Google vs. Facebook by the numbers

As the two Internet heavyweights are poised to battle it out in the social networking arena, how do the companies stack up? A look at some data.

With its still-in-limited-field-test social network Google+, Google looks poised to challenge Facebook head-on in the increasingly important social media space. Some analysts give the edge to Facebook with its large head start -- the company claims more than half a billion active users worldwide, half of whom log onto the site each day. Other pundits point toGoogle's large number of users across multiple products along with its engineering prowess as factors making it a formidable challenger.

How do the companies stack up head to head? Here's a look at some of the available statistics.

Users

Google has a clear edge globally, according to ComScore Data Mine: Google reached a billion unique visitors worldwide in May, while Facebook rang in at 713.6 million.

Source: The Nielsen Company

Google's lead is narrower in the U.S., where it had 155 million unique visitors from desktop and laptop computers in May compared with Facebook's 140 million, the Nielsen Company reported. The Nielsen survey does not include mobile devices.

Facebook had a huge lead in time spent per person: more than 6 hours vs. an hour and 20 minutes.

However, Facebook users have been fairly unhappy with the social media site. Last year, it scored "in the bottom 5% of all measured private sector companies and in the same range as airlines and cable companies, two perennially low-scoring industries with terrible customer satisfaction," according to the July 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Business Report. Google's score of 80 (out of 100) was substantially higher than Facebook's 64. New data should be coming out sometime this month.

Bottom line: Google is still the Internet's leading brand in terms of number of users. Facebook has an enormous base of regular users who spend a considerable amount of time on its site -- much more time than on Google. However, Facebook's users were not particularly happy with their experience last year. It will be interesting to see whether Facebook's customer satisfaction scores come in higher in this year's ACSI.

Revenues

Google's revenues are fairly straightforward, since as a public company it must report such data each quarter. Facebook's are less clear, since it is still privately held. According to one estimate reported by The Wall Street Journal, Facebook had $1.86 billion in ad revenue last year and should top $4 billion this year. Google reported $29.3 billion in overall revenues last year (not just from ads).

Source: eMarketer

eMarketer estimates that Google had 38.5% of the online advertising market last year vs. 4.6% for Facebook. The research firm estimates that Facebook's share will grow to 7% this year compared with 40.8% for Google.

Bottom line: Google is considerably larger than Facebook in revenue and still growing, but Facebook looks to be expanding much faster.

Employees

This is a particularly tough metric, as Facebook doesn't release that data. The latest estimate, from an in-depth profile of chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg in the current issue of The New Yorker, came in at 2,500 employees. That's close to double the estimates reported for early 2010. Google reported 24,400 employees at the end of last year, up from 19,835 in 2009.

Bottom line: As with revenue, Google's employee count is substantially higher than Facebook's, but Facebook appears to be growing more rapidly.

Conclusion

Many other factors will come into play to determine whether Google+ can successfully challenge Facebook in the social media arena, including the appeal of the new service and whether people are willing to leave an established network where they already have numerous connections.

Google is well positioned as an Internet brand with better customer satisfaction than Facebook, and is a larger company with more internal resources. However, Facebook is a high-growth company that's likely on the verge of a public stock offering, meaning it has access both to a great deal of investor cash and top-flight employees hoping to cash in on that growth.

The most likely winner? Social media users, who will benefit from two strong companies battling to improve their products to either keep or win over customers.

Web design trends in 2012. What’s new?

It’s no surprise they call them trends, become they come and go. Maybe you don’t want to take them with the constant changes in web design you sure don’t want to be left behind, do you?

Nobody can predict the future of web design, but we’re already seeing small changes to the newer designs and I bet we all want to be part of the movement. Most of the changes in web design are subtle so we need to focus mainly on the concept behind each trend.

We will exemplify every design trend so you can determine for yourself if your designs would benefit from these changes.

Typography

Typography is a trend that is constantly changing and now more thanks to designers focusing more and more on usability. Instead of using tens of fonts in a single site, 2012 designs will be more focused on uncluttered designs with fewer fonts that are fancy but at the same time easy to read. Considering also the increase of mobile users accessing websites, using strong fonts is also recommended for easy reading.

Focus on: powerful fonts; get creative but keep usability in mind at all times.

Slab typefaces

The use of slab typefaces is rather new, although some designers have also tried using them a few years back but with no results. Nowadays, more designers are using them because the bold letters translate to powerful identity. Slab typeface means using all capital letters as well as bold.  This is also a good technique to get the attention of the users visiting your site.

Focus on: Capital letters, bold to catch the eye of your visitors.

One page layouts

At last, people have realized that there’s no need to include a massive amount of information in only a few pages. Users don’t have time to get to the information they’re looking for so the solution is to put it right where they can see it and give them quick access to it. Ask yourself if you really need that extra content and if not, then just remove it because no one’s going to miss it.

