Tag Archive for ‘Internet’
Several years ago, people would say that word of mouth is no longer a powerful advertising tool. With mass media in its growth the most successful advertisements were often the ones with the most air time on television, the largest billboards, the most posters and the widest streamers.
People could still give out recommendations to friends and family, but word of mouth can only travel so far. Unless you were a journalist or elsewhere in the media, a personal opinion and recommendation is not going to change the future of your favorite corner book store.
Today, a single Tweeted opinion can be as powerful as the most expensive commercial air time during a major sports event.
This is the world that we live in today, highly influenced by three major factors: better smart phone technology, the growth of social networking and the improvement of mobile wireless technology. Information can be sent, received and share instantly, not just among small circles of friends, but across hundreds and thousands of linked acquaintances, colleagues, peers, co-workers and other contacts.
In a portion of the findings from research firm Gartner’s study, it was revealed that may people rely heavily on what people in their social network say regarding products and services. The study covered the influence of social networking in the purchasing habits of over 4000 consumers from all over the world.
According to Gartner, the realm of social networking is a highly underutilized tool for marketing that many commercial companies are failing to tap to into. Despite the already large number of ads that appear all over sites such as Facebook and sponsored Tweets there are still plenty of avenues left unexplored, and many brands still without an online presence.
One could say that smart phone technology and the internet have turned the concept of marketing into a full circle –giving the power of influence back to the consumers. From what we are seeing, it looks like the progress has pushed marketing beyond its’ original scope.
Tags: Facebook, Internet, smartphones, social-networking, technology, Twitter
According to a recent study, radio is back! Smart phones are indeed very influential, not only because of the things they can do, but also because people have them all the time. Not only did they change the way people access the internet, but they also gave life back to the dying media that is known as radio.
The digital music industry did a pretty big number on radio as less people wanted to tune into broadcasts and instead, chose to focus on the music stored in their devices. However, the smart phone industry is slowly changing all of that. Users now state that they have rediscovered radio thanks to their smart phones. It seems that having an FM radio is a big deal –as it allows users to listen new things all the time.
Now, since users often carry around their mobile phones and have access to radio, people are tuning in more often than not. Aside from using the car stereo to listen to the latest chart toppers while on the road, many have found that listening to the radio on the mobile will free up plenty of space on the handset that was originally dedicated to music.
A study showed that 13% of adults use mobile phone technology to listen to the radio. And that number is expected to continuously grow over the next couple of years as users realize the value of having an extra guard on the handle.
Podcasts are ironically, the new broadcasting medium that is encouraging users to tune into actual radio stations. While listening to a specific podcast program will get users specific kinds of content, being able to tune into whatever is on the air is a great idea –and something that most smart phone users have learned to practice when basic web access is not available.
Tags: Internet, mobile-phones, radio, smartphones
Many smart phones will allow a user to instant take a video recording of almost anything. And chances are these videos are shared with friends and families online on various file and video sharing sites like YouTube before they are posted on Facebook.
In many ways, this little convenience is something that users should be careful about. Uploading a video is quite easy (especially when there is a stable and fast internet connection), but the repercussions of doing such could be bigger.
Take the previous case of a Google video which showed a young boy being bullied. The case ended with three of Google Italy’s top heads taking the blame for the psychological damage that the video has brought. Despite the fact that Google does not control the content that is uploaded by users, many feel that they are responsible.
Since Google also owns YouTube, the same argument has also been made –not only because of an uploaded video’s potential effects, but also because of the fact that a large chunk of videos online contain copyrighted material. Viacom has filed a case against Google regarding this matter. Despite the fact that they lost the case, it drives in the fact that there is an issue with the content that is being uploaded to the video sharing site.
Copyrights are not the only issue that YouTube users should be wary of, after all, Google already takes measures to help out the copyright owners (if copyright owners request that certain videos be taken down, Google cooperates with them).
Being careful about how personal and private videos are shared is also important. While it may be nice to upload that video taken at a cousin’s recent wedding, be sure to ask permission from the people who are heavily involved in the video –more often than not, people find themselves tagged in embarrassing moments caught on camera that are publicly displayed by their contacts on Facebook and other social networking sites.
Tags: copyrights, Facebook, Google, Google-video, Internet, smartphones, social-networking, Viacom, video, YouTube
Now here is a big claim. At the Nielsen 360 Consumer Conference, Sheryl Sandberg is saying that Email will eventually go away, despite the fact that even she finds it hard to imagine a future without it.
The silly thing here is that prior to this statement, Sheryl also declares that it is the current web usage patterns of teens today that determines the trends of the future. It sounds logical, but it also completely ignores what teenagers are actually doing. Her example covers the concept that teenagers would not send emails to each other; they would message each other privately using Facebook’s message features.
The only reason this happens is that accessing the ‘send a message’ button is far easier than logging into a web server. But if all email did was send personal messages among people in a one’s friends’ list, then the technology would have been phased out by now.
Emails do more than help people communicate. Email also works as a personal identification tool on the web –Facebook is trying to do the same, but the need for privacy alone is enough to stop the effort.
And the reason why people trust email accounts to identify them and not their Facebook accounts is due to the fact that emails, as personal as they are, are also anonymous. Of course, barring the use of one’s own name as an email address, anonymity is a key factor that Facebook cannot provide.
