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Google Changes Mind About Pseudonyms: After much debate over real-name policies (aka the nym wars), Google Plus is changing its policy to allow nicknames and pseudonyms through a new “Add alternate name” feature. Of course, that means within reason. You can’t just use any nickname you feel like. As Google Plus’s Bradley Horowitz explains, “we’ve asked users to select the name they commonly use in real life”; which means, maiden names, nicknames that you commonly go by, or names in another script. These nicknames and pseudonyms will, for now, appear alongside your common name and in hovercards that appear over your name on Google Plus. An important note on this new feature: If you change your name on Google Plus, you will be changing it across all Google services that require a Google Profile. NYT
Things People Share on Facebook: A man in Illinois did not realize that he had gotten a nail lodged in his brain when he was using a nail gun to build a shed, but when pain in his head didn’t subside a diagnostic X-ray revealed a big nail stuck in his brain. His first reaction? Post the X-ray to Facebook, naturally. He did this while in an ambulance en route to another hospital for brain surgery. The lesson: Nothing is more urgent than updating Facebook. LA Times
Agency Goes into Bag Business: Digital agency Huge is apparently getting into the handbag business — kind of. For a limited-time offer starting Feb. 2, Huge is partnering with deals site Fab.com (a favorite e-commerce destination of our editor-in-chief — just ask him) to sell cheeky totes that they had originally designed just for their staff. Tote slogans include “That shit cray,” “Work is stupid” and “Buy me a drink.”
Tumblr of the Day: The well-groomed, designer-clad tot who claims weirdo Tom Cruise and Stepford wife Katie Holmes as her parents, Suri Cruise would totally have a burn book à la Mean Girls. Suri’s Burn Book
A Guide to Facebook’s Timeline: In honor of Facebook forcing Timeline on everyone in the near future, here is a guide to perfecting your Timeline. CollegeHumor
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‘Not the future’: European publishers remain steadfast in blocking alternative IDs to third-party cookies
Some European publishers believe alternatives to the third-party cookies, probabilistic or deterministic, will do more harm than good to their ads businesses.
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Media Briefing: Why Leaf Group spun off its media arm into a standalone company
World of Good's newly appointed CEO Lindsey Abramo spoke with Digiday about her plans to lean into experiential and embrace niche vs. scale.
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Dentsu’s latest ad report shows slowed growth, driven mostly by inflation
The good news in Dentsu's ad forecast is that there's still growth. The bad news: most of the growth is the result of inflation, while real ad pricing actually dropped a bit.
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SponsoredWhat the measurement and currency discussion really means to TV advertisers
Ali Mack, head of TV and agency, Experian Major streaming video providers have recently made headlines by adopting new currencies for ad measurement, threatening Nielsen’s long-standing TV ratings monopoly. NBCUniversal, for example, has certified iSpot and VideoAmp as currencies for advanced audiences and formed the Joint Industry Committee with Paramount, TelevisaUnivision and Warner Bros. Discovery. […]
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How chef influencer Tue Nguyen works with the BuzzFeed Creator Network
BuzzFeed's Creator Network has been valuable from an audience and production education standpoint, but Nguyen still drives most of her business on her own.
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Dentsu’s new Web3 readiness tool shines light on the tech’s potential to complement AI
Dentsu's Innovation Initiative is launching a web3 readiness index next month — at a time when the industry is obsessed with AI. Could the two technologies actually make a good pair?
