Pinterest Becomes Top Traffic Driver for Retailers [INFOGRAPHIC]

The IPO Won't Change Facebook. Online Ads Will Will an IPO change Facebook? The sudden influx of $5 billion (and more) will certainly give it lots of opportunity, though it'll also mean Facebook will soon answer to shareholders. And those shareholders will demand that the company keep increasing the value of their investment. In his letter within the IPO filing, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talks high-mindedly about his creation being a social experience first, and a company second. There's no question Facebook's utility as an advertising tool is huge, and it's only getting bigger. The Problem With Google Comparisons We could look to Google's IPO for guidance in what will happen to Facebook. While digital advertising came of age over the past seven years, Google continued its pattern of innovation for years after its IPO. Then last year, under CEO Larry Page, Google started to get "serious." This has led to some clumsy attempts to capitalize on its products, the latest of which is "Search Plus Your World."

Pinterest Drives More Traffic Than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn On Pinterest? Follow Mashable to check out our favorite infographics, tech news, internet memes and digital culture! Pinterest is social media's rising star — and now has the traffic stats to prove it. The darling network of brides-to-be, fashionistas and budding bakers now beats YouTube, Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace for percentage of total referral traffic in January, according to a Shareaholic study. Pinterest accounted for 3.6% of referral traffic, while Twitter just barely edged ahead of the newcomer, accounting for 3.61% of referral traffic. SEE ALSO: Pinterest Becomes Top Traffic Driver for Retailers [INFOGRAPHIC] Facebook reigns king of referrals, accounting for more than one-quarter (26.4%) of traffic, 4.3% of which comes from Facebook Mobile. YouTube also saw more referral traffic in January than December, rising from 0.98% to 1.05%. Given Pinterest's monster growth, who do you think can benefit most from the social network, brands, news sources or someone else?

Facebook's $5 Billion IPO, By The Numbers [CHARTS] Facebook has filed its IPO paperwork and the S-1 statement contains an utterly dizzying amount of statistics. The numbers provide a glimpse into Facebook’s stunning growth since its founding in 2004, with a particular emphasis on what’s been happening over the past three years. Here’s a look in graphical/chart form at some of the most compelling facts and figures from Facebook’s S-1 filing. Facebook’s User Base Facebook’s global user base is growing dramatically, and has been for years. How does Facebook define a “monthly active user”? We define a monthly active user as a registered Facebook user who logged in and visited Facebook through our website or a mobile device, or took an action to share content or activity with his or her Facebook friends or connections via a third-party website that is integrated with Facebook, in the last 30 days as of the date of measurement. What’s even more stunning than that figure is the fact that more than half of Facebook users are active every day.

How Does Pinterest's Referral Traffic Compare To Other Social Medias? #chart How Does Pinterest's Referral Traffic Compare To Other Social Medias? #chart See the original article from Brian Solis here Via The Social CMO I look 4Ward to your feedback. Keep Digging for Worms! Guest post by Brianne Boysen Author: Bill - Dr. DR4WARD enjoys helping connect students and pros to learn about all forms of communication and creativity.

Giants? Patriots? Mobile and Social to Win Super Bowl XLVI The New York Giants and New England Patriots face off for gridiron glory this Sunday in Super Bowl XLVI. But the game's real winners could be social networks and mobile technologies — as well as the marketers who best leverage those platforms. A look back at how fans engaged with last year's game provides an interesting insight into the huge role that social and mobile now play in people's Super Bowl experience. The analysis comes from a recent study by digital marketing agency iProspect, which has worked with a list of sports-related clients including Adidas, Under Armour, Dick's Sporting Goods and Finish Line. Dawn Zencka, iProspect's vice president of strategic insights, connected with Mashable to go over some of her team's findings and dissect a bit of what it all means. "The point is becoming that there's a much bigger opportunity than just buying ads during the game itself," Zencka said. How do you think brands can best leverage sports fans' mobile and social emphasis?

Pinterest demographic data Ignite Social Media has an interesting post showing some demographic data on Pinterest (which, unsurprisingly, skews heavily towards women aged 25-54). Most telling for me though is their analysis of lifestyle segments – Boomers and Boomerangs (Boomers and the kids who live with them), Babies and Bliss (Gen-Xers having kids but mostly still working full time and interested in anything they can do online rather than offline)… The key here is – are any of these groups describing your members? Just something to think about. An example from the post: Boomers & Boomerangs in detailWho are they? As you can imaging, those in the travel industry (domestic) or craft and home improvement stores should see this as a potential opportunity should Boomers & Boomerangs fit within their target audience. Like this: Like Loading...

