As the social media company prepares to influence policy, Facebook's political action committee has raised a sizable amount of money. It has doled out more to Republicans, $140,000, compared with $127,000 to Democrats through the end of September, according to a CNNMoney review of federal records released Monday.
Many companies, much like special interest groups such as trade unions, form PACs to collect funds that they contribute to election campaigns of political candidates.
Some technology companies like Microsoft stayed away from influencing Washington politics in the early days of their formation. But Facebook (FB) has shown a desire to be a political player by creating a PAC last year, even before it became a publicly traded company in May.
It's a recognition on Facebook's part of the influence that Washington politics could play on its business. Any new legislation that could restrict Internet companies from collecting and using members' information would hurt Facebook's ability to turn a profit from its 1 billion-plus users.
"Part of Facebook's value is the information it collects on users,"
said Alex Daley, chief technology investment strategist at Casey Research, an investing research group. "Privacy is the number one concern."
Facebook isn't alone among top technology companies that are giving more to Republicans this election.
For the first time since 2006, the technology industry's corporate giving has doled out more to GOP candidates, $2.78 million, compared with $2.45 million to Democrats, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500) and eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) have all given more to Republicans, according to monthly filings through the end of August.
Google has given out a total of $652,000 almost equally to both parties, with Republicans edging out Democrats by $500.
Facebook's corporate PAC gave entirely to congressional candidates and did not weigh in on the presidential race.
One reason for heavier Republican giving could be that GOP House members outnumber Democrats.
Facebook would not discuss the company's corporate political giving. Spokesman Andrew Noyes said the PAC supports "candidates who share our goals of promoting the value of innovation to our economy while giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected."
The company's employees, however, are heavily favoring Democrats. Personal contributions from Facebook employees have totaled $116,300 for Democrats and $53,700 for Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg alone has given $30,800 to the Democratic National Committee and $5,000 to President Obama, and dozens of smaller contributions to congressional Democrats. Sandberg was a top adviser to Treasury Secretary Larry Summers during the Clinton administration.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
FB gets sued for want.
FLINT, MI -- Facebook is being sued by a Michigan company that claims the social networking giant ripped off one of its ideas.
Farmington Hills-based company CVG-SAB is suing Facebook in Flint federal court over its new "Want" button.
Users who click Facebook's want button are taken to non-Facebook sites where they can purchase merchandise.
CVG-SAB claims the feature closely resembles a service it already markets through its website, wantbutton.com, and that it is already causing confusion in the digital marketplace.
CVG-SAB claims it began marketing its own want button in September 2010 to allow consumers to keep a universal list of desired products and services, according to the lawsuit.
Tommy Bahama, Burlington Coat Factory and various other high-profile companies are current customers of CVG-SAB, which claims more than 160 million want-button views.
The lawsuit claims CVG-SAB has received multiple inquires into whether the new Facebook platform has any relationship with its own want button since the trial launch of Facebook's new platform earlier this month.
Farmington Hills-based company CVG-SAB is suing Facebook in Flint federal court over its new "Want" button.
Users who click Facebook's want button are taken to non-Facebook sites where they can purchase merchandise.
CVG-SAB claims the feature closely resembles a service it already markets through its website, wantbutton.com, and that it is already causing confusion in the digital marketplace.
CVG-SAB claims it began marketing its own want button in September 2010 to allow consumers to keep a universal list of desired products and services, according to the lawsuit.
Tommy Bahama, Burlington Coat Factory and various other high-profile companies are current customers of CVG-SAB, which claims more than 160 million want-button views.
The lawsuit claims CVG-SAB has received multiple inquires into whether the new Facebook platform has any relationship with its own want button since the trial launch of Facebook's new platform earlier this month.
Monday, October 15, 2012
A new 911 GT3?
Spy Shots Confirm that New Porsche 991 GT3 will get a PDK Dual Clutch Transmission
We had heard the rumors that Porsche was evaluating a PDK dual clutch transmission for the new 991-generation of its hardcore 911 GT3 in place of the traditional manual gearbox that has been around ever since the series was introduced in 1999, but now we have the first photographic proof of it.
A member of the Gearstage forums spotted prototypes of both the Porsche 918 Spyder and 911 GT3 somewhere in San Francisco, USA, and was able to get close enough to nab some pictures of the 991-series GT3's interior.
Positioned between the leather and Alcantara sport seats on the center console is Porsche's PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission (see more photos in the links below), which sources state will have seven gears.
We still do not know for sure if the German company will offer both a manual gearbox and a PDK transmission, but for better or for worse, the grapevine says it will only be the latter.
As a reminder, the new 911 GT3 will continue to be sport a rev-happy, normally aspirated flat six, though this time, instead of the current model's 4.0-liter engine, it will use the 991's newer 3.8-liter unit tweaked by Porsche Motorsport's division to produce somewhere between 450 and 500 horses.
We expect the 991 GT3 to launch sometime next year.
We had heard the rumors that Porsche was evaluating a PDK dual clutch transmission for the new 991-generation of its hardcore 911 GT3 in place of the traditional manual gearbox that has been around ever since the series was introduced in 1999, but now we have the first photographic proof of it.
A member of the Gearstage forums spotted prototypes of both the Porsche 918 Spyder and 911 GT3 somewhere in San Francisco, USA, and was able to get close enough to nab some pictures of the 991-series GT3's interior.
Positioned between the leather and Alcantara sport seats on the center console is Porsche's PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission (see more photos in the links below), which sources state will have seven gears.
We still do not know for sure if the German company will offer both a manual gearbox and a PDK transmission, but for better or for worse, the grapevine says it will only be the latter.
As a reminder, the new 911 GT3 will continue to be sport a rev-happy, normally aspirated flat six, though this time, instead of the current model's 4.0-liter engine, it will use the 991's newer 3.8-liter unit tweaked by Porsche Motorsport's division to produce somewhere between 450 and 500 horses.
We expect the 991 GT3 to launch sometime next year.
Raspberry PI.
@Raspberry_Pi: Today's 512MB announcement means the Raspberry Pi has the same amount of RAM as a PS3 or the XBOX360.
Perhaps people don't want to give their money away.
We've all heard the story: Electric cars are a flop despite efforts from the government to help.
But new sales data suggests this may not be true after all.
Electric and hybrid cars are now the second-best-selling vehicle class in America behind the Ford (NYSE: F) F-Series. Year to date, a whopping 351,703 hybrid and electric cars have been sold. That's significantly more than the 229,521 Toyota (NYSE: TM) Camry's that have been sold. And the Camry is practically in the dictionary under "sales king." Fortunately for Toyota it also makes up 67% of the hybrid and electric market, so it shouldn't lose sleep over this development.
In addition hybrid and electric cars are the fastest-growing segment of the car market. That 351,703 figure is 73% bigger than a year ago. That's almost a doubling within a year in a large segment!
Yes, all these numbers include hybrids. But the line between electric and hybrid cars has gotten harder to define. The Chevrolet Volt is generally seen as the poster child of "electric car" despite its gasoline range extender. The new plug-in Toyota Prius, on the other hand, is generally touted as a hybrid despite it's ability to go 11 miles on electricity (versus 38 for the Volt). Both these classifications seem somewhat arbitrary and heavily influenced by marketing.
But even unequivocally pure EVs are doing OK. The Nissan LEAF -- which has no gasoline component at all -- has sold 5,212 units this year. That doesn't sound like much, but that's actually better than both of Honda's (NYSE: HMC) hybrid models (the Prius-fighting Honda Insight and the CR-Z), as well as iconic gasoline cars like the Mazda MX-5 Miata, the Porsche Boxster, and the Audi TT.
Despite its success, however, LEAF sales are lagging behind a year ago (down 28%).
Fortunately General Motor's (NYSE: GM) Chevy Volt is more than picking up the slack. Sales of Volts are up 328% to 16,348 units. That's better than the somewhat similarly priced BMW 1-Series or Lexus GS. That's also better than more pedestrian cars like the MINI Countryman, the GMC Yukon XL, or the Nissan Quest. As well as significantly better than the Nissan LEAF and the cars it beats.
The market seems to be saying it will tolerate electric cars, but that it prefers ones with gasoline assistance (like the Volt) to alleviate the much ballyhooed "range anxiety." It will be interesting to see if that preference disappears as very long range EVs -- I'm thinking of the Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) Model S -- become more affordable. Based on what we've seen so far my bet would be yes.
But new sales data suggests this may not be true after all.
