A new study released earlier this month seems to contradict findings from Pew Internet Project’s February report on the declining blog authorship and blog readership among the youngest generation of online users. Instead of seeing a downward trend in blogging, the latest research appears, at first glance, to have us questioning those prior reports.

According to the latest study, this one from BlogHer and iVillage (red flag?) and co-sponsored by Ketchum and The Nielsen Company, young adults known as “millenials” are the top demographic group in both reading and writing blogs with nearly one-third reporting they read blogs and just over 40% saying they blog themselves.

So was the earlier study – the one claiming “kids don’t blog” anymore – wrong?

Sponsor

Odd Demographics Studied

In the new study, the focus was on four age groups: millenials (ages 18-25), Gen X/Y (26-42), Boomers (43-61) and Seniors (62-76).

This is a confusing segmentation of demographic groups because they’ve lumped in some of the millenials with the the “Gen X” group to create a hybrid group called “Gen X/Y.” The term “millenials,” however, is often used interchangeably with “Gen Y,” so it’s unclear why they’ve decided to break up that demographic group in this way. To boost Gen X’s numbers, perhaps? We can’t be sure.

Ignoring Those Under 18

More importantly, the study simply ignores the youngest generation, the one we like to call “generation I” or the “iGeneration” (you can guess why), which was a major focus of Pew’s study. In fact, Pew’s study showed that only 14% of tweens and teens ages 12 to 17 now report that they blog, down from 25% only four years ago. And only 52% reporting reading and commenting on their friends’ blog, down from over three-quarters back in 2006.

In other words, the Internet’s newest users aren’t blogging or all that interested in reading blogs. Instead, they prefer Facebook, said the study. It’s their method of communication between friends and for getting the latest news.

Yes, sigh, Facebook is the new Internet. And the social network’s latest moves will only further solidify that position with the launch of the universal “like” button for the entire web, the “instant personalization” provided by websites like Pandora and Yelp (to start), the “sign in with Facebook” boxes that appear on seemingly every site now and so on.

How this youngest online generation uses the Internet is an important trend to watch. Although their habits may change over time, it’s worth considering that their general disinterest in sharing their thoughts, feelings, news and ideas via blogging is a trend that will continue as they age. After all, who needs to blog when you have Facebook?

BlogHer/iVillage’s Findings

For what it’s worth, the BlogHer/iVillage study found that those 18-25 were the group most likely to write or read blogs, with 40.4% reporting the write blogs and 30.3% reporting they read them. The mysterious Gen X/Y group was a close second with 28.1% of the group saying they were blog authors and 29.3% saying they were blog readers.

Some of the other numbers are questionable, although we have no way of proving their legitimacy or lack thereof. But really: 12.8% of seniors blog? This is perhaps the most shocking number of them all. Nothing against seniors, of course, but I live in a state filled with them, and I have yet to meet a single senior who even knows what a blog is, much less authors one.

At the end of the day, the study’s numbers just feel a little too bullish on this whole blogging thing for my tastes. Plus, there’s little info about the methodology included in the report and, then there’s the fact that BlogHer, a blogging community for women, is, in part, behind the research.

The truth of the matter is that neither this latest study nor Pew’s research is likely painting an entirely accurate picture of the blogging landscape. We’ve questioned Pew’s methodology many times in the past and we’re skeptical of positive studies put out by those who would benefit from the news. 

Our advice? Take both reports with a grain of salt.

Discuss

What a better way to welcome our newest writer at ReadWriteStart than to have the fortune of showcasing her work in the ReadWriteStart Weekly Wrapup? Turns out that Audrey Watters was responsible for writing all of this week’s top posts – quite a way to get things started! This week we discus the future of mobile trends, advice for and by entrepreneurs, elevator pitches, data visualization and the check-in wars!

