Showing posts with label ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ireland. Show all posts
Friday, 25 September 2009
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Best iPhone Apps: The Must-Have Downloads
I thought this was a good presentation, though everything may not be relevant to the UK and Ireland market. I've used many of these, and am likely to explore those I haven't. I'm dying to see Yelp on my phone for example.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Best iPhone Apps: The Must-Have Downloads
View more presentations from Josh Clark.
Friday, 3 October 2008
Economic Downturn Impacts on Irish Online
Purchases of Goods & Services - New Report
Drop in quantities of products and services bought online since 2007
Online research for products down by as much as 10% for some goods
Fall in online purchasing activity linked to decline in economic activity
Dublin, IRELAND - September 22nd 2008: Irish shoppers are spending less money buying good and services online and are spending less time on the Internet doing research on their favourite products, according to a landmark report that has just been published by Dublin-based digital communications consultancy, Net Behaviour.
The Net Behaviour Report - the most extensive research that has been carried out on Irish internet usage - contains the Net Behaviour (NB) Consumer Index, which looks at the propensity of Irish people to research and purchase goods and services online.... read more
Drop in quantities of products and services bought online since 2007
Online research for products down by as much as 10% for some goods
Fall in online purchasing activity linked to decline in economic activity
Dublin, IRELAND - September 22nd 2008: Irish shoppers are spending less money buying good and services online and are spending less time on the Internet doing research on their favourite products, according to a landmark report that has just been published by Dublin-based digital communications consultancy, Net Behaviour.
The Net Behaviour Report - the most extensive research that has been carried out on Irish internet usage - contains the Net Behaviour (NB) Consumer Index, which looks at the propensity of Irish people to research and purchase goods and services online.... read more
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
IPTV: TV Advertising to Fall Apart
For years now, people have been predicting the demise of TV and TV advertising. But there wasn’t much substance to these predictions and they seemed somewhat far-fetched. However, when Bill Gates makes predictions and acts upon them by launching Microsoft IPTV it is hard not to take notice. Actions speak louder than words after all, and Bills actions are big actions.
What he’s saying in speeches, and predicting is also a lot more subtle and specific than the mutterings of crystal ball gazers heretofore and I think he’s absolutely right, and what he predicts is, in fact, inevitable. The time frame is the only thing that is in question.
In speeches he’s saying that the TV advertising business model, where the vast majority of traditional ad spend goes will fall apart over the next five years, when the new type of news-on-demand interactive TV formats come into their own. Google, and Yahoo! also have IPTV offerings, and services like Joost, Babelgum, 4OD stimulate this growth.
That’s the technology, and how often have you seen articles on the net telling you there is a new offering that will change everything. However, this is different! (Don’t they all say that?) I think this is different because three things are happening in tandem and when these all move together, change happens. Yes, firstly the technology has developed and advanced, but secondly society has also changed with peoples’ behaviours and media expectations shifting through YouTube, Video on demand and UGC. And finally there are necessary major economic shifts, through advertising, to pay for it all. That’s the full set of requirements for technological and social change. These are the three elements that explain why VHS succeeded where Betamax failed and then why DVD outstripped them both; why vinyl gave way to cassette, CD and then downloads changed the music industry forever; and also why IPTV will rock the world of TV advertising and change it forever. (In fact, more recently Amazon are trying the same trick for books with Kindle).
Yes, the technology is changing, but also peoples’ behaviour and the economics to pay for it all is shifting also. The technology has advanced as has the broadband speed to deliver the new formats, but also net ad spend has increased, by around 17% worldwide last year. While it’s still only a small proportion of total ad spend, in many countries it’s on a par with, or bigger than newspapers, radio and outdoor. Over perhaps 5 years, this is a tectonic shift in the world of advertising. TV ad spend however is the mother load and when this starts to come netwards you have to take notice. Bill Gates is predicting this will happen before we know it.
Traditional advertisers are therefore presented with opportunities, challenges and new paradigms to come to grips with. It must be understood that the net simply isn’t like TV, even though you can watch TV over the net. If you don’t take this on board, the TV advertising you deliver over the web simply won’t be effective. There are two reasons for me saying this:
1) The net is a 2 way active and interactive medium, while TV is a one way passive medium and consequently...
2) The net viewer is in active mode, rather than a passive one, so therefore has a totally different set of expectations and behaviours.
It’s TV, yes, but sent through a different channel, for an audience in a totally different state of mind.
