Girls Rule the Internet

Teen girls create most Internet content, including blogs, graphics, photographs and web sites. Pew Internet & American Life Project studied 12 to 17-year-olds and found that while the number of teenage bloggers nearly doubled from 2004 to 2006, the growth was due to increased activity by girls.

• More than 1/3 of girls blog, while only 1/5 of boys blogged. Girls also lead boys in web page creation, 32 percent and 22 percent, respectively.
  
  
• The study found that 70 percent of girls ages 15 to 17 have set up profiles on social networks, while only to 57 percent of boys have completed profiles.
  
  
• Boys are twice as likely as girls to post videos on the Internet.

via Girls Rule in Internet Content Creation - eMarketer


According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project in 2005, women are catching up to men in most measures of online life. Men like the Internet for the experiences it offers, while women like it for the human connections it promotes.

It would be great if the gender gap in science and math decreased as a side effect of Internet usage. I may not be here to record this sea change, but it is my wish that it happens.

Tags: pew internet, girls online, girl blogs, girl content

AMA Webinar : Eliminating the Blind Spot

Thursday, March 6, 2008 10 am PST (GMT -8 hours, San Francisco)

Panelist(s) Info:
Carol Ott, SeniorManager, e-Business Analytics, Hanover Direct
Elizabeth Magill, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Coremetrics
Marla Chupack, Moderator, American Marketing Association

Free, but registration is required.

Attend The Accurate Value of Your Marketing Campaigns: Eliminating the Blind Spot and learn:

• How a comprehensive marketing attribution solution can help you leapfrog over your competition
  
• Why you need to understand first click, last click and every click in between
  
• How this comprehensive picture can help you make the right decision about marketing investment

These free webinars are a great opportunity to learn from experts. Do not forget to register. You should download the software before the webcast starts in case of problems.

Tags: webcast, ama, marketing, coremetrics, webinar

Amazon and the Current State of the Internet

Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) cluster has been malfunctioning for a few days now. This affects Entrecard, Twitter, Tumbler and many other websites that use the S3 cluster for storage.

Amazon S3 services function as warehouse for massive amounts of data for a low price. What may have seemed like a good idea at the time has now become a real problem for small to medium businesses that utilized the cost savings of Amazon IT.

For more information about the S3 service, please read The $80 data center: cheap computing or head in the cloud? | Service-Oriented Architecture | ZDNet.com. Dated November 2007, this post is amazingly accurate in outlining the pros and cons of simple storage service. It stops short of predicting disaster, but you can read between the lines.

No word from Amazon as to what actually happened or when service will be restored. According to this thread on the Amazon Web Services Developer Connection, Amazon is running trace routes and trying to find the problem. This is serious as users are giving advice to Amazon--and Amazon is listening.

I hope the cluster did not run afoul of one of the Valentine's Day worms that were circulating. Oh well, did not mean to go on. Just wanted you to know what was slowing the Internet down for the past few days. Scary, huh?

Tags: malfunction, s3 cluster, amazon web services, entrecard, twitter

Entrecard Update

I have been using Entrecard on my travel blog for a few weeks now. I like the traffic and new readers, so I thinking of putting an Entrecard widget on my environmental blog.

I know you have seen Entrecard on blogs, but just in case, I will explain. If you have an Entrecard widget on your blog, you drop your Entrecard on other blogs and those bloggers reciprocate by dropping their Entrecard on your blog. You may drop up to 300 cards per day per widget.

I have been dropping about 100-200 cards per day, but I do not know if I can drop twice as many for another blog. I would have to open another Entrecard account, add the environmental blog, and then start over.

A few improvements have been made to Entrecard, such as more robust statistics. Now, it is easy to see who is a top card dropper on your blog, how many clicks you have received from displaying your entrecard on other bloggers' widgets, and how many organic clicks you have received from your entrecard on the Entrecard site. You also are given the most value per click breakdown (how many credits paid / clicks).

Entrecard (EC) has also included a feed for your inbox that you can bookmark. This feed displays the last 50 blogs that dropped a card on your blog. The problem is, if you click a blog link in the feed, you are taken to EC to the blog profile. Affter clicking the link in your inbox feed, you must login to EC and viewing the blog profile, then you must click once again to reach the blog, finally! Too many clicks for each card dropper.

Time-Saver Tips

Navigate to your Entrecard URL, such as http://entrecard.com/user/****/inbox, where **** is your member number. Bookmark this page because it displays 98 of the latest card droppers on your blog. Also, you may click directly to the EC dropper's blog from this page.

Notice that some of these Entrecards have a thin black border around them and some have a thin gold border. The golden border means that you have already visited this blog within the past 24 hours. Just click the black-bordered Entrecards.

