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A new study released earlier this month seems to contradict findings from Pew Internet Project's February report on the declining blog authorship and blog readership among the youngest generation of online users. Instead of seeing a downward trend in blogging, the latest research appears, at first glance, to have us questioning those prior reports. According to the latest study, this one from BlogHer and iVillage (red flag?) and co-sponsored by Ketchum and The Nielsen Company , young adults known as "millenials" are the top demographic group in both reading and writing blogs with nearly one-third reporting they read blogs and just over 40% saying they blog themselves. So was the earlier study - the one claiming "kids don't blog" anymore - wrong? Sponsor Odd Demographics Studied In the new study, the focus was on four age groups: millenials (ages 18-25), Gen X/Y (26-42), Boomers (43-61) and Seniors (62-76). This is a confusing segmentation of demographic groups because they've lumped in some of the millenials with the the "Gen X" group to create a hybrid group called "Gen X/Y." The term "millenials," however, is often used interchangeably with "Gen Y," so it's unclear why they've decided to break up that demographic group in this way. To boost Gen X's numbers, perhaps? We can't be sure. Ignoring Those Under 18 More importantly, the study simply ignores the youngest generation, the one we like to call "generation I" or the "iGeneration" (you can guess why), which was a major focus of Pew's study. In fact, Pew's study showed that only 14% of tweens and teens ages 12 to 17 now report that they blog , down from 25% only four years ago . And only 52% reporting reading and commenting on their friends' blog, down from over three-quarters back in 2006. In other words, the Internet's newest users aren't blogging or all that interested in reading blogs. Instead, they prefer Facebook, said the study. It's their method of communication between friends and for getting the latest news. Yes, sigh, Facebook is the new Internet. And the social network's latest moves will only further solidify that position with the launch of the universal "like" button for the entire web, the "instant personalization" provided by websites like Pandora and Yelp (to start), the "sign in with Facebook" boxes that appear on seemingly every site now and so on. How this youngest online generation uses the Internet is an important trend to watch. Although their habits may change over time, it's worth considering that their general disinterest in sharing their thoughts, feelings, news and ideas via blogging is a trend that will continue as they age. After all, who needs to blog when you have Facebook? BlogHer/iVillage's Findings For what it's worth, the BlogHer/iVillage study found that those 18-25 were the group most likely to write or read blogs, with 40.4% reporting the write blogs and 30.3% reporting they read them . The mysterious Gen X/Y group was a close second with 28.1% of the group saying they were blog authors and 29.3% saying they were blog readers. Some of the other numbers are questionable, although we have no way of proving their legitimacy or lack thereof. But really: 12.8% of bloggers are seniors? This is perhaps the most shocking number of them all. Nothing against seniors, of course, but I live in a state filled with them , and I have yet to meet a single senior who even knows what a blog is, much less authors one. At the end of the day, the study's numbers just feel a little too bullish on this whole blogging thing for my tastes. Plus, there's little info about the methodology included in the report and, then there's the fact that BlogHer, a blogging community for women, is, in part, behind the research. The truth of the matter is that neither this latest study nor Pew's research is likely painting an entirely accurate picture of the blogging landscape. We've questioned Pew's methodology many times in the past and we're skeptical of positive studies put out by those who would benefit from the news.