Electric and hybrid cars are now the second-best-selling vehicle class in America behind the Ford (NYSE: F) F-Series. Year to date, a whopping 351,703 hybrid and electric cars have been sold. That's significantly more than the 229,521 Toyota (NYSE: TM) Camry's that have been sold. And the Camry is practically in the dictionary under "sales king." Fortunately for Toyota it also makes up 67% of the hybrid and electric market, so it shouldn't lose sleep over this development.
In addition hybrid and electric cars are the fastest-growing segment of the car market. That 351,703 figure is 73% bigger than a year ago. That's almost a doubling within a year in a large segment!
Yes, all these numbers include hybrids. But the line between electric and hybrid cars has gotten harder to define. The Chevrolet Volt is generally seen as the poster child of "electric car" despite its gasoline range extender. The new plug-in Toyota Prius, on the other hand, is generally touted as a hybrid despite it's ability to go 11 miles on electricity (versus 38 for the Volt). Both these classifications seem somewhat arbitrary and heavily influenced by marketing.
But even unequivocally pure EVs are doing OK. The Nissan LEAF -- which has no gasoline component at all -- has sold 5,212 units this year. That doesn't sound like much, but that's actually better than both of Honda's (NYSE: HMC) hybrid models (the Prius-fighting Honda Insight and the CR-Z), as well as iconic gasoline cars like the Mazda MX-5 Miata, the Porsche Boxster, and the Audi TT.
Despite its success, however, LEAF sales are lagging behind a year ago (down 28%).
Fortunately General Motor's (NYSE: GM) Chevy Volt is more than picking up the slack. Sales of Volts are up 328% to 16,348 units. That's better than the somewhat similarly priced BMW 1-Series or Lexus GS. That's also better than more pedestrian cars like the MINI Countryman, the GMC Yukon XL, or the Nissan Quest. As well as significantly better than the Nissan LEAF and the cars it beats.
The market seems to be saying it will tolerate electric cars, but that it prefers ones with gasoline assistance (like the Volt) to alleviate the much ballyhooed "range anxiety." It will be interesting to see if that preference disappears as very long range EVs -- I'm thinking of the Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) Model S -- become more affordable. Based on what we've seen so far my bet would be yes.
FB how to...
Six Simple Tips For Better Facebook Page Success
If your brand’s Facebook page isn’t exactly the life of the social media party, there’s still hope. Digital marketing agency iCrossing studied the brand pages of Fortune 500 companies for one year and came up with some ways that engagement can be fostered. Although most page administrators don’t have the big bucks to spend on campaigns, the six steps from iCrossing apply to any budget.
Include a call to action
If people aren’t commenting, liking, or sharing posts, maybe it’s because you haven’t told them to. Of the pages that iCrossing analyzed, the company found that posts that contain the word “like” gained 240 percent more likes than posts that did not. Additionally, posts that asked for some kind of input from users garnered 70 percent more comments.
Get to the point
The agency found that to really get through to users, prose or long-winded posts didn’t work. Success was found in shorter, more succinct postings. Questions that were fewer than 144 characters gained 129 percent more comments than longer posts. The iCrossing study explained:
If your question won’t fit in a tweet, it doesn’t belong on Facebook, either. Posts with more than one question generate 37 percent fewer comments than single questions. Questions followed by a link get normal response rates, but links followed by a question seem to confuse people and get 60 percent fewer comments.
Ask for short responses
Just as users don’t want to read long posts, they don’t want to get too technical with their comments. The researchers found that simple, fill-in-the-blank prompts, such as, “My favorite flower is _____,” received 370 percent more comments than when a company posted an open-ended question — “What is your favorite flower?” When pages gave users choices, such as “Paper or plastic?,” posts received a slight bump compared with open-ended queries, with 18 percent more responses. However, iCrossing noted that pages shouldn’t patronize their audiences by delivering specific instructions for replies.
Pin the important posts
Facebook allows page administrators to pin one post, giving it higher prominence on the page. The folks at iCrossing don’t have statistics regarding pinned posts, but they believe that doing so boosts likes and comments. Facebook marketers should include pinned posts in their social media strategies.
Keep a casual, yet appropriate tone
If you’re a bank or an investment firm, you’re probably not going to post happy-go-lucky status updates and viral photos of kittens. However, it’s still important to have a conversational tone on Facebook, iCrossing notes:
After visually reviewing thousands of successful posts, we noticed that a casual, conversational tone was much more engaging than a formal tone. We call it the “water cooler” principle, meaning that there are some tones of voice and topic that will encourage conversation at the office water cooler and others that will drive coworkers away. Hard-sell, condescending, or overtly business-oriented posts consistently performed poorly. Facebook users expect to interact with friends; brands that don’t act like friends will be defriended.