TV is passive. Marshall McLuhan called it a ‘cold medium’, because you do nothing. The viewer simply sits back and video and audio wash over them, their only action being to change channel – if they can remember where they put the remote, it’s that long since they actually did anything (imagine losing your wireless mouse, or keyboard?). The modern net, with web 2.0, is not only active, it’s a super-heated hyperactive zone of multi-tasking – the opposite end of the scale, with viewer/users collaborating, communicating, sharing, viewing, reading, talking, listening and contributing to the medium all at the same time at super high speed. When you sit in front of a computer, your role, your expectations and your control is totally at odds with the TV experience. And consequently, where with TV people have to watch long tranches of boring ads because they have no choice but to watch, change channel, or put the kettle on; with IPTV they do have a choice and will ruthlessly flash to something more engaging in the blink of an eye immediately forgetting what they’ve just seen.
So, what can advertisers do to address this viewer promiscuity? Several things in fact and all of them have the IPTV web viewer firmly in mind. The IPTV viewer expects to be offered the capacity to engage with a product or brand on the Internet, (something they are never even offered on traditional TV). IPTV ads therefore need to offer some incentive to engage, like a special offer or reduction. There needs to be a URL to visit and view the product, if they have the time, or somewhere within the ad to register their interest for later, if they don’t. They might be given the capacity to leave contact information, or ring a special phone number on their mobile or work number and this number will relate to this specific ad campaign, not the whole company. In short, ads need to be tailored to the needs of the viewer. They need to have their requirements, interests and availability to the fore to ensure optimal success.
Online, there is also the capacity to know far more about the specific viewer of an ad than on TV. National research projects, like Net Behaviour’s MIR/NB Report means we have a very clear idea of the demographics of the Irish people who visit pretty much any site or Internet software, their frequency of doing so, and a whole tranche of other activity, such as their online purchasing activity. Pre and post ad view and click tracking can tell a considerable amount about viewers interests both through the sites they visit and where they go on these sites. Registration and social networking software means you can know each viewer's age, sex, interests, friendship networks and even what they buy. Ad view capping software also means that ads aren’t wasted through several views of the same ad, but rather views can be evenly spread amongst those who would have most interest, and only shown the optimal number of times to ensure the message has got across, but not too many to irritate.
So, while there are challenges presented to IPTV advertisers, these are completely outweighed by the important new opportunities the Internet offers, and the increased the capacity to make a sale. In short: For TV, getting the viewer from the point of actually seeing the TV ad to buying a product is largely in the lap of the gods, if they even remember seeing the ad. For IPTV advertisers on the other hand, they have a much greater say in what a viewer does immediately on seeing their product advertised. The audience is offered a much greater opportunity to engage with the message on the spot. They can explore the products specifications and price, learn about the producer, and even interact with the ad message asking the advertiser to contact them at a later date, and all without interrupting their reason for being on the site hosting the ad in question. They can also much more easily take the desired action – buy the product.
So, in conclusion: in this instance I think Bill Gates must be 100% right. TV advertising will move towards an IPTV model before we know it. The technology is there, the consumer will prefer it and the advertising will be more effective and efficient. But, the ad industry must just take on board that while it is a TV message, the Internet is a totally different channel, and one much better suited to engaging with the consumer.
What he’s saying in speeches, and predicting is also a lot more subtle and specific than the mutterings of crystal ball gazers heretofore and I think he’s absolutely right, and what he predicts is, in fact, inevitable. The time frame is the only thing that is in question.
In speeches he’s saying that the TV advertising business model, where the vast majority of traditional ad spend goes will fall apart over the next five years, when the new type of news-on-demand interactive TV formats come into their own. Google, and Yahoo! also have IPTV offerings, and services like Joost, Babelgum, 4OD stimulate this growth.
That’s the technology, and how often have you seen articles on the net telling you there is a new offering that will change everything. However, this is different! (Don’t they all say that?) I think this is different because three things are happening in tandem and when these all move together, change happens. Yes, firstly the technology has developed and advanced, but secondly society has also changed with peoples’ behaviours and media expectations shifting through YouTube, Video on demand and UGC. And finally there are necessary major economic shifts, through advertising, to pay for it all. That’s the full set of requirements for technological and social change. These are the three elements that explain why VHS succeeded where Betamax failed and then why DVD outstripped them both; why vinyl gave way to cassette, CD and then downloads changed the music industry forever; and also why IPTV will rock the world of TV advertising and change it forever. (In fact, more recently Amazon are trying the same trick for books with Kindle).
Yes, the technology is changing, but also peoples’ behaviour and the economics to pay for it all is shifting also. The technology has advanced as has the broadband speed to deliver the new formats, but also net ad spend has increased, by around 17% worldwide last year. While it’s still only a small proportion of total ad spend, in many countries it’s on a par with, or bigger than newspapers, radio and outdoor. Over perhaps 5 years, this is a tectonic shift in the world of advertising. TV ad spend however is the mother load and when this starts to come netwards you have to take notice. Bill Gates is predicting this will happen before we know it.
Traditional advertisers are therefore presented with opportunities, challenges and new paradigms to come to grips with. It must be understood that the net simply isn’t like TV, even though you can watch TV over the net. If you don’t take this on board, the TV advertising you deliver over the web simply won’t be effective. There are two reasons for me saying this:
1) The net is a 2 way active and interactive medium, while TV is a one way passive medium and consequently...
