"The study results are extremely telling, especially about measures that users take, or fail to take, in order to protect their identity while using social networks," says Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute. "I was surprised that those who had experienced identity theft in the past weren’t taking stronger measures to protect their identity. No matter who you are, if you want to increase social networking safety, you must take the necessary steps to protect your information."

Some highlights from the study include:

- About 65% of users don’t set high privacy or security settings in social media sites

- Over 90% of users don’t review a given Website’s privacy policy before engaging in use.

- About 40% share their physical home address through social media apps.

"Social networking sites give users the ability to share personal information, but they need to keep sensitive information out of easily-accessed public profiles," says Jennifer Leuer, general manager of ProtectMyID.com. "If people aren’t careful, identity thieves can quickly gather all the information they need to commit fraud, and that’s why it’s so important to be selective about the information shared and use a product like ProtectMyID.com, since it provides early fraud detection and resolution."

Interestingly, the study found that people who have been victims of identity theft in the past are just as likely to be lax in securing their personal information online.

Seventy percent of coupons-using households get their coupons from newspapers. However, the Internet is a growing coupon resource. Over the last three years, the number of households that get their coupons online has increased by 46 percent.

Click rates trended higher for coupon emails, with an average of 17 percent for coupons redeemable online and 24 percent for coupons redeemable in-store.

"For marketers, the data behind our coupon study further validates how email coupons can and should be used to engage customers and drive traffic and sales to other channels," said Matt Seeley, president of Experian Marketing Services‘ .

 "Understanding the purchase drivers and triggers along with the channel preferences of unique customers is an essential element in building loyalty and engagement. Today’s consumers are multi-channel and marketers that acknowledge this will see greater return on their marketing spend."

Other highlights from the study include:

Two-thirds of American households use coupons, with the vast majority of them (87 percent) used to save money and 30 percent used to try a new product or service.

Eighty percent of online coupon mailings garnered higher transaction-to-click rates and transaction rates than the non-coupon campaigns. Of this group, 78 percent also had higher revenue per email.

More households are now using coupons at restaurants/fast food chains. Compared to 2006, there are now 9 percent more households redeeming coupons at restaurants.

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The study identifies engagement according to six factors that respondents associates with media. They are "inspirational," "trustworthy," "life enhancing," "social interaction," "personal timeout," and ad receptivity.

John Fetto, product manager for Experian Research Services, said that the data suggests that TV ads online are especially effective at engaging consumers. "Web sites that are extensions of properties that exist in other media channels have a great potential to funnel audiences that are highly engaged in the first place," he said.

Women and younger consumers have higher levels of engagement online than men and older users. The differences were small. On a 100 to 500 point scoring system, women on average were a bit more receptive to online ads than men on average, at 236 to 228, respectively.

People between the ages of 35 and 54 rated the Internet as being about as trustworthy a source of information as did 18 to 34-year-olds. The study also found that people are more receptive to ads on sites they visit frequently. Those who visited sites two to six times per week are more likely to be responsive to ads than those who visit less often.

The study was based on 74,996 interviews with U.S. adults and was conducted online and over the telephone between October 2006 and September 2007.

EU Challenges Google On Data Retention

The Article 29 Working Group advises the European Union on data protection issues. They are not happy with the length of time Google plans to retain search information in their databases.

The Financial Times said Google’s desire to keep that data for as long as 24 months may run counter to privacy laws in the EU. It’s a lot shorter than the indefinite time Google has kept search data prior to their policy change.

Information on what people search for could be used to construct a pretty accurate profile of an individual. The potential for an epic scale invasion of privacy exists, should a government or a malicious party manage to grab that information.

It is unlikely an external attack would be able to breach Google’s security, as the company prizes that information even more than the people who contribute it. Government intervention is another matter, and Google has already fought one battle with the Justice Department over its try at grabbing a huge amount of that data.

Google’s global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer pointed out to the Times that Yahoo and Microsoft have not publicly announced any limits to their search data retention. Fleischer previously wrote on Google’s official blog that “since these laws do not yet exist, and are only now being proposed and debated, it is too early to know the final retention time periods, the jurisdictional impact, and the scope of applicability.”

The competitive reports include up-to-date information on:

• The relative market share of their brand within [an] industry online
• The sources of traffic among competitors’ sites
• The percentage of traffic from affiliate partners
• The brands and products that are top of mind among consumers
• Demographic data and Lifestyle segmentation data

Last week, Hitwise announced the “Hitwise to Go” product to deliver online consumer usage information for journalists and academics via RSS. These announcements come less than a month after Hitwise was acquired by Experian for their Marketing Solutions business.

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Hitwise was founded in 1998 and has over 1,200 clients in numerous areas such as financial services, media, travel and retail.

