Tagged: Onliner RSS Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Gerrit Eicker 14:39 on 3. February 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , Onliner, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Facebook Activity, Self-branding   

    Facebook Friendship 

    Pew: Most Facebook users receive more from their Facebook friends than they give; http://eicker.at/FacebookFriendship

     

    • Gerrit Eicker 14:39 on 3. February 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Pew: “New study that for the first time combines server logs of Facebook activity with survey data to explore the structure of Facebook friendship networks and measures of social well-being. – These data were then matched with survey responses. And the new findings show that over a one-month period: 40% of Facebook users in our sample made a friend request, but 63% received at least one request, Users in our sample pressed the like button next to friends’ content an average of 14 times, but had their content ‘liked’ an average of 20 times, Users sent 9 personal messages, but received 12, 12% of users tagged a friend in a photo, but 35% were themselves tagged in a photo … ‘The explanation for this pattern is fascinating for a couple of reasons,’ noted Prof. Keith Hampton, the lead author of the Pew Internet report, Why Most Facebook Users Get More Than They Give. ‘First, it turns out there are segments of Facebook power users who contribute much more content than the typical user. Most Facebook users are moderately active over a one month time period, so highly active power users skew the average. Second, these power users constitute about 20%-30% of Facebook users, but the striking thing is that there are different power users depending on the activity in question. One group of power users dominates friending activity. Another dominates ‘liking’ activity. And yet another dominates photo tagging.’”

      Pew, Power Users: “Women are more intense contributors of content on Facebook than are men. In our sample, the average female user made 21 updates to their Facebook status in the month of observation, while the average male made six. – Facebook users average seven new friends a month: While most users did not initiate a friend request during the month we looked at their activities, and most received only one, an active 19% of users initiated friendship requests at least once per week. Because of the prolific friending activity of this top 19%, the average (mean) number of friend requests accepted was three and the average number accepted from others was four. Overall, some 80% of friend requests that were initiated were reciprocated. … Facebook users have the ability to unsubscribe from seeing the content contributed by some friends on their newsfeed. Less than 5% of users in our sample hid another user’s content from their feed in the month of our observation.”

      Pew, Friends of Friends: “Your friends on Facebook have more friends than you do: In this sample of Facebook users, the average person has 245 friends. However, the average friend of a person in this sample has 359 Facebook friends. The finding, that people’s friends have more friends than they do, was nearly universal (as it is for friendship networks off of Facebook). Only those in our sample who had among the 10% largest friends lists (over 780 friends) had friends who on average had smaller networks than their own. – Facebook friends are sparsely interconnected: It is commonly the case in people’s offline social networks that a friend of a friend is your friend, too. But on Facebook this is the exception, not the rule. … As an example, if you were the average Facebook user from our sample with 245 friends, there are 29,890 possible friendship ties among those in your network. For the average user with 245 friends, 12% of the maximum 29,890 friendship linkages exist between friends. … At two degrees of separation (friends-of-friends), Facebook users in our sample can on average reach 156,569 other Facebook users.”

      Pew, Social Well-Being: “Making friends on Facebook is associated with higher levels of social support. Those who made the most frequent status updates also received more emotional support. … One key finding is that Facebook users who received more friend requests and those that accepted more of those friend requests tended to report that they received more social support/assistance from friends (on and offline). … There is a statistically positive correlation between frequency of tagging Facebook friends in photos, as well as being added to a Facebook group, and knowing people with more diverse backgrounds off of Facebook. … Those users from our sample who are intensive Facebook users are more likely to report that they attended a political meeting or rally. … Among these users, participation in Facebook groups, either by being added to a group or adding someone else, is associated with trying to influence someone to vote in a specific way.”

      Pew, Facebook Activity: “A consistent trend in our analysis is the lack of symmetry in Facebook activities. On average, Facebook users in our sample received more than they gave in terms of friendships and feedback on the content that is shared in Facebook. However, these averages need to be interpreted in context. This imbalance is driven by the activity of a subset of Facebook users who tend to be more engaged with the Facebook site than the typical user. – Our findings suggest that while most Facebook users in our sample were moderately active over a one-month time period, there is a subset of Facebook users who are disproportionately more active. They skew the average. … In general, men were more likely to send friend requests, and women were more likely to receive them. However, we did not find a statistical difference in the mean number of friend requests sent, received, or accepted between men and women. … Use of the like button is unequally distributed. Because of the intensive activity of the 30% of power users, the people in our sample pressed the like button next to friends’ content on an average of 14 occasions during the month and received feedback from friends in the form of a ‘like’ 20 times during the month. … Friendship numbers drive Facebook activity: Those who have more Facebook friends tend to send and accept more friend requests, receive more friend requests, and have more friend requests accepted. They ‘like’ their friends’ content more frequently, and are ‘liked’ more in return.”

      Pew, The Structure of Frienship: “As the common saying goes, a friend of a friend is a friend. But on Facebook this is the exception rather than the rule. … A network density of .12 is low in comparison to studies of people’s overall personal networks. A 1992 study found a density of .36 between people’s offline social ties. We suspect that Facebook networks are of lower density because of their ability to allow ties that might otherwise have gone dormant to remain persistent over time. … We expect that new Facebook users typically start with a core group of close, interconnected friends, but over time their friends list becomes larger and less intertwined, particularly as they discover (and are discovered by) more distant friends from different parts and different times in their lives. … How can it be that people’s friends almost always have more friends than they do? This little known phenomenon of friendship networks was first explained by a sociologist Scott Feld. Not just on Facebook, in general and off of Facebook, people are more likely to be friends with someone who has more friends than with someone who has fewer.“

  • Gerrit Eicker 08:35 on 27. January 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Countries, , , , , , , , , , Nationalisation, , , , Onliner, , , , , , , , , , ,   