2) The net viewer is in active mode, rather than a passive one, so therefore has a totally different set of expectations and behaviours.
It’s TV, yes, but sent through a different channel, for an audience in a totally different state of mind.
TV is passive. Marshall McLuhan called it a ‘cold medium’, because you do nothing. The viewer simply sits back and video and audio wash over them, their only action being to change channel – if they can remember where they put the remote, it’s that long since they actually did anything (imagine losing your wireless mouse, or keyboard?). The modern net, with web 2.0, is not only active, it’s a super-heated hyperactive zone of multi-tasking – the opposite end of the scale, with viewer/users collaborating, communicating, sharing, viewing, reading, talking, listening and contributing to the medium all at the same time at super high speed. When you sit in front of a computer, your role, your expectations and your control is totally at odds with the TV experience. And consequently, where with TV people have to watch long tranches of boring ads because they have no choice but to watch, change channel, or put the kettle on; with IPTV they do have a choice and will ruthlessly flash to something more engaging in the blink of an eye immediately forgetting what they’ve just seen.
So, what can advertisers do to address this viewer promiscuity? Several things in fact and all of them have the IPTV web viewer firmly in mind. The IPTV viewer expects to be offered the capacity to engage with a product or brand on the Internet, (something they are never even offered on traditional TV). IPTV ads therefore need to offer some incentive to engage, like a special offer or reduction. There needs to be a URL to visit and view the product, if they have the time, or somewhere within the ad to register their interest for later, if they don’t. They might be given the capacity to leave contact information, or ring a special phone number on their mobile or work number and this number will relate to this specific ad campaign, not the whole company. In short, ads need to be tailored to the needs of the viewer. They need to have their requirements, interests and availability to the fore to ensure optimal success.
Online, there is also the capacity to know far more about the specific viewer of an ad than on TV. National research projects, like Net Behaviour’s MIR/NB Report means we have a very clear idea of the demographics of the Irish people who visit pretty much any site or Internet software, their frequency of doing so, and a whole tranche of other activity, such as their online purchasing activity. Pre and post ad view and click tracking can tell a considerable amount about viewers interests both through the sites they visit and where they go on these sites. Registration and social networking software means you can know each viewer's age, sex, interests, friendship networks and even what they buy. Ad view capping software also means that ads aren’t wasted through several views of the same ad, but rather views can be evenly spread amongst those who would have most interest, and only shown the optimal number of times to ensure the message has got across, but not too many to irritate.
So, while there are challenges presented to IPTV advertisers, these are completely outweighed by the important new opportunities the Internet offers, and the increased the capacity to make a sale. In short: For TV, getting the viewer from the point of actually seeing the TV ad to buying a product is largely in the lap of the gods, if they even remember seeing the ad. For IPTV advertisers on the other hand, they have a much greater say in what a viewer does immediately on seeing their product advertised. The audience is offered a much greater opportunity to engage with the message on the spot. They can explore the products specifications and price, learn about the producer, and even interact with the ad message asking the advertiser to contact them at a later date, and all without interrupting their reason for being on the site hosting the ad in question. They can also much more easily take the desired action – buy the product.
So, in conclusion: in this instance I think Bill Gates must be 100% right. TV advertising will move towards an IPTV model before we know it. The technology is there, the consumer will prefer it and the advertising will be more effective and efficient. But, the ad industry must just take on board that while it is a TV message, the Internet is a totally different channel, and one much better suited to engaging with the consumer.
Thursday, 29 November 2007
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
Irish Online Recruitment
After travel, recruitment is the most popular category of Internet use on a monthly basis by Irish Internet users. Irish jobs is the most popular Irish recruitment site, and the 6th most visited site by Irish Internet users, with 34% visiting the site at least once a month. Recruitment sites are much more likely to be visited weekly, or monthly, or less often, than on a daily basis.
This makes sense, as many will post their CV on several sites, and ‘see what comes in’. Around 20% of recruitment site users are apparently actively looking on a daily basis for a new job.
The second most popular sites is Jobs.ie, with 29%, and then comes Monster.ie, with 27%. Recruit Ireland comes in with 26%. There is then a drop off to the less mainstream and niche sites, with Publicjobs.ie with 13%, Nixers.ie 8%, Careersinhealthcare.ie 5%, Brightwater.ie 5%, Educationposts.com 5% and Salesforce.com with 1%.
This makes sense, as many will post their CV on several sites, and ‘see what comes in’. Around 20% of recruitment site users are apparently actively looking on a daily basis for a new job.
