API - Internet Marketing News and Blogs

Thank god it's Friday! Without further ado, here are the stories that caught Drama 2.0's attention this past week.

Nearly 70% of organisations are planning to increase their spending on web analytics this year, according to a new international study by the Web Analytics Association (WAA).

The budget increases, the Industry Outlook survey suggests, will mainly be ploughed into training. 

The Ordnance Survey’s long-awaited API has moved a step closer to launch, with the organisation preparing to announce an alpha release later today.

The 'OpenSpace' platform has been in the pipeline for at least a couple of years and will reportedly now be fully unveiled sometime in 2008. 

Google Analytics, Big G's highly popular free reporting software, is two years old tomorrow, but what impact has it had and what's in store for the future?

Arguably one of the biggest developments in the online marketing space in the past few years, Google Analytics is a fine tool for marketers, although it isn't without its issues.

We caught up with Google Analytics' Brian Clifton, as well as web analytics gurus Jim Sterne and Eric Peterson, to see how the software is shaping up, two years on... 

The recent redesign and introduction of 3rd party apps may be too little too late for MySpace as many users have jumped ship, including me.

Google is apparently looking to tap into the Facebook widget ‘phenomenon’ by serving Adsense ads on third-party applications created for the site.

Steve Rubel has linked to an article in AdAge that quotes Google CEO Eric Schmidt as saying:

“How will those developers get paid for those services? We would like to have our ads in those applications.”

Timo Soininen is the CEO of Sulake Corporation , the Finnish digital media group that owns virtual world Habbo Hotel, as well as other online games and social networks.

We asked him about the risks and rewards for brands targeting online communities, as well as the company’s plans for the future.

Thousands of applications have been created on Facebook’s open platform since the social network opened up to developers earlier this year. But launching one, and generating interest, is not necessarily easy.

‘Attitudinal matching’ company Synature is one UK firm that has already taken the plunge, launching a version of its qubox software that allows Facebook members to search for like-minded people on the site, as well as potentially becoming a platform for targeted advertising. Here, John Woods, its CEO, talks about the challenges the company faced, and why he thinks the API can be a significant opportunity for brands.

Yahoo! has released a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow advertisers to tailor their experience with the company's search marketing platform.

Three levels of tweaking capability are available to developers, each of which allows for customisation of the out-of-the-box new Panama engine, which was released in the UK last week.