Mediaboss Marketing

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

StreamSend, a leading email marketing service provider and creator of the free social marketing tool suite StreamSend Share, has added a new feature that empowers businesses to connect with customers and prospects with a real-time widget in email messages, delivering live content that is personalized and relevant up to the second.

With this new real-time widget, StreamSend lets businesses embed any dynamic items they want web sites, social conversations, blogs, news feeds, all kinds of ongoing communications in their emails to engage customers, increase offer effectiveness, and keep content fresh even after campaigns have been sent.

This is a big step forward in creating dynamic marketing communications, said Dan Forootan, president of StreamSend Email Marketing. We work with businesses to create emails that attract and interest customers, and our real-time widget brings data capability that adds another dimension to the value these messages deliver, just by opening the email.

Whether the email contains a video, all or portions of a website, location-based targeting, connection to physical stores or another live component, customers are more likely to enter conversations and respond to offers on a real-time basis within email communications.

And with StreamSend Shares built-in features, businesses can create and send the message once, then customers can easily pass along these messages to other interested recipients, who will also view these items playing in place with real time impact. Businesses can then track all the resulting statistics as the shared communications continue to travel among further recipients.

The StreamSend Share Real-Time Widget is the latest addition as StreamSend Share continually improves to help businesses build profitable customer relationships with content and messages that are welcomed then shared into a continually growing social network of loyal followers and subscribers.

About StreamSend

StreamSend offers an easy-to-use, affordable and reliable email marketing service designed to help businesses maximize the reach of their marketing budget when sending an email newsletter or using Social Media. StreamSend offers a number of industry-leading standard pricing plans, private-label and affiliate programs and hands-on personal client service. Started in 1998, StreamSend is a leader in Email Marketing.

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StreamSend Takes Email Marketers Live

ATLANTA & HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Engauge, the leading U.S.-based independent agency for the social age, and key founders of WE Marketing Group (WMG), Chinas leading independent agency, have formed WE Engauge, Chinas first global social marketing agency. The firm will serve multinational and native brands throughout Greater China, a country that boasts the largest online population of any nation; its over 500 million users are also the most socially active participants in the world.

There is tremendous opportunity in social media for brands in China, said Rick Milenthal, Executive Chairman of Engauge. The Chinese consumers are adopting these technologies faster than anyone in the world. There is a real void of agencies that understand Chinese consumers and social media culture as well as the unique social platforms within China. Our partnership creates the agency that fills that void.

WE Engauge is already working with several brands, including Lee Kum Kee, Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Cisco Systems, Citibank Hong Kong, Stroili Oro, M&M Mars, and more.

WMG Chairman and industry leader Viveca Chan will serve as Chairman and CEO of We Engauge. In announcing the venture, Chan said, Engauge is a leader in leveraging social media marketing for brands in the United States. Our management team has worked with blue chip brands in China for two decades and understands the unique social media platforms here. Together, we make a winning team, creating new tools and creative campaigns to help clients break new ground and achieve optimum business results.

Milenthal will serve as Vice Chairman of the new agency. Hugo Chan, a renowned leader in the China media industry and author of "Social Marketing: Customer's Engagement" will serve as Managing Partner. Raghu Kakarala, Engauge Chief Technology Officer, will serve as CTO and partner of We Engauge. The agency will work closely with WMG and will share offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing.

Engauge and the WMG management team already have strong ties as mutual shareholders of Worldwide Partners, the worlds largest network of independent agencies. I have watched Viveca grow her agency in China over the last 5 years into the countrys leading independent. We are honored to have an opportunity to partner with her on this great venture, said Rick Milenthal.

Al Moffatt, Worldwide Partners President/CEO said, Both WE and Engauge are agency partners in Worldwide Partners, the worlds largest network of independent agencies. The creation of this new social media agency in China through these two partner agencies is just one more example of the power of global connectivity and collaboration among agencies that are part of Worldwide Partners. I have every confidence that WE Engauge will be a social media ground-breaker in China and will be very successful.

Engauge is working on partnerships in Taiwan, Tokyo, London and Sao Paulo to create the first-ever international social media agency.

With WE Engauge, our clients will be able to leverage social media in greater China and throughout the world, said Viveca Chan. No one else in China is leveraging local knowledge with worldwide access like we do.

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WE Engauge Formed to Become Leading Social Marketing Agency in China

If proposed amendments to a Russian law get passed, a wave of censorship could ripple through the country's Web sites including a complete closure of Wikipedia.

This is what Wikipedia in Russian looks like during the blackout. It says, "Imagine a world without free knowledge."

