Archive for the ‘Studies, surveys, reports’ Category
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
 The Symantic 2012 State of Mobility Survey revealed a global tipping point in mobility adoption.
The survey highlighted an uptake in mobile applications across organizations with 71 percent of enterprises at least discussing deploying custom mobile applications and one-third currently implementing or have already implemented custom mobile applications.
Take a look at this infographic on the survey results.
Despite this adoption, almost half (48 percent) of survey respondents mentioned that mobility is somewhat to extremely challenging and a further 41 percent of survey respondents identified mobile devices as one of their top three IT risks.
Yet in the face of these challenges, IT is striking a balance between mobile benefits and risks by transforming its approach to mobility to deliver improved business agility, increased productivity and workforce effectiveness.
“We are impressed by the pace of mobile application adoption within organizations,” said CJ Desai, senior vice president, Endpoint and Mobility Group, Symantec.
“This cultural change from refusing mobile devices not long ago, to actively distributing and developing mobile applications, has introduced a new set of challenges and complexities for IT staff. Encouragingly, from a security perspective, a majority of organizations are thinking beyond the simple case of lost or stolen mobile phones.”
Read more detailed blog posts:
The State of Mobility Survey reveals the challenges organizations are grappling with in accommodating the mobility tipping point and also identifies and quantifies mobility-associated risks as perceived by IT decision makers. In this survey, more than 6,000 organizations from 43 countries bring to light the change in the usage of mobile devices and mobile applications.
Mobile Devices Now Critical Business Tools
The significant adoption of mobile applications demonstrates remarkable confidence, by organizations, in the ability for mobility to deliver value. This confidence is further supported by a rare alignment between expectations and reality.
Generally, the gains expected from new technologies far exceed the reality upon implementation. However, for the smartphones and tablets currently in use, 70 percent of those surveyed expected to see increased employee productivity, yet 77 percent actually saw productivity gains after implementing.
Furthermore, 59 percent of respondents are now relying on mobile devices for line-of-business applications, another sign that mobility has graduated to mainstream status.
Mobile Initiatives Significantly Impacting IT Resources
As with the adoption of any new technology, mobility is challenging IT organizations. Almost half (48 percent) of respondents mentioned that mobility is somewhat to extremely challenging, while two thirds noted that reducing the cost and complexity is one of their top business objectives.
In Symantec’s view, this increased pain level indicates the transition from small pilots and tactical implementations — where policies are often bypassed and exceptions are made — to enterprise-wide deployments where policy standards across a larger scale introduce greater complexity.
This also suggests that many implementations are not yet taking sufficient advantage of their existing enterprise systems and processes, which would alleviate much of the pain and cost that comes with larger scale and resource duplication.
Mobility Risks Impacting Organizations
Mobile adoption is not without risks, and IT organizations recognize this challenge. Approximately three out of four organizations indicate maintaining a high level of security is a top business objective for mobility and 41 percent identified mobile devices as one of the top three IT risks, making it the leading risk cited by IT.
Concerns are wide-ranging, from lost and stolen devices, data leakage, unauthorized access to corporate resources and the spread of malware infections from mobile devices to the company network.
With mobile devices now delivering critical business processes and data, the cost of security incidents can be significant. The average annual cost of mobile incidents for enterprises, including data loss, damage to the brand, productivity loss, and loss of customer trust was USD$429,000 for enterprise. The average annual cost of mobile incidents for small businesses was USD$126,000.
Recommendations
Organizations that choose to embrace mobility, without compromising on security, are most likely to improve business processes and achieve productivity gains. To this end, organizations should consider developing a mobile strategy that defines the organization’s mobile culture and aligns with their security risk tolerance.
Some key recommendations include:
- Enable broadly: Mobility offers tremendous opportunities for organizations of all sizes. Explore how you can take advantage of mobility and develop a phased approach to build an ecosystem that supports your plan. To get the most from mobile advances, plan for line-of-business mobile applications that have mainstream use. Employees will use mobile devices for business one way or another — make it on your terms.
- Think strategically: Build a realistic assessment of the ultimate scale of your mobile business plan and its impact on your infrastructure. Think beyond email. Explore all of the mobile opportunities that can be introduced and understand the risks and threats that need to be mitigated. As you plan, take a cross-functional approach to securing sensitive data no matter where it might end up.
- Manage efficiently: Mobile devices are legitimate endpoints that require the same attention given to traditional PCs. Many of the processes, policies, education and technologies that are leveraged for desktops and laptops are also applicable to mobile platforms. So the management of mobile devices should be integrated into the overall IT management framework and administered in the same way — ideally using compatible solutions and unified policies. This creates operational efficiencies and lowers the total cost of ownership.
- Enforce Appropriately: As more employees connect their personal devices to the corporate network, organizations need to modify their acceptable usage policies to accommodate both corporate-owned and personally-owned devices. Management and security levers will need to differ based on ownership of the device and the associated controls that the organization requires. Employees will continue to add devices to the corporate network to make their jobs more efficient and enjoyable so organizations must plan for this legally, operationally and culturally.
- Secure comprehensively: Look beyond basic password, wipe and application blocking policies. Focus on the information and where it is viewed, transmitted and stored. Integrating with existing data loss prevention, encryption and authentication policies will ensure consistent corporate and regulatory compliance.
Resources
Tags: mobile app benefits, mobile app risks, mobile apps in the enterprise, Symantec, tips on adopting mobile apps
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Mobile, Security, smartphones, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
 On a social network where it is possible to share personal information with 850 million people worldwide, users are increasingly opting to do just the opposite. A study of 1.4 million Facebook members indicates a dramatic rise in demand for privacy, with the number of users choosing to hide their friend list up more than 200 percent over a 15-month period.
