According to the August/September 2008 Insight Report from MarketTools, 68% of Americans who spend time online regularly visit blogs, online communities or social networks.  That’s staggering, especially when you consider that the number of online Americans that engage in product research online to help them make purchase decisions is just 33%.

Check out the demographic breakouts and more details on the study here.

One thing the study doesn’t cover, but I’d like to know: What is the percentage is of online Americans who have received a product recommendation through a social network (like Facebook, etc.) have gone on to purchase that product?

Also, if only 68% access social and/or community sites and just 33% are do research on products, what do 100% of online Americans do on the internet? General research? Access email? Search for news?

1. The line: I spent 4 years living in England, the rumored birthplace of queuing.  I know the rules of standing in a line, and I respect a good queue.  It avoids people trampling on each other, and that’s a good thing.  But, when a line is 1/4 mile and 3+ hours long, count me out.  I can’t think of a single reason why I’d wait in a line for anything longer than 30 minutes, except for maybe medical care or food, following a major disaster.  A week after the iPhone 3G came out, I stood the line in front of the Apple Store very briefly with a friend before discovering that it was still hours long, and the chances of getting a 16GB model were slim to none.  We left in favor of brunch. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to play with friends’ iPhone 3Gs, and I’m happy I didn’t wait longer in line.
   
2. You can only use one app at a time: As if the queues in front of the Apple store weren’t enough, once you get the iPhone home, you’ve got to line up your apps too.  That’s right, you can only use one 3rd party application on your phone at a time.  I gave up on PalmOS because it is a single threaded operating system that only allows you to use one application on the phone at a time.  I was excited for the iPhone 3G because I assumed that with the launch of the App Store, Apple would launch a device that enabled several apps to run at the same time.  Unfortunately, it’s one at a time.  Until this changes, some of the coolest mobile apps out there won’t work as well on the iphone as they do on other phones.  Being able to keep one app open while checking another app is a valuable feature, especially when you’re cutting and pasting information between applications.
3. No copy and paste: Speaking of cutting and pasting, you can’t copy and paste on the iphone.  TechCrunch reports that Proximi has an app called MagicPad, which is awaiting approval to launch from the App Store.  But, MagicPad won’t enable you to copy and paste from one application to the next.  The main ways I want to use copy and paste on a phone is to copy from my browser or email and paste into my calendar or contacts.
4. Built-in battery and abysmal battery life: 3G speeds, massive data streaming, and multimedia applications are a battery suck for mobile phones.  That’s why so many “smart phones” are still huge… They’ve got big batteries.  The iPhone 3G looks much more elegant than any of the other mobile phones on the market, but the battery life leaves something to be desired.  Most mobile phones have a removable battery, which means that if you’re a power user, you can swap in a spare battery if your phone goes dead. iPhone 3G has a built in battery.  So, if your battery goes dead, you need to find an outlet and wait for the phone to re-charge.  That’s especially inconvenient if you’re a road warrior or want to use your iPhone for all of it’s features – phone, music, applications, GPS, etc.  Also – anyone who has had a laptop for a couple of years knows that battery life decreases over time. The same is true with mobile phones.  I worry that after a year or so, battery life on the iPhone 3G will dwindle and replacing that battery (which requires monkeying with the hardware) will likely be expensive and time consuming.
   
5. Reported performance problems switching between many apps: I’ve heard reports from friends that when you download a large number of apps from the App Store (say 15) and open and close them throughout the day, the iPhone 3G goes a little nuts – blanking out parts of the screen, showing jumbled lines of text, etc.  To correct this, you’ve got to soft reset the phone.  This really only impacts power users, but it sounds like enough of an issue that I’d like to wait for a fix.
   
6. No turn by turn directions: iPhone 3G has integrated GPS but no turn by turn directions, which means that you can’t use it as a GPS while you’re driving.
   
7. I have a Love/Hate Relationship with Multi-Touch: Multi-Touch is cool, but sometimes, I just need a keyboard… In bright daylight, it’s tough to see an LCD screen.  The iPhone 3G’s “Multi-Touch” technology does not provide sensory input that allows you to feel what keys you’re pressing.  It requires you to actually see the keys.  I much prefer a QWERTY keyboard, though I would rather have a screen the size of the iPhone.  I’d love to see someone come up with a jelly case that incorporates a real keyboard on the back of the iPhone – so that I can look at the big, beautiful screen as I touch type.
8. Tethering isn’t possible: Most 3G smart phones allow you to ‘tether’ your phone to your PC – using your phone as a modem.  iPhone 3G does not.  This means, that you’ve got to buy a separate card for your Mac or PC to enable it to connect to AT&T’s network.  Wireless cards are cumbersome… I’d rather use my phone.  Apparently, I’m not the only one. Yesterday, TechCrunch reported that “tempers flared” when a tethering application that was briefly being sold on the iPhone App store was quickly taken down.
9. Removing the SIM card voids your iPhone 3G warranty: I work in the mobile industry and am constantly trying new phones.  To do this, I swap my SIM card out of one phone and into another.  Apple says that taking your SIM out of your iPhone voids your iPhone warranty.  Frankly, swapping my SIM should be my prerogative.  If I own several phones, I should be able to use whichever one I want – depending on the circumstances…. If I’m at my client site (Motorola), I may want to use my Motorola Q9H (smart phone), but if I’m going out for a night on the town, I might want to swap to a smaller, more portable phone that fits easily in my pocket.
   
10. The iPhone 3G is locked to AT&T: You must use your iPhone with an AT&T SIM card.  I’d like the option of paying more for an iPhone to unlock it so that I can use it with a pay as you go SIM card when I’m overseas (to avoid overseas roaming rates).  I still use my AT&T SIM to check messages when I’m abroad, but it seems silly to pay $2/Minute to make a local call when I’m visiting London.

P.S.  8/4/08: #11 (which should actually be #1): The Daily Mail (authority on all things tabloid-worthy) just published the following article which claims: “Apple to launch the iPhone ‘nano’ in time for Christmas.”

If you’re a fan of ShoZu, in addition to keeping up with the ShoZu blog, you can now follow ShoZu on Twitter (when Twitter is working!).  ShoZu is sending out regular updates at: www.twitter.com/shozu.  Be one of the first to find out when new destinations are added, how famous people are using ShoZu, what new features are available, and more.

I’m looking forward to Online Market World 2008 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on October 1-3.  Aside from speaking at the show, I’m looking forward to seeing the Keynotes – Kathy Ireland, Tony Hsieh (the CEO of Zappos.com), and Marsha Collier (Author of the eBay for Dummies series) are all speaking. It should be an interesting event.

And the number one social network in the world is…IT’S A TIE!  Facebook just caught up to MySpace.  The race to the top gets more and more interesting.  Stay tuned…

Last night, Honda was the first to air a live ad on Channel 4 in the UK.  The ad was nothing short of spectacular – a skydiving feat that no doubt left most of Britain and some of the rest of us talking: Honda Skydiving Video.

I woke up this morning to see links to the YouTube footage of the ad all over the Twitter feeds I follow and in email exchanges between my friends.  Honda’s agency, Widen + Kennedy (which is also an agency for Proctor & Gamble, Coca Cola, Nike, Nokia, Visa, Target, Heineken, and many other large brands) talks about how they executed this socially successful viral campaign on its blog and documented the process of creating the ad in the Difficult is Worth Doing blog.

Imagine what would happen if the guy that you sat next to in high school math class and barely spoke to randomly arrived at your house one morning, 15 years after graduation, ringing your doorbell, and screaming, “POOOOOOOOOKKKKKKEEEE! Remember me? Want to be my friend?!” Then, imagine opening the door and being jabbed in the chest by his index finger.

Sound familiar?  If you’re a Facebook user, it should.  On Facebook, this sort of moronic behavior happens all of the time, and for some reason, because it’s happening on-line, it’s deemed socially appropriate.  Today, a friend sent me the funniest YouTube video I’ve seen all year.  It’s an Idiots of Ants (BBC Three) spoof of what the above Facebook interaction might look like in real life.

The video made me wonder why what seems like a relatively mundane interaction on a social networking site would mortify you or make you laugh or cry out loud, if it were to happen in real life?  Imagine breaking up with your boyfriend or girlfriend and immediately sending paper-based notification letters (adorn with broken heart icons) to all of your friends and co-workers letting them know what happened and that “it’s complicated”.  Sounds silly, so why do people do it online?  My theory is that either they don’t know that they’re doing it (i.e. they haven’t set their profile up to notify their peers of personal changes), or they don’t care (because they can’t see their “friends” reactions and therefore assume that no one is laughing at them).

With all of the recent talk of data portability and the recent announcement of Facebook Connect, it never hurts to have a reminder that Facebook is a bit like to Vegas with a large group of friends… What goes on inside Facebook doesn’t necessarily stay inside Facebook.  And, let’s face it – Facebook interactions aren’t quite as graceful as the interactions most of us are having with each other face-to-face in real life.

