Yelp Now Shows Businesses How Much Money They Make From Yelp

Seth Fiegerman2013-03-26 14:12:05 UTC

Yelp released a new tool on Monday that helps small businesses estimate how much revenue they make through the review site.

The tool, called the Revenue Estimator, lets local businesses track the number of customer leads from their Yelp profile and provides an estimate for how much revenue the merchant generated from those leads, based on data from The Boston Consulting Group about average consumer spending in different retail categories.

The Revenue Estimator is free for businesses to use and available to any local merchant on Yelp. The goal, according to Matt Halprin, Yelp's VP of revenue and analytics, is to give businesses and advertisers a better way to evaluate the potential return from using Yelp.

"First, it helps quantify the revenue opportunity Yelp is already sending to each business," Halprin wrote in a blog post announcing the new tool. "Second, it establishes a revenue baseline for prospective advertisers, from which they can later evaluate the impact of their investment in Yelp Ads."

Yelp isn't the only Internet company providing better tools for businesses to assess revenue. Google just rolled out a new tool to help businesses measure their ROI from mobile ad spending.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, gmutlu and Yelp

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Don't Call Africa's Tech Hub 'Silicon Savannah'

Monty Munford2013-03-26 14:09:30 UTC

People have dubbed it "Nairobbery" for a reason. Crime is still a crushing reality in Kenya's capital of Nairobi. Yet life in the city is changing for its 3 million inhabitants.

While the city is still dangerous for those who behave naively or who display conspicuous wealth by wearing expensive watches, crime rates are going down in Nairobi, and in the country as a whole.

According to the Kenya police, violent robbery has declined by 36%, burglary rates have decreased 25% and car theft went down 32% over the four-year period between 2006 and 2010, the latest figures available.

Moreover, the recent presidential elections earlier this month passed peacefully, a marked improvement over the disastrous 2008 elections, when 1,000 people died and the country nearly tipped into civil war.

Aside from an improved crime rate, technology is up. The extraordinary success of Kenya’s mobile payments system M-Pesa is the vanguard of an amazing story, and has helped position Nairobi as the tech hub for the continent.

The M-Pesa phenomenon has changed the banking system in Kenya. Launched in 2007 by the operator Safaricom, it registered more than 20,000 customers in its first month.

Less than six years later, more than 60% of the adult population has an account, and in June 2012 the total value of mobile money transactions was equivalent to more than 60% of Kenya’s GDP.

Before M-Pesa launched, the "traditional" banking system served only a quarter of Kenya’s adult population and the country had less than two bank branches per 100,000 people. Today M-Pesa has more than 40,000 agents nationwide, and more than 75% of the country’s financial transactions are handled by the system.

Many investors perceive Africa as the final frontier for high-return speculation, and the competition is fierce. So the success of M-Pesa has given Nairobi an extra edge over its African competitors.

Accra in Ghana, Lagos in Nigeria and the South African cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town are all vying to be Africa’s major tech hub, but with the Kenyan elections over and investors pacified, a flood of money is expected to flow into the country.

These investors are not alone. Google’s Eric Schmidt recently dubbed Kenya the continent’s technology leader after a trip to sub-Saharan Africa. And January’s launch of the the U.S. $10 billion Konza Technology City just outside Nairobi is further evidence of the city's promising future.

Then there is the city’s iHub, where Google’s Schmidt visited on his recent trip. Based in the center of Nairobi, the co-working space, tech community and business incubator provides a space for entrepreneurs to receive mentorship and possible VC funding. More importantly, it also hosts the fastest Internet connectivity in the country. It has been described as "the unofficial headquarters of Kenya’s tech movement."

It is also home to Ushahidi, which means "testimony" in Swahili. Ushahidi was a website initially developed to map reports of the 2008 electoral violence in Kenya. After Kenyan journalists used the site to collaborate during crisis, Ushahidi has since become an open source platform for content collection, visualization and interactive mapping.

Spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA trade association has brought together 800 of the world’s mobile operators with more than 230 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem. GSMA will open an office in the iHub in 2013.

Chris Locke is the managing director of GSMA Mobile for Development. He is as passionate about Africa as he is enthusiastic about the opportunities that Nairobi offers.

“There are now twice as many mobile money users in Africa than there are Facebook users, and more transactions than on PayPal," says Locke. "What we’re seeing in countries such as Kenya is a phenomenal growth in innovation around mobile, where an entirely new industry is emerging.  

“Startups in Nairobi are outpacing Silicon Valley, creating products that could only exist in a country that balances extreme needs with the possibilities products such as M-Pesa offers. Places such as iHub in Nairobi have become the crucible for this, not only for the country, but as an example for the whole continent,” he says.

