Social Media goes KaBOOOOM
Just out… From…
Social networking among US broadband users has grown an impressive 93% since 2006, and has increased the amount of time people spend communicating online 18%, to 32% of total online time, according to a new report from Netpop Research, LLC that delves into social networking trends and habits, reports MarketingCharts.
The “Netpop | Connect: Social Networkers US” report also reveals that at the same time as online communications has increased, the time spent on traditional forms of online entertainment has declined 29%, and is now down to 19% of total online time.
social morality
Fascinating piece in the NYT this morning on the death of philosophy – a big headline that is far from true IMHO… but the article has some terrific insights:
… What shapes moral emotions in the first place? The answer has long been evolution, but in recent years there’s an increasing appreciation that evolution isn’t just about competition. It’s also about cooperation within groups. Like bees, humans have long lived or died based on their ability to divide labor, help each other and stand together in the face of common threats. Many of our moral emotions and intuitions reflect that history. We don’t just care about our individual rights, or even the rights of other individuals. We also care about loyalty, respect, traditions, religions. We are all the descendents of successful cooperators.
The first nice thing about this evolutionary approach to morality is that it emphasizes the social nature of moral intuition. People are not discrete units coolly formulating moral arguments. They link themselves together into communities and networks of mutual influence.
Xero to $23m
Xero just raised $23.2m, again proving that great ideas secure great investors. What’s interesting is that they were able to attract the founder of traditional software maker in their space – MYOB – to invest. A massive endorsement of their strategy and product.
What is really amazing is that they have passed the 6000 customer number milestone, double the customer figure at December 2008. It also announced it had entered into a strategic partnership with Telstra in Australia.
I’m thrilled to be an advisor…
Bob For President
Bob’s joined the Blog Council as President. A great move on his part and great for the council.
FREEMIUM
Chris has a great response to The Economist on free models. I’ve long argued that free often gets misread as literally free. (the comments are worth reading)
Every customer comes with a cost. Rather than pay to market to you and obtain revenue now, instead I choose little or no marketing or distribution cost, focusing instead on the belief that you will pay for the product later. These freemium models are all round us. Google is doing it with Picasa. Flickr with FlickrPro.
There are those that also believe that, if you believe, you will pay. CC Cleaner is a great example. Terrific free utility for Windows. You pay to support the product if you think it is worth it. And its worth it. They are essentially monetizing a percent of their customer base that has a conscience or real enthusiasm for what they are doing.
Also worth a read is this survey of free business models online. More links here….
