- Better shop around. In connection with a new staff report, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) examined 121 popular apps used to comparison shop, find online deals and pay with mobile devices; the FTC concluded that many of these apps failed, prior to download, to disclose important information to users, such as how the apps deal with payment-related disputes and how consumer data is collected, used and shared. The FTC urged developers of mobile shopping apps to be more transparent in how they deal with privacy, security and consumer protection issues. If your company is involved with apps designed to facilitate online shopping, you'll definitely want to check out the report.
- Social notworking. Does social media undermine office productivity? Surprisingly, a study suggests that social media is responsible for a mere 5% of wasted time at work, well behind "water cooler talk" (14% of office time wasted), IT problems (12%) and – my favorite – pointless meetings (11%).
- Chat or Tweet? For years, the direct message (DM) function within Twitter has been dormant – hardly used at all, much less for commercial purposes. Now, Twitter is trying to upgrade DM and position itself as a real-time chat option that will appeal to advertisers who want to communicate directly with consumers.
Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.
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