Single page website designs are especially aimed at portfolio and personal profiles, and less at corporate sites. This means that users/ potential clients are visiting your site to see samples and get in touch with you. Therefore, your site should give them just that.

Focus on: minimalist designs where you include exactly the information the users are expecting to find on your site.

“Hello” Intros

“Hi, I’m….”. 2012 is about being more personal and introducing oneself to the web users. “About us” pages are taken on by smaller and more personal intros that can usually be found right on the homepage. Web designers are trying to break the barriers between virtual and real life. With this kind of presentation, it’s like walking up to a client in real life and telling him about your work.

The “hello” can be turned into whatever pick-up line that is more appealing to the designer and its visitors. There are not rules to this, as there are no rules to the placement of the intro box. Some designers even place it in the middle of the page, below the oversized logo.

Focus on: presenting yourself in an attractive and personal way.

Oversized Headers& Footers

Both these design elements are aimed at attracting the visitors and enhancing its visual experience. 2012 is about oversized logos (located in the header) as well as oversized footers. The header can take up more than half of the screen and it includes a powerful message that makes the visitor want to remember you.

The footer, on the other hand, includes less important information but still relevant, such as RSS feeds, social media accounts, and even last posts on Twitter or Facebook.

Focus on:  A powerful message and header& footers that work well together.

What other elements have you noticed in the lately designs?

Source

Microsoft Bing finds a friend in China

Microsoft’s search engine, has teamed up with Shenzhen Winhi Technologies Co to promote its business in China. Microsoft treasures Winhi’s rich experience in eCommerce for some 30,000 small medium enterprise in the country, said Bing China’s manager Huang Dinglong. Winhi is Microsoft’s first Chinese partner. The Chinese search market grew 45% to ¥4.6 billion in the first half of 2010 compared to a year earlier. Bing took just a 2.4% share of the revenue.

10 Transformative Technology Trends for 2011-2012

The momentum has been building for several exciting emerging technology trends. While television content is increasingly available and delivered over the web, living room devices are becoming more inter-connected to create a more coherent user experience. GIA identifies and summarizes 10 key developments that drive market-shifting changes throughout the technology, media and telecommunications ecosystems.

Trend 1: Inter-device wireless streaming will soon be a standard Hi-Fi feature

Thanks to the standard-setting Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), GIA expects to see rapid boosts of wireless synchronization between media devices such as smartphones, PC’s, hard drives, stereo amplifiers, game consoles, set-top boxes and televisions. 

Source: DLNA

Growth of DLNA can be attributed to drastic, functional diversification of media devices today, cloud-based content streaming and widespread WLAN/ Bluetooth availability.

This means that devices that used to be dedicated to specific functions e.g. Blu-ray players, digital cameras, TVs and mobile phones can increasingly perform a similar variety of media programming such as video playback, photo displays, media storage, etc. Consumers in turn demand the ability to share, transfer or switch media content and playback in between different connected devices. In a typical scenario, a user may start a movie or song on one device, e.g. a smartphone, and continues viewing the same material on a larger TV screen.

Today the DLNA boasts over 200 contributor members from OEM/ODM manufacturers to cable and network operators from around the world. According to the organization, there are now more than 9,000 certified TVs, Blu-ray players, DVRs, PCs, mobile phones, printers, and other products. 

For media broadcasters and content developers, this trend brings fundamental impact on how digital content should be produced to cater to new consumption patterns of the 21st century end user.

Trend 2: Emerging Web TV ecosystem draws from migrating online video ad revenue

As online video streaming channels such as YouTube and Netflix continue to grow in popularity, particularly among younger viewers, 2011 marks the year when TV programmers and broadcasters are taking a serious look at the opportunities (and threats) of broadcasting online. 

Early adopters include the premium tier of sports franchises such as UEFA, NFL and NBA, who enjoy global audiences that hold great demand for real-time broadcasts. The Internet provides an unmatched platform for distribution in terms of scale and speed of delivery. These vendors provide early reference cases of how to monetize online content, but new subscription models are expected to continue to emerge over time.

eMarketer, a US-based market research firm estimates annual growth of 52%, or US$740 million, to reach a sum of US$2.16 billion in online video ads in the US in 2011. While this figure remains a mere fraction of total online advertising spending (around US$31 billion), it is one of the fastest growing advertising segments and looks set to attract traditional TV advertising dollars as online viewership continues to grow exponentially.

Thanks to this trend, a suite of hardware and software vendors is quickly taking advantage of the rising opportunity.

Companies that are keen to tap online video opportunities

Source: Global Intelligence Alliance

Trend 3: The Internet turns out to be a powerful alternative to iOS and Android for cross-terminal publishing

With the steady progress in HTML5 development and widely anticipated mobile broadband upgrades, web applications offer an increasingly viable solution for delivering digital media services across a wide range of devices and terminals.

