Do you have an iPhone? Are you a blogger? Then you’re going to love this news - there’s now a WordPress app for iPhone available for download from the iTunes App Store. The software lets you update your WordPress blog from anywhere. We’re not forgiving Apple for that MobileMe nonsense just yet, but we have to admit, this is pretty good stuff.

WordPress on iPhone

The new WordPress App for iPhone supports both WordPress.com installations as well as self-hosted Wordpress.org blogs that are version 2.5.1 and above.

The app includes the following features:

- Embedded Safari previews of posts

- Full support for tags & categories

- Photo support for both camera phone pics and library photos

- Support for multiple blogs

- Ability to password protect a post, save as draft, or mark for later review

- Auto-recovery feature recovers posts interrupted by phone calls

UK Internet visits to www.twitter.com have increased by 631% over the last 12 months, with 485% of that growth coming this year. Twitter is more popular with Brits than Americans: last week the site’s share of UK Internet visits was 70% higher its share of visits in America.

Twitter’s size is notoriously difficult to measure, as there are so many access points (mobile phones in particular), so if anything our measurement of internet visits under-estimates platform’s popularity. In her post Heather Hopkins argues that Twitter cannot yet be considered mainstream in the USA, but in the UK it’s getting there. Last week Twitter entered our rankings of the top 50 Social Networking and Forums websites for the first time, and the demographics are also pointing towards more wide-spread adoption. Overr the last 4 weeks, visitors were split 50/50 male/female, while only 15% were from London. 25-34 year olds are still the most over represented age group visiting the site, but 37% of visitors to the site are now 45 and over.

Looking at the Experian Mosaic lifestyle data for Twitter over the same period also paints an interesting picture. The two most over represented types are still both typical early adopters: City Adventurers (High-salaried, twenty-something singles in smart flats in inner urban areas) and Town Gown Transition (Students and academics mix with young professionals in terraces relatively close to universities). However, there are a number of other over-represented types that would imply a more mainstream appeal, in particular Settled Minorities (Young families and singles of varied ethnic decent, in high density, pleasant urban terraces) and White Van Culture (Younger owners, many in good quality ex-council properties, take advantage of local economic opportunities).

Another sign of maturity is that mainstream media organizations are starting to pick up traffic from Twitter. For example, BBC News accounts for 1.46% of the site’s upstream traffic but 1.73% of its downstream traffic - i.e. the Beeb is receiving more traffic from Twitter than it sends there. Other BBC properties in Twitter’s top 20 downstream sites include BBC Sport (1.34%) and the BBC Homepage (0.71%). The BBC Sport feed is very popular: over the last 4 weeks ‘bbc sport’ was the second most popular search term sending traffic to Twitter. As the table below illustrates, it accounted for 5.92% of search traffic to the site, and was joined in the top 10 by two other BBC-related search terms, ‘bbc news’ and ‘bbcsport’.

The other interesting thing that the table above highlights is the growing tail of people search terms sending traffic to Twitter, something that we’ve highlighted before with regards to another social network, Linkedin. This most recent top 10 includes Kevin Rose (founder of Digg, drinker of tea), the blogger Los Havros, and Molly Wood (executive editor of CNET’s Buzz Report).

For those tracking the status of applications recently suspended by Facebook for “violations of privacy policies,”

- Slide’s Top Friends, suspended from the Platform for a total of 7 days, was restored over the weekend. As of today, Top Friends is back to about 1.1 million daily active users, or about 60% of its pre-suspension levels.

- Socialhi’s Social Me, suspended from the Platform since July 1, remains unavailable. In a recent email to users, Socialhi.com said,

Thank you all for your emails and inquires regarding the status of SocialHi.com’s applications. We are aware of the fan pages and groups which currently boast tens of thousands of members.We are working closely with Facebook on restoring access to these apps. We will post updates at socialhi.com regularly.

