Infographics from "SLIGHTWARE: THE NEXT GREAT THREAT TO BRANDS"

This book by Kenneth J. Weiss provides some excellent infographics on:

Forces in the User Experience

Campaigns and Conversations

The User Experience Funnel

The User Experience Lifecycle

Innovations and Artifacts

Above content expert’s from Chapter 1 of Kenneth J. Weiss’s book “Slightware: The Next Great Threat to Brands”

About the author

STELLA ARTOIS LAUNCHES MOBILE AUGMENTED-REALITY BAR GUIDE

The worlds top Belgian beer; Stella Artois has launched an augmented-reality bar guide application called “Le Bar Guide”.   “Le Bar Guide” is a free 3D Augmented-Reality iPhone application that lets consumers search using geo-tracking for bars nearby via ZIP, Postal code, country or user rating. The simple premise of the new application is to enable Stella Artois to promote all bars that serve Stella Artois.

Le Bar Guide fuses the real-world view of the consumer’s immediate surroundings in augmented reality, providing a guide to bar locations.  When the iPhone is held vertically, Le Bar Guide shows profiles of bars in the consumer’s immediate vicinity. The profiles are overlaid on the street view from their location.  Consumers can hold the phone with the camera pointing at the ground and the application will show arrows pointing the consumer in the direction of nearby bars.

This social application also importantly features user-generated content.  Consumers can rate bars according to the menu, atmosphere, other clients and the service.  The application also has a section for comments about locations for other Le Bar Guide users.

The application currently has more than 50,000 bars listed worldwide. Bar data comes from a Stella Artois Web service that provides geo-location information on all the bars that serve Stella in the U.S. and worldwide.

The Le Bar Guide’S handy “Le Taxi” feature even sources numbers for Taxi services from a local country directory.

Using the iPhone is also perfect for Stella’s target of affluent males between the ages of 25-35.    Adding Augmented Reality, the overlay of images on the real world via a device’s camera, adds a heighten experience and a more intuitive user interface.  Moreover, “Stella Artois chose this technology because they believe over the next three-to-four years augmented reality will be the primary delivery mechanism for location-based services. This is where the users are.”  

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UNITEDHEALTHCARE LAUNCHES MOBILE APPLICATION

US Medical insurance provider UnitedHealthcare has launched a mobile application meant to improve consumer access to health care.

The new DocGPS application for Apple’s iPhone enables users to tailor their search to their specific health plan and locate nearby doctors, clinics and hospitals within the UnitedHealthcare network using the GPS functionality of iPhone 3G and 3GS. The application can make searches on 23 types of health care facilities and 58 types of physician specialties.

“IPhone is a popular mobile device for consumers, but we're planning to make DocGPS available for BlackBerry devices as well,” said Matthew Yi, director of corporate communications at UnitedHealthcare, Cypress, CA. “UnitedHealthcare believes in making access to health care easy, convenient and useful for consumers, and we believe this product helps us take another innovative step toward that goal.”

UnitedHealthcare provides a full spectrum of consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services to individuals, public sector employers and businesses of all sizes, including more than half of the Fortune 100 companies.  After locating a doctor or hospital, the application can then show the office location on a map, provide detailed directions, and enable the user to call the medical professional or facility with a single tap on the search result.

Doctor specialties

DocGPS is ideal for individuals on the road who are not familiar with health care providers in their area, such as families traveling on vacation or professionals on business trips.  DocGPS also works with first-generation iPhones running 2.0 software or higher, enabling users to search UnitedHealthcare’s health plan networks by ZIP code, or city and state.

The application is available for download free of charge from the App Store on iPhone or athttp://www.itunes.com/appstore.  Recently a lot of healthcare companies have been turning to mobile and the iPhone specifically.  DocGPS is UnitedHealthcare’s latest consumer-friendly innovation to modernize, simplify and make transparent health care information.  

An October 2009 study by CTIA-The Wireless Association showed nearly eight in 10 Americans (78 percent) said they are interested in receiving health care services via their mobile devices.  “With mobile devices such as iPhones becoming a bigger part of consumers' lives, giving them access to health care via their handheld devices only makes sense,” Mr. Yi said. “We hope all smartphone users would utilize this useful tool, which is available free of charge.”

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7-ELEVEN TESTS THE WATERS WITH MOBILE MARKETING CAMPAIGN

7-Eleven is testing a mobile marketing campaign in San Diego, California with approximately 200 of its stores participating in the program.