Sponsor

Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends: The Future is Mobile

Internet analyst Mary Meeker from Morgan Stanley presented a report on Internet trends at Events@Google yesterday. Echoing those trends identified in her 2009 presentation, the report focuses on the rapid and continued growth of the mobile internet and social networking. Claiming that the world has entered the fifth major technology cycle, Meeker predicts that this cycle will be marked by the adoption of mobile Internet technologies, as the trends of “3G + Social Networking + Video + VoIP + Impressive Mobile Devices” converge. Meeker predicts the mobile Internet will be bigger than desktop in five years, noting that by comparing iPhone and iPod touch versus AOL and Netscape users, that mobile Internet is ramping up at a rate far faster than desktop did. Furthermore, she argues that 3G coverage has reached a global inflection point, meaning it is available to at least 20% of the world’s cellphone users.

Entrepreneurs Under 30: Advice From Your Peers

Although the median age of CEOs is 54, one of the fasted growing demographics of entrepreneurs is young people. According to a survey by JA Worldwide almost three-quarters of high school students indicate an interest in becoming entrepreneurs. Although there are a few college programs dedicated to entrepreneurship, even with the preparation from a college degree program many young entrepreneurs can flounder.

To help remedy this, Under30CEO.com has collected advice from its users and offers “Young Entrepreneur Advice: 100 Things You Must Know!”

The Art of the Elevator Pitch: 10 Great Tips

The elevator door opens. And there stands your ideal investor. It’s the chance of a lifetime. But that chance only lasts as long as the elevator ride – you have less than a minute to make an impression. Hopefully, you’ve got a well-crafted elevator pitch ready to give.

The elevator pitch is not the hurried presentation of a full-blown business plan. It’s an introduction, an overview and a pitch – and a short one at that – meant to capture the attention of a potential investor. Of course, an elevator ride is a short one. Guides for elevator speeches that say you have one minute surely overestimate the amount of time it takes for an elevator to move from floor to floor. Of course, an elevator speech isn’t restricted to elevators. Rather, it comes in handy for any occasion where a concise presentation is appropriate.

Visualize Big Data with Flowing Media

As a recent article in The Economist observed, we are at the point of an “industrial revolution of data,” with vast amounts of digital information being created, stored and analyzed. The rise of “big data” has led in turn to an increased demand for tools to both analyze and visualize the information. This bodes well for startups tackling the field.

One new service is Flowing Media, the new company of Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg, a consultancy focused on data visualization services.

Startups and Early Adopters: “Checking In” on Conventional Wisdom

The popular location-based services Foursquare and Gowalla were launched at the 2009 SXSW, and one year later, many proclaimed the 2010 SXSW to be the year of “location, location, location”. With almost 350,000 Foursquare check-ins during one day of the event, and with numerous location-based services launching before, during, and after SXSW, the buzz among early adopters surrounding location-based social networking seems to show no signs of abating.

Discuss

Although the median age of CEOs is 54, one of the fasted growing demographics of entrepreneurs is young people. According to a survey by JA Worldwide almost three-quarters of high school students indicate an interest in becoming entrepreneurs. Although there are a few college programs dedicated to entrepreneurship, even with the preparation from a college degree program many young entrepreneurs can flounder.

To help remedy this, Under30CEO.com has collected advice from its users and offers “Young Entrepreneur Advice: 100 Things You Must Know!”

Sponsor

Many of the tips echo the idea that it’s a cold, hard world out there, and that young entrepreneurs would do well to hire great people, to delegate administrative tasks to others, and to develop strong professional and personal networks, not just of potential customers but of others more established in their field.