    Twitter Censorship 

    Twitter censorship becomes nationalised: starts censoring tweets country by country; http://eicker.at/TwitterCensorship

     

    • Gerrit Eicker 08:35 on 27. January 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Twitter, 2011: “The Tweets Must Flow – The open exchange of information can have a positive global impact. This is both a practical and ethical belief. On a practical level, we simply cannot review all one hundred million-plus Tweets created and subsequently delivered every day. From an ethical perspective, almost every country in the world agrees that freedom of expression is a human right. Many countries also agree that freedom of expression carries with it responsibilities and has limits. – At Twitter, we have identified our own responsibilities and limits. There are Tweets that we do remove, such as illegal Tweets and spam. However, we make efforts to keep these exceptions narrow so they may serve to prove a broader and more important rule – we strive not to remove Tweets on the basis of their content. – Our position on freedom of expression carries with it a mandate to protect our users’ right to speak freely and preserve their ability to contest having their private information revealed.”

      Twitter, 2012: “Tweets still must flow – As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content. – Until now, the only way we could take account of those countries’ limits was to remove content globally. Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country – while keeping it available in the rest of the world. We have also built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why. – We haven’t yet used this ability, but if and when we are required to withhold a Tweet in a specific country, we will attempt to let the user know, and we will clearly mark when the content has been withheld. As part of that transparency, we’ve expanded our partnership with Chilling Effects … which makes it easier to find notices related to Twitter. … One of our core values as a company is to defend and respect each user’s voice. We try to keep content up wherever and whenever we can, and we will be transparent with users when we can’t. The Tweets must continue to flow.”

      GigaOM: “The company said laws around what content is legal to distribute differ from country to country, and the new system will allow it to remove tweets only for users in a specific area, rather than censoring the entire network. But no matter how Twitter phrases it, this news is going to concentrate attention on one thing: that a corporate entity, however well-meaning, controls which tweets are seen or not seen. … Of course, making it public didn’t help Twitter in its fight to resist the court order – in the latest decision in the case, a court ruled that it would have to turn over the data, which includes IP addresses and email addresses – but at least it made it obvious what was happening. … That said, however, the reality is that Twitter has just opened itself up to all kinds of conspiracy theories about what tweets it is or isn’t withholding – and on whose behalf it is removing them. … More than anything else, Twitter’s announcement highlights both how integral a part of the global information ecosystem it has become, and how vulnerable that ecosystem can be when a single entity controls such a crucial portion of it. How Twitter handles that challenge will ultimately determine whether it deserves the continued trust of its users.”

      RWW: “In an email, Twitter spokesperson Jodi Olson said the company was not backing off its commitment to free expression. – ‘Just to be clear, this is not a change in philosophy and there are still countries to which we will not go,” Olson said. ‘We hold freedom of expression in high esteem and work hard not to remove Tweets.‘ – The three major, U.S.-based social networks are all currently banned in China, a country analysts all agree is crucial for future growth. While Twitter’s post did not specifically mention China, it clearly positions the company ahead of Facebook and Google+ in articulating a career policy for handling content that may rile Chinese government officials. … ‘This launch gives us the ability, when we have to, in response to a valid legal request, withhold a Tweet in a specific country and to keep that Tweet visible for the rest of the world,’ Olson said Thursday. ‘Our policy in these cases is to 1) promptly notify the affected users, unless we are legally prohibited from doing so; 2) withhold the content in the required countries only, rather than worldwide; 3) clearly indicate to viewers that a Tweet or Account has been withheld, and 4) make available any requests to withhold content through our partnership with Chilling Effects.‘”

      VB: “Should you believe the company’s assertions (and we do), you can boil it all down to this: Twitter has craftily granted itself the ability to honor the requests it has to in order to remain operable in some countries and yet still simultaneously uphold its commitment to freedom of expression. – Twitter has also made a promise to be more forthcoming with members about any tweets it decides to withhold from them. The company has decided to make public a page with a record of cease and desist orders, and will attempt to let a user when his or her tweet is withheld.”

      TC: “In a way, it’s a good solution: countries where it is forbidden to speak ill of God or well of Hitler will now be able to extend those restrictions to Twitter. But, on the other hand, countries where it is forbidden to speak ill of God or well of Hitler will now be able to extend those restrictions to Twitter. … The problem is that in a way, that is worse. Twitter, and the net in general, are by nature a global communication platform. National conflicts on the internet (for example, an album being released in October in the UK and December in the US) are strange and illogical. Before this announcement, Twitter was a global platform on which something was either said or not said, on a global scale. Now, Twitter’s new power to enforce censorship depending on your country both legitimizes the blocks and concedes international territory specifically to countries that ‘have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression.’ This diplomatic casting of the restriction of speech, from a company that is built around the idea of free communication, is troubling. … A meta-national community like Twitter must both transcend and respect its constituent parts, and that requires some tough decisions. Let’s hope they made this decision with the promise of better global communication in mind.“

  • Gerrit Eicker 08:39 on 23. January 2012 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Onliner, , , , , , , , , ,   

    Tablets and eReaders 

    Pew: Tablet and eBook reader ownership nearly double over the holiday gift-giving period; http://eicker.at/TabletseReaders

     

    • Gerrit Eicker 08:39 on 23. January 2012 Permalink | Reply

      Pew: “The share of adults in the United States who own tablet computers nearly doubled from 10% to 19% between mid-December and early January and the same surge in growth also applied to e-book readers, which also jumped from 10% to 19% over the same time period. – The number of Americans owning at least one of these digital reading devices jumped from 18% in December to 29% in January. … These findings are striking because they come after a period from mid-2011 into the autumn in which there was not much change in the ownership of tablets and e-book readers. However, as the holiday gift-giving season approached the marketplace for both devices dramatically shifted. In the tablet world, Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble’s Nook Tablet were introduced at considerably cheaper prices than other tablets. In the e-book reader world, some versions of the Kindle and Nook and other readers fell well below $100.”

