over the last few years, the social media revolution has completely redefined marketing.

The rising prominence of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and others has led to a more complex array of media choices, but has also rebooted our traditional view of marketing. This is no longer a one-way conversation with consumers. It is a real-time dialogue in which brands can be upended by an ill-conceived tweet or a rogue YouTube posting.

In such an environment, we think marketers deserve kudos for making the right calls and applying creative solutions. That's why we've created The Mashies, which are designed to recognize the very best marketing in social media. The Mashies will highlight thought leadership in such categories as Best Real-Time Marketing, Best Use of Twitter, Best Branded Vine and Best Use of Facebook, among others. Read more…

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Starting a social media marketing campaign can be extremely overwhelming if you're not familiar with the digital space. Just the thought of creating a company Facebook page or tweeting to your consumers can cause stress and anxiety. Last month, Mashable hooked up a few small businesses with social media experts from our Small Business Panel, to offer some mom-and-pop shops advice on how to amp up their presence on various social platforms.

We paired local salt-maker Borsari Food Company with social media marketing expert Ben Pavlovic, founding partner of VineSprout. After reviewing Borsari's social assets, Pavlovic immediately suggested that it focus its efforts on increasing its Facebook following. In order to do this, Pavlovic recommended that Borsari implement a targeted ad campaign on Facebook, include a call to action to "like" the Page in its marketing materials, create a vanity Facebook URL to boost SEO, and to change its cover photo to better reflect the brand and its product.

In one month's time, Borsari has seen an increase in its Facebook following from 133 fans to 167, and it's also seen a slight increase in Twitter followers, from 73 to 86. Additionally, when you now visit the Borsari's Facebook Page, you are welcomed by one of its store's wooden signs, and a thumbnail image that showcases one of its products. Before our makeover, the Page didn't have any cover image — and its thumbnail was of a random garden.  Read more…

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Digg will begin rolling out its new reader product next week and open up the beta version to everyone on June 26, the company said in a blog post Monday.

Digg, which is owned by Betaworks, announced in mid-March that it would develop an RSS reader, shortly after Google announced plans to kill off Google Reader. Since then, Digg's team has apparently received feedback from 18,000 on how to design the product.

"For our first public release, in time to (just) beat the shutdown of Google Reader, our aim has been to nail the basics: a web and mobile reading experience that is clean, simple, functional, and fast," Digg's team wrote in the blog post. "We’re also introducing a tool that allows users to elevate the most important stories to the top."

The beta version of the product promises an easy solution to migrating from Google Reader, as well as tools for subscribing, sharing and saving articles. Digg will also introduce an iPhone app for Digg Reader, and plans to introduce an Android app in the near future.

Digg teased the launch with a couple preview images of the Digg Reader product, including the one above and the one below:

The news comes amid rumors that Facebook may announce its own reader product at an event later this week. Google Reader is set to shut down July 1.

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Amazon's Friends and Family Gifting feature is getting a little more social with the Tuesday launch of a tool that allows you to create and send group gift cards to your Facebook friends on their birthdays.

By connecting your Facebook and Amazon accounts, you can keep tabs on your friends' birthdays and prepare group gift cards in advance. To get started, head over to Amazon.com/birthdaygift, select a friend with an upcoming birthday and privately invite friends (via Facebook) to contribute to a gift card. Participants can contribute as little as $1 and as much as $25, and can also invite other friends to join, a spokesperson for Amazon told Mashable. The card, personalized with your message, is delivered to the recipient's Facebook wall on his or her birthday.

It's a well-executed concept. Soon, we imagine, Amazon will allow us to tap into friends' Amazon wish lists and send group gifts from there. Read more…

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Samsung's stock price dropped 6% on Friday, erasing $12 billion in marketing value as investors fretted about the company's smartphone strategy.

In particular, Samsung's decision to offer stripped-down versions of its Galaxy S4 worried analysts and investors who think the move may eviscerate profit margins. Sales of the S4, initially Samsung's fastest-selling smartphone, have also fallen off since the device's introduction in April.