Some of the notable themes:

Know Your Market: “I wish I’d know how much easier it is to build a business around an established market that’s already looking for a solution to its problems rather than trying to build the market around the business I wanted to start.” – John Crickett

Money Matters: “Finding the right Accounting / Financial Manager right up front was our biggest learning and biggest mistake. Completely changed our financial performance and caused us to hit a wall we should have avoided.” – Mike Cleary

Don’t Worry too Much about Education: “It is OK to trust your instincts – even when they are not necessarily backed up by years of finance/accounting or business school credentials” – Jenn Benz

Learn to Manage People: “I wish I would have known that the hardest part of owning and operating my own business would NOT have been how to create revenue on a monthly basis. I wish I would have hired a full time IT guy and a shrink to manage with my sales force!” – Bradley W. Smith

Have a Business Plan that Includes an Exit Strategy: “Have a serious exit strategy & plan prior to opening doors. As an entrepreneur I was ready and willing to take the plunge to open my own company, but didn’t realize I had to structure my company around the exit strategy (i.e. make it sellable and transferable, and self sustaining without my everyday presence).” – Christopher N. Okada

Cultivate Strong Support Networks: “I wish that early on I had sought out more business leaders in my field. It wasn’t until I was a bit older that I realized the value of the knowledge to be learned from veteran industry players and how it could help me grow my business.” – Jim Janosik

Take Care of Yourself: “You can’t put your life on hold while waiting for your venture to hit. I have tremendous regret around all of the family events, vacations, and time with friends that I missed because I was working on getting my film/company off the ground.” – Pamela Peacock

You can read the full post here. What advice would you add to this list?

Discuss

New data released from the National Venture Capital Association shows further evidence of a rebounding acquisitions and IPO market for venture-backed companies in the first quarter of 2010. We mentioned back in January about the slight uptake in activity in the final quarter of 2009, and it seems that trend has continued upward into the new year with record breaking M&A numbers and rebounding IPO data.

Sponsor

In the first quarter of 2010, Thompson Reuters and the NVCA tracked a record of 111 M&A deals for venture-backed companies, an all-time quarterly high from their history of tracking deals and the largest since Q1 2008’s 109 deals. Of these deals, 31 disclosed their values for a total of over $5.5 billion, averaging over $180 million per deal. This is more than four times the average deal size seen a year ago.

Information technology companies represented nearly three quarters of the 111 M&A deals (81 total), besting life sciences and non-high technology with just 21 and 9 deals respectively. Within the IT category, software and Internet snagged 61 of the 81 deals but accounted for just over half of the disclosed value of those deals. Life sciences companies continued to rake in more serious cash at a higher rate as over $2.9 billion was spent on their 21 deals; IT companies managed just over $2.2 billion.

Though 2009 saw just 12 venture-backed IPOs, Q1 2010 has already seen 9 IPOs, the largest quarterly amount since the offering-rich 2007 which saw 86 total IPOs valued at over $10 billion. This quarter’s offerings were more evenly distributed among the sectors than the M&A figures, as IT and life sciences saw 4 and 3 IPOs respectively. NVCA president Mark Heesen says the new numbers have “engendered a cautious optimism” within the VC industry.

“The IPO volume, while not nearly enough to declare a recovery, has shown the most improvement since the financial crisis began and the pipeline of companies in registration continues to build. The record breaking number of venture-backed acquisitions is also encouraging as the quality of these transactions appears to have held strong. It is premature to suggest we have permanently turned the corner, but that corner is in sight and within reach as long as we can continue this positive upwards trajectory over the next consecutive quarters,” says Heesen.

What this all boils down to is that venture-backed companies are more likely to find merger and acquisition deals before them this year than they have in several years. Additionally, the IPO data suggests that more of these companies could be going public in 2010 than did during the 2008/2009 slump.

This is a great sign for startups because when more companies are being bought or are going public, that means the economy is starting to turn around and that VCs will likely be more willing to invest in new companies. As we mentioned back in January, VCs were expected to spend more in Q1 2010 after raising an increased amount of funds in the final quarter of 2009. VC spending data on this first quarter should be out in the next few weeks from the NVCA, so stick around to see how those figures hashed out.

Discuss

Nearly 15 years ago, libraries were still primarily a place to go check out the printed, bound word. Only 28% offered Internet access, whereas today, almost all public libraries offer access and are helping to bridge the digital divide, according to a report by the University of Washington on Internet use in libraries across the country.

