DiDigital

New Twitter stats: 15% of online adults use Twitter, 8% do so on a typical day

Thu, 31 May 2012 11:32:00 -0400

We’ve got brand spanking new Twitter numbers out today! As of February 2012, overall Twitter adoption by online adults is at 15%, which has remained steady since May 2011, when overall Twitter adoption by Internet users was 13%. Notably, though, the % of online adults who use Twitter on a typical day has doubled since May 2011 and has quadrupled since late 2010—at that point just 2% of online adults used Twitter on a typical day. Now, 8% of online adults use Twitter on a typical day.

More key findings:

African-Americans continue to use Twitter at very high rates—28% of online African-Americans are Twitter adopters, and 13% use the service on a typical day.

Usage by young internet users (those 18-24 years old) increased dramatically over the last year, with nearly one in three now using Twitter.

Our data also suggests that these trends are deeply intertwined with mobile Twitter usage on smartphones. Fully 20% of smartphone owners use Twitter overall, and 16% use the service specifically on their cell phones.

Read the full report

Now 4 billion people know the joy of txt

Tue, 29 May 2012 09:44:46 -0400

The humble SMS is 20 years old… and a far more important invention than the flashier inventions that have followed it

Here’s a question: what’s bigger and far more important than Facebook? Hint: it’s very low-tech and doesn’t need a smartphone or even an internet connection. And this year marks its 20th birthday, which means that in internet time it’s 140 years old. Oh, and it doesn’t involve LOLcats either.

Got it yet? It’s SMS – text messaging to you and me. Or txt msng, if you prefer. Two-thirds of the world’s population – that’s over 4 billion people – have access to it because that’s the number of people who have mobile phones, and even the cheapest, clunkiest handset can send SMS messages. It’s had a much bigger impact on people’s lives than anything dreamed up in Silicon Valley….Continue reading at The Guardian

"The power laws that control brand leadership can be reduced to a simple formula: first mover +..."

Wed, 23 May 2012 14:54:16 -0400

“The power laws that control brand leadership can be reduced to a simple formula: first mover + popularity = leadership.”

- - MARTY NEUMEIER

Choices Pay: The $144,146,165 Button

Tue, 15 May 2012 09:28:40 -0400

Choices Pay: The $144,146,165 Button:

unwieldy:

The average New York City taxi cab driver makes $90,747 in revenue per year. There are roughly 13,267 cabs in the city. In 2007, NYC forced cab drivers to begin taking credit cards, which involved installing a touch screen system for payment.

During payment, the user is presented with three default buttons for tipping: 20%, 25%, and 30%. When cabs were cash only, the average tip was roughly 10%. After the introduction of this system, the tip percentage jumped to 22%.

Those three buttons resulted in $144,146,165 of additional tips. Per year. Those are some very valuable buttons.

Somebody is Watching You

Thu, 03 May 2012 15:30:00 -0400

A recent NYTimes article titled, How to Muddy Your Tracks, speaks to the challenges we face in protecting our metadata in an increasingly digital world. In a piece we posted last year, Your digitalDNA™: Be Forewarned and be Forearmed, we coined the phrase, digitalDNA™ which refers to the mountains of metadata that we create as we continue to log on to facebook and twitter, do google searches and move “freely” around the internet.

People are becoming more aware that moving around “freely” doesn’t insulate them from sophisticated computer programs gathering information on their internet habits. The data culled from this traffic analysis can create a virtual encyclopedia of all of your steps which can be logged and later used for various reasons some of which may prove to be nefarious.

Some take the attitude that their is not much they can do, at this point, but their are adjustments one can make to their patterns in order to inject, what is often referred to in the tech world as anomalies, into ones digitalDNA™

We all adjust our habits, in the real world, so to not create a pattern that can leave us susceptible to a predator or make us the victim of a crime. We should also take steps to to protect our digitalDNA™ in the virtual world.

Their are many ways to “muddy your tracks” or poison your digitalDNA™ . Not all of the solutions are perfect but if you analyze your digital security needs you’ll be able to come up with the right combination of tools to better protect you from unwanted traffic analysis. We recommend taking a look at the Tor Project , as a good starting point and a way to begin confusing unwanted prying eyes.