Picture your success
This one is a bit of a no-brainer. People love to look at (and engage with) photos on Facebook. Brands should make sure to post interesting images that will make users click on the post, like it, share it, or comment on it. The agency believes that the old adage of a picture being worth 1,000 words definitely rings true on Facebook. People are more likely to stop and examine a post if there’s a striking image attached to it.
Readers: How have you managed to boost engagement on your Facebook page?
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
Posted by Justin Lafferty on October 12, 2012.
If your brand’s Facebook page isn’t exactly the life of the social media party, there’s still hope. Digital marketing agency iCrossing studied the brand pages of Fortune 500 companies for one year and came up with some ways that engagement can be fostered. Although most page administrators don’t have the big bucks to spend on campaigns, the six steps from iCrossing apply to any budget.
Include a call to action
If people aren’t commenting, liking, or sharing posts, maybe it’s because you haven’t told them to. Of the pages that iCrossing analyzed, the company found that posts that contain the word “like” gained 240 percent more likes than posts that did not. Additionally, posts that asked for some kind of input from users garnered 70 percent more comments.
Get to the point
The agency found that to really get through to users, prose or long-winded posts didn’t work. Success was found in shorter, more succinct postings. Questions that were fewer than 144 characters gained 129 percent more comments than longer posts. The iCrossing study explained:
If your question won’t fit in a tweet, it doesn’t belong on Facebook, either. Posts with more than one question generate 37 percent fewer comments than single questions. Questions followed by a link get normal response rates, but links followed by a question seem to confuse people and get 60 percent fewer comments.
Ask for short responses
Just as users don’t want to read long posts, they don’t want to get too technical with their comments. The researchers found that simple, fill-in-the-blank prompts, such as, “My favorite flower is _____,” received 370 percent more comments than when a company posted an open-ended question — “What is your favorite flower?” When pages gave users choices, such as “Paper or plastic?,” posts received a slight bump compared with open-ended queries, with 18 percent more responses. However, iCrossing noted that pages shouldn’t patronize their audiences by delivering specific instructions for replies.
Pin the important posts
Facebook allows page administrators to pin one post, giving it higher prominence on the page. The folks at iCrossing don’t have statistics regarding pinned posts, but they believe that doing so boosts likes and comments. Facebook marketers should include pinned posts in their social media strategies.
Keep a casual, yet appropriate tone
If you’re a bank or an investment firm, you’re probably not going to post happy-go-lucky status updates and viral photos of kittens. However, it’s still important to have a conversational tone on Facebook, iCrossing notes:
After visually reviewing thousands of successful posts, we noticed that a casual, conversational tone was much more engaging than a formal tone. We call it the “water cooler” principle, meaning that there are some tones of voice and topic that will encourage conversation at the office water cooler and others that will drive coworkers away. Hard-sell, condescending, or overtly business-oriented posts consistently performed poorly. Facebook users expect to interact with friends; brands that don’t act like friends will be defriended.
Picture your success
This one is a bit of a no-brainer. People love to look at (and engage with) photos on Facebook. Brands should make sure to post interesting images that will make users click on the post, like it, share it, or comment on it. The agency believes that the old adage of a picture being worth 1,000 words definitely rings true on Facebook. People are more likely to stop and examine a post if there’s a striking image attached to it.
Readers: How have you managed to boost engagement on your Facebook page?
Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
Posted by Justin Lafferty on October 12, 2012.
WHEN NEWS CONSUMERS GO MOBILE, THEY GET MORE NEWS
How Local Publishers Can Take Advantage of Mobile News Boom
by Amy Gahran, October 15, 2012
A recent major Pew study of mobile news users offers context that could help community news publishers hone their mobile strategy. In "The Future of Mobile News," published earlier this month, the Pew Research Center's Project on Excellence in Journalism offers evidence that news publishers should focus their mobile strategy on the mobile web, rather than downloadable platform-specific "native" apps.
This survey was quite large: From June 29-August 8, 2012, Pew surveyed 9,513 U.S. adults. The report compares this year's data to last year's, and spotted some fast-moving mobile news trends. The report doesn't specifically mention community news publishers or local news (although it does refer often to daily newspapers), but it holds some hidden insights for smaller venues if you read between the lines.
