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Microsoft has launched the Microsoft Advertising Story Awards, tasking marketers from 30 countries with submitting a campaign idea for a brand or non-profit using Microsoft Advertising’s storytelling platforms.

If online search results are slowed by even a fraction of a second, people search less – a 400ms delay leads to a 0.44% drop in search volume. And impatience isn’t just limited to search, as four out of five online users will keeping on clicking away if a video stalls while loading.

Recommendations from friends and family are the most powerful influence on consumers, and that the best way to get consumers talking is for brands to provide direct, positive experience, according to New Realities 2012 research in the US, Brazil, China and India conducted by Jack Morton Worldwide.

Not all kinds of advocacy are equal, though – consumers’ views on social media impact are contradictory and only one in five use social networks to make brand recommendations the same way they do ‘in the real world’.

Bangkok street life is buzzing and appears somewhat chaotic with myriad food and market stalls open pretty much 24/7, while counterfeit – and well-made – branded goods abound, and smartphones and iPads are almost de rigueur among youth. Plus. everyone is on Whatsapp. And social gaming was a big trend here in back in early- 2010.

Thai youth is clearly as heavily into the latest tech as its counterparts in Asian and Western societies, says Sabine Stork*.

Every second, one hour of video is uploaded to Google’s YouTube. That equates to a decade’s worth of footage every single day. Or, in 10 days, an entire video century.

The video-sharing website has lots more time-bending stats it wants to communicate. Which is why the Google Data Arts team has joined forces with digital production outfit Punk & Butler to develop a new website, onehourpersecond.com, with illustrations by Alex Eben Meyer.

Social media savvy brands should be taking an interest in Pinterest. What is it? Well, it’s a personal-use digital pinboard where users can pin images they find online in themed collections for sharing, writes Steve Mullins.

While Manchester City’s were beating Spurs on the pitch last weekend, the Premier League club was busy snapping a 360-degree, ultra-high resolution picture of the interior of the Etihad Stadium together with Gigapixel FanCam, says Steve Mullins.

Artist will.i.am – aka Intel’s director of creative innovation – is gearing up for world tour as part of the Intel Ultrabook Project, writes Mark Terry. The 12-city, 12-month tour, which will kick off in Mexico City at the end of the month, will deliver a dozen original pieces of music inspired by the cities will.i.am visits, and 10,000 downloads of each piece of music will be available exclusively on the Intel.com website.