(Social Me users have been very vocal in clamoring for the app’s return in the comments of this blog.)

We’ll stay on top of all the platform policy enforcements for developers as they happen.

While Slide’s Top Friends suspension has garnered a lot of developer attention, rival RockYou! faces an equally serious problem: Super Wall’s traffic has plummeted - fast. Super Wall was until recently the most active application on the Facebook Platform, with well over 2.1 million daily active users. However, Super Wall has suffered a nearly 70% drop in daily traffic in the past week, falling to less than 650,000 DAU as of today.

The exact cause of the drop remains unclear. It could be partially due to the long holiday weekend in the United States, but other apps have not seen this type of drop. It seems quite possible that Facebook may have taken some kind of punitive action against the application, perhaps by restricting feed access or by lowering the application’s notification or invitation limits.

This traffic drop comes amidst the Facebook Platform policy team’s recent decisions to punish other major applications including Top Friends and Socialhi.com’s Social Me.

Source: Insidefacebook.com

It has long been assumed by many investors that acquiring Valueclick (VCLK) would be the first step in “plan B” for Microsoft (MSFT) if its bid to take over Yahoo (YHOO) was unsuccessful. When MSFT’s Steve Ballmer recently ruled out a slew of acquisitions of smaller internet players after pulling its bid for Yahoo, ValueClick’s stock seemed to lose some of its “takeover bait” premium over the next couple of trading sessions. Since that time, the sell off in ValueClick shares has intensified and the stock has set new 52 week lows three times over the last week as rumors swirl that it is now hunting for some strategic acquisitions of its own. As might be expected, investors appear to be pricing in 1) concerns over dilution that might accompany any acquisition 2) typical “sell the buyer, buy the seller” arbitrage or 3) that an acquisition is signaling the switch of management efforts to acquiring instead of being acquired.

Much of the chatter regarding ValueClick acquisitions has focused on the possibility of their acquiring a company that would gain them entrance to the “Pay Per Click” [PPC] advertising space, the very high margin business that the Google empire was built upon where advertisers bid for placement in search results that are offered when consumers seek information on specific keyword search terms. This business was invented by Goto.com, which became Overture.com and was acquired by Yahoo and is now Yahoo Search Marketing. This space has been dominated by Yahoo and Google (GOOG), with Microsoft making a late run to gain a foothold in this space and round out “the big three” in the PPC space. While there has always been a “second tier” of companies trying to gain traction in the pay per click space, none have been able to come close to challenging “the big three” for various reasons.

While we are not in a position to know if there is any substance to the rumors, it does seem that the recent upheaval at Yahoo might make a historic opportunity for the right company to make waves in the pay per click space. If a Yahoo/MSFT deal were to reemerge or if Yahoo moves forward with its plans to outsource much of its premium PPC business to Google, the combination of the #2 and #3 players or the #1 and #2 players in this space would leave the door open for another company to slip into the #3 position. While we don’t think there is any magic associated with being the #3 player in PPC search, we do think that there are quite a few deep pocketed advertisers out there who view both Microsoft and Google as their most feared competitors and would like to see their advertising dollars flow to someone else, particularly newspaper publishers, magazine publishers, TV, radio and other legacy media companies.

Another factor that could make for a historic opportunity to enter the PPC search fray is the current market valuations of the second tier players. Just over a year ago, all companies in the online advertising space (but particularly the owners of ad networks) were being bid up to new trading highs after the frenzied buying of many of the other players ((ie.Aquantive, Doubliclick, 24/7 Media, Linkshare, Digitas) in this space for large premiums to their trading prices. As the deal volume dried up, much of the money flowed out of these names and many are now trading at historic lows.

The two names we have seen tossed around most often as a ValueClick acquisition targets fit neatly into this category - Miva (MIVA) and Think Partnership (THK).

Miva Media Solutions, previously known as Findwhat.com, is the largest of the second tier networks. With over $100 million in annual click revenue flowing through the company’s North American and European networks, Miva stands out as the quickest option for an acquiror looking to gain heft quickly. Miva also owns a number of valuable content sites including the rapidly growing Spill.com, Screensavers.com and WeatherStudio.com in addition to a growing toolbar segment that currently boasts of over 6 million active users.

In addition to offering the possibility of instantly becoming the next largest player in PPC behind MSFT, adding highly regarded content sites and leveraging the possibilities inherent in having an installed base of over 6 million toolbars, ValueClick and others have to look at the current market valuation of MIVA as extremely attractive. With a current market cap of $32.5 million (closing price July 1), no debt and over $22 million in the bank, the same marketplace that one year ago placed a valuation on these operations of just over $225 million is currently placing a value on this same business of less than $10 million. While the $250 million+ valuation achieved during the height of the ad network buying frenzy of a year ago might be on the high side, its hard to imagine that there are not buyers out there willing to pay three or four times the current trading price to take down such a large piece of pay per click market share. ValueClick in particular does seem like a company with the complementary assets, existing clientele and market cache’ necessary to take a business like Miva’s that is struggling to be profitable and significantly expand the margins by reaching the critical mass of advertisers necessary to ramp profitability quickly. With an existing CPA (Cost Per Action) network and display advertising business that reaches 74% of US internet users, its quite likely that ValueClick’s reach and brand name would bring many more advertisers into the fold quickly and also that existing advertisers would be more likely to bid higher and spend more through a ValueClick ad network than they would through Miva owned network.

The company whose name seems to be most frequently mentioned as a takeover candidate for ValueClick is called Think Partnership, (THK). Think Partnership (hereinafter THK) is in many respects similar to ValueClick, albeit a smaller version as it is most widely known for the affiliate marketing platform (Kowabunga) within its “network” segment and the lead generation operations within its “Direct” segment.

THK’s Kowabunga is a highly regarded player in the affiliate marketing space that has long been a thorn in the side of ValueClick, whose “Commission Junction” is the largest player in the affiliate marketing space. While Kowabunga is much smaller than Commission Junction, many high profile corporate names have either chosen Kowabunga over ValueClick’s Commission Junction when they started their affiliate program (like Microsoft and Yahoo Search Marketing’s affiliate programs ) or migrated to Kowabunga after testing the Commission Junction platform (like Intuit). Taking ownership of Kowabunga would make ValueClick’s Commission Junction not only the largest affiliate program provider, but also the “go to” provider for the largest names in technology, not to mention that the removal of a competitor like Kowabunga from the playing field might allow them to raise their percentage take on affiliate transactions.

While the lead generation operations within THK’s “Direct” segment are much smaller than ValueClick’s lead generation ops from a revenue standpoint, THK has actually had more success at maintaining strong margins while steering clear of Federal Trade Commission sanctions. Additionally, the specific niche’s served by THK’s direct segment (home based business owners and life stage niche marketing) would be complementary to ValueClick’s lead generation offerings.

Despite the obvious synergies of the THK businesses above with ValueClick, it is a third aspect that makes it most attractive to ValueClick. THK’s ValidClick AdExchange offers ValueClick an entry into the Pay Per Click space with what is arguably the most differentiated offering in the PPC space and also what is likely the fastest growing ad exchange. The ValidClick AdExchange platform combines a unique patent pending technology for eliminating click fraud combined with an exclusive technology alliance with Fair Isaac Corporation (FIC) that uses analytics based on artificial intelligence and patented profiling technologies that adapt to each click and conversion, scoring publishers on their ability to drive conversions for advertisers. This new exclusive partnership with the company whose FICO score has become the standard in the lending industry makes the ValidClick Ad Exchange that much more attractive to a company wanting to differentiate themselves from the pack in the PPC space. It has also caused many of the second tier networks to run their own ads through ValidClick’s Ad Exchange to take advantage of its Click Fraud protection.