MOBILE NEWS IS EXTREMELY POPULAR
According to Pew: "Fully one-third of all U.S. adults now get news on a mobile device at least once a week. 64% of tablet owners and 62% of smartphone owners say they use the devices for news at least weekly, tying news statistically with other popular activities such email and playing games on tablets and behind only e-mail on smartphones."
This rising tide has the potential to lift all boats in the news business -- but community news publishers may have some special advantages.
WHEN NEWS CONSUMERS GO MOBILE, THEY GET MORE NEWS
Pew found that mobile devices typically increase news consumption. "More than four in ten mobile news consumers say they are getting more news now, and nearly a third say they are adding new sources."
That last sentence might be very good news for community, niche, or ethnic news venues, especially newer digital startups. According to BIA/Kelsey, earlier this year former Google exec (and now Yahoo CEO) Marissa Mayer revealed that 20% of all searches across Google properties are now seeking locally relevant information -- and for searches conducted on mobile devices, that figure doubles to 40%.
Predictions abound that between 2013-2015 the majority of U.S. Internet access will shift to mobile devices. If the share of local searches on these devices continues to grow, then publishers of local and hyperlocal information may gain a significant mobile search visibility advantage. They may attract more new readers through popular aggregators such as Google News, and thus end up getting adopted as regular news sources by more mobile users.
Therefore, local or hyperlocal publishers that both offer a mobile-friendly website and also geocode their content (something that's becoming increasingly important in how search engines determine relevance, especially for mobile search) may be able to leverage mobile to grow their overall audience -- even more so than mass media can accomplish.
As Knight News Challenge winner Ryan Thornburg observed earlier this year, major news outlets that serve a large region face significant accuracy problems with geocoding. This implies that venues which serve a smaller, more focused region might be able to geocode more accurately and reliably -- which in turn might enhance their mobile search visibility and performance, driving even more mobile traffic and attracting new regular readers.
WEB BROWSERS TRUMPING APPS FOR MOST MOBILE NEWS USERS
"Overall, the majority of mobile news users get most of their news on mobile devices through browsers: 60% of tablet news users and 61% of smartphone news users," said Pew. "Less than half as many, 23% of tablet news users and 28% of smartphone news users, mainly go through apps. And 16% and 11%, respectively, say they use apps and the browser equally."
This should be a relief to smaller new publishers, who typically have smaller budgets and fewer technical resources than mass media news outlets -- and who typically have not yet invested much in building platform- and device-specific news apps (unlike many daily and national news venues).
Compared to apps, the mobile web is a far simpler and cheaper publishing option. The mobile web is inherently cross-platform and offers connectivity advantages as well. Inbound story links open quite reliably in a mobile website, but far less reliably in mobile apps -- even when the recipients of news links have the appropriate news outlet apps installed on their smartphones or tablets.
Pew found that Apple device owners tend to have, and use, the most mobile news apps. However, Apple's dominion over the U.S. mobile market is diminishing fast. The iPad's share of the U.S. tablet market is shrinking rapidly (52% this year vs. 81% last year). Similarly the iPhone currently claims only 38% of the U.S. smartphone market, compared to Android's 46%.
SMALLER TABLETS, BIGGER INFLUENCE
Pew found that in the past year the share of U.S. adults who own a tablet device doubled to 22%. "The advent of the new lower-priced tablets in late 2011 brought in a new crop of tablet owners."
Nearly half (48%) of tablet owners have an Android tablet, and about half of these (21%) are Kindle Fires.
Many popular Android tablets cost half or less than the price of an iPad. The least expensive iPad 2 costs $500 -- but the new Kindle Fire starts at $159, the Barnes & Noble Nook tablet starts at $179, and the Galaxy Nexus 7 tablet starts at $199. Consequently, smaller tablets may become a key tool for bridging the digital divide in low-income segments of your community -- and engaging them with local news, information, and civic concerns.
Still, the significance of this shift away from iPads in the tablet market may have as much to do with size as price. In the last year the U.S. tablet market has demonstrated a strong demand for smaller tablets. The iPad is simply too large for a typical purse or jacket pocket, which can hinder its usefulness to mobile users who prize portability.
This week many sources are reporting that on Oct. 23 Apple may finally introduce the long-rumored smaller iPad mini -- a move that could help Apple remain relevant in a tablet market that isn't one-size-fits-all. But the strategic value of this possible Apple move could hinge on price: Google may counter Apple by offering a $99 Android tablet around the same time.
