Not that long ago, we featured a guest post here on the blog by Darin Wonn, Product Manager for Mobile Apps at InterContinental Hotels Group on the value of using mobile to reach travelers. The trend continued this week as we got ready for our trip to The Mobile Marketing Conference, with everything from an app that makes your smartphone a hotel remote to preloaded iPads for tourists.

Meanwhile, this infographic on a day in the life of the internet showed more than 35 million apps being downloaded per day, as well as 532 million Facebook statuses updated. For those who are still wondering about the ROI of all of this, check out this blog post on "Return on Influence" or this piece on MarketingProfs on Metrics. Speaking of influence, influence appraisal tool Klout continues to roll out more "Perks" for users, such as this partnership with Gilt Groupe.

The title of "biggest social media news this week" probably falls to Twitter. American Express launched a new hashtag marketing program that allows members to sync their cards for discounts. The question is, will this fill twitter up with loads of commercial messages, negating its service as a news and conversation pulse point? On top of that, Twitter has hinted that it will be further building up it's brand page program, adding e-commerce and contest options.

Here on the blog, we continued to prepare for The Mobile Marketing Conference, looking at the HealtheHorizons™ visioncheck app and interviewing Sarah Liang, Director of Interactive Marketing, L'Oreal USA. Next week will mark our last news roundup before we head off to Miami to hear from mobile experts, make sure to let us know if you have any burning questions.

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