Internet news sites now more popular than newspapers.

The internet, which emerged this year as a leading source for campaign news, has now surpassed all other media except television as an outlet for national and international news. The latest study from Pew Internet analyzes the news consumers in America and various different ways of finding news. Based on a sample of 2,259 adults, the study reveals that three fourths of the people (75%) who find news online get it either forwarded through email or posts on social networking sites, and half of them (52%) forward the news through those means.

It translates to a large portion of all Americans. According to the report, 59% of those surveyed get news from a combination of online and offline sources.

However, the study also shows that very few people nowadays (7%) are getting information from a single media platform. In fact, nearly half of Americans (46%) claim they get news from four to six media platforms on a typical day. And while TV is still the biggest source of news (78% of Americans say they get news from a local TV station), Internet sits on second place (61% of users get news online), ahead of radio and newspapers. Interestingly enough, relatively few people – only 17 percent – claim they read news in a national newspaper such as the New York Times or USA Today.

Also interesting is the division between news consumers according to their relationship to news. 33% of cell phone owners now access news on their cell phones and 28% use personalized news, meaning they have a customized page that includes news from sources they’ve personally chosen. Perhaps most importantly, news consumers today participate in the creation of news; 37% have contributed to news creation, commented on news, or shared it via social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter.

The entire report is available here.

Defense Department loosens restrictions on social media

Soldiers and Defense Department employees will now be able to access Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media sites on the military’s unclassified network, according to new policy issued this week. That word came in a long-expected memo issued Thursday by deputy secretary of defense William Lynne, seven months after a review of DoD policy on social media was announced in late July.

Good new for military personnel and their families, but also for marketers looking to reach military personnel via social media.

Read the whole article here: http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/policy/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=223100879&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_News

LI report notes global investment in technology – how ’bout you?

If you do business on Long Island, you’re probably familiar with Pearl Kamer. She’s the Chief Economist of the Long Island Association, and publishes quarterly economic outlooks for the region.

Several years ago, before the dot com bust,  I heard Ms Kamer speak within a few weeks of another area economist. The other fellow has a long list of credentials with area colleges and television stations. The gentleman’s economic assessment was quite encouraging – he saw ‘nothing but green lights ahead’ for the economy. Ms. Kamer on the other hand, spoke of her concern that Long Island’s boom was without meaningful job gains. She was worried that the construction boom was being fueled by overvalued home equity loans. She reminded the audience of a time not long ago when Long Island saw many homeowners walking away from properties that were ‘upside down’, and felt that skyrocketing property valuations would leave us in that situation. She left me a little shaken.

Of course you know which of the two economic prognosticators look correct today.

Since that prescient presentation, I have read Ms Kamer’s outlook statements carefully.   Her latest installment for fourth quarter of 2009 can be read at (http://www.longislandassociation.org/UserFiles/File/PEARLDEC09.pdf).  Her common sense summary rings true to me: ‘Although Wall Street is doing somewhat better, Main Street has yet to benefit from the improved economy‘.  It’s worth reading.

The sentence that interested me the most: ‘American multinationals are spending more, primarily for their facilities abroad. Companies that have cut their workforce to the bone are investing in technology, software and other equipment that boosts productivity.’ I see this too. Almost every supermarket now has numerous self scan aisles (which were installed during the recession) .  I also see it for families — with broadband adoption rates in the face of the recession. Verizon’s flagship FIOS product was launched during the recession, and managers claim adoption rates have been virtually unaffected. Ditto for the adoption rate of  ’smartphones’ (the iPhone and its cousins) – which have been even called ‘recession proof‘. Technology continues to become a part of the fabric of our everyday lives – recession be damned.

At Desktop Solutions, during the recession we adopted a ’screen share’ service (Gotomeeting) which pays for itself many times over each month.  We increased broadband at our office, adding some IP addresses — making the servers located there more accessible to our employees.  We’ve pitched our tried and true postage machine. It was a time saver ten years ago, but makes no sense today, when a visit to the post office’s web site yields postage stamps delivered to our mailbox. We compared shipping services for our eCommerce sales, and switched to a lower cost alternative.

A client has improved customer service by creating an online sales rep dashboard that allows reps to see customer status updates online, instead of contacting customer service. Proactive messaging communicates updates on back orders, shipping issues and collection notices directly to the reps in the field. Less time is spent faxing and updating customers.

