It’s clear that in 2011, the digital revolution entered a new era as the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism points out in their annual State of the News Media 2012:

The age of mobile, in which people are connected to the web wherever they are, arrived in earnest. More than four in ten American adults now own a smartphone. One in five owns a tablet. New cars are manufactured with internet built in. With more mobility comes deeper immersion into social networking.

For news, the new era brings mixed blessings.

New research released in this report finds that mobile devices are adding to people’s news consumption, strengthening the lure of traditional news brands and providing a boost to long-form journalism. Eight in ten who get news on smartphones or tablets, for instance, get news on conventional computers as well. People are taking advantage, in other words, of having easier access to news throughout the day – in their pocket, on their desks and in their laps.

At the same time, a more fundamental challenge that we identified in this report last year has intensified — the extent to which technology intermediaries now control the future of news.

This year’s study contains surveys examining how news consumers use social media and how mobile devices could change the news business and an update on the rapid changes in community news.

The Role of Mobile Devices & Social Media in News Consumption

In early 2012, the digital revolution entered a new era. The age of mobile, in which people are connected to the web wherever they are, arrived in earnest. A new survey of more than 3,000 U.S. adults conducted in January 2012 by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism finds that people are taking advantage of having access to news in their pockets, on their laps and at their desks: mobile devices appear to be adding to the news experience. Eight in ten who get news on smartphones or tablets, for instance, get news on conventional computers as well.

Mobile Device Ownership

Much of the growing mobile ownership is occurring among computer owners who are adding mobile devices to their digital collection. About half (52%) of desktop/laptops owners now also own a smartphone and roughly a quarter (23%) owns a tablet computer. Tablet ownership alone has increased by more than 50% since summer 2011.

• 23% of U.S. adults get their news on at least two digital devices.
• 77% of U.S. adults own a desktop/laptop computer.
• 44% of U.S. adults own a smartphone.
• 18% of U.S. adults own a tablet.

Digital Devices & the News

Getting news is a popular activity on these devices. Further research finds people use mobile devices for news more often and for longer sessions – while still getting news in other ways.

Devices Used For News

• 70% of device owners get their news from a desktop/laptop
• 51% of device owners get their news from a smartphone
• 56% of device owners get their news from a tablet

No Single Place For News

• 34% of desktop/laptop users also get their news on a smartphone
• 27% of smartphone users also get news on a tablet
• 17% of desktop/laptop users also get news on a tablet
• 5% of U.S. adults get news on all three devices

Who are Mobile News Users?

A 2011 survey conducted by Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism in collaboration with The Economist Group found early tablet news users to be more middle-aged, higher earners and more highly educated than the population overall. That has largely remained unchanged with the introduction of lower-priced tablet options.

The Path to News

One pressing question facing the industry is how people find and access news stories. The survey reveals going to the news organization directly is a primary method on every device, with a particular appeal on the tablet computer.

The Role of Facebook and Twitter

Americans are far more likely to get digital news by going directly to a news organization’s website or app than by following social media links. Just 9% of digital news consumers follow Facebook or Twitter news links very often on at least one device. Even so, social media are an increasingly important part of the news process. The two biggest newtworks, Facebook and Twitter, have each established roles distinct from the other.

Last year before the 2011 Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament, Google launched an interactive maps experience for college hoops fans obsessed with search data and march madness. This year Google has gone a different route by using search volume to show the potential champion solely based on search data. As Google points out:

It’s tournament time and basketball fans are going to the web to look up teams and build the perfect bracket. To fill in our picks this year, we looked at search volume – will the team with the most search queries win? Stay in the game by clicking team names, or on their Google+ icons for the inside scoop. Come back often to see how our search predictions hold up.

Google has gone deeper this year with interaction with college fans by offering up a hashtag to join the conversation on twitter: #GoogleHoops.

Follow the tournament on Google+

Follow your favorite teams on Google+ for tournament updates and a chance to join a Google+ hangout with the teams and sports analysts.

What’s the score? How about now?

Get scores anytime for any team during this tournament (or any other major sports game). Just enter your team’s name followed by [score], and we’ll give you the latest. You don’t even need to leave the search page.

Visit the stadiums

Watch a virtual tour of the playoff stadiums and see all of the tournament locations on this Google map.

Make sure to visit the Inside College Hoops page to see actual results vs. search results.

My pick this year is UNC. Go Heels!