The test runs through Dec. 31. During this time, local residents can send the keyword FAST (in Spanish, RAPIDO) to short code 72579.  In response, they will receive a message informing them which of 7-Eleven’s best-selling beverages they have won.

“We are experimenting with mobile marketing to see how customers will react to getting coupons from 7-Eleven for free proprietary beverages,” said Margaret Chabris, director of communications at 7-Eleven, San Diego. “Basically we are just testing to try and get a sense of whether customers like it.  “This test is part of our ongoing strategy of targeting the millennial demographic, which is tied to their mobile phones.”

Four of the convenience retailer’s most popular drinks are featured in the test – a free Slurpee frozen carbonated beverage, Big Gulp fountain drink, fresh-brewed hot coffee and the latest proprietary drink, Iced Coffee.  The promotion is limited to one free beverage per day at participating 7-Eleven stores.

Why Mobile?

For millions of people under the age of 34, texting has become a preferred method of mobile communication, in some instances replacing phone calls.  According to a 2008 Nielsen study, the number of SMS text messages sent has surged ahead of voice calls.  The report found that U.S. mobile subscribers sent and received on average 357 text messages per month, compared with making and receiving 204 phone calls a month.

The text message offers recipients two ways to redeem their coupons at participating 7-Eleven stores. Customers with Internet access on their wireless devices will be able to click through to a screen displaying a UPC bar code, which can be scanned at the cash register.  For other wireless users, the 7-Eleven sales associate can enter the selected numeric code on the cash register for redemption.  The codes are only good for the free beverage indicated in the coupon. The message also includes an invitation to receive future text messages with 7-Eleven news and offers. Recipients can opt-in by replying YES.

The mobile marketing test is supported by both general and Hispanic-targeted radio, outdoor, and mobile advertising.  Participating 7-Eleven stores will communicate the promotion with bilingual point-of-purchase signage.

The convenience chain is also testing mobile marketing for database building and customer relationship management.  "Our consumers are mobile; therefore, it’s critical that we communicate with them where they are," said Daniel May, marketing manager at 7-Eleven. "Our customers use their phones up to 18 hours per day and, to a growing population, it’s replacing their computer and home phone."

Campaign Metrics available include English / Spanish preference, media effectiveness, product-offering interest, redemptions verses participation, day-part participation, and phone and wireless carrier types.  "With the powerful metrics we can gather, we’ll be able to better hone our mobile strategy for 2010,"  "The mobile test with the optional opt-in gives us an opportunity to build a database of 7-Eleven customers through their most personal electronic device -- their mobile phone."  "Moreover, with the data captured in the campaign, we can continue to provide them with valuable offers and announcements of specials in the future," he said.

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CONTINENTAL AIRLINES GETS MOBILE

Objective: 
The goal of the mobile campaign was to generate brand awareness and interest regarding the reduced fare promotion and drive traffic to the Continental mobile site.

Target audience: 
The campaign targeted a mobile Internet savvy Smartphone audience between the ages of 25-54, with household income levels $100K+, and had traveled for business within the last three months.

Strategy: 
Continental ran graphical banners targeted to reach their desired demographic audience across several premium network properties (including MSNBC, NBA, NBC Sports and NBC Local Integrated Media which also geo-targeted NYC mobile users) and concurrently hosted an Insight Express brand study for Continental to measure user perception and awareness of the Continental brand in mobile, and measure user purchase intent on the mobile Internet.  Ads promoted Continental’s inexpensive airfare.

Results: 
Continental was successful at driving increases across all brand metrics, for example, ad awareness increased by 60 percent and Web site awareness increased by 15.4 percent.  Purchase Intent also increased by 22.3 percent and mobile airline ticket purchase intent went up by 22.2 percent.

Lessons learned: 
The airline industry spawned sophisticated advertising which was based on yield management – an approach to maximizing revenue when a business has a fixed, perishable resource and can segment customers into groups willing to pay different prices for the same resource.  For airlines, a seat is perishable as the revenue potential disappears once the flight has flown.   

Airlines simply want to sell the right seat to the right passenger at the right time at the right price.  
What better medium then mobile to accomplish this objective. It’s personal, easy to segment and easy to measure.

