Sunnyvale : It's no wonder losing weight continues to dominate New Year's resolutions—a new survey from FITNESS Magazine and Yahoo! Shine reveals that 57% of women polled think they look fat naked and 81% of adults have a body part they hate. The exclusive survey asked 1,500 women and men to bare it all about how they feel about being naked.

The survey revealed a lack of body confidence with women more likely than men to have issues with many parts of their body, primarily their thighs (21%), while men dislike their butts the most (11%).

The results appear in the February 2012 issue of FITNESS, on stands January 17th 2012, and online at Yahoo! Shine and Fitness Online. Highlights from the findings are included below.

Body Language :

When looking in the mirror, 57% of women say they think they look fat, and wish they were more toned and less jiggly
48% of men think they look good when they glance in the mirror
Most Flaunted Body Part:

31% of women ranked cleavage as the body part they most like to flaunt
19% prefer to show off their butts
14% have legs they like to reveal in a miniskirt
Most Hated Body Part:

Overall, thighs are the most hated body part among women and men (14%) followed by arms and butt with 11% of the votes each
Women are more likely to dislike their thighs (21%)
Men like their butt the least (11%)

Nude Attitude :

Only 19% of adults say they would go to a nude beach at any time; 29% said they would only go at night and about 20% saying they would go if they lost weight
47% of women feel sexier wearing lingerie than being naked; 53% of men agree
Adults are more uninhibited at home. Nearly 3 in 4 frequently have sex with the lights on (71%) and nearly 2 in 3 often walk around the house naked (63%). Men are also more likely to walk around the house without clothes on (67%) than women (59%)
27% of men walk around nude in the locker room, compared to only 9% of women.
20% of men have posed naked for a photo; 15% of women have
18% of men have "sexted" someone a naked photo, while 12% of women have hit send
 

More business-to-business companies are using social media as part of their marketing mix. Some have found that sites for professional networking, like LinkedIn, are an effective way to generate leads, while more casual social media mainstays, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, are helping B2B firms reach customers in new ways.

“Leveraging social media for branding and awareness-building can help humanize B2B companies, establish them as thought leaders, and offer new touchpoints for connecting with customers and prospects,” said Kimberly Maul, eMarketer writer/analyst and author of the new report, “B2B Social Media: A Growing Focus for Marketers.”

As of May 2011, 89% of US B2B companies were using social media marketing, according to web survey company iTracks. The survey was conducted among Business Marketing Association members who were B2B business owners, CMOs and other senior employees overseeing marketing programs.

Survey respondents often cite LinkedIn as the top social media site for B2B marketers, but others put Facebook and Twitter above the business-minded social network. According to Sagefrog Marketing Group, in summer 2011, 58% of US B2B marketers that used social media used LinkedIn, compared to 50% for Facebook and 43% for Twitter.

While LinkedIn has proven successful for reaching customers and demonstrating thought leadership, B2B marketers are also working to leverage it and other third-party social networks to attract customers back to their own community sites and forums. Likewise, they are learning how to connect their social media outreach efforts to leads and sales.

“In addition to exposure metrics and engagement, marketers will need to develop strategies and goals with measurement in mind and follow their customers throughout the buying cycle to make that connection,” said Maul.

Source:eMarketer

Tweet Despite the rapid growth of digital advertising, advertising across all media in Western Europe will grow more slowly than expected as a result of the region’s economic troubles, according to a new forecast by eMarketer.

eMarketer estimates total media ad spending in Western Europe will have grown 1.8% to $114.4 billion by the end of 2011. eMarketer previously forecast in June 2011 that ad spending in the region would grow 3% to $115.8 billion in 2011, before reaching $120.8 billion in 2012. 

On the other hand, online advertising is growing slightly faster than expected, 12.8%, to reach $24.5 billion in 2011, eMarketer estimates. It will climb 13.9% in 2012, to $27.9 billion. The previous forecast estimated online ad spending in Western Europe would grow 12.5% to $23.1 billion in 2011, before reaching $26.3 billion in 2012.

“As economic concerns deepen in the eurozone, the shift of advertising from offline to online platforms is accelerating in all major regional markets,” said eMarketer senior analyst Karin von Abrams, author of a forthcoming report on Western European ad spending. “Advertisers value the cost-effectiveness, flexibility and accountability of digital ads more highly than ever.”

