Message from Michael - Media State - Part Two - March29-2010.doc

Message From Michael                                 

                                                                                                                        Today’s Date                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

      TWITTER ME THIS

      RIDDLE ME THIS

      NO MYSTERY HERE

      THE OXYGEN OF THE INDUSTRY

      GO SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST

      COCKTAIL CHATTER – SOCIAL NETWORK SEX

 

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      TWITTER ME THIS:  According to an analysis in the State of the News Media report, there appear to be as many differences between Twitter and Bloggers as there are between mainstream media and new media, or bloggers.  For example, mainstream media and bloggers only had the same top story 13 times out of the 47 weeks studied.  But Twitter and mainstream media had the same top story even less -- four times out of 27 weeks studied.  The blogosphere “mirrored talk radio,” according to the study, turning the story of the day into heated political arguments.  The “vast majority” of Tweets were not opinions or analysis but rather simply information alerts.  The top story line among bloggers was ‘Obama-related news’ while that only ranked ninth among Twitter posts.  And the number one topic on Twitter?  According to the study, it was twitter itself which accounted for a tenth of all tweets.        

      RIDDLE ME THIS:  The disparity, or differences, continues in other areas as well.  For example, as noted in the previous message, network evening news has five times the audience of cable news, yet the network news websites lagged behind those of cable as online destinations for news.  Going further, Fox has more than double the median prime time audience (2.13 Million) as CNN (891,000), yet CNN has more than double (35.57 Million) the online audience of Fox (14.74 Million).  Local television is often cited as consumers’ number one source for news, yet newspaper websites out-strip television websites in most markets.  Newspaper websites pull in a quarter (25%) of all local online revenue while television websites account for about a tenth (10%).  The report notes that may change if some of the newspapers put up ‘pay walls.’  Nevertheless, so-called “pure-play” Internet websites (sites like Amazon or Google that don’t have a bricks and mortar presence) still account for half (51%) of all LOCAL online revenues.

      NO MYSTERY HERE:  While many of those bloggers are critical of mainstream media, the report shows they couldn’t get along without them.  So-called ‘legacy outlets’ like newspapers and broadcast networks accounted for four out of every five items (80%) linked to blogs.  International ‘legacy outlets’ accounted for a fifth (20%) while web-only sites didn’t even count for a single full percent.  Even more startling, three outlets alone provided two thirds (65%) of all bloggers’ linked news articles.  The New York Times (28.7%); CNN (18.9%); and the BBC (17.6%).  And a follow-up confirmation to last week’s message about comparative news expenditures by the cable networks, the study shows that nearly all of CNN’s content was written by staff (93%).  Less than half (49%) of Fox news content was staff written and only a fifth (20%) of MSNBC’s content was produced in house with nearly half of it (46%) coming straight from the wire services.  On the flip side, the Project for Excellence in Journalism report noted that CNN.com had just over half the video links on its site as the other two sites.  However, the report authors note that late last year the CNN site was re-designed to provide more video and interactivity.

      THE OXYGEN OF THE INDUSTRY.  That is how Maine Republican Senator Olympia Snowe describes spectrum in the wake of the debate over the National Broadband Plan released by the Federal Communications Commission.  A little less poetic, but no less hyperbolic, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski calls broadband, “the indispensable infrastructure for the 21^st Century… (and the) foundation for our democracy in the digital age.”  But even while using the oxygen analogy, Snowe adds the proviso that even critical oxygen only constitutes 21% of the air we breathe.  So, it’s not just spectrum reallocation that is needed, but also spectrum management and sharing along with “technical innovation such as spatial multiplexing, femtocells, smart antennas, and cognitive radio as well as even greater fiber optic backhaul investment.”  Okay, I know a staffer wrote this, but even so, you have to be impressed with a senator talking about femtocells and cognitive radio.  And she backs it up with some amazing factoids.  (And you know how I love factoids.) Citing projections by technology marketing firm ABI Research, her op-ed piece says there will be a 2,900 percent increase in mobile broadband subscribers from 2007 to 2014 when there will be 150 Million of them.  To that, she adds, there are already more than 276 Million wireless subscribers in the United States, using more than 6.4 Billion minutes of airtime every day.

