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Computing is rapidly evolving into a real “ecology,” where chips will be embedded in everything from your coffee mug to your sweater. The above video produced by Mickey McManus’ (@mickeymcmanus) design consultancy, MAYA, illustrates this idea.

Also see Discover Magazine’s (@DiscoverMag) article, “The Internet May Soon Include All of the Things Around You.”

B. Bonin Bough (@boughb), Global Head of Digital for PepsiCo, writes in Forbes (@Forbes) about his discussion at the Milken Global Conference (@MilkenInstitute) with Nicholas Carr, renowned author who’s investigating how technology is impacting the way we think. Bough asks the question, “How often do we outsource traditional ways of thinking to smart devices, choosing to sacrifice learning and let the technology think for us?” And he suggests we’re losing something in the process.

Read this in full.

In the BigThink.com (@bigthink) interview below, Carr describes the technologies that have reshaped the way our brains work.

Talk with us at Somersault (@smrsault) to discern how your publishing and marketing strategies need to be positioned for the future's blue ocean opportunities. Be sure to bookmark and use daily our SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

The latest Nielsen (@NielsenWire) report (pdf) shows that social media’s popularity continues to grow, connecting people with just about everything they watch and buy.

·         60% percent of people who use three or more digital means of research for product purchases learn about a specific brand or retailer from a social networking site.

·         Social networks and blogs took 22.5% of Internet usage time in May 2011, beating online games' 9.8%, email's 7.6%, portals' 4.5%, video and films' 4.4% and search's 4%.

·         US Web users spent 53.5 billion minutes on Facebook during the month, beating out Yahoo's 17.2 billion minutes, Google's 12.5 billion minutes, YouTube's 9.5 billion minutes, eBay's 4.5 billion minutes, and Apple's 4.3 billion minutes.

·         Facebook received 140 million unique visitors in May, with 62% of page views on the site attributable to females; 50 million individuals accessed Blogger; 23.6 million went to Twitter.

·         Blogging provider Wordpress attracted 22.4 million people, trailed by MySpace with 19.3 million, LinkedIn with 17.8 million, and Tumblr, another blog hosting platform, with 11.9 million.

·         53% of "active" social networkers currently follow a brand.

·         Year over year growth of people accessing social networks via mobile rose 62%: 46.5 million people visiting Facebook, 11.5 million for Twitter, 6 million LinkedIn, and 4 million MySpace.

·         In all, 97% of members access social networks on a computer, 37% employ mobile phones, 3% deploy a games console or iPad, and 2% leverage Web-enabled TV sets and ereaders.

·         About 30% of consumers value being able to use social networks on their phone.

·         A further 21% liked scanning barcodes with a handset, 20% cited making payments, 16% prioritized "check-in" services such as Foursquare and 13% enjoyed giving feedback to companies.

·         67% of smartphone owners had downloaded gaming apps, 65% selected equivalent weather-related tools, 60% utilized applications from social networks, and 55% used navigation and search facilities.

·         17.8 million women watch video on social networks, versus 13.6 million men.

Read the report in full (pdf).

Also see our previous blogpost, “Report: Half of Americans Are Now Social Networkers.”

Damon Poeter (@dpoeter) writes in PCMag.com (@PCMag) that the percentage of adult Internet users using sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is now 65%, up from 61% a year ago, according to a report released by the Pew Research Center (@pewinternet & @pewresearch).

Accounting for the percentage of adults who don't use the Internet at all, that still means that half of all Americans now use social networking sites, Pew researchers say.

The number of Americans using such sites has exploded since 2005, when Pew found that just 8% of Internet users, or about 5% of all adult Americans, said they did. The percentage of Internet users saying they use social networking sites has more than doubled since 2008, when 29% of respondents said they were using them, according to the Pew survey.

Pew reports that women aged 18 to 29 are the most voracious users of social networking sites, with 89% of Internet users in that group participating in such sites and 69% of them reporting that they do so daily. Accounting for all age groups, 69% of adult women using the Internet say they’re social networkers as compared with 60% of men.

Read the story in full.

Read the research report.

Also see HubSpot’s (@HubSpot) article, “46 Million Americans Check Social Media Sites Multiple Times Per Day,” based on the 2011 Social Habit report, released by Edison Research and Arbitron.

What implications does this research hold for your publishing and marketing strategy? Let Somersault help you think it through.

