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Twitter has announced it will run personalised advertisements based on what an individual user is writing about. It's an attractive proposition for advertisers but may come across as creepy to users of the social media service. Most Twitter ads are ... based on the people a user follows and the types of messages that users retweet (or share with other users). (Source; pcworld.com ) The new advertising model will go beyond that and incorporate technologies from two popular ad-funded web giants. Like Facebook, Twitter ads can now be targeted to people of a particular gender, living in a particular ... (view more)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revised its rules about online advertising to better account for new trends in social media. The FTC warns that the short format of ads on Facebook and Twitter is no excuse for misleading customers. The warning ... comes in a document called ".Com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising." It's an update to an original set of guidelines called "Dot Com Disclosures," which was published in 2000. This is the first time the rules have been updated, even though the Internet has changed dramatically since that time. The key to the ... (view more)

A Harvard professor says the ads Google delivers on Internet web pages encourage racial stereotyping. But she adds that this could be related to social prejudices and may not be due to racism on the part of Google. Latanya Sweeney has investigated ... racism extensively. Her previous findings suggested that people with 'black' names were less likely to get a job interview than those with 'white' names, even when submitting an identical resume. More recently Sweeney examined the Google advertisements appearing alongside the company's search results. She also investigated Reuters' own search tool, ... (view more)

To our Valued Readers, In our quest to improve upon Infopackets.com and overall visitor satisfaction to our site, we've rolled out some major changes this past week and will continue to make improvements in the weeks ahead. Some of the changes we've ... rolled out this past week include: additional content: 5 more articles per week added: payment link for donations by PayPal, card, and by mail inclusion of "How To" articles to the site removal of Vibrant Media ads (blue double-underscore links / pop up ads) removal / change of Google ads added: 'Help Support Infopackets' tab at top of page ... (view more)

In a recent blog post, Google gives interested users a glimpse into some of the tools it uses to make sure ads for bogus products and services don't show up on its sites. The company is also trying to direct more attention toward genuine advertisers ... who have proven to be trustworthy and reliable. These revelations came after a company blog post was written by David Baker, who is in charge of the engineering side of Google's advertising business. Google: Three-Pronged Approach Highly Effective Baker's post explained that Google looks for signs of bad advertisements on three levels. (Source: ... (view more)

Facebook has announced it will step up the amount of advertising displayed to users. It plans to include ads within news feeds and, for the first time, on mobile devices. Advertising makes up the vast majority of Facebook's revenue, the remainder ... coming from revenue associated with applications, like Farmville. However, to date Facebook has not followed the traditional model of offering advertisers a variety of different ad sizes and spaces at different prices. Instead, it has concentrated on its ability to target ads at users who meet a specific description set by the advertiser. That's ... (view more)

February 15, 2012 Major Announcement from: Dennis Faas, CEO, Chief Editor and owner of Infopackets.com Dear Infopackets Readers, After 10 years of publishing online and having produced over 8,000 original articles, Infopackets may be forced to close ... its doors due to lack of funding. The site may shut down as early as June 1st, 2012. I do, however, have a plan to save this website and make it ten times better than it was before -- but, it requires an extraordinary amount of effort, as well as consensus from our readers. Note: The article below describes our situation in detail. Please read it ... (view more)

Last week Google was fined $500 million for carrying illegal advertising for Canadian pharmaceutical exporters. Now, the lawyer who led the probe has made the shocking claim that Google chief Larry Page explicitly knew about and ignored the ... advertisements. Google's $500 million fine not only covered the profits it made from running the ads, but also the money the advertisers are estimated to have made from selling the drugs to US customers. Those sales are illegal because of Food ... (view more)

Google has agreed to pay a penalty of $500 million for carrying advertising from Canadian pharmacies that illegally offer drugs to US customers. The fine will allow the company to avoid criminal charges over the issue. It is illegal to ship drugs ... into the US from outside the country as such medicines -- even when they are prescription drugs -- are not verified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the case of Canadian distributors, drugs shipped overseas also evade local regulation. In some cases such drugs may have been made outside of North America and have had no quality controls. ... (view more)

Internet phone and video chat service Skype is to begin carrying limited advertising. It comes as figures show the company is failing to convert enough free Skype accounts to paid Skype accounts. In short, Skype allows users to digitally telephone ... another Skype user's computer using a microphone or webcam, and is completely free to do so. Other premium Skype services are available (but cost a fee), including: using the PC to call a landline or cellphone long distance, or using group video calling and various business services. As of early 2009, more than 40 million different people used Skype ... (view more)