Digital Week in Review: Facebook Increases Ad Prices by 40%

Facebook Increases Ad Prices 40% on Rising Popularity; Bloomberg
Ads on Facebook Inc.’s site cost 40 percent more per click last quarter than in the previous three months, as the company’s social-networking dominance let it command higher prices, according to Efficient Frontier.
The Takeaway: Facebook, which has more than 500 million users, is parlaying its burgeoning popularity into higher ad revenue. Advertising spending on the site will more than double to $4.05 billion this year, according to research firm EMarketer Inc. in New York.

Google Launches Messages for Japan; WebProNews
Google has just announced a new site, messagesforjapan.com, to help in the relief effort. On this site, users can write their messages of support to the Japanese people and they will be automatically translated and posted using Google Translate.
The Takeaway: Google notes that since the translation will be done automatically, it will not always be perfect. But for many people around the world moved by the disaster, being able to communicate in fractured Japanese language is better than no Japanese language.

Bing’s New iPad App is a Newspaper in Disguise; Poynter
Microsoft’s new Bing iPad app, released Thursday, does more than search — it begins to remake the newspaper experience in digital form.
The Takeaway: While Microsoft is not in the news business, to succeed as an information provider may only require the company to be slightly better at content than journalists are at technology.

Google acquisition of ITA approved; Hexus
Nine months ago Google announced its intention to acquire online travel data company ITA Software. The plan was to offer a lot more information and services whenever you Google a location or itinerary but, understandably, all the major incumbents in online travel were alarmed by this prospect and complained.
The Takeaway: You have to wonder, however, whether this will be the last large acquisition Google is allowed to make. Regulatory authorities are getting involved as a matter of course now, whenever Google gets its chequebook out, and any search acquisition has to be suspected of drastically reducing choice.