“Mobile is an ideal channel as frequent travelers are heavy consumers of mobile search, shopping and travel purchases," Mr. Johar said.  "As new mobile applications are launched on user-friendly platforms like the iPhone and BlackBerry, the travel industry has leveraged information distribution, travel alerts, destination guides and mobile booking capabilities.”

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What’s the buzz? Goodbuzz is hiring.

Have you got an interest in the world of digital?  Have you got skills that you think could enhance what we do here at Goodbuzz?  Then come and work with us!

Goodbuzz is an amazing place to be at the moment as we are continuing to grow at an incredible rate and are seeking to recruit the very best people to join our team.  We are open-minded in our approach to building the agency and value passion, flair and enthusiasm above all else. In exchange for your talents, we offer an informal, sociable environment in which we aim to deliver top quality solutions for our clients.

If you are as dynamic and ambitious as we are, we would love to hear from you.  We are looking to hire across a wide range of disciplines, and levels of industry experience—so if you think you’ve got what it takes, send us your CV. 

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Note:  Goodbuzz is committed to equal opportunities for all, irrespective of race, colour, creed, ethnic or national origins, gender, marital status, sexuality, disability or age. We are committed to taking positive action to promote such equality of opportunity and our recruitment, training and promotion procedures are based on the requirements of a job. In this policy Goodbuzz includes all staff whether full time, part time or temporary, and any person who acts as an agent on behalf of Goodbuzz in employment matters. 

SESAME STREET GOES MOBILE

Long-running children’s TV show “Sesame Street” has launched its first mobile application in conjunction with its 40th anniversary.  

The application, Grover’s Number Special, finds the blue and furry Grover, responsible for counting and catching ingredients at a restaurant when Charlie the cook does not show up for work. The application for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch is $2.99 in the App Store.

"Our objective for iPhone apps is to better serve our audience by expanding on our goal to make educational and fun Sesame Street experiences available when, where and on the devices that people want,” said Jeff Fleishman, assistant vice president for media distribution business development at the Sesame Workshop, New York. “Mobile and handheld devices are particularly good for parents who want to turn five minutes of downtime outside the house into fun and constructive time for their children,” he said.

Over the past couple of years, Sesame Workshop has seen that parents really value mobile content through use of the Sesame Street podcasts and mobile video content.  The iPhone and iPod touch allows Sesame Workshop to deliver high-quality interactive content that kids can use with ease.  Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization that produces Sesame Street.  Beyond TV, Sesame Workshop produces content for multiple media platforms focusing on a wide range of issues including literacy, health and military deployment.


The Grover’s Number Special application includes original video content and encourages visual discrimination, counting and number recognition.   To catch and count ingredients with Grover—users have to tip the iPhone or iPod touch back and forth to move the virtual tray.  Grover tells users how many ingredients to catch and then counts the items with the user. 

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street’s anniversary, select episodes from Sesame Street’s current season will be available on iTunes.  The season’s 40 episodes will include celebrity guests such as Cameron Diaz, Jimmy Fallon, Ricky Gervais and Maggie Gyllenhall. New episodes of the weekly Sesame Street podcast and new music will also be available on iTunes.


Mr. Fleishman said Sesame Street’s presence on iTunes and in the App Store provides an opportunity to get the brand in front of a wide array of people young and old. “Sesame Street has always been written on two levels in order to keep parents engaged with what their kids are watching, but the parodies and pop culture references are fun for everyone.”

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‘JERSEY BOYS’ LEVERAGE MOBILE + SOCIAL MEDIA

Jersey Boys is a documentary-style musical based on the lives of one of the most successful 1960s rock‘n’roll groups, the Four Seasons.  The musical opened on Broadway in 2005 and won four 2006 Tony Awards. The show has had a North American National tour, along with productions in various U.S. cities including Las Vegas, the West End in London and Melbourne, Australia.

Jersey Boys marketing activities targeted visitors to Las Vegas, Nevada—specifically people who were in Las Vegas, but had a home town outside of the Las Vegas area. They were given a special offer to encourage them to buy tickets to the show. Redemption rates for the promotion exceeded two percent.

“Jersey Boys wanted to target visitors to Las Vegas to invite them to watch the show,” Mr. Linner said. “The campaign ran across SMS, mobile Web and in-app ad units.

“The campaign was focused on delivering real-world interactions, rather than interactions on the mobile handset,” he said.