The second most popular sites is Jobs.ie, with 29%, and then comes Monster.ie, with 27%. Recruit Ireland comes in with 26%. There is then a drop off to the less mainstream and niche sites, with Publicjobs.ie with 13%, Nixers.ie 8%, Careersinhealthcare.ie 5%, Brightwater.ie 5%, Educationposts.com 5% and Salesforce.com with 1%.
Thursday, 21 June 2007
The NB Report
Net Behaviour is pleased to announce the arrival of The NB Report©. In essense, this report tells us how Irish people use the web.
The NB Report© is carried out by Monitrack Internet Research (MIR), in conjunction with Amárach Consulting. It contains information on over 475 websites used by Irish consumers across all categories; from search engines and blogs to news and media sites, and even on corporate sites within key industry sectors.
The research gathers data on an ongoing basis from over 30 online sampling points and soon it will be imported into the MediaStar software where it will provide a range of coverage and frequency information for Net Behaviour clients.
The document below will give you a flavour of the research concerning the Top 20/30 websites used by Irish people, and more…
The NB Report© will further enhance our digital communications service for NB clients. If you would like to discuss The NB Report© please don't hesitate to contact us.
--------------------------------
The Top 20 Sites
The top categories are, perhaps unsurprisingly, search, airlines, shopping, recruitment, news, chat rooms/messenger, classifieds, and entertainment. Search is used most often and Google is the most popular search engine with a whopping 82% of Irish online users visiting the site every month. Yahoo! comes in second with 51% of online users; Ryanair (47%) and Aer Lingus (47%) come in with third and forth places on our monthly table of top 20 websites and eBay is in fifth position.
An impressive 87% of Irish Google users use the site on a daily basis, compared with 42% of Yahoo! searchers, and 39% of MSN searchers.
Recruitment sites are very popular with Irish people. Most classified Internet sites, such as recruitment sites, are used weekly, or monthly, rather than daily. The most popular recruitment site is Irishjobs.ie, with 35% of Irish people who use the Internet visiting the site in a given month, and 42% of these visiting weekly, it takes position 6 on our top 20 websites. Recruitment sites are well represented accounting for four of the top 20.
Myhome.ie is the most popular property website, with 29% of Ireland’s Internet users going to the site every month; coming in 12th and the only property website to make the NB/ MIR Top 20.
The most popular news source in Ireland is RTE.ie, with 35% of Irish people visiting the site in a month for news, 38% of these daily. In fact, RTE.ie news service comes in at an impressive 9th place on our top 20 Irish Internet uses table. The next most popular news source is BBC.co.uk, with 26% of Irish Internet users per month, and position 15 on our top 20. Skynews.com is in position 17, with 25% visitors per month.
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia is very popular indeed with Irish people, 32% using it each month. It comes in at number ten on our top 20. Golden Pages.ie is in 19th position, with 25% visitors.
Three places on our Top 20 are taken up by some of Ireland’s newest Internet uses. MSN Instant Messenger (34% and position 8), YouTube.com (28% and position 13) and iTunes (24% position 20). For those who aren’t familiar with these, Instant Messenger is one-to-one real-time chat software, very popular among younger people, and users of social networks like Bebo.
In fact, Messenger is much more popular than email for this demographic. YouTube.com is the world’s must popular video site, where anyone can upload their own video for all to see, and iTunes.com is owned by Apple, and is Ireland’s most popular space for buying music for MP3 players and iPods.
Household names from 21 to 30
From 21 to 30 we had AIB / 365 Online (24%), Bebo (23%), Daft (22%), Amazon (22%), Argos (22%), Yahoo! Messenger (21%), Ticketmaster (21%), Pigsback (21%), eircom (news) (21%) and finally Tesco (21%). These fall broadly into the categories of banking, shopping, chat and news (eircom).
Internet Categories
MIR treats the Internet as a functional entity exploring website function and use from the users’ perspective, as well as the website address. The total number of people who use a site is easily found even if that site, for example, provides such diverse services as email, news, search, music downloads and radio. However, typically advertising will be placed on a single section of a multifunction site – the business news section, the technology news, or email login and MIR data can provide this basic categorical information, from the users’ perspective.
This approach gives the advantage of providing an accurate estimate, for example, of the total popularity of business news for Irish people on the Internet, whether they visit specific business newspapers online, the business section of a web portal or bulletin boards exploring the demographic breakdown of the audience along the way. Net Behaviour can then target advertising of behalf on clients knowing a lot about the business Internet audience, where they go online and frequency.
We also measure the total popularity of multi-function portals such as RTE.ie or eircom.net regardless of their use (this is not explored in the above table).
Methodology
MIR research is carried out by Monitrack Internet Research in conjunction with Amárach Consulting and is used by Net Behaviour, and Monitrack clients. The NB Report is a cut of this data. The MIR sample is gathered from over 30 websites and search engines visited by Irish people. The sample quoted above is 1,267 and was gathered between January and March 2007. MIR currently contains information on over 475 websites, search engines and web entities used by Irish people. It also explores research and purchase behaviour online, mobile phone usage, blogging, podcasting, bulletin board use and indeed all other Internet uses for Irish people. Sites are explored through a full set of standard demographic information in Media Star and Espri.