The research also reveals stronger privacy preferences among women and members with higher incomes.
Keith Ross, the Leonard J. Shustek Professor of Computer Science at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly), led the study as part of an ongoing inquiry into Internet privacy leaks and trends.
Ross and co-investigators Ratan Dey and Zubin Jelveh — both doctoral candidates at NYU-Poly — crawled the public profile pages of 1.4 million Facebook users in New York City in March 2010 and June 2011, noting which aspects of the profile were accessible and which were hidden.
The public profile is the page displayed when viewing the profile of someone with whom the searcher is not a designated Facebook friend. The amount of information available on the public page can be adjusted according to user preferences.
Combination of factors involved
In March 2010, 17 percent of users in the sample hid their friend list from their public profile. Just 15 months later, 53 percent of users opted to make that list private. Other aspects of the profile, including age, high school name and graduation year, network, relationship, gender, interests, hometown and current city, were also hidden with greater frequency in the later survey. In 2010, only 12 percent of the sampled users hid personal information in all of these categories. By 2011, that number jumped to 33 percent.
Ross credits a combination of social and policy factors for the shift in privacy preferences.
“During the time of our research, Facebook implemented a major redesign in its privacy options, partly due to pressure generated by a huge uptick in media stories about the vulnerabilities of revealing personal information online,” explains Ross. “We believe that greater sensitivity and public awareness of privacy issues, combined with easier privacy options on Facebook, spurred more members to protect their information.”
Correlation between income and privacy
Ross and his collaborators used information from the public profiles to extrapolate additional data points about Facebook users’ privacy preferences. Women in both samples were more private than men — as of June 2011, 55 percent of women restricted their personal information, versus 49 percent of men.
Data analysis also points to a potential correlation between income and privacy. Users in the wealthiest areas of New York,Manhattan specifically, were likeliest to hide their personal information. Among the other boroughs, Staten Island ranked second in privacy, followed by Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens.
While the profiles studied do not represent a random sample, the diverse demographics of New York City lead the researchers to believe that the increased privacy demands are indicative of general trends in the country and perhaps globally. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the largest analysis of Facebook users’ privacy preferences.
Tags: Facebook privacy, Keith Ross, Polytechnic Institute of NY, privacy preferences, profiles
Posted in Facebook, Internet/New Media, Security, social media, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
 What do social consumers really want? A new study suggests that social media marketers may be shooting at the wrong targets.
While Social marketers say they know who their Social Consumers are, research paints a dramatically different picture. The basic benefits consumers expect from brands in Social and those that professionals believe central stand far apart.
So, too, do the behaviors and attitudes of Social Consumers in core activities such as commerce and gaming, and the perceptions by Social marketers.
In fall 2011, the Pivot Conference undertook two research studies and examined side-by-side responses from Social Consumers and Social Professionals on a range of topics.
A deep perception gap
The result: a perception gap that was not only real, but deep.
When Social Consumers were asked what they want from Social engagement, their desires were clear: deals, special content and rewards based on their engagement. Customer service ranks dead last in their responses.
When Social Marketers were asked the same question, they indicated customer service as the benefit they felt Social Consumers wanted most. Customer needs were well back in the pack of professional presumptions.
“The research indicates a variety, complexity and openness to change among consumers that professionals don’t seem to ‘get’, ” said Mike Edelhart, President of Tomorrow Project, LLC, producer of Pivot Conference and Social Week. “While the research doesn’t specifically address this, the impression left from a review of the responses is that professional perceptions are locked in early in market cycles.
Whoever is the first big name mentioned in a category becomes locked-in as the total market leader.
The pros seem to want to anoint ‘winners’ in each category. Consumers, by contrast, don’t seem all that loyal in Social. They seem to be increasingly active, trying many services and loyal only to the extent that a solution delivers what they want.”
Highlights from the report include:
- Social Professionals feel they know who their Social Consumers are, but most have never asked Social Consumers what matters to them.
- Consumers seek deals and special content in return for their Social activity toward brands; Social marketers, by contrast, see customer service improvement as the biggest benefit consumers want in Social.
- Consumer use in Social gaming, daily deals and photo sharing is far more varied than the perception marketers have of it. Consumers appear variable and experimental. Marketer perceptions focus on big winners in each category.
The complete report can be downloaded at: 2012.pivotcon.com/research.
Tags: social consumers, social marketers, what social consumers want
Posted in Internet/New Media, social media, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
 Boston Research Group, a leading provider of research services, found that 78 percent of IT security professionals believe that network access control (NAC) is an essential function to protect enterprises from mobile device risks and that enterprises want unified policy controls to manage security risks for both mobile devices and PCs.
The research, which focused on mobile device management and mobile security, was completed in January 2012 and sponsored by ForeScout Technologies Inc., a leading provider of automated security control solutions for Fortune 1000 enterprises and government organizations.
The mobile security study surveyed 365 North American IT security professionals in companies having 1,000 employees or more. The findings present greater insight into how IT security professionals are influencing mobile device management (MDM) purchases and their perceptions of mobile security risks.
Of those surveyed:
- 88% would either be the “purchaser” or the “purchase recommender” for an MDM tool. This suggests that the same people who make network and information security decisions will also be making MDM decisions.
- 68% are concerned about mobile security risks associated with mobile devices accessing corporate resources. The majority of concerns center on: data loss (26%), malware (23%), unauthorized users and devices (14%), and intrusions (13%).
