Around the world, people are increasingly using cell phones for more than talking, while social networking is popular mainly in wealthier nations, according to a new study on global technology usage. The report from the Pew Research Center found that text messaging in particular has become a ubiquitous mobile activity across both wealthy countries and the developing world, with a median of 75% of cell owners texting. In fact, it is most common in two of the poorest nations: Indonesia and Kenya. In China, 80% of mobile users text, along with about 70% on average in Western Europe and 67% in the U.S. Text messaging, however, has lately been viewed as under threat in more mature markets with the emergence of Internet-based messaging alternatives from companies such as Facebook, Apple and BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion. Juniper Research has forecast that global revenue from text messaging will peak in 2011 before trending down in coming years. For now, it’s still a big business, generating an estimated $23 billion in U.S. revenue this year. In addition to texting, many are also using their phones to take photos or record video. Half of cell owners in the 21 countries polled did so, with Japanese users the most avid at 72%. Fewer people access the Internet on mobile devices, although more than four in 10 mobile phone owners use their device to go online in Israel (47%), Japan (47%) and the United States (43%). With Facebook boasting some 800 million active users worldwide, it’s no surprise that social networking has spread. At least a quarter of people surveyed in 15 of 21 countries go on social networks. Leading the way are Israel (53%) and the U.S. (50%), followed by countries such as Russia, Britain and Spain, where more than 40% are social networking. At the other extreme are poorer countries such as Indonesia (12%,) India (5%), and Pakistan (2%), where a lack of Internet access is the main reason for low participation in social networks. In Egypt, where social tools like Facebook and Twitter played a role in the country’s popular uprising earlier this year, 28% are on social networks. That figure is up from 18% last year. Only Russia -- also affected by political upheaval this year -- had a similar gain, rising from 33% to 43% involvement in social media. For most other countries, however, there was only minimal change in social networking adoption from 2010 -- suggesting that emerging markets will be the source of future growth for social media providers. Young people worldwide are eagerly embracing online and mobile technologies. In nearly all countries, people ages 18 to 29 are more likely than those 50 or older to access the Internet on their mobile phone. They are also consistently more likely to use their cell phones for texting and taking pictures or video. When it comes to social networking, most adults under age 30 use social sites in 13 of 21 countries. The U.S. is the only country where even a quarter of people 50 or older engage in social media. Even among Internet users, older people are consistently much less likely to be found on Facebook or other social properties than those under 30. The survey, by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, was conducted through telephone and in-person interviews from March 21 to May 15.
Social advertising company appssavvy has raised another $7.1 million in new funding from AOL Ventures and prior investors including True Ventures, The New York Times Company and Scott Kurnit, co-founder of About.com and founder and CEO of AdKeeper. The latest financing brings its total raised to date to $10.2 million. With the fresh capital, appssavvy plans to continue building out its “adtivity” platform -- serving advertising tied to particular actions people take in social media or games, such as updating their status, reaching a new game level, earning virtual goods or participating in a poll. Since rolling out the ad system in September, it has been adopted by more than 125 publishers and advertisers including American Express, Chase, and Coca-Cola. Per appssavy, the result is higher engagement. The company says the adtivity unit, a 600 x 300 ad that pops up in the center of the page, is delivering interaction rates four to eight times the average for online display advertising. Last month, the company also rolled out a mobile SDK (software developer kit) for the adtivity platform, allowing publishers to bring the socially targeted ads to mobile apps. In addition to enhancing its adtivity technology, appssavvy plans to use the latest funding to create more partnerships with publishers and advertisers, and to expand internationally. When it launched in 2008, appssavvy’s focus was mainly on repping app developers to brands and agencies.
