Twitter users rated only 36% of the tweets they received as worth reading, while they expressed ambivalence about 39% and said 25% were not worth reading, according to [pdf] research released in January 2012 by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), which looked at data gleaned from December 2010 to January 2011. “Question to followers” tweets were the least disliked of the various categories studied, with an 18% probability of being rated not worth reading. By contrast, “me now” tweets regarding current mood or activity were among the most disliked, with just a 22% chance of being rated worth reading. Read More »

2011 saw a 300% growth in barcode scanning compared to 2010, and a 1000% increase over 2009, according to [download page] a report released in February 2012 by Scanbuy. In fact, Q4 2011 alone saw more scans than 2009 and 2010 combined. Mid-November through December proved a significant period of new user activation, serving as the driving force behind the more than 3 million new ScanLife users activated during the quarter, a 360% growth from Q4 2010.
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The online merchants who comprise the MarketLive Performance Index made significant year-over-year gains in areas such as visitors and revenues during Q4 2011, according to [download page] a February 2012 report from MarketLive. Results from “The MarketLive Performance Index Vol. 17″ indicate revenue among year-over-year sites rose 20.3% compared to Q4 2010, while visits increased more than 12%. According to January analysis from comScore, retail site categories boasted 5 of the 10 top-gaining web categories by percentage change of unique visitors in December 2011.
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The average US consumer celebrating Valentine’s Day this year will shell out $126.03 on traditional merchandise, up 8.5% from last year’s $116.21, and marking the highest average in the NRF Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey’s 10-year history, according to the February 2012 survey, conducted by BIGinsight.

Total spending for the day is expected to reach $17.6 billion, up 12% from $15.7 billion last year.
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Facebook advertising revenue reached $3.15 billion in 2011, representing an increase of almost 69% from $1.87 billion in 2010, and more than tripling from $764 million in 2009, according to the February 2012 prospectus it filed in conjunction with its initial public offering (IPO).

The $3.15 billion in advertising revenue equaled 85% of the social network’s $3.71 billion in 2011 revenues, with the remaining $557 million derived from payments and other fees revenue, more than quadruple the $106 million derived from those sources in 2010. The proportion of 2011 revenue accounted for by advertising was down from 95% (of $1.97 billion) in 2010 and 98% (of $777 million) in 2009. Read More »

Although both iPad and Amazon Kindle traffic on the Jumptap network grew over the 2011 holidays, the Kindle Fire jumped from 10% share of traffic at the beginning of December to 30% share heading into the New Year, according to a Jumptap report released in February 2012, which also found that iPad’s share of traffic fell 25% from 59% to 44% during that period. Overall tablet traffic soared 229% over an average projected for the day after Christmas, based on historical network traffic, while the day after New Year also saw a 263% boost in traffic.
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Women are significantly more cautious than men when it comes to sharing a variety of personal information on social media sites, according to a uSamp survey released in January 2012. Women are 33% more likely than men to say they are definitely not willing to share their physical address (78.8% vs. 59.1%), 39% more likely to definitely not share their location (52.4% vs. 37.7%), and 36% more likely to definitely not share their phone number (77.3% vs. 56.7%).

According to a National Cyber Security Alliance and McAfee study released in November 2011, 51% of Americans are not sharing more information on social media today than the previous year, and almost half have changed the way they use social networks because of safety and security concerns. Read More »

31% of North American retailers remain unable to identify their customers at the point of sale (POS), according to [download page] a survey released in January 2012 by Boston Retail Partners (BRP), which also found that no retailers identify customers by mobile device. The most common customer contact information available at the POS includes telephone numbers (38%), customer/identification number (34%), email address (34%), name and address (31%), and member/club number (28%).
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25% of adult cell phone owners used their devices to look up the price of a product online while they were in a store during this past holiday season, according to [pdf] a report released in January 2012 by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. 38% of cell phone owners used their phone to call a friend while they were in a store for advice about a purchase they were considering making, and 24% used their phone to look up reviews of a product online while they were in a store. Read More »

73% of Super Bowl viewers say they look at Super Bowl TV commercials as entertainment, by far the leading opinion cited by respondents to an NRF survey conducted by BIGinsight, released in January 2012. The proportion of viewers who say that advertisers should save their money and pass the savings on to them (18.5%) is roughly matched by those who say the ads make them aware of advertiser brands (16.9%). Similarly, although 8.9% complain that the commercials make the game last too long, a similar proportion report that they influence them to buy products from the advertisers (8.4%). Read More »