      Pew: “The surge in ownership of tablet computers was especially notable among those with higher levels of education and those living in households earning more than $75,000. More than a third of those living in households earning more than $75,000 (36%) now own a tablet computer. And almost a third of those with college educations or higher (31%) own the devices. Additionally, those under age 50 saw a particularly significant leap in tablet ownership. … The story with the growth in e-book readers was somewhat different from the story with tablet computers. Ownership of e-readers among women grew more than among men. Those with more education and higher incomes also lead the pack when it comes to e-book ownership, but the gap between them and others isn’t as dramatic.”

      NYT: “The holiday season spawned a huge marketing and advertising push for the Nook Tablet, Barnes und Noble’s latest color device, and the Kindle Fire from Amazon. While many consumers bought the costlier Apple iPad at $500, tablets from Barnes und Noble and Amazon cost less than $250, a more tempting price for a Christmas gift. Some black-and-white e-readers cost less than $100. – ‘Publishers are putting a lot of effort into e-books; apps developers are cranking out more and more tools for tablets; libraries and tech companies are making e-books easier to borrow,’ Lee Rainie, director of the Internet and American Life Project, said in an e-mail. ‘So the ecosystem of these devices is making them more valuable.’”

      VB: “Leading the pack is Amazon, which sells a slate of Kindle e-readers and tablets. The online retail giant claimed to have sold units in its Kindle lineup at a rate of one million e-readers per week during the holiday push. … However, money still plays some role in whether or not a given consumer decides to spring for a tablet. – While some demographic factors such as race and gender showed little or no statistically significant variations among tablet owners, education and correlating factors such as income showed strong proportional relationships to tablet and e-reader ownership.”

  • Gerrit Eicker 11:02 on 21. December 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Onliner, Peer Groups, , , , Shared Tastes, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   

    Peer Influence 

    Study: When it comes to taste, peer influence in social networks is virtually nonexistent; http://eicker.at/PeerInfluence

     

    • Gerrit Eicker 11:02 on 21. December 2011 Permalink | Reply

      PNAS, Lewis, Gonzalez, Kaufman: “Social selection and peer influence in an online social network – Disentangling the effects of selection and influence is one of social science’s greatest unsolved puzzles: Do people befriend others who are similar to them, or do they become more similar to their friends over time? Recent advances in stochastic actor-based modeling, combined with self-reported data on a popular online social network site, allow us to address this question with a greater degree of precision than has heretofore been possible. Using data on the Facebook activity of a cohort of college students over 4 years, we find that students who share certain tastes in music and in movies, but not in books, are significantly likely to befriend one another. Meanwhile, we find little evidence for the diffusion of tastes among Facebook friends – except for tastes in classical/jazz music. These findings shed light on the mechanisms responsible for observed network homogeneity; provide a statistically rigorous assessment of the coevolution of cultural tastes and social relationships; and suggest important qualifications to our understanding of both homophily and contagion as generic social processes.”

      Wired: “Are We Immune To Viral Marketing? – When it comes to taste, ‘peer influence is virtually nonexistent,’ said Kevin Lewis, a Harvard sociology graduate student who co-authored the study. Lewis cautioned that the experiences of college students on Facebook may not apply to everyone in all circumstances, but the results offer a sobering counterpoint to the conventional wisdom on the ubiquity of taste diffusion. ‘The extent to which friends’ preferences actually rub off on each other is minimal,’ he said. … If we don’t influence each other, does that means viral marketing is a bogus concept? And what does it say about the business value of social media? … The study’s findings suggest that it would be much more worthwhile to invest in understanding how and when friendships are a conduit for preferences, rather than assuming that they are and planning marketing strategies accordingly. ‘They clearly are under some circumstances, but we still don’t know whether those circumstances are common or important enough to warrant the time and money of business strategies,’ said Lewis. … One of the most valuable aspects of social media is who you know. It’s easy to glean information about members of social networks. This focuses sales, marketing and product development efforts. Knowing something about one person gives you insights into the people that person knows. … The Harvard study affirmed that, as in other aspects of life, people’s social media relationships tend to be with people who are like them. … Who you know is arguably a more valuable aspect of social media than who you might be influenced by.”

      AT: “Studying the factors that bring people together creates a serious challenge for researchers. Do friendships form because of shared interests, or do those interests develop due to the friendship? A research team has now tracked a set of college students across all four years, using Facebook to identify social ties. The study reveals that people are fundamentally a bit lazy, as proximity provided the strongest predictor of social ties. Once that was accounted for, however, shared tastes in music and film did promote friendships, while books had a minimal effect. … The authors recognize that a Facebook friend probably doesn’t represent the strong social bond that we typically view as a friendship, but it is probably similar to the sort of fluid links that many of us form at work and elsewhere. There’s also a risk that at least some of the choices revealed on Facebook are the product of social posing, rather than deep-seated preferences. Despite these limitations, the study is a rare look at how social dynamics and personal tastes influence each other over the course of some very formative years. It’ll be pretty difficult to arrange a study that provides a clearer picture.”

      TC: “Here’s a bit of science that’s contrary to what a heavy utilizer of social networks might expect. Researchers at Harvard tracked the Facebook activity of hundreds of college students for four years, and came away with the rather unexpected result that the interests of friends don’t, in fact, tend to influence one another. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen at all, of course, but it’s clear that propagation and virality are subtler and more complex than some people (marketers and, I suspect, researchers) tend to think they are. … The central source of data for the study, in fact, doesn’t strike me as solid. Tracking the interests of college kids is a sketchy endeavor in and of itself, but tracking it via their Facebook favorites (i.e. what shows on your profile, not what you post about or share) seems unreliable. – After all, not only does everyone use the network in their own way, but the network itself has changed. … The study does establish something that I think we perhaps understand is true already: you befriend people because of your overlaps in taste, but it’s rare that your existing friends change the tastes you already have. This is as much true out in the ‘real’ world as it is online. … The Harvard study does indicate another thing, which is that social networks are, for now, ‘light’ social interaction. … That’s changing, but Facebook doesn’t appear to be in a hurry to make the change to ‘serious’ social interaction: the kind of trusted exchanges you have with friends in conversation or in repeated encounters over years…”

  • Gerrit Eicker 08:33 on 9. December 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Onliner, , , , , , , Simplification, , , , , , , , , Twitter Discover, Twitter Home, Twitter Me, Twitter Relaunch, , , , ,   

    Twitter Relaunch 

    Twitter #LetsFly: Twitter’s relaunch is all about serendipity, let’s #Discover and #Profile; http://eicker.at/TwitterRelaunch

     

    • Gerrit Eicker 08:33 on 9. December 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Twitter: “Today we introduce a new version of Twitter. We’ve simplified the design to make it easier than ever to follow what you care about, connect with others and discover something new. You’ll see this new design both on Twitter.com and mobile phones, so that you’ll have a familiar experience any time, anywhere. We’ve also updated TweetDeck to be consistent with this new version. … We’ll be rolling out the redesigned Twitter over the next few weeks. You can see it immediately on the just-updated versions of mobile.twitter.com, Twitter for iPhone, and Twitter for Android. You can get early access on your computer by downloading and logging into Twitter for iPhone or Twitter for Android. We’re working on updates for other apps, such as Twitter for iPad, and will share news as they become available. – What we’re announcing today is just the beginning. We now have a framework in place that we will quickly build and iterate upon to help users connect with whatever is meaningful to them.”

      Twitter: “Yours to discover – A faster, simpler way to stay close to everything you care about. … Simplicity meets serendipity – Discover lets you tap into a stream of useful and entertaining information, customized just for you. – When you use Discover, you’ll see results reflecting your interests – based on your current location, what you follow and what’s happening in the world. As you use Twitter more, Discover gets even better at serving up more content just for you. – Whatever you’re curious about, Discover will help you find out more. … The new profile section puts you and your interests front and center. – Others can Tweet directly to you and view your lists, favorites, followers, photos and more. The Me tab is also where you can stay current on your direct message conversations. – The Me tab is your opportunity to introduce yourself to the world.”

      Twitter: “As part of this release, we are introducing enhanced profile pages that help marketers create an even more compelling destination on Twitter for their brands. – Communicating with users isn’t just about what you say. It’s also about how you say it. Now, your profile page does more to help you make an impression with a large header image for displaying your logo, tagline, and any other visuals. – You can also control the message visitors see when they first come to your profile page by promoting a Tweet to the top of your page’s timeline. … We are thrilled to launch the new enhanced profile page exclusively with 21 advertising partners and select charities and individuals. … We will slowly roll out enhanced profile pages to a wider audience of brands in the coming months.”

      Twitter: “We’re also excited to introduce new tools that bring Tweets to your website, and new ways to share with our Tweet buttons. … WordPress bloggers can embed Tweets directly into their posts by simply copying the Tweet URL or using a familiar shortcode. Once published, WordPress instantly turns that URL or shortcode into an embedded Tweet. WordPress.com and WordPress VIP blogs have this functionality immediately, and Jetpack users will get it with their next update. For more news about WordPress and Twitter, check out founder, Matt Mullenweg’s blog post. … Finally, last week we announced a visual refresh to the Tweet and Follow Buttons, and today we’re introducing new ways to share with these buttons. … The new #hashtag button tells your visitors there’s an interesting conversation happening on Twitter, and lets them join in with just one click. The @mention button encourages visitors to Tweet to your account, driving public conversation directly from your website. Get started and configure your own button experiences on our new Twitter Buttons website.”

      WordPress: “Would you like some more Twitter in your WordPress? We got ya. As an update to our ever-popular Tweet embedding functionality we’re supporting Twitter’s new embed API to enable richer, better looking, and more functional Tweets inside your blog posts. To embed a Tweet just put a permalink to it on its own line or use our new shortcode that allows for extra formatting. … Finally, if you link your Twitter account on your Gravatar profile we’ve made it so it’s easy to follow you right from that page.”

      GigaOM: “Twitter on Thursday debuted a dramatically different new user interface for all versions of the micro-blogging service: The company will be rolling out totally new versions of the desktop website, mobile website, native mobile apps, and Tweetdeck to its more than 100 million users over the next few weeks. … Though during the launch event at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, CEO Dick Costolo and founder Jack Dorsey repeatedly said that the redesign was aimed at making the Twitter experience ‘simpler,’ the new version of the site is in many ways richer and more complex than ever. – That’s not meant to sound like a negative thing: The new UI makes it much easier to find and access context and content around each Tweet, as well as find new Twitter accounts to follow that are relevant to you. … Brands can have a elevated place in the new Twitter design, which makes sense given the company’s necessary push for revenue: At six years old, Twitter now has 700 employees and has taken on more than $1 billion in venture capital. The redesign gives brands, celebrities and businesses ‘enhanced’ profile pages. … In all, it’s a very smart move for Twitter.”

