Americans 50+ are increasingly becoming immersed in the Internet and in many ways can be compared to users who are decades younger, according to findings from the Center for the Digital Future released today in conjunction with AARP. The study takes a look at online behaviors of those age 50+ compared to the under 50 demographic.

“The perception is that Americans over 50 only dabble on the Internet, but we are finding that they are increasingly spending time online becoming involved in robust Internet activities, such as online communities,” said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. “In specific areas, there is often little difference in use of online technology between older users and some of the youngest users.”

As the leading membership organization for the 50+ demographic with nearly 40 million members, AARP is the industry authority on behaviors of the boomer and 50+ audiences.

“AARP members are continuing to expand the ways in which they choose to receive information and the ever-changing Internet landscape allows us to do this in more integrated ways than ever before,” said Kevin Donnellan, Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer, AARP. “Our Web site, aarp.org, is experiencing steady growth among people 50+.

Not only are they visiting our site for information, but they are also using our social networking, gaming, and news channels in ever-increasing numbers as this study confirms.” Because of an increased interest in news, AARP recently launched AARP Bulletin Today (http://bulletin.aarp.org), the go-to daily news source for and about 50+ issues.

– The Internet as news source - Users 50+ go online more frequently to check for news compared to those under 20. Forty-two percent of users 50 and older check the Internet for news daily or several times a day, compared to 18 percent of users under 20.

– Participation in online communities - A large percentage of Internet users 50 and older who are members of online communities report extensive involvement in their communities and benefits from their participation. Fifty-eight percent of members 50 and older log in to their online community daily or several times a day, compared to 47
percent of members under 20.

– Social activism - Thirty-six percent of members 50 and older said their social activism has increased since they began participating in online communities for social causes, compared to 29 percent of members under 20.

– Online games - Eighteen percent of users 50+ said they go online daily or several times a day to play games, compared to 22 percent of users under 50.

– Browse in retail stores, then buy online - Users in both the 50+ and under 50 groups have similar online shopping habits. Sixty-eight percent of users 50+ say they sometimes or often browse in retail stores and then buy online, compared to 72 percent of users under 50.

– Maintaining social relationships - forty-six percent of users under 50 said the Internet was important or very important in maintaining their social relationships, which is identical to the percentage for those over 70.

– Importance of online information - A larger percent of users under 20 compared to those over 50 (85% vs.76%) said that the Internet is an important or very important source of information. However, the percentage of those over 50 who state this has grown substantially in five years (2002 to 2007), up slightly more than half (51%).

– Importance of online communities - Both 50+ and under 20 online community members say their online community is very important or extremely important to them: (70 percent of members 50 and older, and 68 percent of members under 20).

– Instant messaging and video downloads still tools for young users - While many Internet functions are used increasingly by older people, some online technology is still in the realm of the young - in particular instant messaging and video downloading. When asked about the importance of instant messaging in maintaining social relationships, only 9 percent of users 50+ said IM was important or very important compared to 48 percent of users under 20.

Source: hitsearchlimited.com

Ping! Ping! Ping! If you use instant messaging, by now you should be used to the sound of friends, coworkers, and even strangers leaping onto your desktop with random messages, sometimes at the least convenient times.

Popular wisdom says that these interruptions divert your attention away from your other tasks, sapping your productivity. Some companies have even installed special Internet filters to control the amount of time employees spend on IM. But now a new study claims that the exact opposite is true — IM does no harm, and in fact it might even improve communications for Internet-enabled workers.

According to the study, which was based on a random survey of over 900 U.S. workers conducted by researchers at Ohio State University and University of California, Irvine, “IM users will report lower levels of disruptive interruption than non-users.” Perhaps even more shockingly, the researchers concluded that “instant messaging in the workplace simultaneously promotes more frequent communications and reduces interruptions.”

Got that? When you use IM, not only will you communicate with your coworkers more often, but you will also feel less annoyed about it.

I’ve often remarked on the apparent irony of sending an e-mail or a text message to a coworker who is just down the hall, but this study’s conclusions actually make a fair amount of sense. It’s true that Internet-age workers are saturated with more interruptions and have to “change hats” more often than ever before. But an IM conversation is an interruption that you can put off until you’re ready to cope with it. In that sense, it’s certainly less disruptive than a phone call, or a knock on the side of your cubicle.

Source: www.pcworld.com

Instant-messaging power users, rejoice: a barrier between two previously isolated realms of online chat is coming down.

A minor sidelight in the Yahoo-Google search ad deal announced Thursday is that the two companies “agreed to enable interoperability between their respective instant-messaging services, bringing easier and broader communication to users,” the companies said. They’re not sharing further details at this stage, but it’s safe to bet that means people on Yahoo’s IM network will be able to chat with those on Google’s and vice-versa.

