Email, portals stay ahead of social networking—at least on mobile devices

AUGUST 13, 2010

Social networking has become such a staple of online activity in the US that, according to Nielsen, internet users spent more time on social networking sites and blogs than doing any other activity in June 2010. Games, which came in second, took up less than half as much time.
On the mobile internet, however, more traditional activities still reign. Email dominated the mobile picture even more strongly than social networking did the desktop: If all time spent on the mobile web was condensed into a single hour, US internet users would have spent 25 minutes in June checking email. Portals would have received another 7 minutes, with social networks not far behind.

Nielsen reported that social networking has been closing the gap in time spent on the mobile internet, gaining share since last year as portals dropped in importance over the same period.
But email remains one of the most popular mobile internet activities not just by time spent but also by penetration. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 34% of all US mobile subscribers used email on their phone in May 2010, compared with 23% who used a social networking site.
comScore also reported mobile email usage via a browser ahead of social networking. That research found search had the highest penetration of any mobile browsing activity, but search is less time-intensive than email or social sites.

Social should continue to make gains in the mobile realm, however. comScore reported it was the fastest-growing mobile internet activity between 2009 and 2010, rising 80% in usage, while email grew more slowly. Bridge Ratings predicted in June that mobile social networking would grow twice as quickly as email during the next 12 months.
The growing penetration of smartphones will be a key factor in increased mobile social networking. According to comScore, 53% of smartphone users participated in social networking activities on the go, compared with just 11% of feature phone owners.
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Check out today’s other article, “Strategies to Help Retailers Prep for Holiday Success.”

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Yikes! Google to Acquire Yelp!?

from Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim by Frank Reed



You know how marketers will burn unused budget before the end of the year, so they don’t lose it next year? Apparently Google must have some end of the year M & A funds lying around to spend. The word is that they are ready to acquire the local business review site Yelp for a tidy sum. What a way to end the year.
Michael Arrington at TechCrunch has been busy coming up with the inside scoop:

Google and Yelp are in advanced acquisition negotiations, we’ve confirmed from multiple sources. And while the deal isn’t done, we’ve heard that it’s very likely to close. The price is supposedly at least $500 million.
Yelp was founded in 2004 as a way to let users leave reviews on local businesses. Comscore puts worldwide traffic at nearly 9 million monthly unique visitors, and it has been growing fast – the company says its real numbers are more like 25 million monthly uniques.

This would certainly be an interesting addition to Google’s growing local search empire. With their activities in the mobile realm and all the opportunities with Google Maps, Google Local Business etc, etc Yelp would be a very strong addition to an already strong stable of local offerings.
As for Yelp as a service? It certainly is growing and has a great reputation but it remains a service that has great success in high tech pockets. With Google at the helm it could spread like wildfire. Either that or it may just be assimilated into “The Goog” and used as the model moving forward for Google’s local business offerings. That is all a big TBD and, of course, having this deal finished first will help with the speculation about the integration of Yelp and its offerings.
Arrington notes as well that we should expect more acquisition activity from Google in the coming months. While many joke about it, maybe this really IS a Google world and we are all just allowed to play in it.

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Asia’s Most Newspaper Loving Nations

By thomascrampton ⋅ October 20, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

This chart is taken from the fascinating WAN IFRA research report on the state of newspapers in China, India and Southeast Asia.

Not surprising to see Hong Kong off the charts, with a combined paid-for and free daily circulation of 590 copies per thousand adults.

What is interesting about Hong Kong is that a huge portion of newspapers (probably 95 percent or more) in the territory are sold off of the newsstands (not via subscription). This creates a fierce tabloid culture where publishers must literally grab readers each day.

Some other highlights:

Newspaper circulation in Asia grew +3.44 percent in 2008 over the previous year, despite the global downturn, and has grown +17.52 percent over the past five years.

The Asian edition, which includes reports on 25 countries and a wealth of summaries that provide a detailed picture of the newspaper market in the region, shows:

  India and China are the world leaders in the newspaper industry, in terms of size. The two countries account for 45 of the world’s 100 largest newspapers. India has more daily newspapers than any other country and leads in paid-for daily circulation, surpassing China for the first time in 2008.

  The number of Asian Internet users rose 23.51 percent last year from a year earlier, to more than 704 million. Over five years, Internet usage jumped 116 percent. There are more broadband subscribers in Asia than any other region - nearly 158 million. The number of broadband subscribers grew 23.33 percent last year and 145 percent over the past five years.

That compares with 123 million broadband subscribers in Europe (up 7.4 percent last year), 97.5 million broadband subscribers in North America (+11 percent), 19 million in South American (+36 percent), 6 million in Australia and Oceania (+6.6 percent) and 2.5 million in Africa (+28 percent).

  Asia also leads the world in the number of mobile cellular subscriptions - nearly 2 billion. The number of subscribers rose by one-quarter in 2008 and by 163 percent from 2004.

That compares with 894 million in Europe (+7 percent in 2008), 425 million in North America (+7 percent), 365 million in Africa (+33 percent), 328 million in South America (+21 percent), and 28 million in Australia and Oceania (+5 percent).

  Paid-for newspaper circulation rose in eight countries in which figures were available last year: Afghanistan (+11.11 percent), Bangladesh (+7.14 percent), Burma (+13.51 percent), Cambodia (+9.09 percent), India (+8.26 percent), Indonesia (+6.86 percent), Nepal (+2.94 percent), and Thailand (+0.68 percent).

Circulation fell in eight countries and territories: Brunei (-8.89 percent), Hong Kong (-2.44 percent), Korea (-1.04 percent), Malaysia (-4.92 percent), Singapore (-1.48 percent), Sri Lanka (-2 percent), Taiwan (-5 percent), and Vietnam (-0.71 percent). Circulation remained stable in North Korea, Laos, Macau, Maldives, Philippines and East Timor. No figures were available for 2008 in Bhutan, China and Pakistan. Japan was excluded from the regional summaries, which focus on the developing markets in the region.

  Over five years, paid-for circulation rose in 15 countries and territories: Afghanistan (+50 percent), Bangladesh (+36.36 percent), Brunei (+64 percent), Cambodia (+20 percent), Indian (+45.5 percent), Indonesia (+12 percent), Laos (+8.7 percent), Macau (+5.6 percent), Malaysia (+71.74 percent), Maldives (+75 percent), Nepal (+27.27 percent), Singapore (+18.69 percent), Thailand (+7.3 percent), East Timor (+50 percent), and Vietnam (+1.45 percent).

Circulation over five years fell in six countries and territories: Burma (-10.64 percent), Hong Kong (-10.31 percent), Korea (-3.28 percent), Philippines (-0.79 percent), Sri Lanka (-2 percent), and Taiwan (-15.56 percent). Circulation was stable in North Korea. No figures were available for Bhutan, China, and Pakistan.

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