Global Digital Communication: Texting, Social Networking Popular Worldwide Usage Differs by Age and Education Survey Report Cell phones are owned by overwhelmingly large majorities of people in most major countries around the world, and they are used for much more than just phone calls. In particular, text messaging is a global phenomenon – across the 21 countries surveyed, a median of 75% of cell phone owners say they text. Texting is widespread in both wealthy nations and the developing world. Many also use their mobile phones to take pictures or video. The survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, conducted March 21 to May 15, also finds that social networking is popular in many nations around the globe. Social networking is generally more common in higher income nations; however, this is largely driven by the fact that wealthier countries have higher rates of internet access. In nearly every country, the young and the well-educated are especially likely to embrace all of these technologies. Many Use Phones for Texting, Pictures

Why Pinterest is 2012's hottest website Pinterest, the web-based "pinboard", which launched almost two years ago, barely got a mention until 6 months ago. Unique visitors to Pinterest grew 400% from September to December 2011Pinterest drives more visitors to third-party websites than Google+, YouTube and LinkedInIt's a visual social network that organizes by topic and lets you reshare with one click Editor's note: Pete Cashmore is founder and CEO of Mashable, a popular blog about tech news and digital culture. He writes regular columns about social media and tech for CNN.com. (CNN) -- Pinterest is the breakout social network of 2012, but even technology addicts could be excused for missing its rise to success. The web-based "pinboard," which launched almost two years ago, barely got a mention on Silicon Valley news sites until six months ago, when early adopters suddenly realized that a site with millions of monthly users had sprung up almost unnoticed by the tech press. Pete Cashmore is the founder and CEO of Mashable.com.

Google to Congress: We're Still Not Evil Google sent a 13-page letter to Congress Monday explaining changes to its privacy policy that the search giant announced last week. Those changes are scheduled to go into effect for Google's 350 million global users on March 1. The letter is a response to a letter Congress sent to Google last week, which requested more specific knowledge about Google's new privacy policy and practices. "Last week we heard from members of Congress about Google’s plans to update our privacy policies by consolidating them into a single document on March 1," Google director of public policy Pablo Chavez wrote in a blog post Tuesday. "Protecting people’s privacy is something we think about all day across the company, and we welcome discussions about our approach." According to that blog post, Google's updated privacy policy came for two reasons. SEE ALSO: Google’s Privacy Update: What You Need to Know The search giant goes on to make the following assurances: 1. Google's response to Congress is embedded below:

Is Pinterest Pocketing Revenue by Tracking User-Generated Pins? Popular social bookmarking site Pinterest has become the hottest startup on the web, luring millions of people to the site to collect and share things they like on the Internet. But a new report from social media blog LLSocial reveals that the site may be "quietly" generating revenue by adjusting and tracking the links attached to pins that are posted by users. LLSocial noted that Pinterest may be collecting money through an affiliate program when pins are connected to ecommerce sites. For example, a picture of a sweater pinned to someone's online board might have a link that connects them to a site where the sweater can be purchased, and this is when Pinterest reportedly steps in. "If you post a pin to Pinterest, and it links to an ecommerce site that happens to have an affiliate program, Pinterest modifies the link to add their own affiliate tracking code," LLSocial said. "If someone clicks through the picture from Pinterest and makes a purchase, Pinterest gets paid.

Digital Divide: If You're Reading This, You're One of the Lucky Ones [INFOGRAPHIC] Even in the richest countries on the planet such as the U.S., not everyone has easy access to this cornucopia of connectivity, the Internet. The Internet is a tremendous growth engine, responsible for 21% of economic growth in the more advanced countries in the world, according to a McKinsey study. While those of us in the United States complain about how we have to pay more for Internet service that's slower than those of other first-world countries, within the United States there's a gaping chasm between the haves and the have-nots. In this infographic by OnlineITdegree.net, an ad-free website describing itself as "an online informational resource for individuals looking to pursue IT degree of related education and careers," you'll find surprising information about the differences in Internet access in the United States. Beyond that, you'll see more information about how the U.S. lags behind other countries in Internet technology, broadband speed and access.