Looking back at the Top 10 Social Networking Websites of 2010 at this time last year Myspace still had a 6% market share, where now it’s been treading water for the past 12 months, with no signs of ever returning to it’s glory days of 2007. With the roll out of Facebook Timeline late last year, Myspace has since refocused on music and incorporated Facebook as a way to sign in and share.

Techcrunch points out that the site has gone from 900,000 to 1.6 million monthly active users in a month. These 700,000 new users appear to be the majority of the 1 million registrants that the company has said it has gained since launching the new music player roughly two months ago in December.

Hot image-pinning site Pinterest has proven to be a natural fit with Timeline, since the site is entirely oriented around scrapbooking anyway. Sticking Pinterest items in a Timeline has helped get it nearly 10 million monthly and 2 million daily active users on the site — both numbers are close to doubling from a month ago, AppData shows.

Don’t write off Google+ just yet — compared to Facebook’s early days, its growth is meteoric.

It took Facebook nearly a year to reach a million users and more than four years to reach 100 million. It took Google+ about two weeks to reach 10 million, and less than a year to reach 100 million. Paul Allen, the “unofficial” statistician for Google+ and founder of Ancestry.com, says Google+ could reach 400 million users by the end of the year.

• Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) – Any business action that earns a customer recommendation through building preference and delivering experiences.
• Speak it – One of the most important aspects of WOMM is paying it forward through recommendations made both offline and online.
  • In America Everyday: 3.3 billion brand mentions in 2.4 billion brand-related conversations
  • 9 in 10 word of mouth conversations about brands occur offline.
  • The typical American mentions specific brand names 60 times per week in online and offline conversations.
• Like it – When individuals talk about a given product or service the majority of the conversations are positive. Odds are, if someone’s talking, it’s a good thing.
  • 66% of all brand-related word of mouth conversations are “Mostly Positive”
  • 8% of brand-related word of mouth conversations are “Mostly Negative”
  • The average online review is 4.3 stars out of 5.
• Hear it – Consumers are always interested in hearing about new and interesting products. Before making a purchase, consumers pay attention to what people are saying about it.
• Driving Forces of Purchase Decisions:
  • 54% Word of Mouth
  • 47% Information from a website
  • 42% Email sent by a friend
  • 31% Online review
• The Most Influential Element Driving Purchase Decisions Today is Word of Mouth

 

• Offline Credibility – 59% of Americans believe offline (face-to-face or voice-to-voice) word of mouth to be highly credible.
• Online Credibility – 49% of Americans believe online word of mouth is highly credible.
• Service Profitability - 55% of consumers recommend a company because of its customer service.
• Experience Profitability – 27% of consumers would pay 15% or more to receive a superior customer experience.

Word of Mouth Marketing is as important as ever in both physical and digital channels. Despite advancements in technology, traditional band interactions and conversations continue to be a significant factor in influencing consumers.

Weber Shandwick partnered with Forbes Insights to survey nearly 1,900 senior marketing/communications executives with digital responsibility in 50 countries worldwide to identify what makes brands social — and how.

Why brand sociability matters?

• Global brand executives attribute 52% of their brand’s reputation to how social it is today. They project it to be 65% in three years
• Global brand executives think the rewards of social media outweigh the risks by more than a 2-to-1 margin.
• One-third say quality of online presence or engagement is a prime driver of corporate reputation.
• A large majority of global executives believe their brand’s sociability is not yet “world class.”

9 Drivers of World Class Brand Sociability

1. It’s not the medium — and it’s more than the message. World class brands are much more likely than the average brand to create original content. 45% of them create content specifically for social media purposes, compared to 28% of all global companies. World class brands depend upon much more than just the medium to make themselves social.
2. Put your brands in motion. World class companies do more than experiment with social media tools. They apply their tools in more social ways than the average global company. For example, they are 44% more likely to offer brand-related mobile content, 43% more likely to participate in “check-in” apps, 41% more likely to do proximity marketing and 40% more likely to have their own branded YouTube channel.
3. Integrate or die. World class organizations are much better integrators of brand personality — they are nearly twice as likely as other organizations to have a consistent brand personality across all social and traditional media channels and are much more likely to include a social media element to their traditional print or broadcast messaging.
4. Make social central. 61% of world class brands have a dedicated social media strategist or manager, vs. 41% of all global brands. “The most important thing we can do is to centrally plan social media activities across all channels to amplify key messages.” — Global Executive.
5. Listen more than you talk. World class companies fine-tune their messages to customers and integrate what is on their fans’ minds into their brand stories. Nearly twice as many world class brands have changed a product or service based on fan recommendations compared to the average global brand.
6. Count what matters — meaningful engagement. World class brands place more weight than other brands on their number of contributors when measuring social media effectiveness. Social contributors are ranked #1 by world class companies but #6 by other companies as a key metric.
7. Think global. Executives managing world class brands consider global reach as important as customer service as a driver of corporate reputation while the average global executive ranks global reach last. “Our social branding goals involve a very firm commitment to increase the recognition of the company’s globalization.”— Global Executive.
8. Go outside to get inside. World class companies are nearly twice as likely as average global companies to engage outside support to enhance and measure their brand’s social performance.
9. Be vigilant. To protect their social brand integrity, world class brands are always on high alert. Compared to the average global company, they are 85% more vigilant since Wikileaks has been in the news and are 58% more likely to be concerned about privacy violations.