- 78% believe that network access control is an essential feature for mobile security. While inventory management, software management and security management were deemed as important and essential, the means to enforce security policies based on identity, device, configuration, security posture and network activity are also considered crucial features for mobile security, capabilities available from NAC tools that are incomplete in MDM tools.
- 96% want unified security policy management for both mobile devices and PCs, reinforcing the need for a layered approach for managed and unmanaged handhelds and PCs in the enterprise.
“IT professionals see many of the same security risks in mobile devices such as smartphones that have long been a concern for laptops and notebook computers. Device mobility, wireless access, personal applications and the high risk of lost or stolen handhelds creates a need for added defenses against data loss, unauthorized access and malware,” said Paul McClanahan, research analyst and partner at the Boston Research Group.
“The study also showed that IT security teams are well involved in MDM purchase and implementation decisions.”
Security teams want the same endpoint intelligence, security assessment and enforcement options for mobile devices as they have for PCs, and they want it all managed from one operating console. ForeScout today introduced ForeScout Mobile to meet these requirements by delivering the industry’s first unified approach for NAC, BYOD and MDM. .
Tags: Boston Research Group, ForeScout Technologies, mobile device management, mobile security, network access controls
Posted in IT, Mobile, Security, smartphones, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
 Mitt Romney leads the social media chatter in ten of the Super Tuesday states. Ron Paul could win three of the contests Can social media predict the likely winner of primary contests in the Republican Presidential campaign? If it can, Mitt Romney may not be in as much trouble as the pundits seem to think.
SocialMatica, which sells social media analytics, has released dashboards predicting the upcoming Super Tuesday results. The SocialMatica dashboards predict Mitt Romney as the winner in six of the ten states participating on Super Tuesday.
However, it sees Newt Gingrich taking his home state of Georgia, Ron Paul victorious in Idaho and Tennessee, and North Dakota. Rick Santorum, leading in several national polls and ahead in Michigan, does not look likely to take any of the Super Tuesday contests. We wonder if this will all turn more Santorum’s way if he does win in Michigan.
Nevertheless, the data, presented in easy to absorb graphic form, gives you an idea of what the residents of given states really care about, as well as which GOP candidate they seem to prefer.
Through its proprietary semantic intelligence engine, SocialMatica has shown, by state, which candidate will come out on top and the key topics of interest for voters participating in Tuesday’s Republican primary election.
Individual candidate dashboards are also available, demonstrating specific online channel influence and social trends leading up to Tuesday’s race results.
Complete dashboards can be viewed on SocialMatica’s website (www.socialmatica.com/supertuesday).
“As consumers, we have been inundated by campaign messages from traditional media outlets for months. It’s been a barrage of outbound marketing messages for and against each candidate. These messages, created by political campaigns, analysts and special interest groups focus on topics they want to communicate, not necessarily what the population wants to hear.
Social media however has given a new voice to the voting population; enabling expression and expansive conversations that, when analyzed, allow us to measure real-time social sentiment,” said Gary Hermansen, CEO of SocialMatica.
“This is not the first time we have leveraged our technology for a political campaign. During last year’s Wisconsin recall election, we correctly called all of the races that were being tracked by SocialMatica’s social measurement system, something no other technology was able to do,” continued Hermansen.
SocialMatica’s data, analysis and rankings are gathered from vast amounts of online data, including Facebook, blogs, twitter feeds, LinkedIn, online news sites, discussion groups and forums.
Continued social analysis will be provided by the company, and available on its website, up until the announcement of the GOP candidate for the 2012 presidential election.
Tags: GOP primaries 2012, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, social media predictions, SocialMatica
Posted in Internet/New Media, social media, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
 Netflix suffered one of the largest drops in ACSI history as e-commerce inches up and competition stiffens, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index‘s annual E-Commerce Report, produced in partnership withForeSee.
Customer satisfaction with e-commerce websites is up 1% to 80.1 on the ACSI’s 100-point scale, while Netflix plummets 14% to 74, the lowest score of any e-commerce website in the Index.
“E-commerce continues to shine in satisfaction, seemingly regardless of economic conditions. It is no wonder the sector continues to grow when you consider that satisfied consumers are more likely to increase spending as their means allow,” said Claes Fornell, founder of the ACSI.
“Satisfaction with brick and mortar retail is also improving, but we may never see it match the scores held by retail websites.”
A full analysis of the scores released today is available on ForeSee’s website and a table with all category and company scores can be found here: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120221/DE55230
Online Retail
Satisfaction with overall online retail climbs 1% to 81, led by an improvement in the “all others” category (+3% to 80), which reflects smaller e-retailers and other companies not individually measured. Amazon (-1% to 86) maintains its spot as the top online retailer in satisfaction, but former champ Netflix suffers a huge drop, placing it firmly in the basement, 6 points below the all others category.
After raising prices 60% and threatening to split its convenient DVD and streaming media rental services into two, Netflix customers left in droves and investors followed suit. The ACSI E-commerce Report, based on surveys collected in the fourth quarter, shows that the remaining customers are much less satisfied.
You can hear from Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph directly at the upcoming Southeast Venture Conference in Tysons Corner, VA, Feb. 29-March 1, but better hurry. Only about 40 seats remain available for the event as of Feb. 21.
Netflix’s DVD customer base is shrinking while streaming media customers continue to grow. This shift could potentially exert additional downward pressure on satisfaction, as Netflix struggles to beef up its streaming media content and DVD releases decline.
“Netflix’s fall from grace was predictable given their missteps, but shocking in its degree of severity even though everyone could see this coming,” said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee.
“Though they’ve gained back many of the subscriber losses, it remains to be seen if Netflix will be able to satisfy them enough to keep competitors like Amazon and Hulu at bay. These results suggest that Netflix is vulnerable.”