The plan outlines six specific goals, leading with the so-called 100/squared plan which is to provide 100 Million homes ‘affordable access’ to download speeds of 100 Megabits, and upload speeds of 50 Megabits.  The plan also calls for every community to have ‘affordable access’ to One Gigabit per second broadband, at what it calls anchor institutions – schools and hospitals.  Those are the two most specific goals.  Less specific, the plan calls for the U.S. to lead the world in “mobile innovation with the fastest and most extensive wireless networks of any nation.” It says every American should have ‘affordable access’ to ‘robust broadband service’ and the means and skills to subscribe; Every American should be able to use broadband to track and manage their energy consumption.  And every first responder should have access to a “nationwide, interoperable broadband public safety network.”
 
As noted in previous messages, the most controversial part of the National Broadband Plan is the issue of re-allocating/ re-directing/ re-purposing or re-taking (depending on your perspective) some of the digital spectrum now owned by broadcasters, for broadband delivery.  The commission and members of Congress have indicated that any release of spectrum should be ‘voluntary.’  And as always, I have barely touched on the plan which runs to 17 chapters and which I have not fully read.  But I will for the sake of my devoted readers, and we will have updates in future messages.

      GO SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST:  All right, I know I’ve played off the Horace Greeley quote before, but if you want to see why broadband is the indispensable infrastructure talked about above, go the SXSW.com website.  The recently completed festival which bills itself as “geek wonderland” and adopts the mantra, “tomorrow starts here” is a mashup or “unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technology.”  The conference and festival which claims that Twitter was launched there in 2007, this year was focused on location-based social networking sites which allows you to tell others where you are “in real time.”    Two of the bigger players, Gowalla and Foursquare, faced off at the conference.  To get a peek at tomorrow, visit the sites web award winners where you will find an amazing interactive website, Waterlife, detailing the challenges facing the Great Lakes; Or Atlas Obscura, which documents the weird and wonderful in the world;  Or We Choose the Moon which shows just how interactive the Internet can be, with a multi-layered combination of pictures and graphics outlining the original moon launch; Or D.I.E. which is not what you think but a German abbreviation, created by a student and allowing you to explore the world through interactive animations.  The winner of the People’s Choice Award was Cornify which allows you to add unicorns to your website or anything else you want.  The best of show award went to Wolfram Alpha, which we’ve mentioned in previous messages, and which aims to make “all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone.”  Anyway, here’s the link:  http://www.sxsw.com/interactive/webawards/winners.     

      COCKTAIL CHATTER:  A survey by a consumer electronics site called Retrevo claims that seven percent of those questioned claimed they would check their social networking accounts during sex… if they had the option.  As far fetched as that may sound, the report by Media Post’s The Social Graf noted a previous survey by Harris Interactive in which 46% of women and 30% of men said they would rather go without sex for two weeks than give up the Internet for that long.  The Retrevo survey reports that 17% said they sometimes check their social network profiles when they wake up during the night.  “Edging closer to normality,” as the report by Media Post’s The Social Graf puts it, more than half (53%) say they immediately log on to check their social network profiles when they wake up in the morning.  Also from The Social Graf, a report by the Association of British Insurers warns that home insurance premiums may increase 10%, in part because of an increase in home invasions resulting from people revealing their whereabouts on social networks. 

Finally, a French-based company, Ultime Realite, is offering customers the so-called ‘ultimate thrill’ – being kidnapped and held hostage.  Cost – 900 Euros, according to trends website Springwise.  On a more pleasant note, Springwise reports that a California company has contracted with Ghana to produce bikes made of Bamboo.  Cost -- $950.