That’s a big step in the right direction.

IM is a useful if sometimes intrusive tool, especially in this day and age when the Internet has tightened ties among co-workers, family, and friends. But people and companies don’t always use the same networks, meaning that power users either must run multiple IM programs or try to bridge the divide with multiprotocol packages such as Trillian, Adium, Digsby, Kopete, or Pidgin.

IM today is similar to the early days of electronic mail, when users couldn’t send messages between incompatible services such as AOL, Prodigy, and CompuServe. Happily, the Internet’s SMTP standard for e-mail emerged victorious, and now we only need one e-mail address (leaving aside the issue of personal vs. work identities, but that’s a story for another day).

Source: Stephen Shankland - read the full story, click here

Employers seeking to decrease interruptions may want to have their workers use instant messaging software, a new study suggests. A recent study by researchers at Ohio State University and University of California, Irvine found that workers who used instant messaging on the job reported less interruption than colleagues who did not.

The study challenges the widespread belief that instant messaging leads to an increase in disruption. Some researchers have speculated that workers would use instant messaging in addition to the phone and e-mail, leading to increased interruption and reduced productivity.

Instead, research showed that instant messaging was often used as a substitute for other, more disruptive forms of communication such as the telephone, e-mail, and face-to-face conversations. Using instant messaging led to more conversations on the computer, but the conversations were briefer, said R. Kelly Garrett, co-author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State.

“The key take away is that instant messaging has some benefits where many people had feared that it might be harmful,” Garrett said.

“We found that the effect of instant messaging is actually positive. People who used instant messaging reported that they felt they were being interrupted less frequently.”

The study involved 912 people who worked at least 30 hours per week in an office and used a computer for at least five hours in a workday. Randomly selected participants from 12 metropolitan areas took a telephone survey between May and September 2006. The results were published recently in the Journal of Computer Mediated Communication.

The key to unlocking the effects of instant messaging lies in how people are using the technology, Garrett said.

Instead of dropping in unexpectedly, many are using the technology to check in with coworkers to see when they are available. Many also use the technology to get quick answers to general questions or to inquire about current work tasks instead of engaging in longer face-to-face conversations.

“We find that employees are quite strategic in their use of instant messaging. They are using it to check in with their colleagues to find out if they’re busy before interrupting them in a more intrusive way,” Garrett said.

Because of its unique setup, instant messaging allows users to control how and when they communicate with coworkers. The technology gives people the ability to flag their availability or postpone responses to a more convenient time, and because it is socially acceptable to ignore or dismiss a message, many use the technology to put off more disruptive conversations, he said.

“People see a new technology and they are innovative in how they use it. They will tailor their use of the technology to their needs and their expectations. And with IM, people had enough time to learn about the technology at home and to find ways to use it productively,” Garrett said.

“It is not the case that people are engaging in extensive conversations or trying to resolve complex problems over this very limited medium. Instead, people are using the technology to solicit answers to quick questions from colleagues and coordinate their conversations at more convenient times,” he said.

Ease of use and similarities to e-mail could foster greater acceptance of instant messaging in the workplace. And while the study provides clear evidence that instant messaging can be used successfully in the workplace, Garrett said the technology will not likely be as widely used as e-mail.

Garrett conducted the study with James N. Danziger, a professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations at University of California, Irvine.

Source: sciencedaily.com

As Mark Davies pointed out in Tuesday’s web conference, the IM - even in its current beta form - is a powerful communication device. “Use it to start building relationships,” he suggested. “Encourage people in your team to talk to one another - use it to deliver promotions to your team, such as the ones running now and new ones being announced next week”

Mark added, “It’s an information tool. And of course you can see when any of your Players come onto the site, because the lightbulb next to their name in your ‘Players’ folder lights up. Use the IM as a leverage device to gather momentum and really get your business going.”

New features to be added to the beta IM soon include adding contacts by their username and email address; and importing your contacts from MSN/Windows Live Messenger. We’ll keep you posted on these and other developments!

The goal at uVme has been to make the implementation of the new web version of the uVme Instant Messenger on the games site as painless as possible and in order to do this the developers have been very busy.  How busy? Well to put it to context this version of the web IM has had 46 different versions of it built with over 250 bugs tracked and fixed over the last few weeks.