Cool? Cool. I will link to the woman's blog that wrote about this, as soon as I find it again. I read so many blogs that I get lost. LOL

Tags: entrecard, EC, entrecard widget, card drop, drop card

New With Me Feature on MyBlogLog

Yahoo! announced that MyBlogLog will become more dynamic within a couple of weeks with an upgrade to the MyBlogLog profile.




This profile enhancement, called New with Me, will be updated with information from the services (pictured above) you have selected on the services tab. Your latest contacts on MyBlogLog will be merged with static profile information as well.

Note on Privacy: If you do not want your information published, you will need to delete your username from those services in your profile.

Yahoo! hopes that New With Me, combined with MyBlogLog profile, About Me widget, and the Email Signature will become the building blocks of a new web 2.0 identity. It would be nice to have everything in one spot.

For more details, please check the FAQ on this new feature or read the blog for more news.

Tags: mybloglog, profile, new with me, about me, email signature

Happy Valentine's Day

Tags: valentine's day card, valentine for you

Valentine's Day Storm

The FBI is warning Internet users about the Storm virus, which first emerged over a year ago. Storm spreads through email links that purport to be from an online greeting card or by way of a virus-filled attachment. When the user clicks on the link or opens the attachment, s/he receives a virus that automatically installs itself.

Storm is not the first virus to take advantage of those hopeful for romance. The ILOVEYOU worm, which emerged in 2000, promised users a love letter in an attachmentl. In reality, the worm sent thousands of emails to other users, crippling mail servers, and overwriting files on computers. It was ultimately estimated to have caused $5.5 billion in damages.

Always beware of opening any .pps or .exe file sent to you in an email. If you were not expecting it, email the person who sent it to you and ask them. Your email may be the one that alerts them they have a virus on their computer. If you receive an email with a link, highlight the link and view selection source. If the source code does not match up with the proper website, delete the email.

May your Valentine's Day be a happy one.

Tags: valentine's day virus, storm virus, ILOVEYOU virus

The Future of Network TV

According to the website of the Writers Guild of America-East (WGAE), the writers' strike is over. Such a fizzle ending to such a long struggle. I hope they achieved what they wanted.

Brian Steinberg at Ad Age said that there will be fewer new shows, more reality fare and staggered launches.

Sounds like the American TV viewing public just got hosed. Did you see that there are reality shows that feature orangutans (Orangutan Island) and chimpanzees (Escape to Eden) instead of humans? I do not think TV can be dumbed down any further.

I am glad the writers are back. I hope they nix the monkey shows, quick! Maybe they can train the monkees to write! Now, that is an idea . . .

Tags: writers strike, WGAE, more reality shows, dumbing down tv

Valentine's Day is Looming in Near Future

What to give to someone whom you love on Valentine's Day? Well, flowers and chocolates come to mind. Plants, jewelry, gift certificates, spa visits . . .

What if you do not have any money? When I was going to school, I had zero money to spend on necessities, not to mention gifts. What did I do?

I baked a heart shaped cake that said I Love You and I made coupons that entitled the bearer to services. Services like:

• manicure;
• breakfast in bed;
• event I would attend no matter what, whether it be truck pulls, rodeos, basketball game;
• get out of trouble free card for when the other person had been an ass but knew it;
• back massage;
• foot massage;
• bubble bath with champagne;
• whatever you wish.

You get the idea, but do not give more than you are willing to do. You can get real creative by using colored paper, paper lace and ribbons to make a very pretty card in which to place the coupons. These coupons were a real hit and they did not cost a cent. Give of yourself this Valentine's Day.

Tags: valentine's day, coupons, giving of self

Boomers : We are so misunderstood

A survey of 1,320 baby boomers by Edelman, found that only 71 percent of those surveyed defined themselves as boomers, which means 22 million Americans do not consider themselves as part of the demographic.

The study showed men to be more optimistic about the future ahead, while women are more concerned about the direction of their lives and finances. There were differences in use of media, with men being more cerebral, seeking information on sports, news and business from AM radio, online and print news sources. Women read practical, down-to-earth advice and inspirational tales rather than straight news.

The Misunderstood Generation - Advertising Age - News

They comprise nearly 24% of the population, have a buying power of $3 trillion, and include many of the country's current business and political leaders. But marketers misunderstand -- and inefficiently target -- this country's 78 million baby boomers.

The study concluded that marketers should target bull's-eye boomers, typically wealthy, educated boomers without children at home, who are engaged in social, political and community activities.

For more information on boomers, please see these related posts on CoolAdzine for Marketers. After reading these, you will see that classifying people by the year in which they were born is convenient for statistical purposes, but does not help with marketing to these segments of the population.

Tags: boomers, bulls-eye boomers, edelman

Another Look at Online Retail Sales

A recent report from Forrester Research, summarized by Internet Retailer, shows that online retail sales in 2007 reached $175 billion, a 21 percent increase over $144.6 billion in 2006.

