Not only are they the first UK qualifications to address the needs of specific digital disciplines at this level (as opposed to generalist courses) but more importantly, from the perspective of creating a professional development narrative for digital marketers, they fulfil an important role in the provision of flexible yet coherent education.

In short they're manageable and practical. 

Creating a new qualification comes with a mysteriously archaic process all its own, including an invitation to appear before the validation panel and ‘sell’ your proposed programme to a group of senior academics.

Gaining recognition for ground breaking subjects which are new to academia is always a nerve wracking process. There is nothing else to do but hope that they see as much value in accrediting your specific subject and structure as you see in gaining their validation.

Granted, at Econsultancy we’re becoming old hands at this but happily, as of Monday, our new Graduate Certificates have been given the seal of approval.

To date, we have offered digital education at opposite ends of the spectrum. Attend a one day short course or undertake a full MSc. At six months’ part time study, the Graduate Certificates occupy a more manageable middle round, offering a route to professionalization within your chosen field.

Think of them as an extended training session, but with time to reflect and implement what you’ve learnt whilst receiving support from the experts. They are an ideal fit for those looking to break into the industry, or wanting to formalise their skills in a particular area.

Qualifications within digital are still viewed with some skepticism but the industry is maturing and people like to have a frame of reference for their knowledge progression.

There is, of course, no substitute for experience, but accredited learning that allows you to highlight your professional areas of interest and benchmark your expertise against a recognized set of standards is powerful for both the individual and industry.

The new Graduate Certificates combine an external and globally recognized seal of approval, whilst having a direct and measureable impact on people’s day to day working lives. And if you can combine education and experience, so much the better.

The first Graduate Certificates beginning on 2nd May are on Web Analytics and SEO. Applications will be accepted through to March 31, but a £250 discount is available to everyone who returns their application forms before close of play on January 31. 

The State of Digital Marketing in Australia report, published by Econsultancy in association with Marketing Magazine, looks in detail at the current level of spending across different traditional and online marketing channels across Australia.

More than 500 companies participated in this research, which also looks at how companies are measuring marketing effectiveness, examines the barriers to digital marketing and e-commerce in the region, as well as assessing the existing levels of industry skills and knowledge. 

The 50-page report includes sections on: 

• Marketing budgets
• Use of marketing channels
• Use of marketing technology 
• Barriers to digital marketing
• Barriers to e-commerce
• Measuring marketing effectiveness
• Industry skills, knowledge and support benchmarking

There are six key findings apparent from this research: 

1. Marketers are shifting their focus towards digital 
2. Established disciplines are being complemented by emerging channels
3. Barriers to increasing digital activity go beyond the financial 
4. There is a digital skills knowledge gap 
5. Senior managers are failing to lead from the top 
6. Consumer online behaviour is widely underestimated and misinterpreted 

Table of contents

1. Executive summary and highlights
2. Introduction by Marketing Magazine
3. About
   1. Econsultancy
   2. Marketing Magazine
4. Methodology and sample
   1. Methodology
   2. Respondent profiles
5. Findings
   1. Budgets
   2. Use of marketing channels
   3. Outsourcing digital activity
   4. Use of technology
   5. Measuring marketing effectiveness
   6. Return on investment
   7. Barriers to digital marketing
      1. Issues affecting digital marketing and e-commerce
      2. Local barriers to increasing digital revenue streams
   8. Knowledge, skills and support
6. Appendix

Download a copy of the report to learn more.

A free sample is available for those who want more detail about what is in the report.

The State of Digital Marketing in Australia report, published by Econsultancy in association with Marketing Magazine, looks in detail at the current level of spending across different traditional and online marketing channels across Australia.

More than 500 companies participated in this research, which also looks at how companies are measuring marketing effectiveness, examines the barriers to digital marketing and e-commerce in the region, as well as assessing the existing levels of industry skills and knowledge. 

The 50-page report includes sections on: 

• Marketing budgets
• Use of marketing channels
• Use of marketing technology 
• Barriers to digital marketing
• Barriers to e-commerce
• Measuring marketing effectiveness
• Industry skills, knowledge and support benchmarking

There are six key findings apparent from this research: 

1. Marketers are shifting their focus towards digital 
2. Established disciplines are being complemented by emerging channels
3. Barriers to increasing digital activity go beyond the financial 
4. There is a digital skills knowledge gap 
5. Senior managers are failing to lead from the top 
6. Consumer online behaviour is widely underestimated and misinterpreted 

Table of contents

1. Executive summary and highlights
2. Introduction by Marketing Magazine
3. About
   1. Econsultancy
   2. Marketing Magazine
4. Methodology and sample
   1. Methodology
   2. Respondent profiles
5. Findings
   1. Budgets
   2. Use of marketing channels
   3. Outsourcing digital activity
   4. Use of technology
   5. Measuring marketing effectiveness
   6. Return on investment
   7. Barriers to digital marketing
      1. Issues affecting digital marketing and e-commerce
      2. Local barriers to increasing digital revenue streams
   8. Knowledge, skills and support
6. Appendix

Download a copy of the report to learn more.

A free sample is available for those who want more detail about what is in the report.

Recently, former TechCrunch writer Sarah Lacy launched a new blog, PandoDaily. She raised money from a cadre of some of Silicon Valley's most influential investors, and brought with her as contributors some of her former TechCrunch colleagues, including TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington.

Lacy's goal: "to be the site-of-record for that startup root-system and everything that springs up from it, cycle-after-cycle." And not to sell her blog, unless there's a $1bn offer on the table.

One of the PandoDaily's 'features': the PandoTicker, which is nothing more than an aggregator of news from other sites, with titles, excerpts and URL slugs designed, obviously, for SEO. Good or bad? I won't judge, as these PandoTicker items may arguably be of interest to PandoDaily's readers.

But are they of interest to Techmeme's readers?

Here's what happens when aggregators aggregate aggregators:

The PandoDaily link above takes you to:

Loop de loop, anyone?

Needless to say, aggregating the PandoTicker SEO-bait, which has little more than a link to the source you could have clicked on directly through Techmeme, is completely unnecessary. When I first noticed that this was happening, I didn't think much of it. Once Techmeme's human editors noticed that they were aggregating an aggregator, they'd fix the issue. But day after day, Techmeme keeps linking to PandoDaily pages which offer no value to Techmeme's readers.

I won't speculate as to why, but given the importance, popularity and prolificacy of services that aggregate and curate content, this should serve as a good reminder to other aggregators and curators that providing a quality service depends on a lot more than being less ugly than the Drudge Report.

More than 60 documents will be consolidated into one main privacy policy, which will be rolled out to all users on March 1st.

A blog post announcing the change said Google will “treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience.”

In practice it says this will mean users get better search results and more relevant ads – which is probably what the updates boil down to.

Google has a huge amount of personal data on its users, but at the moment it is siloed, to an extent, in its various different services.

The new privacy policy is a logical step forward from Google’s integration of Google+ content into search results.

By combining the wealth of personal data it already holds, Google is enhancing its ability to run targeted ads which allows it to compete with Facebook, which already shows ads based on a users’ interaction with brands.

The update is sure to raise questions about Google’s use of private data which has been under scrutiny in the US and Europe for years.

For example, the blog post says Google will now be able to “provide reminders that you’re going to be late for a meeting based on your location, your calendar and an understanding of what the traffic is like that day.”

Not all users will be comfortable letting Google take such control over their lives, despite its claims that it is trying to “help you by sharing more of your information.”

But as the changes will be rolled out worldwide in March, anyone with a Google account will need to get used to their data being freely shared across all its different products.