According to the latest study from Ipsos, there are marked differences between American and Canadian young adults ages 18-34 when it comes to lifestyle decisions and values. When asked about the most important issues in their respective countries, health care, education and employment matters were rated as the top three issues in both countries.

According to the results of The Harris Poll online survey between September 8 and 15, 2009 by Harris Interactive, 67% of Americans say they will decrease spending on eating out at restaurants, and the same number will reduce spending on entertainment, almost the same as the response in May.

The results of an update to the comScore highly publicized "Natural Born Clickers" research, conducted two years ago with Starcom USA and Tacoda, indicate that the number of people who click on display ads in a month has fallen from 32% of Internet users in July 2007 to only 16% in March 2009, with an even smaller core of people (representing 8% of the Internet user base) accounting for 85% of all clicks.

According to the results of a survey focused on consumer's 2009 holiday spending outlook by Burst Media, 62.8% of consumers plan to spend the same or cut back on their holiday purchases compared to 2008. Although consumers plan to hold tight with their spending this holiday season, 85.3% of respondents will shop online.

The Nielsen Company reports that time spent on social network and blogging sites accounted for 17% of all time spent on the Internet in August 2009, nearly triple the percentage of time spent on the sector a year ago. Year-over-year, estimated online advertising spend on the top social network and blogging sites increased 119% to approximately $108 million in August 2009. The share of estimated spend on these sites has also grown, increasing from a 7% share of total online ad spend in August 2008 to a 15% share in August 2009.

Subliminal images, images shown so briefly that the viewer does not consciously 'see' them, have long been the subject of controversy, particularly in the area of advertising. According to a study led by Professor Nilli Lavie, UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, published in the journal Emotion, people are able to process emotional information from subliminal images, and demonstrates conclusively that even under such conditions, information of negative value is better detected than information of positive value.

According to a survey conducted by Crowd Science, with Twitter being accessed from mobile devices to a greater extent than other social media, Twitter users also use social media more in such locations as cars, restaurants and restrooms. 11% of Twitter users admitted to accessing social media while driving during the preceding 30 days, compared with just 5% of other social media users. And 29% of Twitter users said they had accessed social media from cars at some point in the past, compared with 13% of non-users.

It may surprise anyone following the charges of racism that have flared up during the debate over President Obama's health care proposals, but a survey taken this summer found that fewer people perceived that there are strong conflicts between blacks and whites than saw strong conflicts between immigrants and the native born, or between rich people and poor people.

According to the World Association of Newspapers' recent report on the French government's decision to give free, one-day-a-week newspaper subscriptions to every 18- to 24-year old in the country as a way to encourage newspaper reading and civic participation, the publishers say it works, though the free giveaway is not the only factor. A marketing campaign using new media had to be created, and special content added for young people -- traditional marketing didn't really work, says the report.

According to the study "Going Mobile: How Publishers Are Preparing for the Burgeoning Digital Market," 70% of publishers are paying more attention to the mobile market this year than last. And 20% are giving it their same attention. Print publishers are focusing on the market as a prime opportunity to expand their brands, reach new audiences and generate additional revenue while offering advertisers the chance to reach locally targeted, engaged audiences, notes the report.