Carbon Emissions and how much Google is responsible for…
May 17th, 2012
Based on a report about carbon emissions and the internet by Wordstream (written about by Laurie Sullivan at mediapost.com), Google produces over a quarter of a million kilograms of CO2 to power searches per year! Consider that an average car emits about 2000 kilograms worth of carbon emissions a year.
These findings disagree with Google’s own account. Google’s Green Website reports that 100 searches are equal to using a 30W laptop for one hour, or that the company uses about 0.0003 kWh of energy to answer an average search query, which translates to roughly 0.2g worth of carbon emissions.
Google also claims that to provide its products for one month is equivalent to leaving a light on for 3 hours. Google has also expressed the desire to power the entire company using renewable energy, which currently powers 30% of today’s operations.
Wordstream also reported some of the benefits of the internet. Working from home as an alternative to commuting to work every day via the automobile which is the widely used carbon emission producing piece of technology could save about 40% worth of CO2 by the U.S workforce. If 40% of the U.S workforce did work from home carbon emissions would be reduced by 53 million metric tons.
Environmentalists are voicing concerns about cloud computing and the infrastructure it takes to operate it. Companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo and others may at some point face pressure to operate on a greener energy budget to power the servers which relay information across the web
Read more: Source: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/172970/how-much-energy-does-the-internet-use.html?edition=45997
Millennial’s concern with loss of privacy
May 16th, 2012
[The following statistics are based on a survey done by Euro RSCG Worldwide of over 7000 people in 19 markets]
A review of a report Kate Freeman did at Mashable.com reveals that Millennials are deeply concerned about where technology is steering us. Based on that report the incessant stream of technological updates which we experience doesn’t even contribute much to our base-level of happiness. This causes one to ask, what is it all good for?
That’s the question that characterizes the times we live in, which we could simply call–doubtful times. As marketers our role is to provide an answer to that doubt. Consider that 55% of respondents believe technology is robbing us of our privacy. 70% of respondents believed youth don’t even have a sense of personal privacy. What then can we marketers do to assuage that doubt?
If there’s anything ironic in this it’s highlighted by another point the report brings up; this “hyper-connectivity”, which allows us to keep so connected with our friends and even our friends of friends, is making us feel less connected. Making connections then might be the second thing we as marketers are tasked with.
Nimble TV takes television on the net–but is it legal?
April 28th, 2012
A new service called Nimble TV is going to offer something similar for internet users what TiVo has offered television viewers for over a decade. The catch is Nimble TV is going to do it with or without the distributors consent.
How it works
Their goal is to offer the subscribers of the service the option of viewing its TV subscription anywhere they can get online. But how does Nimble TV plan on getting the content in the first place? The answer is by taking the users own TV subscriptions to a distributor such as the Dish Network, and then streaming those subscriptions onto the web. The final package will provide users will offer subscribers a more flexible viewing plan.
But is there a catch?
According to Dan Rayburn, one of the main analysts for digital media at Frost & Sullivan, distributors are still most likely going to come after NimbleTV. In his words, “Guys like Aereo and Nimble can’t afford the legal fight,”.
Read more here: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/173028/nimble-tv-to-stream-tv-subscriptions.html
Marketing Common Sense and the six types of Millennials
April 28th, 2012
Recent research findings by Boston Consulting Group show that up to 50% of the common sense marketers use to reach consumers may be wrong.
Christine Barton, a partner of Boston Consulting Group in Dallas says, “If there is an average media image of U.S Millennials as sheltered, civic-minded, team-orientated, less consumptive, and socially conscious, that describes at most three of our segments, or about 50% of our Millennial respondents. Not all offerings and marketing images and messages will universally appeal to Millennials.”
The research firm broke up the some 79 million consumers living in the U.S into six distinct groups. Here’s a quick summary and statistic for each of them:
“Hip-ennials”
- Accounts for 29% characterized by their desire to make the world a better place. Most likely female, hungry for information, range from being students to homemakers.
Millennial moms
- 22%. The oldest and most affluent group. Interests include working out, travelling, and indulging their children. They have a high online time.
Anti-Millennials
- 16%. Runs against the grain of most millennials. They are typified by being not interested in their primary concern of their businesses and families, and won’t spend extra money on premium movements such as green products.
Gadget Gurus
- 13%. Most likely to be male, affluent, well-wired, likely to be single.
Clean and Green Millennials
- 10%. Positive, green, and cause-driven. Likely to be male or Hispanic. Most likely to contribute content.
Old School Millennials
- 10%. Less tech involved and more interested in in-person encounters with their friends. The most well-read.