Source: Global Intelligence Alliance

While native operating systems will continue to dominate portable device markets over the coming years, GIA predicts web applications will gradually gain the mindshare of content publishers who seek a centrally administered delivery platform, thanks to its relatively simplified and profitable billing models. As WiFi continues to grow as a complementary solution to 3G connectivity, consumers will also be equipped for and demand application services delivered real-time over the Internet.

Trend 4: CRM, eVehicles and digital services drive the connected car development

Telenor of Norway projects that the key drivers behind the growth in vehicle telematics are digital services, customer relationship management (CRM) and eVehicles.

Digital services are one of the fastest growing areas in the connected car development, particularly in the area of In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI). The demand by automotive OEMs to conduct better CRM by automating all after-sales service processes, including customer retention, spare parts, accessories and servicing, is another driver. eVehicles will be yet another driver, when the benefits in conducting remote battery checks, remote heating/ cooling, payment for charging, range control and eco-driving etc. catch on.

In-Stat Research forecasts that 35-plus million IVI systems alone will ship in 2015. ABI Research estimates the number of embedded and hybrid connected car systems to grow from 45 million units in 2011 to 2,010 million units.

Trend 5: Tablet PCs accelerate the eBook revolution

Currently around 10% of all new US book sales are now digital, led by textbooks, children’s books and travel guides. 

New business models (e.g. in-app payments) and “user experience” designs are emerging. The big loser could be the traditional personal computer PC. Citigroup estimates that the sale of 35 million tablets could reduce PC sales by some 11 million units in 2011.

Trend 6: Mobile payment systems are widely adopted in emerging markets

As mobile payments continue to grow as an emerging transactional platform in developing markets, vendors such as M-PESA (Vodafone Money Transfer) have achieved as much as US$500 million worth of transactions per month in six countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Afghanistan, Fiji, and South Africa.

However, given the deep penetration of credit cards and online payment infrastructure, this trend continues to primarily affect emerging markets only.

Research firm Arthur D. Little forecast a 6% growth in emerging markets in 2011, vs 2.4% in rich countries in the same year. The firm says that in countries such as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China), as many as 1 million users sign up on mobile payment platforms per week, and this number is likely to reach 290 million by 2015.

Trend 7: Interim accessory solutions will dominate until wider NFC installed handset base is in place

In spite of its widely recognized growth potential, near field communication (NFC) technologies have yet to be widely adopted by handset OEMs, perhaps due to the hesitation to incur greater bill of materials (BOM) cost before sufficient public infrastructure is in place. 

The Yankee Group estimates that there are less than 5 million NFC pre-installments worldwide. This is forecast to grow significantly by 2013, thanks to rumors that NFC will become standard smartphone components in upcoming iPhone 5 and BlackBerry models.

Meanwhile GIA observes that interim solutions, supported by technology providers such as Oberthur, Gemalto, Square, Cassis, and Tyfone, will become the primary near-term NFC devices. Some examples include ISO cards, USB dongles and smart posters. 

Source: Oberthur Technologies

Trend 8: Network sharing will be key to solving explosive demand

According to Cisco, VNI Mobile global mobile data traffic is forecast to grow by 26 times between 2010 and 2015. Meanwhile, 66% of total traffic will be driven by mobile video and video call consumption.

Such strong demand is placing heavy strain on current 3G networks, so carriers worldwide are adopting different approaches to bridge the increasing gap.

Among the options is the strategy of complementing existing 3G and upcoming 4G networks with additional broadband infrastructure such as ADSL/FTTH and WiFi networks. In fact, Korea Telecom expects WiFi to account for 55% of its total wireless broadband by 2015.

Source: Korea Telecom

Trend 9: Global, interoperable cloud services will emerge

The Intercloud is an interconnected global "cloud of clouds" and an extension of the Internet "network of networks" on which it is based. In theory, each cloud can use the computational and storage resources of the infrastructures of other clouds. The Intercloud aims to take advantage of this as cloud-based services increasingly penetrate consumer markets and grow.

New business opportunities for cloud services providers may arise, if they manage to go beyond the theoretical framework and introduce various forms of pay-for-use. To date, the Inter-Cloud remains largely in testing at research institutes around the world (pictured below). 

Source: Huawei 2011 

Trend 10: Growth in M2M capabilities for carriers will be driven by creative partnerships

With the growth of NFC and other short-range connectivity technologies, machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies are widely considered to be a strategic option for operators who are seeking new revenue growth opportunities. 

As new uses are continuously discovered, the M2M network buildup now supports a wide range of platform and application layers, ranging from smart cities and mobile payment, to e-government services.

Source: Huawei 2011 

As the portable device base continues to proliferate, the M2M growth is set to create opportunities for the entire mobile service eco-system. Huawei projects the M2M market to grow from $58.2bn in 2008 to $114.2bn by 2012.