Another customer has lowered operational costs by creating a portal to communicate with their overseas suppliers. Instead of having to re-key thousands of order confirmations, invoices, and bills of lading previously received via fax, their suppliers now upload the data into an online logistics portal, where it can be imported directly into accounting and shipping software. This also shortens the delivery cycle with these suppliers, since communicating across the time difference is much less of an issue.

Has your Long Island business looked at ways in which you can invest in technology and reduce ongoing costs?

Please let us know with your comments — we’d love to hear from you!

E-Commerce Sales Rise by 5 Percent for 2009 Holiday Shopping Season

comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, reported retail e-commerce spending for the holiday season from November 1 through Christmas Eve totaled approximately $27 Billion, which represents an increase of 5 percent over the same period a year ago.The season featured a strong start and a very strong finish helped by the snow storms that occurred the weekend of Dec 19 – 20, retailers’ willingness to offer free shipping later in the season, and consumers’ confidence in expedited shipping arriving in time.

This was also a year when retailers substantially boosted their use of social network marketing. In these tough economic times, the retailers with sufficient financial resources and a willingness to invest in aggressive marketing and free shipping offers were clear winners.

For more holiday shopping statistics please clicks here: http://www.comscore.com/

Microsoft pays Newscorp to hide from Google

Rupert Murdoch has been talking with Microsoft about removing his newspapers’ stories from Google, and giving the rights to index them to Microsoft’s Bing. Mr. Murdoch appears to be willing to sacrifice a lot of traffic to the websites of papers such as the Wall Street Journal in return for a payment from Microsoft. In effect, he would be swapping his revenue stream from online advertising with a payment from Microsoft for drawing visitors to Bing. This could be a pivotal moment in internet economics.

More on the story here: http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-offers-to-pay-news-corp-to-de-list-itself-from-google-2009-11

2010 LI Works Student Job & Internship Fair

Student Job & Internship Fair
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
4:30pm – 7:30PM
Huntington Hilton, Melville

For more information please visit the Long Ilsland Works website at http://liworks.org/displayarticle.cfm?id=169

Pepsi to Spend Superbowl $$$ online

Pepsi will not advertise its drinks in next year’s Super Bowl, ending a 23-year run so the company can focus on a new marketing effort that will appear mostly online. The nation’s second-biggest soft drink maker is plowing marketing dollars into its “Pepsi Refresh Project” starting next month as its main vehicle for Pepsi. The project will pay at least $20 million for projects people create to “refresh” communities.

A Web site will go live Jan. 13 where people can list their projects, which could range from helping to feed people to teaching children to read. People can vote starting Feb. 1 to determine which projects receive money. Pepsi estimates the effort will fund thousands of projects and says other businesses will pledge money, too.

Read the full article here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hcYLM-TBUMyfMu1WGv7-SRe7LTzQD9CLA76G0

NYEE Pulls off Holiday Miracle

Photo courtesy of NewYork Daily News

Desktop Solutions is proud to congratulate our client, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, on this incredible story. This “Christmas miracle” cites a case of Dr. C. Michael Samson.  He, his fellow Dr. Vincente Diaz, and their surgical team recently restored the vision of a 36-year-old mother from Brooklyn who was blind due to uveitis. After the bandages came off, the Brooklyn woman blinded two years ago was thrilled by the gift of a lifetime – the sight of her two daughters’ beaming faces.

Learn more at http://nyee.edu/highlights-2009hh-christmas-miracle.html

Toys of Hope – Helping Long Island Families

Toys of Hope provides toys, books, clothing, activities and other items to needy and homeless Long Island children and their families. The guiding principal behind the Toys of Hope mission is that all children, regardless of financial status, race, religion or nationality, are deserving of those things which can help give them a happier and more fulfilling life. Toys of Hope also provides essential items to needy families so that they can become more self sufficient and in turn help to improve their children’s lives.

Toys of Hope operates all year round and relies solely on volunteers to accomplish its mission. There are no paid employees and ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of all funds contributed goes towards helping needy and homeless children and their families.

To see how you can help please visit their site at http://www.toysofhope.org/

Happy Holidays from Desktop Solutions

Thanks so much for making 2009 a wonderful year. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2010.