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Posts Tagged ‘Statuses’

Pew Study Reports That Internet Users Are Becoming More Status Update-Friendly

A new Pew Internet And American Life Project study is being released today which reports that internet users on a whole are becoming more likely to update their statuses online (on social media networks). The report says that 19% of internet users say they use Twitter or another service to share updates
about themselves, or to see updates about others. When Pew surveyed the group in April of this year and in December 2008, 11% of internet users said they use a status-update service.

Updating status online is a learned behavior for most internet users. It’s not something users tend to do naturally but these statistics shows that people are increasingly looking to Twitter, Facebook and other sites to update their status, which is definitely noteworthy. The full report is embedded below.

While the survey seems to revolve around Twitter, it’s unclear if respondents were referring to Twitter or Facebook because of the way the question was framed. The exact survey question was “Do you ever use Twitter or another service to share updates about yourself or to see updates about others?” Facebook has an incredibly large user base that posts status updates and a larger userbase than Twitter. In fact, Facebook was one of the first networks to coin the “status update.” I’m really curious what percentage of the “another service” category Facebook makes up. A representative for Pew said the question was open ended because they wanted capture the the general gist of “status updates” vs. seeing what the breakdown was of the origin of the updates. Twitter was chosen as the lead in the question because the currently, the “moment is ripe for Twitter as the exemplar of status updates.” This discounts of course that Facebook has more users and traffic than Twitter, but ok.

The study also reveals some not-so-surprising stats. For example, the report claims that wireless access is an key factor in predicting whether someone uses Twitter or another status update service, with users who own and use a wireless internet device makes an internet more likely to Tweet or update their status. Or, that users with more internet-connected devices (computers, phones) are more likely to update their status or Tweet. Well, duh.

Under the heading, “younger internet users,” Pew’s document inconclusively addresses the whole age issue over Twitter users by reporting that users between the ages of 18 to 44 report rapid uptake of Twitter over the last nine months, whereas internet users ages 45 and older report slower adoption rates. For example, 37% of internet users age 18-24 use Twitter or “another service,” up from 19% in December 2008. Let’s be real here, the 18-44 demographic doesn’t adequately define “younger internet users.”

The report also indicated that Facebook users may be graying a bit. The median age of a Twitter user is 31, whereas the media age for Facebook, now 33, up from 26 in May 2008.

What the study did not highlight is that increase in status updates (across all social networks, not just Twitter) is also attributed to the fact that these networks are steadily making it easier for users to post updates to multiple networks at once. MySpace recently launched a publish to Twitter feature, and Facebook launched a limited version and may be launching the full monty soon. And of course, web and mobile-based Twitter and Facebook clients like Tweetdeck, Tweetie and Seesmic also make it simpler for users to post status updates.

PIP_Twitter_Fall_2009 –

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Revised AIM app for iPhone hooks into new Lifestream service

Filed under: Internet Tools, iPhone

There’s a first time for everything: while the updated premium version of AOL Instant Messenger for the iPhone [iTunes link] was scheduled to arrive later this month, CNET reported that it actually went through the approval process early (no!) and as such it represents the first of the AIM clients to support the new AIM Lifestream multi-service status update capability.

If you check out the landing page for the service at lifestream.aim.com, you’ll be able to update and monitor your posts and pictures on Delicious, Digg, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter alongside your AIM status (and with your AIM buddies in the mix). The Mac and Windows clients for the service are expected on 9/22; it’s not known yet when the Lifestream goodness will make its way to the free & ad-supported AIM client for iPhone.

Although you can certainly handle multiple social services from several Mac apps (EventBox, Tweetdeck, MoodBlast), and the iPhone has multi-chat tools like Nimbuzz and Beejive, having the flow of statuses pouring in for AIM users will up the ante considerably. We’ll keep an eye out for the official Lifestream launch next week.

Forgot to mention: Can we please, please have an AIM client for iPhone that supports group chat? If we’re going to pony up $2.99 for the premium AOL client or even more for Beejive, it should have this bit of functionality, don’t you think?

[via DLS]

Note: AOL is the parent company of Weblogs, Inc. and TUAW.

TUAWRevised AIM app for iPhone hooks into new Lifestream service originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WorldMate Gold: The Ultimate iPhone App for Frequent Fliers?

If you are a frequent traveler and flier, WorldMate for the iPhone might just be the app you have been waiting for. WorldMate lets you create travel itineraries by simply forwarding your confirmations from hotels, rental car agencies, and airlines to the service, which will then appear in the application. WorldMate for the iPhone comes in two versions: a free version (iTunes link) and a paid version, WorldMate Gold (iTunes link), which, for $9.99 per year, will send out push notifications whenever a flight is delayed or canceled. WorldMate gave us 15 free copies of WorldMate Gold to give away. Read on for details about how you can claim yours.

Sponsor

WorldMate gets its data from the FlightStats and directly from those airlines that are not in the standard reservations systems, which includes a large number of low-cost carriers. In total, WorldMate can monitor the flight statuses of over 350 airlines.

In case a flight is indeed canceled, WorldMate offers a built-in hotel search courtesy of Hotels.com. In addition, the app also offers users the ability to find alternative flights, as well as a weather forecasts, a tip calculator, and a currency converter. All of these are available in the free and paid version of the app.

What makes the app stand out, though, is that you just have to email your travel confirmations from airlines and hotels to WorldMate and the service will automatically translate these documents into an itinerary and display the info in the iPhone app. On iTunes, a number of users complain that WorldMate wasn’t able to understand their email confirmations. For me, this worked perfectly, though your mileage may vary.

In this respect, the app is quite similar to TripIt, which also converts confirmation emails into itineraries and displays them on the phone. TripIt’s iPhone app, however, does not send out push notifications.

Overall, the app is definitely aimed at the frequent traveler, though it can be extremely helpful, even if you are just going away for a short trip. I tested it during a recent weekend trip and it worked like a charm. When our flight was delayed, we promptly received an update and the app also notified us of a gate change long before the gate agent even made the announcement.

If you frequently find yourself wandering down airport concourses, WorldMate is the perfect app to have around. You don’t have to constantly update the airline’s website or check FlightStats to see if your flight is on time. Instead, WorldMate will just automatically let you know if something is wrong.

WorldMate is also available for the BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Palm OS.

Get WorldMate Pro for Free

WorldMate offered us 15 free pro versions for our readers. Just send an email to rww AT worldmate.com and WorldMate will contact you with more details about how to claim your WorldMate Gold invite.

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