December 5th, 2006

Message From Michael                    
                                                                                                                                                 

• WELCOME TO MY WORLD – THE DIGITAL FUTURE


• THINGS YOU KNEW AND THINGS NEW


• THE DIGITAL FUTURE FOR JOURNALISM GRADS


• COCKTAIL CHATTER

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• WELCOME TO MY WORLD  – THE DIGITAL FUTURE:  And it’s a world, according to a survey by the USC – Annenberg School, in which it appears a more benign form of The Matrix is closer than you think.  In the movie, our world turns out to be an artificial reality created by sentient machines. It turns out that many people prefer that ‘artificial’ reality.  In the school’s sixth annual Digital Future Project report nearly half (43%) of Internet users who are members of online communities “feel as strongly about their virtual community as they do about their real community.”   Think about that for a little bit.  Finished thinking about it?  Okay, let’s add some more facts to think about.  More than half  of those online community members (56.6%) log on every day with nearly three-fourths (70.4%) saying they sometimes or always interact with other members of their online community.  These Internet users report they have “met” an average of 4.65 friends online whom they never “met” in person.  But in the real world version, Internet users report they have met an average of 1.6 friends “in person” whom they originally met online. (Isn’t it appropriate that the report indicates fractions of people?) Despite that ability to reach out globally, less than half (42.8%) say going online has increased the number of people they regularly stay in contact with, and a little more than a third (37.7%) say they are communicating more with family and friends since going online.  A few more facts to add to the online community mix.  The number of those Internet users keeping a blog has doubled in three years (from 3.2% in 2003 to 7.4% in 2006) as has the number posting photos online (now 23.6%, up from 11%) while one in eight users (12.5%) now maintain their own website.A couple of caveats.  One, the reference to people in virtual communities is based on a universe of Internet users.  Of course nearly three quarters of Americans (77.6% of those age 12 and older) are Internet users.  The report also indicates there are, what it calls, “electronic dropouts” who are Internet ‘non-users.’  Two, the study tracks the impact of online technology by tracking the same households (2,000 individuals total) each year to see how things change.  But it is unclear, based on just the summary, how many are members of these on-line communities which the study defines as a group that shares thoughts and ideas or works on common projects through electronic communication only.    Interestingly, or oddly, depending on your view, the director of the center, Jeffrey I. Cole, says the changes show the Internet is becoming “a comprehensive tool that Americans are using to touch the world.”  The report says that people are using the Internet as “an instrument for personal engagement” through blogs, personal websites and online communities.        


• THINGS YOU KNEW AND THINGS NEW:  Regular readers of MfM will find many of the findings to be ‘things you knew’ such as the fact that broadband users  spend more time online than modem users; that more than a third (35.5%) say they spend less time watching TV since they began using the Internet; that Internet users express a high concern about the privacy of their personal information; that many (59.3%) believe the Internet can be a valuable tool in the political process although the number (18.9%) who believe it will help give them a say in government is low; and that the percent who believe the Internet makes them more productive at work continues to increase.  But some things I found to be ‘new’ are that in 2006, for the first time, the percentage of women going online was higher than the number of men; that while the average number of hours spent online has increased a full hour in the last year to an average of 8.9 hours per week, the average number of hours spent online at work has increased even more from 5.6 hours a week in 2005 to (what still strikes me as low) 7.8 hours a week; and that while we all know the Internet is an important source of information and entertainment for Internet users, the percentage of those who consider it ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ important has risen to two-thirds (65.8%) of all Internet users over the age of 17 and that it consistently outranks television.


• THE JOURNALISM FUTURE FOR JOURNALISM GRADS:   Surprisingly, at least to me, journalism graduates are ‘relatively confident’ about the future of the newspaper industry, broadcast television and even radio, according to a survey by some of my colleagues here at the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.  As the survey authors at the Cox Center note, the recent graduates seem to be even more confident than many of the writers in these media.  More than three-fourths (76.1%) believe that most cities will have at least one daily newspaper in 20 years while nearly two-thirds (62.3%) believe the current broadcast TV networks will continue to exist in 20 years and more than half (56.6%) say the same about broadcast radio.  The recent (2005) graduates’ predictions about the future are an over-looked aspect of the annual survey which focuses on the employment picture for journalism and mass communication graduates.  Not surprisingly, the graduates do not expect the media to look the same in 20 years.  Four out of five (81.6%) predict people will get most of their news through the Internet, but only two out of five (41.3%) say people will get most of their TV entertainment through the Internet.  Nearly the same number (37.2%) say they just didn’t know the answer to that last question.Interestingly, or oddly, again depending on your view, the percentage of journalism graduates who either read a newspaper or watched television news ‘yesterday’ has declined significantly over the last ten years, according to the survey.  In 1994, four out of five graduates either read a newspaper (81.7%) or watched television news (82.7%) yesterday.  In the latest year surveyed, 2005, the percentage who read a newspaper ‘yesterday’ had dropped to little more than half (55.8%) which was down nearly eight points from the year before.  Television news fared slightly better with three-quarters (74.3%) reporting they watched yesterday, although that was down a slight two percent from the year before.  Yet, nearly two thirds (65.3%) said they had read or viewed news ONLINE yesterday and that was up two points from the year before.  On a somewhat related note, three out of ten reported that they wrote and edited for the web as part of their jobs.  Interestingly, nearly half (46.1%) say they had read a book yesterday, and that number has been pretty consistent over the last decade.Back to the employment side of the survey, the authors say the job market seems well on its way to recovery from the dramatic declines of a few years ago.  Journalism grads reported more job interviews and more job offers in 2005 than the year before.  Salaries also increased, although the survey noted, just enough to keep up with inflation; but benefit packages also improved.  But the median salary of $29,000 earned by journalism and mass communication graduates in 2005 was nearly $2,000 below what liberal arts students as a group earned, according to the report.  And while the media salary increased by $2,000 for newspaper grads and $3,000 for radio grads and $1,500 for PR grads, it dropped $500 for broadcast grads and was flat for advertising grads.  But job satisfaction actually reaching an all-time high for the bachelor’s degree recipients.  The percentage of graduates who said they were proud to be working with their current employer increased slightly in 2005, although it’s only back to the level it was five years ago.  Three quarters (74.9%) say they are proud to be working with their current employer, and roughly the same say they are ‘very’ or ‘moderately’ committed to the company for which they work.  Lastly, three out of five (61.6%) say they find their work ‘meaningful.’  


• COCKTAIL CHATTER:  Just one item -- December 8th is the anniversary of the death of John Lennon and widow Yoko Ono has called, in a full page New York Times ad, for it to be designated a global day of healing.


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