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Message from Michael - State of the News Media - March 22, 2010

Message From Michael                                 

                                                                                                                        March 22, 2010                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

 

      STATE OF THE NEWS MEDIA -- 2010

 

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      SHOW ME THE MONEY:  That seems to be the over-riding theme of this year’s annual report on the state of the news media by The Project for Excellence in Journalism.  And for good reason.  One of the more startling facts cited in the report is an analysis by market research and investment banking firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson that says that even after the economic recovery, by the year 2013, the three “old media” – newspapers, television and radio – will take in 41% less revenue than they did in 2006.  41% less revenue.  That is not just bad news for them, it’s bad news for “new media” because they rely so heavily on ‘old media’ for actual content.  With online advertising showing a decline last year for the first time since 2002, the report says the question for online journalism is the same as mainstream journalism – how to pay for it.  The report notes that after 15 years of transitioning from print to digital, about 90% of newspaper revenues still come from the print side.  In local television, the report notes, online only added 8% to the bottom-line.

Add to that equation the fact that of those people who have a favorite news website (most don’t have one), only 7% say they would be willing to pay for it.  As to community journalism, or citizen news sites, most of their funding comes from either their own pockets or from contributions.  Since 2006, Jan Schaffer of the J-Lab Institute for Interactive Journalism, told the report authors that community journalism sites received more than $141 Million in non-profit funding, which is nice, but is not a lot of money in the reality of modern day media economics. Only a third (30%) of those sites are fully funded through either contributions, donations or advertising.  Even then, the report notes, that in its study of 60 such sites that were considered “exemplary”, four had already died.  The fact of the matter is that while some of these sites produce impressive work, they don’t have the resources to provide the day-in, day-out news coverage, the authors say.

       CHICKEN OR EGG:  Both traditional or mainstream media and new media or community journalism face another similar problem – balancing expenses and revenue.  By implication, the report raises the question whether the cutbacks have impacted the quality of the product, both online and offline, so that consumers are less willing to pay for it; or whether consumers have become such grazers of news, both online and offline, that the quality of the product does not make enough difference for them to pay for it.  Newspapers are the prime example.  The report cites an anecdote which it says is the metaphor for the state of the industry.  Newspaper delivery contractors in Spokane were complaining that the Monday edition of the newspaper didn’t have enough “throw weight” for them to be able to pitch the paper up on the porch of people’s homes.  But not only have they cut back staff, they’ve cut back on circulation to outlying areas and cut-back on promotion for new circulation.  It’s not just newspapers either.  The report notes the continued erosion in network television audiences has seen a continuing cutback in news investment, citing in particular the recent ABC News announcement.  In local television, the report says staffing peaked in 2007, with a cutback of 1,200 jobs in 2008 and 450 jobs in 2009.  And with audiences dropping and revenue in a “free fall,” as the report puts it, stations can no longer just add new newscasts or sponsored segments to make up the revenue. 

Bucking that downward trend is cable news, and leading the way, of course, is Fox News.  The question, according to the report, is whether it’s news.  By adding “ideological talk show hosts” to its prime time line-up, the network has distanced itself so far ahead of the competition that its prime time viewership is nearly bigger than CNN and MSNBC’s audience combined.  While Fox’s investment in news was up 10% (compared to a drop in news investment by CNN and HLN), three quarters of the Fox investment (72%) went to its host-driven programs “including multi-million dollar salaries,” says the report.  So, only a quarter (28%) of that investment by Fox (about $188 Million, according to the report) went into actual news – and that figure is less than half what CNN and HLN spend.  As a matter of perspective, the report notes that, yes, Network TV audiences continue to decline while Cable TV audiences either improve or hold steady, BUT the Network Evening News with an estimated 22.3 Million viewers each weeknight at the dinner hour still has five times the number watching Cable news at any given moment in prime time.  And that’s when more TV sets are in use.