"Sales of high-end handsets are lagging behind expectations, while low- to mid-end handsets are selling briskly worldwide," Kim Young-chan, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp., told Reuters. "As the portion of low- to mid-range handsets is expected to increase in Samsung's overall mobile phone business, this has also sparked concerns about thinning margins and lower growth."

J.P. Morgan analyst J.J. Park also told The Wall Street Journal that third-quarter sales for the S4 would likely "disappoint," and that "supply chain checks show monthly orders have been cut 20%-30% to 7 to 8 million units (from 10 million) starting July."

Another analyst, Kim Hyun-yong, at E*trade Securities, told the Journal that since Apple is expected to announce a trade-in program for older phones and a new cheaper iPhone, "overall growth prospects for (Samsung's) smartphone business have dimmed."

Samsung's stock price finished trading on Friday in Seoul at its lowest level in four months.

Image via June Yeon-Je/Getty Images

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Instagram was famously worth about $1 billion to Facebook — but how much is one Instagram photo worth?

SEE ALSO: How One Instagram Hashtag Fights Pollution

The Kellogg brand's freestanding store offers a free box of its upgraded Special K to anyone who snaps a picture and tags it with #nyaspecialk, which is Swedish for "new Special K." Just show the cashier your pic to get the booty. Why Instagram? Jan Hedegaard, the Nordic marketing director at Kellogg, says the app is more popular in Sweden than Twitter, which is the typical home of hashtag promotions.

Image courtesy of Special K

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In an effort to improve adoption for its mobile payment service, Google has apparently considered taking a page from Square.

Bloomberg Businessweek reports hearing from four people that Google planned to launch an Android tablet for retail stores that worked with Google Wallet and read credit cards. Businessweek added that the product was "intended to rival Square's card-reading tool."

SEE ALSO: Square Expands Mobile Payments Service to Japan

Google is said to have "changed its plans" to develop such a device, according to the report, though it's unclear whether Google has scrapped plans all together.

Google told Mashable that it does not comment on rumor and speculation.

The search giant introduced Google Wallet in 2011 to dive deeper into the commerce experience, but has struggled to achieve mainstream adoption — in part because of consumers' resistance to paying using their smartphones.

Businessweek reports that Google has spent $300 million acquiring startups to help build out its Wallet app, but the app has been downloaded less than 10 million times.

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When National Geographic started looking into alternatives to cable, it found an as-yet-unreleased product that might be a good fit: YouTube paid channels.

The National Geographic Society was in a quandary. It knew it wanted to launch a video channel for kids based on the success of its children's magazine and games, but wasn't entirely sure which platform to use. The company initially considered creating another cable channel, but it wasn't convinced that advertising — the main source of revenue for TV channels — was the best business model when going after that type of audience.

Instead, National Geographic started looking into alternatives to cable, including reaching out to YouTube last August. National Geographic had found great success in the past publishing clips on YouTube, but the video site said there was no way to monetize a video channel other than through ads. But in October, YouTube got back in touch with National Geographic to propose its new YouTube paid channels. 

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Many are aware of Amazon's robust retail and web-hosting businesses, but less are familiar with its advertising business, which is rapidly becoming a significant player in the space.

Amazon brought in $450 million in advertising in revenue last year, according to eMarketer estimates published Tuesday. The company managed to increase its advertising business by nearly two-thirds between 2011 and 2012, and is expected to grow it by another half this year — to $660 million. This makes Amazon's ad business even bigger than Twitter's, which eMarketer previously estimated would generate $580 million this year. Read more…

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Kickstarter has been described as the Home Shopping Network for geeks — picture an online version of the Sharper Image catalog and an investment platform for tech startups having a baby.

