Weekend Reading - October 31
Pumpkin carving by our own Holly Woolard!
Trick or Tweet: Twitter as a terrorist tool? According to a document by the U.S. Army obtained by various media outlets this week, Twitter is being regarded as a possible tool for terrorists. According to the report [the emphasis is ours],
“Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences.”
For example, terrorists [including “radical” vegetarians we presume] could theoretically use Twitter social networking in the U.S. as an operation tool. However, it is unclear whether the same theoretical use would be available to terrorists in other countries and to what extent, says the report.
According to the National Terror Alert there are three possible scenarios using Twitter:
Scenario 1: Using cell phones and a Google maps/Twitter mash-up to plot where they are, terrorists use Twitter to communicate near-real time to update each other about troop movements and plan an ambush.
Scenario 2: The first terrorist has two mobile phones - one for using Twitter and another which is connected to an explosive device or a “suicide vest.” The second terrorist also has two mobile phones - one for Twitter and the other to detonate the bomb. They communicate using Twitter to coordinate the “precise” time for the attack.
Scenario 3: A cyber-terrorist finds the Twitter account of a member of the armed forces. The terrorist gets information about the target and uses it for identity theft, hacking or physical attacks.
On a lighter side, who wants to be a national hero and tell the U.S. Department of Defense about Twitter’s real-time search?
Who let the blogs out? The number of people who read blogs at least once a month has grown 300% in the past four years, and what they read strongly influences their purchase decisions, playing a key role in ushering them to the point of actual purchase, according to a BuzzLogic-sponsored study. “Harnessing the Power of Blogs,” a research study of more than 2,000 online consumers in the U.S., was conducted by JupiterResearch, a Forrester research company.
For frequent blog readers, ads on blogs are on par with sponsored search results, one of the most prevalent and successful forms of advertising on the web - and trust of blog advertising exceeds that of social networking site advertising.
According to the study, blogs are becoming trusted guides, steering users who are seeking very specific information to places of interest online. “Being able to identify where this is taking place across the blogosphere gives us a window into user intent and a means to better target advertising to a qualified audience. This is great news for advertisers looking to maximize value in today’s environment,” said Rob Crumpler, CEO, BuzzLogic.
Maybe we should consider selling ad space?
Mobile video still not quite ready for prime time. According to comScore, Inc., a mere 6.5 million Americans tuned into mobile video in August. Among the top operators in the United States, AT&T claimed the most mobile video viewers, with 4.4 percent of subscribers accessing either programmed or on-demand mobile video.
According to the study, on-demand video was the most popular format, with 3.6 million viewers. With 1.3 million viewers, amateur videos, such as those on YouTube, represent the most popular type of content, followed by music videos and comedy videos.
Music videos are the top choice for programmed mobile broadcast video users, followed closely by full television shows or films and movie trailers.
The small amount of eyeballs though has a silver lining – younger viewers might be ripe for advertisers.
“At under three percent penetration, the mobile video audience in the United States remains small, but it is composed largely of males between 18 and 34 years old, which could make it attractive to advertisers seeking to reach multi-tasking early-adopters who don’t have time for appointment television,” said Mark Donovan, senior analyst, comScore.
Is the bulletin board on the fridge obsolete? A national survey of 2,252 adults by the Pew Internet & American Life Project has found that households with a married couple and minor children are more likely than other household types, such as single adults, homes with unrelated adults, or couples without children, to have cell phones and use the internet.
The survey shows that these high rates of technology ownership affect family life. In particular, cell phones allow family members to stay more regularly in touch even when they are not physically together. Moreover, many members of “married with children” households view material online together.
Overall, respondents in the survey see much upside and little downside in the way new technologies have affected the quality of their communications with others.
“Families are becoming networks,” said Prof. Barry Wellman of the University of Toronto and an author of the study. “Each household member can be her own communications hub and that changes things inside and outside the household. Family members are neither isolated individuals nor traditional actors in Fun with Dick and Jane homes. Rather, their households are active sites of the interplay of individual activity and family togetherness.”