      SHORT ATTENTION SPAN THEATER:  Remember that show parodying consumers’ ADD-like lack of focus?  Well, apparently, that parody may be paradoxical.  The report says that the American news consumer is becoming more and more a “grazer” not only online but with offline platforms as well.  Only a fifth (21%) say they rely on one destination and only a third (35%) say they have a favorite news website.  Most (57%) rely on two to five websites.  Instead they rely heavily on search.  Even then they only read the headline, byline and first sentence of text without even clicking on the story because, apparently, that is “valuable enough,” says the report.  But even though they rely so heavily on search, they don’t range far.  Of the 4,600 sites that the report and Nielsen identify as news and information sites, 7% account for 80% of the overall traffic.  Of those 4,600, Pew put the number of ‘real’ news websites at 199 that were actually “originators” of news content as opposed to “aggregators” or “commentators.”  As further evidence of the short attention span issue, even visitors to those sites only averaged 3 minutes and 6 seconds per visit.  Contrary to what you might have thought, the report says niche sites, focused on health or science for example, have smaller audiences who don’t stay as long and don’t come back as often.  Also, contrary to what you might have thought, while local sites account for more (87 sites or 44%) of the top 199 sites, they account for only a quarter (25%) of the traffic; National and International sites were slightly fewer (74 sites or 37%), but they accounted for double the audience (65%).  The point, according to the authors, is that a broad range of topics can draw a broad range of traffic.

      PAY UP OR SHUT UP:  Back to the ‘show me the money,’ theme, the report notes that while four out of five consumers (81%) say they don’t mind ads on online websites, roughly the same number (77%) say they ignore the ads, with nearly half (42%) saying they “never” click on an ad.  That obviously has implications for the online revenue model where metrics are still in flux.  Do you measure by page views, unique users, page impressions, or pay-per-click?  As noted above, very few (7%) are willing to pay for news content.  The reason, according to the report, is pretty simple.  If you have so many sources for news, would you pay extra for The New York Times version, even though it may be higher quality, when you can get it for free elsewhere?     

      REPORTS OF JOURNALISM’S DEATH:  You know the rest of the line.  Well, according to the report, it’s true.  They are greatly exaggerated.  But it’s all in the eye of the beholder. In its summary of major trends, the report authors contend that “the notion that the news media are shrinking is mistaken.”  How so, you say?  They say that while “reportorial journalism is getting smaller… the commentary and discussion aspect of media, which adds analysis, passion and agenda shaping, is growing.”  As I say, it’s all in the eye of the beholder.  However, what may speak more to the question of journalism’s debatable death is two other trends noted by the study.  One is that because of the shrinking news staffs, the newsmakers are setting the tone of news coverage, at least initially, because the news operations in their rush to get on air or online, often ‘report’ the newsmakers’ version unedited and virtually verbatim.  That version often then becomes the accepted version as it is spread through the Internet.  Add to that the fact that the “ranks of self-interested information providers” are growing.  These are the spin-masters, the companies with sophisticated dissemination methods that often by-pass the traditional news media.

      RAISING THE LAZARUS OF JOURNALISM FROM THE DEAD:  The possible solution to those last two points may be a combination of “pro-am” news and “unbundling” of news, according to the study.  In the case of pro-am news, the report points to a multi-university study showing that even the “best new-media” sites have limited ability to produce content.  As noted elsewhere in the report, most of the ‘new’ news on citizen media sites is commentary, more than news, and most are not updated daily.  The solution may be a collaboration of old media and citizens in a pro-am – professional and amateur – model for news.  The ‘unbundling’ concept is a little less clear.  With consumers by-passing news organizations and instead hunting by topics or event, there is a question of which topics and events get covered.  The ‘civic news’ that may be important but may not be interesting, may also not be covered under this scenario.  So, the question is how do you adjust the finances and culture of newsrooms to get both important and interesting covered appropriately.

      FOOTNOTE OR DISCLAIMER:  As before, I have boiled down the massive report into a 30,000-word summary and then boiled that down further into this 1,800 word summary.  So there is always the chance for some distortion or unintentional disinformation, although I have tried to be as balanced as possible.  Plus, I have to confess, there is more commentary and analysis in this message than normal.  That is why this is only “part one” of my summary.  Also, as a further disclaimer, the past week has been an eventful one in terms of media news.  The federal government released its plans for the future of broadband, with its call for the feds to stake a claim on the broadcast spectrum.  Plus, the SXSW (South by South West) confab in Austin also took place.  More on those two events in a later message as well. 