But this is the wrong way to think about Kickstarter, because the site's founders have actually shied away from tech to take Kickstarter back to its roots: a fundraising platform for all forms of creativity, but mostly in the arts. Read more…

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When you’re looking for a new job, you don’t just want the right position — you want the right culture fit: an office that matches your laid-back vibe, your work-hard-play-hard attitude or your uber-creative personality. A team that supports your love for collaboration, your do-it-yourself spirit, or your desire to have a great mentor.

Sure, you could do good work anywhere, but if the attitudes and predispositions of the workplace feel like second nature, you’re more likely to hit the ground running (and to be happy there for the long haul).

Your best bet is to ask questions that (OK, sneakily) give you the real details about what it’s like to work there. Try these four to get you started. Read more…

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The holiday season is just around the corner — the "season of giving." Well, let's call this the "season of buying" because before all that giving happens, you'll have to find gifts for all those special someones in your life.

At Mashable, we're constantly writing about the newest and coolest knickknacks from the tech world, many of which would make great gifts for your geeky family and friends. In addition to our regular load of tech tips, each day throughout the holiday season we'll post a new suggestion in our Gift of the Day series.

In case you had a busy few days and haven't had time to follow along, we've rounded up our most useful articles from the past week. Aside from some killer gift ideas, you'll also find hands-on social media advice concerning recent updates to Facebook's mobile app, Instagram and Pinterest, not to mention digital business and marketing advice.

Let Mashable help you make the most of your time on the Internet. Read more…

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The holidays are just around the corner, and for many, the next month-and-a-half will be the busiest and most stressful time of the year.

Here at Mashable, we're not looking to add to your stress; rather, we're trying to reduce it. So, for your convenience, we've rounded up all of our digital features into one post.

This week's roundup contains essential resources for holiday shoppers, including our Gift of the Day series and a gallery of 50 holiday gifts for video-game fans.

In addition to gifts and gadgets, you'll find helpful social media and digital business advice, as well as some killer software apps. So dig in, and help yourself to a holiday-feast-sized portion of digital media resources.

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Memorial Day weekend has arrived in a hurry, spreading some unseasonably cold weather across the country. If you've been busy prepping for your weekend getaway plans and haven't had time to check out the news — don't worry, we've got you covered.

It has been another busy week for us at Mashable, and we rounded up the top 15 digital media resources in social media and tech for you here, including news on Microsoft's new Xbox One. So go ahead and get yourself caught up, and enjoy your holiday weekend!

14 Twitter Tips and Tricks for Power Users

Check out these tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your Twitter experience.

How to Sync Your Facebook Contacts to iPhone

Did you know you can sync your Facebook friends to your iPhone contacts? Here's a quick how-to.

8 Tips for Successful Business Development

Check out these tips on successful business development for startups, including how to avoid many of the typical frustrations with business development.

5 Tools to Help Plan Your Next Meeting

Planning a meeting can be a hassle. Check out these tools to help ease your scheduling complication woes.

5 DIY Office Toys for Your Next Coffee Break

Bored at work? You're not alone. Spice up your day with our five DIY contraptions you can build using basic office supplies.

20 Hot London Startups You Need to Watch

Check out these innovative companies that call London home.

The 25 Best Free iPad Apps

This list of free iPad apps will save you from endless browsing in the App Store, and they'll all prove worthy of your homescreen.

Facebook for Android: 10 Tips for Power Users

The Facebook Android app's most recent iterations are packed with features, from personal settings to page management to power sharing.

The New Flickr: What it Means for Flickr Pro Users

Flickr made some big changes to its service; what do they mean for Flickr Pro users?

5 Mobile Marketing Tools to Reach Customers on the Go

If you're looking to supercharge your mobile marketing strategy, check out these 5 vendors that can help.

The 15 Best Free iPad Games

It can be hard to find great free iPad games, but Mashable compiled a list of the 15 best.

Does Your '360 Campaign' Need to Be a Perfect Circle?

When integrated marketing doesn't cut it anymore, we do 360 campaigns — after all, what better way to cover your bases than a complete circle?

