80% of American mobile users multitask in front of the TV

"While 80% of mobile users multitask in front of TV, 70% say they multitask once a week, and 49% on a daily basis. More than 60% percent check their phones at least “once or twice” during a show with 15% active on their devices the entire time.
– 38% say their mobile activity enhances the broadcast, while another 38% say it’s distracting.
– The top 5 categories that attract multitaskers are reality shows, news, comedy, sports and food.
– 94% of mobile multitaskers communicate while watching TV, while 60% are looking up content. Of the communicators, the most popular activities in order are: texting, talking, email, social networking and IM.
– 44% of the content that multitaskers consume is unrelated to what’s on TV compared to 38% that’s related. 36% look up information about a commercial they just saw. Most multitasking activity, overall, happens during commercial breaks."
Source:  Research from Razorfish & Yahoo, reported by LostRemote, 10th November 2011
The original article is here.  There's no mention of the methodology, but since all shows referred to are Aerican, I'm assuming the study took place in the US.

The first email was sent in October 1971

"It’s become a firm fixture of everyday life, loathed by some but essential to nearly all of us, and yet its future is far from certain. Email is forty years old this month, with the first message having been sent in October 1971."

Source:  The Next Web, 8th October 2011

How email and social media influence purchase decisions

"Kantar Media Compete's study also found that nearly one in three consumers receive more than 20 emails from retailers in a week. And in good news for retailers relying on email, 89 percent of respondents at least occasionally click through to a retail site from an email or visit a retail site immediately after reading an email.
SMS, on the other hand, is still a largely untapped channel for brands to reach shoppers. During a typical week, three out of four consumers (72.2 percent) don't receive any text messages from retailers.
Do social networking sites influence purchase decisions? Yes. In fact, 35 percent of respondents say that Twitter feeds have been influential or extremely influential on purchase decisions, while 23.5 percent say that Facebook has been influential or extremely influential on purchase decisions."
Source:  Data from Kantar Compete, published in a press release, 13th September 2011
Note - All data is for the US only

The web in 60 seconds

Infographic by- Shanghai Web Designers

Source & full data: Go-Gulf.com, June 2011. Sadly the individual stats aren't sourced

The reasons why people 'unfollow' brands on Twitter and 'unlike' brands on Facebook

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Source:  Data from ExactTarget, reported by Mashable, 8th February 2011
Note - the report also includes data on email unsubscribes

The number of spam emails sent dropped dramatically in 2010

"The amount of junk e-mail being sent across the globe has seen a dramatic fall in recent months.
The volume of spam has dropped steadily since August, but the Christmas period saw a precipitous decline.
One security firm detected around 200 billion spam messages being sent each day in August, but just 50 billion in December.
While the reasons for the decline are not fully understood, spam watchers warn the lull may not last.
Around the Christmas holidays, three of the largest spam producers curtailed their activity, Paul Wood, a senior analyst at Symantec Hosted Services told BBC News.
"But it's hard to say why," he added."

Source:  Symantic Hosted Services, reported by BBC News, 6th January 2011

58% of internet users in America start their online day by checking their email

"Where do Americans begin their online day? According to a study released today by ExactTarget, 58 percent check their e-mail, while 20 percent go first to a search engine or portal site and 11 percent start with Facebook. A conscientious (or worried) 3 percent make their company's site or intranet their first online destination of the day. Five percent go first to a news site and 3 percent go to some other destination.
ExactTarget, which specializes in e-mail and digital marketing, conducted the survey in April among members age 15 and older of an online panel."
Source: Research by ExactTarget, reported in Adweek, 9th June 2010

Search accounts for 47% of US online ad spend

"Online advertising had a record fourth quarter in 2009 following a bleak first nine months of the year.
In the fourth quarter, internet advertising grew 2.6% to a record $6.3 billion, compared to the same quarter a year earlier. Meanwhile, total media ad revenue slipped by 2% in the fourth quarter, according to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
For the year, internet advertising fell 3.4%, to $22.66 billion, from $23.4 billion in 2008, the first year of decline since 2002, when online ad spend fell 16%.
By Format
Search made up 47% of 2009 internet ad revenue - up from 45% in 2008 - and ad spending increased 1% to $10.7 billion for the year. Display ad spending grew 4% for the year, to $8 billion. Digital video ad spending soared 38%, to $1 billion.
Classified ad spending plunged 29% to $2.3 billion in 2009, while ad spending on lead generation fell 14% to $1.5 billion.
Email ad revenue slipped 28%, to $292 million.
Though internet ad spending was down 3.4% for the year, that compares favorably with the 12.3% decline of ad spending across all media in 2009 (per Kantar Media)."
Source: Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), reported by MarketingVox, 8th April 2010

American mobile internet usage

"Mobile phones are a social connector.
91% of mobile users go online to socialize, compared to only 79% of traditional users. They are using their mobile phones "at the moment" to connect with others. The top socialize intents are:
Instant message – 62%
Forward e-mails (58%), content (40%) and photos (38%)
Post comments on social networking sites – 45%
Connect to people on social networking sites – 43%"
Source: The Mobile Intent Index follows Ruder Finn, quoted in a press release, 10th February 2010

A day on the internet (graphic)

Created by Online Education

Source: Sadly no individual sources quoted (some people!), but the graphic comes from OnlineEducation.net, December 2009

An estimated 247 billion emails are sent each day

"The number of worldwide email users is projected to increase from over 1.4 billion in 2009 to almost 1.9 billion by 2013. In 2009, 74% of all email accounts will belong to consumers, and 24% to corporate users.
Worldwide email traffic will total 247 billion messages per day in 2009. By 2013, this figure will almost double to 507 billion messages per day.
In 2009, about 81% of all email traffic is spam. According to our projections, a typical 1,000-user organization can spend upwards of $1.8 million a year to manage spam."
Source: Press release from The Radicati Group, 6th May 2009

Accessing music is the most popular online activity in China

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Source: CNNIC 24th Statistical Survey on Internet Development, cited by Digital East Asia, 17th July 2009 (Original CNNIC report is not translated into English yet)

More than 97% of emails are spam

"More than 97% of all emails sent over the net are unwanted, according to a Microsoft security report.
The emails are dominated by spam adverts for drugs, and general product pitches and often have malicious attachments."
Source: Microsoft security report, cited by the BBC News website, 8th April 2009