Wireless Connectivity Has Drawn Many Users More Deeply into Digital Life

Pew: "Not everyone has the wherewithal to engage with 'always present' connectivity and, while some may love it, others may only dip their toes in the wireless water and not go deeper."

Social Media Outlay Still Small

AdWeek: "Social media had yet to prove its impact, using accepted measurement standards, in moving customers through the marketing funnel, Forrester said. That lack of proven impact has relegated efforts to the sidelines: 45 percent of respondents said their social media budgets are determined on an 'as-needed' basis."

Mobile Internet Becoming A Daily Activity For Many

comScore: "the number of people using their mobile device to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009. Among the audience of 63.2 million people who accessed news and information on their mobile devices in January 2009, 22.4 million (35 percent) did so daily; more than double the size of the audience last year."

Where to From Twitter

Hitwise: "It appears that Twitter is being used as a social network and means of distributing content. This is by no means the only way it is being used - just one standout trend. Twitter.com's clickstream profile is much closer to a social network than to Search Engines or Email Services. Twitter's clickstream differs markedly from search engines in that relatively little traffic goes to retail websites and Education (i.e. Wikipedia). It is also different from Email in that less traffic goes to Dating websites and again, to retail and Business and Finance websites."

Web Portals, Social Networks Lose Share in Ad-Spending Study

Advertising Age: "The question becomes how a brand can have a presence within social environments -- and that doesn't always include paid media."

Social networks more popular than email

USATODAY.com: "penetration for social networks and blogs was highest in Brazil where 80% of the online audience visited such sites. That compares to 75% for runner-up Spain and 67% for the USA. As the most popular social network globally, Facebook is visited monthly by three in 10 people across the markets in the report."

Down with Facebook!

Weekly Standard: "Last week, my wife logged onto Facebook, took it in for about three minutes, shook her head, snapped her laptop shut, and sighed.

'What's wrong?' I asked.

'I don't know, it's not the same,' Alana said. 'I was into it at first. But then I realized, there's no longer any wonder, any intrigue. Everything's out there, on display. For years, you wondered, 'Whatever happened to so-and-so?' And now you know. All questions get answered. There's no more mystery.'"

Report: iPhone takes 2/3 of mobile Web in February

Ars Technica: "According to Net Applications' most recent survey of the mobile browser market, the iPhone OS commands nearly 67 of mobile browsing worldwide. Its closest competitors have yet to break double digits, with Java ME (which collectively represents the stripped-down browsers on most regular phones) leading the pack at 9 percent, Windows Mobile in second place at 6.91 percent, and Symbian and Android following closely with a tie for third at 6.15 percent. The mysterious 'Other' category accounts for 2.75 percent. What is perhaps most interesting about February's mobile OS market share numbers, however, is that the iPhone seems to have lost a little ground to the competition."

Niche Web Sites Buck Media Struggles

WSJ.com: "Several start-up Web sites such as SB Nation, Seeking Alpha Ltd. and HealthCentral Network Inc., which create and aggregate content about topics like sports, business and health, are recording sharp gains in visitors and -- in many cases -- revenue. They are outpacing other sites on similar topics through business models that allow them to create niche content with little financial investment. Many also are landing distribution partnerships with big media brands eager for cheap content during the recession."

The New York Times Battles a Googler for New Jersey

Valleywag: "Why is the Gray Lady building websites for the obscure suburbs of South Orange, Maplewood, and Milburn? Perhaps because those are the exact same towns Google executive Tim Armstrong picked for Patch, his local-news startup."

Hearst to Begin Charging for Digital News

WSJ.com: "A top executive at Hearst, which publishes 16 newspapers including the Houston Chronicle and Seattle Post-Intelligencer, said the company is mulling how much of its online offerings to keep free, while reserving some content exclusively for people who pay."

Technophiles are abstaining from Facebook for Lent

NJ.com: "Religious leaders and scholars across the country are encouraging the faithful to unplug from Facebook, MySpace and other sites in a virtual Lenten fast."