Category: Featured News

Brands are beginning to worry about whether or not it is safe to use the networks.

Though most of the world felt that last week’s social media marketing hacks that broke the “news” that McDonalds had purchased Burger King, Jeep had been acquired by Cadillac, and even “The Donald” had some surprising lyrics to share, these events were not as harmless as they initially appeared.

Many brands are now wondering if they are safe from hacks that are meant to be less than amusing.

After all, Burger King, Jeep, and Donald Trump certainly weren’t left laughing. Security analysts didn’t feel that the jokes were tremendously funny, either, as it is only a very clear sign that social media marketing is placing companies at an increased risk of having their accounts hacked. They are becoming increasingly common and their severity is rising. Many wonder whether this is threatening a massive closure of business accounts from leading brands who would prefer not to have to deal with that risk.

For social media marketing as a whole to succeed, higher security efforts may become very necessary.

According to the founder and chief executive of Deep Focus, Ian Schafer, “I think Twitter needs to step up its game in providing better security.” Schafer’s organization is a digital advertising firm. He recently informed his staff that the social networks such as Twitter as well as Facebook, Pinterest “and anyone else serious about having brands on their platform” will be required to “invest time in better understanding how brands operate day to day.”

Aside from last week’s hacks, NBC News and USA Today have also been successfully broken into over the last while. This has raised a serious concern about the password protection of social media marketing account and the ease of gaining access to them.

There have been a growing number of calls being made for increased security to social media marketing accounts, which has now risen to a deafening roar as brand giants have added their voices. These brands feel that they should be provided with an added security layer over that of a typical user, as the traditional user doesn’t face the same constant risk of a hacking threat that is experienced by companies.

Mobile commerce growing in the East

PayPal has been making a strong push into the mobile commerce arena recently. The company has long been involved in the world of online payments, but the proliferation of mobile technology has opened up new forms of commerce that PayPal is eager to take advantage of. The company has announced plans to begin expanding its reach across the global mobile commerce market and has set its sights to the East, showing a strong interest in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong sees major activity in mobile commerce sector

Hong Kong is one of the largest economic hubs in the Asian market. Companies with a strong focus on the online world have seen major progress in Hong Kong over the years and companies native to the region have seen aggressive growth in the Philippines, Argentina, South Korea, Sweden, and Russia. PayPal’s Hong Kong division notes that more consumers are relying on their mobile devices to make payments and research products, giving the company an ample opportunity to provide services to these consumers and the businesses of the region.

PayPal expected to increase activity in Hong Kong

Kerry Wong, managing director for PayPal’s operations in Hong Kong, claims that businesses in the region that use the company’s services experienced more growth than their competitors. These companies grew more than the industry average throughout the last 12 months, and many of these businesses have helped increase the regions exports by 2% thanks to the borderless nature of online trading and sales. PayPal expects that companies using its services will continue to see remarkable growth as they begin to embrace mobile commerce more aggressively.

Estimated $20 billion in mobile payments to be processed in 2013

PayPal has high expectations when it comes to online payments in 2013. The company, which boasts of more than 123 million active users worldwide, estimates that it will process over $20 billion in mobile payments globally this year. This is higher than the $14 billion in mobile payments the company processed in 2012.