Quite a lot if of dough if you believe ze folks from General Sentiment.  Interesting doco that chronicles "the dollar value of the buzz, content, and conversation taking place online" (interesting methodology and more from the TechCrunch boffs too).  Get a coffee, read and dissect - there's big budgets here but some interesting learnings too.  Suprised to see Maccy D's and Dell so low considering their um...histories and wide reach.  Anything shocked/interested you?

You hear it all the time.  I spout it a lot but is it still true in this uber connected, iPhone upload before you stop shooting world?  Content is king.  The be-all and end-all.  When a photo can be used on the BBC quicker than a video montage do content creators stand a chance?  Have standards dropped or were they never there to begin with?  Or is this all just puff and content remains cream of the crop and free is just a passing fad Chris Anderson needs to get over?  The Fire Brigade were split but refreshingly, sweet-smellingly, forward looking.

Are they right?  Duke it out in the comments!!!

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"Whether it’s free or not misses the point – it’s about value. If something is free then it’s value can afford to offer less value less than if it’s a paid for service. If a service is high value yet free, then terrific - but clearly a service can never be free to all concerned, so the question is whether those willing to use the free service are willing to accept whatever terms are imposed by those that pay, which is again a balance - between value and inconvenience."
 - Pete Goold / Punch Communications

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"You get what you pay for. Free content is important and will always have its place, but quality, trustworthy editorial content is expensive to produce. The ongoing struggle to ensure a fair value exchange between content creator and consumer will continue until we settle on new business models that provide both access and compensation." 
- Amanda Manna / Large Mouth PR

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"Look at how many people have pro accounts on Flickr - the benefits are clear, pay us X and your interaction with the content you want will be quicker/easier/more interesting/allow greater functionality [delete as appropriate]. However, the quality of content has to be there first to engage using a freemium model before you even think about charging." 

- Phil Ryan / Four Communications 

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"Content is still king! Free is queen. People will gravitate to the person or location with the most valuable content. If it's free, all the better, and word will be passed on more liberally." 
- Gail Sideman  / PUBLISIDE

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Bearing in mind it's likely a US/Facebook only skewed survey...it's easy to forget that there are other phones out there other than the iPhone (I know, it's true!).  Here's a handy guide from the perfectly formed folks over at VentureBeat (well worth your time fyi) charting the most popular game categories on the three major devices currently available. Couple of interesting things 1) Love for  The Sims is pretty universal across platform - position if not numbers of downloads etc  (whodathunk on Bberry though?) and 2) Don't underestimate retro...ever.  

Any other takeaways?  

FIND ME HERE: @munkyfonkey / @themediaisdying / @kindredagency 

Thought I'd start a regular post style called 'PowerPoint Fodder' basically a collection of the finest stats, chart and general info to wow clients with via the... miracle of PowerPoint.  Starting with Facebook seems right so have at it and leave more in the comments.  If you'd like to request a fodder topic email prweekblog@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

WORLDWIDE: +350million unique users per month per comScore (rumours of 450 actual accounts).  70% of Facebook users are outside of the US [Trak.In].

UK : +32million in December 2009 (per comScore).  That means it is more common to be on Facebook than have a dog.  Man's best friend?

USAGE ? UK folks spend an average of 32 minutes a day on Facebook and spend 12 minutes on average per session:

AGE/SEX?  Here's how the UK breaks down age/sex % makeup - June 2009 (via comScore):

Facebook is on it's way to topple Yahoo for unique audience in the states.  

Facebook is sticky.  People are staying on the site and looking at multiple pages per visit:

More fodder!?

Official Facebook Stats (Official Press Page)

Flickr has +4billion photos uploaded.  Facebook has 2.5billion uploaded every month. [Trak.In]

Every 24 hours, 175million users (half) log into Facebook. [Facebook]

+15,000 sites have integrated Facebook Connect into their sites. [WebNewser]

2) COI Social media engagement [LINK] - great stake in the ground.

3) Social media policy database [LINK] - over 100 in here - handy.

4) Digital youth report [LINK] - Know how they think and how they have grown.