His global responsibility is to implement public and large enterprise marketing strategies for Dell.com, social media, communities, and Dell’s Premier portal, discussed seven of the main tenets (philosophies, goals, attributes) of Dell’s social media approach:

1. Start with your goals and strategies overall.
2. Develop a content strategy to support your goals.
3. Identify and listen to existing conversations.
4. Empower and encourage your internal organizations to participate.
5. Create and cultivate conversations and communities where your customers and employees are.
6. Incent participants to create, and share great content.
7. Measure your success and adjust your strategy.

Much of Rishi’s insight is universal and of course can be applied to any social media marketing effort. If you want to hear more from Rishi you can follow him on Twitter @rishiatdell.

Who Uses the Social Web?

- Most online interaction takes place on the social web (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.) Here’s the age distribution across the social web:

0 – 17 : 15%
18 – 24 : 9%
25 – 34 : 18%
35 – 44 : 25%
45 – 54 : 19%
55 – 64 : 10%
65+ : 3%

Millennials: The Future of the Internet:

- Millennials, born between 1978 and 1994 (currently ages 16 – 32), were the first generation to be “raised” on the Internet and represent a substantial portion of Internet users. The millennial age cohort is expected to be as large, if not larger than the baby boomer generation.

How are Millennials Using the Internet?

75% – Created a social networking profile
62% – Used wireless Internet away from home
20% – Posted video online of themselves
14% – Use Twitter

23 Minutes – The average time millennials spend online each day.
59% of millennials get their news online.

Average Age of Social Network Users

• The Average Social Network User is 37 Years old.
• The Average LinkedIn User is 44 Years old.
• The Average Twitter User is 39 Years old.
• The Average Facebook User is 38 Years old.
• The Average Bebo User is 28 Years old.

Facebook User Breakdown by Age:

13 – 17 : 11%
18 – 25 : 29%
26 – 34 : 23%
35 – 44 : 18%
45 – 54 : 12%
55+ : 7%

Age-Based Behavior on Facebook:

• Teens has twice as many friends than users aged 30-40.
• Teens make almost 3x as many wall posts as users aged 30-40.
• Users in their early 20′s list the most activities in their profile of any group.
• Younger people express more negative emotions, and swear more than older users. They use more personal pronouns and possessives (“I”, “My” etc.) and talk more about school.
• Older people write longer updates, use more prepositions and articles, and talk more about other people, including their families.
• Users aged 27 and 28 have the most uploaded photos, with an average of 510.
• Users in their 40′s upload about as many photos as those in their 20′s, but are tagged in photos 281% less.

Twitter User Breakdown by Age:

13 – 17 : 4%
18 – 25 : 13%
26 – 34 : 30%
35 – 44 : 27%
45 – 54 : 17%
55+ : 9%

Age-Based Behavior on Twitter:

• 85% of users 18 – 24 follow friends.
• More users aged 18 – 24 follow celebrities (54%) than follow family members (29%).
• Teens don’t user Twitter as much as adults because the service is more about connecting to contacts and brands than interacting with friends.
• Since more adults already use Twitter, more adults are inclined to try it out, so it remains primarily an adult network.

Close the sale with calls to action

Google Adwords Small Business Center states that “ads work better when you tell the reader what they can expect to do (or what you want them to do) when they reach your site. Phrases like “Buy Now,” “Save More,” “Sign Up Today,” or “Learn More” are called “call to action” terms, because they tell the reader plainly what you want them to do next.”

