The Young Are More Likely To Respond To Mobile Advertising

It appears that it is finally safe to say that if mobile hasn’t completely arrived it is certainly in the room and recognized for its potential. Should we declare 2010 as the ‘Year of Mobile’? Sure, why not. There will be others and honestly it means nothing to hype it. Let’s look at what’s actually going on at street level.

Over at the ZDNet’s  Between the Lines blog, Larry Dignan tells us about a survey from the Bernstein Research’s Jeffrey Lindsay did some research among 360 smartphone users that follows up some initial research he did in the mobile advertising space. Here is some of the information that you may find interesting

• 67 percent of respondents said that smartphones increased their Internet usage for personal use and 45 percent said work related usage rose.
• 95 percent of users use the same search engine for the PC and mobile.
• 37 percent of respondents say they are clicking on more paid search links and seeing more display adds. Users 18 to 34 found mobile ads to be more relevant than their PC counterparts. Older users panned mobile ads across the board.

As Dignan points out, I agree the major piece of data to be gleaned from this is the fact the younger the mobile user is the more likely they will be responsive to mobile ads. The older users referred to breaks out in this chart below.

I’m not surprised by this and I hope the rest of the industry will take heed. When it comes to mobile there may not be an audience unless your product or service skews young. This is likely to change over time but for now it’s the younger set that will allow mobile and advertising to be used as a phrase while others think that the separation of the two is the better way to go.

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Facebook Attracting Younger Users In The U.K.

The number of 15-24 year olds in the U.K. visiting social networking sites reached 6.8 million in June, up 14 percent compared to the previous year, according to a new report from comScore.

The overall audience of social networkers in this age group is up substantially during the past year, but the time spent on social networking sites is down 9 percent. The overall decrease in time spent on the sites appears to be due to younger users spending less time on secondary social networking sites.

"Recent reports have suggested that 15-24 year olds in the U.K. are moving away from social networking sites because they're no longer cool as older users have encroached on their virtual space. comScore research indicates that is simply not the case," said Mike Read, SVP and Managing Director, comScore Europe.

"In fact, more 15-24 year olds are using social networking sites than a year ago, so there isn't any particular aversion to the activity. What does appear to be happening is that younger users are beginning to consolidate around Facebook and are spending less time on competing sites."

Younger users are increasingly moving towards Facebook as their main social networking destination, even though Facebook has a significantly older user profile than MySpace and Bebo. Specifically, 77 percent of Facebook visitors are age 25 or older, compared to 65 percent of Bebo visitors and 69 percent of MySpace visitors.

"These data suggest that not only are younger social networkers not avoiding their older counterparts, but they are actually gravitating towards a site that skews more heavily towards users age 25 and older," added Read.

"It's likely that the age of one's peers on a social networking site is not a critical factor in how 15-24 year olds will spend their time online. But as people's digital media lives become increasingly fragmented, users are craving the simplicity of fewer platforms - and the dominant social networking platform right now appears to be Facebook."

AdSense tips that you might have missed out on

Google AdSense program is one of the best online advertising programs that are in use today. AdSense program is beneficial to all the involved parties i.e. the advertisers, the website owners and the website visitors. The popularity of AdSense program seems to be the most among the second group i.e. website owners. A number of website owners today use AdSense Ads on their websites in order to earn good revenue on a regular basis. They use a number of tricks and tips in order to maximize their revenues.

Besides the regular tips, there are some other AdSense tips which a number of people miss out on unless they are very careful:

1.    Use multiple ad units: Google allows you to use up to 3 ad units and one link unit per web page. Since your revenue earnings are dependent on ad clicks and ad impressions, a higher number of ad units can potentially increase your AdSense earnings. However, do not go with the maximum allowed ad units if you don’t have enough content on your web page; this might offend the website visitors.

2.    Use wider Ad format: Though Ad formats yield different results for different websites, the wider Ad formats (like rectangles) are generally known to be more effective than their narrower counterparts (there is a scientific explanation for this, but we can leave that out since we are more concerned with the results).

3.    Limit the filters: Filters are useful for blocking the Ads that you don’t want displayed on your website e.g. Ads of competitors. However, too many filters can seriously limit your revenue earning potential from AdSense Ads. So, limit the use of filters to minimum.