During this last week of the internal testing that has ramped up and here is just a short list of things they have been working on as well:

• Debug window minimized by default - to make it easier to do testing
• Contact list expanded by default
• Double contacts on the list
• Empty end of line in the new chat window
• System slowdown when there are many opened chat windows
• Many reports about the system slow down (Windows + IE) with the IM client active
• New chat window appears on top of an old chat window
• The chat window with “Disconnected” text cannot be closed
• You can open multiple chat windows to the same user this will cause some confusion
• The IM server opens huge number of database connections which causes resources drain
• Simplified initial configuration for user account
• Simplified gateway configuration
• Client skinning
• Groups sorting in client
• Branding details
• Database account details
• Database game list details
• Database game challenge details
• Add ‘asking status’ checkbox in Add Contact dialog
• Event notification
• “Contact is writing a message” notification
• Chat window size change
• Installer for the uVme standalone client
• Change the configuration file/directory name
• Storing on the server side Bosh session state
• Protocol for exchanging Bosh state between a client and the server
• Implementation of the protocol #94 in the server
• Show offline contacts for a selected group only
• Protocol for exchanging chat logs between a client and the server
• Review contact ordering in the user roster
• Client tries to reconnect on terminate from the server

It goes to show how much has gone into delivering this service to your uVme business…and it will not stop there.

LONDON - Almost 80% of the world’s teenagers use the internet to instant message friends and prefer it to email, according to new research.

The survey, conducted by Habbo, the virtual world for teenagers, found that around 70% of teens still hold active email accounts, however, they mainly use these for non-personal needs such as school or work.

Habbo surveyed 58,486 teens between the ages 11 and 18 from 31 countries to obtain the results, which also revealed that the most popular global websites among teens were YouTube and MySpace.

In the UK alone, the most popular sites were Bebo and YouTube.

Emmi Kuusikko, director of user and market insight for Sulake, Habbo’s parent company, said: “Of those surveyed, 50% responded that they forward humorous links and videos to their friends, while 30% regularly upload content, confirming the notion that teenagers have an active online presence.”

The survey also investigated brand recognition and found that almost 75% of teenagers believe that familiar brands guide their purchasing decisions. Global well-known brands, such as McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Nokia ranked high for both boys and girls.

Source: Jacquie Bowser Brand Republic

The uVme Support Team were today testing the new web-based uVme Instant Messenger (IM) amidst an atmosphere of great suspense and excitement. Co-founder Tom Brodie commented on Mark Davies’ tense excitement in the run-up to testing, saying “It’s like you’re expecting a baby!” - “I am!” Mark replied.

The team were sending multiple messages at once, sending messages while their recipient was playing games, and anything else they could think of to “try to break” the system - as instructed by Head of Marketing, Mark Davies.

There’s good news and bad news… The bad news is, two critical errors occurred, one of which reared its head for the first time - to do with the speed of typing in the chat windows. We suspect this may have something to do with a rollback issue. At any rate, the development team are working on it right now, and this is exactly what the internal testing stage is for.

The good news is, IT WORKED! We were happy to see that game play was not interrupted when chat messages were sent to the players. We had some great feedback from the team (thanks, Becky and team!) which is going back to the developers, who are now checking the data logs and creating a “fix list” which they will be working on in the next 24 hours. So this means we can test again soon to see if these initial issues have been resolved.

“It was great to see people using the IM for the first time, seeing the smiles on their faces, hearing loads of pings and laughter,” Mark said.

He added that he is “very, very happy with the first round of testing, but I don’t want to be premature about it, as there were some problems. However these are being worked on, so hopefully Thursday we can test again and report back with more good news.”

IBM (NYSE: IBM) predicted five future trends that will increase demand for the fast-growing unified communications market and reshape the way businesses and workers communicate and collaborate worldwide.

The predictions, made in a keynote address by Mike Rhodin, General Manager of IBM Lotus software, at the VoiceCon conference here, include:

1) The Virtual Workplace will become the rule. No need to leave the office. Just bring it along. Desk phones and desktop computers will gradually disappear, replaced by mobile devices, including laptops, that take on traditional office capabilities. Social networking tools and virtual world meeting experiences will simulate the feeling on being there in-person. Work models will be changed by expanded globalization and green business initiatives that reduce travel and encourage work at home.

2) Instant Messaging and other real-time collaboration tools will become the norm, bypassing e-mail. Just as e-mail became a business necessity, a new generation of workers has a new expectation for instant messaging (IM) as the preferred method of business interaction. This will fuel more rapid adoption of unified communications as traditional IM becomes the core extension point for multi-modal communications.

3) Beyond Phone Calls to Collaborative Business Processes. Companies will go beyond the initial capabilities of IM, like click-to-call and online presence, to deep integration with business processes and line-of-business applications, where they can realize the greatest benefit.

4) Interoperability and Open Standards will tear down proprietary walls across business and public domains. Corporate demand for interoperability and maturing of industry standards will force unified communications providers to embrace interoperability. Converged, aggregated, and rich presence will allow businesses and individuals to better find and reach the appropriate resources, removing inefficiencies from business processes and daily lives.

