Instagram’s Christmas Exodus

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Instagram lost about a quarter of daily active users since it tried to implement new terms of service last month, according to AppData. The photo-sharing site is disputing the claim.

In an article that first appeared in the New York Post, AppData released figures that showed Instagram usage peaking at approximately 16.4 million users in mid-December but falling to 12.4 million the week of Christmas.

“[We are] pretty sure the decline in Instagram users was due to the terms of service announcement,” AppData told the Post.

Instagram responded with a brief statement circulated to news outlets, stating, “This data is inaccurate. We continue to see strong and steady growth in both registered and active users of Instagram.”

Other data providers and some tech sites have since come to Instagram’s defense, with counter claims ranging from holiday traffic dips to outright bad data, and at least one label of “sensationalism” for the Post’s piece.

On December 17, Instagram released new terms of service designed to make it a more ad-friendly platform. Users perceived the changes as losing ownership of their content to the point where the Facebook-owned photo sharing site could use their uploaded photos in advertising without consent. The backlash was immediate and widespread. One power user in particular — Kim Kardashian who has 5.8 million followers — announced she would no longer be using the service. Instagram quickly backtracked, reverting the advertising section of its terms back to the original version. (It’s worth noting Kardashian is still not using the site.)

Time will tell on any tangible effect from Instagram’s very Facebook-like snafu in announcing a change in service terms. For now, the bad publicity is a very real stain.

Source: VentureBeat.com

Blast Some Goons

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Gangster Squad: Tough Justice is an online action RTS that transports you to the golden-era Hollywood in the grip of an all-out war between mobsters and police. Based on the upcoming movie, Gangster Squad, starring Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling and Sean Penn. Get ready to battle mobster Mickey Cohen’s goons and upgrade your skills and loot crates for more firepower, but keep on your toes or you’ll be sleeping with the fishes.

And is really good fun, although we were unspeakably s*** at it, if we’re being honest. But that’s par for the course with us. We’re still trying to complete Sonic The Hedgehog. See if you can do better and show ’em who’s boss here ToughJustice.com.

 

Make A Pact To Get Fit In 2013 And Get Paid Or Else Pay Up

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Not motivated to hit the gym Users of the app called GymPact get charged when they skip their workouts but earn cash rewards when they dutifully show up to the gym. And there’s no cheating: the company tracks you via GPS.

GymPact, which launched its iOS version last year, has announced that it has launched the Android version. The service lets users decide how much they’ll get charged via a credit card for missing a workout. For those who meet their workout commitments, they’ll get to reap the cash benefits from those who don’t. Make a Pact of how many days you’ll workout, set the Stakes of how much you’ll pay if you don’t, and check-in via GPS at the gym. GymPact partnered with RunKeeper this summer to integrate outdoor workouts into the system.

 

A Fitting Tribute To Infocom

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This week D.I.C.E. Summit organizer AIAS announced the recipients of their annual Pioneer Award as Dave Lebling and Marc Blank, co-founders of legendary adventure game maker Infocom.  The pair met at MIT in the late 1970’s.  For early gamers who hark back to text-based adventure classics such as Zork and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game, what followed is history.

In perhaps one of the most fitting tributes ever in game journalism, WIRED’s Chris Kohler decided to pay homage to D.I.C.E.’s recognition of Lebling and Blank s by turning his opportunity to interview them into a text-based adventure.

Given the time of year, Kohler’s Pioneers: An Interactive Fiction is essentially a gift to gamers all over the world, especially the ones old enough to remember playing these types of games.  Regardless of whether someone’s played a text adventure before, it has to be experienced to appreciate how WIRED turnd an interview, one they say was exclusive and therefore would have likely drawn plenty of attention from the game industry, into an excercise in pushing the creative boundaries of how online outlets can cover games.

Kohler created his interactive adventure with Playfic, an online platform backed by a supportive community that is helping keep the text-based adventure genre alive.  It lets users play a variety of games from “indie” game makers – that could have meant have meant “independent” or “individual” back in the day.  The more experienced or dedicated can use Playfic’s tools and tutorials to create their own adventure.

AIAS will present Lebling and Blank with the Pioneer Award at the 16th annual D.I.C.E. Awards on February 7 at The Joint in the Hard Rock Resort in Las Vegas.  The awards ceremony is part of the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit.