Mediapost.com’s, Sarah Mahoney, reports that there is good and bad news that come with these findings.
“The good news for companies is we didn’t find a generation fundamentally less interested in consuming.”
The bad news, she writes, is that those in the 35+ segment don’t like Gen Y all that much. She posed an interesting question about company executives: If executives feel negatively about Millennials, how will they be able to bring authentic and relevant products that meet and understand Millennials?
A brief review on the new Google+ redesigns—its new look and features
April 27th, 2012
In addition to a new look (see screenshot from websitemagazine.com), Google+ also offers some new features. Let’s go over some of them…
Icons
From the picture you can see that the icons that were once at the top are now positioned on the left-hand side of the page. Also note that the location of the tabs can now be customized to the user’s preference. I found the process rather intuitive myself: You just need to click one of them, hold down the mouse button and drag to wherever you’d like (much like you can do with your icons now at least for most OS’s out there).
Photos
Pinterests influence seems most evident here. Photos now have a more noticeable presence on the site with them now filling up more of the page.
Improved Chat
Discussions and comments are more visible which encourages participation. Posts can be highlighted using a new Explore button.
Community
Google Hangouts, which allow users to contact anytime via video, now have their own dedicated pages. Public hangouts will also be available which users can scan for and join.
Google’s hidden plans?
Websitemagazine.com’s Michael Garrity says that it’s probably the case that Google had planned these changes for some time, based on some indicators that Google intended to evolve Google+ according to adjustments based on scientific data about how users responded to it. If that’s the case then we can be sure that these recent changes won’t be the last.
Google rolling out Google+ redesigns
April 27th, 2012
Google has announced a variety of new features and changes to Google+ including changes to profile pages and the navigation bar for more seamless browsing. A global “explore” page will also be introduced which will offer a look at some of the exciting trends that are happening on the site.
Some of the features Google plans to add are:
- -Profile pages with bigger photos (like Facebook’s Timeline.
- -A chat list that will put friends on the front of your page
- -Improved navigation features that will let users navigate around the news stream
- -A new ‘ribbon’ of apps which allows users to drag apps to create an order.
Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of Google writes:
“Taken together, these powers make it easier to access your favorites, and to adjust your preferences over time,”
For more, the source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/11/tech/social-media/google-plus-new-look/index.html
Wildfire has come out of nowhere
April 25th, 2012
Wildfire is a company that specializes in promoting products on social media sites like Facebook. Since 2008 it has focused on creating sweepstakes contests to deliver that promotion. Recently it’s had some massive growth, such as raising a total of $14 million, and amassing a total of 13, 000 customers.
From 2010 up until now it has grown from 7 to 300 employees, which is as many as the leader in the industry, Buddy Media has.
According to Josh Contine over at techcrunch.com, Wildfire has also estimated to have had revenues ranging between, $35 to $45 million in 2011.
What makes Wildfire good is that it offers businesses of all sizes highly scalable options.
For more statistics and information on Wildfire’s growth check out the original article here: http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/21/wildfire/
Google Launches Site THINKB4U to promote web safety for kids
April 23rd, 2012
The site is designed to educate kids about the dangers of posting sensitive information about themselves on the net, which could save them problems in the future with potential employers or in their personal lives.
Educating parents and teachers about the dangers and pitfalls of the internet is an integral part of their strategy for educating kids. Parents need to educate themselves before they can educate their kids; which means that parents need to become familiar with how the internet works. The lesson plans THINKB4U offers, are designed to do just that. Thus, the website offers teaching tools for all three groups.
Facebook pays 1 billion to buy out Instagram
April 18th, 2012
Facebook has just recently dished out one billion dollars and bought out Instagram. Instagram is an apps maker noted to be worth 500 million, but for some reason Facebook paid double its worth. What Facebook seems to have been interested in was a mobile image sharing app. Facebook has an image sharing app itself but as Business Insider opines, it is “horribly broken”, and the buyout could have been to shut-down a perceived threat.
Facebook does seem to have a monopoly of sorts when it comes to social media, the premium they paid to buyout Instagram could have been a move to protect that monopoly.
Sources:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/172120/press-questions-facebooks-instagram-buy.html
http://gizmodo.com/5900352/breaking-facebook-bought-instagram-for-a-billion-dollars
Starbucks and Google shares a cup
April 17th, 2012
Laurie Sullivan at MediaPost writes that Google Offers will share its first deal with Starbucks: $5 dollars will get a $10 Starbucks eGift Card. With each deal that is purchased Google will donate three dollars to Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), which lends to community businesses in an effort to create and sustain jobs in America.
