Nearly one-quarter (24%) of consumers say they regularly play games on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace末and contrary to prevailing stereotypes, the typical social gamer is a 43-year-old woman, according to a new survey from PopCap Games. more

Most consumers (85%) want free online content末and nearly eight in ten (79%) say they would stop using a website that introduced charges, presuming they could find the same information at no cost elsewhere, according to a survey from Nielsen. more

Local small and medium-sized businesses are applying social media to their ad plans: Nearly one-third (32%) of SMBs plan to use a page on a social networking site in the next year, and 39% plan to use customer-generated ratings or reviews on their website, according to a survey from BIA/Kelsey more

Looking to make your brand trendier? Get a load of Trendistic, a clear and simple way to watch the ebb and flow of buzz on Twitter. A visit to the Trendistic homepage gives you a quick glimpse at what keyword is hottest on Twitter right now. In addition to the most current ... more

In May 2009, Omniture and The CMO Club asked 102 CMOs to rate the relative effectiveness of digital-marketing media. The vast majority (78 percent) gave top marks to email marketing, but a sizable minority (33 percent) reported success in emerging social-media channels, too. That's because, these days, consumers "engage with a ... more

Despite the tough economic environment and unprecedented challenges to the industry, consumers' use of digital media climbed to new heights in 2009 as the Internet continued to evolve as an integral component of Americans' personal and professional lives, according to data from comScore. more

Baby Boomers' consumption of media has shifted dramatically to the Internet: 62% of Boomers (age 45-63) spent more time on the Internet in 2009 than they did the year before, and the majority of Boomers had joined Facebook within the previous six months, according to survey conducted by CPH Research ... more

Before you start soliciting links and becoming active in online communities, it's best to first ensure that your site's content, structure, and design are in peak condition, Virginia Nussey advises in a recent post at the Bruce Clay blog: "Before you can expect a site to develop inbound links, you have ... more

Blogging has lost appeal for most teens and young adults in the past three years, but social networks such as Facebook and MySpace are more popular than ever, according to a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. more

Among the 38 brands that ran TV commercials during the Super Bowl this year, 75% reported twice as many blog posts about their brands on Sunday, compared with levels on Sunday evenings over the previous six months, reports Radio Business Report, citing research from Prophesee, the social media arm of ... more

It'd be an understatement to say 2009 was a tough year for Domino's Pizza, what with the awkward employees-abusing-food scandal. A quick recap: two bored employees recorded themselves doing unpleasant things with food, and the video wound up on YouTube. Domino's responded swiftly enough, both terminating the employees and releasing an apologetic YouTube video ... more

More than half of advertisers (62%) say traditional TV advertising is less effective than it used to be, and many plan to shift their attention末and budgets末away from traditional TV to social media, online video ads, and branded advertising, according to a survey from Forrester and the Association of National Advertisers ... more

The Great Recession has certainly not spared nonprofit organizations. With contributions down an average of nine percent, many charitable organizations have been forced to cut services. Some even face closure. Fortunately, though, the news is not all bad. "With the right marketing mix, savvy nonprofits are able to leverage social-media marketing ... more

"They say an Internet year is … equivalent to seven normal years," says Kevin Gibbon in a post at SEOptimise—meaning that we can witness seven real-world-years' worth of change in one year online. To help search marketers keep up, Gibbon offers seven ways to stay on top of the competition in the ... more

Sweet news, hardcore Twitter users! Hootsuite—the Twitter management tool developed with marketers in mind—just released an app for the iPhone. That means you can now access the handy features of Hootsuite in any old roost! We first covered Hootsuite shortly after Canadian company Invoke Media launched the adorable owl-themed service. It made ... more

Mobile couponing is still in its early stages, yet nearly two-thirds (66%) of younger adults (age 18-34) who own a mobile phone say they are at least somewhat likely to try receiving and redeeming bar-coded coupons via their mobile phones, compared with 46% of all adults who say the same, ... more

Nearly two-thirds (62%) of US consumers have HDTVs in their home, and another 12% are looking to purchase one within the next two years, bringing the potential market penetration to nearly three out of four households (74%) in the US, according to a new study from ORC. more

Americans love their music: 72% of consumers surveyed consider themselves passionate about music,* and one-third (33%) say they "would give anything" to meet their music idols, according to a recent survey from Synovate. more

Remember when we told you about Twitcam, the service that lets you stream live video via Twitter? This is kind of like that, but with more oomph and less lag. Say hello to tinychat, which lets you host live Web meetings, TV shows, music jam sessions—or whatever else you wanna do ... more

Though most companies (75%) say mobile marketing is at least somewhat important to their marketing plans this year, many are still unsure about its practicality and ROI: 32% of marketers and business professionals cite not knowing how to make a business case as their biggest impediment to executing a mobile ... more

Newspaper websites attracted an average monthly unique audience of 72 million visitors in the fourth quarter of 2009末37% of all Internet users末according to the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). more

Some companies seem addicted to email campaigns that shout breathless, time-sensitive offers. Each week, it seems, they tell subscribers about special deals that simply can't be missed—only to make a similar offer the following week. In a post at the Email Marketing Reports blog, Mark Brownlow provides a screenshot with 19 emails ... more

If you tune in to Access Hollywood or flip through the pages of Us magazine, you'll see features on the clothing, accessories, jewelry and cosmetics favored by trend-setting celebrities. In many cases, these products were provided as "gifts" from companies eager for the editorial coverage that a celebrity's interest can ... more

We recently encouraged businesses to expand their local search horizons and add more local flavor to their national search campaigns. Now, in a post at the Content Rich blog, Jon Wuebben offers more arguments for growing local roots in your search campaigns.  Wuebben quotes Neg Norton, president of the Yellow Pages Association, who ... more

Google's Android has been available as an open-source platform for just over one year, but the new mobile operating system has already gained significant market traction: Android users initiated seven times more downloads of mobile entertainment content than iPhone users in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to Myxer. more