Photo: German kickboxer, Valdet Gashi killed in Syria 6 months after joining ISIS
By Gadiola Emanuel - 3:02:00 AM
Technology News; Facebook tests video ads in budding YouTube challenge
By Gadiola Emanuel - 2:52:00 AM
Facebook tests video ads in budding YouTube challenge
AFP – Facebook on Thursday confirmed that it is dabbling in video ads and sharing revenue with content creators, in a move that would compete with Google-owned YouTube.
An advertising model being tested by the leading online social network is part of a “Suggested Videos” feature designed to recommend clips for people based on snippets they tune into in News Feed at Facebook. “We’re running a new suggested videos test, which helps people discover more videos similar to the ones they enjoy,” a Facebook spokesperson said in an email reply to an AFP inquiry.
“Within suggested videos, we will be running a monetization test where we will show feed-style video ads and share revenue with a group of media companies and video creators.” Suggested videos are related to what is watched by members of the social network, perhaps focused on the same topics or posted by similar publishers. The feature is being tested for some people accessing the social network with iPhones, according to Facebook.
Revenue from ads appearing in the Suggested Videos feed will be shared, with 55 percent of the money going to those providing the content, according to Facebook. The California-based social network said that it is not taking any money in from advertising while it tinkers with the formula for serving up video marketing messages.
Industry tracker eMarketer forecast that the amount of money spent on video ads in the United States this year will hit $7.77 billion, growing slightly more than a third from the $5.81 billion spent in 2014. Online video sharing powerhouse YouTube takes a lion’s share of ad revenue, bringing in $7.6 billion in gross revenue last year, according to eMarketer.
YouTube’s share of the video ad market was predicted to rise to 25 percent, with the Silicon Valley company taking in $9.5 billion globally this year. YouTube splits ad revenue with content creators.
Facebook logo tweaked
Facebook’s foray into cashing in on video watching at the social network — particularly on smartphones or tablets — came as the social network finetuned its logo to be easier to read on mobile devices. The first changes to the Facebook logo in a decade were subtle, keeping the widely-recognized lower-case ‘f’ but making the “a” and “b” thinner and more rounded.
The logo unveiled on Wednesday kept the style of wite letters on a blue background that it has had since it was first created in 2005. Facebook claimed an audience of more than 1.4 billion people, and has been adapting to a trend of members increasingly accessing the social network from smartphones or tablets instead of laptop or desktop computers.
Hilton is Top Hotel Developer
Hilton is the lead developer of new hotels in Africa with 7,250 rooms in its pipeline, spread over 29 new properties according to a survey by global firm W Hospitality. The number of hotel rooms that will be generated by the upcoming Hilton hotels is 18 per cent higher than last year.
According to the Hotel Chain Development Pipeline survey, Carlson Rezidor has the second highest number of hotel rooms under construction with 32 facilities generating a total 6,953 new rooms. Marriott is third with 6,412 rooms in its pipeline spread over 36 new properties.
“Best Western has 12 new hotels in its pipeline, but the average size of hotel is lower, at 93 rooms, and therefore drops out of the top ten when the pipeline is analysed by number of rooms,” states the report by W Hospitality.
The first part of the survey released mid last month showed that more hotels are lined up for construction in Kenya despite a slump in the local tourism business. Other hotel groups in the top 10 list of developers are Starwood, Mangalis, Accor, Rotana, Swiss International, Kempinski and Fairmont Raffles respectively.
“Both Kempinski and Fairmont focus on large, luxury hotels. Kempinski with its single brand and Fairmont which is developing Raffles, Fairmont and Swissotel.They have the largest average number of rooms in the survey,”adds the report.
Kenya is ranked seventh in survey with eight hotels under construction that will add 1,510 rooms to the local market. Radisson Blu is among those building hotels in Kenya with its first facility located in Upper Hill Nairobi. International hotel chain Hyatt is also building a new hotel in Nairobi.
Mangalis which is listed as the fifth lead developer is a new chain, launched in 2013, with its first hotel openings expected later in the year in Conakry and Dakar. “It is of note that Mangalis is achieving its very rapid growth by adopting an “asset-heavy” strategy, funding the development of nearly all of its hotels,” the report states.
Check on this Photos, The Kardashian sisters all step out in style
By Gadiola Emanuel - 2:42:00 AM
Kris Jenner wants Scott Disick to stay on reality show despite split from Kourtney
By Gadiola Emanuel - 2:36:00 AM
According to HollywoodLife.com, Kris Jenner wants to keep him on the reality series, despite his recent betrayal with ex-girlfriend Chloe Bartoli, 25.
“Surprisingly, one person Scott has on his side in regards to being on the show, following the betrayal, is Kris Jenner. Although she is obviously concerned about Kourtney, she also has always had a real soft spot for Scott and thinks of him like a son. She’s concerned about his health and wants to make sure he gets help.
She’s desperately trying to reach him to see if she can talk some sense into him. Family is incredibly important to her and she wants to keep everyone together. Kris also wants to make sure those 3 children have their father in their lives. If she can help save their relationship, she is going to try. She would rather have them work it out for the sake of those kids than split up for good.