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Message from Michael - Internet Enemies and History - March 15, 2010

Message From Michael                                 

                                                                                                                        March 15, 2010                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

      INTERNET ENEMIES

      THE INTERNET IN FIVE MINUTES

      A DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN INTERNET HISTORY

      FOLLOW THE LEADER

      NOT CHAMPAGNE

      COCKTAIL CHATTER – TV STATION FOR SALE

      BUMMER FOOTNOTE

 

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      INTERNET ENEMIES:  More than 60 countries experienced some form of Internet censorship last year, according to a report just released by Reporters Without Borders.  That is twice as many as the year before.  Several of those countries qualify as “Internet Enemies” – Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, North Korea, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Uzbekistan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Vietnam. The group says these countries “are determined to use any means necessary” to stop people from using the Internet.  China has created “the world’s largest netizens prison” with 72 people arrested.  The enemies list may not be surprising.  A little more surprising are the countries “under surveillance.”  Okay, Turkey and Russia may be not so.  But Australia and South Korea?  South Korea is often cited as having the best Internet infrastructure in the world, but it also has the “best” laws aimed at restricting Web users by challenging their anonymity, according to the group; while Australia, claiming it is protecting citizens against pornography, is looking at implementing a highly developed Internet filtering system.  The report was released on what the group dubbed Cyber Censorship Day.  The group also awarded the Iranian women’s activist group (we-change.org) its first “Netizen Prize” for their efforts to use the Internet.  The reporters without borders report also notes that many countries have made Internet access and freedom a major goal, including the U.S. which, it says, in January made freedom of expression on the Internet the number one goal of its foreign policy.       

      THE INTERNET IN FIVE MINUTES:  That’s the promise of a creative agency specializing in web design and data visualization, known as JESS3.  It may not be exactly true but it’s pretty dang interesting nevertheless, as it lays out such stats as the fact that Facebook serves 6 Million page views each minute on its more than 30,000 servers.  Or that YouTube serves more than One Billion videos every day while Twitter serves up 27.3 Million tweets a day.  Of the 247 Billion emails sent round the world last year, 200 Billion of them were spam, and that 148 Thousand ‘zombie computers’ (used for botnet spamming) are created every day by hackers who have created more than 2.6 Million bits of malicious code last year.  None of the stats are attributed (as we are so careful to do in our Message) but many of the facts are ones that we have talked about in messages.  In any case, if you want to see for yourself, go to http://www.jess3.com/blog/2010/02/our-social-media-history-animation.html .

      A DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN INTERNET HISTORY:  This Wednesday when the Federal Communications Commission is expected to unveil its plan to bring the benefits of broadband to (and I’m quoting) “healthcare, education, energy and the environment, government, public safety and homeland security, job training and small business.”  One of the most controversial aspects of the plan is the possibility that the federal government will reclaim some of the digital spectrum bought by broadcasters when they had to switch from analog signals.  The executive director of the “Broadband Omnibus Initiative”, Blair Levin, says more than 25,000 filings have been made.  As a side note to that, YouTube has set up a “citizen tube” site which allows people to pose questions to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.  So far, there are only eight questions from 76 people which gathered all of 172 votes.  Anyway, moving on… Levin says the most interesting set of filings focus on the role of personal data in the Online world and what it means to privacy.  As he says, many of the innovative applications developed by businesses involve consumers sharing personal data.  As he puts it in his latest blog, “20^th century notions of privacy protection break down once information is put into digital format.”  And, as a side note to this… a study commissioned by Microsoft shows that fewer than 15% of consumers surveyed in the U.S. and U.K. believe that information online would have an affect on them getting a job.  In the U.S., it was only 7%.  Yet, in reality, it’s ten times that number with 70% of recruiters and HR professionals saying they’ve rejected applicants because of information they found online.            