The UK will remain the region’s largest ad market, but Germany is an emerging powerhouse, with 2012 online ad spending estimated at $6.5 billion. In France, digital spending will be less than half that, at $3.1 billion. Italy and Spain are less advanced in digital terms, and are still some way from the $2 billion milestone in online ad spending.

Display advertising, which includes video, banners, rich media and sponsorship ads, is growing by double digits in Western Europe, though not nearly as quickly as in the US. eMarketer estimates display advertising in the region will have grown 17.3% in 2011, to $8 billion, while search ad spend will rise 14.9%, to $11.2 billion, during the same period.

Mobile ad spending, like video, is booming as Western European advertisers rush to take advantage of rapid consumer adoption of mobile devices and growing technical possibilities. eMarketer estimates that mobile ad spending in the region will pass the $1 billion mark in 2012 and post a CAGR of 52% through 2015.

Source:eMarketer

This article titled “Australian press council aims to improve journalistic standards” was written by Roy Greenslade, for guardian.co.uk on Monday 8th August 2011 07.00 UTC

The phone hacking scandal is having widespread consequences. Witness, for example, the decision by Australia’s press council to investigate journalism practices at the country’s newspapers and magazines.

It is staging a national series of round-table meetings with citizens and print media representatives to discuss improvements to journalistic ethics.

This is despite the fact that there has been no suggestion at all of newspaper misbehaviour approaching the scale of that in Britain.

But revised standards of conduct are expected to be released in the coming months, such as one involving journalists who seek access to hospital patients and another relating to the taking of photographs in, or from, public places.

Other likely “rules” involve the alteration of photos, whether headlines fairly reflect the tenor of articles, conflicts of interest, using dishonest or unfair means to gain information, how to ensure fairness, accuracy and balance.

Council chairman Julian Disney said the project is part of the council’s proactive work to improve standards rather than simply dealing with complaints.

“It’s about spreading good journalism practice,” he said. “A key element of it is to make sure the standards find their way into newsrooms in a format that will enable busy journalists to consult them.”

The council’s publishing members – which include News Corp’s Australian division, News Limited – account for about 98% of the country’s newspaper and magazine print sales.

Source: The Australian

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

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Reston : comScore, Inc. has released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 172 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in December for an average of 14.6 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in nearly 5.2 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month.

Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in December with 144.8 million unique viewers, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 53.1 million viewers. In one year since its launch, VEVO has steadily grown to reach 50.6 million viewers in December, with much of its viewing being driven by VEVO on YouTube. AOL, Inc. maintained the fourth position with 48.6 million viewers, followed by Viacom Digital with 45.9 million. Google Sites had the highest number of viewing sessions with 1.9 billion, and average time spent per viewer at 274 minutes, or 4.6 hours.

Americans viewed 5.9 billion video ads in December, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at more than 1.2 billion. Tremor Media Video Network ranked second overall (and highest among video ad networks) with 1.0 billion ad views, followed by ADAP.TV (682 million) and BrightRoll Video Network (588 million). Video ads reached 49 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 39.8 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 47.1 over the course of the month.

The top video ad networks in terms of their potential reach of the total U.S. population were: Tremor Media at 51.4 percent, BrightRoll Video Network at 40.6 percent and Break Media at 39.7 percent.

84.6 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video. The duration of the average online content video was 5.0 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes. Video ads accounted for 16.4 percent of all videos viewed and 1.6 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.
 

Reston :comScore, Inc. has released an overview of the U.S. online display advertising market for Q3 2010, which showed strong gains following softness for much of 2009. Data from the comScore Ad Metrix online advertising intelligence service indicated that nearly 1.3 trillion display ads were delivered to U.S. Internet users during the third quarter, marking a 22-percent increase versus year ago.

“The U.S. online display advertising market exhibited considerable strength in the third quarter with nearly 1.3 trillion ad impressions delivered,” said Jeff Hackett, comScore senior vice president. “Just one year ago we were still in the midst of an advertising recession, but several growth drivers have contributed to sustained improvements over the past few quarters. The ability to buy specific audiences is enabling a greater number of display ads to be delivered on target, display formats are improving at a rapid rate, and the quality of creative is getting better every day. As publishers prove the value of online display ad campaigns, digital should continue to carve out a bigger piece of the advertising pie.”

