Digital Business Psychologist
Women are natural social networkers; indeed the stereotype of “chatty” women (false as it is) suggests that the world of social networking is a natural place for women to go online. And you wouldn’t be wrong. A new analysis of more than 50 million social networking members shows that women …
The UK supermarket, Sainsbury’s, is rather red-faced at the moment. For the past 24 hours it has been unable to operate it’s online store, costing it around £1m in lost revenue. That’s bad enough, but the company has also had to face several media stories about its failure, such as …
People often assume things about the Internet, yet frequently those assumptions turn out to be incorrect. For instance, many business owners I meet assume, it seems, that email marketing is dead. Yet, despite the problems caused by spam, email marketing is still the most successful method of selling online. Another …
Friends are people we share common interests with, who have the same values and morals, who cheer us up when we are down and who truly understand us. At least that’s what we would like to think. However, new research from psychologists in Leipzig shows that friendships are actually down …
People gravitate towards people like themselves. We all love people like us; anyone who is a bit different we tend to shy away from. It’s the same online – we tend to “hang out” in groups and clubs in places like Facebook and Ecademy where the people we meet are …
Researchers at the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California have just published their report on the consequences and benefits of children going online. However, embedded within the report are some interesting facts that every online business needs to think about. Firstly, the annual study shows …
Some people are avid social networkers and build up huge numbers of “connections” and “friends” online. Take a look at Thomas Power, the Chairman of Ecademy, for instance. He has over 15,000 contacts in Ecademy and almost as many in LinkedIn. Does he really know all those people? If you …
A new report for the recruitment industry reveals a massive increase in the number of companies that are banning the use of Facebook at work. The survey shows that seven out of ten companies now have banning orders in place to prevent their staff from using Facebook. That’s double the …
Children are signing up to social networks in their thousands. According to a significant research study by Ofcom half of children over the age of eight have a social networking account and profile. This is in spite of the fact that the networks themselves set an age limit of 13. …
Many businesses are put off social networking sites. They feel that such sites distract staff from getting on with work. They think that social networking sites, like Facebook or MySpace are some kind of security risk for their business. Or they just think these sites are for bored teenagers and …
Facebook is in trouble; or so it might seem from stories in the specialist press, such as New Media Age and subsequent mainstream follow-up coverage. It seems that in the UK, Facebook has started to lose users; it is down by around 400,000 over a month. That might seem a …
You know when you have “made it” when you are front page news – particularly if that front page belongs to the Wall Street Journal. Facebook is the subject of a major article on the front of the Wall Street Journal, arguing that perhaps we can let other social networkers …
Still, in spite of being around for ten years, people dismiss blogging as futile, unecessary or in some way “amateur”. Far from it – some of the most successful web sites in the world are based on blog technology. Amazon, the BBC and Facebook are all derivatives of blogging. But …
Social networkers love numbers; “I have 20,000 friends”, or “My profile has just had its millionth view”, for instance. But actually, who cares? Other than massaging the ego of the individual social networker, numbers do not matter much. Take for instance the latest figures on social networking viewers (shown right). …
Teenagers are becoming like their parents. Plus ca change…as the French might say. What is happening is that the younger generations are now seeking answers to their difficulties, to their questions, to their problems, from other people. Instead of resorting to search engines, they ask each other. In the past, …