      FOLLOW THE LEADER:  Okay, so Ashton Kucher has more than 4.6 Million Twitter followers.  But the vast majority of tweet-makers (a term I just made up) have less than ten followers.  Specifically, only a quarter (26%) had ten followers or more, according to an analysis by Internet security firm Barracuda Labs.  Much less than half (40%) were following ten or more people.  However, while those low numbers have gotten a lot of media coverage, it should be noted that the report shows the percentage of people with ten or more followers was actually up from a year ago when only 20% had ten or more followers.  But then again, the report says you have never even heard a single peep from a third (34%) of them since the day they opened their account.  Of course, since this is an Internet security firm, it looks at the Twitter “crime rate.”  When Twitter first started in 2006, only one percent qualified as crime – meaning they had malware or other malicious content.  By 2009 that figure had jumped to 12%.  The report also notes a slowdown in the Twitter growth rate.  In what it called the “Twitter Red Carpet Era”, the social networking site was growing a whopping 20% a month, driven mainly by the influx of celebrities like Kucher and Oprah and others.  Now it’s down to 0.34%.  As always, in the interest of balance, there is another dimension to the Twitter phenomenon.  A market research firm reports that Twitter and Facebook fans are good for business, because they are more likely to buy products they follow (67%) or recommend those brands (79%). 

      NOT CHAMPAGNE:  But they may soon be popping the cork over a new service called Bubbly which is basically a voice-based form of Twitter.  Instead of texting, people leave very short audio messages, from 30 seconds to a maximum of a minute.  And it is catching on like wildfire in India as well as Japan and India.  Just like the Twitter growth, Bubbly’s growth has been fueled by celebrity adoption… in this case, the stars of Bollywood.  The company that launched the service says it plans to skip North America and Europe for now and focus on areas which rely heavily on mobile use, such as India where, by 2012, it is expected there will be 650 Million cell phone users.  Also, just as in the U.S., where media companies quickly adopted Twitter, media companies in Asia are doing that with Bubbly.  The BBC is already using it to send out breaking news announcements in India.

      COCKTAIL CHATTER:  You could become a media mogul.  A Michigan man who has decided he’s tired of the cold weather and wants to retire in Florida is selling his television station on eBay.  He originally was asking for a Million dollars, but says he’s willing to take half that for a ‘cash sale.’  Bud Kelley says the station is profitable, but things like the weekly Bingo game which is one of the station’s most popular shows just take up too much energy.  The station, WKMG-LP, is located in Muskegon (West Michigan’s Shoreline City, according to the official city website), population 40,000.  The station is a low power station, but is in the Grand Rapids market and the station signal is carried on cable. 

       GO SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST, YOUNG MAN:  It doesn’t have quite the ring of Horace Greeley’s original exhortation, but no doubt the newspaperman turned politician would be urging that today because SXSW is the place to be.  SXSW is the acronym for a week long festival held in Austin, Texas, and which features an eclectic combination of new media, new music, independent films and technology.  As long as I was pointing out dates to watch, add SXSW which runs from March 12 to March 21.    

      BUMMER FOOTNOTE:  The “News Industry” has lost jobs at three times the rate of job loss in the economy as a whole.  That discouraging piece of news comes from the Unity (Journalists of Color) report tracking layoffs.  Now, confession here, the news is old.  The report came out last year, but I recently came across it again, as I researched the issue of layoffs and cutbacks for a message reader.  Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, there have been 24,511 layoffs in the print area, 8,333 in broadcast and 1,172 in magazines.  And since January of 2008, more than 200 news operations have shut their doors.

      BLATANT PLUG:  The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is holding its annual Bluejeans Workshop this Saturday.  It’s a one-day hands-on training and learning experience in which “veteran journalists… give you the tools to take back to your newsroom.”  Topics range from blogging, ethics, job skills for the new age of journalism, multi-platform journalism and on-air performance.    

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Message From Michael - Social Studies and Stocks - March 8, 2010

Message From Michael                                 

                                                                                                                        March 8, 2010                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

      THE DEMISE OF DEMOGRAPHICS

      A SNAPSHOT OF YOUTH

      CONFIDENT, CONNECTED AND OPEN TO CHANGE

      INVERT, ALWAYS INVERT

      A LESSON IN ADVERTISING

      CEO’S AND JOURNALISTS

      MOST ADMIRED COMPANIES

      A WEBSITE ADDENDUM

 

