Online Media Gazette – Gabriel Catalano®

Infographic: Individuals & Their Online Identities

: Image via Wikipedia

Pew Research recently released a study that focuses on individuals’ online identities, which takes into consideration reputation management and what people are really using online social tools for. Flowtown has generously decided to highlight the most interesting findings from these reports in the graphic below.

Perhaps the most interesting of these findings was that,” the most visible and engaged Internet users are also most active in limiting the information connected to their names online.” Some other notable quotes from the infographic includes “A growing number of Internet users are leveraging the social power of the Internet to reconnect with friends from the past and far-flung family members with whom they have lost touch.”

Another one would be “Contrary to the popular perception that younger users embrace a laissez-faire attitude about their online reputations, young adults are often more vigilant than older adults when it comes to managing their online identities.” Continuar leyendo «Infographic: Individuals & Their Online Identities»

Infographic: A History On Hacking

In common usage, a hacker is a person who breaks into computers and computer networks, either for profit or motivated by the challenge. The subculture that has evolved around hackers is often referred to as the computer underground but is now an open community.

Hacking has been around as long as computers as a way to reconfigure or reprogram a system to give access to someone who otherwise shouldn’t have access. In the media, any electronics manipulation is often referred to as hacking, though “cracking” may often be more appropriate. Thanks to hacking, computer geeks can be cool and dangerous.

Here’s a lovely infographic to briefly describe the history of hacking…

Here’s a lovely infographic to briefly describe the history of hacking… Continuar leyendo «Infographic: A History On Hacking»

Social Sharing Is A Major Behavioral Shift In The 21st Century

I’ve been on Twitter for about 7 months and on Facebook for about a year or so. What I’ve noticed is that there are an increasing number of people sharing information on both these sites. With the opening up of Facebook’s social graph and Twitter acquiring companies that makes third-party services for them, it seems like this trend is going nowhere but north.

Social media has led to “social sharing,” the broadcasting of our thoughts and activities. It’s not a fad; it’s a sociological phenomenon, accelerating at break-neck speed. That macro trend is omnipresent sharing: What are you doing? Where are you doing it? Who are you doing it with? What do you like? These used to be things we kept to ourselves or shared with our friends and family. Now we’re willing to broadcast them to whoever is willing to listen.

Continuar leyendo «Social Sharing Is A Major Behavioral Shift In The 21st Century»

Infographic: Evolution Of Privacy Policy On Facebook

There’s no denying that Facebook is one of the greatest social networking platform for both users and businesses up to this date. However, Facebook hasn’t always managed its users’ data well. Take for example, the most recent case where their Facebook chat’s privacy was compromised by a loophole in the system. They’ve also changed how your personal information is classified several times, sometimes in a manner that has been confusing for their users; like the most recent change.

Image via CrunchBase

There’s no denying that Facebook is one of the greatest social networking platform for both users and businesses up to this date. However, Facebook hasn’t always managed its users’ data well. Take for example, the most recent case where their Facebook chat’s privacy was compromised by a loophole in the system. They’ve also changed how your personal information is classified several times, sometimes in a manner that has been confusing for their users; like the most recent change. Continuar leyendo «Infographic: Evolution Of Privacy Policy On Facebook»

How Effective Is Mobile Advertising?

By now, we all know that mobile web is the next biggest thing. Even a report from Morgan Stanley cemented the above theory by stating that the mobile web will supersede desktop Internet by 2015. Naturally with the rapid growth, mobile ads too will grow as well. But how effective are they? A recent article from eMarketer newsletter, tries to unravel the effectiveness of mobile advertising.

By now, we all know that mobile web is the next biggest thing. Even a report from Morgan Stanley cemented the above theory by stating that the mobile web will supersede desktop Internet by 2015. Naturally with the rapid growth, mobile ads too will grow as well. But how effective are they? A recent article from eMarketer newsletter, tries to unravel the effectiveness of mobile advertising. Continuar leyendo «How Effective Is Mobile Advertising?»

Twitter Now Has More Than 100 Million Users

Last month at Chirp, Twitter’s Developer Conference, the social networking company revealed that they have now surpassed 100 million users; 105,779,710 to be exact. On top of that, they get about 300,000 new users each day, receives 180 million unique visitors a month, and 75% of traffic comes from outside of the Twitter website.

Twellow Developer, Matthew Daines shared the latest numbers for Twitter – for the month of April. On last month alone, the number of total tweets soared above 1.7 billion; a 10.6% increase over the month of March. New registrations rose to 10.5 million, or 6.75% over March. [Más…]

: Image via CrunchBase

Last month at Chirp, Twitter’s Developer Conference, the social networking company revealed that they have now surpassed 100 million users; 105,779,710 to be exact. On top of that, they get about 300,000 new users each day, receives 180 million unique visitors a month, and 75% of traffic comes from outside of the Twitter website.