Recent comments by THK management and our own channel checks in several verticals suggest that the ValidClick exchange is experiencing exponential growth in clicks, searches and revenues generated. In the verticals we tested, we saw more than 100% growth in Q2 over the record clicks and revenue achieved by the network during Q1 2008. This Google-like growth stands in stark contrast to the declines in revenue experienced by most of the other Pay Per Click search networks (including Miva) over the last few quarters as Click Fraud concerns seem to have scared more and more advertisers away from second tier PPC networks. These concerns appear to be making the ValidClick’s click fraud prevention technology and alliance with Fair Isaac that much more appealing.

Despite the success of the ValidClick network, THK’s stock has recently traded down to a historical low, with a market cap settling in the $27 million range. With its existing business pieced together by acquisitions totaling nearly $90 million over the last three years, several business segments that appear to be flourishing and a company campaign to divest non core assets that could raise cash greater than its existing market cap, we believe that THK might look like a tremendous bargain to ValueClick and more importantly, a quick entry into the PPC space with a unique offering whose technology solves the biggest problem (Click Fraud) plaguing the second tier PPC networks.

We believe that ValueClick is uniquely positioned to make waves in the Pay Per Click space if it should make an attempt to enter the fray. We also believe that the timing is perfect for such an entry. The current Yahoo conundrum that will likely result in only two of the big three Per Per Click networks surviving combined with the capitulation among investors in the small cap online advertising names makes the “perfect storm” and possibly a historic opportunity for a well financed player with a good name to stake a claim to be the new “first tier” player in this highly profitable space. ValueClick’s sterling balance sheet (over $160 million with no debt) and scale would likely be attractive to MIVA and/or THK’s management team if they are in fact entertaining offers. We believe that they are and note that both have recently announced steps to divest of assets that would not be appealing to a ValueClick or other similarly situated suitor.

We also note that timing is of the essence as there may be some increase in the valuations accorded many of the online advertising assets when Interactive’s (IACI) spin off is complete next month and they begin shopping with their $1.5 billion cash war chest and a stock currency whose valuation will be based on the prospects of Ask.com rather than many of the slower growth businesses that plagued IACI’s valuation for so long. It will likely take just one deal by IACI, CBS’s (CBS) recently acquired CNET or one of the other media players who would benefit from owning an ad network to make the valuations move back to historical norms - much higher than where the currently reside.

Five days ago, the Facebook Platform policy team made waves throughout the developer community by suspending Slide’s Top Friends application, the third largest application by daily active users, for a privacy violation of the Developer Terms of Service. Tonight, it appears that another Top 25 Facebook app has disappeared from the Platform as well: Social Me, normally with over 280,000 daily active users, is showing the same signs that Top Friends did a few days ago

Social Me has been suspended from the Facebook Platform due to privacy violations. According to Facebook, “The Top Friends and Social Me applications have been temporarily suspended by Facebook due to their violations of Facebook’s privacy policies.”

Primetime and scheduled TV are losing their impact as consumers create their own entertainment lineups. Digital video recorders (DVRs) and video-on-demand (VOD) allow viewers to watch content on their own schedule and avoid traditional TV advertising.

At the same time, the slowing economy drives advertisers to demand the greatest return on their advertising investments. With interactive digital platforms allowing more measurability, the business case for traditional TV advertising is becoming increasingly weak.

VOD would seem well-positioned to capture a rising share of ad spending, but the way consumers use it may limit its potential as an ad medium.

Most cable TV operators offer free VOD content in combination with pay-per-view options, but time-shifting with DVRs is proving more popular.

According to Comcast—the leading cable operator in the US with 14.7 million subscribers—the most popular free VOD content is karaoke, music videos and programs for children.

VOD’s ad potential is somewhat limited by use. An August 2007 study by IBM indicated that only 48% of US adult Internet users had used VOD.

eMarketer estimates that VOD is available in one-third of TV households today, and will reach over 60% of households by 2012.