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      THE DEMISE OF DEMOGRAPHICS:  That’s the headline on a recent study of the much-sought-after and much-vaunted 18 to 49 demographic group.  Surprise, surprise, the study by the University of Southern California’s Entertainment Technology Center found they’re all different.  Okay, that’s sarcasm, but much of the study (like so many studies) tells you what you probably already knew or suspected.  That is… even if you’re the same age, your tastes and attitudes will differ based on your lifestyle.  Quote: “A 45 year old with a child in pre-school will have different entertainment and purchasing needs than a 45-year-old whose teenage has left for college.”  Or, a 37 year old with a child under the age of 13 has a different perspective than a 37 year old who is married but has no kids.  The study commissioned by The Hallmark Channel identified eight sub-groups in this demographic – College students which comprised a surprising 22% of the total; New Nesters which is people with young children (also 22%); Married No Kids (21%); Recent Grads (12%); Established Families (11%); Single No Kids (10%); and Empty Nesters (3%). 

New Nesters value television more than other groups while Married No Kids are more engaged with friends and activities outside of the home.  Both groups use social networking tools, but New Nesters view it more highly (33% very satisfied) because they use it to keep in contact with friends and family while Married No Kids are less enamored (20% very satisfied) and use it mainly for professional networking.  Although all groups value laptop computers highly, college students are more likely (80%) to rate them as important compared to established families (54%).   A smartphone was the next highly rated item, but here the Single No Kids group were twice as likely to rate it as important (64%) than, for example, the Empty Nesters (32%).  Empty Nesters though were three times more likely to value Tivo or DVR (63%) higher than, for example, Teens (21%).  Teens were twice as like likely (51%) to value an iPod as important compared to Established Families (24%).  The point, says the executive director of the technology center, is that new technologies change the way people think about media.

      CONFIDENT, CONNECTED AND OPEN TO CHANGE:  That was the headline on another demographic study, this one by the Pew Research Center and focused on Millenials.  Add the words, liberal and self-expressive, and the study says you have pretty well defined the generation.  Despite the “Great Recession” and its impact on their job hunting prospects, they are actually more upbeat than their elders about the economic future and the nation as a whole.  Not surprising, three quarters have created a profile on a social networking site.  Also not surprising, one in five has posted a video of themselves online.  A little surprising maybe, four-in-ten have a tattoo; More surprising, half of those with tattoos have two to five; even more surprising 18% have six or more.  Also in the little surprising category, one in four have a piercing in some place other than an earlobe.  And in the category of you can’t judge a book by its cover, more than half (52%) say the most important thing in their lives is… being a good parent.  Nearly a third (30%) rank having a successful marriage as most important.  Continuing that theme of perception and reality differences, and somewhat surprising, only one percent of this 18-29 age group rate ‘becoming famous’ as most important. Also somewhat surprising, they get along well their parents and, the study says, respect their elders.  Somewhat surprising, six in ten Millenials believe families have a responsibility to have a parent come live with them, compared to four in ten adults aged 60 or older.  In the not surprising category, Millenials remain the most likely of any generation to self-identify as liberals.  Interestingly, as an addendum to the demise of demographics study, the Pew study notes that there is “an element of false precision” in trying to set hard distinctions between the generations and that it’s important to recognize that there can be as many differences in attitudes and behavior within the same generation.          

      A SNAPSHOT OF YOUTH:  By Harris Interactive, shows that teens and ‘tweens’ are more accepting of gay and lesbian relationships, but less accepting of abortion or sex before marriage.  More than half of the young people surveyed (59%) now feel “gay or lesbian relations are OK if that is the person’s choice” – a dramatic jump from the one-third (31%) who believed two decades ago in 1989 that “homosexual relations are OK.”  A quarter of them (25%) believe “abortion is all right if having the baby will change your life plans in a way that you will find hard to live” – a drop from a third (33%) who felt that way 20 years ago.  Similarly fewer teens and tweens (44%) think that sex before marriage is “ok if a couple loves each other” compared to more than half (53%) who believed that in 1989.   Acceptance of smoking has dropped from 27% in 1989 to 18% in the latest survey while three quarters (77%) believe selling drugs is “foolish”, almost the same percentage as in 1989 (80%).   