When to Back Off the Social Media Baby Train

Whether you’re the parent oversharer or the casual News Feed browser, these tips will make your social media experiences more pleasurable.

10 Best iPhone Chargers

Whether you're looking for a compact option, a stylish device, or even a car charger, we have found a charger to suit your needs.

Can This 'Bike Sherpa' Get More PTAT on Facebook?

Robert Reimann watched the second plane hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 and then observed as his office nearby was destroyed as the towers fell. Then he did something few Americans considered at the time: He took a bike tour across Iran.

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Nokia’s latest top-end Windows Phone is set to be unveiled in less than a week’s time.

But despite a 27 per cent jump in Lumia sales in the first quarter of 2013, all is not well at Espoo.

Investors are up in arms about CEO Stephen Elop’s insistence on sticking with Microsoft’s struggling mobile platform, with one complaining that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”.

The same shareholder, speaking at Nokia’s AGM in Helsinki, told Elop that while he was “a nice guy”, he needed to be aware that “results matter”.

This is the most damning assessment of the former Microsoft man since he became the first non-Finn to run the once-great mobile maker.

Elop, though, is not for turning. His response was simple.

Quoth Elop: “We make adjustments as we go. But it's very clear to us that in today's war of ecosystems, we've made a very clear decision to focus on Windows Phone with our Lumia product line.

“And it is with that that we will compete with competitors like Samsung and Android.”

That last line is particularly telling.

To Elop, Google and its software is as much a rival as Samsung and its best-selling hardware.

Couched in these terms, it’s easy to see why investors are unimpressed.

Android’s free availability makes it a cheaper option for Espoo, even if it would stymy its chances to build on the likes of its superb Nokia Maps.

While Windows Phone is a very sharp operating system, it just doesn’t have the traction of Android.

If Elop wants to boost sales and hence Nokia’s bottom line, his first move should be to begin work on a Nokia Android phone.

His company’s hardware pedigree is undeniable and a skinned Android handset would surely be lapped up.

As it is, Elop is beginning to sound like his predecessors, obsessed with fighting it out with rivals on an ailing platform despite being left for dust by Apple and Samsung.

He once described Symbian as a ‘burning platform’, and while no one would ever say Windows Phone has the same dated feel as that old-school OS, it’s certainly beginning to look like a dead end.

Going to Google might be a bitter pill for Elop to swallow, but it doesn’t have to be.

He can always release both Google and Microsoft-backed handsets, just as HTC and Samsung do.

This option allows both to appear not to favour one over the either, even though the Big G’s OS is clearly where it’s at in terms of sales.

If he doesn’t, then it’s evident that investors will show him the door.

Either way, a Nokia Android phone is clearly the fix that Finns with a stake in the company are desperately seeking.

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Apple supplier Pegatron is set to raise staffing levels by a colossal 40 per cent in the second half of the year, with the new workers rumoured to be assembling Cupertino’s much-hyped budget iPhone.

While Pegatron itself refused to confirm that the extra workforce would be beavering away on Apple’s latest iPhone, sources have told Reuters that the device is already in the works.

The news agency reports that some Japanese suppliers have already started on early production.

Mass production is scheduled to begin in June, with the device now expected to make an official appearance in the autumn, in line with Tim Cook’s promise of ‘exciting products this fall’.

Pegatron’s hiring drive comes just a month after rival Apple supply-chain mainstay Foxconn added 10,000 new employees to its production lines.

That suggests that Apple is going all out to get every supplier it can working at full capacity on a budget iPhone.

The handset is expected to rock a cheap plastic shell, with talk of a larger screen to compete with the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy range and HTC’s forthcoming M4.

Whether it can capture the lucrative Chinese and Indian markets, however, remains to be seen

Source:  Reuters

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Apple could ditch its policy of replacing faulty devices with brand new ones in favour of in-store repairs, it has emerged, in a move that could dramatically reduce costs for the purveyor of premium pocket-lint.