5) engagementDB [LINK] - SM doesn't = money?  Errrrrnk.

6) Technorati's State of the Blogosphere [LINK] Good for a year at least!

7) Razorfish's 'FEED' [LINK] Amazingly honest and open document.  Kudos.

8) Air Force Engagement Matrix [LINK] Oldy but a goody.

9) Paul Isakson's : 'It's not what you say" [LINK] Again, honest and open look at an old industry.

10) IABs Social media AD Stanadards [LINK] Basic but good.

BONUS!  Ofcom : Communications Market Report [LINK] Know what weapons your Army has!

"The Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) serves as a worldwide voice of digital marketing professionals with a mission to advance the industry through best practices, education, and advocacy."  Sounds lofty.  Is lofty. That said this document is a find.  Print.  Memorise.  Forward to 10 people.  In particular, print out page 62 and repeat every day.

Much has been said about the (inevitably?) ill-fated publishing industry of late.  Not least of which from these lips as @themediaisdying creator.  It's not pretty out there with fewer people going into publishing, ad revenues dropping and circulations being massaged.  In short, hug a journalist day cannot be far off.  But is it as bad as it seems?  The now not mythical iPad seems to have disappointed many media types who were expecting a new revenue model and more and more people seem to be going online for their news (even if they aren't reading it).  Are we about to save a few more trees or are the inky fingers just too much to give up? Opinions that came in were pretty varied, more heated than I expected but overall there there was a pretty big chest bump and a peace sign for print.  Rightly or wrongly the Fire Brigade have opted to renew prints' contract for a few more years but sound pretty likely to put the account up for review after that.

Are they right?  Duke it out in the comments!!!

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"It's only a matter of time before the cord is pulled. STILL. It will be a lot longer than you think.  Why? We can possibly blame our parents for that.  Until the Boomer/Senior population (soon to be the biggest pop in the world) decide to forego "papes" and "mags," some form of printed entertainment will stay."
 - Jessica Payne / Paine PR

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"The challenge is evolving and getting creative with it.  For example:  recently McSweeney’s did an amazing (and granted one time only) special newspaper edition called Panorama to show what could be done with the medium.  It had everything from a sports column by Stephen King to an investigative piece on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge retrofit."
- Madge Miller / Voce Communications

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"I don’t think the medium is dead, more that irrelevant content is. I think we will continue to see waves of personalization, from hyperlocal news sites to print-on-demand newspapers in hotels and at events. Again print has a place in this ecosystem. It’s just not print as we (used to) know it." 

- Gemma Craven / Breakaway Communications
 

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"Save the trees and pump all that creative and editorial energy into creating content that reaches people where they are actually living, working and playing, at the moment that it matters to them." 
- Louise Thompson  / LEWIS PR    

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 Jesus-tablet day is this Thursday and if you, like me, can't wait to see if Mr Jobs and the Apple crew can disrupt another industry there'll likely be a few noses put out of joint either way.  Or will there?  My own view is that the device will (as many predict) revolutionise and consolidate the content market.  If years of Star Trek and science-fiction have taught us anything (and I like to think they have) tablets are cool, easy-to-use and most of all portable.  That equals liking and routine and those two puppies are key drivers for any adoption curve.  Add to that the content partnerships and blam you have a recipe for some serious disruption pie.  How could it all go wrong?  Price springs to mind as this has so often screwed good products and  launches eReaders anyone?  My guess is around the 1k mark at first, but more than price, the only thing that can ruin this pie is if the back-end is not right.  If there are extra charges per month it might just be an extra cost that could just kill what should be a beautiful birth.

With all this in mind I decided to throw it out there to the "Twitterati" - what are their predictions for the mythical object? 

