App Install Ads Earned Facebook “Real Revenue” And Helped 3800 Developers Drive 25M Downloads

Facebook  app install ads were the star of Facebook’s earnings call today. Sheryl Sandberg said 3800 developers used the ads to drive over 25 million installs. 40% of the top 100 iOS and Android app developers bought these ads in the last week of Q1 alone. Mark Zuckerberg meanwhile said, “We’re starting to see real revenue from selling mobile app installs.”

As I detailed yesterday, the app stores are becoming increasingly overloaded as every type of business goes mobile. Developers need a way to get their apps discovered, creating a massive opportunity of for Facebook’s app install ads which launched in October. These lets developers promote their apps in the mobile news feed with a large image, description, and “install now” button that opens the app’s page in appropriate app store. By combining Facebook’s massive mobile user base with its app install ads, Facebook is becoming the paid gateway to app traction.

Zuckerberg noted that with the rise of iOS and Android which it doesn’t own, it wasn’t clear how Facebook would add value to developers. But now Facebook has settled into helping developers build and growth their apps.

In terms of building apps Facebook already offers free SDKs that make it easier for developers to build in Facebook login and sharing options. Then just last week, Facebook acquired mobile app backend platform Parse, which handles servers, data storage, and more for developers so they can focus on creating enjoyable mobile app user experiences. While a relatively small business now, Parse subscription fees could contribute a few million dollars per quarter to Facebook in the future.

Where Facebook really stands to earn money is app discovery. Sandberg said “We’re uniquely positioned to offer developers massive reach”, alluding to its 751 million monthly users. Regarding app install ads, Zuckerberg explained that “Even if every recommendation isn’t one you take….we think [app discovery] is good for the community.”

Facebook’s CEO went on to note that the ads work well because they’re mobile by design. “Most ads make you visit website”, said Zuckerberg, while app install ads just open the app stores which users are already used to visiting. And since people already have their payment info loaded into these stores, the commerce experience is quick and easy.

App install ads also a good bang for developers’ buck, as Sandberg said “Our costs per install are highly competitive.” Meanwhile, CFO David Ebersman said this ad format is”early in its development but really doing quite well. We’re pleased with the experience we’re providing and the revenue we’ve seen.” They’re getting new businesses hooked on Facebook too, as Ebersman detailed, “A lot of the mobile app ads purchasers are new advertisers.”

Zuckerberg sees the app ecosystem continuing to get larger and more competitive, which will make Facebook’s app install ads increasingly more crucial. They helped Facebook boost its mobile ad revenue to $375 million, or 30% of its total ad revenue, up from 23% last quarter. Zuckerberg concluded that “this market is already big and I expect it to grow quickly.”

The only issue is that others see this too. Twitter just launched app install cards, which show big visual app previews and links to the app stores when people tweet about the download pages of apps. Meanwhile, some including Hunter Walk suggest that Apple might start offering its own native app install ads within the App Store.

Apps are proliferating, and developers need a way to rise above the crowd. Considering the amount they stand to make off of downloads, they could growing increasingly willing to put dollars directly into the pockets of Facebook and others if it gets them discovered.

What Does the Internet Know About You?

                Barbara E. Hernandez, TechNewsDaily contributor

 for TechNewsDaily 

As Rebecca Martinson knows, there’s no privacy on the Internet. When a profanity-laden rant she emailed to only her Delta Gamma sorority sisters made its way onto Gawker and into viral history, she was publicly mocked and forced to resign from the sorority. But the Internet is not only a place to be humiliated. It's also a place for people or companies to pick up even more information about you. That includes your address, gender, date of birth and, with a little sleuthing, your Social Security number and credit history.

That's been made clear in a recent spate of "doxing" (document tracing) of celebrities that revealed, for example, that Microsoft CEO Bill Gates had an outstanding debt on his credit card. But none of this information comes from hacking. It's either already public or accessible by, for example, paying an online people-finding service to get a Social Security number, and then running a credit check.

Then there's all the data you pour into social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Foursquare and others. Now employers can fire workers for expressing opinions they don’t like, strangers can stalk you with mobile apps and college administrators can judge the quality of applicants by the number of drinking photos posted to their account.