Newegg gains a point, with a score of 85, putting the company in the position of second place and the closest online retailer to Amazon in customer satisfaction. Overstock.com and eBay remain unchanged at 83 and 81, respectively.
Online Brokerage
Customer satisfaction with online brokerage drops 3% to 76. Last year, Charles Schwab led the pack and Fidelity has been a perennial leader. This year, Fidelity (+1%), Charles Schwab (-1%), and E*TRADE (+4%) tie to lead the sector with a score of 79. TD Ameritrade (+1% to 78) is close behind. From 2002 to 2008, E*TRADE was at the bottom of the list of measured companies, but has steadily increased its score over the past four years.
“Satisfaction is leveling out among the top online brokerage firms though their satisfaction is still ahead of the all others category considerably,” said Freed. “E*TRADE is benefiting from its efforts to position itself as the leader in online investment tools and trading in a marketplace where investors and the industry itself have become more tech-savvy and comfortable in the online space.”
Online Travel
Customer satisfaction with online travel remains flat at 78, consistent with the category’s all-time high set last year. Travelocity (+3% to 79) overtakes Expedia (-3% to 77) for the top spot, which has led or held a share of the industry lead since 2000. Orbitz (+1%) and Priceline (+4%) round out the category with scores of 76.
A free report of the historical e-commerce scores for all companies measured by the ACSI is available at www.ForeSee.com.
Tags: Amazon, Amercian Customer Satisfaction Index, Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, E Trade, e-commerce, Expediua, Fidelity, ForeSee, Hulu, Larrry Freed, Netflix customer satisfaction, Orbitz, OVerstoc, Travelosity
Posted in Amazon, Internet/New Media, Studies, surveys, reports, Tech Culture | No Comments »
Monday, February 20th, 2012
 Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in January with 152 million unique viewers, followed by VEVO with 51.5 million, Yahoo! Sites with 49.2 million, Viacom Digital with 48.1 million and Facebook.com with 45.1 million.
Nearly 40 billion videos views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 18.6 billion, followed by Hulu with 877 million and VEVO with 717 million. The average viewer watched 22.6 hours of online video content, with Google Sites (7.5 hours) and Hulu (3.2 hours) demonstrating the highest average engagement among the top ten properties.
Top U.S. Online Video Content Properties Ranked by Unique Video Viewers
January 2012
Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations
Content Videos Only (Ad Videos Not Included)
Source: comScore Video Metrix |
| Property |
Total Unique Viewers (000) |
Videos (000)* |
Minutes per Viewer |
| Total Internet : Total Audience |
181,115 |
39,995,849 |
1,354.7 |
| Google Sites |
151,989 |
18,633,743 |
448.7 |
| VEVO |
51,499 |
716,608 |
62.2 |
| Yahoo! Sites |
49,215 |
538,260 |
57.4 |
| Viacom Digital |
48,104 |
507,046 |
58.0 |
| Facebook.com |
45,135 |
248,941 |
22.0 |
| Microsoft Sites |
41,491 |
558,017 |
51.3 |
| AOL, Inc. |
40,991 |
419,783 |
51.4 |
| Hulu |
31,383 |
877,388 |
189.0 |
| Amazon Sites |
27,906 |
86,705 |
19.7 |
| NBC Universal |
27,096 |
95,034 |
17.2 |
*A video is defined as any streamed segment of audiovisual content, including both progressive downloads and live streams. For long-form, segmented content, (e.g. television episodes with ad pods in the middle) each segment of the content is counted as a distinct video stream.
Top 10 Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed
Americans viewed 5.6 billion video ads in January, with Hulu delivering the highest number of video ad impressions at 1.4 billion. Adap.tv ranked second overall (and highest among video ad exchanges/networks) with 652 million ad views, followed by BrightRoll Video Network with 598 million, Tremor Video with 580 million and Specific Media with 398 million.
Time spent watching video ads totaled more than 2.3 billion minutes during the month, with Hulu delivering the highest duration of video ads at 540 million minutes. Video ads reached 47 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 38 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 43, while ESPN delivered an average of 20 ads per viewer.
Top U.S. Online Video Ad Properties Ranked by Video Ads* Viewed
January 2012
Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations
Ad Videos Only (Content Videos Not Included)
Source: comScore Video Metrix |
| Property |
Video Ads (000) |
Total Ad Minutes (MM) |
Frequency (Ads per Viewer) |
% Reach Total U.S. Population |
| Total Internet : Total Audience |
5,558,261 |
2,329 |
38.4 |
47.3 |
| Hulu |
1,446,618 |
540 |
43.1 |
11.0 |
| Adap.tv† |
651,531 |
395 |
10.8 |
19.8 |
| BrightRoll Video Network** |
598,353 |
370 |
6.1 |
32.3 |
| Tremor Video** |
580,302 |
314 |
12.6 |
15.0 |
| Specific Media** |
397,941 |
187 |
5.6 |
23.2 |
| Auditude, Inc.** |
386,702 |
151 |
9.7 |
13.1 |
| Microsoft Sites |
385,581 |
149 |
11.2 |
11.2 |
| SpotXchange Video Ad Marketplace** |
356,755 |
207 |
10.3 |
11.3 |
| ESPN |
343,801 |
131 |
20.0 |
5.6 |
| Viacom Digital |
286,024 |
123 |
12.8 |
7.3 |
*Video ads include streaming-video advertising only and do not include other types of video monetization, such as overlays, branded players, matching banner ads, homepage ads, etc.
