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Social networks, blogs more popular than e-mail

Interesting new data from Nielsen Online says "member communities" (e.g., social networks and blogs have become more popular than e-mail.

While the data does not show a dramatic difference between member communities and e-mail use, in terms of percentage points, it does reflect an impact that social communication is having on the way we work and communicate.

Of course, the other side of the equation is finding out how the sample data was taken and if it's based only on consumer data. Nonetheless, it shows that information is moving online, not getting stuck in e-mail boxes. … Read more

Nielsen: Twitter's growing really, really, really, really fast

A small new survey from Nielsen about the five fastest growing "member community destinations" in the U.S. reveals what we all kind of knew already: Twitter is at the top. From February 2008 to February 2009, it clocked in at a whopping 1,382 percent growth rate. That's to be expected, considering the amount of press the still-without-a-business-model microblogging service has gotten in recent months.

In third place is Facebook, with 228 percent growth year-over-year according to Nielsen. That's not terribly surprising, as Facebook is still growing in the U.S. but not quite as … Read more

CNET News Daily Podcast: Is a consumer rebellion against cable TV close?

CNET News' Marguerite Reardon is not the only person fed up with writing $100-plus monthly checks for the privilege of watching television at home. Our guess is that so are a lot of you. But now there's something you can do besides grouse about it. With a number of new tech options now in the market--and more are said to be on the way--there finally is an available alternative to consumers. Take a listen as Maggie describes this fast-evolving tech shift and what it may portend. Listen now: Download today's podcast

Today's stories:

Dreaming of cutting the subscription TV cord… Read more

VMware hires away Borland CEO

Tod Nielsen just can't hold a job.

Actually, peripatetic is the better description. VMware on Tuesday named Nielsen to be its chief operating officer, his sixth different company since the millennium.

Nielsen had been Borland's chief executive since November 2005. Before that, the garrulous 43-year-old held executive roles at Oracle, BEA Systems, and Microsoft. He also served a stint as CEO of Crossgain, before a noncompete snit with Microsoft forced him to step aside. BEA later acquired Crossgain.

In the role of VMware's COO, a newly created job, Nielsen will be reporting to CEO Paul Maritz, his … Read more

Music sales for 2008 ride digital coattails

Digital music, long the bane of the music industry, may finally be something that record label executives can smile about.

For 2008, total music sales rose 10 percent to 1.51 billion units sold, up from 1.36 billion units the year before, according to industry tracker Nielsen. Units tallied include physical albums, digital albums and tracks, and music videos.

The biggest contributor to the growth was digital music, Nielsen reported. There were 1.07 billion digital tracks sold in 2008, up 27 percent from 2007, and there were 65.8 million digital albums sold, up 32 percent.

Those numbers … Read more

Twitter spreads like wildfire, but MySpace still on top

Nielsen has released numbers for its estimates on the biggest and fastest-growing social media sites in the U.S. for the month of September, and there are a few surprises.

10 fastest growing social-networking sites for September 2008 Site Sept. 2007 (000) Sept. 2008 (000) YOY growth Twitter.com 533* 2,359 343% Tagged.com 898 3,857 330% Ning 842* 2,955 251% LinkedIn 4,075 11,924 193% Last.fm 850 1,879 121% Facebook 18,090 39,003 116% MyYearbook 1,422 3,056 115% Bebo 1,299 2,418 86% Multiply 592 941 59% Reunion.com … Read more

Americans text more than they talk

American cell phone users are sending more text messages than they are making phone calls, according to a Nielsen Mobile survey released Monday.

For the second quarter of 2008, U.S. mobile subscribers sent and received on average 357 text messages per month, compared with making and receiving 204 phone calls a month, according to Nielsen. The new statistic is a clear indication that Americans have jumped onto the SMS text bandwagon.

In the first quarter of 2006, Americans sent and received 65 text messages per month. The number of messages sent and received today has increased 450 percent. But … Read more

Valley to NBC Olympics: 'Poppycock, Peacock'

Peculiar Olympic viewing numbers have emerged from the Bay Area.

It seems that the Valley's finest have voted with their comforters and refused to play along with NBC's notion of, "You'll watch what we want you to watch, when we want you to watch it."

Although the San Francisco area averaged a 20.5 rating for the nine nights that ended last Sunday, this was down on the average rating for the Athens Games, which clipped along at 21.5.

It is not my intention to dance on NBC's bank vault. Some of the … Read more

New comScore figures suggest fewer people believing comScore

comScore has done a wonderful job. Of marketing comScore results.

If the Internet abacus company sees its readings suggest a significant conclusion, it releases the information in an interesting and digestible form.

However, I understand that both comScore and its frats-in-stats at Nielsen Online are having their audits audited by the Interactive Advertising Bureau after mlb.com declared that Nielsen Online's score for its site of 6 million was a "conScore." The real figure, according to mlb.com, was actually 19 million. (the results of the audit's audit are due at the end of this year.)… Read more