â–¶ Cyber-Crime Threatens Digital Platforms: As more organizations allow employees access to social networking platforms for PR and marketing purposes, a survey of 502 companies worldwide by IT security company Sophos finds that cyber-attacks through social media sites jumped 70% between 2008 and 2009. Other findings include:
• Nearly three out of four surveyed fear that employees’ everyday activity on social networking sites exposes their business to danger and makes sensitive corporate data vulnerable;
• About half of the firms allow employees unfettered access to Facebook —a 13% rise from 2008—although one in three firms have blocked Facebook entirely; and,
• 60% of respondents named Facebook as the greatest security risk. MySpace took 18% of the vote, Twitter 17% and LinkedIn 4%.
Source: Sophos
▶ CEO Confidence Boost: With the belief that a prolonged recession is behind them, nearly 40% of CEOs plan to increase their workforce this year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers ’ annual global CEO survey. The study finds that CEO confidence for future growth has bounced back from gloomier prospects of a year ago. Other findings include:
• 81% of CEOs worldwide are confident of their prospects for the next 12 months, while only 18% said they remained pessimistic. In 2009, 64% said they were confident and 35% were pessimistic;
• One in four CEOs believe their industry’s reputation has been tarnished by the downturn. However, 61% of CEOs in the banking and capital markets sector said there has been a fall in trust in their industry;
• Nearly half of CEOs are concerned that the recession caused a permanent shift in consumer behavior. Most say that consumers will place greater importance on a company’s social reputation (64%), spending less and saving more (63%) or being more active in product development (60%).
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers
▶ E-Mail Hangs In With Social Networks: Social networking and e-mail usage appear to be on equal footing, says a report from customer relationship marketing agency Merkle. “View from the Social Inbox,†a survey of 3,300 U.S. adults, shows that active social media users are more likely to be avid e-mail users, with 42% of them checking their e-mail account four or more times a day, compared to just 27% of their non-social networking counterparts. Other findings include:
• 71% of active social media users spend 20 minutes or more weekly with checking personal e-mails—contradicting speculation that social networking would quickly replace traditional e-mail use;
• Demographics such as age, gender, ethnicity and education influence which social sites consumers use. For example, regular users of Facebook skew higher in education and MySpace users skew lower. Both sites are more likely to be frequented by females; and,
• Nearly 20% of Facebook, MySpace and/or Twitter users have posted or shared something from permission e-mail to their social account(s) via a “share†option, indicating the importance of an integrated e-mail marketing strategy.
Source: Merkle
â–¶ Paper-a-Day Habit Ending? In another blow to traditional media usage, a new Adweek Media/Harris Poll finds just two in five U.S. adults (43%) say they read a daily newspaper, either online or in print, almost every day. Other findings include:
• 72% of respondents say they read a daily newspaper at least once a week, while 81% read a daily paper at least once a month. One in 10 adults say they never read a daily newspaper;
• Two-thirds of those polled aged 55 and older say they still read a daily newspaper almost every day. Less than one-quarter of those 18-34 say they read a newspaper almost every day; and,
• 77% of online adults say they would not be willing to pay anything to read a newspaper’s content online. While some are willing to pay, one in five adults would only pay between $1 and $10 per month for this online content and only 5% would pay more than $10 per month. PRN
Source: Adweek Media/Harris Poll