Rich media ads have been around for several years, and have provided a powerful canvas for creative expression, driving greater interaction and response. Until now, rich media ads were small portion of total display ad impressions, but last year they grew by 66%. And now, HTML5 ads bring the same interactivity to people who browse the web from mobile devices such as iOS and Android devices. By 2015, we expect that 50% of all display ads will be rich media ads.

The answer is dynamic advertising.

A dynamic ad is a single ad that runs everywhere but each impression is customized to the viewer. It displays the best combination of visuals for each viewer, including the best headline, copy, images, featured products, shopping locales to buy from, and more. Our data show, dynamic ads get twice the clicks and triple the ROI.

Imagine you own a popular coffee chain in Denver that you want to promote. On Monday afternoon, it’s warm and 80 degrees in the city. You run a display ad campaign online that offers Denverites a discount coupon for an iced cold latte, with a searchable map embedded in the ad to show local branches, and a real-time feed from people who have tweeted publicly about your newest flavor. That evening, a cold front rolls over the Rockies. Your ad automatically and dynamically adjusts to present a photo of a hot, steaming cup of hot chocolate in front of a warm fireplace, together with a home delivery number and an offer for free marshmallows.

Display advertising really is at the heart of what we’re doing at Google these days. 99 percent of our top 1,000 clients are now running campaigns on the Google Display Network and YouTube. And last year, they increased their spending on display advertising by over 75 percent. Over 66% of ads on the Ad Exchange are now bought in real-time. On the mobile front, AdMob network now receives more than 2 billion ad requests per day, having quadrupled over the last 12 months. As you know by now, we’re investing significantly to make this better for users, advertisers and publishers

These innovations are happening in 2 major areas:

1. Media solutions: websites, videos or mobile, no matter where your consumers are, you can build a comprehensive plan to reach them with Google.

2. Platform solutions: Agencies and enterprise class buyers can build a comprehensive display ads operation with our exchange, demand side platform and ad serving solutions.

Once you click through to Google’s landing page on creating more engaging dynamic ads, the stats from Dynamic logic prove it’s place in advertising budgets for a long time to come. With the largest global network on the planet, Google reaches 80 percent of Internet users worldwide. Google claims that, “there’s a perfect ad for everyone.” I’m interested in hearing your comments on how you currently are or plan to leverage Google’s display advertising offerings to target and optimize your marketing message.

North Carolina: A Top State for Business in 2012

Last year I blogged about North Carolina being ranked in the top 5 states for entrepreneurs and am proud that the state I have built my business in is now in the top 3 states for business in the United States. Yes, I’m biased because I have lived in Charlotte, NC for over a decade, but the truth is North Carolina is an amazing state filled with transplants like myself who make this state a great place to call home and start a business.

This year is no different as CNBC has scored all 50 states on 43 measures of competitiveness developed with input from business groups including the National Association of Manufacturers and the Council on Competitiveness. States received points based on their rankings in each metric. Then, they separated those metrics into ten broad categories, weighting the categories based on how frequently they are cited in state economic development marketing materials. That way, the study ranks the states based on the criteria they use to sell themselves.

How did your state do?

Internet commerce changed how we do business, and now the rapid expansion of mobile is morphing the retail environment again.

Thanks to their mobile phones, consumers can get information to help with purchase decisions at the touch of a button, whether they’re shopping online or in-store. Here’s what you need to know to reach these new shoppers and those joining their ranks every day.

Ways to Shop:

• Scan a tag (or qr code)
• Call a friend
• View a website
• Use an app

Methods to gather information:

• Discuss on a social network
• Read a review
• Make shopping lists
• Compare different products
• Collect loyalty points
• Read more info
• Join an online chat
• View store location using maps
• Look up location specific coupons
• Benefit with others using group deals

Forms of Payment

• Pay using phone number
• Buy in store
• Pay using card on phone
• Pay online

Mobile Shopping Breakdown

• 10% don’t have a mobile phone
• 40% don’t shop using a mobile
• 40% are light mobile shoppers – have a narrow outlook towards mobile with regards to shopping and see their phone primarily as a mini computer.
• 10% are heavy mobile shoppers – love their phone & are really into mobile shopping. They do everything on their phones: share photos, check news, download music & shop.

Shopping Habits Changing:

• World eCommerce sales in 2009 = $210 billion online; $1.2 billion via mobile.
• Predicted 2015 world eCommerce sales = $14 trillion online, $119 billion via mobile.