A report by Mashable that walks through data researched by Barracuda Networks Labs speaks volumes on what I call a new class of web user.  The fanatic, engaged early adopter. We (SiliconAngle labs) were storing and analyzing twitter up until July 2009 until the project moved over to Bing. The reported data from Mashable is pretty much on the money. Mashable reports: Barracuda Labs also analyzed Twitter’s growth over time, and the numbers are consistent with previous reports that show while Twitter grew like wildfire in early 2009, it has dramatically slowed down in recent months. Going back further to early 2008, the report estimates that the microblogging tool grew by just 0.31%. However, with the quick rise of media coverage

This is an issue that I simply cannot wrap my head around. Spec work appears in the design field infinitely more times than any other industry. It absolutely floors me that people think that it is even remotely ethical to build their businesses by tearing down ours. Mark Hemmis’s comment on AIGA policy statement on spec work The past couple years have seen an increase in the use of crowdsourcing by companies to procure design assets. It works like this: Requesting organization posts a request for submissions to a design crowdsourcing site (e.g. 99designs,crowdSPRING, MycroBurst, etc.) Interested designers review the request, and create their entry They submit their entry to the site Requesting organization selects

This is astounding: ClickZ in the UK reports: U.K. to Regulate Social Network Marketing - ClickZ Marketers and brands using social networks will soon find their activities in those spaces regulated by the U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority, following recommendations submitted by the Advertising Association this week. The proposed amendment to the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code - expected to be in force by September - will extend the regulatory framework currently in place for paid online ads to all other online marketing communications. As a result, claims from marketers on their own Web sites and third-party sites like social networks will now be subject to ASA scrutiny, as they are in TV, print, and other forms

By 2014, annual global mobile data traffic will reach 3.6 exabytes per month. Globally, businesses and consumers will be transferring the equivalent of billions of DVDs each month. What’s driving that incredible growth? What does it mean to service providers? Are users worldwide becoming mobile data megalomaniacs? Read on to find out. Before I get into details, I’d just like to point out that a lot of this data comes from the Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Forecast. A great summary of Cisco VNI research is here, along with a helpful mobile data forecast whitepaper, can be found here. Video is, well, huge, and getting ginormous So, what’s going on? Let’s take a look at a key driver of the pending data delu

Are you working on a new community with big time bells and whistles that caters to a niche that you just know has been waiting for a place to call home? If so, I encourage you to push ahead full steam. But, let me caution you first. Your new community, no matter how great will not change habits. What I mean by this is you will not be able to stop potential members from posting on Facebook or twitter or their favorite Ning community.  If you are assuming that your new community will become the new gathering place for those belonging to the niche, I think you will be disappointed. Can you make it a great destination with robust content and interesting discussions? Absolutely. I know from experience what that kind of commitment can do

Companies need to stop relying on email as their organization’s central nervous system. Sure, email isn’t going away – it’s still a reliable way for people and businesses to connect and communicate with external sources. But it’s no longer scaling appropriately as a nexus for employees interacting internally. A study at Intel found that onaverage, employees spend an average of 20 hours per week managing 350 emails, costing an enterprise organization of 50,000 an average of $1 billion each year. (Executives can get 300 to 500+ emails a day.) Email has become the paper memo: an inefficient vehicle for moving information across the enterprise. Activity streams are the future of interoffice communications, and at Socialcast our

Excellent article at the Washington Post by Cecilia Kang about today's Senate Judiciary hearing "Global Internet Freedom and the Rule of Law." Here are some of the key points from Post Tech - Google says no timetable to leave China; lawmakers tell firms to stand up to censors: - Google still has no timetable on leaving China. - Twitter and Facebook were invited to give evidence but refused. - Twitter and Facebook have refused to join a two-year old Anti-Censorship coalition set up by Microsoft, Google and Yahoo. - Senator Richard Durbin, the assistant majority leader, is planning legislation that will require US Internet companies to uphold human rights abroad. "With a few notable exceptions, the tech industry seems

It is estimated that poor customer service has cost the Cable/Satellite Industry over $12 billion in lost revenues over the past year, ahead of the financial services industry with more than $10 billion in losses; which is startling considering Cable/Satellite companies project themselves as the future of home and business subscription services of all things information and entertainment. How can these companies survive with such a poor record of customer care?  Take the up and coming consumers, ages 27 – 43, who terminated services most frequently at 1 ½ times per year compared to older consumers. These consumers are the target audience that Cable/Telecom companies want the most due to their powerful (Triple Play) buying power. T

Irving Wladawsky-Berger has put together a good review of several studies and reports concerning business use of social networks: Why are so many companies reluctant to embrace social networking?  One of the articles in The Economist special report focused on this question - Yammering away at the office: a distraction or a bonus?  “An astonishing amount of time is being wasted on investigating the amount of time being wasted on social networks,” it provocatively starts out saying, and then adds:  “Studies regularly claim that the use of Twitter, Facebook and other such services poses a threat to corporate wealth.” Those worried about the use of social networks in business often mention their fear that staff mig

The headlines in the media are filled with that latest stats.  Stats sell.  The stats are often quoted from the latest reports.  People then parrot them around like they’re fact when most of them are complete bullsh*t.  People throw them around at cocktail parties.  Often when they do I throw out my favorite statistic:  73.6% of  all statistics are made up.  I say it deadpanned.  Often I’ll get some people look at me like, “really?”  ”It’s true. Nielsen just released the number last month.” No.  It’s irony. Or as Mark Twain popularized the quote most attributed to the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Benjamin Disraeli, “there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies