▶ Mobile Users Get Friendly with Devices: We see it on the subway, in restaurants, in theaters—just about everywhere: Head down, staring at the small screen. Now, a survey by Citrix of 1,000-plus American smartphone and tablet owners confirms it: Americans admit to spending almost every waking minute with their mobile devices, whether checking news and social-media feeds first thing each morning, eating every meal with device in hand or watching reality TV shows in secret. The study reveals how deep the relationship between human and machine can run, even trumping the relationships people have with their families. Specific findings include:
• Seventy percent of smartphone and tablet owners actively choose to stream content on a mobile device rather than a computer.
• Asked about the primary reason for using their mobile devices, 64% of survey respondents said “to keep myself from being bored.” The next most popular reason, “to bring friends or family together,” was cited by just 32% of respondents, which indicates that Americans may prefer quality time with a mobile device to hanging out with “real” friends.
• While at the dinner table, Gen Xers and Boomers check their devices more than Millennials, but only marginally so: About 66% of Millennials checked their devices while sitting down for a meal in the past day compared to 68% of Gen Xers and 71% of Boomers.
• While new technologies have made it easy to share videos with friends and family across the globe, a majority of mobile device users (52%) expressed their desire for fewer shared videos.
Source: Citrix
▶ Going Local Stumps Communicators: Localization is becoming increasingly vital to business success but few communicators are set up to achieve this aim, according to a new report. The report, from the CMO Council, a global network of chief marketers, found that 59% of the 296 executives it surveyed believed that local marketing efforts were essential to driving growth and profits. However, just 7% said they already had effective campaigns in place. Other study highlights include:
• A common failing was the interval between the launch of a national campaign and its local rollout. Thirty percent of marketers reported delays of 30 days or more.
• Just 3% were able to execute a campaign immediately, while 6% could do so within one to three days.
• Among the issues the report identified were a lack of bandwidth and resources. Just 6% of respondents were able to use automated solutions that could be accessed by all local markets. PRN
Source: CMO Council
PR Myth: Single-Source Metrics Tools Unaffordable and Ineffective
Mark Weiner (right), CEO of PRIME Research LLP and a member of the PR News Advisory Board, seeks to challenge conventional wisdom and dispel some PR myths. Here, Mark tackles a myth related to social-measurement tools.
Myth: In today’s fast-paced social media environment, clients can’t afford—and listening tools can’t provide—a single-source provider to serve stakeholders across the business including PR, marketing, CRM and HR.
Truth: While not every social-media tool serves every business application, and not every client needs an all-in-one solution, it’s become clear that the marketplace demands a single-source provider to ensure accuracy, consistency and insight. Luckily, such solutions exist. In seeking that solution, the challenge may be made more manageable by focusing on the simplest levels of performance: managing quantity and quality of data plus the ability to engage on both a narrow and broad-scale basis.
Beyond “what the tool can do”—monitor, share and respond—one is advised to ask, “does the solution deliver accurate insightful data efficiently and consistently?” Many tools deliver efficiency (that’s what tools are for) but it’s much harder to find accuracy and insight (because tools are challenged to deliver uniquely human attributes like “judgment,” “intent” and “understanding”).
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