But it’s not all about M-Pesa, as the success of Afroes shows. Afroes is the first African company to win a Meffy at the prestigious MEF awards in London. Not only is its mobile game Moraba popular across the continent; it recently launched a mobile iterative game before the Kenyan elections to promote peace among Kenyan youth.

London-based Matthew Dawes is the founder and CEO of event organizing company All Amber, which has held 12 trade shows on the continent, in South Africa, Nigeria and most recently at Mobile Web East Africa in Nairobi.

“Strategically, Kenya is definitely the most important mobile destination in sub-Saharan Africa," says Dawes.

“Strategically, Kenya is definitely the most important mobile destination in sub-Saharan Africa," says Dawes. “That doesn’t make it the most exciting market, though – Nigeria holds that badge. It’s in the top 10 mobile markets on the planet in numbers of subscribers, has a low penetration rate, is unpredictable in terms of success and the people are very business-oriented."

Some have branded Nairobi as "Silicon Savannah" in the same risible way that other world cities try to brand themselves after the Silicon Valley model. But many African companies at the Mobile Web Africa deride this term.

While speaking on a panel in the city, I suggested Nairobi didn’t need to brand itself this way — the whole conference burst into applause.

One of the attendees, TMS Ruge, co-founder of Uganda-based incubation hub Hive Colab, was similarly scathing about Silicon Savannah. “It is misleading. We don’t have the right to call ourselves Silicon Savannah," he says. "We don’t produce silicon; we don’t make anything; we are emulators at best. And in a few ways we are innovators with products such as M-Pesa and Ushahidi. We need to go beyond hyping it with a cute name."

Whether Nairobi decides to brand itself as Silicon or Digital Savannah means little when it comes to its tech future. More importantly, now that the election has passed without violence, it will be investors, both foreign and African, that will decide its future.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Dan Kori

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Facebook Turns Red as SCOTUS Marriage Equality Hearings Begin

Zoe Fox2013-03-26 15:41:54 UTC

Marriage equality activists are protesting outside the Supreme Court Tuesday, as the nation's highest court begins two days of hearings about two same-sex marriage laws.

As can be expected in this day and age, the demonstrations are not only taking place in Washington. Facebook has become a hotbed for marriage equality supporters, as profile pictures change to a red version of the Human Rights Campaign's logo.

The HRC, the largest lobby group for LGBT rights, shared a pink and red version of its navy blue and gold equality symbol logo on Facebook Monday.

"Follow @HRC on Twitter and at www.hrc.org/blog for live-updates from the first day of at the Supreme Court hearings. Make sure you wear red to show your support for marriage equality. And make your Facebook profile red too!," the post says.

The logo has been hard to miss on Facebook news feeds, especially after George Takei's profile picture change garnered nearly 40,000 likes from his enormous fan base Tuesday morning.

"For those friends wondering, this special 'red' equality symbol signifies that marriage equality really is all about love. Thanks to the Human Rights Campaign for this effort. Please consider changing your profile today in support—esp if you are a straight ally," Takei wrote.

The HRC has also started an online petition, which it hopes will gain significant traction.

Image courtesy of Human Rights Campaign; composite by Mashable

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T-Mobile Gets Rid of Cellphone Contracts

Stan Schroeder2013-03-26 03:56:48 -0400

T-Mobile has done away with cellphone contracts, replacing them with installment plans in an effort to stay competitive in the U.S. market.

Instead of offering its customers a phone with a two-year contract, T-Mobile will offer it for a fixed upfront price plus a monthly fee for unlimited calls and data. That second fee will include the cost of the phone, and when the phone is paid off (typically after two years) the fee will be reduced, in contrast with traditional two-year contracts where monthly payments typically stay the same after two years.

T-Mobile calls its new pricing plans Simple Choice. For example, a Samsung Galaxy S II costs $29.99 today, and $16 per month on top of the monthly data/voice payment, for 24 months.

T-Mobile is the fourth biggest U.S. mobile carrier (behind AT&T, Verizon and Sprint). It will hold a special "Uncarrier" event Tuesday, where it is rumored to reveal the availability of Apple's iPhone in its stores.

Image via Adam Berry/Getty Images

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Google Introduces Tool to Calculate Mobile ROI

Todd Wasserman2013-03-26 13:01:11 UTC

Google on Tuesday gave businesses a tool to measure their return on investment for mobile ad spending. The company's Full Value of Mobile Calculator is designed to let marketers keep tabs on sales leads in the form of calls, apps, in-store sales, mobile site visits and cross-device activity.

