the Web Chef's e-Bytes

Large Company Digital C-Suites Rare

Two recent studies point to the lack of adoption of digital tools in the C-Suite.  One study conducted by Forbes Insights found a significant difference in Internet utilization based on the age of the respondents.  Not too surprising this study found that C-Suite participation in social media tools was lowest among those 50 and over.  Among the 50+ crowd only 4% were likely to blog weekly compared to the under 40 segment where 56% of executives did the same.  Using newer microblogging tools like Twitter was common with the under 40 group, where 56% read or generate posts daily, compared to the 50 plus segment of only 3%.

Meanwhile UberCEO looked at Fortune 100 CEO participation in social networks and found it to be very slim according to MarketingVox.  Of the total only 2 had Twitter accounts (with one being basically inactive), 13 had LinkedIn Profiles (only 3 with more than 10 connections) and 19 personal Facebook pages.  UberCEO found that no CEO in the Fortune 100 group had a blog that could be easily located by searching on their name.  Here's a slide presentation of their research along with some recommendations that Fortune 100 and other C-level executives should note as they develop their social media strategies with their corporate communications teams.

Fortune 100 CEOs and Social Media

View more documents from Sharon Barclay.

Forrester Projects Growth of Interactive Marketing

Forrester Research has released research results projecting that interactive marketing spending will increase to about $55 billion by 2014.  The interactive portion of total marketing spending is projected to grow from today's 12% to 21% of all advertising spending in the same period.

According to MarketingVox, the report shows that social media spending will grow at the fastest rate over this five year period, reflecting a projected 34% compound growth rate. Search marketing will maintain its lead in terms of total dollars spent, but will grow at a slower rate of 15%.  e-Mail marketing will have the slowest growth rate over the 5 year period.

Forrester also is projecting that overall ad spending will be declining as more dollars are shifted into lower cost interactive channels and marketers continue to watch their spending.

Internet Statistics

BBC reports on a Pew Internet study finding that 63% of Americans now have broadband, an increase of 15% since last year.  There were also a reported 17% of Americans who wanted broadband Internet access, but could not get it in their home location.  This lack of access is something that hopefully will be in part addressed by the stimulus funds working their way through the economy. 

Even in the current recessionary environment more and more people are investing in upgrading their connectivity.  In fact CNN reported from the same study that "more than twice as many people said they had cut back or canceled cell phones or TV rather than Internet service - 22 percents versus 9 percent.

New IB Madison Voices Blog Posting - Trends in Internet Use

Interested in finding out more about trends on the Internet? 

Check out my new blog posting "It's the norm, not just for porn" at IBMadison.com.  The posting tracks some of the latest research results on trends and directions in the use of the Internet.  Included are reports showing that 48% of Americans use the Internet at least one hour a day, 82% increase in Social Networking utilizing and 339% increase in video utilization since 2002. 

Web Tidbits - comScore Year in Review, Facebook

comScore has released the 2008 Digital Year In Review Report.  The report can be downloaded from their site by filling out some limited information.

In social networking news, Facebook celebrated its 5th birthday with a bang as it now has passed mySpace as the number 1 SNS according to Compete.

Free e-Marketing Resources

Are you looking for tips, techniques, guides, case studies and e-marketing statistics? 

If so you might find the following 3 resources of use.

eMarketer co-founder and CEO Geoffrey Ramsey has compiled a 41 page whitepaper "Digital Marketing Now: Seven Strategies for Surviving the Downturn" that you might find useful.  The strategies reviewed are:

1. Become Accountable
2. Search Engine Marketing
3. Don't Ignore the Power of Branding Online
4. Stay Close to Consumers
5. Engender Trust
6. Engage Prospects and Customers Via Video
7. Test, Test, Test

There are specific examples and case studies given for each of the strategies.  The whitepaper can be downloaded after a simple registration process here.

Advertising Age has released their "Search Marketing Fact Pack". You can peruse the pages of the print document online or order your copy directly from them.

Compliments of IDG, BtoB Magazine is making their "2008 Interactive Marketing Guide" available for download as a PDF here.

Global Nibblets - China and elsewhere

ClickZ reports on research by Point Topic reports that China has now passed the U.S. in terms of the number of broadband subscribers.  This isn't surprising given the relative population size of each country, but is an interesting indicator of the changing web penetration rates around the world. 

ClickZ also reported on Nielsen data showing that active Internet users actually declined between August and September 2008 in the U.S., Switzerland, Japan, Germany and the U.K.   It will be interesting to see the October and November statistics, which should reflect the intense worldwide interest in political news and the Obama campaign and subsequent win.  

On the Air - Paul Gibler Interviewed on "In Business with Jody & Joan" 5.19.08

 I had the pleasure of returning for my fourth interview by Jody Glynn Patrick and Joan Gillman for their show "In Business with Jody and Joan" on Madison, WI-based radio station WTDY 1670 AM.  The show provided an informal look at some of the evolving changes being created by the Internet. You can hear the podcast of the show here.

Paul Gibler
the Web Chef 

Web Tidbits - IE and Internet Status

The Global Information Technology Report was released today.  The report prepared by INSEAD and sponsored by the World Economic Forum ranked the U.S. as fourth in Internet infrastructure following Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland.  China advanced in the rankings to 57th.  Other country rankings show up in their table "The Networked Readiness Table 2007 - 2008".  Ranking at the bottom of the list was Chad.  The Executive Summary of the report finds a world of growing interconnectivity with Less Developed Countries leapfrogging older technologies with the installation of WiMax. 

In other interesting statistics, Forrester Research reported a precipitous drop in Internet Explorer's market share with a drop of 11% in 2007 from 88.7% to 77.7% as Mozilla Firefox continued to gain share not only in the consumer market, but also in the enterprise market according to Information Week.  The article also reported that many companies had not migrated to IE7 sticking with the less robust IE6.

Global Tastes - Chinese Internet Use

The Wall Street Journal reported on official estimates from the China Internet Network Information Center that the number of Chinese Internet users now exceeds that in the United States.  The US is estimated to have 217.1 million users, while the CINIC data shows that China now has 225 million Internet users.  This data is supported by other research from BDA China, Ltd, that found 228.5 million Internet users in China.  While the absolute number is now reportedly higher, as a percentage of the total Chinese poplulation it is only 19.1% according to CINIC.  BDA also reported that only 5% of advertising spending in China is on the Internet.

In other Chinese Internet news, Reuters reported on how Chinese bloggers have for the most part been very nationalistic in their coverage of the unrest in Tibet.  While the Chinese mainstream media has not covered this in much depth apparently the "freedom" in the blogosphere has precluded the shut down of opinions from bloggers.