Popular social networking site Facebook.com led all online publishers in Q3 2010 with 297 billion display ad impressions, representing 23.1 percent market share. Facebook’s market share has increased 13.9 percentage points from 9.2 percent in Q3 2009. Yahoo! Sites ranked second during the most recent quarter with 140 billion impressions (11.0 percent), followed by Microsoft Sites with 64 billion impressions (5.0 percent) and Fox Interactive Media with 48 billion impressions (3.8 percent).

AT&T ranked as the top online display advertiser in Q3 with 21.1 billion impressions, accounting for 1.6 percent of display ads. Scottrade ranked second with 14.9 billion impressions (1.2 percent), followed by Verizon with 14.6 billion impressions (1.1 percent).

The top advertisers in Q3 by estimated online display spending market share were: Scottrade (1.9 percent), AT&T (1.7 percent), Experian (1.2 percent), Verizon (1.1 percent) and Progressive (1.0 percent). Rounding out the top ten were: Netflix (1.0 percent), GM (0.8 percent), Walt Disney (0.8 percent), Toyota (0.7 percent), and Procter & Gamble (0.6 percent).

The average U.S. Internet user was delivered more than 6,000 display ads over the course of the quarter. 109 different advertisers delivered at least 1 billion display ad impressions during the quarter, up from 76 last year.
 

Small businesses are unsure about the impact of social networking on reaching customers, according to a recent survey from RatePoint, a leading provider of customer reviews, testimonials and online reputation management services.

The survey revealed that while 36 percent of small businesses agree their customers spend time on social networking sites, 27 percent are undecided and 20 percent disagreed that their customers were spending time on social networks.

Research from eMarketer(i) shows an estimated 57.5 percent of all US Internet users, or 127 million people, will use a social network at least once a month in 2010. By 2014, nearly two-thirds of Internet users will be on board.

In addition, Forrester(ii) reported, "While young people continue to march toward almost universal adoption of social applications, the most rapid growth occurred among consumers 35 and older."

"Social media use is no longer limited to one demographic, everyone is adopting," said Neal Creighton, CEO and co-founder of RatePoint.  "While many small business owners are uncertain, big brands are investing heavily in social media. Social media can be a great equalizer for small businesses to compete alongside larger brands and SMBs are missing out if they are not involved."

Small businesses also are conflicted about the use of social media for businesses, according to RatePoint's survey:

My customers want to hear from me on social networks: 25 percent agree, 36 percent disagree, 20 percent undecided
Social media is a quick way to connect with prospective customers: 35 percent agree, 28 percent disagree, 22 percent undecided

Small businesses who are proactively using social networking to reach customers are finding a strong return. Of the SMBs who indicated they will be using social media as the main tactic to drive new customers to their business in the next 12 months, 70 percent said they do so because social media is the least expensive option.

"SMBs often think managing social media is time and resource-intensive, but many SMBs have found tools to help them make the process more efficient and effective," Creighton said. "SMBs need to talk to customers via social media so they can find how to meet customer needs, build relationships and make sales."
 

Sydney: comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, has released its July 2010 rankings of the top video properties in Australia based on data from its comScore Video Metrix service. The report found that 81 percent of Australia’s Internet population viewed video online in July, with an average viewer watching more than 7 hours of video during the month.

“Online video has evolved to become an essential part of Australians’ daily web experience,” said Amy Weinberger, comScore vice president for Australia and New Zealand. “As advertisers look for ways to engage with consumers in an increasingly fragmented digital environment, online video offers the ability to reach large audiences in an engaging environment where ads tend to perform well.”

In July, Internet users in Australia watched a total of 970 million online videos, with Google Sites ranking as the top video property with 539 million videos viewed, representing 55.5 percent market share. YouTube.com accounted for more than 99 percent of all videos viewed at the Google property. Microsoft Sites ranked second with 29.6 million videos (3.0 percent market share), followed by Facebook.com with 12.5 million videos viewed (1.3 percent market share).

In Australia, 10.7 million unique video viewers watched an average of 90.8 videos per viewer during the month. Google Sites also attracted the largest video audience with 8.5 million viewers during the month (64 videos per viewer), followed by Microsoft Sites with 3.3 million viewers (9.0 videos per viewer) and Facebook.com with 2.7 million viewers (4.7 videos per viewer).