The company claims that in about 30 minutes businesses can upload data from AdWords and their mobile websites and "make some key assumptions to create your Full Value of Mobile estimate." The estimate will show businesses the total value, value per click and ROI that mobile is driving across various paths.

Through the exercise, you’ll see the total value, value per click, and ROI that mobile is driving for your business across all mobile customer paths, not just your mobile website. The idea is to see how cost-effective your mobile costs-per-action are. Jason Spero, head of global mobile sales and strategy at Google, says that the tool is designed for all businesses "from smallest to the biggest, it's as relevant for a Fortune 500 company as for a small business."

For businesses that want to learn more about calculating their mobile ROI, Google is also offering a free webinar on the subject on March 28 at 1 pm EDT. Those interested can sign up here.

Google also included in its announcement a video case study of how Adidas calculated its mobile ROI:

Mashable Composite. Image courtesy of Google

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Instagram Fawns Over French Bulldog Named Sir Charles Barkley

Annie Colbert2013-03-25 15:49:15 UTC

Charles Barkley plays basketball and stars in Taco Bell commercials. Sir Charles Barkley plays with chew toys and racks up orange hearts on Instagram.

It should probably be noted that the latter Barkley is a French Bulldog.

The adorable dog has charmed his thousands of Instagram fans with a stream of awwww-triggering photographs. Barkley's best human pals, Paul and Melissa, started the account for Barkley to avoid new parents' social media syndrome (you know, the flood of photos).

"We didn’t want to blow up our own Instagram accounts with his pics," Melissa told Mashable. "He ended up gaining more followers than we ever expected and that’s when we realized we really have to keep up with his account."

Not that taking cute photographs of the cream-colored pooch is difficult.

"He knows how to sit, sit pretty, lay down, roll over, shake both hands and play dead. That’s when we learned he’ll do almost anything for food."

When he not hamming it up for the camera, Barkley can be found giving his owners a case of the giggles. "From his snorting, whining, burping and farting — he makes us laugh every day."

All images courtesy of Instagram, barkleysircharles

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Two Key Windows 8 Apps Get a Makeover

Pete Pachal2013-03-25 16:00:31 UTC

Microsoft is updating the built-in Mail and Calendar apps for Windows 8, boosting functionality and adding some convenience features based on user feedback. The changes apply to both Windows RT and Windows 8 machines.

Mail is the app that changes the most. The main thing users will notice about the new version is that it's faster, Microsoft says, with creating, sending and searching messages all getting a speed boost. Syncing with Outlook.com accounts is also quicker.

Whereas the previous version of Mail was a little bare-bones, Microsoft is adding a host of organizational tools and extra conveniences, including the ability to:

Manage folders

Flag messages

Filter unread messages

Automatically search mail on the server

Add links in a message

Save senders as contacts

Attach files via a new icon

Edit bulleted and numbered lists

Print via a new icon instead of the Charms menu

Although Mail got a big upgrade, Windows 8 users will be more likely to notice the changes to the Calendar app, since its overall design changes: Instead of each event sharing the same background color as the calendar it's assigned to, just a strip along the side is colored, with events now getting a white background. Users can now also:

Check the availability of meeting attendees

Forward meeting invitations

See a aarker for current time of day

View just the work week (Monday-Friday)

Although the People app looks and functions just as it did before, both Mail and Calender have deeper integration with it, and it now has better integration with Microsoft Exchange, letting those apps see, for example, a contact's entire profile in company directory.

Microsoft says the updates will get pushed out in the next day or so. Windows 8 users will see a notification on the Store live tile, which will prompt them to download the update.

What else in Windows 8 is in need of an update? Share your suggestions in the comments.

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Is Tildaing the New Tebowing?

Annie Colbert2013-03-25 19:55:46 UTC

Tilda Swinton’s literal snoozefest at the Museum of Modern Art inspired us to sleep pose like the acclaimed actress. Say hello to #Tildaing, Internet.

In the vein of Planking and Tebowing, Tildaing is a photo fad that has participants displaying their finest poses. To properly master Tildaing, pretend to sleep in a place other than bed, preferably somewhere that people will stare at you with puzzled looks on their faces.

It’s art, people, so show us what you got.

Look through the gallery above for bit of inspiration. Annnnd, the real thing, for reference:

Une photo de la performance de Tilda Swinton au MoMA cc. @annatordjman twitter.com/victorsaintmac…

— Victor Saint Macary (@victorsaintmac) March 25, 2013

All images by Mashable

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