Aleecia L. McDonald, director of privacy for the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford University, said people are grappling with the idea that their information has a secondary use. “The issue isn’t so much that information is out there and people can see it,” she said. “On Facebook, that’s the point. But it’s when that information gets used in a new and different way.”

It's All Public

Many gun owners felt that secondary use of private information when they saw an interactive map published by the Journal News of White Plains, N.Y., that listed the name and addresses of everyone in two New York state counties with a gun permit. A maplisting the names, addresses, phone numbers and social media accounts of Journal News reporters, including the author of the original story, was circulated online in retaliation. At least one county refused to turn over pistol permit records, citing the possibility of “endangering citizens.”

However, the records are all public. There is no law against publishing them either in print or online, even if it makes some uncomfortable.

“I can use Zillow.com and see home prices for everything up and down the neighborhood,” McDonald said. “Sure, all that information was available at City Hall, but I wasn’t going to look it all up [in person] because that takes effort.”

When real estate search site Zillow first came out, many people were shocked at the amount of information on it — including the price paid for homes and names of owners. Zillow has since backed down from publishing names, but last year, it began listing homes going through the foreclosure process, which caused another firestorm of people looking to opt out. But all the information comes from public records. Zillow says it doesn’t list names, only properties; and it does not allow those with foreclosed property to opt out” of being published.

Other sites, such as Arrests.org, list mug shots by state. And some local police departments are now posting photos of recent arrests on Facebook. Now with the Internet and databases, public records are easy to distribute and see.

Social Oversharing

Adi Kamdar of the Electronic Frontier Foundation cautions about the use of Facebook Graph Search, which allows users to search information from news feeds of friends and those users with settings set to public on Facebook. Now anyone can look for, for example, single women living in San Francisco who share their taste for tapas and perhaps find a phone number and email address. Who needs Match.com anymore?

Facebook has also reportedly been working for the past year on a socially ambient mobile app — one that lets you literally track people or friends via a map and GPS. While the socially ambient aspect hasn’t appeared yet, it’s expected to surface, according to Bloomberg News, likely in a new version of the Facebook Home interface.

“There’s nothing you can do in the electronic world that your boss can’t find and you can’t be fired for,” said Lewis Maltby, president of National Workrights Institute. “I got a call today from someone who got fired because he was writing short stories on his own time (online) and apparently they were a little kinky.”

Maltby, whose organization fights for human rights in the workplace, said that today, people’s futures are in peril every time their boss or college admissions office looks on the Internet. That means users shouldn’t post photos of themselves with an alcoholic drink in their hand or espouse political views, because it can lead to a value judgment.

“You can still go online and say what you want, but you’re crazy if you do,” Maltby said.

Another problem today is social networks becoming a larger part of one’s life. To comment on articles, people frequently log into a Facebook account first. Others are finding that their Google+ social account is being attached to their Gmail account and will be needed to comment on apps or games on Google Play. Google+ accounts are also used to sign into YouTube and other Google sites. Many social networks are seemingly trying to end anonymous posting.

To preserve privacy, a person would have to walk away from Google or Facebook. “It’s a trade-off to some extent,” Kamdar said. “The more these services get adopted, the more you have to think, ‘My entire online presence depends on this corporation or this service I don’t want to opt into.’”

Recently Facebook Home was launched on Android devices, and many noticed that the interface logged online purchases and visits, although Facebook said that it doesn’t assign names to the information. Facebook is using customer loyalty cards' information and public records to sell to advertisers and marketers. However, Facebook Home isn’t hunting anyone down to do this; people themselves are opting to use an Android phone with the Facebook skin on it.

What You Can Do

Long-term solutions could be legal, regulatory or even codes of conduct for companies, said McDonald. The White House is now working on a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights, but there is still not a working draft of the bill, according to the New York Times.

Meanwhile, users can save themselves some headaches by understanding that whatever they place online will stay online. Nothing online is temporary; instead, it's more like an Internet tattoo. Martinson’s online (and likely late-night) outburst will follow her throughout college and possibly the workforce, according to CNN.

Keep all social networks set to the highest privacy settings even if you have to manually approve follow requests.

If posting to a forum or other online database, don’t use your real name or email address (or at least one you don’t mind people seeing).