Research Brief » Blog Archive » Online Retailing to Grow Slower, But At $30 Billion Annually

The firm forecasts:

• $204 billion in online retail sales in 2008, 17% growth over the previous year
• $235.4 billion in 2009, 15% growth
• $267.8 billion in 2010, 14% growth
• $301 billion in 2011, 12% growth
• $334.7 billion in 2012, 11% growth

Yesterday, I brought you research about online retailing (virtual retailing wave of the future) in which 41 percent of survey respondents stated that they do not have a physical store. Today, the research says that online retail sales have peaked and that years of 25% growth are a thing of the past.

How can this be? Everyone and their mother has an online store or at least an affiliate website. Most hosting programs come with a shopping cart. If not, you can add a payment processor to your site in moments. I can have an idea tonight and be selling the digital or real world product tomorrow.

Survey says . . .
Research says . . .
Tarot says . . .
Psychic says . . .

Who Knows?

Tags: research, online sales slowing, Internet shopping stopping

Virtual Retailing Wave of the Future

Research Brief » Blog Archive » Two Out of Five Retailers Don’t Have a Store

According to a recent report by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA):

• 41 percent of survey respondents don't have a physical store.
• website is most consistently used direct marketing channel, followed by email and direct mail
• 66 percent gather customer information from direct mail, and 65 percent gather it from the Internet.
• 83 percent segment their customers based on demographics, 77 percent do so based on purchasing frequency, and 76 percent on products purchased.

From the report:

To be successful, retailers need to merge and synchronize all channels in terms of consistent brand message, timing, creativity of promotions, loyalty programs and fulfillment.

Tags: dma, retail, cross channel promotions

4000 EntreCard Credit Auction

impNERD is celebrating his birthday by holding an auction of 4000 Entrecard credits on eBay.

As his way of saying thank you to everyone around the world, he is giving the proceeds of the auction to UNICEF, a charity that helps educate, feed and vaccinate children worldwide.

From the UNICEF website:

The State of the World’s Children 2008 assesses the state of child survival and primary health care for mothers, newborns and children today. These issues serve as sensitive barometers of a country’s development and wellbeing and as evidence of its priorities and values. . .

I think this is a wonderful way to use Entrecard credits to benefit the children of the world. Thank you, impNERD!

Please~

• visit EC credits for charity auction and bid
  
• click over to impNERD and say Happy Birthday!
• discover UNICEF

Tags: auction, 4000 ec, impnerd, unicef, charity

Yahoo! to become part of Microsoft?

REDMOND, Washington (AFP) - In a move that could dramatically alter the shape of the Internet for both consumers and advertisers, Microsoft this morning has offered a $44.6 billion bid to acquire web giant Yahoo!.

Microsoft said it had proposed 31 dollars per share to Yahoo's board of directors, "representing a total equity value of approximately 44.6 billion dollars," the statement said. The offer represents a 62 percent premium above the closing price of Yahoo stock on Thursday, it said. It said Yahoo shareholders could elect to receive cash or a fixed number of shares of Microsoft stock, with its total offer consisting of one-half cash and one-half stock.

After word of layoffs at Yahoo!, disappointing revenue reported for Q4 of 2007, and plummeting stock prices, should Yahoo! become another acquisition for Microsoft? What do you think?

For a related post, please see Yahoo! Still in the Game.

Tags: acquisitions, Yahoo, Microsoft, $44.6 billion

AMA Webinar : Overcoming Barriers to Innovation

Overcoming Barriers to Innovation:
Five Ways New Research Approaches Can Help

Thursday, February 14, 2008 10 am PST (GMT -8 hours, San Francisco)

Panelist(s) Info:
Mike Waite, VP of Panels and Communities at MarketTools
Bob Bruce, Chief of Research at MarketTools
Marla Chupack, Moderator, American Marketing Association

Free, but registration is required.

In this webcast, you will learn how these companies are solving five common problems with the innovation process:

• Not knowing where to focus – Learn how to identify which consumer needs represent strategic opportunities for your business
  
  
• Too few big ideas – Learn how to reveal new, out-of-the-box solutions to those consumer problems
  
  
• Too many weak ideas – Discover how to quickly identify which ideas are winners
  
  
• Difficulty evaluating feasibility – See how you can evaluate feasibility and spot hidden development challenges early on
  
  
• Fuzzy benefits – Discover how to identify the most meaningful points of difference so you can communicate your ideas in motivating and relevant ways

These free webinars are a great opportunity to learn new skills and to network. They are not the most high-tech event, which is surprising when you think of the association putting these on. However you will learn from experts and usually you receive a free whitepaper or a copy of the presentation. Do not forget to register. You should download the software before the webcast starts in case of problems.

Tags: webcast, AMA, marketing