Breaking through the Inbox Clutter
According to a new report from Jupiter Research, promotional e-mail delivery is set to become the newest revenue stream for large portals, ISPs and Web mail providers, especially as they begin to exert greater control over e-mail messages passed between marketers and consumers. Jupiter's research projects that ISPs and e-mail service providers will have approximately 5.6 billion e-mail messages cross their networks for each one million subscribers by 2005. During that time, advertisers will probably send 268 billion e-mail messages, 22 times the number of promotional marketing messages sent in 2000. "Internet e-mail service providers control a crucial choke point between marketers and the millions of consumers they want to reach," a Jupiter analyst explained. "As they restrict access to a user's primary inbox and monetize the delivery of promotional e-mail, advertisers looking to reach consumers online must prepare to pay a premium." He added, "Although shortsighted marketers will view this as extortion, savvy marketers will recognize it as an opportunity to distance their messages from existing inbox clutter. Large portals, ISPs and other organizations that have a sizable e-mail subscriber base will see it as a significant additional revenue."
European Commission Studies Cost of Junk E-mail
According to a new study conducted by the European Commission, e-mail users knowingly spend £6.4 billion a year to dial up and connect to the Web and read junk e-mail. More and more organizations, including industry bodies and consumer groups, are beginning to understand the need to control spam before it gets totally unmanageable. Lobbyists for the European Internet industry believe their campaign for a ban on spam is gaining momentum.
Streaming Media Gains Popularity
Although the average amount of time Americans spend online has dropped somewhat--from eight hours and one minute a week in January 2000 to seven hours and eight minutes per week in January 2001--their time online is increasingly being spent listening to or viewing streaming media. According to the latest Arbitron/Edison Media Research Internet Study, streaming media usage by Americans has increased from 10 percent in January 2000 to 13 percent, totaling more than 30 million users in January 2001. "One of the
study's key findings is that broadband and streaming media go hand in hand. As more consumers get super-fast Internet access at home, their streaming media consumption is likely to grow," a spokesman for Arbitron said. An Edison representative added, "Streaming media is a great way for advertisers to target the younger 12 to 24-year old market. These consumers are more likely to be online using streaming media and have a higher tendency to interact with the advertising."
Is Computer Usage Damaging Your Memory?
While most people marvel over the many ways that computers have added to our daily lives and taken the "ouch" out of many repetitive chores, new research says that using computers might be bad for our memories. It seems that many young adults are reporting a growing inability to remember names,
appointments or even written words, forcing some victims of this new problem to give up their jobs. A recent Sunday-Times article quoted Toshiyuki Sawaguchi, a professor of neurobiology with the Hokkaido University's school of medicine, who said victims of the malady are "losing the ability to remember new things, to pull out old data or to distinguish between important or unimportant information. It's a type of brain dysfunction. Young people today are becoming stupid." The university conducted a preliminary study of 150 people aged 20 to 35 and found that more than one in 10 are suffering from severe memory problems. One victim was forced to quit his job because he couldn't remember where he was going, who he was going to see and even the reason for his business visits. Another researcher added, "Aging affects the brain's hardware, but errors may occur in the brain's 'software' that have nothing to do with age but are related to someone's lifestyle, such as not using your brain enough."
Execs Not Prepared
More than 70 percent of companies are unprepared for an economic slowdown, according to a newly released study from Bain & Company. After questioning 100 American Fortune 500 executives, the study reports, over half are in denial and don't expect their industry growth rate to slow or decline. Plus, to the researchers' astonishment, only 10 percent of those questioned believe that if a downturn should hit, their company will fall below the industry average, while another 59 percent say that they could outperform
their competitors during a downturn. "We find that with careful navigation, downturns provide unique opportunities to create upward mobility, but only when companies prepare early for the worst, reduce diversification, lengthen their time horizons and are willing to open their wallets on bargains to
shore-up market positions," a spokesman said. "When it comes to this downturn, executives are headed toward short-term, rash decisions that appear to make sense, but eventually damage their competitive positions and financial performance."