How We Watch From Screen to Screen

Thu, 03 May 2012 13:17:23 -0400

The average American watches nearly five hours of video each day, 98 percent of which they watch on a traditional TV set, according to the Nielsen Cross-Platform Report, released today. Although this ratio is less than it was just a few years ago, and continues to change, the fact remains that Americans are not turning off. They are shifting to new technologies and devices that make it easier for them to watch the video they want, whenever and wherever they want.

TV is Still the Center of Viewing
In the past year, the number of homes with an HDTV grew by more than 8 million to 80.2 million, leaving little doubt that the TV screen remains the dominant platform on which to consume video content. But the means by which the content is delivered appear to be shifting.

Traditional—live and timeshifted—TV viewing remains the primary role of the TV, accounting for more than 33 hours per week despite a decline one half of one percent in time spent compared to Q4 2010. To fill the gap, consumers are finding new ways to use their TVs.

Game Consoles Now in Nearly Half of TV Homes
Consoles have become strategically positioned as a secondary gateway to TV content, and can now be found in 45 percent of TV homes, an increase of three percent over last year. With Netflix and other streaming apps, Blu-ray players, social gaming and point of purchase seamlessly integrated into game consoles, it is no surprise that consumers are relying on their consoles to perform double (and triple) duty. These new activities are adding up and contributing to the growth of content consumption. Interestingly, households without children are leading the way in new game console adoption, demonstrating that game consoles are appealing to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes.

Mobile Viewership Small but Growing
With improving screens, Internet connectivity and the advantage of being “the best screen available” while on the go, smartphones are increasingly becoming portable TVs. In fact, 33.5 million mobile phone owners now watch video on their phones—an increase of 35.7 percent since last year. While mobile phones won’t replace other screens anytime soon, they are part of the ever-increasing number of ways in which consumers consume content.

Apps Used to Report Community Issues in Arizona

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 06:40:00 -0400

More Valley cities are using mobile technology to enable residents to report neighborhood issues like overgrown weeds or barking dogs, but critics say the smartphone applications could foster distrust and suspicion as ordinary citizens become the eyes and ears of local government.

The increasingly popular “citizen reporter” apps make it easier for officials to resolve public-property issues, such as graffiti and potholes, but many communities have expanded the technology to include more personal violations, including unsanctioned yard sales or even expired vehicle tags.

Nick Dranias, constitutional policy director for the Goldwater Institute, a Phoenix-based conservative watchdog group, said the apps encourage people to “surreptitiously report on their neighbors.”

In nearly every Valley community, smartphone users can snap photos of a neighborhood problem, attach a text note and GPS location and anonymously submit the information to government official…

Microsoft Contemplates A Web Based Skype

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:11:14 -0400

It looks like Microsoft is ready to let people use Skype through Web apps, not just native apps.

Microsoft is hiring staff “to help us bring Skype experience on to the Web,” a move that could help people use the Internet-based video and audio chat service more broadly.

Skype’s VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) service today requires a native app to run on various operating systems. A browser-based version, though, could bring the service to OSes that aren’t supported, such as Google’s Chrome OS; make it easier for people to use Skype on a machine for which they don’t have installation privileges; and potentially integrate with other Web-based services.

Microsoft revealed the project through recent job ads.

Smartphones Vs. Tablets

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:49:32 -0400

The rise of e-reading

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:27:31 -0400

21% of Americans have read an e-book. The increasing availability of e-content is prompting some to read more than in the past and to prefer buying books to borrowing them.

One-fifth of American adults (21%) report that they have read an e-book in the past year, and this number increased following a gift-giving season that saw a spike in the ownership of both tablet computers and e-book reading devices such as the original Kindles and Nooks.¹ In mid-December 2011, 17% of American adults had reported they read an e-book in the previous year; by February, 2012, the share increased to 21%.

The rise of e-books in American culture is part of a larger story about a shift from printed to digital material. Using a broader definition of e-content in a survey ending in December 2011, some 43% of Americans age 16 and older say they have either read an e-book in the past year or have read other long-form content such as magazines, journals, and news articles in digital format on an e-book reader, tablet computer, regular computer, or cell phone.