**Indicates video ad network
†Indicates video ad exchange
Top 10 YouTube Partner Channels by Unique Viewers
The January 2012 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channels VEVO (50.6 million viewers) and Warner Music (29.7 million viewers) maintained the top two positions. Gaming channel Machinima ranked third with 23.8 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios Inc. with 12.5 million, FullScreen with 11.6 million and Big Frame with 8.2 million. Among the top 10 YouTube partners, VEVO demonstrated the highest engagement (62 minutes per viewer) and highest number of videos viewed (696 million), while Machinima exhibited the second highest engagement (60 minutes per viewer) and number of videos viewed (347 million).
Top YouTube Partner Channels* Ranked by Unique Video Viewers
January 2012
Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations
Content Videos Only (Ad Videos Not Included)
Source: comScore Video Metrix |
| Property |
Total Unique Viewers (000) |
Videos (000) |
Minutes per Viewer |
| VEVO @ YouTube |
50,563 |
695,947 |
61.8 |
| Warner Music @ Youtube |
29,718 |
187,672 |
27.5 |
| Machinima @ YouTube |
23,799 |
347,380 |
60.4 |
| Maker Studios Inc. @ YouTube |
12,505 |
135,301 |
47.4 |
| FullScreen @ YouTube |
11,579 |
50,292 |
17.6 |
| Big Frame @ YouTube |
8,167 |
42,106 |
18.8 |
| BroadbandTV @ YouTube |
8,016 |
29,695 |
15.8 |
| Bigpoint @ YouTube |
7,864 |
43,146 |
21.1 |
| Blizzard @ YouTube |
7,572 |
13,021 |
4.1 |
| Demand Media @ YouTube |
7,296 |
19,804 |
9.4 |
*YouTube Partner Reporting based on online video content viewing and does not include claimed user-generated content
Other notable findings from January 2012 include:
- 84.4 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
- The duration of the average online content video was 6.1 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
- Video ads accounted for 12.2 percent of all videos viewed and 0.9 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.
Tags: comScore, Hulu, January 2012 online video ranks, Vevo, Viacom Digital, Yahoo sites, YouTube
Posted in Analytics, Internet/New Media, Studies, surveys, reports, TechLife, video | No Comments »
Monday, February 20th, 2012
 In the wake of a Stanford University researcher’s study that found Google has been violating people’s online privacy choices, Consumer Watchdog said today the Internet giant was lying to users and called for the Federal Trade Commission to act. iPhone and iPad users were targeted.
“Google has clearly engaged in ‘unfair and deceptive’ practices,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director. “They have been lying about how people can protect their privacy in their instructions about how to opt out of receiving targeted advertising.”
Read Consumer Watchdog’s letter to the FTC here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltrleibowitz021712.pdf
A study made public today by Jonathan Mayer of Stanford University’s Security Lab, and the Center for Internet and Society, found that Google has been circumventing a privacy setting in Apple’s Safari web browser. Like most web browsers, Safari provides the option not to receive third-party “cookies.” Cookies are small bits of code placed on the browser and can be used by ad networks to track you as you surf the web. Blocking third-party cookies is supposed to prevent such tracking.
Safari is the primary browser on the iPhone and iPad.
The Stanford study found that three other companies – Vibrant Media Inc., WPP PLC’s Media Innovation Group LLC and Gannett Co.’s PointRoll Inc. — were also circumventing the Safari privacy setting.
Read the Stanford study here:
http://webpolicy.org/2012/02/17/safari-trackers/
Read the Wall Street Journal article here:
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052970204880404577225380456599176-lMyQjAxMTAyMDEwNjExNDYyWj.html?mod=wsj_share_email#articleTabs%3Darticle
In a letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, Consumer Watchdog’s Simpson wrote:
“The Stanford study found that Google’s DoubleClick ad network was sending out software invisible to the user that circumvented the Safari setting and allowed a tracking cookie to be set. The study results were first reported in the Wall Street Journal.
 “Safari users with the browser set to block third-party cookies, thought they were not being tracked. Nonetheless, because of an element invisible to the user, but designed to mimic a form, DoubleClick was able to set tracking cookies in an obvious violation of the set preference.”
“Making Google’s actions even more outrageous is false advice it gave to Safari users in describing how to permanently opt out of receiving Google’s targeted advertising.”
Google has developed a so-called browser “plugin” for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome that makes the opt-out persistent. Google has not developed a plugin for Safari. The false advice Google gave Safari users follows:
“While we don’t yet have a Safari version of the Google advertising cookie opt-out plugin, Safari is set by default to block all third-party cookies. If you have not changed those settings, this option effectively accomplishes the same thing as setting the opt-out cookie.”
Google then explained how to verify the setting. View a screenshot of the Advertising Cookie Opt-out Plugin advice page taken on February 14 here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/screen_shot_2012-02-14_at_5.04.05_pm.png
“But the advice was false. Google was lying,” wrote Simpson. “It was in fact circumventing the privacy choice and setting DoubleClick tracking cookies.”
Google’s behavior unfair and deceptive?
 Clearly Google knows that it was in the wrong, Consumer Watchdog said.
After the company was confronted about the Stanfordresearch, it changed its advice page, removing the specific references to Safari. View a screenshot of the sanitized Advertising Cookie Opt-out Plugin advice page taken on Feb. 15 here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/screen_shot_2012-02-15_at_4.42.49_pm.png
Consumer Watchdog’s letter concluded:
“Google’s behavior is clearly “unfair and deceptive,” but more than that, it violates the ‘Buzz’ Consent Decree, which you reached with Google after it violated users’ privacy when it launched the Buzz social network. Section I begins: ‘It is ordered that respondent, in or affecting commerce, shall not misrepresent in any manner, expressly or by implication: (A) the extent to which respondent maintains and protects the privacy and confidentiality of any covered information, including, but not limited to, misrepresentations related to: 1. The purposes for which it collects and uses covered information, and (2) the extent to which consumers may exercise control over collection, use, or disclosure of covered information.’
