Weekly Round Up: This Week in Australian Business

1. Telstra is buying global video streaming service Ooyala. Telstra announced acquiring 98% of the video streaming company on the 12th of August for a reported $270 million investment.

2. Snapchat is officially hotter than Twitter with millennials in America (this usually means the rest of the western world too).

3. A report released this week shows the fastest growing area for B2B companies was online advertising with nearly US$5 billion being spent in 2013 alone.

4. Facebook has banned brands from promoting pages to users for special content and perks.

5. It’s a big week in the world of native advertising as Twitter tests native ads within users news feeds and the battle continues to rage on between critics and supporters over the legitimacy of native advertising in the online marketing spectrum.

6. It is expected that up to 85% of brands will soon be spending up to 50% of their budgets on advertising for display, mobile and digital platforms.

7. The NFC (Near Field Communication) payment boom is almost upon us as news comes that 300 million NFC enabled phones were shipped last year and speculation around the new iphone 6 also carries the technology.

8. Facebook is starting to roll out ‘cross device reporting’, which basically lets advertisers see where a consumer saw an ad, the device they saw it on as well as which device the sale was converted on.

9. In yet another example of social media being used during political conflicts; as tensions in Gaza and Ferguson mount, Palestinians in Gaza have been tweeting tips for dealing with tear gas to the residents and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri.

10. Online gaming giant World of Warcraft is to create a Robin Williams character to immortalise the late actor and gaming enthusiast after his tragic passing on Monday.

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