The news and headlines that grabbed our attention last week:
Twitter Dethrones Facebook as Teens’ Favorite Social Network for Shopping via Mashable: Twitter beat out Facebook in the battle for teenagers’ preferred social networks for online shopping. In a recent survey of teens’ retail behavior, participants were asked about their favorite networks, and 26% responded that it was Twitter.
Is Referral Marketing the Secret to Social Commerce? via Womma: Though there are plenty of signs all around, you don’t have to look much past the fact that the big marketing suites now include social measurement tools to realize that the era of social media as a luxury add-on to your marketing strategy is dead. Social marketing needs to have an impact, and that impact needs to be measurable.
Rakuten’s CEO on Humanizing E-Commerce via Harvard Business Review: The Idea: Mikitani believes that human beings need communication and connection. So instead of emphasizing efficiency and convenience, Rakuten tries to create a personalized, bazaarlike shopping experience.
Amazon Raises Free Shipping Minimum for First Time in a Decade via Mashable: Amazon upped its free shipping minimum by $10 to $35 on Tuesday, marking the first time in a decade that the company has increased that threshold.
For Bitcoin’s Biggest Believers, Digital Currency Is Better Than Gold via Wired: Ken Shishido is sitting at the far end of the table, giving the lecture he always gives. Shishido doesn’t believe in dollars or yen or any other government currency. He believes in silver. He believes in gold. And he believes in bitcoin, the digital currency that exists only on the internet.
Instagram Coming to Windows Phone via Mashable: Instagram is coming to Windows Phone — and this time, it’s official.