According to research by Cone (@ConeLLC), 89% of US adults see the Web as a trustworthy source of information to verify offline recommendations of goods and services and 85% go online after being recommended a product to aid the decision-making process; 85% also say their purchase intent rises when they discover complimentary feedback.

“Consumers want reassurance before opening their purse strings, and personal recommendations alone are just not enough to guarantee a purchase," says Mike Hollywood, Cone's director, new media.

Read the Warc report in full.

Read the Cone summary.

Read the Cone report (pdf).

Warc (@WarcEditors) reports on a new Cisco (@Cisco_Mobility) study that says US families are engaging in an increasingly diverse range of digital activities, and are using more wireless devices than ever before.

·         The most popular digital pastimes among the respondents are browsing the Web and accessing email, logging a total uptake of 92%.

·         Regularly downloading music and video score 67%; consumers are turning to user-generated content platforms like YouTube, video-on-demand services, and properties such as iTunes.

·         Two-thirds of respondents often use a tablet or smartphone via their wireless network at home.

·         Devices connected to in-home WiFi: game consoles (66%), smartphones (41%), and wireless printers (36%).

·         62% of adults use the Internet in this way on a daily basis; 71% do so between 5-7 days a week.

·         Based on parents’ estimates, 46% of children log on to the Web in the same fashion every day, and 54% participate in this activity at least 5 days per week.

Consumers are now embracing a wireless connected lifestyle for the entire family.

Read this in full.

This chart by AdAge (@adage) shows that the generation coming up after the millennials – the iGen – is quickly consuming content digitally. Technology isn't skipping this generation, it's being handed down from mother to child. The data come from an annual survey by Parenting Group, the publisher of Parenting, Babytalk, and Parenting.com (@parenting), and the BlogHer (@BlogHer) network.

The generational breakdown is striking. Across the board, younger moms are passing technology along to their kids at an early age. This might not seem too surprising, given the Gen-Y embrace of technology. But when you consider that many of the youngest Gen-X moms are still having their first kids, whereas many millennials are putting off having kids, the adoption rates of technology start to blur.

Digging deeper into the data we see that the percent of moms who haven't let their children use a smartphone corresponds roughly to the percent of moms who don't have a smartphone themselves. We suspect that moms who haven't let their 2-year-olds use a smartphone likely got a smartphone when their kids were already older than that. Crazy, eh? Looking at stats for more-established technologies would seem to confirm that. The Gen-Xers and Boomer moms -- who are more likely to have older kids -- do show a higher overall rate of having passed the laptop or non-smartphone to their children of all ages.

The sweet spots for majority-usage looks like this: Mobile phone, age 11; smartphones, age 16; laptop/PC, age 4; digital camera, age 5.

Overall, the study finds that nearly three-quarters of moms with Internet access can't go a day without it. One in four report letting their kids use a mobile phone by age 2. We wonder when the ability to hit the home button, swipe to unlock and find an app will become a recognized developmental milestone -- maybe somewhere between walking and multi-word sentences.

Read this in full.

See the complete survey results in a PowerPoint presentation by BlogHer.

Also read our previous blogposts, "Motherhood Sends Moms to Smartphones" and "CyberTots: Pre-teens Drive iPad Purchases, Join Social Networks."

How does this information influence your publishing strategy for the next 12 months? The next 5 years?

The American Magazine Study, conducted by Affinity Research, reports that, along with 84% of US adults owning at least one computer, distinct generational skews exist in the profiles of eReader, tablet PC, and smartphone owners. It says, “These findings are important for companies marketing mobile devices to Millennials, Gen-Xers, and Baby Boomers, as well as those creating content and advertising targeted at these unique generational segments.”

Boomers are the most likely buyers of eReaders

·         More than 8.2 million Boomers currently own an eReader, while more than 10 million plan to purchase the device in the next six months.

·         More than 9 out of 10 Boomers (92%) use the device at home, 13% at work, and 36% power up their eReaders while on the go.

·         Similar to the national trend, female Boomers are 11% more likely to own an eReader than their male counterparts.

Gen-Xers are the most likely buyers of Tablet PCs

·         More than 9% of Gen-Xers currently own a tablet PC, while 24% - or almost 21 million - have plans to purchase the device.

·         56% of Gen-X tablet owners actively share their devices with others.