Don Robert, Chief Executive Officer of Experian, commented: " We have been successfully repositioning our Marketing Solutions business to meet our clients’ needs as they continue to switch more of their advertising spend online."

" Hitwise, which is a rapidly growing, successful business, brings new, unique data to Experian and complements the existing data, tools and expertise that we already offer to clients in other areas such as research services and email distribution."

Experian believes that Hitwise has a solid financial model noting that their revenue is predictable as clients pay license fees in advance and they are able to maintain a high level of customer retention.

Over the past year, Hitwise sales increased 50 percent to $40 million and they saw a small profit. Experian believes that Hitwise will increase sales by more than 40 percent in the coming year.

Andrew Walsh, Chief Executive Officer of Hitwise, said:"Over the last 10 years, Hitwise has developed a truly unique digital intelligence service that helps inform the online marketing strategies of 1,200 clients around the world every day." 

"We are excited to become part of Experian, having worked with them for over four years.  We will now be able to accelerate Hitwise’s growth and profitability through access to Experian’s wider pool of data, tools and clients, while more quickly expanding our global footprint."

Experian is hoping to provide more internet intelligence to its client base, and the acquisition of Hitwise will help it do that, and more. While you may know Hitwise from all of their great analysis of web trends and site traffic, the company does a lot more than simply issue fancy charts. Collecting and aggregating information from 25+ million web users around the world, Hitwise watches more than a million sites and has more than 1200 clients including, Google, eBay, AXA and CBS News.

Don Robert, Chief Executive Officer of Experian, commented: “We have been successfully repositioning our Marketing Solutions business to meet our clients’ needs as they continue to switch more of their advertising spend online. Hitwise, which is a rapidly growing, successful business, brings new, unique data to Experian and complements the existing data, tools and expertise that we already offer to clients in other areas such as research services and email distribution.”

Congratulations to everyone at Hitwise. With the new support of Experian, we expect more great things from them.

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Comments ]]> http://www.webpronews.com/experian-acquires-hitwise-for-240-million-2007-04/feed 0 http://www.webpronews.com/kids-do-more-than-play-games-online-2007-02 http://www.webpronews.com/kids-do-more-than-play-games-online-2007-02#comments Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:07:36 +0000 Mike Sachoff http://www.webpronews.com/?p=35428 Experian Simmons. While that is not a major revelation what is surprising is that 21 percent said they had used the Internet to do homework and research.
]]> For children ages 6-11 the most common online activity is playing games with 48 percent saying they had done so at least once in the last month according to new data from Experian Simmons. While that is not a major revelation what is surprising is that 21 percent said they had used the Internet to do homework and research.

Doing homework online ranks third in the most common online activities for children and trails behind the second most popular activity which is visiting a favorite Web site with 25 percent of children saying they had done so in the past month according to the data.

After television the two most important types of media for children are video games and the Internet according to a September 2006 study by Mindshare. Other types of media such as newspapers, magazines and radio barley show up on children’s radar. The reason the Internet ranks, as an important form of media for children is that allows them to communicate with their friends.

While teachers may be requiring students to do homework online parents are also encouraging their children to use the Internet for research. According to a January 2007 study by Nickelodeon 98 percent of parents use the Internet.

eMarketer estimates that the percentage of 8-to-11-year-olds using the Internet will reach 71 percent by 2010, up from 67 percent in 2006. The key for marketers is to pay attention to how this group changes its Internet usage over time.

eMarketer senior analyst Debbie Williamson, author of the Tweens and Teens Online: From Mario to MySpace report, sums it up:

"Significant changes in online usage take place as children mature into teens," says Ms. Williamson. "Young teens between the ages of 12 and 14 spend more time online than tweens ages 8-11, and their interests broaden and deepen correspondingly. But they also use the Internet to stay in touch with things — and people — they already know."

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The six-year-old privately-held comparison shopping site PriceGrabber.com joins GUS plc’s Experian, the company said in a statement. The $485 million purchase places the site with Experian’s other online properties like LowerMyBills.com.

PriceGrabber’s comparison technology operates on some 300 websites, including MSN, Ask Jeeves, and About.com. Its index of over 9,000 merchants allows users to compare millions of products in a number of categories.

The site had over 17 million visitors for the month of November, as the holiday shopping season began in earnest. Experian believes that with its marketing expertise and scale, it can help grow PriceGrabber’s market share.

Also, the deal gives Experian an entry into new markets. PriceGrabber has been extending its reach into other vertical markets like auto and travel, the statement said. That could help the company fulfill Experian’s expectations for “strong organic growth” over PriceGrabber’s estimate of $60 million in sales and $25 million in earnings before interest and tax.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.