In the final affirmation that online streaming has changed TV forever -- a process that arguably started when ABC made hits available on iTunes in late 2005 -- the Super Bowl will be available live and free on two Web sites in February. NBC’s coverage of the big game will be simulcast on NBCSports.com and NFL.com and the ads will be different. NBC would not provide any information -- about number of spots, etc. -- for the stream, except to say the spots will be different. This carries some risk for advertisers paying $3 million for 30 seconds on TV if there is significant consumption online, although that’s unlikely. NBC and the NFL surely are banking on online viewing to be additive. NBC, which has been simulcasting “Sunday Night Football” for several years online, will also stream two Wild Card playoff games and the Pro Bowl. The games will also be available on the NFL’s mobile service to some Verizon customers. This marks the first time that post-season games will be available in the U.S. via live online streaming and a mobile app. Like the Sunday night games, the online coverage offers added camera angles. In-game highlights will also be available along with other interactive opportunities. Rick Cordella of NBC Sports Digital Media stated: “By adding multiple camera angles, HD-quality video, DVR controls along with social interactivity, our online streaming represents a compelling, second-screen experience that nicely complements NBC's on-air presentation.”
In another sign that mobile video may be one of the breakout successes of 2012, music video portal Vevo reports that mobile access to its library of content has increased exponentially this year. In its newly released Music Video Viewership Report, the company says video streams to mobile devices increased 700% between January and October. Mobile prime-time for video viewing parallels TV patterns, with peak access between 6 p.m. and midnight. The study finds that mobile access of its video content, including tablets, is occurring most often in bed and in the living room, followed by “on the go.” As one of the largest video providers on the Web, Vevo’s stats provide a rare snapshot into the ways that rich media use is accelerating on mobile. The portal serves up to 875 million streams a month overall, the report notes. But in October, 139.6 million went to mobile devices, including smartphones across multiple operating systems and tablets. Mobile is the fastest-growing traffic segment for Vevo, as its apps have been downloaded 13 million times. More significantly, 3.9 million people were actively using the app in October, which means that 38% of the downloaders are coming back on a regular basis. Since much of mobile music video viewing is occurring in repose, it is understandable that engagement is considerable. Vevo says its video consumers are spending 55 minutes a month with the apps, and 78% of users are streaming seven or more videos. Interestingly, while conventional wisdom suggests that Apple iOS is the stickiest platform when it comes to content consumption, Vevo finds that its Android users are spending the most time with the content. For the consumption of short-form media like music video and user-generated clips, mobile appears to be in growth mode. Vevo echoes survey results that Google published in November showing that 75% of YouTube Mobile users say the handset is now their primary device for viewing videos from the portal. In metrics released last week, Nielsen found that there were 26 million mobile video viewers in the U.S. on smartphones and another 5 million using feature phones in the third quarter of 2011. Video viewing has reached 14% of the mobile audience, up from 10% a year ago. Vevo says that since its mobile apps tend to skew younger, some brands have been buying mobile advertising on the apps predominantly, including Neutrogena and Clearasil. Other sponsors that are focusing budgets on the mobile platform are McDonald’s, Trident, Target, NBC universal’s Bravo network, Wendy’s and Ben & Jerry’s.
Whither T-Mobile USA, now that AT&T did the expected and dropped its $39 billion bid for the No. 4 U.S. wireless carrier? “There’s no Plan B,” says Andreas Fuchs, a spokesman for Deutsche Telekom, the German company that owns and operates T-Mobile. “We’re back at the starting point.” Says Deutsche Telekom CEO René Obermann: “Our first task is to operate the business the best we can with this new situation.” There is bright side, in addition to$3 billion in breakup-fee cash AT&T is forced to shell out, to the new situation.T-Mobile USA is getting licenses to AT&T’s Advanced Wireless Solutions (AWS) spectrums in 128 Cellular Market Areas (CMAs), including 12 of the top 20 markets, Nathan Olivarez-Giles blogs in the Los Angeles Times. And a seven-year roaming deal with Deutsche Telekom expands its potential customer base from 230 to 280 million people. "Coverage will be extended to many regions of the U.S. in which T-Mobile USA previously had neither its own high-speed mobile communications network nor the associated roaming agreements," according to a Deutsche Telecom statement yesterday. And those who perceive themselves to be on the side of Truth (“this was a duopoly–in-the making”), Justice (Dept., whose fearsome hand was the ultimate deal killer) and the American way (“it’s about time we started protecting the little guy again”) hailed the decision. “Two companies