‘The Monitrack policy for MIR research is the same as that developed for the JNIR research. The data presented shows people who use the Internet, rather than ‘unique users, ‘impressions’ or ‘hits’, as the research is carried out with questionnaires, rather than with automatic technologies, like tracking software, cookies or server logs. MIR will typically show numbers which are much smaller than other methods but these are counting different things,’ according to Emmet Kelly. ‘Automated research tells a story of activity, rather than people. Researchers, marketers and media buyers need to know about the people who use a product or service online, as much as the activity surrounding that service,’ said Emmet.
In addition to the NB/MIR data, Net Behaviour employs ad-tracking software for ad campaigns, and buys advertising space with existing currencies such as CPM, CPC, CPA and sponsorship. Automated research data such as that provided by ad tracking software is ideal for optimising advertising spend, while MIR tells the story about how the Irish use the web, gives insight, and helps us make predictions.
All MIR research is carried out in-house and the research, and research methods are the property of Monitrack Internet Research
The NB/Monitrack Team
Monitrack is an Internet research specialist, and formerly carried out the JNIR research. The JNIR was originated by Emmet Kelly and Justin Cullen, who subsequently, with Sinéad Morris, also of Monitrack, founded Net Behaviour some 20 months ago. Net Behaviour is an Internet media buying agent for some of Ireland’s largest agencies and has carried out over 300 campaigns since it was founded in late 2005.
The NB Report© is carried out by Monitrack Internet Research (MIR), in conjunction with Amárach Consulting. It contains information on over 475 websites used by Irish consumers across all categories; from search engines and blogs to news and media sites, and even on corporate sites within key industry sectors.
The research gathers data on an ongoing basis from over 30 online sampling points and soon it will be imported into the MediaStar software where it will provide a range of coverage and frequency information for Net Behaviour clients.
The document below will give you a flavour of the research concerning the Top 20/30 websites used by Irish people, and more…
The NB Report© will further enhance our digital communications service for NB clients. If you would like to discuss The NB Report© please don't hesitate to contact us.
--------------------------------
The Top 20 Sites
The top categories are, perhaps unsurprisingly, search, airlines, shopping, recruitment, news, chat rooms/messenger, classifieds, and entertainment. Search is used most often and Google is the most popular search engine with a whopping 82% of Irish online users visiting the site every month. Yahoo! comes in second with 51% of online users; Ryanair (47%) and Aer Lingus (47%) come in with third and forth places on our monthly table of top 20 websites and eBay is in fifth position.
An impressive 87% of Irish Google users use the site on a daily basis, compared with 42% of Yahoo! searchers, and 39% of MSN searchers.
Recruitment sites are very popular with Irish people. Most classified Internet sites, such as recruitment sites, are used weekly, or monthly, rather than daily. The most popular recruitment site is Irishjobs.ie, with 35% of Irish people who use the Internet visiting the site in a given month, and 42% of these visiting weekly, it takes position 6 on our top 20 websites. Recruitment sites are well represented accounting for four of the top 20.
Myhome.ie is the most popular property website, with 29% of Ireland’s Internet users going to the site every month; coming in 12th and the only property website to make the NB/ MIR Top 20.
The most popular news source in Ireland is RTE.ie, with 35% of Irish people visiting the site in a month for news, 38% of these daily. In fact, RTE.ie news service comes in at an impressive 9th place on our top 20 Irish Internet uses table. The next most popular news source is BBC.co.uk, with 26% of Irish Internet users per month, and position 15 on our top 20. Skynews.com is in position 17, with 25% visitors per month.
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia is very popular indeed with Irish people, 32% using it each month. It comes in at number ten on our top 20. Golden Pages.ie is in 19th position, with 25% visitors.
Three places on our Top 20 are taken up by some of Ireland’s newest Internet uses. MSN Instant Messenger (34% and position 8), YouTube.com (28% and position 13) and iTunes (24% position 20). For those who aren’t familiar with these, Instant Messenger is one-to-one real-time chat software, very popular among younger people, and users of social networks like Bebo.
In fact, Messenger is much more popular than email for this demographic. YouTube.com is the world’s must popular video site, where anyone can upload their own video for all to see, and iTunes.com is owned by Apple, and is Ireland’s most popular space for buying music for MP3 players and iPods.
Household names from 21 to 30
From 21 to 30 we had AIB / 365 Online (24%), Bebo (23%), Daft (22%), Amazon (22%), Argos (22%), Yahoo! Messenger (21%), Ticketmaster (21%), Pigsback (21%), eircom (news) (21%) and finally Tesco (21%). These fall broadly into the categories of banking, shopping, chat and news (eircom).