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CHEVY GETS SOCIAL

Chevrolet, also known as Chevy, is a brand of automobile produced by General Motors Co. It is also General Motors' highest-selling brand. In North America, the Chevrolet brand offers a full range of automobiles, from subcompact cars to medium-duty commercial trucks.

Chevrolet targeted ads to people within three miles of a dealership on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. Chevrolet saw response rates between one percent and two percent based on the number of people who visited the dealership.

“Chevrolet wanted to drive people into its dealerships,” Mr. Linner said. “We have run different campaigns offering various incentives—free oil changes, a $25 gift card when you take a test drive, etcetera.

“The Campaign ran across mobile Web, SMS and in-app,” he said. “Each campaign was geotargeted to dealerships and time targeted to the most relevant day-parts.”

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Building a Participatory Brand that transcends Commerce

The Client Ask

At the beginning of (almost) every client engagement (for the past fifteen years) when we ask clients (high-level) what they’re hoping to accomplish—the response is always akin to wanting something “breakthrough”, “compelling”, and “game-changing”.   We’ve also heard “Cool”, “Apple-esque” and a slew of other descriptors.

We get it.  Everyone wants to be the next big thing.  Brands like Apple have established deep, lasting bonds with their customers and are archetypal emotional brands.  It's not just intimate with its customers; it is loved.  Who doesn’t want this?  It’s important to note that it wasn’t always like this for Apple.  Apple took a financial tailspin during the mid-1990s.   Its products were lackluster, it’s branding a mess, and the company looked in danger of going out of business.

What did Apple do?  They decided to rebrand.  Apple abandoned the old rainbow-hued Apple logo in favor of a minimalist monochrome one, gave its sleek computers a funky, colorful look, and streamlined the messages in its advertising.  They architected a brand that transcends commerce and evokes an emotional response.

Building an iconic brand

How did they do this?  A few ways.  Apple has a simple and unique visual (and verbal) vocabulary, expressed consistently across all product design and advertising.  Apple also projects a humanistic corporate culture (and a strong corporate ethic), characterized by support of good causes (and involvement in the community). Its founding mission was “power to the people through technology”, and has also established an emotional connection with its cult-like customers.

Apple's brand is one big tribe, and purchasing an Apple product makes you a member. Building this tribe takes several forms, from building trust to establishing a community around a product or service. Apple capitalizes upon the fact that people want and cherish a "human touch" and to feel like they're a part of something bigger (as it gives a sense of security and grounding).

BUT, all that aside—the one single thing that has allowed Apple (and some notable others like Nike and Harley-Davidson) to achieve what they have from a brand-equity standpoint is that they are no longer selling products. They are selling brands, which evoke a subtle mix of people's hopes, dreams and aspirations. Benetton used images of racial harmony to sell clothes, while Apple used great leaders -- Cesar Chavez, Gandhi and the Dalai Lama -- to persuade people that a Macintosh might also allow them to "Think Different."  People are drawn to these brands simply because they are selling their own ideas back to them, they are selling the most powerful ideas that we have in our culture such as transcendence and community -- even democracy itself.  Apple today is an ideology, a value set, and a symbol of counterculture -- rebellious, free thinking and creative.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE brand

What we have learned from all of this is simply that brands are more important than products. Products have limited life cycles, but brands -- if managed well -- last forever.  Ryan Bigge, writing in Adbusters, said: "Our dreams and desires for a better world are no longer articulated by JFK’s, nor generated through personal epiphanies -- they are now the intellectual currency of Pepsi, American Apparel, and Diesel. We used to have movements for change -- now we have products. Brands befriend us, console us and inspire us”.

Apple’s Secret Sauce

So, you want brand equity like Apple has?  Here’s the secret.  Make the purchasing of your product and/or service the equivalent of belonging to an elite club. Hip, righteous “outsiderism” with an ample dose of rebellion against injustice. 

If you’re looking for additional information on building an emotional, transcendent brand like Apple, read http://mygoodbuzz.blogspot.com/2009/10/branding-taking-page-from-organized.html

Social Media | Q&A

What are the most common mistakes brands make when it comes to social media?

Many Marketers suffer from the "me too" syndrome. If a competitor is doing something special, they feel the pressure to do the same -- even if it is out of sync with their brand or their customers. This pressure comes from the marketer's bosses, the social media specialists, the analysts, the advertising agencies and the media.  It is therefore extremely important to recognize that as a brand, you can only participate successfully when you have permission to do so with your customers (or have a way to create that permission). Along those lines, it's important to start with strategy and do something that makes sense for your brand, is in alignment with your business objectives and resonates with your customers.

