Boring Will » europe

Internet Population Is 1 Billion. Crikey!

will — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:27:13 +0000

Comscore have reported that there are now 1 billion people online. It also looks like the UK might, just maybe, overtake Germany in the online population table in the not too distant future. The most connected countries (internet population) are:

China: 179.7 million
United States: 163.3 million
Japan: 60.0 million
Germany: 37.0 million
United Kingdom: 36.7 million
France: 34.0 million
India: 32.1 million
Russia: 29.0 million
Brazil: 27.7 million
South Korea: 27.3 million
Canada: 21.8 million
Italy: 20.8 million
Spain: 17.9 million
Mexico: 12.5 million
Netherlands: 11.8 million

Interestingly but unsurprisingly, Asian Pacific represents the largest share of the internet population with Europe a big chunk behind:

Asia Pacific: 416 million (41.3%)
Europe: 283 million (28.0%)
North America: 185 million (18.4%)
Latin America: 75 million (7.4%)
Middle East & Africa: 49 million (4.8%)

Source: Techcrunch

Europe is too slow to understand Social Networking

will — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:31:55 +0000

An interesting article by Melissa Bounoua in Forbes about how European CEOs don’t yet understand Twitter and what is can potentially bring to their brand. In the article, she writes:

“Most European companies haven’t even heard of Twitter, and some might think it’s a time waster. British Telecom says it doesn’t have a Twitter account and doesn’t plan to open one. Nestle’s communications manager says using Twitter “just never came up within the group strategy.” “

American brands using Twitter effectively include Whole Foods (@wholefoods) who effectively used the tweeting platform to tell people where they could get fresh water and generators during last year’s US Gulf Coast hurricane, General Motors (@GMBlog) using it to end rumours they were closing a car factory and Ford (@forddriveone) to make it clear they weren’t taking legal action to shut down fan sites. The article makes a point I totally agree with:

“In general, experts say Europeans don’t latch on to new social networking technologies as quickly as Americans.”

Obviously there are some exceptions, @richardbranson springs to mind, but there is still a lack of euro power on Twitter!

Source: Forbes

Europe: stop recycling, the planet doesn’t need your help!

will — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:11:01 +0000

Ever sat in a café in Paris and coped a listen to the radio in the background? Aside from the very catchy jingles the French seem to love in their advertising (Eurostar travellers will be familiar with SNCF’s “ba da baaa da” at Gare du Nord), you’ll hear a lot of French language music. Actually, you’ll hear at least 40% of French language music on French radio due to the Pelchat amendment to the 1994 Broadcasting Reform Act requiring this. So there you are, sipping a erm.. cafe and you hear a really familiar tune on the radio but you don’t recognise the voice.. wait a minute.. it’s not even in English!

Living in the UK, we (thankfully) don’t get to experience much of this euro-recycling but today I came across a classic example of 3, count em, 3 songs from 3 different countries, performed by 3 different acts but all the same 1 song (this sentence was sponsored by 3 mobile broadband).

So from France we have L5, Deconnecter
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnYc21JiNBg]

From Spain we have Natalie, De Repente
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wuql6ty7Tk4]

Finally, from Germany we have the er, talentless Sandy and Unexpected
[youtube=http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=utIGzfyqI6A]

Ok, that’s enough for one day. Sorry.