According to the latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker, more than half of adults are planning to spend more (14%) or the same (40%) in 2011 than they did last year, with the majority of that spending focused on themselves. Personal savings rates are still well above pre-recession levels and consumers will remain focused on saving, but they will set aside less than they did in 2010. After setting aggressive savings goals for 2010, $14,000 on average, consumers are paring back their savings target this year to a more modest $2,600.

A new study by MarketTools revealed that 94% of companies do not yet use social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter to gather customer feedback, despite consumers' growing engagement with these mediums. The study found that the most common ways companies gather customer feedback are email/online surveys (51%), formal phone surveys (28%), and informal phone calls (28%).

According to results of a new Gallup poll, twice as many Americans think the U.S. economy will be better rather than worse in 2011. Gallup analysis suggests this could represent either the generally optimistic nature of Americans, or it could reflect views of a recovering economy.

The national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Dec. 1-5, 2010, finds that more people continue to cite the Internet than newspapers as their main source of news, reflecting both the growth of the Internet, and the gradual decline in newspaper readership (from 34% in 2007 to 31% now). The proportion citing radio as their main source of national and international news has remained relatively stable in recent years; currently, 16% say it is their main source.

According to data by Kantar Media, total advertising expenditures in the first nine months of 2010 grew 6.4% from a year ago and finished the period at $94.06 billion. Ad spending during the third quarter of 2010 was up 8.7% versus last year, the largest quarterly gain since the end of 2004. Jon Swallen, SVP Research at Kantar Media, noted that "... the advertising recovery expanded during the third quarter to include stronger participation by the long-tail of marketers beyond the Top 1000... smaller advertisers are now as fully vested as their large counterparts... the advertising recovery has reached …

According to comScore, retail e-commerce spending for the entire November - December 2010 holiday season reached $32.6 billion, marking a 12% increase versus last year and an all-time record for the season. And, a billion-dollar Cyber Monday ranks as heaviest online spending day of the year for first time on record.

A new Pew Research study notes that there are still notable differences by generation in online activities, but the dominance of the Millennial generation that was documented in the first "Generations" report in 2009 has slipped in many activities. This is the second report by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project exploring how different generations use the internet. All the generation labels used in these reports, with the exceptions of "Younger Boomers" and "Older Boomers," are the names conventionalized by William Strauss and Neil Howe in their book, Generations: The History of America's Future. The Pew …

A new analysis by Aon Hewitt reveals that Generation Y workers (those ages 18 to 30) may be most at risk from trending stagnant wages, job insecurity and a steady decline in pension plan and retiree medical benefits despite having the most amount of time to save. Due to lack of participation in defined contribution plans, low savings rates, and high rates of cashouts, 80% of Generation Y workers will not meet all of their financial needs in retirement unless they significantly improve their saving and investing behaviors.

MarketingSherpa has conducted new research and comprehensively rewritten the 2011 Email Marketing Benchmark Report to provide marketers the data and insights needed to make informative marketing decisions. Strategically, email plays an important role in achieving a wide range of marketing objectives. Tactically, email appears to have unlimited potential especially when integrated with emerging marketing channels like social media. As a mature tactic, performance improvements are no longer measured in quantum leaps but in incremental steps. But when multiple improvement tactics are combined, performance is accelerated.

A national Capstrat-Public Policy Polling survey found that 59% of consumers consider products' environmental sustainability to be very important in their buying decisions. And 56% noted they would pay "a little" to "significantly" more for a product that was environmentally friendly. Yet 47% of respondents said sustainability and environmental friendliness are "rarely" or "never" mentioned in their employers' communications. Only 20% of respondents said sustainability was "frequently" mentioned.