Monday, December 31, 2007

2008: Year of the virtual world for kids?

Move over Second Life. Kid-focused virtual worlds such as Club Penguin, Webkinz, and a string of site start-ups loom as the new and hot Web playgrounds for 2008.

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User-Generated Online Content Is Way Up—Teens Lead The Way

According to a State of the Media Democracy 2007 study recently complete by Deloitte, user-generated content is in big demand on the Web. Over 50 percent of adults now report watching or reading online content created by other Web users including blogs and streaming video. Among Millennials (those ages 13 - 24), that figure rises to 71 percent.

In addition, the study states over 40 percent of all consumers are now creating online content (videos, photos, blogs, etc) for themselves or others. The study also said the traditional media such as TV, magazines and books remain “deeply engaging” to most consumers with 72 percent of respondents reporting they still read print magazines even if those magazines are available online.

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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Technology & Internet Trends

At least once a year, its helpful to look at Mary Meeker’s excellent PowerPoint presentation on Technology and Internet Trends. Meeker is a managing director at Morgan Stanley and a leader of the investment bank’s global technology research team. The link above is her slide deck from the Future of Media conference presented last month in New York.

Meeker’s in-depth analysis is viewed from a global perspective, and it provides a great deal of insight into where technology and the Internet are headed. The presentation is filled with salient facts for business executives and marketing professionals, but a few I found particularly illuminating included:

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Saturday, December 29, 2007

More Troubling Shifts For Newspapers and The Television Networks

Here’s more evidence of the continuing shift from analog to digital media. On the heels of this article last month about sharp declines in newspaper circulation in the U.S., comes this story at Crain Communications about the vanishing 18- to 49-year-old age group on network television. NBC was down 11 percent over last year’s figures, CBS declined by 10 percent, and ABC was down by 5 percent.

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Friday, December 28, 2007

80 Things To Watch In 2008

JWT, one of the larger U.S. and world advertising agencies, released its list of 80 Things To Watch In 2008. It’s quite comprehensive. One of the funnier items was (#23) Facebook Suicides: dropping out of a social network. One of the saddest was (#51) Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated a day after the list was released.

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