Digital Digest 8

August 2, 2016

Almost 60% of Australians over the age of 16 believe online news is more influential than print, with more than a third reading news first on social media sites including Facebook on a regular basis, a new study has found.
The study, conducted by research from Telsyte on behalf of news and social media monitoring provider Meltwater, surveyed more than 1000 Australians on their attitudes, intentions and adoption of digital technologies and media.
The study found that online media is the most important tool for businesses looking to influence customers, followed by print.
It also found that age does not play a factor in digital influence, with many Australians over 65 using online news portals as much as they use print for their main source of news.
Meltwater ANZ area director David Hickey says the findings clearly demonstrate significant changes in media consumption, which businesses must embrace in order to remain competitive.
Hickey believes all signs point towards a digital future as the younger generation, the future generation, turn to digital for their media consumption on an increasing basis.

Freeview has announced the launch of a new program of innovation and products, including a new FreeviewPlus mobile app for access to all of the free-to-air networks’ live streaming and catch up content.
The mobile streaming product sees the Australian free-to-air (FTA) TV industry create a world first, in which all FTA networks are now working together on one platform. This is the result of the decision of SBS to re-join.
“We have an exciting year ahead in free-to-air television and the spirit of progress and collaboration will deliver some significant innovations in 2016”, says Freeview chief executive officer Liz Ross.
Since launching in 2008, Freeview has grown the free digital television service after the final switch over ended analogue TV in 2013 to now include 18 free to air channels, as well as streaming and catch up programs.
“Freeview has responded to changing viewing habits and we are excited about the FreeviewPlus multi-screen future” she says

Facebook will finally pay its UK tax properly, after a major overhaul of its tax structure sees the company set to pay millions of pounds more.
The social network will now be taxed on the profits from the majority of its advertising revenue initiated in Britain, particularly advertisers from major businesses, such as Tesco, Unilever and Sainsbury's.
Facebook's international headquarters will remain in Ireland, where smaller business advertising sales will still be routed, as the company had done previously for all sales.
The change will be implemented from April, with Mark Zuckerberg's company's first new tax bill set to be paid in 2017.
Facebook paid just £4,327 of corporation tax in 2014, and nothing at all in 2012.
The change to Facebook's tax structure will see Facebook UK take responsibility for a large number of the company's major UK advertising campaigns.
"On Monday, we will start notifying large UK customers that from the start of April, they will receive invoices from Facebook UK and not Facebook Ireland," a memo from the company read.

Facebook Messenger's latest update is literally music to its users' ears, as the service has introduced Spotify integration for simpler song sharing.
The iOS and Android app now lets users jump straight to their Spotify account to share a track or playlist without leaving the conversation.
Selecting the 'More' tab in a Messenger conversation followed by 'Spotify' opens the streaming service in-app. The recipient will be sent a Spotify link.
This is much more straightforward than the previous system, which required users to leave their chat and open Spotify to copy a link over to the Facebook app.
The integration works both ways, with Spotify users able to ping songs to Messenger just as easily. To do this, simply access the 'Send To' option in the 'Share' menu and select Facebook Messenger.

Google has announced that it's testing a payment program called "Hands Free" that lets users pay for goods without having to reach into their pockets.
The idea behind the program is that anyone can walk in to a store, find what they want and head to the register, requiring only their face and a moment's conversation to purchase something.
Hands Free is in a limited pilot program at select stores in the Silicon Valley area. Google said that it uses a variety of sensors in a users' smartphone, including Bluetooth and WiFi, to detect when shoppers are in a particular store.
When at the cash register, the users simply have to say, "I'll pay with Google" and give their initials to the cashier. The store employee checks the initials and a picture that users have uploaded to their payment accounts to verify that they are who they claim to be.
According to the company's website, stores never get access to consumers' full credit card information. Users also get a notification when their Hands Free account has been used, as a fraud-prevention measure.
"Images and data from the Hands Free in-store camera are deleted immediately, can't be accessed by the store, and is not sent to or saved to Google servers," the company said.Source: The Age