Download the full Pew Internet Research report here

Gartner predicts top 10 mobile technologies

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:04:06 -0400

The top 10 mobile technologies that will change business, as described by Gartner research VP, Leif-Olof Wallin

HTML5

By 2015, Gartner predicts HTML 5 will deliver 50% of allapplications that would have been native in 2011. Wallin notes, however, that while HTML5 is often presented as the solution to all problems, it will not be the only solution for some applications, since it is not yet fully standardised. Wallin warns developers and business to expect fragmentation and to adapt applications accordingly.

Near-field communication

“This is really great technology that has unfortunately just taken forever to mature,” says Wallin, adding that it will undoubtedly become the leading ‘touch to act’ tech. According to Gartner, near-field communication (NFC) will enable numerous capabilities such as payments, ticketing, vouchers and coupons, check-in services, access control and information sharing. “There is already support from key platforms and vendors such as Android, Nokia and RIM,” notes Wallin.

Wallin, however, warns that m-payment solutions won’t happen readily and commercial and technical battles are expected to emerge between banks, network operators and Internet mega-vendors.

Platform independent AD tools

Gartner says no single mobile platform will dominate, and HTML5 alone will not satisfy all cross-platform development needs. As a result, there is opportunity in recognising that operating systems are not the only platforms one should be independent of.

Location and context

By adding location and contextual intelligence to services, there is the opportunity to change consumer or employee behaviour, says Wallin. According to Gartner, applications will become more proactive in their functionality and increasingly hyper-personalised.

Wallin warns, however, that the technology is still very immature, and there are privacy concerns to be taken into account. An example of this technology would be an application that can remind the user of someone’s birthday, tap into their social profile to suggest an appropriate gift, and use location services to suggest the nearest store.

Bluetooth 4

Gartner says Bluetooth 4 will become the standard way for sensors and peripherals to talk to a wide range of mobile devices. This will enable new business models based on sensing new accessories and new capabilities, such as proximity applications.

For example, smart jewellery such as a watch that can communicate with one’s mobile phone and display incoming messages or alerts. Wallin, however, cautions that the technology is still immature and market penetration will take another one to three years.

802.11ac

Gartner says WiFi has a strong roadmap through to 2014, and notes there is renewed interest in the technology to offload cellular traffic. 802.11ac and related wireless standards will allow for HD video apps to become more practical and enable machine-to-machine communication. It is, however, noted that the difference between peak and ‘real world’ speeds must be considered.

Machine-to-machine, smart products

Gartner predicts that by 2015, there will be more devices on cellular networks than actual cellphones. This provides the opportunity to “illuminate information shadows” and transform business models, according to Wallin.

An example would be a shift from ownership to a pay-as-you-use model and the creation of innovative always-on devices and services. Wallin notes, however, that it is a very complex space with many stakeholders, and complex integration challenges should be anticipated.

Augmented reality

Wallin says opportunity lies in the capacity to overlay real-time information onto images, as well as leveraging gamification and mapping technologies to create unique synergies. The technology is, however, currently immature, fragmented and indoor wireless location sensing is still a challenge.

Multiplatform multiple device management

This offers the opportunity to better manage consumerisation and employee demands for choice within the workplace. Wallin cautions that innovation in this space must be wary of vendor lock-in and market consolidation.

Long-term evolution

While Gartner does not expect LTE to become a reality in SA in the next couple of years, it is still a key technology that should be considered and planned for, with greater network speeds offering new opportunities for innovation.

"According to a February report from Nielsen and NM Incite, social networking applications accounted..."

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:26:34 -0400

“According to a February report from Nielsen and NM Incite, social networking applications accounted for 5.5% of time spent on mobile phones in October 2011, compared to 13.3% for text messaging.”

"It takes 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an email. It takes 90 seconds for the..."

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:44:48 -0400

“It takes 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an email. It takes 90 seconds for the average person to respond to a text message.”

- CTIA

Amazon vs. Apple: Competing Ecosystem Strategies

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:56:21 -0400

…Amazon is differentiating itself from Apple in terms of both its footprint and its profit model. Apple captures the bulk of its profits the moment an iPad is sold, while its partners capture value over time as users consume services. In contrast, Amazon’s profits accrue over the lifetime of the customer with every on-platform purchase In this regard, Amazon’s incentives seem more aligned with those of its media partners (“we win together over time”) than Apple’s with its partners (“I win first; you later…maybe”).

