More Opinion articles

Simon Andrews takes a look at ‘Home’ from Facebook and find it’s…interesting. Because of the limited range of android handsets that Home will work on, its initial impact may be a little muted he says – and as a sort of modern equivalent of a Google Toolbar it’s likely to only really appeal to hardcore users. But with a billion users you don’t need big percentages to make a big impact…

‘Click-through’ doesn’t mean anything today says Darren Hamer, MD of Sticky. It doesn’t generate any revenue and without context there’s no way of knowing its impact on brand equity. So now it’s time for the truth – and visual performance studies will help achieve it.

Two-timing the TV has been going on for years – from getting up during the adverts to make a cup of tea, to grannies doing their knitting during an episode of Corrie. And now, advertising brands have mobiles and tablets to contend with as well. However, instead of brands seeing these as a threat, they should be using dual screening as an opportunity to get people talking about them, says Starcom MediaVest’s Steve Smith.

Find out how the industry has reacted to the findings in the latest Bellwether report, with opinion from adconnection, MEC, Essence, G2 Joshua, Dialogue, Jaywing, Volume and Gekko.

In a world where seemingly every other thought from Joe Public is, often on a whim, published for the world to see and as newspapers lose their grip over their long-held monopoly setting nationwide opinion, Raymond Snoddy looks at how social media has revolutionised public debate – and charts its pitfalls after a busy week of terrible tweets and censored comments.

Twitter is now emerging as the primary curator of – and gateway into – the internet, and will potentially supplant Facebook argues Richard Marks, Director of Research The Media.

GfK’s digital consultant, Will Youngman, is regularly asked questions like ‘when will tablet ownership overtake PC?’ or ‘how long before everyone has a smartphone?’ The truth of what is happening with ownership of connected devices is far more complicated, he says – so without the benefit of a crystal ball, here are some trends that he is identifying in his research that could indicate what we can expect to happen in the near future.

Augmented reality has been hailed by many as a passing fad with no real beneficial use bar novelty value – but this is not the case says Chris Minas, MD and founder of Nimbletank. For publishers and brands it should spell a new era in creativity.

This week Dominic Mills asks why Viking River Cruises didn’t bother to check the storyline for ITV’s Broadchurch before abandoning their ‘proud’ sponsorship of the show after the image of a burning boat was used. If you’re proud, stick with it Mills says – otherwise you’d be ‘ashamed’ or ‘stupid’ sponsors of ITV drama.

Decipher’s Nigel Walley is a massive Twitter fan and counts himself as a ‘super-user’. He is also a massive fan of broadcast TV and likes the story the two are somehow mutually beneficial – but now feels it is a myth that has spun out of control. There is no data, he says, to back up the wild claims flying around and, if anything, the data disproves them…