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Mobile ad optimizing network Smaato has released metrics from its second quarter that show the state of mobile advertising is not what many had thought. Mobile advertising inventory may be higher than ever, but that does not mean fill rates are keeping up. Overall, Smaato saw a 2% decline in worldwide mobile advertising fill rates in the second quarter across the top 40 mobile ad networks. Only 18% of mobile ad inventory had been filled.

The fact of the matter is that there are just too many apps and not enough ads. Smaato's metrics show that the larger mobile platforms, iOS and Android, do not perform comparatively well on a global index. That could leave developers scrambling for ways to make money from their apps as the ecosystem grows.

It's a little bit amazing that any social networking site could pull what many posts are calling "a Facebook" at this point in history. Nevertheless, LinkedIn has made news by creating an opt-out account setting to use member names, photos, and information in "social advertising" on the site. Facebook made this strategy infamous, although there's no way to opt out of many of Facebook's social ads.

Still, no one likes surprise opt-out uses of personal data. Complaints about this perceived breach of privacy have made the rounds over the last day or so. LinkedIn has just posted a response to the backlash offering some clarifications.

Facebook isn't accepting advertisements that promote Google Plus on its social network, as one self-described "Internet Geek" recently found out. After having placed an ad that informed Facebook visitors to add him on Google Plus, Michael Lee Johnson reported that Facebook shut down all his advertising campaigns, and banned him from using the Facebook advertising system.

A new mobile app platform called WiO is set to revolutionize the TV watching experience by allowing customers to immediately get information about the products and services they see advertised on screen, both in TV commercials and within the shows themselves.

Through a mobile app running on customers' phones, marketers can offer a variety of follow-up actions to the TV viewer, including coupons, reminders, contact info and more. In total, there are 10 follow-up actions offered. And the consumer is in complete control of which ones, if any, they respond to.

Millennial Media's April 2011 report, a snapshot of the company's large mobile advertising network and the trends it contains, found this month that ad impressions on iOS devices have increased by 47% since January of this year. At the same time, Android impressions have grown just 19%.

And when breaking down the revenue generated by all apps, iOS apps accounted for 50% of revenue, while Android accounted for 39%. This was a 6% month-over-month increase for Apple.

Apple recently took actions to dissuade developers from participating in incentivized install programs, meaning programs that encouraged consumers to download new apps in return for virtual goods and other bonuses which could be used in mobile gaming and other apps. But while those changes may have negatively affected some companies' programs, for example, Tapjoy, it has led to opportunities for others.

Today, one of those hoping to benefit from the increasingly important marketing needs of app developers is Appia. It's launching a pay-per-install ad network that it says offers guaranteed ROI to developers. The service launched today at the 2011 AppNation conference in San Francisco.

In mobile ad network Millennial Media's March 2011 report on mobile platform trends, it found that iOS's share has grown, thanks to the recent launch of the Verizon iPhone. Month-over-month, the iPhone grew 17% and the iOS platform itself grew by 11%. The Verizon iPhone accounted for 8.2% of all the iPhone impressions on its network during March, says Millennial.

Meanwhile, Android was the leading smartphone platform on the network for the 4th month in a row, with a 48% ad impression share. However, in terms of impression growth, as opposed to share, Apple iOS impressions grew at 29% while Android impressions grew 23%.

Analytics firm Flurry has just announced a new video advertising network called AppCircle Clips which aims to bring a "TV commercial"-like experience to mobile applications and games. The video advertisements will reach over 30 million people per day, says Flurry, a larger audience than most successful primetime TV shows.

While initially, a consumer's gut reaction may be a groan at the thought of an ad popping up in the middle of an intense gaming session, the new service offers an enticing feature which may change their minds. Gamers can actually earn in-game rewards like virtual currency for viewing the clips and have the opportunity to earn even more if they share those clips via Facebook or Twitter.

Facebook is launching a new ad format called "Sponsored Stories," which allows participating advertisers to promote your Facebook activity by turning it into homepage ads seen only by your friends. This activity can include liking a Facebook page, checking in via Facebook Places or sharing content to the News Feed from a Facebook application.

These shares, which would have appeared in your friends' News Feeds anyway, are now given special promotion by way of a Facebook ad that appears on the right-hand side of the homepage. The ad will display your friend's name, photo, a picture and link to the relevant Facebook Page or application, plus any likes and comments.

App recommendation service W3i has just launched a new platform which targets mobile, to complement its existing PC and Web application recommendation services. The obtusely named W3i "Ad-Funded Payment Platform," aims to help developers achieve both their discovery and monetization goals, the company says. To do so, it will reward users with virtual currency within free mobile applications for installing apps from W3i's advertisers (i.e., other developers).

At present, the platform focuses on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad apps only.