Despite the fact that the highest amount of traffic that mobile internet sees is with social networking site Facebook, search engine Google and microblogging Twitter, accessing emails is also an important part of the day for many people. Access to emails is one of the main reasons why smart phones were developed. And while social networking may be pushing the distribution of smart phone technology, it would never be able to replace or phase out emails.
Tags: email, Facebook, Google, Internet, social-networking, Twitter
If you plan on giving your child a smart phone with internet access, you might want to check into the latest Norton Family Report to be able to know what you need to do to prepare the child for access to the internet.
According to the annual study, children these days are more likely to encounter “negative experiences” when browsing the internet. Not that the internet has always been clean, but access to various content that contains violence, profanity, nudity and other similar material is now made easier. Norton states that at least 60% of children will encounter this content when they go online.
The initial solution for many parents is to control what their children can and cannot access. This usually entails placing firewalls, passwords and family filter protocols to determine what goes through the router and what cannot. However, shielding does not actually prepare the child for anything; it is simply delaying the inevitable.
A generation ago, it would have made sense to keep children away from such materials until they are at an age where their level of understanding and level of maturity is able to cope with the ‘negative content’. But given how integrated the internet is to our society (and how the material can also be found offline –on the telly and on other media), it is actually more important for parents to know and understand the value of educating their children properly.
The internet will not wait for your child, and keeping a child away from social networking, games and the internet in general would be akin to deprivation. What is important is to give the child discipline, confidence and awareness of what the internet truly is what can be found there.
With smart phones now considered to be a basic necessity for many modern families, this is one crucial step that parents cannot afford to miss.
Tags: firewalls, games, Internet, smartphones, social-networking
There is a new announcement that many tariff subscribers should be wary about: the old unlimited internet access is no longer available, networks are now categorizing data usage rates into samples of 200MB, 500MB and more. It is a very big move from having 1GB to just 200MB, and while it is reported that the average mobile phone user consumes less than 200MB each month, every user should be aware.
Of course, if you are already on a plan and are planning to simply renew, then the network operator is obliged to keep you at the original rate you have. On the other hand, data plans for new subscribers have to be watched and monitored in order to ensure that monthly usage does not surpass the given allowance.
According to O2, the new plan will also keep users informed and up to date with text messages summarizing data usage. But users will still need to be aware that certain things will drain their allowance. First off, refreshing advertisements –just because a person has loaded a page on the internet does not mean that there is not data being transferred. More often than not, ads tend to change; cycle and refresh, which means that it would be wise to disconnect of stop all page processes if you intend to read a long news article or post.
Videos are also an obvious thing to look out for. Despite the relatively small size of YouTube uploaded videos and more, these will add up, and some videos that are only two minutes long could be over 10MB depending on the quality. The best thing that people can do is to minimize the media access on their mobiles. Connect to the web only if needed and for all other purposes, use a netbook or computer instead.
Tags: bandwidth, Data-allowance, Internet, O2, YouTube
The future of our society is in the internet. And while business companies can easily employ tutors or send their employees to special seminars to keep them up to date, the British Intelligence agency cannot afford to take such measures. And thus, despite the larger spending budget, the MI5 will be letting go of many of its older agents who are not so familiar with today’s modern technology.
Jonathan Evans, current director general for MI5, has stated that many of their current personnel lack the skills they the agency would need in the future. While field experience is a definite advantage that older agents may have, their lack of familiarity with the internet, social networking and even Twitter is starting to show.
While it was not stated as to exactly how and when these personnel would be removed from active duty has yet to be disclosed, the MI5 will not simply be tossing their agents out –many expect that substantial compensations are to be given to these men and women. MI5 has not exactly announced that it is openly seeking new individuals to occupy open posts, but it is believed that they will be scouting out personnel with more updated skills.
In any case, this latest news is another testament to how much the internet has permeated into our daily lives. With knowledge of computer usage and internet familiarity becoming a constant requirement for employment, educational establishments have made an effort in order to educate children better in the world of digital communication.
For those unfamiliar with the intelligence agency, MI5 stands for Military Intelligence, Section 5. This special agency deals with counter-intelligence, and is under the direct control of the Home Secretary of the Cabinet.
Find out more about aging spies, internet usage and how knowing Facebook and Twitter can be a big thing at the Telegraph UK.
Tags: Internet, MI5, Military Intelligence
There are plenty of human rights, particularly in democratic countries where free speech and the practice of religion are often pushed to limits that are almost impossible to fathom. And while the debate as to whether internet access is a right that should be established and enforced, the fact that our society lives and breathes with the help of the net is already known to most.
Medical studies are already looking into the internet as a cause of many behavioral problems. There are mental disorders that are caused or escalated by internet usage since the media is not only available at all times, but also because the internet provides a pseudo society in which one can be a part of. When dealing with sensitive psyches, the presence of an alternative reality can be quite significant.
In the bigger picture of things, internet access provides news, updates and information geared specifically to the relevant interests of users. Many people state that they would not be able to function properly without the internet. Business and organizations also rely heavily on the ability of the internet to allow people to easily communicate with each other as well as share important information.
With many people now becoming more and more engrossed and reliant on their Facebook accounts to keep in touch with friends and family, many are starting to feel a degree of alienation and isolation when faced to live without internet access even for just a day. Studies have shown that many young adults from rural areas are encouraged to go to the city so that they can live with accessible mobile networks and internet access.
However, establishing internet access as a right also has its drawbacks. Once enforced by the government, it would also be controlled and censored.
Get to know more about internet access rights at the Telegraph UK.
Tags: Internet