Xobni (Inbox spelled backwards), officially opened to the public yesterday.  If you use Microsoft Outlook, it will change your life…  Xobni is a utility for Outlook that analizes your email – things like:

• Who emails you most and when
• Who responds fastest to your emails
• Who you respond to fastest

Xobni makes it easy for you to find files you’ve exchanged via email – regardless of where they’re buried within the thousands of emails in your inbox.

Besides being a really valuable productivity tool, it turns your inbox into a social network.  Without having to type a thing, in two clicks, you can initiate and send an email to anyone in your “network” (i.e. anyone you’ve exchanged email with).  There are also pre-populated notes that enable you to:

• Ask a friend/colleague for their phone number, or
• Request time on a friend/colleague’s calendar – Xobni pulls down data from your calendar and inserts your availability into an email… You can even customize what days/times you want Xobni to search for your availability.

Downsides?  I hate to admit it, but Xobni is actually making me like using Outlook!  The only thing I dislike about Xobni is that it’s not available in more places.  You can’t use it on a Mac or or web-based mail systems like Gmail (sigh).  There is no mobile application or WAP compatability, so it doesn’t work on a mobile phone.

What would I like to see in the future besides broader availability on other email platforms?

• More control over email templates… I’d love to be able to create my own email templates.  For example… “Thank you” emails that I can send to people that, say, had me to dinner, or who I invited to a party.
• Integrations to my favorite web sites. For example… I’d like to be able to set-up an evite from within Xobni and send it out to everyone on my network.  Even better, I’d like Xobni to track my interactions on all of my favorite social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) AND multiple email accounts AND IM AND phone calls (i.e. with a mobile integration)
• Group/ List functionality – that is – the ability to set up groups of people and have the ability to email them all at the same time. (i.e. my “best friend group” my “project X group”, etc.)
• Greater integration with Calendars and Address Books.  For example, I’d love to see the scheduling template be more interactive and actually allow a user to book time on my calendar, without me having to enter the time into the calendar, upon receiving their reply to my email.  I’d love it to work like Outlook invites work… Allow recipients to click on one of the available times listed in an email and automatically book it.

Yep – I think I’m love.  Get it, and it will change the way you look at your inbox.

At Ryan Kruder‘s suggestion, I decided to give “Blog It” a try. Blog It is SixApart’s Facebook app that allows you to update your various blogs, Twitter, and Facebook Status.

BlogIt is an interesting idea… Being able to broadcast your thoughts from one place outward is great. And, yet, doing it from within Facebook is a painful proposition on several fronts – mainly because Facebook itself is slow but also because the app lacks the WYSIWYG functionality of the blogging sites I’ve used before. Sure, I could use HTML, but why bother, when Blog It says, “Some services may remove tags that are not allowed.”? I also haven’t figured out how to tag posts from Blog It.

Ryan brings up a great question in his most recent post, “Do you think of Facebook as a destination for things other than interacting with your friends? What makes something a good FB app v. a stand alone destination site? Would you think of going to Facebook as the place where you write your blog posts?”

I’ve tried to use Facebook as a destination for other things before. When I consulted for SocialMedia Networks, I loaded and played with a ton of Facebook apps. The more apps I added, the slower Facebook got. And, it seems like the more apps I have on my profile, the more regularly the apps crash (which could be perception as opposed to reality). Regardless, performance probably won’t always be the case… As with all web services, I’m sure Facebook will only get faster as it evolves towards improved scalability.

For now, believe that any complex web services/ apps should remain stand alone destinations with the ability to somehow link to Facebook and other social sites. I’d like to see a bookmark mechanism within Facebook that allows me to click to my favorite sites and, ideally, add a button to them that I can press (or an automatic setting that I can establish) to let my friends know when I’ve been active on those sites. Having to go into Facebook to post a note that lets my friends know that I’ve updated my blog is one more step that I’d rather not go through.

Speaking of steps I’d rather not go through… BlogIt has gotten me to thinking… If SixApart can create a Facebook app that can simultaneously publish to Vox and TypePad, why can’t it create an upgrade mechanism that allows me to transfer my Vox blog into TypePad? I’ve been asking about this for a while, and no one has been able to suggest a way forward besides manual cut and paste, which would, after a year and a half of blogging, take forever. When I started blogging, I didn’t care who was reading or what posts generated the most interest. Now, I’m curious. I would love to transfer my account to TypePad and pay for extra features, but I don’t want to lose my existing posts or my URL.

Fingers crossed that since SixApart has demonstrated that it can push text up to multiple blog sites at once, they’ll soon offer vox users the opportunity to transfer/ upgrade their existing content to new platforms.