Mediaboss Marketing

Victoria Ransom is founder and CEO of Wildfire Interactive, the global leader in social media marketing software. Victoria and Wildfire will host a free webinar on March 2 at 10 a.m. PT, entitled Timeline for Brands: How to Make the Switch, further outlining best practices for brands in transitioning to Facebooks new Timeline format.

Facebook recently revealed big plans for the mobile platform, for instance, that the new Timeline format for brands will be available on mobile. Facebook also revealed that more than 450 million people use Facebook Mobile on a monthly basis, and more importantly, that mobile is outgrowing desktop use on the social network 2:1.

[More from Mashable: Pew: Social Media Not Yet Driving News Traffic]

For these reasons, Facebook has planned a variety of mobile-centric products, including last weeks announcement that brands will now be able to advertise in mobile news feeds through Sponsored Stories.

These game-changing trends mean that marketers need to get serious about mobile in 2012. Here are three new ways you can build mobile into your Facebook marketing plan.

[More from Mashable: 7 Tech CEOs Talk About Their iPad Obsession]

Timeline for brands is coming to the mobile platform in 2012. When you consider that brand pages on Facebook Mobile have had almost no functionality custom apps havent worked without a complicated hack-job, tabs havent translated, etc. it seems possible that Timeline for brands was launched specifically to enable brands mobile Facebook capabilities.

And since users' Timelines function on Facebook Mobile, Timeline for brands should be equally versatile, giving brands the ability to provide engaging mobile experiences for the first time.

Since nearly half of Facebook users access the site through a mobile device, your brands reach could effectively double if you mobile-optimize your social content. And because users will soon be able to experience the same workflow on their desktops as their smartphones, page managers will now be able to curate an identical experience for all users, regardless of viewing device.

Whether youre building engagement applications in-house or with a social marketing software vendor, make sure the applications are seamlessly viewable across all platforms and devices. Ideally, youll be able to design once and deploy anywhere. That way, you'll avoid messy synchronization issues, duplication of effort between creative teams, and working around multiple content channels.

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3 Ways Marketers Can Reach Facebook's Mobile Audience

Research by Mindshift Interactive says Club Mahindra, ITC, Taj Hotels, Oberoi Group and Pride Hotels are the top five companies actively involved in marketing on social media

Mumbai, March 19:

The travel and hospitality industry is going social with a vengeance to engage and network with travellers. According to a study, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are the most popular and effective social media platforms for marketing within the tourism and hospitality industry.

The industry uses these networks to review brands, locations and read user experiences, whilst also responding actively to queries and comments.

According to a research conducted by Mindshift Interactive, the top five hospitality players in the Indian market that are actively involved in the social media space are Club Mahindra, ITC, Taj Hotels, Oberoi Group and Pride Hotels.

Club Mahindra with 51 per cent had the maximum number of conversations, followed by ITC with 21 per cent and Taj Hotels at 17 per cent. Oberoi Group (8 per cent) and Pride Hotels (3 per cent) ranked at the bottom with respect to its presence on Social Media.

The increased dependency on social media by travellers is growing faster than the travel industry itself. India's travel category garnered the second largest share (42 per cent) of total Internet visitors in Asia, with 17.8 million average monthly unique visitors in the first quarter of 2011. With the digital media ecosystem in India evolving rapidly, the number of Internet users is expected to cross 546 million users by 2016, a report by KPMG said. Continued growth in internet penetration and mobile device access is expected to drive consumption and bring about a 360 degree approach for marketing.

Brands today are spending almost 20 to 30 per cent of their marketing budgets on digital and these figures are expected to grow with years to come. Hotels present on the social media platforms are beginning to understand their consumer's better, said Mr Zafar Rais, CEO of MindShift Interactive.

With over 63,467 fans and an engagement ratio of 14 per cent, Club Mahindra leads the presence on Facebook. Club Mahindra leads the Twitter presence with 7,159 followers and effective engagement.

Oberoi Hotels has over 10, 879 fans on Facebook with an engagement ratio of 3.5 per cent. ITC has over 15,402 fans with an engagement ratio of 2 per cent. Taj Hotels has integrated their campaigns such as Mlange - Vote for Art and Marathon For A Cause with social media. The Twitter presence of Taj Hotels is as @TajMahalMumbai with 2,444 followers.

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Travel and hospitality sector ramps up social media marketing

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Mzinga (http://www.mzinga.com), the leader in social intelligence solutions, services and analytics for business, and Pandemic Labs, the nations premier social media marketing agency, today announced a partnership to deliver social technology and services solutions to customers.

Pandemic Labs has been committed to the strategy behind social media marketing longer than most agencies, and as part of that commitment we have always been at the forefront of technology that allows us to create marketing success, said Matt Peters, Co-Founder & Creative Director of Pandemic Labs. Through this partnership, we will be able to enhance our best-of-breed social media marketing services with the comprehensive social features available in Mzingas platform, OmniSocial.

Today, enterprises of all sizes recognize the opportunity and value of establishing effective, rich customer, employee, partner and brand experiences, for global business through the use of social technologies and strategies. Mzingas social software and the services of Pandemic Labs will help enterprises increase revenue through collaboration, improve customer loyalty and gain insight into employee performance to increase competitive advantage, ultimately driving more sound business decision making and growth.

