WebProNews

Spam is Getting More Malicious

Symantec has released two new reports for the month of November - the State of Spam, and the State of Phishing (both PDFs). The reports highlight a dramatic increase in spam that contains malware. On top of that, junk and malicious email now accounts for close to 9 out of 10 email messages.

New Twitterers Down, Tweets Up in October

Last month we looked at Twitter's numbers for user registrations and total tweets for the month of September. We saw a small decline in new user registrations, but tweeting appeared to be on the rise again following the previous month in which tweeting declined. The numbers for October follow a similar trend. The information was supplied by Matthew Daines, the lead developer of the Twitter app, Twellow.

Usage of Mobile Web and Apps Doubles in 2 Years

According to AdMob, which claims it is the world's largest mobile advertising platform, mobile web and application use has doubled over the past two years. In September, the firm received over 100 million ad requests from 14 countries, and over 10 million ad requests from 64 countries. AdMob released its Mobile Metrics report for September, which highlights the rapid growth in usage of mobile web sites and apps on new devices in the past year.

Google and Bing Increase Share of Enterprise Search Traffic

iCrossing has shared the findings from its Enterprise Natural Search Share Index. This is a look at natural search traffic to enterprise level sites, based on a large sample of Fortune 1000 companies across all major verticals.

Microsoft Sees 14% Decline, But Remains Enthusiastic

Microsoft reported its quarterly earnings today with a 14% decline in revenue from the same period a year ago. The company reported revenue of $12.92 billion for the quarter. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $4.48 billion, $3.57 billion and $0.40 per share, which represented declines of 25%, 18% and 17%, respectively, when compared with the same period last year.

Does Size Matter in Display Advertising?

Eyeblaster released its Research Global Benchmark report for 2009, which provides an analysis of the performance of different types of display ads like banners and rich media ads. The research found that while clickthrough rates for standard banners improved with an increase in size, size did not factor into the performance of clicks on rich media ads. "In rich media, size is only one component of banner visibility on the site," says Eyeblaster.

Expectations Improve for Media Advertising Revenue

MAGNA released its US Media Advertising Revenue Forecast today, and reports that although the economy continues to face challenges, expectations for the future have improved significantly during the past two quarters.

Study: Half of Traffic to UK Sites Comes from Online Marketing

The AT Internet Institute conducted a study comparing investments in online marketing campaigns among France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The firm's findings are that the UK far exceeds the other three countries in this realm.

Report: Paid Search Spend Up 10%

SearchIgnite has released a report, which indicates that paid search spending in the United States was flat year-over-year in the third quarter, yet up 10% quarter-over-quarter. This comes largely from multi-channel retailers, who increased paid search spend by 40% in the quarter, according to the firm. This is despite flat conversion rates and average order value.

Coupon Site Reports Big Growth for Online Sales

Ebates, a site that many big-name brands offer rebates and coupons through, released its online retail report for August, finding that online sales through the site grew 57% during the month, compared to the same time period a year ago. The categories that showed the biggest growth were: department stores, baby % kids, books & magazines, apparel & shoes, and health & beauty. In fact, only one category covered by Ebates showed decline - home décor.