According to the report, “The wiring of public libraries has transformed one of the nation’s most established community resources into a critical digital hub”.

Sponsor

Every year, 169 million people visit their local public library and 45% of them access the Internet, according to the report. The report, which focuses on the numbers of people 14-years old and older, is based on nearly 50,000 surveys from patrons of more than 400 public libraries across the country.

As Seth Godin pointed out last January, libraries “can’t survive as community-funded repositories for books that individuals don’t want to own” and that the “number one thing they deliver to their patrons is free DVD rentals.”

Now, we can add “Internet access” to the top of the list, as “Internet access is now one of the most sought after public library services,” according to the report.

The report notes that patrons use the Internet for a variety of tasks – from job searches to civic participation to finance to school kids doing their homework – but offers an interesting stat right off the bat: Of those people using the Internet at the library, “more than three-quarters of these people had Internet access at home, work, or elsewhere.”

The library, it would seem, offers a respite from the coffee shop, a refuge from familial fights over the single home computer and an alternative to the dizzyingly slow dial-up Internet that so many still have to deal with. But what are they doing with this new found Internet provider?

Another telling number was that 60% of respondents said they use library computers to maintain “social connections,” and we can’t help but wonder if libraries are giving people a safe place to Facebook-lurk. That is, many places of employment and schools ban social networks – are libraries a way around that for workers and teens?

Overall though, the report does seem to show that libraries are a “technological lifeline to children and families in need”, with 44% of people in households below the federal poverty line using public libraries for Internet access. And while we may make fun of Facebook occasionally, social networking can be a key tool in finding employment and networking. But beyond that, we can see that employment, education and health information are among the top use cases.

In the end, the report calls for continued support for a public system that seems to be the biggest bridge for the digital divide. It is certainly a shift in focus, but we hope that any hard feelings over digital taking away from the printed word don’t get in the way of keeping public libraries funded.

As the report reads, “The findings signal this is a moment when federal, state, and local governments should invest more, not less, in the computing capacity of the nation’s libraries to help advance a wide range of policy goals.”

Discuss

ÜBERCEO is sharing the results of some research, indicating that social media is not much of a priority among Fortune 100 CEOs. In fact, it’s barely existent within their own practices.

Most of these CEOs are not twittering. They’re not on Facebook, or even on LinkedIn – the social network, which caters specifically to professional relationships. The study looked at Fortune’s 2009 list of the top 100 CEOs to determine how many were using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, or had a blog.

Fortune 100 CEOs and Social Media View more Microsoft Word documents from Sharon Barclay.

While the complete findings can be viewed in the presentation above, here are a few of the highlights:

-  Only two CEOs have Twitter accounts.

-   13 CEOs have LinkedIn profiles, and of those only three have more than
        10 connections.
- 81% of CEOs don’t have a personal Facebook page.

- Three quarters of the CEOs have some kind of Wikipedia entry, but nearly a third of those have limited or outdated information.

- Not one Fortune 100 CEO has a blog.

"It’s shocking that the top CEOs can appear to be so disconnected from the way their own customers are communicating. They’re giving the impression that they’re disconnected, disengaged and disinterested," said Sharon Barclay, editor at UberCEO.com. "No doubt regulations such as Sarbanes Oxley and Reg-FD make CEOs cautious about communicating freely, but they’re missing a fabulous opportunity to connect with their target audience and raise their company’s visibility."

It is pretty amazing how little social media is being used among these top CEOs. That’s not to say all of the companies are lacking in the department. It does seem to detach the CEOs a little bit from the human element that social media can bring to a company’s reputation. They are the country’s leading CEOs though, so they must be doing something right.

More employers are turning to social media tools in an effort to deal with reduced communication budgets and to keep their workforce engaged, according to new survey out today.

In its "Employee Engagement Survey," the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) partnered with Buck Consultants, to examine how organizations are communicating with employees to keep them engaged and productive.

