Image via CrunchBase

New York, NY – September 24, 2009 – The Nielsen Company today reported that time spent on social network and blogging sites accounted for 17 percent of all time spent on the Internet in August 2009, nearly triple the percentage of time spent on the sector a year ago.

“This growth suggests a wholesale change in the way the Internet is used,” said Jon Gibs, vice president, media and agency insights, Nielsen’s online division. “While video and text content remain central to the Web experience – the desire of online consumers to connect, communicate and share is increasingly driving the medium’s growth.”

ONLINE DISPLAY AD SPENDING ON TOP SOCIAL NETWORK SITES MORE THAN DOUBLES IN
AUGUST 2009 Year-over-year, estimated online advertising spend on the top social network and blogging sites increased 119 percent, from approximately $49 million in August 2008 to approximately $108 million in August 2009. The share of estimated spend on these sites has also grown, increasing from a seven percent share of
total online ad spend in August 2008 to a 15 percent share in August 2009.

While several industries decreased their overall online ad spend year-over-year in August, spending on the top social network sites increased across the board. The Entertainment Industry led in growing its online ad dollars, increasing ad spending on the top social network sites by 812 percent in August. Travel advertisers
followed suit, increasing their ad spend on these sites by 364 percent.

“In the past, advertisers had significant concerns with social media advertising,” said Gibs. “The considerable increases we’ve seen in ad spending over the past year suggest that many of these concerns have subsided or been addressed. In particular, advertisers that want to connect with core fan bases, such as movie studios, are allocating more and more dollars to online communities like Facebook and MySpace, where they can engage in an ongoing dialog with their target market.”

Have you switched over from Google to Bing yet for your search engine? If you haven’t, maybe you should…

I switched from Google to Bing and I’m happy I did it. Bing is a new search engine from Microsoft. What I like best about it are the photographs. There are some amazing photos from all across the world. The photographs are colorful, vivid and alive. It’s educational too! If you roll your mouse over the images, a window pops up that tells you were the image is and a little about its history.

Besides that, the search engine is outrageous. I find more relevant information on Bing then I do on Google…. It’s nice to know there is a choice….

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When I found out that I won a trip to London, I immediately went on the Internet and search for concert tickets in London.

To my pleasant surprise, there were two decent tickets to Coldplay. I was so excited. For starters, Coldplay is one of my favorite groups and secondly, I had seen concerts at Wembley on TV or in the movies and always wanted to go there. So purchasing these tickets was a double thrill!

When we got to Wembley, I was amazed. The stadium was four times the size of Madison Square Garden. It was enormous!

There were two warm up bands, local British bands, and then Jay-Z. I found it quite odd that Jay-Z was warming up for Coldplay but didn’t complain. I like all kinds of music including rap and was excited to see such a big star in a big stadium.

Jay-Z was a lot of fun. Then Coldplay came out. They were terrific. They played all of my favorites including: Yellow, Fix You, Clocks, Lost and more!

The crowd was totally in love with them, and no wonder, they are a British band. But I also think they loved them because their music is so innovative and cutting edge …. I guess that’s why I love them too….

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