·         Gen-Xers with a household income of $100,000 or more are 63% more likely to own a tablet PC than their generational peers.

Millennials are the most likely buyers of Smartphones

·         54% - or more than 25 million Millennials - currently own a smartphone, and 18% plan to purchase one within the next six months.

·         63% of Millennials use their smartphones at work, while 95% report that they are the sole users of the device.

·         Millennials who have graduated college are 23% more likely to own a smartphone than others in their generation.

Read the news release.

Read the study in full.

What does this study mean for your publishing strategy? Let Somersault help.

A new Ipsos MORI (@IpsosMORI) poll finds that 7 in 10 people say they have a religion/faith, but there’s a marked difference between Christians and Muslims when it comes to the importance they place on their faith. The global survey looked at the views of over 18,000 people across 24 countries, including the UK and US. According to The Christian Post (@ChristianPost):

In Muslim-majority countries, 94% of those with a religion agree that their faith is important in their lives, compared to 66% in Christian-majority countries.

Muslims are far more likely to believe their religion is the only true path to salvation, liberation, or paradise – 61% compared to 19% in Christian-majority countries. In the US, 32% say their faith or religion is the only true path.

Muslims are also more likely to say their faith or religion is a key motivator in giving time and money to people in need – 61% compared to 24% in primarily Christian societies.

Read this in full.
Read the research in full.
See the slide presentation.

How does this research impact your publishing agenda?

George Barna, author of the new trends book Futurecast, assesses how America’s faith has shifted in the past 20 years on 14 religious variables. In a series of briefs, Barna explores not only the aggregate national patterns, but also digs into how matters have changed according to gender, ethnicity, region, generation, and religious segments:

↓ Weekly Bible reading has declined by 5 percentage points. Currently an estimated 40% of adults read the Bible during a typical week.

↓ Church volunteerism has dropped by 8 percentage points since 1991. Slightly less than one out of every 5 adults (19%) donates some of their time in a typical week to serving at a church.

↓ Adult Sunday school attendance has diminished by 8 percentage points. On any given Sunday, about 15% of adults can be expected to show up in a Sunday school class.

↓ Church attendance has receded by 9 percentage points, dropping from 49% in 1991 to 40% in 2011.

↑ The percentage of adults categorized as unchurched has increased (defined as all adults who have not attended any religious events at a church, other than special ceremonies such as a wedding or funeral, during the prior 6 month period). In 1991, just 24% of adults were unchurched. That figure has ballooned by more than 50%, to 37% today.

↑ The percentage of adults who can be classified as born again Christians, based on their belief that they will experience eternal salvation based on their commitment to Jesus Christ, personal confession of sins, and acceptance of Christ as their savior, has risen by 5 percentage points. Currently, 40% of adults can be classified as born again.

↓ When asked to choose one of several descriptions of God, the proportion who believe that God is “the all-knowing, all-powerful and perfect Creator of the universe who still rules the world today” currently stands at two-thirds of the public (67%). That represents a 7 point drop from the 1991 level.

↓ In 1991, 46% of adults strongly affirmed that “the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.” That has slumped to just 38% today.

Among the religious beliefs that have remained relatively constant over the past 20 years were the percentage of adults who describe themselves as Christian (84%); those who say their religious faith is very important in their life today (56%); those who have made a “personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in my life today” (65%); the proportion who agree that Satan is not a living entity but merely a symbol of evil (56%); those who strongly believe that they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others who believe differently (25%).

Read Part 1 (general trends) in full.

Read Part 2 (generational trends) in full.

Seven-in-ten evangelical leaders who live in the Global South (71%) expect that 5 years from now the state of evangelicalism in their countries will be better than it is today. But a majority of evangelical leaders in the Global North expect that the state of evangelicalism in their countries will either stay about the same (21%) or worsen (33%) over the next 5 years.

The survey was taken of evangelical leaders from 166 countries and territories who were invited to attend the Third Lausanne Congress of World Evangelization (@capetown2010), a 10-day gathering of ministers and lay leaders held in October 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Overall, evangelical leaders around the world view secularism, consumerism and popular culture as the greatest threats they face today. More of the leaders express concern about these aspects of modern life than express concern about other religions, internal disagree-ments among evangelicals or government restrictions on religion.

Read the report in full.

What content should you be creating to meet the needs of this evangelical market?