Aligning, enticing, and — occasionally — subsidizing partners are the new ante in the ecosystem game. Amazon and Apple will go down as case studies in alternative strategies for succeeding in ecosystems. Their product-focused rivals will illustrate what it means to be “stuck in the middle.”

Click to read the entire piece in HBR

"Texting remained the most common activity, used by 74.6% of US mobile subscribers, up 3.9% from..."

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:05:54 -0400

“Texting remained the most common activity, used by 74.6% of US mobile subscribers, up 3.9% from 71.1% for the three-month average ending in October.”

- comScore

Source: MobiThinking

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 17:18:00 -0400

Source: MobiThinking

"Lisa Utzschneider, global VP-advertising sales for Amazon, revealed results from a campaign last..."

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:43:00 -0500

“

Lisa Utzschneider, global VP-advertising sales for Amazon, revealed results from a campaign last year that involved an ad for a $10-off online deal for Crest Whitestrips on Amazon. It produced a 26% lift in sales for Whitestrips on Amazon, she said, but, more interestingly, an 8% lift in offline sales, representing $1 million in incremental sales.

“Think about that promotion,” she said. “It’s 10% off on Amazon. You can’t redeem that off of Amazon. Yet customers responded to this message, and we love the ROI we saw offline.”

”

- P&G Learns Digital Lessons - Read the entire article in AdAGE

Paying With Your Phone

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 09:01:22 -0500

BARCELONA - Paying with a mobile phone is gradually become a reality for consumers, with banks, telecommunications operators and Internet players all jumping in to offer payment options.

But while one group is pushing for a system of payment through an electronic wallet hosted on the web, another is investing in an infrastructure that would allow customers to pay by swiping their phones against a reader.

The latter, championed by Internet giant Google and telecoms operators like Orange and Vodafone, is made possible by so-called Near Field Communication technology.

It requires buyers to have specially equipped telephones, while sellers need to have new payment terminals installed. Yet it is the method preferred by both operators and banks, and particularly appears destined for developed countries.

At the world’s biggest mobile show in Barcelona in the past week, several handset makers previewed telephones compatible with NFC, while chip makers Gemalto, INSIDE Secure or STMicroelectronics all demonstrated their solutions for mobile phone payment.

However, “despite the large scale trials and some other announcements, we are far from a massive utilisation by consumers, neither are we seeing deployment on an industrial scale among sellers,” lamented Patrick Flamant, manager at internet payment operator Ogone.

Analysts say that payment by NFC telephones may be eclipsed by other methods that consumers find more handy - public transport cards, identification badges or store cards.

“For me, NFC will never take off because I believe more in payment solutions via social networks - Facebook credit or PayPal,” said Gilles Blanc, Benchmark group’s research director.

Indeed, Internet payment specialist PayPal already has 106 million active online users, and mobile payment is already a reality with US$4 billion (S$5 billion) in transactions made in 2011 and US$7 billion worth expected in 2012.

Under PayPal’s system, a buyer can scan the item and pay by phone using his or her PayPal account.

“It is important to follow our users everywhere where they are buying,” said PayPal mobile vice president David Marcus.

“We are now investing in physical boutiques,” he said, because “we offer solutions for whatever the payment method.”

Starting this week, the group has begun allowing customers of US chain Home Depot to pay with PayPal in 2,000 locations across the country.

US credit card giants Visa and Mastercard have meanwhile chosen to invest in both methods of payment - NFC and its sophisticated telephones as well as mobile payments with basic telephones, which would be better adapted for developing countries.

“Mobile is a channel which allows many different things accross different markets,” said Hannes van Rensburg, who heads Visa’s mobile payment unit for emerging markets.

Orange Money, a subsidiary of French operator Orange, has also signed a deal with Visa to offer pre-paid accounts in seven African countries and Middle East for mobile clients - many of whom have never had a bank account - to pay with their telephones.

Mastercard has also partnered with banks or operators to offer mobile payments.

“It’s not so much about technology but to make an experience proposition for the consumer better, more secure and faster,” said Santander Card manager Javier Herraiz, a partner of Mastercard.