“Google falsely told Safari users that they could control the collection of data by ensuring that third-party cookies were blocked, when in fact Google was circumventing the preference and setting tracking cookies.
“The Stanford research identified three other companies – Vibrant Media Inc., WPP PLC’s Media Innovation Group LLC and Gannett Co.’s PointRoll Inc. – that were circumventing Safari privacy preferences. They should be closely investigated as well. However, given Google’s dominance of online and mobile advertising and the fact that the company’s actions flagrantly violate its consent agreement with the Commission, I call on you to focus immediate attention on the Internet giant.”
Tags: Consumer Watchdog letter, FTC, Google violates privacy, iPad, iPhone, John M. Simpson, Jonathan Mayer, Safari, smartphone privacy, Stanford University Security Lab, unfair and deceptive practices, Wall Street Journal
Posted in Google, Internet/New Media, Legal, Security, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Monday, February 20th, 2012
 Tax sites rapidly grew in January as millions of Americans looked to begin preparing to file, according to comScore, the digital measurement firm. Many Americans also booked travel to escape the winter doldrums, while others resolved to begin the new year by researching new careers and education programs.
“In January, the average U.S. Internet user spent a record 36 hours online, reflecting the growing importance of digital media to Americans’ daily lives,” said Jeff Hackett, executive vice president of comScore.
“Among the biggest category gainers in this heavy month of Internet usage were Travel and Career sites, which posted double-digit gains, and of course Tax sites as the non-procrastinators among us decided to get an early jump on getting their refunds.”
Winter Blues Melt at Travel Sites
Several Travel subcategories were among the top-gainers in January, including Transaction sites which grew 28 percent to 3.7 million visitors. TravelPN.com led the category with 798,000 visitors (up 11 percent), followed by Viator.com with 642,000 (up 9 percent), WWTE.com with 442,000 (up 86 percent) and OneTime.com with 278,000 (up 48 percent).
Car Rental sites jumped 22 percent to 6.2 million visitors during the month, led by Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company with 3.2 million visitors (up 14 percent). Avis Budget Group ranked second with nearly 2 million visitors (up 19 percent), followed by Hertz with 1.3 million (up 21 percent), CarRentals.com with 793,000 (up 30 percent) and Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. with 790,000 (up 27 percent).
A trip wouldn’t be complete without lodging, so it is not a surprise that Hotels/Resorts also ranked among the fastest-growing Travel sites. The category attracted 33.2 million visitors in January, representing an 18-percent increase.
Marriott secured the #1 position in the category with 5.1 million visitors (up 30 percent), followed by Disney Parks & Travel with 4.8 million (up 36 percent), Hilton Hotels with 4.6 million (up 25 percent) and Expedia Hotels with 3.3 million.
Career-Minded Americans Research Options Online
As the new year began, Americans turned their focus to career services and education. Traffic to Job Search sites grew 27 percent in January to 24.2 million visitors. Indeed.com Job Search ranked as the category leader with 13.7 million visitors (up 33 percent), followed by CareerBuilder.com Job Search with 9.8 million (up 27 percent), Monster.com Job Search with 5 million (up 28 percent) and SimplyHired.com with 3.5 million (up 42 percent).
Training and Education sites also gained traction, with a sizeable increase of 23 percent to 14.7 million visitors. LiveCareer.com topped the list with 1.2 million visitors (up 58 percent), followed by AesopOnline.com with 940,000 (up 44 percent), FastWeb.com with 736,000 (up 30 percent) and Learn4Good.com with 599,000.
Tax Sites Spike as Season Begins
Visitation to Tax sites swelled in January as millions decided to get a jump on filing and hopefully getting a refund check from Uncle Sam. More than 30.7 million Americans visited a Tax site in January, up 359 percent to rank as the fastest growing category.
Top 50 Properties
Google Sites ranked as the #1 property in January with 187.4 million visitors, followed by Microsoft Sites with 179.2 million and Yahoo! Sites with 177.2 million. LinkedIn.com jumped 8 positions to rank #29 with 36.8 million visitors, while Everyday Health, which helped many fulfill their New Year’s resolutions to be healthier, leapt 10 positions to #38.
Top 50 Ad Focus Ranking
Google Ad Network led the January Ad Focus ranking with a reach of 92.9 percent of Americans online, followed by AOL Advertising (85 percent), Yahoo! Network Plus (84.8 percent), ShareThis (82.4 percent) and AT&T AdWorks (82.3 percent).
Table 1
| comScore Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors* (U.S.)January 2012 vs. December 2011
Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix |
| |
Total Unique Visitors (000) |
| Dec-11 |
Jan-12 |
% Change |
Rank by
Unique
Visitors |
| Total Internet : Total Audience |
220,439 |
220,154 |
0 |
N/A |
| IRS.GOV |
5,044 |
16,259 |
222 |
107 |
| ED.GOV |
5,201 |
9,160 |
76 |
185 |
| Pinterest.com |
7,516 |
11,716 |
56 |
148 |
| Travelocity |
4,869 |
6,957 |
43 |
241 |
| Kayak.com Network |
5,851 |
8,087 |
38 |
210 |
| ChaCha.com |
9,151 |
12,279 |
34 |
138 |
| Orbitz Worldwide |
8,965 |
11,868 |
32 |
141 |
| Info.com |
5,883 |
7,740 |
32 |
219 |
| Dominion Enterprises |
9,622 |
12,650 |
31 |
131 |
| Indeed |
12,928 |
16,985 |
31 |
103 |
*Ranking based on the top 250 properties in January 2012. Excludes entities whose growth was primarily due to tagging through unified digital audience measurement.