Never give out your date of birth, phone number or physical address if you can help it.

Never give out your Social Security number. Many colleges, banks, brokerage houses and other companies now have alternative login IDs to use provided you ask for one. (However, not even colleges or banks are immune to hackers, so always monitor your credit for suspicious activity.)

Remember that what you post can be seen by others. Be careful of what you say and which photos are posted because it could potentially be seen by millions of people.

“A lot of data is coming from people directly,” McDonald said. “Lock down [social media] accounts to only friends. Being more mindful is the first step we can take before looking for other solutions.”

Image via Allison Joyce/Getty Images

How to Turn Your Smartphone Into a Burner Phone

Leslie Meredith

 for TechNewsDaily 

A friend of mine, Sam, recently listed his Nokia Lumia phone for sale online. After making arrangements to meet a buyer, he went to the AT&T store to have them wipe his phone of personal data. Unfortunately, the process killed his phone. He let the buyer know, who then, apparently angered by the cancelled deal, began sending weird texts to Sam's new iPhone.

How could Sam have avoided the hassle? He could have used Burner, an app that lets people create disposable numbers that they can give out in place of their real number. Burner released an app for Android phones and a major update for iPhone.

The software takes the place of burner phones, cheap mobiles that can be picked up at a local convenience store with no identifying account information associated with them. Burner offers similar anonymity without the need for another phone. Instead of tossing the phone, you delete the phone number the app generated.

Disposable numbers aren't only for drug dealers — just ask Sam. In fact, anonymous numbers come in handy for a variety of activities, such as getting quotes on a service when you don't want follow-up calls, first dates when you're really not sure if there will be a second one and, as in Sam's case, whenever you sell something online.

Burner numbers aren't free, but they're flexible. For instance, $1.99 will buy a Mini Burner, a number that will last for seven days, 20 talk minutes or 60 texts, whichever comes first. A burner can be extended by buying additional in-app credits before it expires. Those who need a number that lasts longer and handles more traffic, can spend $4.99 for a 60-day number (75 minutes or 225 texts) or a 30-day number that can be used for 90 minutes or 270 texts. You can "burn" a number at any time, which will delete it immediately and take it out of service.

The Burner app includes voicemail and an inbox that work a lot like those in your regular service. You'll see a list of recent calls and a list of all calls. You can favorite calls by tapping a star icon, and you can record a voicemail messages that callers hear when they dial your Burner numbers.

Download the free app and start by typing in your mobile phone number, which Burner uses for forwarding your future disposable numbers. Burner will text you a verification code.

Name your burner number, such as "KSL phone sale," and choose your area code. Burner will generate a disposable number that can be used immediately to place a call, text a number or share with others, including on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and email.

Once you burn a number, you cannot recover it. While Burner supports SMS text messaging, you can't use MMS messaging, meaning no photos or video. You cannot use a burner number to make emergency 911 calls.

Baby Sleeps with Puppy Bulldogs, Melts Internet

And the award for Most Adorable Photo in the History of the Internet does NOT go to Justin Bieber!

In a viral photo that is melting hearts around the globe, Cindy Clark - a French Bulldog Breeder from Pennsylvania - has posted an image of a sleeping baby covered in puppies online.

Yes, a sleeping baby covered in puppies! What else needs to be said?

How to click perfect selfie for Facebook

NEW YORK: The trick behind clicking a perfect 'selfie', a self-portrait uploaded to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, has been revealed. 

Photography expert Amber De Vos explained how professional self-portraits should be done, and warned the selfie-obsessed not to mindlessly snap and post. 

According to the New York Daily News, she pointed out that photos are really powerful, and they outlast you and speak to people you will never meet. 

Celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch also gave suggestions to help people get the right look and the right clothes. 

Bloch points out that "Sex sells." He says 'any time he put a picture up where he is shirtless, he gets 20 more followers' 

According to the report, De Vos advises people to pinch cheeks and tap lips with your fingers a few times to bring out the color in your face. 

She also said that one should not hold the phone too high or too low. 

Also stretching your arms in crazy directions will make it harder to smile naturally, she added. 

Bloch suggests to shoot into the mirror, especially if you're going for a full-body photo. 

Also, just roll out of bed and start taking selfies. What you're wearing can be as important as how you hold the camera, Bloch added. 

