The statistic of U.S. users is interesting, but perhaps more relevant is that although English is the most widely used language, Chinese will surpass it in just two years. Also, according to recent information from the International Telecommunications Union (part of the United Nations), 2.25 billion people are now online with 1 billion of them using mobile broadband connections. This fact has tremendous impact for PR professionals and for business and consumers everywhere. For the full text of the article, read it here. Perhaps as Internet connectivity increases, particularly wireless and broadband connections in all of the developing countries, global trade opportunities will continue to increase. A Google executive predicted recently that all of the world’s information would be accessible online by 2020. Imagine the possibilities…
I love to read. A time-honored tradition in my home growing up was reading the San Jose Mercury News daily newspaper. I watched my parents do it and enjoyed reading it to stay abreast of current news. This habit branched into a love for reading short stories from the Reader’s Digest Magazine and Condensed Books. I still enjoy pleasure reading and staying current about the news. As I examined my daily media habits today, none of my choices involve the printed newspaper. Nowadays I used various aggregator tools such as Google Reader, FlipBoard and online newspapers such as the Columbian, USA Today and various customized news sources to stay up to date. On my drives around town I listen to music and National Public Radio. I also enjoy reading various excerpts from the New York Times, Wall St. Journal, news magazines and online regional business journals. As a bit of a news junkie, I will read catch up on news excerpts or breaking news on my iPad or iPhone from sources such as the NY Times, Yahoo! and more. When I watched this video about a baby mistaking a magazine for an iPad, I laughed out loud.
This made me think about what my own children are learning from my example. They don’t see me read a printed newspaper or magazine. Do they wonder if I’m playing games on my electronic devices? If the perception (or reality) is that “you are what you eat,” can it be true that “you are what you read?” In an election year (and soon-t0-be-aired Summer Olympics), it seems to me that people are more engaged. It makes me realize the power of PR to influence the media and what we hear, watch and read. Where do you get your news?
Just read the recent Arbitron study that revealed the average person spends 1 hour and 21 minutes more each day consuming media than in 2001. This increase over the last ten years means that literally every spare minute of your time (is there really such a thing as spare time anymore?) is spent consuming content from the Internet, radio, television–literally absorbing new content. The reason is because of the proliferation of digital devices, namely smartphones, that enable 24/7 access to information that we are consuming during the time we normally take public transportation, wait in lines or offices. Smartphones, social media and online radio are the enablers of this behavior. It’s good news for content developers since it appears there is an ever increasing audience and appetite for all things digital. I only have one question: when was the last time you had a conversation with the person next to you at the grocery store, waiting room or bus stop?
The Wall St. Journal technology blog, “digit,” posted commentary yesterday about the ongoing feud between Adobe’s Flash product and Apple. (http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/05/13/from-adobe-to-apple-with-love-not-really/?mod=rss_WSJBlog&mod=) This is an instance of companies competing over technology standards, prompted by new product capabilities (in this case, the proprietary Apple software running iPhones and iPads) and the ever evolving Internet. What’s interesting about this debate is the tactic that Adobe has used to draw attention–an advertising campaign. This is not unique in and of itself, however, the company has put itself front and center in the spotlight and resulted in a more public “back and forth” from the PR teams at the two companies. Yesterday’s blog post was updated today with a comment from the Apple PR spokesperson who confirmed the company is a supporter of open Web standards, unlike the Adobe Flash product. It seems Apple is correct, according to the W3 consortium that sets web standards. The consortium has officially endorsed HTML5 as an open web standard, which may eliminate the need for the Adobe Flash product. So, it’s a war of words, if you will.
Read a post today that was highly critical of Facebook. Well, to be more accurate, it actually recommended deleting your Facebook account and provided the top ten reasons why this made sense. First, read the article here: http://www.rocket.ly/home/2010/4/26/top-ten-reasons-you-should-quit-facebook.html and then post your own thoughts about it. Is this just a rant of an unfriendly blogger or a well-thought out post by a disgruntled customer. Or, is it perhaps a thinly disguised attack piece by an employee of a competitor? The main question you need to answer is this: Should the company ignore it or respond?
Today Apple unveiled the innovative tablet computer, the iPad. As usual, the carefully crafted Apple marketing hype machine provided widely speculated and carefully leaked information about the iPad that preceded the actual introduction today. According to the company, the iPad is “Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.” Wow, that’s a lot of adjectives in a single sentence. Without buying into all of the marketing hype, I do agree that it does have some very cool new features in a slim 9×7 package. Most importantly, I believe it is a revolutionary product, like the iPhone, and that it will eventually replace my MacBook Pro laptop computer. It’s a slick enhanced version of the iPhone, albeit with computer-esque features. Consider this: it allows easy e-mail access, beautiful video playback, easy photo review and sharing and the ability to purchase and read e-books with simplicity and comfort. No eye strain or small screens that require me to flip pages every 5-7 seconds, like the Kindle application on my iPhone. From an avid book reader perspective, screen size matters. There is an innovative feature that allows a virtual keyboard, identical to the iPhone software that will surely please and or alienate some who prefer a more tactile input. Make no mistake about it, this is the computer of the future! When I looked at the seemingly inadequate storage size, from 16GB to the superior solid state 64GB, I realized three things: 1) the second generation will surely have a larger storage capacity, just like the second and third generation of iPhones, 2) the utility of this product matches how people will use it (more on that in a minute and 3) I will purchase one next year because the price will drop, new features will be added and the inevitable bugs will be fixed. Now, back to point No. 2: When was the last time you spent time updating Excel spreadsheets or typing a novel in Microsoft Word or even storing gigabytes of video or pictures while in transit or waiting in line? Even when I take public transportation or business trips, everything that I usually need to do can be accomplished with this iPad. The proliferation of off-site storage options either through my home computer system or via online storage sites will eliminate all of these concerns in the future. The beauty is that this is simply a lightweight, network access device! (Did you notice the sneaky data plan option from AT&T.) That’s right, sync it to your .me or Google account and you have access to all of your documents and photos stored elsewhere. It’s lightweight, easy to read and for newspapers, which are all going digital, the addition of photos and video makes it a perfect fit. What you begin to realize is that this matches human behavior and alters the use of computer laptops into the evolving market of smart tablets. As an Apple iPhone and MacBook Pro laptop user, it’s currently a luxury with redundant technology. However, there is most certainly an iPad in my future. My only question is always the same and it has to do with AT&T. Will I still be able to use a software hack and connect my iPhone to my iPad to get broadband Internet access when I can’t find WiFi? Or will I care?
Piggyback PR 