RSS Adoption at 11% and it May Be Peaking, Forrester Says

Forrester Research today published a new report on the state of RSS. In short, while there are bright spots, it does not paint the picture of a technology that’s going mainstream anytime soon.

On a positive note, the resarch entitled What’s Holding RSS Back?, says that nearly half of marketers have moved to add feeds to their web sites. Further, RSS adoption among consumers is at 11% up from just 2% of users three years ago. RSS feeds usage is more dominant among men.

Here’s the kicker, though. That might be all she wrote for RSS’ growth track.

According to the research, of the 89% of those who don’t use feeds only 17% say they’re interested in using them. In fact Forrester spends much of the report helping marketers better explain the benefits of RSS to their customers. “Unless marketers make a move to hook them — and try to convert their apathetic counterparts — RSS will never be more than a niche technology,” the analysts (who include Jeremiah Owyang) wrote.

Biden More Popular Than Palin — For 10 Minutes

Vasanth Sridharan | October 6, 2008 1:30 PM

It seems that Sarah Palin has been talked about even more than her principal – John McCain – since she was announced as his running mate at the end of August. And the same definitely cannot be said of Barack Obama’s running mate Joe Biden, who has been mostly out of the limelight since the Democratic National Convention. But for 10 minutes on Thursday during the vice presidential debate, Joe wasmore popular than Sarah, according to Google Trends.

Google posted a graph of the search queries of the four candidates during the debate, and near the end, Joe got his 10 minutes in the sun before plummeting back down:

More than 20 Million US Phone Users Cut Land Lines, Number Growing

Ed: Not only abandoned phone lines, but average households experience huge change – prompting habit changes.

More than 20 million US telephone households (17%) are now “wireless substitutors” – homes without landlines that rely solely on a mobile phone – and one in five households could be wireless-only by year’s end, according to a study by Nielsen Mobile.

As the US economy tightens and consumers seek ways to cut household spending, many are choosing to eliminate their landline phone service, which costs an average of $40/month per landline household, Nielsen said.

Specific stats about cord-cutters, according to the Nielsen Mobile study (pdf):

• US cord-cutters tend to have lower income levels: 59% have annual household incomes of $40K or less.
• Smaller households, with just one or two residents, are more likely to cut the cord than larger households.
• Moving and changing jobs are the biggest life events associated with cord-cutting.

• 31% of cord-cutters moved prior to cord-cutting, and 22% changed jobs.
• Wireless substitutors tend to use their mobile phones 45% more per phone than their landline peers, but still save an average $33 per month in a household of one subscriber, less $6.69 for each additional wireless resident.

“As wireless network quality improves and unlimited calling becomes increasingly pervasive, we expect the trend toward wireless substitution to continue,” said Alison LeBreton, VP of client services for Nielsen Mobile. “In a tightening economy every dollar counts, and consumers are more and more comfortable with the idea of ditching their landline connection.”

Wireless substitution doesn’t work for everyone, however: 10% of landline phone customers have experimented with wireless-only in their household, but then returned to landline service, Nielsen said. The primary reason people re-establish landlines is because they need them for other services, such as security systems, satellite TVs, pay-per-view services, and fax machines, among others.

Opinion: Print will survive and Google will lose market control

Ed: Imagination, out-of-the-box thinking is crucial. Rest of the opinions create controversy; and web traffic.

In an article published yesterday in The Huffington Post, Bob Guccione, Jr. presents an interesting series of predictions for the future of the media.  He predicts the endurance of print, the decline of Google, and that imagination will play a key role.

First, he believes that major city dailies will be transformed into free papers and that home delivery will require a paid subscription.  Also, the Sunday paper will continue to be sold, but will become a source of information for the weeks events.

Guccione also predicts that Google will loose significant market share because competitors will finally step up to the plate and create good or even better search engines.

His next prediction comes as somewhat of a surprise, “The Internet will not consume print, because it’s not strong enough, it’s not better, and it’s too busy consuming itself.”  Although, he does admit that print has a lot to worry about, but that their problems can be resolved.  

He s quick to highlight the fact that publishers need a new formula, what used to work is not working any longer.  “The Internet hit traditional publishing like the asteroid that struck the earth and killed the dinosaurs.”  Publishers need to start getting creative. 

Ultimately, Guccione theorizes that the future of media will come down to one thing, imagination. “So those in publishing should pick their collective chins up off the floor and realize that the future couldn’t be brighter, as soon as we recognize that digital technology is the modern-day equivalent of color printing and faster presses, and that the thing that feeds the new machine is the same thing that fed the old one: imagination.”

YouTube Thanks ABC For A Great Sarah Palin Interview

It’s been a big week for GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who gave her first solo network interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson, and quickly went from Wikipedia curiosity to YouTube phenom.

Consider: Over the past week, videos mentioning Palin — including her acceptance speech, pirated news clips and dozens of parodies, including this by Web comedienne Lisa Nova, have been getting more views than either Barack Obama or her running mate, according to Web analytics firm TubeMogul:

Palin: 38 million
Obama: 29 million
McCain: 25 million

ABC News’ Charlie Gibson landed the biggest get of this presidential cycle, but he didn’t reap all the benefits on the Web. More people have watched clips of Gibson’s interview on YouTube (2,821,305) than on ABCNews.com (600,000).

Sarah Palin Thinks Barack Obama Will Regret Not Picking Hillary Clinton

John McCain’s Vice Presidential Candidate Talks With Charles Gibson in Exclusive Interview

By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
Sept. 12, 2008

Gov. Sarah Palin says Sen. Barack Obama just might regret not picking Sen. Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential running mate.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Charles Gibson, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says Barack Obama may regret not picking Sen. Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential running mate.

(Graphic pic image of Sen. Hillary Clinton and Gov. Sarah Palin)
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“I think he’s regretting not picking her now, I do. What, what determination, and grit, and even grace through some tough shots that were fired her way — she handled those well,” the Alaska governor told Charles Gibson in her third and final exclusive interview with ABC News.

View excerpts of Charles Gibson’s exclusive interview with Gov. Sarah Palin in Wasilla, Alaska, by clicking here.

And Watch Gibson’s exclusive interviews with Palin tonight on “World News” at 6:30 p.m. ET, a special “20/20″ at 10 p.m. ET/ 9 p.m. CT, and “Nightline” at 11:35 p.m. ET

Palin, 44, took the mantle of the campaign’s only female contender after Obama defeated Clinton for their party’s nomination and picked Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., as his Democratic running mate over Clinton and others.

Palin has praised Clinton on the campaign trail, and when she was first introduced as Sen. John McCain’s running mate last month in Ohio…