What's the key difference between Social Media marketing online and via mobile?

Social media marketing can take place on any digital platform or device.   Digital is digital.  However, mobile as a specific platform has the added benefit of increasingly being location-aware.  This allows information to be served to the user with more relevance and context.  On the flip side, mobile platforms don't allow for experiences as rich as others, but it doesn't mean they still can't be immersive and incredibly social avenues.

 Bottom line is that you’ll need to start with a social strategy and then examine how it translates to different platforms and devices -- whether that be your company Web site, a platform like Facebook, or a device like an iPhone or Blackberry. 

Are Facebook and Twitter the only properties that really matter for social media marketing?

Absolutely not! Facebook and Twitter are both certainly the tip of the spear, but I've seen many companies have significant success with the other social platforms, their own community sites and even mobile-specific social solutions. It all depends on your specific business objectives, what your competitors are doing, where your customers are spending their time and how you want to differentiate yourself with what ideas. The blogosphere, for example, cannot be ignored. Bottom line though is that you’ll need to evaluate the various social platforms and select based upon those best positioned to help you achieve your business and marketing objectives.

Is "earned" media more important than paid media in the social realm?

Building authentic relationships that provide meaningful value exchanges with customers, (and especially those customers that influence others), is most important. That can happen in a variety of ways, whether through paid or earned media, or with those efforts working collaboratively. In the social realm, there's nothing better than true engagement between customers and brands.  That said, earned media is more important, although it is hard to always earn the attention, (and that's where paid and even owned media help jump start any engagement.)

Goodbuzz™ encourages you to submit all of your questions.

SOCIAL RELEVANCE MEETS SOCIAL NETWORKING | FINDING THE INFLUENCER

When most of us think “social media marketing” we initially jump to notables like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace. This stems to reason given their mass appeal and broad user-bases.  However, deciding where to invest your time and energy depends entirely on your objectives.  As demonstrated by the Hitwise data, there are a number of other communities that you may be overlooking. 

A recent article with Scott Monty (who runs social media efforts for the Ford Motor Company,) identified that they (Ford) use social media essentially because a.) That’s where discussions are taking place that are relevant to them, and b.) Ford need to be a part of these conversations “in a way that humanizes the company at every turn.”  To ensure they remain relevant, the Ford Motor Company uses Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Scribd, and Delicious (amongst other social properties), and constantly monitors new emerging platforms and user-communities to see where people are going and the latest trends online. 

Have you considered sites like Tagged or Yahoo Profiles/Groups to find your influencers? Are you considering forums (and other segmented groups) that specifically pertain to your niche? Forums and focused communities can in some cases prove to be more valuable tools than much larger user-groups like Facebook or Twitter.  This is because you’re extending the right message to the right person at the right time.  Over and over again it's been proven - - in this new media landscape one needs to be thinking more sniper-rifle and less shotgun. ;)

NOTE: This [September 2009] Hitwise data from which MarketingCharts compiled the above graph is based on US market share of visits - -as defined by the IAB, which is the percentage of online traffic to the domain or category, from Hitwise's sample of 10 million US Internet users. 

Our Blogs Mission and Intent

Social Media sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter, and Facebook have changed the way content providers and web publishers distribute content. The traffic that social media sites send to web publishers has now become one of their most significant and indispensable sources of traffic. Increasingly, publishers are thinking of every page as a potential entry point for users and adapting the user experience on article pages accordingly.

This blog will explore some of the best practices employed by publishers who have been successful in gearing their brands, user experiences, and content toward increasing traffic from social media sites and providing a relevant experience to help engage those users and more importantly monetize the traffic. 

CREATING SYNERGIES ACROSS MULTIPLE SOCIAL PLATFORMS

Almost daily we get asked for advice about Social Media and creating synergies across multiple social platforms.   That said, our strategist has decided to extend some helpful “Tips and Tricks” every once in a while and here’s the first pass.