Reading RSS Feeds with an RSS Aggregator

RSS or Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary is the latest information management tool that is gradually earning popularity among web users and website owners. With RSS technology, it is possible to get the latest postings from your favorite websites. But clicking on the RSS or XML button in a homepage is not enough to give you the service you need. An RSS feed or code displayed in the pop-up screen if not on the main page is composed of symbols and words that would only make sense to advanced RSS users and computer programmers and software enthusiasts. Another software tool called an RSS aggregator or reader is needed.

An aggregator works by scanning the worldwide web with latest postings based on the RSS code (containing the website’s URL) provided or added by the user. When it finds a new posting, news, or update, it will publish the RSS feed on your home page containing the title of the posting, which also serves as a clickable link to the website source. This RSS feed may or may not contain the whole article, a summary, and photos, depending on what RSS aggregator you are using.

Aggregators come in two types: the downloadable program or desktop-type and the online or web-based type. The desktop aggregator usually charges a certain amount for its services; this would include regular updating in the form of upgrades or patches to the original version. This type of RSS reader allows more customization of RSS feeds as well as page format or design over its on-line counterparts. But of course, price can be a drawback.

On-line or web-based aggregators are free of charge. All you need to do is register an account with them then you can start enjoying their services. Depending on the “brand” of the aggregator, customization is more limited. Some even do not allow you to customize at all.

Product and service advertisers are realizing the potential of RSS aggregators in internet marketing. In fact, several submit RSS codes to several popular web-based aggregators to reach the growing technophile and internet-based market. My Yahoo has been instrumental in popularizing RSS technology to both users and website owners and advertisers.

At present, there are many aggregators to choose from and newer versions of the same aggregator are constantly developed by its programmers.

Below are some of these desktop and online aggregators:
Desktop Aggregators
1.    AmphetaDesk
Advantages:
-    free
-    supports Linux, Mac, and Windows
-    easy addition of RSS feeds

Disadvantages:
-    not maximized use of screen display
-    few options for customizing

2.    FeedDemon
Advantages:
-    user friendly
-    free trial version
-    contains prepared popular feeds
-    allows filtering of RSS feeds
-    configurable “watch list” to manage junk RSS feeds
-    search channel feature that incorporates other RSS services e.g. Feedster
-    allows feed storage for future use
-    tabbed browsers for channel navigation
-    built-in podcast receiver

Disadvantages:
-    supports only Internet Explorer (embedded)
-    paid software (`$29.95)

Online Aggregators
1.    Bloglines
Advantages:
-    all major browsers supported (e.g. Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer, Firefox)
-    user-friendly especially for beginners
-    free, web-based aggregator
-    easy registration
-    no advertisements
-    contains its own directory of RSS feeds of thousands of websites
-    personal email account for subscribing to newsletter emails (optional)
-    allows privacy adjustments for personal blogs
-    allows saved searches
-    mobile version available
-    10 languages supported
-    Additional add-on tools for automated blogrolls and subscription buttons

2.    NewsGator
Advantages:
-    free (consumer-standard version)
-    provides personalized news channel
-    allows translation of RSS articles into email format
-    synchronization of feeds in several devices possible
-    browse and search feed capabilities save time on surfing
-    allows keyword filtering
-    blog headlines
-    button-click automatic subscription to news feeds

Disadvantage:
-    Outlook-based thus limited to Windows

3.    My Yahoo
Advantages:
-    Free web-based aggregator
-    user-friendly
-    customizable home page design
-    button-click subscription to RSS feeds
-    built-in directory and search tool for feeds
-    wide variety of feeds e.g. news (science, technology, local), weather
-    connects to all Yahoo features and services

Disadvantage
-    banner advertisements

There are also lightweight RSS aggregator extensions which are actually plug-ins to existing internet browsers. An example of which is Sage aggregator.

Advantages:
-    free of charge
-    beginner-friendly
-    reeds both RSS and Atom feeds
-    allows feed discovery
-    can be assimilated to Firefox bookmark (storage and live)
-    allows OPML feed lists imports and exports
-    customizable style sheets
-    supports a wide range of locales e.g. Catalan, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Korean, Polish, Slovenian, etc.
-    easy installation

Disadvantages:
-    good for about 12 RSS feeds
-    limited use to Mozilla-Firefox and Mozilla-Firefox supported browsers

RSS developers promise better features in future versions of their aggregators. Microsoft is planning to include a built-in aggregator in their next Windows version. These developments are definitely something to look forward to by all internet aficionados.