5) New meeting models will emerge. Hang up on routine, calendared conference calls. The definition of “meetings” will radically transform and become increasingly adhoc and instantaneous based on context and need. 3-D virtual world and gaming technologies will significantly influence online corporate meeting experiences to deliver more life-like experiences demanded by the next generation workers who will operate more efficiently in this familiar environment.

IDC estimates the unified communications market will reach $17 billion in worldwide revenue in 2011, growing at 38 percent compounded annually from 2007.* As such, IBM sees unified communications as the next significant frontier for technology growth. To meet these demands, IBM is investing significantly in a range of resources, including software, services and research. IBM has a growing number of social and collaborative software research projects with more than 70 researchers and more than 1,300 IBM software developers and technical experts contributing to unified communications. New technical skills programs for IBM developers are being used to help accelerate software development, including the teaching of Eclipse-based development. In addition, IBM’s Venture Capital program is working to identify and fuel promising new innovations in unified communications.

Part of this investment also covers a significant expansion of IBM Lotus Sametime software products. Work has also begun on blending IBM’s social software expertise into the real-time environment. The new Lotus Sametime Advanced software, available March 28, includes community tools that enable users to spend less time trying to figure out who can help solve a problem, by reaching out to a community of colleagues or experts instantly. The Lotus Sametime Advanced offering also features sophisticated collaboration features such as persistent group chat and instant screen sharing capabilities.

Large-scale adoption of IBM’s unified communications and collaboration platform and services is growing. IBM Global Technology Services is assisting clients around the globe to exploit the convergence of voice, video, and data. IDEA Cellular, a leading cellular operator and an Aditya Birla Group Company, is deploying a first-of-its-kind unified communications and collaboration solution with IBM and Cisco to help boost employee productivity and enhance business growth. IBM is providing the services, assets and skills to deliver consulting, design and architecture, implementation; thereby, seamlessly integrating the solution into the existing environment. The IBM investments will address clients’ requirements for integration of multi-platform environments and multiple network equipment providers, while masking the complexity of delivering the solution with a proven reference architecture to address mission critical business needs. IBM is heavily investing in training engineers, consultants and services professionals in IBM industry-leading Global Services Method and Reference Architectures, which have been applied to thousands of engagements.

A variety of leading companies from around the world are working with IBM software and services to deliver new unified communications solutions. For example, Avaya is developing a state-of-the-art unified communications solution including voice, fax, e-mail or instant message, based on IBM technology, for the Pennsylvania State Employee’s Credit Union. Forterra Systems is using IBM UC2 technology to develop a futuristic, unified communications solution code-named “Babel Bridge” that could allow U.S. intelligence agencies to use a common graphical collaboration system to instantly communicate within a virtual world. IBM Business Partner, VBrick is introducing the VBrick Video Plug-in for Lotus Sametime, the first product that streams live broadcasts and on-demand digital video content within the IBM Lotus Sametime environment.

Source: money.cnn.com

Facebook members can soon quit poking, quizzing, and sending useless application requests to one another and begin chatting via instant message.

The social-networking site made the announcement Tuesday, saying the feature would be available in two weeks to the community’s estimated 67 million members.

Facebook’s move to unleash messaging within its vast audience poses a new challenge to AOL, Microsoft, and other makers of instant- messaging services.

The Palo Alto, California, startup’s new chat is not a standalone IM client and requires people to be logged on to Facebook, unlike its competitors. Also, it doesn’t allow for conference-style chats.

Facebook’s chat, an imbedded feature within the web site, will likely benefit from its ease of use because it doesn’t require a download. This could allow it to better challenge the instant-messaging services offered by AOL, Microsoft, or Yahoo, which require a download.

Sixty-seven million-plus followers represents a pretty good starting point for Facebook’s IM launch. That number is one third of the 155 million active users who, according to Microsoft, use the MSN chat.

Facebook’s vice president of product management, Matt Cohler, said during a press conference held at the company’s headquarters on Tuesday that “chat is something we think is part of the core of what’s going on at Facebook.”

Instant messaging is a logical step for a social network, and it is surprising that Facebook waited so long to start its own.

For example, No. 1 social site MySpace started operating its in-house chat, MySpaceIM, nearly two years ago.

As noted by TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington, the timing on this certainly is interesting. Yesterday AOL talked extensively about marrying its AIM platform with the company’s newly acquired social network he wrote.

A number of third-party Facebook platform applications already allow instant messaging between Facebook users. Mr. Arrington said that these developer programs will be killed when Facebook launches its in-house service. Mr. Cohler disagreed with Mr. Arrington’s comment.

“We develop our applications at parity with other developers. Users can remove any of our applications if they want and swap in another feature instead,” he said.

Facebook’s IM was announced yesterday along with privacy measures designed to give users greater control over the information they choose to share.

Facebook is the second largest social-networking web site after MySpace.

Source: Lalee Sadighi - redherring.com