According to Apple Insider, the Cupertino-based company now has the capabilities to carry out repairs to iPhones and other iOS devices in-store and has already been shifting to this approach.

Alongside repairs to “speakers, receivers, home buttons, the vibrator motor and battery”, which it currently carries out within branches, from next month Apple will be able to replace displays, camera parts, logic boards and sleep/wake buttons.

An Apple employee told the site: "The way it is now, if almost anything is wrong with an iPhone, iPod, or iPad, the entire device is exchanged for a like-new re manufactured (sic) device, whether brought into an Apple store or sent in for mail in repair.

“Now we are starting to actually repair the products and return the same device to the customer."

The change to after-care policy, which was purportedly outlined by Apple Vice President Tara Bunch, will also see Apple adopt for a subscription model for AppleCare.

The move would see customers given training with their iOS device, as well as a 24/7 version of the

AppleCare service. Source:

Apple Insider

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BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) will finally cross the OS divide this year, BlackBerry has confirmed, bringing the instant messaging service to the iPhone and Android handsets for the first time.

Speaking at yesterday’s BlackBerry press call-cum-devs’-pow-wow, software veep Andrew Bocking confirmed that BBM will hit competitors’ smartphone platforms this summer and will be available as a free download.

The app will run all iDevices running the current generation of Apple’s software, iOS 6. Android phone owners who want to get on board will need a handset powered by the 4.0 version (Ice Cream Sandwich) of the operating system or above.

Bocking said: “The time is definitely right for BBM to become a multi-platform mobile service.

“BBM has always been one of the most engaging services for BlackBerry customers, enabling them to easily connect while maintaining a valued level of personal privacy. We're excited to offer iOS and Android users the possibility to join the BBM community."

BBM, which is especially popular with a youthful cost-conscious market, enables users to send instant messages for no charge, since this is included as part of their mobile data plan. In so doing, it also eliminates the need to pay for a generous text message/SMS allowance.

Until now, BBM’s exclusivity to BlackBerry phones was a key selling point for their handsets and a notable differentiator.

However, since then BBM’s once-market leading user base has been superseded by cross-platform instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp, which now boasts 200 million regular users.

BlackBerry’s conference was also marked by the unveiling of the BlackBerry Q5. Informally dubbed as a BlackBerry Curve for 2013, the handset is the first mid-range BlackBerry phone to run the Canadian company’s BlackBerry 10 operating system.

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On Tuesday, Nokia chief Stephen Elop fielded questions from irate shareholders at his company’s annual meeting in Helsinki. When, they wanted to know, would he do something about Apple and Samsung? In London next week, Nokia will announce its new high-end flagship product, whatever it is.

But Elop’s launch of the Nokia’s new Asha 501 in India this morning is worth watching more than the ailing manufacturer’s battle at the top end of the market. At a recommended price of $99 (before taxes) and near-enough full smartphone functionality, this is Nokia’s big push to capture the growing market for cheap smart devices. Elop wants to sell 100 million of them over the next few years. By way of comparison, that’s one in seven of every smartphones sold last year. Read more…

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The technology industry has been ranked most-trusted for the seventh consecutive year, ahead of the automotive, and food and beverage industries, according to the 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer.

"As an industry, I think tech companies pre-anticipate and solve problems for consumers," Ben Boyd, Edelman's corporate global practice chairman, told Mashable. "I also think in today's world where technology is connecting people, it's the companies that get credit for making it happen. It really creates a halo effect for the industry itself."

The findings of the Trust Barometer, an annual survey of 31,000 people in 26 countries evaluating trust in leaders, institutions and industries, were released Monday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Edelman's primary takeaway from the study of people in 26 countries was an overwhelming distrust in leadership compared to institutions.

The 20-minute online survey was conducted between Oct. 16 and Nov. 29, 2012 by research firm Edelman Berland. The survey was completed by 26,000 general population responders and an oversample of 5,800 informed publics (college educated, high earners who regularly watch the news). Read more…

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