Table 2
| comScore Top 10 Gaining Site Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.)January 2012 vs. December 2011
Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix |
| |
Total Unique Visitors (000) |
| Dec-11 |
Jan-12 |
% Change |
| Total Internet : Total Audience |
220,439 |
220,154 |
0 |
| Business/Finance – Taxes |
6,685 |
30,715 |
359 |
| Retail – Computer Software |
41,616 |
54,081 |
30 |
| Travel – Transactions |
2,913 |
3,730 |
28 |
| Career Services & Development – Job Search |
19,098 |
24,209 |
27 |
| Career Services & Development – Training and Education |
11,979 |
14,679 |
23 |
| Travel – Car Rental |
5,079 |
6,197 |
22 |
| Travel – Hotels/Resorts |
28,035 |
33,213 |
18 |
| Career Services & Development – Career Resources |
46,145 |
54,398 |
18 |
| Entertainment – News |
100,121 |
116,229 |
16 |
| Travel – Ground/Cruise |
12,164 |
14,097 |
16 |
Table 3
| comScore Top 50 Properties (U.S.)January 2012
Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix |
| Rank |
Property |
Unique
Visitors(000) |
|
Rank |
Property |
Unique
Visitors(000) |
| |
Total Internet : Total Audience |
220,154 |
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Google Sites |
187,368 |
|
26 |
Twitter.com |
38,410 |
| 2 |
Microsoft Sites |
179,220 |
|
27 |
ESPN |
38,296 |
| 3 |
Yahoo! Sites |
177,249 |
|
28 |
Technorati Media |
38,227 |
| 4 |
Facebook.com |
163,505 |
|
29 |
LinkedIn.com |
36,848 |
| 5 |
Amazon Sites |
109,997 |
|
30 |
NetShelter Technology Media |
34,954 |
| 6 |
AOL, Inc. |
107,085 |
|
31 |
Tribune Interactive |
34,517 |
| 7 |
Ask Network |
93,954 |
|
32 |
AT&T Interactive Network |
33,780 |
| 8 |
Glam Media |
90,895 |
|
33 |
Disney Online |
32,708 |
| 9 |
Wikimedia Foundation Sites |
88,527 |
|
34 |
iVillage.com: The Womens Network |
31,942 |
| 10 |
Turner Digital |
84,041 |
|
35 |
Alloy Digital Network |
30,782 |
| 11 |
CBS Interactive |
81,631 |
|
36 |
Yelp.com |
30,668 |
| 12 |
Apple Inc. |
81,536 |
|
37 |
Fox News Digital Network |
30,283 |
| 13 |
New York Times Digital |
80,161 |
|
38 |
Everyday Health |
30,208 |
| 14 |
Viacom Digital |
76,254 |
|
39 |
Netflix.com |
29,777 |
| 15 |
eBay |
71,554 |
|
40 |
Superpages.com Network |
28,971 |
| 16 |
Federated Media Publishing |
70,260 |
|
41 |
Break Media |
28,252 |
| 17 |
Demand Media |
61,344 |
|
42 |
The Washington Post Company |
27,602 |
| 18 |
VEVO |
59,000 |
|
43 |
Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. |
27,580 |
| 19 |
Weather Channel, The |
58,643 |
|
44 |
Verizon Communications Corporation |
26,763 |
| 20 |
craigslist, inc. |
53,431 |
|
45 |
NBC Universal |
26,546 |
| 21 |
Comcast Corporation |
52,890 |
|
46 |
Target Corporation |
26,142 |
| 22 |
Gannett Sites |
46,620 |
|
47 |
Cox Enterprises Inc. |
25,529 |
| 23 |
Answers.com Sites |
44,377 |
|
48 |
Discovery Digital Media Sites |
25,265 |
| 24 |
Wal-Mart |
41,462 |
|
49 |
Internet Brands, Inc. |
25,263 |
| 25 |
Adobe Sites |
41,451 |
|
50 |
Myspace |
25,124 |
Table 4
| comScore Ad Focus Ranking (U.S.)January 2011
Total U.S. – Home, Work and University Locations
Source: comScore Media Metrix |
| Rank |
Property |
Unique
Visitors (000) |
% Reach |
|
Rank |
Property |
Unique
Visitors (000) |
% Reach |
| |
Total Internet : Total Audience |
220,154 |
100.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Google Ad Network** |
204,468 |
92.9 |
|
26 |
CPX Interactive** |
124,089 |
56.4 |
| 2 |
AOL Advertising** |
187,109 |
85.0 |
|
27 |
Adconion Media Group** |
120,144 |
54.6 |
| 3 |
Yahoo! Network Plus** |
186,587 |
84.8 |
|
28 |
Undertone** |
118,198 |
53.7 |
| 4 |
ShareThis |
181,372 |
82.4 |
|
29 |
Traffic Marketplace** |
116,903 |
53.1 |
| 5 |
AT&T AdWorks** |
181,247 |
82.3 |
|
30 |
AOL, Inc. |
107,085 |
48.6 |
| 6 |
Google |
179,685 |
81.6 |
|
31 |
Meebo |
98,130 |
44.6 |
| 7 |
Yahoo! Sites |
177,249 |
80.5 |
|
32 |
Technorati Media** |
97,287 |
44.2 |
| 8 |
ValueClick Networks** |
176,229 |
80.0 |
|
33 |
Bing |
95,661 |
43.5 |
| 9 |
24/7 Real Media Global Web Alliance** |
176,227 |
80.0 |
|
34 |
Smowtion Ad Network** |
95,226 |
43.3 |
| 10 |
Microsoft Media Network US** |
174,276 |
79.2 |
|
35 |
Ask Network |
93,954 |
42.7 |
| 11 |
Tribal Fusion** |
170,715 |
77.5 |
|
36 |
Glam Media |
90,895 |
41.3 |
| 12 |
Facebook.com |
163,505 |
74.3 |
|
37 |
Amazon.com* |
90,774 |
41.2 |
| 13 |
Casale Media – MediaNet** |
162,269 |
73.7 |
|
38 |
Rocket Fuel** |
89,373 |
40.6 |
| 14 |
AdBrite** |
162,088 |
73.6 |
|
39 |
Wikipedia.org |
88,224 |
40.1 |
| 15 |
PulsePoint** |
154,100 |
70.0 |
|
40 |
Kontera** |
86,005 |
39.1 |
| 16 |
Specific Media** |
153,336 |
69.6 |
|
41 |
Monster Career Ad Network (CAN)** |
78,243 |
35.5 |
| 17 |
Collective Display** |
151,427 |
68.8 |
|
42 |
Windows Live |
74,579 |
33.9 |
| 18 |
AudienceScience** |