In July, SpotXchange ranked as the top video ad network in Australia with a potential reach of 5.4 million viewers, or 50.7 percent of the total viewing audience. Adconion Video Network ranked second with a potential reach of 5.1 million viewers (48.1 percent penetration) followed by YuMe Video network with a potential reach of 4.1 million viewers (38.0 percent penetration).

New York : In a new poll released  by Weber Shandwick in partnership with Powell Tate and KRC Research, nearly one-third (34%) of the American public report that they are “tuning out” of social networking sites, with 39% of them attributing their tune-out to rude discourse and behavior.  The online survey was conducted in April and asked more than 1,000 Americans how civility affects people’s views of and participation in social media, politics, media and buying behaviors.

“We prefer to communicate through social networks the same way we do in everyday social settings. We tend to congregate around shared interests. We want to know who we’re talking to. And if there is a difference of opinion, we expect respectful dialogue. If not we tune out,” said Weber Shandwick’s President of Digital Communications Chris Perry. “This reality should be top of mind as companies and institutions increasingly operate in social media. It’s a personal medium. Same rules of shared interest, transparency and respectful discourse apply.”

Even though discourteous behavior has caused people to tune out of social networks, incivility is less of a deterrent in that regard than in government and politics, opinion pieces and editorials, and news coverage for Americans.

The survey asked Americans to rate the civility of 18 aspects of daily life. The public rated blogs more uncivil than social networking sites and Twitter (51% vs. 43% vs. 35%, respectively). Despite one-half of the public citing the presence of incivility in blogs, this figure pales next to the much larger 72% who view the political world and government as uncivil – the highest percentage recorded in the poll.

Leslie Gaines-Ross, Weber Shandwick’s chief reputation strategist and online reputation expert, said: “Let’s face it. Incivility can be found everywhere today. Blogs, in particular, are mostly open terrain — practically anyone can comment to a post, often anonymously.  On the other hand, social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, are usually tighter communities with little anonymity and greater accountability for who is speaking.”

The survey revealed that there is a high cost to rudeness and inconsiderate behavior. A full three-quarters (75%) of Americans believe that companies that are uncivil should be boycotted. Based on personal experiences of incivility, one-half or more of Americans have refrained from buying a company’s products (56%), reevaluated their opinions of a company (55%) or advised friends and family against purchasing their products (49%). 

Perry adds, “The fact that three out of four Americans think that companies should be shunned for incivility has tremendous implications for online purchasing behavior and building online advocates. Among the ways companies can succeed online is to build safe and comfortable communities from the ground up. They need to communicate using the ‘voice of the community,’ engage in civil conversation with both naysayers and yea-sayers, and have a clear identity since anonymity breeds incivility.”

“In today’s society, behavior is critical in setting an example but so is how behavior is communicated.  Tone matters as much as what is being said,” remarked Gaines-Ross.

State College : Advertisements for job openings in higher education were up dramatically in the first quarter of 2010. In fact, the number of advertised job openings increased every month of Q1 2010.

Advertised job openings for January, February, and March were up 11.1 percent, 14.8 percent, and 47.0 percent respectively compared to the same months the year before, according to a new report published by HigherEdJobs, the leading resource for job advertisements in academia. 

Higher education employment continues to be stable and follow historical patterns despite overall U.S. employment experiencing significant losses throughout 2008 and into 2009. The total number of jobs has decreased 5.9 percent from December 2007 to March 2010. In contrast, the total number of jobs in higher education has increased 5.1 percent over the same time period.

Other findings from the latest report on higher education jobs and job openings:

•The ratio of faculty to non-faculty postings was down during the first quarter of 2010 compared to the year before, but was still higher than pre-recession levels.
•The number of jobs at community colleges continues to increase while the percentage of job openings from community colleges declines slightly.
•The ratio of part-time postings in higher education continues to rise, although the rate of growth may be moderating in 2010.
HigherEdJobs is the leading source for jobs and career information in academia. During 2009, more than 2,600 colleges and universities posted over 55,000 faculty, administrative and executive job postings to the company’s website. HigherEdJobs is visited over two million times each month by 700,000 unique visitors. HigherEdJobs is published by Internet Employment Linkage, Inc. which is headquartered in State College, PA, and has an accounting and operations office in Oak Park, IL.