would control about 80% of the wireless market and that’s way, way too much,” Los Angeles Times consumer columnist David Lazarus proclaims in a YouTube video reaction to the news. “Analysts say that T-Mobile customers will be just fine in the short term, and many will be pleased that they won’t be forced to switch wireless carriers,” writes MSNBC’s Marissa Taylor. “Many of them chose T-Mobile in part because it wasn’t AT&T or Verizon,” says Forrester’s Charles Golvin. “Overall, more of those customers see this as good news rather than bad.” But, and it’s a major BUT, it’s difficult to find someone predicting a rosy –- or even magenta –- future for T-Mobile on these shores. As happy as some contrarian customers may be, T-Mobile USA lost 849,000 contract customers in the first nine months of the year, reportsBloomberg Businessweek’s Cornelius Rahn. Indeed, perhaps its future lies in cultivating prepaid customers, writes Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Robin Bienenstock. “We think they will go back to the old-fashioned sort of plan -- run the business,” Bienenstock says in a note. “T-Mobile USA will compete for prepaid customers and hope that Sprint or someone else comes under enough strain they free up more spectrum.” In a New York Times piece ominously titled “Few Options for Lagging T-Mobile,” Jenna Wortham and Brian X. Chen write that “the merger had been seen as a last-ditch effort to salvage T-Mobile’s weak finances and dwindling pool of subscribers” and that “industry analysts also could not predict a course for the company.” “T-Mobile is probably going to be profoundly damaged by this,” M.G.I. Research senior analyst Tero Kuittinen tells them. “They should have done some strategic rethinking instead of chasing this mirage, this dream of a merger. Now they’ve lost a lot of time.” Short of another merger deal –- speculation ranges as far and wide as Google and Amazon but more realistically centers on Sprint –- the company will have a hard time competing in the market, most analysts says. “In our mind, Sprint and T-Mobile should ultimately combine to get the scale that’s really necessary to compete with what’s really becoming a duopoly here in the wireless sector in the United States, with Verizon and AT&T,” Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Timothy Horan told CNBC, according to MSNBC’s Taylor. But Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffet believes that “it’s unlikely that T-Mobile would enter into another merger in the U.S.” Plus, he says, the Justice Department “wants four competitors in this market, not three.” Wall Street Journal reporter Christopher Lawton puts it this way: “The albatross that Deutsche Telekom AG thought it finally shed is back, heavier than ever.” The carrier “lacks the wireless spectrum needed to keep up with data-hungry mobile-phone users,” Lawton points out, and “building a higher-speed network would also likely put Deutsche Telekom's traditionally high dividend at risk and trigger a revolt among investors.” “They can't just turn around and say, 'This deal has failed so now we're going to pour a lot of money into the T-Mobile business,’” observes Michiel Plakman, a fund manager with Robeco NV of Rotterdam, adding Deutsche Telecom “will be severely punished" by investors if it invests too much money into the carrier. What about that $3 billion in cash it’s getting, you ask? "Small change, compared to billions of dollars of investment that lie ahead," Informa PLC Thomas Wehmeier tells Lawton. But if it makes that investment and loses anyway, it will truly turn out to be chump change.
We share. As humans, it is part of what defines us and what has shaped the development of our societies and ourselves as fundamentally social animals. We share food, shelter and warmth. We share knowledge and secrets; stories and news. We share ideas and experiences. We share sadness and loss, joy and elation. In fact, when you think about it, there’s not much that isn’t influenced by our proclivity for sharing with our fellow beings. Even the nature and extent of our communication has been influenced by our desire and need to share. Of course, the ways in which we share have evolved considerably from the days of face-to-face exchanges. Through a series of advances in communications technology and basic literacy, we have become better able to communicate more widely, more quickly and in different forms. First it was the written word, then print, then audio and radio technologies, then TV and various video formats until the current iteration of the Web and its many offerings. However, until recent months, none of these represented any fundamental differences in what sharing actually was -- they simply facilitated more of the deeply rooted and highly social behavior common to all of us. But if, like me, you’re a user of Facebook, you will be familiar with those little announcements at the top on the right of your Newsfeed that tell you that Gary has been reading about X in Y via a Social Reader App and that Michele has been listening to A on Spotify. While this is -- at first glance -- seemingly a kind of sharing most of us enjoy on Facebook every day, it is nothing of the kind. And in this respect, it is either, depending on your perspective, the first real innovation in sharing in a very long time or simply not sharing at all. I tend towards the latter view for the following reasons: