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This is a post from our new author Angela Nielsen of One Lily Creative Agency, a full-service web and print design company. Angela loves creating designs that win awards for clients, and is addicted to the thrill of helping people make sense of all this web-techno-marketing stuff.

40 years ago the first email was sent. The email simply said ‘qwertyuiop’, and was sent to the computer sitting next to it. It’s not possible for anyone to have predicted how our world would change after the successful sending of that first message.

Today social media is everywhere. Networking sites, gaming sites, entertainment and media, there is a site for everyone. Friends are reconnecting, businesses are reaching new audiences, and Presidents are winning races. You can checkin at your favorite coffee shop, upload your latest art project, even meet your future spouse.

The last 40 years we’ve seen alot of ups and some downs, but it looks like social media is here to stay. Wonder what the next 40 years will bring?

This is a post from Inspired Magazine. If you like it, you may want to subscribe to our RSS full feed to be updated on every article we’re publishing. Also, it’s highly recommended to follow us on Twitter!

The History Of Social Media [Infographic]

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The graph below should make the basis for the title clear.  More and more consumers decided to give Android a try during the second half of 2010, while in terms of percentages, Apple’s iOS hasn’t made much progress in recent months and the BlackBerry OS is losing ground.

Of course, those trends don’t exist in a bubble, and so Android’s also doing well in terms of overall market share.  Nielsen put Android’s share at 25.8 percent, not too far behind iOS’s 28.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the BlackBerry OS might soon fall out of the race, as its share has slid to 26.1 percent.

Nielsen reported, however, "This much is clear . . . All three smartphone OS leaders – Apple iOS, RIM Blackberry and Android – are benefitting from strong demand for smartphones.  In November, 45 percent of recent acquirers chose a smartphone over a feature phone."

That figure’s sure to increase over time, too.

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So we’re not accused of a pro-Google bias: yes, the graphic below shows that iOS has a slight edge.  But stats master Nielsen apparently decided the difference is small enough that the term "tied" still applies.

That assertion’s very important for Google.  First, it confirms Android’s success to date in becoming desirable, which is no small feat given the mind share and market share other mobile operating systems used to enjoy.

Second, it points to increased Android dominance in the future, since smartphone upgraders should be buying Android phones left and right.

Anyway, if you’re curious about how the data broke down, Nielsen reported in a blog post, "Among users planning to get a new smartphone, current smartphone owners showed a preference for the Apple iPhone (35 percent), while 28 percent of both smartphone and featurephone planned smartphone upgraders indicated they wanted a device with an Android operating system as their next mobile phone."

Also, "Women planning to get a smartphone are more likely to want an iPhone as their next device, with slightly more males preferring Android."

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• 19% of users who play Facebook games say they’re addicted
• 69% of Gamers are women
• 56 million people play games everyday
• 290 million play games monthly
• Average time spent per month on Facebook: 421

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eMarketer also details the most popular mobile application categories: Social media has shown the greatest growth over the last year (+240%), followed by weather, sports, banking and maps

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It’s hard to characterize Yahoo’s response as an overreaction; by its own admission, comScore really was way off the mark.  Yahoo explained that the organization "underreported Yahoo!’s U.S. page views by more than one billion and its duration metrics by more than 850 million minutes."

So now, "Based on the corrected numbers, on a month-over-month basis, Yahoo!’s U.S. page views were down 4.7 percent versus the reported 7.4 percent, and U.S. duration was down 4.3 percent versus the reported 6.4 percent."

And you can see an even more detailed breakdown below.

comScore, meanwhile, has promised that it’s identified and corrected the problem behind these inaccuracies.  Yahoo has gone on the record saying that it still has confidence in comScore’s figures, too.

Hopefully everything will be back to normal by the time comScore’s stats for July roll in, then.

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Here’s a little bit of historical info in case past stats don’t come straight to mind: ever since Microsoft and Yahoo first announced their partnership, there’s been a fairly steady tradeoff in market share between them.  Which is a bad thing from both companies’ perspectives, since it implies Microsoft’s paying for technology it doesn’t need.

Nielsen’s data covering May indicates the companies each have something to bring to the table, however.

Nielsen determined that Yahoo managed to increase its market share by 0.3 percent on a month-over-month basis, and Bing increased its share by 0.1 percent.  That left the two organizations with market shares of 13.8 percent and 13.0 percent, respectively.

So now Yahoo and Bing are a tiny bit closer to Google (with its market share of 65.1 percent), and have put more distance between them and fourth-place AOL.  (AOL was in fact the big loser in May, getting left with a market share of 2.1 percent after seeing its standing drop 0.4 percent.)

It’ll be very interesting to see if Yahoo and Bing can sustain this growth.  For that matter, even continuing to hold Google back would count as an accomplishment.

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A quick note with regards to Millennial Media‘s credibility: in January, the company saw more than 9 billion ad requests, and Nielsen has confirmed that its network reach takes account of 83 percent of the mobile Web.  So these stats should be pretty solid.

As for how Android performed in April, then, Millennial Media’s report stated, "Android ad requests grew 77% month over month.  Since January, Android has grown 282%."

Photo Credit: Millennial Media

And that’s much, much better than the competition.  The report explained, "Apple ad requests decreased 17% month over month.  Since January, Apple has grown 1.5%."  Also, "RIM ad requests grew 10% month over month.  Since January RIM has grown 36.2%."

So Android appears to be on its way to becoming advertisers’ best friend, even if it still has some catching up to do in terms of overall market share.  (The chart to the right shows how things looked in that regard in April.)

We’ll be sure to provide an update when the data concerning May becomes available and see how much more progress Android has made.

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According to Experian Hitwise, Google increased its U.S. market share from 69.97 percent to 71.40 percent between March and April.  That works out to an increase of 2.0 percent, which is pretty impressive.

Meanwhile, Yahoo’s market share headed in the other direction by 0.5 percent, shifting from 15.04 percent to 14.96 percent.  And Bing experienced an even worse decline, dropping from a market share of 9.62 percent to 9.43 percent (which equals a loss of 2.0 percent).

Finally, if you’re curious, Experian Hitwise found that Ask suffered a catastrophic loss of users as its market share sunk from 3.44 percent to 2.18 percent (which works out to a loss of 36.6 percent).

April was definitely a good month for Google, then, judging by these stats.  It’ll just be interesting to see if Google’s victory looks quite as complete once the Nielsen and comScore numbers roll in.

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In order to understand the value of a Facebook ad impression, Nielsen analyzed over six months of survey data from 800,000 Facebook users in response to more than 125 Facebook ad campaigns from 70 different brand advertisers.

The study — after analyzing reach via impressions and effectiveness of impressions — concluded that earned media and social advocacy contributed to Facebookers being much more likely to notice ads, absorb their content and make purchases.

Paid vs. Earned Media

In arriving at the aforementioned conclusion, Nielsen looked at three types of impressions on Facebook, and categorized them as either paid media, earned media or both.

• Homepage ads: Homepage ads above-the-fold that contain ad creative as well as an option for users to engage with the brand (eg, “Become a Fan”). This is an example of paid media.
• Social impressions: Homepage ads that include social context, like the names of users’ friends who are already fans of the brand. This is an example of a hybrid ad that is both parts paid and earned media.
• Organic impression: Social stories that appear on the homepage of friends of users who have engaged with a brand or become a fan of that brand. This is an example of earned media.

Earned media is being used to describe brand mentions on Facebook that are broadcasted/shared by the consumer, whereas the hybrid organic impression is a more calculated way to create earned media around paid media and better control the message.

The data clearly shows that the social advocacy of earned media played a substantial role in the performance of homepage ads on Facebook. According to the data, ad recall grew from 10% to 16%, awareness doubled from 4% to 8% and purchase intent quadrupled from 2% to 8%. That last metric is perhaps the most telling, and shows that when a Facebook user advocates for an ad, the ad is 4x more likely to result in a purchase.

In the organic impression department, Nielsen found that “those users exposed to both the ‘paid ad’ and the organic impression remembered the ad at three times the rate of those just exposed to the paid homepage ad,” and that “homepage ads increased awareness of the product or brand by 4% on average, but exposure to both homepage ads and organic ads increased awareness by a delta of 13% versus the control group.”

The bottom line is that the more the user was exposed to paid and earned media — with a combination of both packing a powerful punch — the greater the ad recall, awareness and purchase intent.

Tips for Advertisers

Nielsen recommends the following tips for advertisers looking to capitalize on their data:

• Start with engaging homepage impressions; these will drive more organic impressions and the engagement rate goes up as the organic impressions go up.
• Buy paid media on social networks; it’s the catalyst for more earned media.
• Balance reach and frequency across homepage, social, and organic impressions.

You can read the full report below for even more information and tips on how to leverage earned and paid media on Facebook.

Understanding the Value of a Social Media Impression

[Img credits: Nielsen]

Tags: earned media, facebook, facebook ads, MARKETING, Nielsen, paid media

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Movies, music, and games top a new list from Nielsen of the content types that consumers are most willing to pay for online. The data, which comes from a survey of 27,000 consumers across 52 countries, also indicates that content created online – like blogs, podcasts, and video – are least likely to attract consumer’s dollars.

At face value, the findings might seem like good news for old media companies that are increasingly eying paywalls as a source of salvation, as consumers did indicate more of a willingness to pay for online newspapers, magazines and radio than their user-generated counterparts. You can see all of the findings in this chart:

However, Nielsen also found that “nearly eight out of every ten (79%) would no longer use a web site that charges them, presuming they can find the same information at no cost.” In other words, unless your organization breaks lots of exclusive and important stories, charging for content will be a major uphill battle.

How do the findings compare to your willingness to pay for various forms of content? Let us know in the comments.

Tags: media, online content, paywalls, trending

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Originally posted at The Digital Home

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Nielsen polled more than 27,000 consumers in 54 countries to determine attitudes about paying for online content and to gauge what types of content consumers were most likely to support financially.

More than half (57%) of global consumers are willing to pay for professionally produced content such as music and movies, while 50 percent are willing to pay for current Tv shows.

Only 20 percent of consumers are willing to pay for blogs and less than a quarter (24%) would pay for user-generated video content. Nielsen found consumers are more likely to spend money on what they currently pay for, instead of what they already receive for free.

Nearly half of global respondents indicated they would be open to more ads to support free content, but that varies by market. For example, 57 percent of respondents in the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan are more open to advertising, while just 40 percent in North America and 39 percent in Europe feel the same way.

Related Articles:

> Nielsen Also Puts Bing Up In November

> November Online Video Trends A Mixed Bag

> Online Video Viewing Continues To Boom

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Remember when Steve Ballmer said that there’s “no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share?” Well, according to Nielsen, the iPhone 3G is currently the number one mobile phone in the U.S., holding 4 percent of the market. Not bad for a smartphone, eh, Steve?

The iPhone 3G is followed by RIM BlackBerry 8300 Series with 3.7 percent and the Motorola RAZR V3 series with 2.3 percent of the market, while the rest of the top ten list consists mainly of LG and RIM devices, with Samsung SPH-M540 snugged into the sixth place. Add the percentages of various LG or RIM devices up, and Apple is no longer number one; but Apple makes only one phone — the iPhone — and one can’t deny they’re doing mighty good.

Nielsen also lists the most popular websites accessed over mobile phones. Leading the pack, of course, is Google Search, but Google’s Gmail takes only the third place, behind Yahoo’s free mail service. The Weather Channel holds the fourth place, proving that many users still access the Internet over the phone only to find out if it’s going to rain, while the ubiquitous Facebook is in the fifth place.

As far as brands on mobiles go, Yahoo is the most popular brand, followed by Google and MSN/WindowsLive/Bing. AOL and the Weather Channel hold the fourth and the fifth place, while Facebook has to settle for being the sixth most popular brand on mobiles.

Check out the complete lists over at Nielsen’s blog.

Tags: blackberry, iphone, Mobile 2.0

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Remember when Steve Ballmer said that there’s “no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share?” Well, according to Nielsen, the iPhone 3G is currently the number one mobile phone in the US, holding 4% of the market. Not bad for a smartphone, eh, Steve?

The iPhone 3G is followed by RIM BlackBerry 8300 Series with 3.7% and the Motorola RAZR V3 series with 2.3% of the market, while the rest of the top ten list consists mainly of LG and RIM devices, with Samsung SPH-M540 snugged into the 6th place. Add the percentages of various LG or RIM devices up, and Apple is no longer number one; but Apple makes only one phone – the iPhone – and one can’t deny they’re doing mighty good.

Nielsen also lists the most popular websites accessed over mobile phones: leading the pack, of course, is Google Search, but Google’s Gmail takes only the 3rd place, behind Yahoo’s free mail service. The Weather Channel holds the 4th place, proving that many users still access the internet over the phone only to find out if it’s going to rain, while the ubiquitous Facebook is in the 5th place.

As far as brands on mobiles go, Yahoo is the most popular brand, followed by Google and MSN/WindowsLive/Bing. AOL and the Weather Channel hold the 4th and the 5th place, while Facebook has to settle for being the 6th most popular brand on mobiles.

Check out the complete lists over at Nielsen’s blog.

Tags: blackberry, iphone

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Whereas comScore believes Google gained a bit of ground on a month-over-month basis, Nielsen indicated that the search giant lost some – 0.7 percent since October, to be exact, landing it with a share of 65.4 percent.

Also, although both firms are convinced that Yahoo slipped, Nielsen puts the loss at just 0.1 percent (to comScore’s 0.5 percent).  That would leave Yahoo with a market share of 15.3 percent.

Which brings us to Bing.  Nielsen’s data points to an impressive month-over-month gain of 1.0 percent on Bing’s part.  comScore thought Bing just increased its standing by 0.4 percent between October and November.

But regardless of what set of information you prefer to go with, Yahoo must now look a little bit less tasty to Microsoft.  The real question is whether yet another source (think Hitwise) will confirm this trend, and also if Yahoo and Bing will continue to trade places in the future.

Related Articles:

> Microsoft Launches Bing iPhone App

> Mozilla Exec Moves To Bing’s Corner

> Bing Gets A Bunch Of New Search Features

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Whereas comScore believes Google gained a bit of ground on a month-over-month basis, Nielsen indicated that the search giant lost some – 0.7 percent since October, to be exact, landing it with a share of 65.4 percent.

Also, although both firms are convinced that Yahoo slipped, Nielsen puts the loss at just 0.1 percent (to comScore’s 0.5 percent).  That would leave Yahoo with a market share of 15.3 percent.

Which brings us to Bing.  Nielsen’s data points to an impressive month-over-month gain of 1.0 percent on Bing’s part.  comScore thought Bing just increased its standing by 0.4 percent between October and November.

But regardless of what set of information you prefer to go with, Yahoo must now look a little bit less tasty to Microsoft.  The real question is whether yet another source (think Hitwise) will confirm this trend, and also if Yahoo and Bing will continue to trade places in the future.

Related Articles:

> Microsoft Launches Bing iPhone App

> Mozilla Exec Moves To Bing’s Corner

> Bing Gets A Bunch Of New Search Features

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Let’s hit the positive aspects of the Nielsen Wire report first.  Unique viewers, total streams, and time spent per viewer are up year-over-year by 11.4 percent, 17.0 percent, and 12.5 percent, respectively.  And those are pretty respectable numbers.

Unfortunately for video sites, the same counts decreased by 0.2 percent, 0.5 percent, and 5.8 percent on a month-over-month basis.  Which isn’t huge, perhaps, but is still a move in the wrong direction.

As for the overall rankings (we won’t play favorites by characterizing them as either good or bad) YouTube came in first, with Hulu and Yahoo rounding out the top three.  Then Microsoft’s properties followed in fourth place, with Fox, Megavideo, and ABC on their heels.  ESPN, Blinkx, and the Nickelodeon Kids and Family Network complete the top ten.

Oddly, Facebook – which moved from tenth place in September to third place in October – was absent from the November rankings.  We’ve got an email out to Nielsen on the matter.

Related Articles:

> Online Video Viewing Continues To Boom

> Hulu Is Seeing Record Numbers

> Facebook Catapults Into Third Place Among Video Sites

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We’ve known for a while that Facebook users are getting a lot older, but now new data released by Nielsen reveals that the number of seniors (65 and older) using the web has increased by 6 million in the last five years. Not only that, but nearly half of online seniors visited Facebook or YouTube last month, making them their 3rd and 4th most visited online destinations.

The research confirmed a trend that we’ve seen in recent years: that more seniors are becoming active on the web. In November of 2004, there were 11.3 million active seniors online. In November 2009, that number jumped by 55% to 17.5 million. In addition, they spend more time on the web, totaling an average of 58 hours a month in front of the browser.

While those numbers didn’t surprise us, we were interested in data that Nielsen collected on their browsing habits. Take a look at these two tables. The first reveals the most common activities among active online seniors. The second shows the top ten websites and online destinations that this demographic visited last month:

A majority of online seniors check their email, print maps, play around with photos, and check the weather. All of these tasks seem utility-based, but then again, we expect that these numbers would be similar in almost any other demographic. Come on: who here hasn’t checked their email, mapped something out, or paid their bills online in the last 30 days?

The more interesting data comes from the top 10 online destinations table. While Google Search was an obvious winner, Windows Media Player is a bit of a surprise until you realize just how many websites embed the thing. However, the rise of Facebook to #3 on this list, when a year ago it was the #45 most visited website by seniors, is a huge sign of just how mainstream social networking has become. YouTube at #4 is another confirmation of this trend.

This is just what happens when new technologies become more accessible and more mainstream. Let us know what you think of these trends in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, flashgun

Tags: facebook, Nielsen, Seniors, youtube

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Media giant Nielsen Co. is selling eight of its Business Media properties to e5 Global Media Holdings, a new joint venture between Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners. The deal should close by year’s end.

Adweek, one of the brands being sold off, reports that Nielsen has reached an agreement with the new media company to sell off the Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Backstage, Mediaweek, Brandweek, The Clio Awards and Film Journal International. The financial terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed, but The Wrap speculates the acquisition price to be between $70 and $75 million.

In a memo to staff members, Nielsen Business Media president Greg Farrar said the decision was strategic in nature. “This move will allow us to strengthen investment in our core businesses — those parts of our portfolio that have the greatest potential for growth — and ensure our long-term success.”

Also of note is that E5 Global Media will also acquire the Film Expo business. Meanwhile, Nielsen also plans to cease publication of Editor & Publisher — which has been in circulation for 125 years — and Kirkus Reviews.

[img. credit: Adweek]

Tags: adweek, Billboard, Nielsen

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Week-over-week, however, traffic to these sites has increased by as much as 87%, from 3.8 million unique visitors during the week ending November 8, to 7 million during the week ending November 15.

"As we saw in our recent online holiday survey, consumers plan on bargain hunting more extensively this year in order to save money and many view the Internet as the place to do this," said Maya Swedowsky, associate research director, Nielsen’s online division. "Multi-channel retailers can leverage these Black Friday Web sites to draw consumers into their brick-and-mortar stores on the big day."

In addition to the increase in traffic to Black Friday sites, the amount of time being spent on them is also on the rise:

The "most buzzed-about" retailers of the last month, according to Nielsen are as follows:

1. Amazon
2. Walmart
3. Best Buy
4. Sears
5. Target
6. NewEgg
7. Toys R Us
8. Kohl’s
9. Staples
10. Gamestop

"Shoppers aren’t the only ones generating buzz about Black Friday deals. Retailers are taking advantage of social media and using it as a channel to share sneak previews of deals and to get shoppers excited,” noted Swedowsky.

TGI Black Friday has been the fastest growing Black Friday site for unique visitors. This was followed by BlackFriday.fm and BlackFridayAds.com. Have you been going to Black Friday sites?

Related Articles:

> Black Friday 2009: The Best Deals On The Items You Want

> Google Highlights Searches For Black Friday Deals

> Nielsen Looks at Online Retail Category Performance

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"In a nutshell, there is a segment of the online population that uses social media as a core navigation and information discovery tool — roughly 18 percent of users see it as core to finding new information. While still a smaller percentage than those who use search engines or portals like Yahoo! or MSN, it is a significant figure," says Nielsen. "And as social media usage continues to increase (unique visitors to Twitter.com increased 959% YOY in August) I can only expect this figure to grow."

If you were still questioning the possibilities of getting traffic from social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc., perhaps this information will help ease your doubts. While the traffic may not always be as significant as what comes from search, additional traffic is additional traffic, and the viral potential offered by social networks shouldn’t be ignored.

The following graph from Nielsen shows how big of a role sites besides search engines play in actual searches for new information online.

"At the root of the changing nature of content discovery is the sheer amount of information that is available on the Web," says Nielsen. "If you want to learn more about the latest smartphone released into the market, your favorite search engine is sure to provide you with hundreds, if not thousands, of articles about the device. But with the increasing number of resources available, it’s difficult to know what you should believe or take at face value."

According to the firm’s findings, 26% of "socializers" or those who spend over 10% or more of their online time on social media, feel that there is too much information online. Nielsen says, "So are social networks replacing portals or search engines? Perhaps. Regardless, if we don’t understand and address people feeling increasingly alienated by the amount of information on the Internet, and the need for a human guide, yes, your favorite social network (or something like it) will become the next great content gateway."

Of course the search engines are built on a cross between human and mechanical elements. Google’s search quality team has been discussing this very process. Personally, I’m all for social media, but I don’t usually have too much trouble finding the information I seek using search. If anything, I think the information overload simply stresses the need for the continued improvement in search quality.

Your friends may not have all the answers you seek. Furthermore, if you are asking people you don’t know, why would you trust them any more than search results?

Search and social media are not completely separate entities. Social networks have search functionality and search engines search through social networks. It’s all intertwined.

Do you think social media could ever replace search? Share your thoughts.

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Online retailers may not feel the hit as much as some brick and mortars, however. According to Nielsen, online retailers, as well as value retailers like dollar stores, discounters, and club stores will attract "the lion’s share" of holiday spending. The firm says consumers will want to minimize trips and search for the best values.

According to Nielsen’s findings, 86% of consumers expect to spend the same or less than lest year. There is a 7% increase in the "less" category, from last year. Still, Nielsen thinks holiday sales will rise 0.03%, accounting for $90 billion.

"Given everything the consumer has absorbed over the past 12 to 18 months, the fact that we expect this coming holiday season to be flat in dollars can be viewed as a modest positive," says James Russo, Vice President, Global Consumer Insights at the Nielsen Company.

"Americans have undergone a fundamental change in how they spend their money, and the days of stretching finances to make purchases not deemed as necessary are over, at least for the time being," adds Russo. "That said, our research has shown that consumers are looking forward to loosening their purse strings a bit, but only once they feel more confident about the state of the economy and their personal financial situation."

October approaches. Many consumers begin shopping well before Thanksgiving, and that means the time is close at hand to begin preparing. Online discounts and free shipping have historically been popular motivators for purchases. If you can swing these things, it will likely be in your best interest to do so.

It’s as good a time as any to get heavily involved in social network participation as well. If you’re a retailer, you’ll want to be out there conversing and staying in people’s minds as they search for gift ideas for their friends and families.

Nielsen says traditional items like apparel, toys and technology will be the most popular categories, but at restrained levels and primarily sold in "value" channels. They say products like cookware, kitchen items, bed and bath accessories and alcoholic beverages will also do well. Gift cards are one category where consumers plan to spend more this holiday season, followed by toys and apparel. Office supplies, pet stores, home improvement and drug retailers are not expected to so as well.

A couple of additional findings were that 20% of households said that they had no plans to entertain at home or away from home during the holidays, and spending cut-backs are being driven by all income groups.

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