Internet Categories
MIR treats the Internet as a functional entity exploring website function and use from the users’ perspective, as well as the website address. The total number of people who use a site is easily found even if that site, for example, provides such diverse services as email, news, search, music downloads and radio. However, typically advertising will be placed on a single section of a multifunction site – the business news section, the technology news, or email login and MIR data can provide this basic categorical information, from the users’ perspective.
This approach gives the advantage of providing an accurate estimate, for example, of the total popularity of business news for Irish people on the Internet, whether they visit specific business newspapers online, the business section of a web portal or bulletin boards exploring the demographic breakdown of the audience along the way. Net Behaviour can then target advertising of behalf on clients knowing a lot about the business Internet audience, where they go online and frequency.
We also measure the total popularity of multi-function portals such as RTE.ie or eircom.net regardless of their use (this is not explored in the above table).
Methodology
MIR research is carried out by Monitrack Internet Research in conjunction with Amárach Consulting and is used by Net Behaviour, and Monitrack clients. The NB Report is a cut of this data. The MIR sample is gathered from over 30 websites and search engines visited by Irish people. The sample quoted above is 1,267 and was gathered between January and March 2007. MIR currently contains information on over 475 websites, search engines and web entities used by Irish people. It also explores research and purchase behaviour online, mobile phone usage, blogging, podcasting, bulletin board use and indeed all other Internet uses for Irish people. Sites are explored through a full set of standard demographic information in Media Star and Espri.
‘The Monitrack policy for MIR research is the same as that developed for the JNIR research. The data presented shows people who use the Internet, rather than ‘unique users, ‘impressions’ or ‘hits’, as the research is carried out with questionnaires, rather than with automatic technologies, like tracking software, cookies or server logs. MIR will typically show numbers which are much smaller than other methods but these are counting different things,’ according to Emmet Kelly. ‘Automated research tells a story of activity, rather than people. Researchers, marketers and media buyers need to know about the people who use a product or service online, as much as the activity surrounding that service,’ said Emmet.
In addition to the NB/MIR data, Net Behaviour employs ad-tracking software for ad campaigns, and buys advertising space with existing currencies such as CPM, CPC, CPA and sponsorship. Automated research data such as that provided by ad tracking software is ideal for optimising advertising spend, while MIR tells the story about how the Irish use the web, gives insight, and helps us make predictions.
All MIR research is carried out in-house and the research, and research methods are the property of Monitrack Internet Research
The NB/Monitrack Team
Monitrack is an Internet research specialist, and formerly carried out the JNIR research. The JNIR was originated by Emmet Kelly and Justin Cullen, who subsequently, with Sinéad Morris, also of Monitrack, founded Net Behaviour some 20 months ago. Net Behaviour is an Internet media buying agent for some of Ireland’s largest agencies and has carried out over 300 campaigns since it was founded in late 2005.
Monday, 4 December 2006
Web 2.0
So much has been written lately about this new concept. It’s a buzz term, true, but also a description of fundamental changes happening in ICT. Europe is far behind the Far East and America in terms of our Internet usage, and Ireland is at the bottom of the European scale of things… So, I’d like to discuss some of the philosophy and thinking surrounding the concept. I’m just going to chat about some bits now, as there is an on-going, endless and somewhat tedious debate going on about ‘What Web 2.0 Means?'. These are the bits of what it means that I think are most relevant and interesting. Hopefully they’re relevant to you too. Tell me what you think
Many people, from the head of Microsoft and Apple, to futurologists, have pointed out what should have been obvious, but wasn’t too many. Once the software and hardware is in place to a sufficient degree, people start to do business online. Once they’re doing that, the business winners will be the service companies. It’s a clear set of stages which can be explained by analogy with the train industry.
The first companies to do well out of the age of the train are the track builders, Cisco in terms of ICT. Then the engine builders, Microsoft and Intel etc, and then the various train companies. After that, the train companies that get the trains running on time, and quickest, post the best timetables and get you to the stations efficiently, these are the next wave of companies. On the Internet thats true too, and we’re on the third wave of new communication technology development. Service! The funky software and sites that set appointments and schedules, the widgets that help you manage chats, conversations and photos. The software that gets you communicating, gets you sending your data from A to B the in the most efficient manner, and reminds you when to send it. These companies are distinct from the utilities; those who build the machines, and the pipes that channel your information around the world.
However, we’ve gone beyond this stage too. The software providers now place value on their software not by what it can individually do, but by the fact that everyone else is using the same software, or that this software speaks will all the others types of software, regardless of who’s using it. So, the individual piece of software might be totally cool, but it’s better if it merely works well, and everyone else uses it too. Also, it’s better if the software is online, and free. This is a whole new model for software companies and a very risky strategy for the software company investor. If the software catches on, happy days, as long as you can get sufficient donations, and/or advertising, or its used by so many people it will be bought by Google, or Yahoo! or someone. (Unlikely to be Yahoo! at the moment.)