Andrew Nusca - @editorialiste (ZDNet & SmartPlanet editor)

Tom Foremski - @tomforemski (Silcon Valley Watcher writer / Ex FT journalist)
 

Brian Solis - @briansolis (Author, PR/Social Media Expert / Consultant)
 

Brian Lam - @blam (Gizmodo Editor)
 

Chris Brogan - @chrisbrogan - (Author/blogger and President of New Marketing Labs)

Sarah Evans - @prsarahevans - (#journchat creator and social media consultant)

Christine Boese - @chrisboese - (Razorfish Interaction Designer) 

Geolocation services were mostly a negatively portrayed Hollywood George Orwellian type scenario for many a year until recentlythat is when things got a little more real and we all started oversharing like demons.  During this transition the ability of phones, apps and services have been quietly upping the ante, Foursquare being the most recent to hit the headlines.  Used by (surprisingly?) few people (around 200,000 per TechCrunch) the much-touted service encourages people to share where they are and offer tips on their city for rewards and status.  Sounds simple?  Well it is.  Does that make it right?  Not so much.  What some call "updates", others call "spam" and whilst the former always have the option of unfollowing and defriending it would be great if there was a middle ground. So I put it to the always-impeccably-thoughtful-when-sharing Fire Brigade...who it turns out were pretty split on it. 

Are they right?  Duke it out in the comments!!!

The Fire Brigade is recruiting!  Just email prweekblog@gmail.com to sign up!

"Geo-location apps like foursquare and Gowalla could go awry, saying 'I’m working from the café this afternoon' is potentially like saying 'great time to loot my house'.  Rewarding customers for frequent visits to a physical place of business has merit, as does analyzing a public’s location-based preferences and behaviors."  
 - Ryan Zuk / Freelance

"Google Latitude is actually more interesting because it allows you to see exactly where your friends are by GPS.  [Although] keep your eye on Twitter, with geo-location now being an inbuilt feature there is no reason why Twitter won't develop it's own functionality."  
- Rhys Howell / Social Medium

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"I am a Foursquare addict.  I also see the potential for clients and have started to include it in pitches where appropriate. Becoming a friend to your customers in this way can only help to keep them loyal.
- Beth Carroll / Ash Communications

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"The key for many of these tools is in integration. Many are experiencing information overload when it comes to social media – too many applications, too many updates and too many unwanted messages.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some mergers and acquisitions in this space in 2010…"
- Danny Whatmough / Wildfire  

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 It can be a depressing few minutes updating the

First it was pass-on, then circulation, then it was newspapers in general, now online? If we all have the attention of dead gnats who don't like print anymore and now it seems aren't reading much online...what will us poor PR folks put in those reports!!?!  Truth is we are an industry (nay world?) of large number junkies.  Who hasn't gleefully added up the Earthtimes and Yahoo! News figures and thought "Golly all those people saw my press release or my article?.  WE ROCK!".  Is this cruel karma at work?

That said we've never had (and yes I'm repeating myself, just go through the archives) a better time or opportunity to give clients numbers that actually mean something. These may not be the huge circs you are used to but at least they'll be real.  Truth is you have to work harder today to get seen and heard if you are lucky enough to get placed.   Once you've got the piece it's time to PR the piece.  Not to your client but the rest of the world.  

Be honest, move forward and set yourself up for success.  Bit.ly and pals are waiting to be your new friends.

We (the UK) just placed 26th in world broadband speeds.  Start crying into your iPhones people because that's no type-o and it's even more depressing when we get into mobile speeds.  Twenty-sixth.  Ouch.  We have slower broadband than (Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, United States [18th!], Hong Kong [3rd] and South Korea [1st]).  The pain doesn't stop there.  So get your 50p's at the ready (that's what we'll be paying to upgrade all of this per the governments Digital Britain program).   Full report, v. cool interactive map and screenshots [below] courtesy of Akamai.  Nice job guys/girls. 

Here's the 'Damn if we're not a filthy bunch of music downloading people in this corner of the world' infographic or 'what we're slurping up through the blocked straw right now' chart - if you prefer: 

Colour-coded for the hungover and terminally lazy, it being Friday must mean only one thing.  The weekend is here!  Put down that status report and stop counting how many followers you amassed on Twitter this week because it's time to forget the snow and warm your cockles with some nice warm audience stats.  It's not all warm though, a few are looking like they need to run around with a hot water bottle shaped like Shawn The Sheep (seriously I'm addicted...the bottle not the running). 