Contrast what you are wearing with the background behind. This is advanced selfie-taking, but if you can manage to coordinate colors, the benefits will be obvious, he added. 

Lastly, don't just grab random props to be in your selfie. What you choose to hold says a lot about you, Bloch said. 

Google Inactive Account Manager: Decide What Happens to Your Account After You Die

What happens to your e-mail, Facebook, Twitter and other digital accounts after you die has long been a question in the tech world. Some have even started to create a digital estates to pass on the keys to their digital lives to an executor or trustee.

But Google is now thinking ahead and making it easier for people to plan what happens to that digital data after you pass. The company has announced its Inactive Account Manager.

The tool allows users to decide what happens to their data on Google's services -- Gmail, Blogger,Google Drive, Google+, Picasa Web Albums, Google Voice and YouTube -- after they pass. You can decide to share access to those accounts with friends or family members or have the account deleted.

"You can tell us what to do with your Gmail messages and data from several other Google services if your account becomes inactive for any reason," Andreas Tuerk, the product manager of the service,wrote on Google's blog today.

Instead of someone informing Google of your death, the service uses inactivity as a barometer. You set the time of inactivity -- three, six, nine or 12 months -- and if you don't log into your account after that period Google will do one of two things. You can have it alert up to 10 trusted friends or contacts and choose to share your data with them or you can also just have it set to delete your entire account.

Before the systems take any of those actions though, it will warn you via a text message or an email to a secondary address. Of course, if you have died you won't get that alert and it will then take action.

It might sound like a somber tool, but Google is now making it easier than many other services when it comes to planning for your death in the digital domain.

RELATED: Facebook After Death: Who Owns Your Pages When You Die?

New Hampshire State Rep. Peter Sullivan introduced legislation in February to allow the executor of an estate control over the social networking pages of the dead. Five other states, including Oklahoma, Idaho, Rhode Island, Indiana and Connecticut, have established legislation regulating one's digital presence after death. Rhode Island and Connecticut were first, but their bills were limited to email accounts, excluding social networking sites. With other services, such as iTunes, some have started to set up digital trusts.

Beyond ownership, many services have popped up over the last couple of months that address the issue of sending messages via social media services after death. A Facebook app called "Ifidie" lets you set up a way to send out Facebook messages to friends after you pass.

You identify a trustee who will confirm that you have died, and the messages will be sent. _LivesOn is a Twitter service that will analyze your tweets, allow you to train it, and will tweet for you after you are gone.

You can now set up your Google Inactive Account Manager here.

Your Facebook Popularity Can Help You Getting Job

MELBOURNE: Your popularity on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter andLinkedIn may help you bag a job as companies are increasingly looking for well-connected and influential people, experts say.

Digital experts say social media and recruitment now largely go hand in hand.

While at the most basic level, companies check up on prospective employees to see if they make unsavoury postings online, they are also using LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to find new employees - both by listing opportunities and by increasing the chatter between recruiters and the people looking for jobs, website stuff.co.nz reported.

"Social media has become an essential part of any organisation's recruitment strategy. It is easier to generate talent through social media. A lot easier than it was four or five years ago," said Hays Recruitment New Zealand managing director Jason Walker.

Walker said in a recent survey of 270 employers across New Zealand the company found that 64 per cent of employers used LinkedIn to find new employees, 50 per cent used Facebook and 10 per cent used Twitter.

Of those looking for jobs 74 per cent use LinkedIn, 24 per cent used Facebook, and 7 per cent used Twitter, Fairfax NZ news reported.

Tom Bates, the social influence director for digital strategists Contagion, said employers would look at a prospective employee's social media presence to validate what the candidate was saying about their online profile.

"If someone says that they are influential and they are not even on Twitter, or don't use social media well, then they are not being authentic or honest," Bates said.

"When I am recruiting I look first and foremost on LinkedIn. I look at the experience people have, their connections, because it gives a really open, transparent, easy way to source relevant people," Bates added.

"I also look at all their other social media identities to get more of a sense of who they are, outside of the one-hour interview I may have with them. I look at their Facebook and Twitter and potentially Instagram and beyond to make sure there is a good cultural fit," Bates said.