The online audience
Social media
Entertainment

Internet on the move

Blogging

Online creative

	Internet advertising expenditure in the UK broke the £2 billion barrier in 2006 thanks to a 41.2% surge in growth as marketers moved their budgets online IAB news 28 March

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Phew! What a month March was. The full year IAB/ PwC adspend figures revealed that internet advertising expenditure in the UK broke the £2 billion barrier. Marketers continued to move their budgets online last year resulting in a 41.2% growth. Well done all! Along with gathering the rest of last month's news we have also spent the last few weeks getting to grips with Facebook, purely for research purposes, of course. Read on for more information.

Kind regards



Guy Phillipson
IAB, CEO

Will Facebook be the UK's favourite website of 2007? Facebook has seen its number of UK users increase by over a million in six months and 19 million people are now signed up worldwide. With so many social networking sites on offer just what is it about this particular website that is exciting internet users the world over? Is it merely the latest online fad, or is it the new online communication tool? Get the full story on the IAB website

The online audience

The new YouTube starts here The spirit of 1999's First Tuesday meetings is alive and thriving in San Francisco, the official city of internet application development. Each month a potentially explosive mix of technology fans, journalists, bloggers and investors get together at Cnet headquarters to hear four new firms pitch their ideas for taking over the world... wide web. March 26 For more on the San Francisco internet technology meetings visit the BBC The internet gets cheesey A web-cam set up by cheese makers in Somerset in January to enable internet users to watch a cheddar cheese maturing saw its first slice of action in March. The first quality check on the maturing cheddar attracted around 55,000 cheese lovers as expert cheesemaker Tom Calver pulled out a core of cheese to smell, taste and check it is maturing properly. 29 March For more on cheddar-cam visit the BBC website Unproductive web search epidemic hits UK offices In news that frankly repulses us dedicated workers at the IAB, a survey from Web Security provider ScanSafe has revealed that 49% of office internet traffic is not work-related. Apparently workers break up their day accessing webmail accounts, looking for music and visiting other more unsavoury sites... and I do not mean stuffonmycat.com March 21 For more on non-work related internet activity, visit Netimperative

Social media

Wikipedia enters university Postgraduates at the University of East Anglia are being assessed on their Wikipedia editing skills and are being challenged to research and write their own articles for the collaborative online encyclopaedia. According to the university's politics lecturer, using Wikipedia can develop students' research skills. March 21 For more on Wikipedia in the university, please visit the BBC Social notworking sites We've all dumped and been dumped in unpleasant and sometimes public ways. Thanks to the internet another particularly cruel avenue for ending a relationship has been opened up. Apparently the latest way to get rid of an unwanted partner is to serve notice on their MySpace page... ouch! March 29 For more on being dumped online visit the Register We're living in a user generated world Community journalism came to the fore in the wake of the 7/7 London attacks. Since then the majority of major news broadcasters request eyewitness photos and reports to aid the reporting of newsworthy events. User generated content on the internet is everywhere. In March, the results of a survey of our digital universe by technology consultancy IDC were released and revealed that in 2006 enough digital content was produced to fill 161 billion iPod Shuffles. Now there's a useful stat! March 11 For more on user-generated content and citizen jornalism please visit the Media Guardian (registration required)

Entertainment

Music

Bebo to launch indiestore Bebo will enable musicians to sell their music through the social networking site with the launch of a new download service. A partnership with internet music firm 7digital will allow bands to upload and sell four tracks through the indiestore service, with the band keeping 70% of the revenue. March For more on the Bebo indiestore visit the Media Guardian (registration required) Music users to pick up the Slacker? As the 100millionth iPod is sold another music service has been launched with the aim of taking Apple's white and sleekly designed crown. A new hybrid service, called Slacker, will play users' own music plus personalised radio stations featuring a constantly updated library of records using wi-fi and satellite technology. The PC-based service is available now, with a portable device to be released in early summer. March 15 For more on Slacker, please visit the Times Online User generated content set to rule the Popworld Popworld, the Channel 4 music programme relaunched its website in March in an effort to double its online audience. The overhaul has a distinctly user generated content flavour; visitors to the site can now create MySpace-style profiles, and use both the discussion forums and blog service. March For more on the new Popworld website please visit the Media Guardian (registration required)

Gaming

WoW! MMOGs hit $1billion Vivendi's World of Warcraft title helped drive the massively multiplayer online games market in US and Europe through the $1bn (£510 million) mark last year. Research group Screen Digest reported that subscriptions made up almost 90% of the sales. Millions play MMOGs and the games command immense loyalty, as South Park's Cartman sums up so eloquently; "go buy world of warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you." March 21 For more on MMOGs please visit the Times Online Games industry strives for "big kahuna" Mobile phone gaming has been described as the "big kahuna" by former head of Sony Europe Chris Deering. A BBC article from March outlines how finding the right formats for the billion handsets worldwide will revolutionise the games industry. There are, however, a number of unique challenges facing the platform before it can take its inevitable place in the mainstream. March 20 For more on mobile games, please visit the BBC

Internet on the move

Huw Edwards in your pocket The BBC is to trial its TV and radio channels on selected mobile phones for a trial period of 12 months it has been announced. The Vodafone, Orange and 3 networks will host a range of BBC broadcast output for subscribers to TV packages. But don't get too excited, apparently Neighbours will not be available as part of the trial. March 29 For more on the BBC mobile trial, visit their website Google phone in the works Google is looking to extend its internet advertising dominance to the handheld market as the search giant admits they are working on a basic mobile phone. The device will apparently not be a high end product, but will be aimed at the mass market and will bring Google to those who don't own a PC. March 19 Times online has more on the Google phone Is RSS the "killer app" for mobile phones? A Media Guardian article in March predicted that RSS will be the killer application for mobile phones. Offering both regularly updated data in small amounts that a mobile phone can easily upload, RSS seems to suit mobile handsets down to the ground. March For more on RSS on mobiles, please visit the Media Guardian (registration required)

Search

TV ads to be targeted based on search behaviour Advertisers will soon be able to target consumers with online ads based on the search terms they have entered thanks to a new service Google is piloting. The US trialled service could herald the beginning of individual households being targeted with specific ads based on the demographics and online behaviour of its residents. March For more on search targeted TV ads, please visit the Brand Republic website

Online Creative

Online campaigns

"Flick the ruler" with NSPCC game A new online game courtesy of MCN Net Ltd allows you to have fun, explore the NSPCC office and raise awareness of the charity's work. March To play the NSPCC game Lucozade looking for viral edge No it's not a missing person announcement for a missing U2 guitarist, 'Lost Your Edge?' is in fact a new viral campaign for GlaxoSmithKline's Lucozade brand. A branded collection of videos, incorporating user-generated content will feature on the homepage of viral website, BoreMe.com, showing people loosing their edge. March 16 For more on the 'lost your edge?' campaign please visit Netimperative

Online awards, events and polls

Agency.com has won February's IAB Creative Showcase Award in association with Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions with their campaign for IKEA, 'Kitchens for Real Life' With a series of rich media executions in a range of display formats, the campaign uses 'IKEA test robots' to demonstrate the extensive testing undertaken to guarantee the quality of each kitchen against the wear and tear of everyday life. You can now enter for March's Creative Showcase. For more details visit the Creative Showcase site