Twellow Developer, Matthew Daines shared the latest numbers for Twitter – for the month of April. On last month alone, the number of total tweets soared above 1.7 billion; a 10.6% increase over the month of March. New registrations rose to 10.5 million, or 6.75% over March. Continuar leyendo «Twitter Now Has More Than 100 Million Users»

The Thin Line Between Editorial & Advertorial

“Everyone has to be able to tell the difference between advertising and editorial, and if you can’t tell there’s a difference, there’s a problem,” said Sid Holt, chief executive of the American Society of Magazine Editors. “I’d rather our bloggers focus on creating unfiltered, honest content,” Weblogs Inc.’s chairman and mouthpiece Jason McCabe Calacanis said.

The above quotes reverberates my concerns on the way bloggers are posting competitions and reviews regarding certain products or services, which are paid in kind or sponsored by advertisers but instead, they’re passing it off as their own. I hope these people are able to come clean and create a spin-free zone dedicated to cutting through the crap in online public relations and social media issues with blunt honesty and a healthy dose of scepticism on their personal sites.

In what is becoming an increasingly competitive business environment, advertisers are beginning to turn to an alternative approach to communicate their messages to their target audience. If the separation between blog posts’ editorial and advertising sides was once a gulf, it is now diminished to the size of a sidewalk crack.

An advertorial is just what the name implies: an editorial and advertisement combined. It is a form of paid advertisement where bloggers are called on to write an “article”, which in most cases is simply a padded advertisement spiel. Continuar leyendo «The Thin Line Between Editorial & Advertorial»

Tweets Are The New Quotes

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun…
Image via CrunchBase

On Twitter, I bet everyone has seen a few tweets containing quotes by ‘famous’ people being spread around by the people that you’re following. How about those big brands that you’re following on Twitter? Have you experienced the need to spread what they have to say from time-to-time? On Twitter itself, we have the Retweet function but what if you would like to spread that tweet onto something say your blog? [Más…]

One method is to manually print screen or take a screenshot of that particular tweet on your computer, and then saving it as a picture file, which in turn is uploaded onto your blog. Quite a hassle, don’t you think?

On Twitter, the developers recognizes the above issue and as a result, they now have an answer to it through their latest feature; HTML embedding of Tweets to your website. They’ve decided to make the static HTML tweets for posts, polish it up a bit and making it public. One of the ways to generate these codes is through an application called Blackbird Pie; developed by Twitter itself.

: Image via CrunchBase

Study: An In-Depth Report Of Twitter Usage In America 2010

The 87% awareness level of Americans on Twitter is huge compared to only 5% back in 2008. Do take note that the statistics only includes Americans above the age of 12. However, Facebook’s awareness is only slightly higher than Twitter at 88%. Despite the almost equal awareness, 41% of Americans do maintain a profile page on Facebook.

A fresh study conducted by Edison Research showed that despite the increment of Twitter awareness amongst Americans, only a minority uses it. 87% of Americans are aware of Twitter, which is higher than the population with access to the Internet; 85% of them, but only 7% of them are on Twitter, which are about 17 million people. Continuar leyendo «Study: An In-Depth Report Of Twitter Usage In America 2010»

Infographic: Brilliant Details On SEO / VIP – Nice ;)

There’s a lot of buzz on the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so that your site or blog can be easily found through natural search but why exactly is this vital for marketers? The theory is that the higher a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors or traffic the site will receive; also known as giving the site a greater web presence.

As images often present more data and abstract ways in a much clearer way, I’ve chanced upon this fantastic infographic that covers everything from basic keyword research concepts, through site architecture, page optimisation, link building, SEO tactics, social media, and some basic SEO and PPC click through stats and explanations. Continuar leyendo «Infographic: Brilliant Details On SEO / VIP – Nice ;)»

5 Dazzling 3D Ads On Magazines

Ever since the movie blockbuster Avatar hit the theatres back in December last year, it seems like 3D is now being applied to almost everywhere else; especially on print media such as magazines. In the age of Internet, moreover with the rapid popularity of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, magazines are having a hard time to sustain their readership and purchase levels.

Because of the above, readership has declined and as a result, advertisers are slashing their budget on print media. However, to stay on top of the game, one needs to offer something creative, fresh and original; which is what TopGear did, with their 3D magazine edition for the month of April. Continuar leyendo «5 Dazzling 3D Ads On Magazines»

Online Ads Constricted Due To Privacy Concerns

: Image via CrunchBase

Do you think that there are too many ads flooding the online space? According to a new study from the Ponemon Institute, marketers using online behavioural advertising; tracking user’s Web browsing habits, are using 75% less of it than they would like to due to privacy concerns.