So, the loop has reached the stage where the service itself is more important than the software. For example, consider Plaxo, Del.icio.us and the millions of other free site soft wares out there, doing everything from your household accounts, to setting up a free shop.
Data That Grows with Use and Users
This comes out of the previous point. As more people use these free/cheap online services, the better they get. More people tag on Del.icio.us, the better it gets; more people use YouTube, or Bebo, it comes alive; the more people use friendsreunited, dating sites or geneology sites, the more opportunity they have to function.
Trusting users as co-developers
This is where the net development goes all commy. It always was in a way. The language of the net, with surfing, waves and nets. Its all symbolic of the watery, fishing land of the west coast. The America lingo, is there because that's where it all started. That’s where Silicon Valley is, and the people with that surf dude mind-set, the bright ones, made their millions. However, they made their millions out of IP. Shares, futures, and intellectual property… all that stuff.
Open source is a term for a movement where the developers of a peice of software invite users to develope that software. Most web and other software these days is open source, is seems to be in a stage of perpetual beta test. Indeed new free versions of the software seem to come out daily, rather than once every few years in the past. With open source and software stuck in beta test stage really taking on, BitTorrent is an example, software development and use comes together, software and sites become more popular, and the users more loyal.
The Power of the Collective
Remember the Borg? Well, Web 2.0 is a Borg concept, or vice versa. The power of Wikipedia is the users of Wikipedia, the power of Del.icio.us is the members of Del.icio.us. There was a time in the very recent past, where the database, and the time that had gone into its construction, and the data it contained was the valuable entity. Now databases are populated by the users of the databases, and their true value is in their popularity. The use of the database is free, and everything else follows.
The Long Tail
A great concept with a silly name. Think of a line on a graph. Starting big, and then petering out. The big companies are at the high part of the line, but on the internet, there are thousands upon thousands of smaller businesses. The tail of the graph is very long. 5 years ago, companies used to service the head of the graph, and not the tail… Now, the big business is being done servicing the needs of the long tail. Double click is a good example. Big expensive software which had to be bought by large publishers who wanted ad revenue from a few standardized formats on their site. Google arrives along with a whole new mechanic for buying ads, and anyone can ad a small bit of code to their site, and the ads are served. A completely different format, everything's changed, and it works. Google services tiny companies, and individuals with blogs. Google services the long tail.
Conclusion
The Irish Internet space has changed immesurably and irreversibly in the last few years and we have to understand it if we are to satisfy the needs of advertisers, advertising being the life blood of many of the sites and services discussed above. Net Behaviour is an advertising company that tasks itself with understanding the Internet the way it is today, and tracking the changes in Internet usage as they happen, to best facilitate advertising for our clients. This is an ongoing job. We've found in the last year that sites with user generated content are working better and better for our advertisers. We've also started working with clients on strategies that involve the new social movements and usages of Irish Internet users. In the past the Internet had the potential to be a two directional medium but content was coming much more from traditional content providers... the newspapers, TV stations and radio. In the last year the flow of content has come much more the audience. User generated content sites and services have also developed more audience than tradition Internet news and information providers. This will be more or less true as fashions change, but I'm of the opinion that the graph is only going one way on this, towards UGC, though these will progressively be owned by International conglomerates.
I understand of course that there are different types of content. If there's a war with Syria, traditional news providers will get the audience. But I feel there is a new segment of audience that will always like UGC, the get a buzz out of providing for it, and getting their friends and colleagues to view what they've provided, ,or sending funny stuff around the a gag group. Also, there will always be those who enjoy the un-constrained fun that can come from hidden video, jokes and pranks and studenty type films. Twink fell foul of this set. Does it matter who owns these sites, or where they are? No. Irish eyeballs are watching the web all over the world, and watching extremely local and international content, regardless of where the server resides, or who owns to company. NB will facilitate advertisers to reach this audiece, wherever it may be.
OK... Thats it. Those are some of the bits of Web 2.0 that interest me. I hope thei interest you too.
Many people, from the head of Microsoft and Apple, to futurologists, have pointed out what should have been obvious, but wasn’t too many. Once the software and hardware is in place to a sufficient degree, people start to do business online. Once they’re doing that, the business winners will be the service companies. It’s a clear set of stages which can be explained by analogy with the train industry.
The first companies to do well out of the age of the train are the track builders, Cisco in terms of ICT. Then the engine builders, Microsoft and Intel etc, and then the various train companies. After that, the train companies that get the trains running on time, and quickest, post the best timetables and get you to the stations efficiently, these are the next wave of companies. On the Internet thats true too, and we’re on the third wave of new communication technology development. Service! The funky software and sites that set appointments and schedules, the widgets that help you manage chats, conversations and photos. The software that gets you communicating, gets you sending your data from A to B the in the most efficient manner, and reminds you when to send it. These companies are distinct from the utilities; those who build the machines, and the pipes that channel your information around the world.