One thing is clear: Smaller tablets have assumed an important and fast-growing role in the mobile market. Any news publisher must accommodate this form factor in the design of its mobile offerings.
The days of "tablet = full-size iPad" are definitely over.
MOBILE IS SHIFTING NEWS DEMOGRAPHICS BY ETHNICITY
Pew found that although blacks are about one-third less likely than whites to own a tablet (14% vs. 22%), blacks also are substantially more likely to use their tablet to get news daily (56%) than whites (36%).
This stands in stark contrast to print news consumption patterns -- where whites (34%) are far more likely to be daily print newspaper readers, compared to blacks (24%) or Hispanics (13%).
U.S. Hispanics, while typically leading in ownership and usage of mobile devices overall, tend to parallel whites when it comes to mobile news consumption.
Pew notes that these demographic trends "may hint at something new. Perhaps tablets and smartphones, which provide ready access to news from any source at lower cost of entry than desktop computers, may translate into a powerful news consumption tool for populations that felt underserved by the media in legacy forms."
While that statement conflates ethnicity with class, it's a point worth pondering, especially for news outlets that focus on serving poor or otherwise marginalized communities.
Infographics by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Amy Gahran is a journalist, editor, trainer, entrepreneur, strategist, and media consultant based in Boulder, Colorado. In addition to writing articles and doing educational programming for KDMC@USC, she also covers mobile technology for CNN.com and Entrepreneur.com, and was a cofounder of the hyperlocal news site OaklandLocal.com. In 2006 she won a Knight News Challenge awarded for the Boulder Carbon Tax Tracker project. Her blog is Contentious.com. Twitter: @agahran
This post first appeared on The Community News Leadership 3.0 blog at University of Southern California's Knight Digital Media Center, which aims to help journalists and news organizations succeed in the digital landscape.
by Amy Gahran, October 15, 2012
A recent major Pew study of mobile news users offers context that could help community news publishers hone their mobile strategy. In "The Future of Mobile News," published earlier this month, the Pew Research Center's Project on Excellence in Journalism offers evidence that news publishers should focus their mobile strategy on the mobile web, rather than downloadable platform-specific "native" apps.
This survey was quite large: From June 29-August 8, 2012, Pew surveyed 9,513 U.S. adults. The report compares this year's data to last year's, and spotted some fast-moving mobile news trends. The report doesn't specifically mention community news publishers or local news (although it does refer often to daily newspapers), but it holds some hidden insights for smaller venues if you read between the lines.
MOBILE NEWS IS EXTREMELY POPULAR
According to Pew: "Fully one-third of all U.S. adults now get news on a mobile device at least once a week. 64% of tablet owners and 62% of smartphone owners say they use the devices for news at least weekly, tying news statistically with other popular activities such email and playing games on tablets and behind only e-mail on smartphones."
This rising tide has the potential to lift all boats in the news business -- but community news publishers may have some special advantages.
WHEN NEWS CONSUMERS GO MOBILE, THEY GET MORE NEWS
Pew found that mobile devices typically increase news consumption. "More than four in ten mobile news consumers say they are getting more news now, and nearly a third say they are adding new sources."
That last sentence might be very good news for community, niche, or ethnic news venues, especially newer digital startups. According to BIA/Kelsey, earlier this year former Google exec (and now Yahoo CEO) Marissa Mayer revealed that 20% of all searches across Google properties are now seeking locally relevant information -- and for searches conducted on mobile devices, that figure doubles to 40%.
Predictions abound that between 2013-2015 the majority of U.S. Internet access will shift to mobile devices. If the share of local searches on these devices continues to grow, then publishers of local and hyperlocal information may gain a significant mobile search visibility advantage. They may attract more new readers through popular aggregators such as Google News, and thus end up getting adopted as regular news sources by more mobile users.
Therefore, local or hyperlocal publishers that both offer a mobile-friendly website and also geocode their content (something that's becoming increasingly important in how search engines determine relevance, especially for mobile search) may be able to leverage mobile to grow their overall audience -- even more so than mass media can accomplish.
As Knight News Challenge winner Ryan Thornburg observed earlier this year, major news outlets that serve a large region face significant accuracy problems with geocoding. This implies that venues which serve a smaller, more focused region might be able to geocode more accurately and reliably -- which in turn might enhance their mobile search visibility and performance, driving even more mobile traffic and attracting new regular readers.