The 90 companies and organizations surveyed curtailed their behavioural advertising, even though they estimated the tracking-based ads were 50% more efficient in generating sales than conventional online display ads. Continuar leyendo «Online Ads Constricted Due To Privacy Concerns»

On Twitter, Almost Everyone Is Five Friends Apart

Have you heard Six Degrees of Separation? In case you have not, it refers to the idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, “a friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in six steps or less. However, on Twitter there are just five degrees of separation between you and almost everybody else on the social media platform. Continuar leyendo «On Twitter, Almost Everyone Is Five Friends Apart»

Facebook Most Searched Amongst The 3 Major Search Engines

: Image via CrunchBase

Experian Hitwise recently announced that “Facebook” was the top organic search term in the U.S. during the four weeks ending March 27, 2010 amongst the three major search engines. This means that Facebook related terms accounted the top spot for Google, Yahoo and Bing.

On the other hand, Yahoo! related terms accounted for six spots while MySpace related terms accounted for four of the top 30 search terms across the search engines. Other search terms that were amongst the top 10 searches includes “YouTube”, “Facebook login”, “and Craigslist”and “Yahoo mail”.

Continuar leyendo «Facebook Most Searched Amongst The 3 Major Search Engines»

Students Addicted To Social Media Like Drugs

A new study by University of Maryland shows that students are addicted to social media and even likening the issue with drug and alcohol addictions. And if they do not receive their daily dosage of social media, students will start to show withdrawal symptoms such as cravings, anxiousness, extremely antsy, miserable, jitteriness and craziness.

A new study by University of Maryland shows that students are addicted to social media and even likening the issue with drug and alcohol addictions. And if they do not receive their daily dosage of social media, students will start to show withdrawal symptoms such as cravings, anxiousness, extremely antsy, miserable, jitteriness and craziness.

It was found that most college students are not just unwilling, but also unable to function without access to their media links to the world. This was a result of abstinence from their laptops, iPhones, Blackberry devices and related Internet connecting paraphernalia for 24 hours.

After the experiment, the 200 students involved in it were asked to blog on private class websites about their experiences; at the same time reporting their successes and failures. As a result, the 200 students wrote more than 110,000 words; about the same as a 400-page novel.

40.9% of the students who responded to the survey reported that they were first-year students, 40.9% reported that they were sophomores, 11% reported that they were juniors, and 7.1% reported that they were seniors or beyond. Most students reported their ages as between 18-21; the average class age was 19.5.

“The students did complain about how boring it was go anywhere and do anything without being plugged into music on their MP3 players,” said Moeller. “And many commented that it was almost impossible to avoid the TVs on in the background at all times in their friends’ rooms. But what they spoke about in the strongest terms was how their lack of access to text messaging, phone calling, instant messaging, email and Facebook, meant that they couldn’t connect with friends who lived close by, much less those far away.”

Susan D. Moeller, an associate journalism professor at the University of Maryland and the director of the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda, said researchers were surprised by the students’ feedbacks when they blogged about their experience after the period of abstinence from social media.

“Texting and IM-ing my friends gives me a constant feeling of comfort,” wrote one student. “When I did not have those two luxuries, I felt quite alone and secluded from my life. Although I go to a school with thousands of students, the fact that I was not able to communicate with anyone via technology was almost unbearable.”

From what we see here, the students’ lives are wired together in such ways that opting out of that communication pattern would be tantamount to renouncing a social life. Do you think that you can spend a day without connecting to any media platforms successfully? I know I can’t; and I’m a student too. Do share with us this mini-experiment with us!

The Net Generation Are Huge Fans Of Blogs

The millennials are young adults described as the first group to have come of age in a highly Internet-connected world. Also known as the Net Generation, their year of birth falls around 1985 to 1992, they are expected to be able to use the computer to access the Web and other technologies to communicate and learn.

A recent report done by BlogHer and iVillage, co-sponsored by Ketchum and Nielsen, shows that they millennials are the most likely group to take advantage of those abilities through blogging.

Through the research, it was found that millennials represents nearly half; about 40.4% of the Internet user bases, when it comes to writing blogs. On the other hand, the combination of Generation X and Y (26-42 years old) and Boomers (43-61 years old) only makes up 46.8% of the pie while Seniors (62-76 years old) making up the rest of the 12.8%. It was found that respondents between the age of 18 to 24 blogs about twice the rate of an average person.

However, the millennials are not that big on reading blogs though. The share of readership amongst Millennials only makes up about 30.3% while Generation X and Y coming close at 29.3%.

On top of that report, bloggers of all ages too were polled for the reason behind their blogs. An overwhelming 81.6% stated that it was for self-expression and 80.6% stated that it was for fun. One-half of bloggers wanted to give advice, and fewer than one-third hoped to earn money with their efforts.