1.  You are not omnipotent and cannot be everywhere online. Social media is too broad  - - and just when you think you’ve got a broad swath of your target covered, a new ‘Tween’ community will pop up in Eastern Europe with seven million users.  Look at it like the soft drink market; every country may have there own Cola, but there’s only one Coke.   Start with the social ‘notables’ for your demographic and psychographic target and recognize that you have to be in fewer places, but need do more with those places you commit to – hence the need for cross-media synergies.
2. Activate and energize your followers (or “fans”), as they are not simply to be collected like Hockey cards.  Engage them to generate content (comments, reviews, etc.) and always strive to ensure the relationship is symmetrical and participatory, with a clear value-exchange.
3. Acknowledge the world is changing and the future of the Web is distributed.  It’s a push world now, not a pull world and the days of corporate monologues are dead.  Take the best 2-5% of your existing (most active and participatory) website content and extend it into the social places where your fans and prospects are spending their time (i.e. Fish where the fish are.)
4.  The most successful social media initiatives today marry offline activities with online.  Why? Simply because virtual is still virtual.  The highest levels of activity and engagement are achieved when online activities are used collaboratively (synergistically) with offline activities to promote, amplify, and energize the base.
5. Social media is not meant to replace or offset your ongoing online marketing activities.  It’s supposed to be complementary.   The real secret is to combine the two by using social forwarding tools to extend and evolve the conversation.  Extend social media as another brand touch-point to grow email distribution and segmented ‘opt-in’ lists.
6.  Use the right bait.  Extend the right social media and message based upon your target demographic and psychographic profile.  Forrester™ has an online tool that can assist at http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/ladder.html

Announcing the Goodbuzz™ Newswire Service

Optimized for social-media enabled distribution platforms, the Goodbuzz™ e-PR Newswire Service enables press releases to be a key part of a company’s marketing, visibility, public relations and search engine optimization strategies.

Goodbuzz™ sends press releases directly to the media and premium online locations all over the Internet where interested readers can easily find it.  In addition, a direct-to-consumer distribution platform provides the tools to optimize your releases to make them easy to find by interested people and to rank higher in search engine results.

Goodbuzz™ helps brands socialize in ways that increase their relevance and value in the eyes of their consumers. We ensure a credible social voice is extended online and consumers sense a symmetrical relationship. In this new online world — actions speak louder than advertising— and the relationship between influencers and brand affinity become paramount.  This is where we come in. ;)

For more information on Goodbuzz™ e-PR, please contact: andrew.giles@goodbuzz.ca 

Energizing Advocacy: Why use Social Influence Marketing (SIM)?

Most traditional marketing tools and techniques are increasingly becoming ineffective:

+ Companies are paying $5 to $250 (or more) per lead, yet less than 1% of leads are qualified (source: Forrester)

+ Conversion rates have plummeted to 2% or less (source: Forrester)

About 75% of consumers abandon shopping carts (source: Shop.org)

+ Consumer receptivity to paid media and marketing is at an all-time low. Only 16% trust company blogs and 14% of consumers trust advertising (source: Forrester)

+ 69% of marketers say marketing has "no discernible effect on consumers" (source: World Advertising Research Council)

Social Influence Marketing however provides marketers with a compelling, cost-effective solution:

+ 94% of consumers trust Word of Mouth via Social Influence Marketing (source: Forrester)

+ 84% of business buyers say Word of Mouth via Social Influence Marketing is the #1 influencer of purchase decisions (source: Forrester)

+ Word of Mouth via Social Influence Marketing marketing delivers a 15X ROI, notably three times higher than traditional marketing (source: Harvard Business Review)

+ Word of Mouth via Social Influence Marketing is the fastest-growing form of marketing and 77% of marketers plan to increase their investment in Word of Mouth & Social Media marketing (source: eMarketer)

HOW US CONSUMERS SPEND THERE TIME ONLINE | 2004 VS. 2009

In 2004, US consumers spent 42% of their online time on communications-related activities such as reading and sending email, whereas now (2009) they spend only 27% of their time doing so, according to the OPA data cited in the Factbook.  What's filled the gap? Community-focused social networking sites such as Facebook now account for 13% of users' time, up from virtually nothing in 2004.

Findings:

In addition to devoting more of their online time to community sites, consumers today are spending more time on content sites and search, and less time on commerce sites, than they were in 2004.

As for what specific activities US adults perform online today:
—90% send or read emails
—88% use search engines
—76% check the weather
—75% buy a product
—72% get news
—66% to make or buy a travel reservation
—60% to look for news or information about politics
(According to April 2009 data from the Pew Internet & American Life project included in the Factbook.)