75% of Worldwide Cellphone Users Texting

Social networking most popular in Israel (53%) and the U.S. (50%)

Texting remains the universal method of communication – around the world. According to a survey of cellphone users in 21 countries, 75% replied they send text messages. The Pew Research Center Global Attitudes Project study, published this week, studied the use of digital communication tools including mobile and social networks worldwide. The study found those young and well-educated are the most likely to adopt new technologies. Those under 30 who hold college degrees are most likely to use many mobile functions and social networks. And that only one-half of the respondents send photos or videos, and just 23% use the Internet.

MOBILE USAGE
Texting is most popular in Kenya and Indonesia, the two poorest nations included in the study. Sending photos or videos is most popular in Japan (72% reported the behavior), followed by Mexico (61%), Spain (59%) and Egypt (58%). Using mobile data still seems to be a behavior of wealthier countries, most popular in Israel (47%), Japan (47%) and the U.S. (43%). Complete results:

SOCIAL NETWORKS
The study also looks at the use of social networking, which corresponds with wealthy nations where Internet access is more common. Social networking is most popular in Israel (53%) and the U.S. (50%), followed by Britain (43%), Russia (43%) and Spain (42%). However, Internet users in poorer nations use social networks at equal if not higher rates than those in richer countries.

The study, conducted between March 21 and May 15, 2011 – surveyed between 700 and 4,029 mobile users per country by telephone or in person in the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, China, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, Mexico and Kenya.

For more information, see Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

QWASI implements Mobile & Social Strategy for business. Contact us today to learn more about Social Marketing and Mobile Marketing strategies @ 877-747-9274.

December 22, 2011 in Blog

QWASI launches real-time UPS mobile delivery alerts for Retail

QWASI powers innovative mobile package alert service for Retail

NEW YORK, NY, December 21, 2011 – QWASI, a leading mobile and social marketing and communications company providing cross-market interactive solutions, announced the recent launch of real-time mobile UPS delivery alerts for one of the largest multimedia retailers in the world. Retailers can now extend the power of mobile communication and the convenience it offers its customer through package delivery alerts. The customers receive text message alerts on their mobile phones when their packages leave UPS, keeping them informed, improving delivery anticipation and reducing the dreaded delivery- attempt notices on their front doors.

HOW MOBILE DELIVERY ALERTS WORK
When customers order from participating retailers, they can sign up for free text message notifications about their purchase deliveries from UPS (msg&data rates may apply). In the past, when packages leave retailers’ warehouses and enter into the delivery stream, customers are required to frequently ping the delivery company’s website with their assigned tracking numbers and track their own packages. With QWASI’s Mobile Shipping Alerts, customers get notified when their packages leave the shipper’s distribution center on the delivery truck. The nature of text messages, commonly called SMS, ensures immediate alert delivery.

QWASI makes the process easy for retailers to implement. Customers can opt-in to this service during the order process or by updating their account preferences through the retailers. They don’t need to know their tracking numbers in advance – just ask to be notified when the package is out for delivery. Included with each alert are special links enabling customers to view delivery status in real-time from UPS.com or the shipping company they use. Other notifications QWASI powers for retail includes mobile marketing campaigns, mobile coupons, text ordering, order confirmation, shipping confirmation and now delivery notifications.

“We’re excited to announce the addition of real-time shipping alerts for our client and UPS. When we first identified this solution, our client and UPS quickly agreed it was an ideal service to better communicate with customers regarding the status of shipments, in hopes of reducing the dreaded delivery-notice slip on the front door,” shares Jon Thies, CTO of QWASI, Inc. “Working closely with both the client and UPS to bring this solution to market further demonstrates our leadership in the mobile commerce space. We answer the question everyone asks: where is my order? Our service helps remove headaches for everyone – especially helping customers know where their products or presents are during the hectic holiday shopping season.”

QWASI provides retailers of all sizes the means of driving in-store traffic, increasing order size, building customer loyalty, improving communications and reaching new customers through interactive mobile marketing, mobile commerce, mobile apps and social marketing solutions. QWASI makes it easy for catalogers, ecommerce, retailers and brick-and-mortar companies to quickly realize the benefits of mobile through measurable marketing that power transactions.

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ABOUT QWASI
QWASI, Inc. is a leading mobile and social communications and solutions provider of interactive applications, currently powering over 24,000 clients, around the globe utilizing Social Messaging, SMS, MMS, Mobile Web and Apps. Through its Synchrosy® methodology, QWASI creates and implements mobile & social strategy for business, simplifying complex problems with mobile marketing, mobile messaging, social messaging, mobile commerce, text ordering, mobile coupons, mobile chat, and customized interactive alerting for Fortune 1000 businesses.

QWASI CONTACT
Michael Honors, QWASI, 877-747-9274, michael.honors @ qwasi.com

December 21, 2011 in Press Releases

Mobile & TV see increase in Viewership & Usage Time

US adults spend more time with mobile than print magazines and newspapers combined

Adults are still watching more and more traditional TV, whether it’s live or recorded on a DVR or DVD, according to eMarketer. The average US Adult consumer spends 4 hours and 34 minutes each day watching TV and video on a traditional television set this year, up 10 minutes from last year.