Content is the big driver of VOD usage. ChoiceStream data from December 2007 shows there would be greater viewership of VOD if there were “more content of interest.” Notably, however, 57% of respondents said they would not watch more VOD even if the content were better. Clearly price, awareness and usability are also factors in VOD usage.

Increasing the VOD audience (and ad revenue potential) may depend in part on advertisers and marketers: Better content, supported by ads, combined with VOD awareness and education campaigns, could be part of the solution.

Adobe has come up with a way for the search engines to read SWF files and index all of the information they contain. That means any text or links in a Flash application can now be indexed. This is a huge step forward for Adobe and anyone who develops in Flash/Flex. Michele Turner, Adobe’s VP of marketing for its platform business, explains:

We are releasing technology to Google and Yahoo that enables them to crawl and index SWF files. They are now searchable. This will open up millions of Flash files to search.

Adobe has created a special Flash player for the search engines that acts like a virtual user going through each application. It actually goes through the runtime of each Flash application and translates it into something the search engines can understand. So all of those fancy interactive Flash Websites and other rich Internet applications that have been invisible to search engines, can now be seen by them.

Turner acknowledges that this invisibility so far “has been a big problem for those developing rich applications.” After all, it doesn’t matter how pretty your Website is if nobody can find it. Flash applications and Websites (many ironically created by ad agencies) have not been able to take advantage of any of the search-engine juice that so many online ad campaigns depend upon. This should be seen as part of Adobe’s larger efforts to remove any remaining restrictions associated with Flash (in April, for instance, it opened up the Flash runtime as part of its the Open Screen Project).

Google is already rolling out the SWF-indexing technology, while Yahoo still “has some work to do,” says Turner. Even so, this won’t solve all the problems with Flash content showing up on search engines.

Becoming visible is one thing, actually ranking highly is another. Google currently can find about 73 million Flash files on the Web. But until Adobe makes it easy for the average Webmaster or blogger to link deeply into those Flash files, they are not likely to appear at the top of many search results.

How you create a blog on Posterous (www.posterous.com) ? Is it difficult? Where is the innovation? - To see it for yourself just email something to post@posterous.com. The subject line of the email is the post title, the text area is the content. You can also email photos, videos and sounds files, which will be displayed in a custom Flash player on the site. You can choose to have comments emailed to you, and you can reply to the comment by simply responding back to the email (I wish Wordpress had that feature). Posterous is the new ideal mobile blogging platform. New features will be launched over the summer, says co-founder including customized CSS and the ability to cross post to other blogging platforms.

Nokia have today announced that they will be acquiring the remaining 52% of Symbian they don’t own and will be releasing the complete Symbian platform under the Eclipse open source license. Nokia have also announced the creation of the Symbian Foundation, which is an alliance of mobile vendors and application providers that any company can join. The foundation will oversee the process of releasing Symbian under a new open source license, and then retain the long-term control and trademarks of the operating system.

Symbian is a mobile operating system that runs primarily on the ARM architecture used in Nokia, Sony Erricsson and Samsung devices. Symbian originated at Psion, and found its way onto Nokia handsets starting with the original Communicator. Symbian found a good home at Nokia, and its growth as a mobile platform grew as Nokia dominated the mobile handset market from 2000 onwards.

Current mobile handset market share statistics depend very largly on who you ask and which classification is used, but the ranking is currently approximately: Symbian (60%) Windows (15%) RIM (10%) iPhone (7%)

The Sybmian market share can be further broken down as not all versions are compatible with others. Regardless of the source of data, Symbian is by far the dominant smartphone operating system.

With such dominant market share, the question to ask is why Nokia would pour more money into Symbian to only then open source the platform. As the Symbian foundation says, the purpose of Symbian is to: “bring to life a shared vision and to create the most proven, open and complete mobile software platform - available for free”.