Given the pervasive impact of M2M capabilities, carriers who wish to leverage this opportunity will need to think beyond their traditional customer bases and collaborate with new technology and service segments such as connected TV, web applications, and connected vehicles.

Read more: http://www.globalintelligence.com/insights-analysis/bulletins/10-transformative-technology-trends-for-2011-2012#ixzz1cIgv7nLC

Technology Trends 2012 – A Look at Market Drivers

As the mobile app world continues to grow Gartner Inc. has identified what it believes will be the most important types of mobile applications in 2012. Focusing on high-end devices with an average selling price of more than $300, analysts have identified the top ten cutting edge technologies and trends for 2012.

LBS

Location is one of the main enablers that deliver services to users based on their context and analysts expects the total user base of consumer location-based services to reach 1.4 billion users by 2014.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

Mobile social networking is the fastest-growing consumer mobile app category. Social network platforms are sucking in increasing amounts of network traffic. They are becoming portals, transit hubs and cloud storage for increasing amounts of messaging and e-mail traffic, videos, photos, games and commerce. As mainstream adoption progresses, global social sites will be driven toward providing services in partnership with third parties using open APIs, and are likely to evolve to a role as infrastructure providers acting as data warehouses and providing user data and access to the more-consumer-facing brands.

MOBILE SEARCH

Visual search is usually related with product search to enable price comparisons or to check product information. To bring mobile search to the next level, the app would allow users to take actions based on the result, such as making a call or reservation, buying a ticket, placing an order, and so on.

Mobile Commerce

MOBILE COMMERCE

Today, mobile commerce is more of an extension of e-commerce but in a smaller form factor and with a more-streamlined experience. However, over the next 24 months, Analysts expects the emergence of uniquely mobile functions, such as the ability to “check in” to a store to alert a retailer that you are there, or the ability to add items to a shopping cart simply by taking a photo of an item or bar code in the physical store.

Mobile Payment

MOBILE PAYMENT

Although near field communication (NFC) payment will be included in high-end phones from 2011, Analysts do not believe that it will become mainstream before 2015. In order to get consumers on board, payment solution providers need to address ease-of-use for users and ease-of-implementation for customers without compromising security. They also need to increase user awareness, extend the service coverage and address ease-of-use to appeal to end users.

Context Aware Mobile Services

CONTEXT AWARE SERVICE

Context-aware applications provide improved user experiences by using the information about a person’s interests, intentions, history, environment, activities, schedule, priorities, connections and preferences to anticipate their needs and proactively serve up the most appropriate content, product or service. Mobile carriers, along with handset manufacturers, should provide expanded location services to include, among others, directory assistance, mapping, advertising and privacy controls.

Mobile Object Recognition

OBJECT RECOGNITION

High-end devices have an increased sensor and processing capability that enable sophisticated applications to recognize the user’s surroundings, including specific objects of interest. Because OR provides an easy-to-use interface, more apps will come to the market with enhanced capabilities by 2012.

Instant Message Mobile Phones

MOBILE INSTANT MESSAGING

Gartner expects MIM to attract consumers to new types of unified communication (UC) clients, provided by over the top (OTT) service providers such as Skype.

Mobile Email

MOBILE EMAIL

Smartphones have begun to drive the mainstream adoption of mobile e-mail through a series of technology enhancements enabling low-cost mobile extensions to existing e-mail service. Gartner expects mobile e-mail users worldwide to increase from 354 million in 2009 to 713 million in 2014, to account for 10.6 percent of the global mobile user base.

Mobile Video

MOBILE VIDEO

Mobile phones with larger screens and media tablets offer the ideal platform for video consumption and with careful marketing and consumer education, Gartner believes that carriers and content providers would be able to drive mobile video usage in the coming years.

Mobile Apps

What Makes a Good App??

Smartphone applications are stirring up a lot of commotion.  One of the many reasons… advertisers and brands recognize the power and effectiveness that comes from using mobile devices to connect with an audience.  Smartphones are experiencing explosive growth in use and mobile ad utilization.  At the same time, WiFi usage is driving more mobile app usage, which will continue to foster growth in the mobile and tablet segment.

What makes a good app?  The truth is that it’s not whether you download it but whether you keep using it.  The best apps out there are the ones that aren’t just interesting, but engaging.  Research from a recent firm suggests that only about one in four mobile apps succeed at engaging the user.  Two months ago Localytics analyzed data about how individuals use apps.  They found that 26% of all apps downloaded are opened only once and then never again.

Although the study did not offer examples as to which apps fell into each category you can be assured that they were apps that had no engaging qualities.  Sentersix creates mobile apps that are not only interesting but useful.  During the development process we analyze content and design from the end user’s prospective thus ensuring the app will continue to wow the customer.

Source: Sentersix.com