In today’s marketing news, the founder of Instagram visits the White House, the NFL allows players to Tweet during the Pro Bowl, and Google Penalizes Ad-Crammed Webpages

Instagram goes to the White House

Mike Krieger (Kreeger), founder of the online photo-sharing service Instagram, received a surprising call last Friday.
He was invited to attend the State of the Union address as First Lady Michelle Obama’s guest. Although the President frequently uses Instagram, the reason for Krieger’s invitation was political. President Obama is trying to pass legislation that would assist start-up companies founded by non US citizens.
He wanted Brazilian-born Krieger to stand as an example of a young, successful, foreign-born entrepreneur.
Krieger accepted, simply stating, “You don’t turn down the White House.”
President Obama has often demonstrated a proficiency and understanding of the capabilities of social networking and innovative technologies, so it is no surprise that he would value Krieger’s contributions to the industry.
By choosing the young Brazilian to represent the potential greatness of young non-citizens, the president has publicized his belief that the social Internet will continue to grow in importance to the national economy.

NFL lifts it’s Tweet Ban for the Pro Bowl

In a surprising move, the NLF announced that they will be lifting their ban on in-game Twitter usage for this year’s Pro Bowl.
Players will be able to Tweet their reactions during the game using designated computer stations set up on the sideline.
During the regular season and the playoffs, the league does not allow players to Tweet during games, and those who do are fined.
After the Pro Bowl, this rule will be reinstated.
The NFL acknowledges that social media has become one of the primary ways that players and coaches interact with fans and the media.
Much like Major League Baseball’s Fan Cave, allowing Pro Bowlers to Tweet during playing time will create engagement between fans and the game, and further develop social media’s role as an interactive link between spectators and their teams.

Google Penalizes Ad-Filled Pages

Google has announced that they are taking action against websites with too many ads and not enough content.
They’ve created what they call the “page layout algorithm,” which decides whether a site contains excessive amounts of advertisements “above the fold,” meaning that the ads are stacked above the content.
The algorithm only targets fixed ads, and does not apply to pop-ups, pop-unders, and overlays.
Google’s punishment for breaking their “above the fold” rule will be a drop in SEO ranking.
Although there is no official tool to help an organization decide whether their advertisement to content ratio it too great, Google suggested using their “Browser Size Tool” which shows how much of a page’s content is visible at first glance to a visitor.
The page layout algorithm will require many marketers and digital media creators to reconsider their SEO and website advertising strategies.
Once the dust settles and its effects are better understood, it will be interesting to see how Google’s new rule changes online marketing.