We are thrilled to add Pandemic Labs to our growing repertoire of trusted partners to bring full-service social strategy solutions to the market, said Mike Merriman, Director of Strategic Services, at Mzinga. The work Pandemic has done with large brands like Au Bon Pain, The Ritz-Carlton and others closely aligns with our customer base to deliver best-in-class social solutions and agency services to customers.

Mzinga OmniSocial is an enterprise-class social software and analytics solution that enables businesses to foster networking, collaboration, engagement and knowledge sharing to glean insights that drive better business decisions and previously untapped levels of productivity and innovation.

About Pandemic Labs

Pandemic Labs is one of the nations leading social media marketing and analytics agencies. Founded in 2007 by young visionaries Brennan White and Matt Peters, Pandemic Labs works with a diverse client base, ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. They have worked with high-profile brands such as The Ritz-Carlton, Au Bon Pain, Puma, DIRECTV, Canon, Courtyard by Marriott, and The Wild Foundation. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Pandemic Labs currently manages social media marketing campaigns in more than 20 countries and six languages.

For more information on Pandemic Labs visit http://www.pandemiclabs.com.

About Mzinga

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Mzinga and Pandemic Labs Partner to Deliver End-to-End Social Experience Solutions

The Delhi High Court says Microsoft should not be involved in a Web censorship case that has turned its sights firmly on Facebook and Google.

Microsoft has been given a reprieve in an Indian Web censorship case against several online companies.

The software giant today was told by the Delhi High Court that it will not face charges in the criminal censorship case after the company argued that no formal allegations were brought against it. Microsoft's departure from the case comes after Yahoo was also allowed out.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the news.

The India case is focusing on Google and Facebook. Last week, the Journal reported that the companies were forced to head to trial in India after they were charged with failing to censor online content that "will corrupt minds."

For their part, Google and Facebook argue that they're protected under India's information technology law, which they claim protects them against content added to sites by users. The companies have also said that when asked, they comply with take-downs related to "objectionable" content.

A battle between India and the online giants, who are among nearly a dozen defendants, seemed to be brewing in December when the government demanded that all Web companies prescreen user content before it hits the Internet. India's acting telecommunications minister, Kapil Sibal, said at the time that the move would limit inflammatory content finding its way onto the Internet.

Internet censorship has become a key component in online companies' relations with countries around the world. China is perhaps the most notorious censor, taking Web sites down that it believes violate its laws. Google went as far as moving its China search to Hong Kong because of the country's stringent censorship laws.

In India, the stakes are high for all the companies involved. If they're found guilty, the firms could face stiff fines and their executives could be forced to serve jail time.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.

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Microsoft off the hook in India censorship case

Rent control seems unfair, but ending it could threaten people's homesand endanger important zoning regulations

Michael Appleton / The New York Times / Redux

The doorbell on a rent-controlled apartment that was the focus of a landlord's suit against the actress Faye Dunaway and her son, Liam Dunaway O'Neill, in New York, Aug. 2, 2011.

Cohen is the author of Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days that Created Modern America

In many congested cities New York City most of all rent control laws protect tenants who are lucky enough to have such leases from major rent increases. But the Supreme Court could be on the brink of striking down rent control. If it does, the court will hand landlords a huge victory and put many tenants in danger of losing their homes. It could also lay the groundwork for striking down a wide array of zoning laws.

The Supreme Court is considering a case filed by James Harmon, a onetime Reagan Administration lawyer who owns a brownstone on West 76th street in Manhattan. One of his tenants, an executive recruiter named Nancy Wing Lombardi, has leased a one-bedroom apartment in the building since 1976. Since the apartment is rent-controlled, she pays $1000 a month, at least half what an unregulated apartment in the same neighborhood would cost. Harmon argues that laws limiting how much rent he can charge are an unconstitutional taking of his property. The court has not yet decided to take the case, but it has asked for additional briefing taking a harder look, the Wall Street Journal reported, than anyone expected.

(MORE:Real Estate Trend: Wealthy Californians Demand Tons of Bathrooms)

Rent control has a long history. New York City adopted its law after World War I, when a shortage of housing and a glut of renters including soldiers returning from the war put extreme pressure on rents. Many other localities have rent control laws, including dozens in New York State and California. Along with New York City, some of the largest are San Francisco, Oakland, and Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld rent control, going back to 1921. In 1988, in Pannell v. San Jose, it ruled 6-2 that San Joses law did not violate the constitution in an opinion written by the very conservative then-Chief Justice, William Rehnquist. In 1992, in Yee v. City of Escondido, the court unanimously rejected a claim that a rent control ordinance was an unconstitutional taking of property just the issue Harmon is raising.

These rulings should settle the question. But rent control opponents clearly think they have a chance, given how pro-corporation the Court is today. Harmons challenge is attracting strong support from real estate interests and conservative groups like the CATO Institute. They argue that rent control unconstitutionally deprives landlords of the right to charge as much rent as they want. They like to point to extreme cases of people benefiting who do not need it like the actress Faye Dunaway, who until recently had a $1,048.72 a month one-bedroom on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

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What if the Supreme Court Kills Rent Control?