149,336 |
67.8 |
|
43 |
Federated Media Publishing |
70,260 |
31.9 |
| 19 |
Cox Digital Solutions – Network** |
146,632 |
66.6 |
|
44 |
Dedicated Media** |
67,243 |
30.5 |
| 20 |
Vibrant Media** |
143,793 |
65.3 |
|
45 |
About |
62,480 |
28.4 |
| 21 |
interclick** |
139,508 |
63.4 |
|
46 |
Demand Media |
61,344 |
27.9 |
| 22 |
Burst Media** |
133,900 |
60.8 |
|
47 |
Weather Channel, The |
58,643 |
26.6 |
| 23 |
YouTube.com* |
126,279 |
57.4 |
|
48 |
MTV Networks Music |
53,932 |
24.5 |
| 24 |
MSN |
125,561 |
57.0 |
|
49 |
Redux Media Network** |
52,684 |
23.9 |
| 25 |
AdBlade Network** |
125,421 |
57.0 |
|
50 |
Apple.com |
49,689 |
22.6 |
Reach % denotes the percentage of the total Internet population that viewed a particular entity at least once in January. For instance, Yahoo! Sites was seen by 80.1 percent of the 220 million Internet users in January.
* Entity has assigned some portion of traffic to other syndicated entities.
** Denotes an advertising network.
Tags: Amazon, AOL, AOL advertising, Apple, AT&T adWorks, comScore, Demand Media, Disney Online, ESPN, Everyday Health, facebook, Fox News Digital Network, Google ad Network, LinkedIn, Microsoft sites, NetShelter Technology Media, New Times Digital, online advertising, ShareThis, Technorati Media, top 50 web sites, Tribune Interactive, Turner Digital, twitter, Viacom Digitalk, Village.com, Yahoo! Network Plus, Yahooo, Yelp
Posted in Amazon, Analytics, Apple, Facebook, Google, Internet/New Media, Marketing, social media, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Monday, February 20th, 2012
 Social media is often touted as being free. While many of the tools such as Facebook and Twitter are free, social media is time and labor intensive. The cost of devising and implementing a successful social media strategy that gets results is anything but free.
Social Ally, a new social media support service led by Sally Falkow and Chris Abraham, has released figures that show what social media can actually cost. Social media is fast becoming more than just a part of the marketing and PR mix.
Companies are realizing they need to integrate social engagement into employee relations, hiring, customer service, risk management and product development. This means hiring social media savvy people in many roles across the organization, or putting a dedicated social media team in place to manage the integration.
To plan and effectively implement a social media strategy would require the services of a social media strategist. Most social media strategy consultants charge between $100 and $300 an hour.
If one were hired full time a company would probably have to pay between $50,000 and $100,000 a year. A community manager will cost between $50,000 and $75,000 a year. EConsultancy Social Media Salary Guide in the top 20 US marketsSuccessful engagement across the organization means staff have to be trained. An in-house social media manual and online training course would be around $10,000 and hiring a trainer for on-site workshops will cost anywhere from $1500 – $10,000 a day, depending on who is hired.
Companies could be looking at $250K
Dashboard and monitoring tools could be another $30,000 – $80,000 a year.
Technology costs — blogs, mini sites, video equipment, custom Facebook tabs and apps, online newsroom and mobile apps could be anywhere from as little as $5,000 to as much as $100,000. Take it all into account and a company could be looking at a quarter of a million dollars a year!
Yes, many successful programs have been done for much less, but when calculating ROI it’s wise to look at the big picture and include all the hidden time and labor costs, in order to get the real cost of investment and see the actual return.
“These figures make outsourcing some of the social media support activities an attractive proposition,” says Falkow.
“Engagement and conversation has to be done by people in the company. That’s what social media is all about — conversations between the people in a company and their stakeholders. But engagement is the tip of the social media iceberg: 75% of the work is in the research, monitoring and content creation — and that can be outsourced.”
Social Ally is a group of experienced social media experts with a team of designers, developers, writers, researchers and analysts who are well-versed in social media support activities. With the right social media support team behind you it is possible to maintain successful results with a lean and mean in-house social media team and keep the costs down.
Tags: Chris Abraham, cost of social media marketing, Sally Falkow, Social Ally
Posted in Internet/New Media, Marketing, social media, Studies, surveys, reports | 2 Comments »
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