Blogonomist » trends

What Europeans Really Think Of Each Other

Marc Baumann — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:25:27 +0000

Europe is the third most populous continent (with its population of 710 million inhabitants) after Africa and Asia, but also the world’s second-smallest in terms of area. So it’s no surprise that the 48 European nations haven’t always lived in piece and harmony together – and animosities remain until this very day.

I had to really laugh out loud when I found this great blog post on Daily Candor about the characteristics of all the different Europeans and what they think of each other – a “basic backgrounder for Americans”, as the author describes it. Here’s a little excerpt of some of Europe’s nationalities:

The French
Disliked by some Spanish (particularly the Catalonians), for being arrogant. One woman from Barcelona told me, “Come on, who really likes the French? Nobody!” The Swiss don’t like the fact that they have contempt for authority and are lazy.

The Italians
Most of the stereotypes are positive, but mostly because of the food. Northern Europeans consider them lazy and flaky, and maybe incapable of managing anything right.

The Germans
Germans are considered industrious but uptight and humorless, by just about all the other Europeans. (…) The food is considered uninspired, too. The most anti-German sentiments are among the Dutch and Danish, who just hate them from invading their countries too often.

The Dutch
The Dutch, like the Scandinavians, have an enviable economy and social order that’s admired by southern European countries. However, they do have a reputation of being self-righteous “know-it-alls” and very similar to their German cousins in terms of their rigidity.

The Swiss
Considered extremely rigid, even by the Germans. Blunt to the point of being rude, the Swiss probably have the least likely reputation for being characterized as “friendly” or “warm”. (…) The German-speaking Swiss are more like the Germans except even more stiff, rigid and cranky.

The British
About half of the British would be really angry at being called European, so that should provide an apt starting point. They are considered polite, but maybe a bit two-faced (hence “Janus Britain”) and snobby.

The Belgians
Considered idiots by both the Dutch and the French. Belgians, in turn, consider the Dutch to be a bunch of cranky assholes, and French stuck-up.

I can only say – it’s all true! And being a native Swiss, there must be a reason why I relocated to the United States long time ago…

The “Google Generation” – No Search Experts

Marc Baumann — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:11:05 +0000

Ahh, clichés. Aren’t older people supposed to be technical ignorants and “web allergic”, while the younger guys and girls surf, chat and entertain themselves on the web 24/7? Well, apparenty that’s wrong. A new UK report (PDF version) on the habits of the “Google Generation” finds that kids born since 1993 aren’t quite the internet super-geeks they’re sometimes made out to be.

Yes, it’s true that young people are generally competent with technology, but it’s not true that students today are “expert searchers.” In fact, the report calls this “a dangerous myth.”But these are some truths about the “Google generation”, according to the report:

They like to cut-and-paste. “There is a lot of anecdotal evidence and plagiarism is a serious issue.”
They prefer visual information over text. “But text is still important… For library interfaces, there is evidence that multimedia can quickly lose its appeal, providing short-term novelty.”
They multitask all the time. “It is likely that being exposed to online media early in life may help to develop good parallel processing skills.”

Does that mean they don’t care about copyrights, get easily bored about lengthy investigative magazine articles and suffer from ADD big time?? Well, somehow I expected a little bit more. Good news: We, the “older people” (meaning over 30), still have some chances to compete in the digital age….

10 Interesting Search Facts I Learned Today

Marc Baumann — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 00:43:28 +0000

Well, there were gazillions of search news out there todays, but I thought these were some of the most interesting insights:

- With 20 billion to 35 billion worldwide searches in 2006/2007, search growth is as strong as ever. (Via ClickZ)

- Google remained in the top spot for search queries in the United States, accounted for 64.49 percent of all searches (Hitwise)

- More than $14 billion has been spent online during the holiday season-to-date – a 17 percent gain compared with the corresponding days last year. (via MarketingVox)

- Nearly 400 million Google search referrals are to its own multimedia properties. (via ClickZ)

- Local search is expected to grow from rougly $2.5 billion today to $5 billion in 2008. (via SearchEngineLand).