Source: AsiaOne

"There are 6.8 billion people on the planet. 5.1 billion of them own a cell phone, but only 4.2..."

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 10:32:08 -0500

“There are 6.8 billion people on the planet. 5.1 billion of them own a cell phone, but only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush.”

- Mobile Marketing Association of Asia

The Psychology of Sharing

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:36:00 -0500

We share a lot online, almost to the point where it feels excessive. Is it vanity, self-expression, or more?

It turns out there isn’t just one type of sharer on the Internet. People share information with others for a number of reasons, at various times during the day, and with differing intents. And people even choose not to share things they’re too embarrassed or scared to share.

To understand why people share online, we pulled up all of the latest and greatest studies on the arena. Here’s what we found.

Six Types of People That Share

There are six different personas of sharers, according to The New York Times’ “Psychology of Sharing.” These personas are defined by their emotional motivations, desired presentation of self, role of sharing in life, and how valuable it is to the individual be the first to share. These personas with some keywords to describe each are as follows:

Altruist: These sharers are helpful, reliable, thoughtful, connected, and use email to share.
Careerist: These sharers are intelligent business networkers and are more likely to share content on LinkedIn.
Hipster: Less likely than other sharers to use email for sharing content, these sharers are creative, young and popular. They consume content that is on the cutting edge and care about defining their identity.
Boomerangs: These sharers share information to get a reaction and to feel validated. They are empowered by social media and tend to use both Twitter and Facebook
Connectors: creative, relaxed, thoughtful, making plans, uses both email and Facebok to share information.
Selectives: These sharers are resourceful, careful, and thoughtful. They share content that is informative and also use email to share content with individuals.

This information can actually be helpful for content marketers looking to better connect with their users. Marketers should learn about their followers and understand their motivations for sharing information with their friends. With understanding, a marketer can then create content that fulfills those needs and desires.

Motivations For Sharing

The New York Times study was an intensive process done in three phases: ethnographies, an immersion/deprivation focus groups, and a quantitative survey of 2,500 medium to heaving social sharers.

The study determined that above all else, sharing is part self-fulfillment and part relationship building. People share for five total reasons:

To bring valuable and entertaining content to one another. A whopping 94% of respondents carefully consider how the information they share will be useful to the recipient.
To define themselves to others. A total of68% of respondents said they share to give people a better sense of who they are and what they care about.
To grow and nourish our relationships. A total of 78% of respondents said they share information online because it enables them to stay connected to people they may not otherwise stay in touch with.
For self-fulfillment. The majority of respondents (69%) they share information because it allows them to feel more involved in the world.
To get the word out about causes they care about. A total of 84% said they share because it is a way to support causes or issues they care about.

Popular Times For Sharing

The most popular day of the week to share information via social media is Wednesday, and the most popular time of day is 9:30 a.m., according to a recent inforgraphic. Maybe people just want to beat hump day blues bright and early in the morning!

Cornell University also did a study last fall that used language software to determine that there was a higher presence of positive words in 509 million tweetsearly in the morning. People’s moods peaks early in the day, suggesting a correlation between sharing and happiness.

Arousing Content Goes Viral

A lot of what makes content viral is emotional valence, according to a study by The American Marketing Association.

Content that evokes high arousal, whether positive (awe) or negative (anger or anxiety), is more viral. In turn, content that evokes low-arousal, or is deactivating, emotions like sadness is less viral.

Arousal is the state of mobilization, and given that sharing information requires action, the activation of the content should have a similar effect. This means content like intriguing audio, video, and articles are the most engaging and most likely to be shared.

Lessons For Content Marketers

Content marketers need to understand the motivational forces behind the art of sharing. Fifty percent of people say sharing allows them to inform others of products they care about and potentially change opinions or encourage action, according to the New York Times study.

Furthermore, marketers should encourage engagement with their content — 85% of people say reading other people’s responses helps them understand and process information and events.

Bottom line, people share because it makes them feel good. They want to share information in order to retain it, and because it might be useful for someone else. Positive and informative content does best, as well as content that requires an active engagement.

Now we have scientific evidence that if you share this post, it’ll make you happier.

Written by Reb Carlson for Contently