 

Instagram Says Sorry

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“Thank you, and we’re listening,” tweeted Instagram.  The site was responding to the controversy over privacy changes that would technically allow users to appear in advertisements without their knowledge, a move ready to take effect on January 16.  Faced with a steady stream of disapproval, and plenty of press attention to support the outcry, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom took the lead in communicating how the initiative was being retracted.

“Because of the feedback we have heard from you, we are reverting this advertising section to the original version that has been in effect since we launched the service in October 2010.” Systrom wrote in a blog, pointing readers to the current terms.

The update which stirred up users was an attempt to allow advertisers in Facebook’s ad networks to use data and information shared on Instagram , which Facebook owns, to better target advertising.  Users called it a ploy to sell their content.  Systrom addressed that misunderstanding.

“You also had deep concerns about whether under our new terms, Instagram had any plans to sell your content,” he wrote. “I want to be really clear:  Instagram has no intention of selling your photos, and we never did.  We don’t own your photos — you do.”

Still, with the apology to quell a veritable user firestorm out of the way, the photo-sharing platform hinted that moving forward it may not be so transparent.  Systrom added that Instagram will no longer “obtain permission from you” when planning out its advertising, but instead “complete our plans, and then come back to our users and explain how we would like for our advertising business to work.”

Source: Instagram

Deus Ex Campaign Pushes The Boundaries Of Human Augmentation

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Square Enix went all out for their ad campaign for Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The campaign began on a viral marketing website for the fictional Sarif Industries which was later apparently ‘hacked’ by the ‘Purity First’ terrorist group.

The Sarif Industries website has been posting links to real cybernetics developments like an artificial hand that can feel {link no longer active},  powering cybernetics with the mind {link no longer active}, and a bionic eye that could restore vision.

Fans can choose a way to augment themselves, capture and image with a webcam and add to an ongoing user-generated mosaic. {link no longer active}

A Care Bear For The Holidays

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Ayzenberg has an iOS app that’s sure to help relieve any holiday-related stress.  It’s Punch A Holiday Bear for iPhone and iPad.

The name says it all.  The touch-enabled app is essentially an interactive toy — a big virtual teddy bear that you can beat the fluff out of by tapping on it.

“Just punch me, I am a holiday bear who loves you.  I am made out of stuffing and you can’t hurt me so just go ahead and whale on me in the comfort of your own phone,” says the Bear.

He means it.  He takes a licking and keeps on ticking, just like a tough old mall Santa.

Download it for free on iTunes. {link no longer active}

Escape To An Island Of Happiness

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Take a trip over to Coca-Cola’s Happiness Islands, a friendly little “sitelets archipelago” in the vast Internet ocean.

Each island leads to its own breezy diversion-like FallingDominoes.com, BlowingBubblesInTheSky.com, UnderwaterDanceparty.com and ABeachBonfire.com. The unassuming sitelets add a little happiness to your day, in support of the marketer’s broader brand promise.

 

Must Tweet TV

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Nielsen will factor social conversation from Twitter into its social TV analytics platform. The two companies said the joint venture will create a standard way to measure the social reach of TV shows and help better determine the size of their total audience.

Called the Nielsen Twitter TV Rating, the new ratings service will be part of SocialGuide, a social TV analytics platform that Nielsen and McKinsey & Co. acquired last month through their joint venture NM Incite {link no longer active}. Nielsen said incorporating Twitter makes Social Guide a comprehensive measure of social TV activity, since it can measure both the audience for a televised program and the residual audience exposed to social activity regarding it.

Steve Hasker, Nielsen’s president of global media products and advertiser solutions, said, “The Nielsen Twitter TV is a significant step forward for the industry, particularly as programmers develop increasingly captivating live TV and new second-screen experiences, and advertisers create integrated ad campaigns that combine paid and earned media.”

The service will be available in time for the start of the next TV season in fall 2013.

Source: Nielsen {link no longer active}

Here’s My (Anonymous) Number

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Burner is an iOS app that allows for user anonymity when today it seems nearly impossible? Create a temporary telephone number for private or public use through an app. Exclusive to iOS, “Burner” is a privacy layer that can provide alias phone numbers to a user.

This number can be used for SMS or voice calls on both sending and receiving ends, and may be used as long as needed. Once the number is no longer needed or if necessity calls for a new number combination, the user may choose to “burn” it.

The app is seen best used for dating, job searches, short-term projects, craigslist transactions, and social networking, among many others. Burner is available on iTunes for $1.99 and comes with enough credits to create 1 mini-burner that will expire after 20 minutes of voice time and/or 60 text messages, or after 7 days, whichever comes first.