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While creating a profitable company may provide for a comfortable retirement, that's no way to plan. And many entrepreneurs, perhaps believing their businesses will be their retirement, don't plan sufficiently for their retirement. That's the finding of two reports recently released by the Small Business Administration. Saving for Retirement: A Look at Small Business Owners , written by SBA economist Jules Lichtenstein, finds that entrepreneurs' retirement account ownership, contribution, and participation rates are low. Among his key findings: Sponsor Just 36% of business owners have individual retirement accounts (IRAs), and only one-third of business owners with an IRA contributed to one during the 2005 tax year. Only 18% of business owners have a 401(k) plan, and less than 2% have a Keogh plan. Business owners are more likely to own tax-deferred individually based IRAs if they are older, female, white, non-Hispanic, citizens, better educated, and married. Entrepreneurs who own homes and have other retirement accounts are most likely to have IRA, Keogh or 401(k) participation. A second SBA study, Small Business Retirement Plan Availability and Worker Participation , surveyed the participation in retirement plans by employees of small businesses. Among the results: Approximately 72% of employees working for small businesses (almost 41 million workers) do not have a company-sponsored retirement plan available where they work. This contrasts with those who work for businesses with over 100 employees. 78% of employees for large firms have retirement plans available at their work. Of the employees at small businesses who do have company-sponsored retirement plans, 9% do not participate. Only 19.5 percent of workers in small private sector companies report participating in a retirement plan. Lichtenstein suggests the findings in his study point to the need to develop ways to help owners of small businesses, especially home-based sole proprietorships and minority-run businesses, increase their retirement savings. "There is a need to better coordinate employer-based retirement accounts with individual-based accounts like IRAs and make plans less complex and burdensome on business owners, especially for owners of micro-businesses." Are you saving for retirement? Do you even have a plan? Let us know in the comments. Discuss
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SBA Finds Entrepreneurs Aren't Saving for Retirement
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Today, digital textbooks for higher education and career education account for only 0.5% of all textbook sales in the United States. According to a new study by social learning platform Xplana , this could soon change. Xplana predicts that digital textbooks will account for almost 20% of all textbook sales within the next five years. This will make digital textbooks a $1 billion market. Sponsor According to Rob Reynolds, who is one of the co-authors of this report and also the director of product design and research for Xplana, this rapid growth will be driven by a number of factors, including the proliferation of tablets and e-readers like the iPad and Kindle, the availability and pricing of e-textbook content and an increasing interest in online learning. According to this study, sales of digital textbooks will increase 100% year-over-year in 2010 and the continue to grow rapidly for the years to come. Factors in Favor of Digital Textbooks Pricing, as the authors note, is a major factor that will make digital textbooks more interesting for students, who often spend hundreds of dollars per semester on textbooks. Flat World Knowledge , for example, offers its e-textbooks for free and only charges students for the print versions. Currently, teachers at over 400 colleges use Flat World Knowledge's textbooks for their courses. Other e-textbook companies like CourseSmart and MBS Direct also saw very strong growth in their sales last year. Other factors in favor of digital textbooks include the increasing availability (and affordability) of e-book readers and netbooks, as well as the move towards the ePub publishing standard for e-books. It is also important to note that textbooks publishers have long seen digital textbooks as way to shut down the market for used textbooks, which accounts for close to 35% of the textbook market today and which - of course - doesn't earn these publishers a single dollar. What Will these E-Textbooks Looks Like? Of course, it will be interesting to see what these textbooks will look like. Thanks to new initiatives from Wolfram Alpha and other data and service providers, interactive textbooks could soon replace static texts. The problem there, of course, is that these textbooks are more expensive to produce than today's textbooks. The lower cost of digital distribution and the publisher's ability to cut out the middlemen (distributors, campus bookstores etc.) will help to offset some or all of these additional costs. You can find the full report here Discuss
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1 Out of 5 Textbooks Digital by 2014