!!! Special thanks to the beautiful and infinitely talented (slurp slurp) people at comScore for this November 2009 presentation fodder (all UK based numbers). 

FACEBOOK : +32 million uniques, UP 10 million since June 09.  
[ZING! Hockey stick growth has slowed but still numbers some would kill family members for]

TWITTER: +4.3 million uniques, UP 2 million since June 2009.
[Growing but slowing - see below - numbers are a little skewed considering user usage patterns]

MYSPACE : +4.6 million uniques, DOWN 2 million since June 2009. 
[Only time will tell if MySpace Music can change this trend]

BEBO : Bebo : +7.4 million uniques, DOWN 1 million since June 2009.
[Still a safe bet for younger skewing content and product]

Reminder - Any good statistician will tell you it is ALWAYS a good idea to look at trends over time - this is 6 months [read: it's pretty sh!t hot] but it is not gospel (all online measurement has its flaws) but it's a very good look at a constantly changing market.   Also the Twitter number does not (correct me if I'm wrong) include the Twitter apps [confirming - will update asap!]. 

Privacy has been hot button since people started spelling social media with an 's' and an 'm'.  Most recently Facebook's Mark Zuckerburg (Facebook CEO, Founder and general bazillionaire) exclaimed privacy is no longer 'a social norm'.  Is he right?  Is he right for us +32 million status-updating UK oversharers or is has a major shift gone on and no-one pointing at it?  Regardless of whether you agree or disagree a traditional media hornets nest continues to rage.  So to honour/revel in the side-glances and puzzled looks, I felt it only right to let the expert firefighters tackle the blaze.  Privacy on Facebook and social media - does it give or does it take away?  The results surprised me a little, I expected much more backlash.  Perhaps we are all just sharing junkies or privacy was never really there to begin with.  What do you think?  Are they right?  Duke it out in the comments!!!

The Fire Brigade is recruiting!  Just email prweekblog@gmail.com for more details!

"..the more you interact and learn, the more sophisticated you can be when it comes to choosing what you share and who you share it with. [Opting out] can also mean missing out. From forgetting a party to loosing out financially it's surprising how little information you need to share online in order to participate." 
- Beth Caroll / Ash Communications

"Privacy as it once was defined is moving toward extinction. But, that doesn't mean there is no more privacy.  Clearly, someone who lifestreams should expect less privacy than someone who mostly keeps to him/herself online."  
- Heather Whaling / PRtini

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"Social media generally has all the privacy settings one could ever need.  It's only when a candidate realises their job interviewer has googled them and seen all the lager-lager-lager piccies from their 18-30 holiday that the lightbulb tends to come on." 
- Ben Casperz / Claremont Communications

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"Society can (and in many cases already does) benefit from the sharing of information through social media, but before that can happen on a really major level individuals need to learn how to use social media to share safely, and it needs to be easier for them to do so."      
- Ian McKee / McCluskey International  

"The idea that there is one standard for everyone is palpably wrong. For every Blippy extrovert there's a "hide my everything" introvert. The web prospers partly on the back of the ability to tailor experiences to personal desires - Zuckerberg would do well to remember that not everybody is him." 

- Elliot Reuben / Freelance Strategist

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First internet election?  Amen.  [Steps onto soapbox] 

People of Britain, demand transparency and make your voices heard - you've never had a better opportunity.  Ask the tough questions, demand honest answers.  We vote them in, we vote them out.  It's up to us now.

Here's the 5 bits of advice:

- Use the tools that are there and you will see shifts. 

- Transparency is key.  Use real words and lose the spin - your voters do.

- Mudslinging will not be tolerated.  Real-time is your enemy and best friend sadly.

- You have the ultimate case study to learn from (Obama in case anyone is unclear).  Anything less than stellar use is laziness (and a travesty).  

- Build your networks before you need them (that means now).

Disclaimer / lawyer fodder:  All view expressed are my own and not necessarily of either my employer, PR Week, family, hamster or Geri Halliwell.  

 ... get your *** to the V&A museum before the 11th April.  I did this weekend and was throughly impressed with the diversity.  The

What other events/exhibits are going on right now / soon?