      RWW: “Jared says that the new Twitter is ‘vastly different,’ and notes that it brings the activity stream right into the app itself, and now separates @ message communication into ‘interactions’ and ‘mentions.’ Now ‘mentions’ does not include new followers, people who favorite your tweets. It is only about people who directly @ mention you. Everything else gets dumped into the ‘interactions’ feature. For those who don’t want to sift through the two to pick out actual conversation-worthy @ mentions and passerby-type mentions, this could be helpful. On the flip side, it might just make for unnecessary back-and-forth between the two spaces, which ultimately could slow down the user experience instead of speeding it up. Twitter has also de-emphasized the direct messages feature by pushing it into the ‘Me’ tab. … Twitter wants to position hashtags as more than just symbols for trending topics. It has changed the language to try and make it feel more like a discovery tool. The menu bar now says #Discover. Of course it does – what social space doesn’t want to be the source for discovering new, awe-inspiring, shocking or just plain cool information?”

      TNW: “In their introduction, Dorsey and Costolo announced that since its integration with Apple’s iOS 5, Twitter sign-ups have been up 25%. … [T]he biggest changes of all have been a redesign and brand new apps that focus on simplicity, discovery and usability. With distribution and monetization [somewhat] under its belt, Twitter is now focused on creating a more meaningful experience for its users. … Twitter’s web and mobile experiences are now one in the same. The new tab menu is the same across all devices so you’ll get the same experience on mobile and desktop. And that experience is much more streamlined and visually focused. … Twitter’s new #Discover Feature is a gamechanger. Or as Twitter says, ‘It’s where simplicity meets serendipity.’ The new Discover section is the company’s first big step into content and news curation. When you use Discover, you’ll see search results reflecting your interests-based on your current location, what you follow and what’s happening in the world. As you use Twitter more, Discover gets even better at serving up more content just for you. … There’s something delicious about Twitter. It’s bite-sized, sharp and smart. It’s a playground for the intellect. Today, Twitter’s redesign has expanded this playground into a well-designed festival. What was simple is now more complex, yet still streamlined and consistent. What was playful now feels exploratory. And something about the new Twitter feels more human.”

      GigaOM: “Profile pages weren’t ignored in the large-scale redesign Twitter unveiled Thursday. In fact, the company is now trumpeting itself as a better option than Facebook or Google+ when it comes to showing the world who you are through an online profile. … Why should people direct their focus to maintaining their Twitter profiles when a number of other services – Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn to name just a few – are vying to be the top place for people to establish their identities online? According to Dorsey, it’s all about simplicity. ‘For me, it’s really just access. You just have to share a username or hashtag’ for other people to know exactly how to find you on the site, with minimal searching and sorting necessary, he said during the Q&A portion of the press event.”

      TNW: “800 million users isn’t cool. Know what is? 7 billion – When talking about its new direction today, Jack Dorsey spoke about powerful messages being sent in 140 characters or less. He mentioned Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ as an example. What Dorsey is really saying, is that to get everyone in the world using a service, let alone get their attention, you have to keep things short and sweet, and I think he’s right. – This new direction shows a clear path for Twitter to become the defacto service for real-time communication. … Twitter is simple, and wants to remain simple. … Call me nuts, but if Twitter stays simple, it has a shot of becoming the preferred way to communicate. Forget SMS, forget Email, forget Facebook. – Just keep it simple, stupid.“

  • Gerrit Eicker 08:33 on 7. December 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Akzeptanz, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Monitoring-Report Deutschland Digital, , , Onliner, , , , , , , , , , , TNS Infratrest, , , , Zukunft, Zukunftsbilder, Zukunftsbilder der digitalen Welt   

    Zukunftsbilder und Monitoring Deutschland 

    Deutschland digital im internationalen Vergleich: Zukunftsbilder und der IKT Monitoring-Report 2011; http://eicker.at/DE2011

     

    • Gerrit Eicker 08:33 on 7. December 2011 Permalink | Reply

      TNS Infratest: “Zukunftsbilder der digitalen Welt. Nutzerperspektiven im internationalen Vergleich. – In der vierten Phase der ‘Zukunftsstudie Münchner Kreis’ stand der Nutzer mit seinen persönlichen Einschätzungen zu exemplarischen, IKT-unterstützten ‘Zukunftsbildern’ im Mittelpunkt. Um die Einstellungen und Vorlieben, aber auch Vorbehalte und Befürchtungen der Nutzer im Zusammenhang mit der digitalen Zukunft zu untersuchen, wurden 16 so genannte Zukunftsbilder innerhalb sieben konkret erfahrbarer, alltäglicher Lebenssituationen entwickelt. Über 7.231 Internetnutzer in Deutschland, Schweden, USA, Brasilien, China und Südkorea wurden zu diesen 16 Zukunftsbildern im Sommer 2011 befragt.”

      TNS Infratest: “Im Ergebnis zeigt sich deutlich: Für viele der zukünftigen Anwendungen sind hohe Akzeptanz und Zahlungsbereitschaft vorhanden. Allerdings haben die Menschen weltweit große Befürchtungen im Hinblick auf den sicheren Umgang mit ihren persönlichen Daten. Für den Erhalt der starken Wettbewerbsposition muss die deutsche Industrie am Wachstum in den neuen Leitmärkten auch im IKT-Bereich verstärkt teilnehmen. … Visuell aufbereitet und auf sieben elementare Lebenssituationen bezogen, lässt die Auseinandersetzung der Befragten mit diesen Zukunftsbildern Aussagen über die Bedeutung individueller Erfahrungen, Einstellungen und kultureller Prägungen für die Akzeptanz und Nutzung neuer Anwendungen zu. ‘Ohne den differenzierten Blick in die Zukunft und die Bewertung möglicher Zukunftsbilder ist zielgerichtete Innovation nur schwer möglich. Damit Deutschland auch als IKT-Standort eine führende Rolle einnimmt, halte ich es für sehr wichtig, dass sich der Münchner Kreis in der Zukunftsstudie kontinuierlich um Erkenntnisse zu zukünftigen Entwicklungen, Herausforderungen und Chancen der IKT bemüht’, betonte Franz Josef Pschierer, IT-Beauftragter der Bayerischen Staatsregierung.”

      Zukunftsbilder der digitalen Welt 2011 [PDF]: “[S.30] Im Mittelpunkt der vierten Zukunftsstudie des Münchner Kreis und seiner Projektpartner steht der ‘normale’ Nutzer von IKT und Medien: dessen Einstellungen, Vorlieben, aber auch seine Vorbehalte und Befürchtungen zu ausgewählten zukünftigen IKT-Anwendungen. Denn letztlich können nur die Anwender und Nutzer vor dem Hintergrund ihrer individuellen Erfahrungen neue Perspektiven für die zukünftige Technikentwicklung und Gestaltung der digitalen Zukunft eröffnen. Repräsentativ befragt wurde in sechs Ländern: Deutschland und Schweden stellvertretend für Europa, die USA und Brasilien für Amerika sowie China und Korea für Asien. … [S.29] Die Themenbereiche Kompetenz, Sicherheit und neue Geschäftsfelder in einer digitalen Gesellschaft werden in der Zukunftsstudienreihe des Münchner Kreis als kontinuierliche Analysepfade verfolgt. Die Zukunftsbilder der vorliegenden Zukunftsstudie lassen hier neue Erkenntnisse zu. … [S.28] Schutz persönlicher Daten. Die Nutzer haben weltweit – vor allem aber in Deutschland – große Befürchtungen im Hinblick auf den Umgang mit ihren persönlichen Daten. Insbesondere befürchten sie unbefugte Datenspeicherung und kriminellen Datenmissbrauch. Die bereits in den vorausgegangenen Zukunftsstudien aufgezeigte international steigende Bedeutung eines sicheren Umgangs mit persönlichen Daten wurde nun auch aus Nutzersicht bestätigt. In der Konsequenz muss sich der Anspruch auf den Schutz der Persönlichkeit und der persönlichen Daten noch stärker im gesellschaftlichen, politischen und individuellen Bewusstsein sowie in institutionellen Regelungen verankern. … [S.38] In Bezug auf den Schutz der persönlichen Daten zeigt sich überall eine große Angst vor unbefugter Datenspeicherung und kriminellem Datenmissbrauch, was sich bereits in den Einschätzungen zu den verschiedenen Zukunftsbildern widerspiegelt. Dabei erstaunt nicht, dass das Thema in Deutschland noch sehr viel problematischer gesehen wird als in China, Korea, Schweden, den USA und Brasilien. Gleichzeitig wird insbesondere bei der Datenspeicherung deutlich, dass Anwendungen wie der Online-Datenmanager zukünftig interessant sein könnten. … Aus gesellschaftlicher und individueller Sicht ist es somit offenbar noch nicht gelungen, den Anspruch auf den Schutz der Persönlichkeit und der persönlichen Daten – der als ‘informationelle Selbstbestimmung’ expliziter Bestandteil der deutschen Verfassung ist – durch geeignete Maßnahmen so umzusetzen, dass sich dies im Bewusstsein niederschlägt und in IKT-Systemen breite Anwendung findet. … [S.39] In Bezug auf das Thema ‘Vertrauen in Technologien‘ zeigte sich in allen Ländern und über alle Zukunftsbilder: Die größten Sorgen in Bezug auf Technik machen sich die Befragten hinsichtlich des Ausfalls der Technik, Zuverlässigkeit und falsche Anwendung und dadurch entstehende Haftungsfragen. Hierin liegt für Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft und Politik eine große Herausforderung. … Gleichzeitig muss sich die Gesellschaft noch stärker auf digitale Veränderungen einlassen und darf nicht abwarten, bis die Praxistauglichkeit in anderen Ländern demonstriert und sämtliche kritische Fragen abschließend beantwortet wurden.”

      FS: “Die Zukunftsstudie 2011 des Münchner Kreis stellt die Menschen als Nutzer von Technologie mit ihren Bedürfnissen, Erfahrungen und Befürchtungen in den Mittelpunkt einer internationalen Befragung. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich deutlich: Für viele der zukünftigen Anwendungen sind hohe Akzeptanz und Zahlungsbereitschaft vorhanden. Allerdings haben die Menschen weltweit große Befürchtungen im Hinblick auf den sicheren Umgang mit ihren persönlichen Daten. … Zur Sicherung der industriellen Wettbewerbsposition muss die deutsche Industrie am Wachstum in den neuen Leitmärkten auch im IKT-Bereich verstärkt teilnehmen. – Für den Erfolg in diesen Wachstumsmärkten braucht es koordinierte Aktivitäten von Politik und Wirtschaft. Nötig sind spezifische Zielmarktprogramme, um detaillierte IKT-Markt- und Nutzerkenntnis zu erlangen und in erfolgsversprechende Anwendungen umzusetzen. – Produkte sollten nicht mehr zuallererst mit Blick auf den Heimatmarkt entwickelt werden.”

      TNS Infratest: “Die aktuelle Studie des Langzeitprojekts Monitoring Deutschland Digital – Der IKT Standort Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich 2011 zeigt, wo der IKT-Standort Deutschland im 15-Länder-Ranking positioniert ist. Top-IKT-Experten haben die wichtigsten Handlungsfelder identifiziert, um Deutschland mit Spitzentechnologien an die Weltspitze zu bringen. … Deutschland erreicht 56 Prozent der bestmöglichen Performance und platziert sich unter 15 IKT-Nationen gemeinsam mit Schweden auf Rang sechs. – Die Position Deutschlands hat sich im Vergleich zum Vorjahr um eine Position von Rang sieben auf Platz sechs verbessert. – Deutschland positioniert sich als viertstärkste Nation mit 5,1 Prozent Weltmarktanteil nach IKT-Umsatz im TNS-Benchmark. – Wesentliche Standortnachteile sind der strukturell bedingte IKT-Fachkräftemangel, die strikten Regelungen des nicht angepassten Datenschutzgesetzes, die unzureichenden Investitionen in Bildung, keine steuerliche Begünstigung der Forschungsförderung. – Die größten Chancen bestehen beim zügigen Ausbau einer leistungsfähigen, flächendecken Netzinfrastruktur sowie der Fokussierung auf die strategischen Wachstumsfelder. – Branchenübergreifende Wachstumsfelder: Cloud Computing wächst bis 2020 um jährlich 20 Prozent – die Wachstumsraten betragen bei Embedded Systems 8,5 Prozent jährlich bis 2020 und bei IT-Sicherheit 8,9 Prozent bis 2025. – Industriekonvergenzfelder: In 15 Jahren verdreifachen sich die Umsätze mit E-Energy, steigen die Umsätze mit Elektrofahrzeugen auf das Fünfzehnfache, verdoppeln sich die Umsätze mit E-Health und verneunfachen sich die Umsätze im Bereich Smart Home.”

      Monitoring-Report Deutschland 2011 [PDF]: “[S.12] Deutschland und Schweden belegen im Ranking der bedeutendsten 15 IKT-Standorte gemeinsam den sechsten Platz. … Deutschland erreicht in keinem der 23 Indikatorbereiche den ersten oder zweiten Platz. Die beste Platzierung für Deutschland ist ein dritter Platz beim Kernindikator ‘Anteil der Internet-Werbeumsätze am Werbemarkt’. … [S.13] Die USA liegen mit unverändert 69 Punkten als Zweitplatzierte knapp hinter Südkorea. Sie positionieren sich beim ‘Marktanteil der IKT-Umsätze am Weltmarkt’ und bei der ‘Internethostdichte’ als bedeutendster IKT-Standort im TNS-Benchmark. … Im Teilbereich ‘Infrastruktur’ erreicht Deutschland mit 80 Indexpunkten eine überdurchschnittliche Performance. Allerdings verschlechtert sich Deutschland um zwei Punkte. Damit belegt das Land unverändert Rang fünf und teilt sich diesen mit Norwegen. … [S.14] Die deutsche Performance im Bereich ‘Anteil der IKT-Exporte an allen Exporten’ [ausschließlich IKT-Services und Software] verschlechtert sich um zwei Punkte auf 23 Indexpunkte. Deutschland platziert sich mit 6,8 Prozent nach 6,9 Prozent im Vorjahr erneut auf Rang neun. … Bei den ‘E-Commerce-Umsätzen‘, verstanden als Umsätze mit Produkten, die online von Internetnutzern bestellt, aber nicht notwendigerweise über das Internet bezahlt werden, liegt Deutschland mit E-Commerce-Ausgaben von 222 Euro pro Internetnutzer wie im Vorjahr auf dem neunten Platz. Die durchschnittlichen Umsätze pro Internetnutzer stiegen um 11 Prozent. Großbritannien liegt wie im Vorjahr auf dem ersten Platz mit 518 Euro pro Internet-Nutzer. … [S.19] Schaffung von Vertrauen in Netz- und Informationssicherheit als Voraussetzung zur Ausschöpfung von IKT-Potenzialen – Urheberrecht: Die zunehmende Anwendung digitaler Technologien bei der Verbreitung von Inhalten in Bild, Ton und Schrift macht einen neuen Interessenausgleich zwischen Urhebern, Rechteverwertern und Nutzern notwendig. … Datenschutz: Privatsphäre und Schutz personenbezogener Daten wurden vom Bundesverfassungsgericht zu Grundrechten erklärt. Angesichts einer freiwilligen Einbindung großer Mengen privater Daten in soziale Netzwerke und eines wachsenden kommerziellen Interesses daran ist eine Aktualisierung des Datenschutzgesetzes geboten. … Netzneutralität ist der von ökonomischen und politischen Erwägungen unabhängige und somit diskriminierungsfreie Wettbewerb von Datenpaketen, um die technisch zur Verfügung stehende Bandbreite in vollem Umfang nutzen zu können. … [S.122] Nutzung von sozialen Netzwerken … Deutschland kann ebenfalls eine deutliche Verbesserung vorweisen. Von 2009 auf 2010 verbesserte sich der Indexwert bei der Nutzung von sozialen Netzwerken um 13 Indexpunkte auf 61. Dies bedeutet, dass 50,8 Prozent der Internetnutzer hierzulande aktive soziale Netzwerker sind. Das bringt Platz 13 im TNS-Benchmark der Länder. … [S.123] Die hohe Nutzung von Facebook führt zu entsprechenden Umverteilungen der Werbebudgets. Jede fünfte Online-Werbung in Deutschland wird auf Facebook geschaltet. … Social Media verändert die Art, wie Menschen kommunizieren – auch im Geschäftsleben. Gartner geht davon aus, dass bis 2014 jeder fünfte Angestellte in seiner beruflichen Kommunikation Social Networks statt E-Mails verwenden wird.”

      Heise: “Die Studie von TNS Infratest sieht Deutschland bei der Mobilfunknutzung und vor allem bei den Online-Werbeumsätzen in führender Position. Im Bereich E-Commerce hat Deutschland seinen ersten Platz aus dem vorigen Jahr an Südkorea verloren. Dies liegt vor allem an der ‘schleppenden Adaptionsgeschwindigkeit’ beim E-Government, der beim E-Commerce mitgewichtet wird, erklärte Studienleiterin Sabine Graumann von TNS Infratest. … Die schlechteste Platzierung belegte Deutschland mit Rang 13 bei der Nutzung sozialer Netzwerke: 51 Prozent der deutschen Internetnutzer halten sich in ihnen auf.“

  • Gerrit Eicker 08:08 on 3. December 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , Destination, , , , , , Diversion, , , , , , , , , Onliner, , , , , , , , , ,   

    Entertainment 

    The Internet is for information only? Not anymore! Pew: it’s for diversion and a destination; http://eicker.at/Entertainment

     

    • Gerrit Eicker 08:08 on 3. December 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Pew: “Americans are increasingly going online just for fun and to pass the time, particularly young adults under 30. On any given day, 53% of all the young adults ages 18-29 go online for no particular reason except to have fun or to pass the time. Many of them go online in purposeful ways, as well.”

