Social media and blogging is soaring with Asia a key growth market, according to research conducted by Universal McCann as reported by Brand Republic on May 11.
While I have some concerns about this story (see below), some of the reported stats are quite interesting:
Web 2.0 Sites See Strong Growth
Web 2.0 Web sites accounted for 12 percent of all U.S. online traffic for the week ending April 7, 2007 according to a new study from Hitwise. That number represents an increase of two percent compared to two years ago.
Schmidt: YouTube Growth ‘Fundamental’
As the debate continues about YouTube’s impact on Big Media, Google CEO Eric Schmidt made it quite clear where he falls on the issue: “The growth of YouTube, the growth of online, is so fundamental that these companies are going to be forced to work with and in the Internet.”
E-Commerce Sales See Continued Growth
US e-commerce sales were not only healthy for the fourth quarter of 2006 but were at their highest levels in four years according to the US Census Bureau. On an unadjusted basis, sales reached $33.9 billion, up around a third from the third quarter of 2006.
For the fourth quarter of 2006 e-commerce estimate increased 25.0 percent from the previous year while total retail sales increased 4.0 percent in the same period. E-commerce in Q4 2006 comprised 3.3 percent of total sales.
Cerf: Cell Phones To Drive Internet Growth
There are about 5.5 billion people on the planet. Roughly 2.5 billion of them use cell phones.
Only 1.1 billion surf the Web.
So when Vinton G. Cerf, who currently serves as Google’s vice president, states that mobile phones will fuel the growth of the Internet, well . . . maybe we should believe him.
“The mobile phone has become an important factor in the Internet revolution,” said Cerf. “You will get those other 5.5 billion people only when affordability increases and the cost of communication goes down.”
Google To Spur Growth In Podcasting?
The proliferation of podcasting has been significantly slower than most analysts predicted when the medium burst onto the scene. Within the next two years, however, it is projected that the format will boom due to Google’s efforts in developing an advertising medium for the content platform.
Social Networks Finding Growth w/ APIs
Business Week is reporting plans by many social networking sites to open up their network to content developers, in an effort to grow their user base.
[Facebook], MySpace.com, LinkedIn, Friendster, and Google’s orkut are expected toopen their code to third-party developers this year as well-promising to kick off a spurt of innovation in social networking.
How Long Can E-Commerce Growth Last?
In 2006, spending online increased by twenty four percent, a sizable margin to be sure. The numbers for online retail keep climbing, but do the signs point to a plateau somewhere in the near future? Or will the growth of online spending continue to skyrocket at this fast pace?
Second Life Growth Accelerates
Logging in to Second Life earlier this morning, I noticed in the grid status information that the number of registered users has now passed the three million mark.
Open Up & Say Growth
Matt points to an interesting article about using an open business model.