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Hi guys and welcome to another 5:5 Digital Marketing News round-up. As usual we take a look at an array of stories from the past week and today look at How Pinterest plans to personalize every email it sends to Can Tumblr save Yahoo? As we always say there’s never a dull moment in the world of digital marketing!

Pinterest plans to personalize every email it sends

Pinterest is one of the most personalized sites in the world, thanks to the incredible amount of data its users volunteer and a data science team that just keeps on growing. (Venture Beat, January 2016).

Many have mentioned over the years that social will kill off email, as we all know social sites use a lot of email and if you’re a Pinterest user yourself you’ll know that the pinning site is no exception.

The San Francisco based company has recently shared details of its relationship with email delivery service SparkPost, as it continues to add a personalized feel of its site to email.

If you’re unfamiliar with SparkPost, in a nutshell, its basically the parent company of Message Systems which is the nucleus that powers 25 percent of the world’s legitimate email.

Seth Weisfeld who works as a product designer mentioned in Venture Beat’s article on Pinterest that “email is an extension of the product. Pinterest itself is very personalized platform, so email needs to be, too.” (Venture Beat, January 2016).

He goes onto say that “The vast majority of emails are personalized by individual; there’s no batch campaigning. There may still be a few legacy programs like that, but outside of product marketing all messages will be one-to-one, based on users’ interests, pins, and whatever else we think they may be interested in.” (Venture Beat, January 2016).

Pinterest is a great example what marketers can do with their data by engaging and personalizing messages to their audience. Being able to cohort and use triggers goes a long way as Weisfeld mentions.

Image Source : Pinterest

Facebook Currently Testing A New Browser That Will Make Sure You Never Leave The App

It has been reported that the social giant is currently testing a new in-app browser that means users don’t have to leave the app while looking at web pages.

While the current browser only allows you to see a single web page and follow links to other sites, the new browser will allow you to input other URLs into the search bar.

The new features allow the app and its browser to become a singular entity, which therefore stops users from having to leave the app to get a regular browsing experience.

Currently, it appears that the new browser is only being tested on a small group of people who have iOS devices.

This is definitely a smart move by Zuckerberg et al., other features such as Instant Articles and also future plans for the Messenger app to become an all-in-one online communications service, the company wants to make sure that its users spend as much time on their social platform as possible.

Image Source : The Independent

Which Publishers Are Championing Facebook?

Staying with Facebook, a Newswhip report analyzed the top English-speaking Facebook publishers in December. It seems that most older sites with established followings won the engagement race this time around. This kept Huffington Post and BuzzFeed in the lead, with a Facebook engagement total (encompassing Likes, shares and comments) of 32.4 million and 26.4 million respectively. (Marketing Land, January 2016).

What was interesting about the Newswhip report is that traditional media sites seemed to build traction as Marketing Land point out. For example, The New York Times, defined as a “hard news site,” came in fifth place among shares last month, and the Washington Post has also debuted in the top 10 for most social shares as seen below.

Image Sources : Marketing Land WebandDesigners

Can Tumblr Save Yahoo?

So can Tumblr come to Yahoo’s rescue? It will be an uphill struggle and in the shortest answer possible – not exactly.

However, there’s a good media platform here, with a lot of great assets and a loyal and genuine audience. So what’s the major issue here? As qz.com mention that despite big investments in video and editorial talent, there’s no unique Yahoo experience — nothing that says “you are in a cool and interesting place now; you should hang out here more.” (qz.com, January, 2016)

It seems that the Yahoo community is not like the Tumblr community (majority of teens are the main Tumblr audience) – while there’s nothing wrong with being solely for teens (Snapchat springs to mind), that’s not a particularly secure position in the marketplace for both Yahoo and Tumblr.

It seems that both can help each other. Yahoo can embrace Tumblr as a content platform If it produces great use cases that show others the real value and potential to rival the likes of Facebook’s Instant Articles. In addition, it can position itself higher if it develops revenue sharing programs for partners that give them a financial stake in game.

Image Source : TechCrunch

And Finally… Thoughts From The Gaffer – Power of Social Media Will Cause Football Problems For Years, Says Wenger

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes social media is becoming a growing problem in football.

During a Twitter Q&A, which took place a day before the North London side played Stoke at The Britannia Stadium (which finished 0-0); the Frenchman talked about last season’s fixture when they lost 3-2 to the Potters. Angry fans posted their views on array of social media platforms.

Wenger mentioned that while he did not take the verbal abuse he received personally he does believes such behaviour is a growing problem that stems from fans using social media.

He stated that “It might be one of the problems that football has to face in the coming years. You see it in many countries now, more and more.” (the42.ie)

Arsene stressed that the power of social media strengthened similar views from fans – before the social media age a person(s) view was a bit more isolated, today people think the same way and it becomes a force he stressed.

Do you agree? Do you like a good rant about your team’s performance on social media?

Image Source : SportsBlog

What Are Your Thoughts?

Which story interested you the most in today’s 5:5 digital marketing news round-up? Feel free to comment via our Facebook and Google Plus pages. Alternatively, if you prefer to tweet us, feel free to to tweet James, Mark, and myself (David Dhannoo).