WEB BROWSERS TRUMPING APPS FOR MOST MOBILE NEWS USERS
"Overall, the majority of mobile news users get most of their news on mobile devices through browsers: 60% of tablet news users and 61% of smartphone news users," said Pew. "Less than half as many, 23% of tablet news users and 28% of smartphone news users, mainly go through apps. And 16% and 11%, respectively, say they use apps and the browser equally."
This should be a relief to smaller new publishers, who typically have smaller budgets and fewer technical resources than mass media news outlets -- and who typically have not yet invested much in building platform- and device-specific news apps (unlike many daily and national news venues).
Compared to apps, the mobile web is a far simpler and cheaper publishing option. The mobile web is inherently cross-platform and offers connectivity advantages as well. Inbound story links open quite reliably in a mobile website, but far less reliably in mobile apps -- even when the recipients of news links have the appropriate news outlet apps installed on their smartphones or tablets.
Pew found that Apple device owners tend to have, and use, the most mobile news apps. However, Apple's dominion over the U.S. mobile market is diminishing fast. The iPad's share of the U.S. tablet market is shrinking rapidly (52% this year vs. 81% last year). Similarly the iPhone currently claims only 38% of the U.S. smartphone market, compared to Android's 46%.
SMALLER TABLETS, BIGGER INFLUENCE
Pew found that in the past year the share of U.S. adults who own a tablet device doubled to 22%. "The advent of the new lower-priced tablets in late 2011 brought in a new crop of tablet owners."
Nearly half (48%) of tablet owners have an Android tablet, and about half of these (21%) are Kindle Fires.
Many popular Android tablets cost half or less than the price of an iPad. The least expensive iPad 2 costs $500 -- but the new Kindle Fire starts at $159, the Barnes & Noble Nook tablet starts at $179, and the Galaxy Nexus 7 tablet starts at $199. Consequently, smaller tablets may become a key tool for bridging the digital divide in low-income segments of your community -- and engaging them with local news, information, and civic concerns.
Still, the significance of this shift away from iPads in the tablet market may have as much to do with size as price. In the last year the U.S. tablet market has demonstrated a strong demand for smaller tablets. The iPad is simply too large for a typical purse or jacket pocket, which can hinder its usefulness to mobile users who prize portability.
This week many sources are reporting that on Oct. 23 Apple may finally introduce the long-rumored smaller iPad mini -- a move that could help Apple remain relevant in a tablet market that isn't one-size-fits-all. But the strategic value of this possible Apple move could hinge on price: Google may counter Apple by offering a $99 Android tablet around the same time.
One thing is clear: Smaller tablets have assumed an important and fast-growing role in the mobile market. Any news publisher must accommodate this form factor in the design of its mobile offerings.
The days of "tablet = full-size iPad" are definitely over.
MOBILE IS SHIFTING NEWS DEMOGRAPHICS BY ETHNICITY
Pew found that although blacks are about one-third less likely than whites to own a tablet (14% vs. 22%), blacks also are substantially more likely to use their tablet to get news daily (56%) than whites (36%).
This stands in stark contrast to print news consumption patterns -- where whites (34%) are far more likely to be daily print newspaper readers, compared to blacks (24%) or Hispanics (13%).
U.S. Hispanics, while typically leading in ownership and usage of mobile devices overall, tend to parallel whites when it comes to mobile news consumption.
Pew notes that these demographic trends "may hint at something new. Perhaps tablets and smartphones, which provide ready access to news from any source at lower cost of entry than desktop computers, may translate into a powerful news consumption tool for populations that felt underserved by the media in legacy forms."
While that statement conflates ethnicity with class, it's a point worth pondering, especially for news outlets that focus on serving poor or otherwise marginalized communities.
Infographics by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Amy Gahran is a journalist, editor, trainer, entrepreneur, strategist, and media consultant based in Boulder, Colorado. In addition to writing articles and doing educational programming for KDMC@USC, she also covers mobile technology for CNN.com and Entrepreneur.com, and was a cofounder of the hyperlocal news site OaklandLocal.com. In 2006 she won a Knight News Challenge awarded for the Boulder Carbon Tax Tracker project. Her blog is Contentious.com. Twitter: @agahran
This post first appeared on The Community News Leadership 3.0 blog at University of Southern California's Knight Digital Media Center, which aims to help journalists and news organizations succeed in the digital landscape.
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