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Doing research to attract more women to our Mobile Summit on May 7, 2010 , I revisited some of ReadWriteWeb's past articles on gender and tech. In January, we discussed " 'Sexy Girls,' Smart Women and Tech " in an open thread where we asked for readers' opinions and had an open discussion on women's issues, like whether it's true that some good-looking women get flaunted as sex symbols, while other women get overlooked, are underpaid and not taken seriously. Sponsor Commenters, among other really interesting discussion points, asked for stats to back up statements. In Harvard Business Review Magazine this month I stumbled across a rather depressing recent study [ PDF download ], which, on the bright side confirms that looks have little to do with pay scale, ability to secure a leadership role, or smarts. However, on the dark side, it showed gender still very much does matter. Findings of the study show women's transcendence to leadership roles has not occurred, inequality remains entrenched in terms of pay, career advancement, as well as career satisfaction. Shockingly, study respondents weren't just any other Joanne or Joe Schmo in the workforce. The study tracked the smartest and brightest grad students from elite MBA programs, around the world, from 1996 to 2007. These are motivated and talented men and women. In the words of Harvard Business Review, "Pipeline's Broken Promise, examines the past two decades in which leaders have counted on parity in education, women's accelerated movement into the labor force, and company-implemented diversity and inclusion programs to yield a robust talent pipeline where women are poised to make rapid gains to the top. " The survey took into account experience, time since MBA, first post-MBA job level, industry and global region of work at the time of survey, and found that: Men were twice as likely as women to be at the CEO/senior executive level. Men's pay out paced women's. Men significantly outpaced women moving up the career ladder when starting out in similar level roles. These findings are not specific to any industry, including technology. Even I was shocked looking across this Microsoft org chart . For some reason seeing things in list format made the differential of men to women in Microsoft management even more striking. Note this isn't for lack of women candidates as women make up almost half (49.9% in October 2009) of the workforce - no, we aren't leaving work to have babies either! I am stereotypical myself. I personally have clawed my way all the way to middle management after 20 years working in the tech industry, while men younger than I hold more senior roles. Is this simply because I am a woman? These findings would say, "Well, yes." So what is it about men and women? Will there ever be a time where women aren't looked on as women in the tech industry, but just as smart people with skills that fit a certain role, best? I personally know a lot of extremely smart women, all of whom that have had to go out on their own to make it above the glass ceiling. So is it just men in management holding us back? I find this study pertinent, not just to my own work experience, but also as we are a month away from the Mobile Summit in San Francisco on May 7 . Looking to encourage a stronger female presence, we felt compelled to get out and ask women and men alike the following questions: Who are the most fascinating women working on the mobile Web? As a fascinating woman in mobile industry and working on the mobile Web, what topics would you find of interest? And yes, finally... Why do you think women when compared to men are STILL underpaid, less likely to be in a senior role, and less likely to be satisfied with their careers? Your thoughts and comments please. Also see these related articles on other websites from Clay Shirky , Jeanne of Feministing , danah boyd and Gina Trapani , which have some interesting comments and counterpoints on why the glass ceiling still exists. Photo by Faakhir Rizvi . Discuss
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Open Thread: Women in Leadership Roles Yet? No. But Why?
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Mozilla , the non-profit organization behind the popular Firefox browser, just published its first quarterly State of the Internet report. With over 350 million users worldwide, Mozilla collects a lot of interesting data and the organization decided to start sharing more of this data in these quarterly reports. Firefox's worldwide market share is now hovering near 30%, with Europe (39%) and South America (31%) leading the pack and North America coming in last (26%), even though it has the highest total number of Firefox users. Sponsor According to Mozilla, Firefox usage in Russia, for example, grew about 20% in the last quarter. In Indonesia, Firefox's market share is now over 60%. It'll be interesting to see how Microsoft's new browser choice screen for Windows 7 in Europe will influence these numbers over the next few months. Tabs Mozilla also shared some data from its recent Test Pilot study about how its users interact with tabs. The typical Firefox users has between 2 and 3 tabs open at any time during the day. The maximum number of open tabs that were recorded during the study was 600. Some Fun Stats about Firefox Usage: Mozilla also took a look at the lighter side of the data in its databases. Based on when the company receives daily Firefox update pings from its users, Mozilla calculated that people in New York tend to turn on their computers later in the day than Firefox users in California, while users in Hawaii, Maine and Wyoming tend to get an early start. Firefox users in South America are the most likely to use themes or Personas to personalize their browsers. Firefox users in Asia adopt add-ons faster than anybody else, but users in Antarctica download more adds per head than anybody else. Firefox's market share in Antarctica is about 80%. Discuss
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Mozilla's First State of the Internet Report: Firefox's Worldwide Market Share Near 30%
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