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Written by Malek Tuesday, 11 December 2012 16:46

 

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer just announced a complete overhaul to Yahoo's email products.

There's a new version for Android, Windows Phone, iPhone and the Web.

The new design is cleaner – whiter and sparser. There are fewer ads.

In a blog post, Mayer says users "told us loud and clear" that they want "fewer distractions when it comes to email."

"You want to quickly login, communicate, and get on with your day. And we’ve listened."

Rolling out a new version of Yahoo Mail is, by far, the most important thing Mayer has done since she became CEO in July.

There are two reason for this.

The first is that in many ways, all Yahoo is, is a webmail company.

Yahoo has four very important products: Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, the homepage, and Mail. Homepage and Mail are the most important.

Hundreds of millions of people still use Yahoo.com for email.  When they do, Yahoo makes money off them in two ways:

  • By showing them ads.
  • By giving them links to Yahoo content pages with expensive brand advertising on them.

Yahoo's dependence on Webmail is a problem for the company because usage is declining.

The reason: Adults check their email on their phones, and teens prefer to text. 

It's showing.

Across the entire Internet, Web-based email was up a mere 1% in September 2012 over September 2011, according to ComScore. AOL Mail is down 8%. Yahoo Mail is down 16%. Hotmail is down 18%. Only Gmail is up year-over-year – 16%.

The two questions for Mayer's Webmail redesign are:

  • Can it get the kids using email?
  • Will it drive usage back to Yahoo.com?

The second reason this rollout is probably the most important thing Mayer has done since she took over Yahoo is Yahoo's desperate situation in mobile.

Right now, Yahoo actually reaches lots of consumers on mobile.

According to ComScore, Yahoo, with 68 million users, has the third largest US mobile audience amongst mobile app-makers, only following Google (100 million) andFacebook (78 million).

But here's the thing: While Yahoo has 70+ apps, the main reason its reach is so big is that the native weather app on iOS is a Yahoo app. 

Yahoo doesn't actually power that app. The weather data is supplied by the Weather Channel, which is pretty good at iOS user-interface design itself. Long term, there is very little reason Apple should keep Yahoo involved.

The truth is, that while Yahoo has lots of reach on mobile, consumers do not actually spend much time with the brand there.

 

Written by Malek Sunday, 9 December 2012 20:17

Written by Malek Sunday, 9 December 2012 20:13

 

Twitter Statistics From 2012

1. There were 175 million tweets sent from Twitter every day throughout 2012. (source: Infographics Labs)

2. The average Twitter user has tweeted 307 times. (source: Diego Basch’s Blog)

3. Since the dawn of Twitter, there’s been a total of 163 billion tweets. (source: Diego Basch’s Blog)

4. 56% of customer tweets to companies are being ignored. (sources: AllTwitter)

5. Barack Obama’s victory tweet was the most retweeted tweet ever with over 800K retweets. (source: The Guardian)

6. Top 3 countries on Twitter are the USA at 107 million, Brazil 33 million and Japan at nearly 30 million. (source: Jeff Bullas)

7. The average user follows (or is followed by) 51 people. (source: Diego Basch’s Blog)

8. The 2012 election broke records with 31.7 million political tweets. Election Day was by far the most tweeted about event in US political history. (source: Marketing Land)

9. 32% of all Internet users are using Twitter. (source: Marketing Land)

10. Twitter is projected to make a total of $540 million in advertising revenue by 2014. (source: Web Analytics World)

11. 69% of follows on Twitter are suggested by friends. (source: Web Analytics World)

12. In 2012, 1 million accounts have been added to Twitter everyday. (source: Infographics Labs)

13. Lady Gaga has 31 million followers, which is the most followed account on Twitter. (source:Socialbakers)

14. The most followed brand on Twitter is YouTube with 19 million followers. (source: All Twitter)

15. The USA’s 141.8 million accounts represents 27.4% of all Twitter users. (source: All Twitter)

16. The “Castle in the Sky” TV screening was the busiest time on Twitter ever with 25,088 tweets per second. (source: Sys-Con)

17. 11 accounts are created every second on Twitter. (source: Infographics Labs)

18. 50% of Twitter users are using the social network via mobile. (source: Microsoft tag)

19. 34% of marketers have generated leads using Twitter. (source: Digital Buzz Blog)

20. 26% of retweets are incited by a request to retweet. (source: Web Analytics World)

Written by Malek Wednesday, 28 November 2012 23:53

Written by Malek Tuesday, 27 November 2012 21:15

 

Here’s a look at how the 2012 presidential election shaped up on Facebook:

Number of Obama Facebook friends on Election Day 2012: 32,313,965.
Number as of Nov. 26: 33,752,862.
Net gain since Election Day: 1,438,897.
Number of Obama Facebook friends on Election Day 2008: 2,397,253.
Number of Romney Facebook friends on Election Day 2012: 12,135,972.
Number as of Nov. 26: 11,906,351.
Net decrease: 229,621.
Number of Facebook users who downloaded Obama’s Facebook application: 1 million.
Number who shared items with friends suggested by that app: 600,000.
Number of Facebook users who downloaded Romney’s Facebook app: 30,000.
Amount raised online by Obama 2012: $690 million, of which $504 million originated digitally.
Amount raised online by Obama 2008: $500 million, of which $403 million originated digitally.

The complete list assembled by Micah Sifry has a more complete roundup of numbers from sources such as Google Plus and Twitter.

Written by Malek Monday, 26 November 2012 16:38

Written by Malek Friday, 23 November 2012 00:41

 

You've heard that Google is working on computerized glasses. They're called Google Glass, and developers can already buy them.

 

It turns out Microsoft is working on something similar. It filed some patents on the project and Unwired View dug them up.

There's a big difference between what Microsoft is working on and Google Glass, though.

The most recent word out of Google is that Google Glass isn't going to use "augmented reality" – where data and illustrations overlay the actual world around you.

Google Glass is actually just a tiny screen you have to look up and to the left to see.

Microsoft's glasses seem to utilize augmented reality. In a patent illustration we've embedded below, you can see that the glasses put data on top of a live action concert and a ballgame.

Both gadget concepts are very interesting. 

Lots of people disagree with me, including other BI writers, but I think something like Google Glass or whatever Microsoft is working on could end up replacing the smartphone as the dominant way people access the Internet and connect to each other.

First off: something has to. Disruption is inevitable.

Secondly: The trend is obvious.

Computers have been getting smaller and closer to our faces since their very beginning.

First they were in big rooms, then they sat on desktops, then they sat on our laps, and now they're in our palms. Next they'll be on our faces.

(Eventually they'll be in our brains.)

By the way, you can bet that if Microsoft and Google are working on computerized glasses, so is Apple and Jony Ive.

 


Written by Malek Thursday, 22 November 2012 16:57