      Pew: “These results come in the larger context that internet users of all ages are much more likely now than in the past to say they go online for no particular reason other than to pass the time or have fun. Some 58% of all adults (or 74% of all online adults) say they use the internet this way. And a third of all adults (34%) say they used the internet that way ‘yesterday’ – or the day before Pew Internet reached them for the survey. Both figures are higher than in 2009 when we last asked this question and vastly higher than in the middle of the last decade. … The trend also suggests the degree to which the internet has become a competitor to all kinds of other leisure activities that are pursued on other kinds of media. Still, the competition is fuzzy because most other kinds of leisure pursuits that can be digitized – from reading to game playing to ‘watching TV’ and ‘listening to radio’ – are now available online. … Our question wording was simple and did not ask about any particular online ‘fun’ activity, so people were allowed to answer that they were online for fun however they defined the term. – The increases in the number of people going online for fun on a typical day and in the general population of those who ever go online for fun came across all age groups and other demographic cohorts.“

  • Gerrit Eicker 09:18 on 2. December 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , Digital Souveräne, Digital wenig Erreichte, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Onliner, , , , , ,   

    Digitale Gesellschaft? 

    Deutschland ist keine Digitale Gesellschaft: 3/4 online, aber 2/3 nicht souverän; http://eicker.at/DigitaleGesellschaft

     

    • Gerrit Eicker 09:19 on 2. December 2011 Permalink | Reply

      ID21: “Entwicklung der digitalen Gesellschaft stagniert: Mehrheit der Bevölkerung (62 Prozent) nach wie vor nicht Teil der digitalen Gesellschaft. Kaum messbares Wachstum in den einzelnen Nutzergruppen. Leichter Rückgang bei ‘Digitalen Außenseitern’ – Deutliche Unterschiede im Freizeitverhalten zwischen ‘Digital Souveränen’ und ‘Digital wenig Erreichten’ – Die heute vorgestellte dritte Ausgabe der Studie ‘Die digitale Gesellschaft in Deutschland … Vor dem Hintergrund der Diskussionen um Datenschutz, Identitätsdiebstahl und Internetbetrug scheinen die Deutschen ihr distanziertes Verhältnis zu den digitalen Medien weiterhin zu wahren. Das Vertrauen in und der souveräne Umgang mit den digitalen Medien sind entsprechend kaum gestiegen. Nach wie vor können erst 38 Prozent der deutschen Bevölkerung als ‘Digital Souveräne’ bezeichnet werden – lediglich eine Steigerung um einen Prozentpunkt im Vergleich zum Vorjahr. Dies ist eines der Ergebnisse der Neuauflage der Studie ‘Die digitale Gesellschaft’, mit der die Initiative D21 den Status der deutschen Gesellschaft auf dem Weg in die digitale Welt aktualisiert hat und für die TNS Infratest 1.000 Telefoninterviews durchführte. … ‘Sehr positiv ist, dass in den letzten Jahren der Anteil der Onliner an der Bevölkerung von zwei Drittel auf drei Viertel gestiegen ist. Gleichwohl bleibt es wichtig, dass wir allen Mitgliedern unserer Gesellschaft die Vorteile des digitalen Zeitalters noch deutlicher als bisher nahe bringen‘, so Hans-Joachim Otto, Parlamentarischer Staatssekretär beim Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie. Otto weiter: ‘Das erreichen wir nur, wenn wir das Vertrauen in die digitalen Medien erhöhen, die ersten Schritte in die digitale Welt erleichtern und die digitale Kompetenz bei denen steigern, die bisher nur rudimentär die digitalen Medien nutzen. Das Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie hat in den letzten Jahren zahlreiche Projekte gefördert, um die digitale Integration zu stärken.’ … Erstmals wurde das Freizeitverhalten der deutschen Bevölkerung in der Studie abgefragt und zwischen den Digital Souveränen und den Digital wenig Erreichten verglichen. Das Ergebnis zeigt, dass die Freizeitaktivitäten beider Gruppen sehr vielfältig sind und sich auch teilweise deutlich unterscheiden. Dabei konnte eindeutig festgestellt werden: ‘Digital Souveräne’ sind weit davon entfernt ihre Freizeit nur vor einem Bildschirm zu verbringen. Sie surfen in ihrer Freizeit wie erwartet weitaus häufiger im Internet, sind aber gleichzeitig sportlich aktiver, gehen häufiger aus und spielen häufiger ein Musikinstrument. ‘Digital wenig Erreichte’ widmen ihre Zeit etwas mehr dem Fernsehen, Lesen oder Spazierengehen. Dabei wird in der Detailanalyse deutlich, dass das unterschiedliche Durchschnittsalter (‘Digital Souveräne’: 36,9 Jahre; ‘Digital wenig Erreichte’: 53,6 Jahre) nicht alleine für diese Unterschiede verantwortlich sein kann, denn auch jüngere ‘Digital wenig Erreichte’ sind beispielsweise weniger sportlich aktiv oder musizieren seltener.”

← Older posts

Newer posts →

c
compose new post
j
next post/next comment
k
previous post/previous comment
r
reply
e
edit
o
show/hide comments
t
go to top
l
go to login
h
show/hide help
shift + esc
cancel
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 47 other followers