Wikipedia shut down for 24 hours, just six months ago, joining a massive Web protest in the U.S. over the proposed anti-piracy laws SOPA and PIPA. Now, it's stepping up again in a major Internet revolt against online censorship in Russia.

According to The Next Web, the Russian government is looking to amend a law called the "Act for Information." The proposed changes to the law could lead to sweeping censorship of the Internet, including the complete closure of Wikipedia in Russia.

Wikipedia posted a statement in Russian on its Web site, which The Next Web translated; this is what it says:

In addition to the proposed amendments to the "Act for Information," the government is also mulling over another bill that harkens back to the country's Soviet past with harsh censorship crackdowns. Under the draft bill, all Web sites that contain pornography or drug references, or that promote suicide or other "extremist ideas," will purportedly face blacklisting.

Russia isn't known as a Web-friendly country. Earlier this year, Reporters Without Borders listed it as an "Under Surveillance" country in its "Enemies of the Internet" report. And just last month, Russia came under scrutiny for proposing amendments to a U.N. treaty that could lead to censorship of citizens who use the Web to voice government opposition.

The Russian government is scheduled to decide whether to pass the proposed amendments on the "Act for Information" tomorrow.

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Wikipedia blackout in Russia to protest censorship

London: Ever felt low if your friend gets more likes or tweets than you? You're not alone. Comparisons on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter make people feel anxious and under-confident, according to a poll.

The poll also found that more than half said these sites had altered their behaviour, especially suffering a negative impact from social media. Two-thirds said they were unable to relax or to doze off after spending time on the sites.

And one quarter of those polled said they had been left facing difficulties in their relationships or workplace after becoming confrontational online, the Telegraph reported.

Comparisons on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter make people feel anxious and under-confident.

In total, 298 people were polled by Salford Business School at the University of Salford, for the charity Anxiety UK. Of those, 53 percent said the launch of social networking sites had changed their behaviour and of those, 51 percent said the impact had been negative.

The research also demonstrated the addictive powers of internet, with 55 percent of people saying they felt "worried or uncomfortable" when they could not access their Facebook or e-mail accounts.

More than 60 percent of people said they felt compelled to turn off electronic gadgets in order to have a break, with one in three of those surveyed saying they switched the devices off several times each day.

The findings about behaviour changes after using social networking sites came from smaller in-depth research which was then carried out by Anxiety UK.

Nicky Lidbetter, the charity's chief executive said: "If you are predisposed to anxiety it seems that the pressures from technology act as a tipping point, making people feel more insecure and more overwhelmed."

Linda Blair, a clinical psychologist said many people suffered increased anxiety because they failed to take charge of the demands being placed on them. She said: "I think one of the key things is that people have begun to behave as though technology is in control of them, instead of the other way round. We can switch the gadgets off but a lot of us have forgotten how to."

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Facebook, Twitter lowering your confidence?

PEOPLE are said to get more affected by Facebook photos of others because these are real, un-Photoshopped photos of people they know.

We use social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and blogs to virtually connect with people, updating each other with regular status reports and giving (and receiving) feedback about them. Social networking sites readily provide us with what we personally, professionally and socially needand everything for free.

Negative impact

However, we should also be aware of the negative impact of social networking in our life. Staying on those sites takes so much of your time, especially if you have no self-discipline. And notice how painful comments affect our thoughts and actions.

Several articles and studies worldwide have shown how social networking sites like Facebook can create a negative perception of ones body and weight when comparing ones photos with the photos of friends. Facebook users usually post photos of themselves at their best body shape and clothes. People with self-esteem and body image issues can become easily affected by these hard-to-reach images, just like when seeing photos of models and celebrities in television, magazines and newspapers. According to mental health specialists, people get more affected by Facebook photos of others because these are real, un-Photoshopped photos of people they know, like family members and friends.

Statistics

Results of an online survey for 600 Facebook users age 16-40 conducted by the researchers of Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt in Baltimore show that:

Eighty percent of the respondents visit Facebook once a day and more than half of them log on numerous times a day. This implies that constant Facebook use may affect ones body image, and can lead to weight obsession and preoccupation, unhealthy dieting practices and eating disorders as results of social comparison among Facebook peers.

Both young and old can be negatively affected by constant Facebook visits. In fact, a study this year conducted by professors at the University of Haifa shows that the more frequent an adolescent girl (average age: 14.8) spends on Facebook, the more chances of developing various eating disorders and negative body image.

How to use Facebook to avoid body image and self-esteem issues:

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Facebook can make you fat