However, we’ve gone beyond this stage too. The software providers now place value on their software not by what it can individually do, but by the fact that everyone else is using the same software, or that this software speaks will all the others types of software, regardless of who’s using it. So, the individual piece of software might be totally cool, but it’s better if it merely works well, and everyone else uses it too. Also, it’s better if the software is online, and free. This is a whole new model for software companies and a very risky strategy for the software company investor. If the software catches on, happy days, as long as you can get sufficient donations, and/or advertising, or its used by so many people it will be bought by Google, or Yahoo! or someone. (Unlikely to be Yahoo! at the moment.)
So, the loop has reached the stage where the service itself is more important than the software. For example, consider Plaxo, Del.icio.us and the millions of other free site soft wares out there, doing everything from your household accounts, to setting up a free shop.
Data That Grows with Use and Users
This comes out of the previous point. As more people use these free/cheap online services, the better they get. More people tag on Del.icio.us, the better it gets; more people use YouTube, or Bebo, it comes alive; the more people use friendsreunited, dating sites or geneology sites, the more opportunity they have to function.
Trusting users as co-developers
This is where the net development goes all commy. It always was in a way. The language of the net, with surfing, waves and nets. Its all symbolic of the watery, fishing land of the west coast. The America lingo, is there because that's where it all started. That’s where Silicon Valley is, and the people with that surf dude mind-set, the bright ones, made their millions. However, they made their millions out of IP. Shares, futures, and intellectual property… all that stuff.
Open source is a term for a movement where the developers of a peice of software invite users to develope that software. Most web and other software these days is open source, is seems to be in a stage of perpetual beta test. Indeed new free versions of the software seem to come out daily, rather than once every few years in the past. With open source and software stuck in beta test stage really taking on, BitTorrent is an example, software development and use comes together, software and sites become more popular, and the users more loyal.
The Power of the Collective
Remember the Borg? Well, Web 2.0 is a Borg concept, or vice versa. The power of Wikipedia is the users of Wikipedia, the power of Del.icio.us is the members of Del.icio.us. There was a time in the very recent past, where the database, and the time that had gone into its construction, and the data it contained was the valuable entity. Now databases are populated by the users of the databases, and their true value is in their popularity. The use of the database is free, and everything else follows.
The Long Tail
A great concept with a silly name. Think of a line on a graph. Starting big, and then petering out. The big companies are at the high part of the line, but on the internet, there are thousands upon thousands of smaller businesses. The tail of the graph is very long. 5 years ago, companies used to service the head of the graph, and not the tail… Now, the big business is being done servicing the needs of the long tail. Double click is a good example. Big expensive software which had to be bought by large publishers who wanted ad revenue from a few standardized formats on their site. Google arrives along with a whole new mechanic for buying ads, and anyone can ad a small bit of code to their site, and the ads are served. A completely different format, everything's changed, and it works. Google services tiny companies, and individuals with blogs. Google services the long tail.
Conclusion
The Irish Internet space has changed immesurably and irreversibly in the last few years and we have to understand it if we are to satisfy the needs of advertisers, advertising being the life blood of many of the sites and services discussed above. Net Behaviour is an advertising company that tasks itself with understanding the Internet the way it is today, and tracking the changes in Internet usage as they happen, to best facilitate advertising for our clients. This is an ongoing job. We've found in the last year that sites with user generated content are working better and better for our advertisers. We've also started working with clients on strategies that involve the new social movements and usages of Irish Internet users. In the past the Internet had the potential to be a two directional medium but content was coming much more from traditional content providers... the newspapers, TV stations and radio. In the last year the flow of content has come much more the audience. User generated content sites and services have also developed more audience than tradition Internet news and information providers. This will be more or less true as fashions change, but I'm of the opinion that the graph is only going one way on this, towards UGC, though these will progressively be owned by International conglomerates.
I understand of course that there are different types of content. If there's a war with Syria, traditional news providers will get the audience. But I feel there is a new segment of audience that will always like UGC, the get a buzz out of providing for it, and getting their friends and colleagues to view what they've provided, ,or sending funny stuff around the a gag group. Also, there will always be those who enjoy the un-constrained fun that can come from hidden video, jokes and pranks and studenty type films. Twink fell foul of this set. Does it matter who owns these sites, or where they are? No. Irish eyeballs are watching the web all over the world, and watching extremely local and international content, regardless of where the server resides, or who owns to company. NB will facilitate advertisers to reach this audiece, wherever it may be.
OK... Thats it. Those are some of the bits of Web 2.0 that interest me. I hope thei interest you too.
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