- In the third quarter of this year, more than one of four clicks on ads running on content networks like Google’s AdSense and the Yahoo Publisher Network was fraudulent. (via Mediapost)

- The caches of major search engines are still providing a safe hiding place for malicious code. (Computerworld)

- Google will very soon begin treating subdomains not as separate domains, but the same as subdirectories. (via Webmasterworld)

- Search Engines can help you to find a “dead” spouse. (via SearchEngineLand)

- And last, but not least: Larry Page, the world’s only remaining bachelor Google billionaire, is getting married today. (via ABC News)

Congratulations, Larry! Hope your first child will have cute googly eyes!

10 Interesting Insights About Internet Use In Europe

Marc Baumann — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 01:18:41 +0000

Did you always wanted to know how internet savvy the Europeans really are? Here are a couple of interesting facts – fresh off the press and provided by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European communities:

Internet access across the EU is increasing, with 54 per cent of households having access of some sort, compared 49 per cent last year.
The highest proportions of households with internet access were recorded in the nordic countries: Netherlands (83%), Sweden (79%) and Denmark (78%).
The UK, usually know as internet savvy and technologically advanced, is trailing the Nordic leader with 67%.
57% of individuals had used internet search engines.
50% had sent e-mails with attachments.
30% said they kept viruses and spyware off their computers.
25% of individuals had taken part in chatrooms, newsgroups or online discussions.
15% had used the internet to make phone calls.
Peer to peer file sharing for exchange of movies and music had been used by 13%.
Only 10% had created a web page.

Despite the fact that most of these numbers are lower than the ones in the United States, this study proves that internet access is gradually extending across the 27 states of the European Union – especially broadband connections have risen sharply.

Mobile Social Networking booms

Marc Baumann — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:47:59 +0000

That’s interesting. According to ResourceShelf, mobile social networking has 12.3 million friends in the US and Western Europe. MySpace has largest mobile network in the United States and UK; and MSN/Windows Live Spaces is preferred in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Popular Wordpress Blogs

Marc Baumann — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 16:17:51 +0000

It’s always interesting to check out this list and see which are the Wordpress.com blogs of the day.

Massive Book Publishing Growth Predicted

Marc Baumann — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 15:18:16 +0000

Within 20 years, 50% of the population will be “published authors” predicts Colin Knecht co-owner of the BookMark Self Publishing.

Study: 70% of Big Corporations to Blog by 07

Marc Baumann — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 15:16:52 +0000

JupiterResearch reports that 35 percent of large companies plan to start corporate blogs this year and that nearly 70 will have them running by the end of this year. Only 32 percent of those surveyed said they use corporate blogs to generate word of mouth.

The Inventor Of The Internet Weighs In

Marc Baumann — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 15:57:55 +0000

Tim Berners-Lee, seen as the inventor of the Internet, is optimistic about its future. Although he sees several causes for concern, Berners-Lee believes that the Web is ready to make a big leap forward-a leap that might transform it into the environment for open collaboration that he first envisioned. “My personal view is that a lot of it is coming together now,” Berners-Lee said. “The whole industrial environment is more exciting . . . . I get a feeling of upsurge in activity.”

Nearly 50 million Americans create web content

Marc Baumann — Wed, 31 May 2006 16:03:30 +0000

From ClickZ:At home broadband users are more likely to create and post user-generated content on the Web, according to the “Home Broadband Adoption 2006,” a report published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Forty-eight million American adults have contributed some form of user-generated content on the Internet, it found. That’s 35 percent of Internet users. Of those adults who have posted content on the Web, 73 percent, or 31 million, have a broadband connection at home. “[The Web is] shifting now to user-generated content; it shows people engaging with the Internet in a number of different ways in their lives,” said John Horrigan, associate director of research at Pew Internet & American Life Project. “It shows that people are pretty interested in using the technology to put something of themselves on the Internet, not just pull down information from the Internet.”