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"How can brands do a better job of fostering these relationships so that they're at the forefront of consumer's minds? 1. Develop a great product. Not to resuscitate the Mac vs. PC argument, but there's a reason many people aren't hesitant to recommend their MacBook or iPhone to a friend. 2. Facilitate social sharing. Brands need to be engaged with consumers via social media, and brands need product sites and marketing programs that facilitate seamless social sharing. 3. Create sampling programs to reach digital consumers. Many influential digital consumers are eager to discuss their love of specific products and brands. Marketers need to reach and engage them in innovative ways, such as via sampling programs, contests, coupons. 4. Get game. Brand can introduce game element through badges, achievements, and prizes to turn their consumers to brand ambassadors and engage them in a fun way."

Interacting with social media while watching TV drives a 9% increase in program engagement. Viewers accessed social media an average four times during a half-hour program, for a cumulative 26% boost in program engagement.

Almost three-quarters (74%) of smartphone users are what the Pew terms "connected viewers," compared to just 27% of feature phone owners. The most common reason that people turned to their phones while watching TV was to occupy themselves during ad breaks, with 38% doing so. Among other activities people did in the prior 30 days: *23% used their phone to exchange text messages with someone else who was watching the same program in a different location *22% used their phone to check whether something they heard on television was true or not *20% used their phone to visit a site that was mentioned on television *11% used their phone to see what other people were saying online about a program they were watching, and 11% posted their own comments online about a program they were watching  *6% used their phone to vote for a reality show contestant

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The live network has struck a deal with AXS TV to bring half of HuffPost Live's 12 hours of live weekday programming to the channel, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET Monday through Friday. The addition of HuffPost Live will diversify AXS TV's programming, whose stated mission is to provide live, 24/7 coverage of pop culture, music and fashion

Isis is expanding a program that lets mobile users pay for vending machine purchases via their smartphones with a loyalty tie-in that rewards repeat users. The new program provides free products based on points earned by smartphone users who pay at participating vending machines with the Isis Mobile Wallet.

Victoria's Secret is building its loyalty program with a new mobile photo sharing contest that rewards consumers with shopping sprees for snapping creative pictures. Victoria's Secret will then judge the entries based on creativity, photo quality, originality and consistency with the brand's image. Four winners will be chosen each week for a total of 16 winners. Each winner will receive a $500 shopping spree.

looking as a model for loyalty programs. i love nordstroms for this reason.

this trend in SMS programs to build loyal customer base

"News and magazine apps are a segment where the momentum is likely to shift towards the Web within the next two to three years," noted senior analyst Aapo Markkanen. "Since news and media content already account for a large share of smartphone usage and are likely to play an even bigger role in later adopters' usage, changes in this segment alone will make subscribers on average download fewer native apps." The next wave of smartphone owners in mature markets like the U.S., Western Europe and Asia will download fewer apps than the first one-third of mobile consumers who bought smartphones, according to the report on mobile app storefronts. At the same time, ABI expects that in the games and utilities categories, the mobile Web will probably never catch up with native apps, due to the difficulty in matching the user experience. ABI's outlook on the future of apps appears at odds with a separate report released Tuesday by Strategy Analytics, which maintains that the emergence of HTML5 won't put much of a dent in the app economy. Instead, it predicts the Web programming language will lead to the spread of hybrid apps that combine HTML5 with native APIs (application programming interface) to harness the best of native and open standards.

Hotels.com, in partnership with Columbus Internet, recently launched the first in-Facebook affiliate program through their joint app "Hotels WithMe." Facebook page owners can install the app and earn revenue when bookings are made through it. At this time the app is only available in the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Sweden and Germany.

You can join the program if you allow Verizon to track and market to you. Great deal.

Game Informer Magazine's paid and verified circulation leapt particularly after GameStop beefed up the loyalty program that includes a subscription to the title. All You's "Enjoy Life for Less" message continued to resonate with readers as the economy kept sputtering, according to publisher Suzanne Quint.  Most intriguing, however, was a program under which bloggers began touting All You subscriptions in exchange for a small cut of any sales generated.

calling Amazon Prime the "modern day loyalty program" ShopRunner is a competitor to prime that lets users get free shipping for an annual fee from a number of retailers e-commerce sites

Amazon announced this morning a plan to spread adoption of its payments service, Amazon Payments, to more third-party websites. With the launch of its Amazon Payments Global Partner Program, the retailer will help e-commerce platform providers and other developers integrate with Amazon Payments so their own merchants can offer the option to "Pay with Amazon" at checkout.

"Starting next month, with the new season of its "Watch What Happens Live" gabfest, Bravo will start overlaying its new programing with its homegrown* "Play Live" technology. What that means: Viewers will see polls, contests and other interactive games and graphics that pop up on-screen throughout the show. They'll be able to participate in real time, via a Web broswer, and on-screen results will change, based on viewers' input."

"Zeebox does not sell any advertising itself; instead, its network partners work with agencies and advertisers to sell second-screen ads and Zeebox takes a cut. For now, the Zeebox app works only with live TV -- not DVR content. The app identifies live TV programming using a combination of video fingerprinting, audio content recognition and closed-captioning information."

Students create video-chat program for deaf kids used in daily 6.22

Stats on loyalty programs