Robin McCaseland

"Communicating for optimal employee engagement is always a timely topic, but even more so during challenging economic times," said Robin McCasland, a director in Buck Consultants’ communication practice and 2009-2010 chair of IABC Research Foundation.

"Our results represent opportunities for communicators to have greater influence in delivering messages that encourage employees to remain productive, and to understand how their work contributes toward achieving business priorities."

More than three-quarters (79%) of respondents said they use social media frequently to engage employees and foster productivity, outranking even email (75%). Company blogs are the most popular social media tool currently in use (47%), with discussion boards ranking as the highest for future planned use.

"It’s encouraging to see the rising popularity of social media in employee communication," said Julie Freeman, ABC, APR, president of IABC. "Companies are moving away from the one-way communication model where they would send out information hoping people would read it."

"Using the various social media tools, companies can now engage employees in discussions and foster conversations between teams across geographic and other boundaries."

Current use of social networking sites such as Twitter (21%), Yammer (20%), and Facebook (18%) is significant, but organizations are planning to use those tools even more in the future.

Americans viewed a record 16.8 billion videos online in April, a 16 percent increase over March, according to new data from comScore.

A surge in video viewing at YouTube during April contributed to the month’s significant gains.

Google sites were once again the most popular property with 6.8 billion videos viewed (40.7 percent online video market share), a 15 percent increase over March. YouTube accounted for more than 99 percent of all videos viewed at the property.

Fox Interactive Media landed in the second spot with 513 million videos (3.1 percent), followed by Hulu with 397 million (2.4 percent) and Yahoo sites with 355 million (2.1 percent).

Also making it into the top ten with less than 2 percent share were Viacom, Microsoft sites, Turner Network, CBS Interactive, Disney Online and AOL.

Nearly 152 million Internet users watched an average of 111 videos per viewer in April. Google sites hit an all-time high of 107.9 million video viewers during the month. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 58.8 million viewers, followed by Yahoo sites (45.4 million) and Hulu (40.1 million).

Over three-quarters (78.6 percent) of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video. The average online video viewer watched 6.4 hours of content.

YouTube attracted 107.1 million viewers who watched 63.5 videos per user. MySpace captured 49 million viewers who watched 387 million videos (7.9 videos per viewer).

Hulu accounted for 2.4 percent of videos viewed, but 4.2 percent of all minutes spent watching online video. The length of the average online video was 3.5 minutes.

College students who frequently use Facebook spend less time studying and have lower grade point averages than students who are not members of Facebook, according to a new study from Ohio State University.

More than three- quarters of Facebook users said their use of the social networking site did not interfere with their studies.

"We can’t say that use of Facebook leads to lower grades and less studying – but we did find a relationship there," said Aryn Karpinski, co-author of the study and a doctoral student in education at Ohio State University.

"There’s a disconnect between students’ claim that Facebook use doesn’t impact their studies, and our finding showing they had lower grades and spent less time studying."
 

On average, Facebook users in the study had GPAs between 3.0 and 3.5, while non-users had GPAs between 3.5 and 4.0. In addition, users said they averaged one to five hours a week studying, while non- users studied 11 to 15 hours per week.

The study surveyed 219 students at Ohio State, including 102 undergraduate students and 117 graduate students. Of the participants, 148 said they had a Facebook account.

The study found that 85 percent of undergraduates were Facebook users, while only 52 percent of graduate students had accounts.

Findings indicated that 79 percent of Facebook users claimed it did not have an impact on their academic performance. In open-ended questions, users said they were not on Facebook enough to notice an impact, and stressed that academics were a priority for them.

Karpinski emphasized that the results don’t necessarily mean that Facebook use leads to lower grades.
 

"There may be other factors involved, such as personality traits, that link Facebook use and lower grades," she said.
 

"It may be that if it wasn’t for Facebook, some students would still find other ways to avoid studying, and would still get lower grades.  But perhaps the lower GPAs could actually be because students are spending too much time socializing online."