Facebook Inc Says Rainbow Filter Was Not A Marketing Or Data Gathering Stunt

Facebook Inc.’s (NASDAQ:FB) recent move, to allow users to apply a rainbow filter on their profile pictures, has garnered sharp criticism. The new option followed the nationwide legalization of same-sex marriages in the US, and was aimed to show solidarity with the movement.

The social media giant clarified that the new filter has been adopted to show support for the Supreme Court’s decision, and is not an advertising stunt, or a way to gather key information about its users.

In an official media statement, a Facebook spokesperson claimed that the tool was “something that enables people to show their support of the LGBTQ community on Facebook.”

The “celebrate pride” tool was launched by two company interns before the New York pride parade. It caught on like wild fire once the new profile picture color scheme was adopted by the White House. The White House changed its Facebook page’s profile picture to depict President Obama’s support for the latest constitutional law.

In a Facebook post, President Obama claimed: “Today is a big step in our march toward equality. Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like anyone else.”

The rainbow filter gained immense popularity on the social networking site, and was immediately adopted by numerous Facebook users and popular celebrities, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Anne Hathaway.

Facebook also received criticism for using the new profile picture filter trend as a tool to gather information, and user details, to boost advertising on the platform.

According to Mashable’s reports, Facebook claimed: “We aren’t going to use this as a way to target ads and the point of this tool is not to get information about people.”

The company clarified that contradictory to accusations made by MIT scientist Cesar Hidalgo, who claimed that the filter’s introduction had been more of an “experiment,” compared to just a social cause, its motives had nothing to do with advertising.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote: “I’m so happy for all of my friends and everyone in our community who can finally celebrate their love and be recognized as equal couples under the law.”

Almost 26 million Facebook users changed their profile picture to celebrate the same-sex marriage ruling.

Facebook Inc Says Rainbow Filter Was Not A Marketing Or Data Gathering Stunt

Baidu Spending Billions In Online-To-Offline Push BIDU

China search leader Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) certainly didn’t waste any time finding ways to spend some of the proceeds from its recent bond offering.

On Tuesday, the company announced it would invest $3.2 billion over the next three years to bolster its offering of online-to-offline services by fortifying group-buying website Nuomi, which Baidu acquired for $160 million in 2014.

“I took a look yesterday, and right now Baidu has over 50 billion RMB ($8 billion) in cash on its books,” Baidu CEO Robin Li said in a press conference in Beijing. “We’re going to take 20 billion ($3.2 billion) of that and do Nuomi right.”

The online-to-offline e-commerce business model, or O2O, is designed to attract customers online, then direct them offline to physical stores and services.

Baidu also officially introduced Membership Plus, which integrates Nuomi’s membership program with a merchant’s own customer relationship management system through member-only prepaid cards, a payment-after-service option and other offerings.

Baidu says the strategy will help merchants in the network establish their own marketing platform, drive traffic to their sites or physical business locations and tap into Baidu’s huge user base.

Nuomi now operates in more than 330 cities across China and oversees 650,000 online stores, the company says. The company this year has tested Membership Plus in two key categories, restaurants and movie ticket purchases.

The new program will help Baidu compete in China’s burgeoning e-commerce arena vs. China e-commerce leader Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and others. Alibaba is also investing heavily to develop its online-to-offline retail capability.

China’s e-commerce market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 25% over the next few years, from $390 billion in 2014 to $718 billion in 2017, according to a recent study released by management consulting firm AT Kearney.

Last week, Baidu announced it’s adding more than $1 billion to its war chest through a new bond offering as the company spends to grow in theChinese Internet market.

Baidu says it expects to receive $1.24 billion, after costs, from the bond offering, announced on June 23.

The public offering consists of $750 million of 3% notes due in 2020, the company says, along with $500 million of 4.125% notes due in 2025.

Baidu sold $1 billion in five-year bonds back in June 2014.

The company said it will use the net proceeds from its current offering for “general corporate purposes.”

Baidu was up a fraction in early afternoon trading in the stock market today, near 202. Alibaba stock was up 1%, near 82.

Follow Michele Chandler on Twitter:@IBD_MChandler.

Baidu Spending Billions In Online-To-Offline Push BIDU

Affiliate Marketing: Different Types

Pay/Click

It is also called PPC. It is considered to be the easiest and most popular affiliate marketing method. This is the greatest thing for small websites. With this method the affiliate marketer places the banners and text ads of merchants on his website. The affiliate is paid for every click made on these banners. When any visitor clicks on these banners and visits the merchant website, the affiliate gets credited. It is not essential that the visitor makes a purchase. However, the typical earning for a single click is very small, usually less than one dollar.

Pay/Performance

Pay/performance affiliate marketing, also called PPC, is extremely famous among big affiliates and all types of merchants. In this method the affiliate gets credited only when any visitor from their affiliate id performs the required action. This required action may be a purchase or becoming a member of a merchant website. This method is very good for the merchants because they will only pay when they are paid. For affiliates, it is attractive because they are getting a good share in the sales of merchant products. The usual share is about 15-20% of sale.

If we classify the affiliate marketing on the basis of depth, then it can be divided into 3 classes. These are single-, two-tier and multi-tier programs. Another type is the one in which an affiliate marketer is paid for every sale that is made by a person referred by him. This is called residual income affiliate marketing. Let us study these types in detail.

Affiliate Marketing: 1-Tier, 2-Tier & Multi-Tier

In an affiliate program of single-tier nature, the affiliates get the commission, only, for the visitor’s traffic or sales to the merchant’s website. Pay/performance and pay/click fall under this category.

Talking about Two-tier marketing, the affiliate gets the commission for every action done by the visitors referred by him. Plus he will get the profit whenever some other affiliate, referred by him, gets the commission. So in this way affiliate is earning directly as well as indirectly.

The multi-tier marketing is the same as two-tier marketing. But in this type, the affiliates get the commission for the sales made by their affiliated affiliates in multiple tiers. The depth of this type may be unlimited.

Residual Income Marketing

In this type of marketing, affiliates get the commission for every sale that his referred person makes on the merchant website. The only requirement is that on the first time visit, the person should come from the affiliate link of the affiliate. Next time if the same person visits the merchant website, even without using the affiliate link, the affiliate will be paid for every sale made by the visitor. The question that arises is how the merchant will know the affiliate id. The answer is very simple. On the first visit of the person from the affiliate website, a cookie is created on the computer of the visitor. This cookie stores the affiliate id of the affiliate. This cookie usually expires after 3 months. In some cases it may be longer. Whenever a visitor visits the merchant website, the visitor’s computer is checked for the existence of any previously created cookie. If the cookie is found, the affiliate id is retrieved from it and the affiliate gets credited for any purchase made by the visitor.

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Affiliate Marketing: Different Types