Time spent with the internet and mobile phones was also up—by 7.7% and 30%, respectively—and while adults are spending less time than last year with radio and print publications, the increases to TV and digital also mean an increase in total time spent with media, to 11 hours and 33 minutes.

Mobile’s 30% jump from 2010 helped propel it past the 1-hour mark, but also means that US adults now spend more time with their mobile phones than with print magazines and newspapers combined, at 1 hour and 5 minutes vs. just 44 minutes.

Average Time Spent per Day with Major Media by US Adults, 2011 (hrs:mins)

Note: Time spent with each medium is averaged across the whole US adult population, not just users of the respective medium. Time spent with each medium also includes all time spent with that medium, regardless of multitasking, so an hour of watching TV while simultaneously on the internet is considered an hour of each activity.

Shifts in ad spending remain behind the shifting consumption patterns of the US population. While TV is unquestionably getting its fair share of dollars, the amount of ad spending going toward digital does not yet reflect the amount of time consumers have invested in these areas of their lives. Mobile, for example, has a more than 10% share of adults’ media time each day, but less than 1% of ad dollars. While much time spent on mobile is on communication activities that marketers would be wise not to interrupt (such as phone calls), it is also an underused touchpoint.

Share of Average Time Spent per Day with Select Media by US Adults vs. US Ad Spending Share, 2011 (% of total)

On the flip side, newspapers and magazines continue to command ad dollars far ahead of their importance in consumers’ day. Part of this is due to the cost of advertising—glossy magazine ads and full-page newspaper spreads command higher rates than much digital advertising. But it also indicates that the revenue troubles for print will likely continue as advertisers follow eyeballs and continue to pull spending from these media.

Take-Away: As advertisers awaken to the surge in mobile & social usage and the imbalance in advertising spend compared to other media options, advertising dollars will follow.

December 12, 2011 in Blog

Social Ad Revenue to hit $8.3 billion in 2015

Local Digital Ad Revenue to Hit $23.3 Billion in 2011

The latest research from local media research firm BIA/Kelsey, “Annual U.S. Local Media Forecast, 2010-2015 – Fall Update” reports that spending on local digital ads will grow this year from $23.3 billion to $37.9 billion in 2015. This revised inure is actually lower from previous expectations of combined digital and traditional local advertising revenues in 2011 from $136.2 billion to $135.9 billion. While social advertising & social marketing is quickly growing.

GLOBAL DIGITAL MEDIA BUDGETS
BIA/Kelsey sees a global increase in the share of digital media spend will increase from 14.6 percent of all local ad revenues in 2010 to 18.9 percent in 2012 and 25.4 percent in 2015.

RISE IN SOCIAL MARKETING BUDGETS
In addition, they also measured expenditures on social media by local and national advertisers, noting that $4.6 billion will be spent on social network ad formats in 2012, up from $2.1 billion in 2010. By 2015, that will go up to $8.3 billion. National advertisers dominate in social ad spending, though; in 2012, $3.5 billion of the $4.6 billion total will be spent by national ad buyers, however, the digital media spend in social will move quickly to local advertisers as they adopt social marketing strategies to promote their business.

Charting Local Digital Ad Revenue:

Contact QWASI today @ 877-747-9274 for Social Marketing and Mobile Marketing solutions for your business.

November 21, 2011 in Blog

Social Media Usage shifts to Contect Distribution

According to eMarketer, the number of Facebook users in the US will increase 13.4% this year. That is after a successful growth run of 38.6% in 2010 and a 90.3% rise in 2009. The rate of adult Twitter user adoption has similarly begun to plateau, dropping from 293.1% growth in 2009 to 26.3% this year and still slowing. In many developing countries, these and other networks are seeing their audience growth taper off as most new users come from other countries such as the BRIC nations and Indonesia.

Throughout more advanced countries, behavior has shifted after spending years on the sites. According to the GlobalWebIndex Wave 5 Trends report, social network usage growth has all but stopped among 16 to 24 year-olds in the US and only in in a few countries where it’s actually declining.

Among those who remain on Facebook, GlobalWebIndex reports, declines were detected in activities participation including messaging with friends, sending digital gifts, installing applications and joining groups between July 2009 and June 2011. These activities appear to be decreasing faster in the US than worldwide and are often decreasing even further among college-educated US users under the age of 30.

Meanwhile, on microblogs like Twitter, the heaviest users are focused on disseminating content. Links to other microblogs, personal photos, and links to videos and news stories were the top subjects of status updates on these real-time oriented social sites among frequent users. Other than personal photos, these all relate to content created by others, while most content creation activities scored lower.

When these users are asked what they want from brands, consumers ask for knowledge and among younger adults, entertainment. Brands have an opportunity to use the transmission-oriented social media landscape to disseminate valuable content to followers—who in turn are hungry for interesting and entertaining content to transmit.

September 17, 2011 in Blog