      INVERT, ALWAYS INVERT:  That is one of the maxims of Prussian mathematician Carl Jacobi who postulated (rightfully most times) that many hard problems can be clarified by expressing them in inverse terms.  It is also a business maxim that the “Oracle of Omaha” Warren Buffett uses, although as he says, the inversion principle can be applied on a less lofty level as well.  For example, “sing a country song in reverse and you will quickly recover your car, house and wife.”  His long-time business partner Charlie Munger has a more pragmatic application – “all I want to know is where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there.”  It is that kind of down-home, folksy advice that permeates Buffett’s annual letter to stockholders of his company Berkshire Hathaway and which makes it a must-read.  It is unfortunately un-too-common-sense applied to business.  For example, when measuring what they have, or have not accomplished, they don’t, as he put it, see where “the arrow of performance… lands… and then paint a bull’s eye around it.”  But then they don’t have to.  A single share of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway company goes for $84,487.  It started at $19.  Admittedly that was 45 years ago, but still… pretty dang impressive.  On a conservative measure (per-share book value), that shows a gain over that time of 434,057%, or 20.3% compounded annually.

      A LESSON IN ADVERTISING:  In the letter, Buffett notes that subsidiary insurance company GEICO spends $800 Million a year on advertising.  That’s double the runner-up company advertising in the insurance business.  But it has paid off.  GEICO’s market share has grown since Berkshire acquired it, from 2.6% to 8.1%, a net gain of seven million policyholders.  It has risen from the sixth largest auto insurer to the third largest.  And its float (the amount of actual cash money it has on hand) has risen from $2.7 Billion to $9.6 Billion.   

      CEO’S AND JOURNALISTS:  One of Buffett’s other traits is a self-honesty and responsibility not often associated with CEO’s.  For example, he confesses that he pushed for GEICO to get into the credit card business even though his managers were not enthusiastic about the idea.  It turned into a business fiasco, as he admits, entirely of his own making.  He thought he was older and wiser when he pushed for the credit card idea; it turns out, he admits, in this case, he was only older.  In the same self acceptance of responsibility, Buffett says he handles the company’s controversial derivative contracts because if they go bad, he has only himself to blame.  Buffett excoriates the CEO’s and directors of some of the huge financial institutions bailed out by the government.  The shareholders ended up bearing the cost of such failures when it should have been the CEO’s who should have had to suffer severe consequences.  Buffett is less scathing but no less forgiving of journalists and “sound bite reporting.”  He cites as an example a quote from his last annual letter in which he said the economy will be in shambles in 2009 but it was hard to say whether the market would rise or fall.  The first part was “blared” on news reports without the second part.  The result was the stock market fell precipitously on the day the letter came out.  Buffett makes the point that the complexity of the business can’t be summarized in a few paragraphs (like I’m doing now) or put into a “catchy headline that journalists sometimes seek.”  However, it should be noted that Buffett asked three financial journalists to act as moderators on behalf of the shareholders at the annual meeting which he dubs “Woodstock for capitalists.”

      MOST ADMIRED COMPANIES:  Buffett’s company Berkshire-Hathaway came in third in a survey by Fortune Magazine of most admired companies.  The most admired company was Apple followed by Google.  Microsoft came in at number 11.  Somewhat surprisingly, Toyota came in at #7, but the editors note the survey was taken just as the recall was starting and before it reached the proportions it has now.  Just as surprising, until you realize that this is a survey of investors, not ‘real people,’ one of those financial institutions Buffett talks about – Goldman Sachs ­­-- came in at #8.  Only three foreign companies made the list -- Singapore Airlines, Nokia and Samsung.    

      A WEBSITE ADDENDUM:  In the interest of providing a balanced Message, here is another website for you to visit.  Last week it was shitmydadsays and chatroulette.  Both sites are generating a lot of ‘buzz’ (don’t you hate that word?) but which are (to put it mildly) risqué and, in the case of chatroulette, risky.  So, for something completely different, try woodshedwisdom.com.  On this one, the warning is the opposite.  It has a very distinct Christian message.  But, like Buffett’s letter, it also has some folksy observations that provide an often welcome rest area on the tension-jammed highway of life.  Full disclosure:  It is produced by Freeman Martin, one of the account executives at the university-owned television station, WNEG-TV. 

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