Canada boasts some of the world’s highest internet penetration and social networking usage rates. Social network users view social media as their online home—a hub for communication, entertainment and information.

Does this mean more brand engagement, increased ROI and larger online marketing budgets? Gosh I hope so!

Now I have to check if they are all like that!

UPDATE: They are! Take a look at this TechCrunch article.  Am I not understanding the pictogram? It means the mic is off right?

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Arthur C. Clarke

I agree!

It’s finally official – January 27, 2010 will be THE day that Apple announces it’s latest creation at a special event in San Francisco.

Am I Curious? Hell YES!

I predict a new iPhone OS 4.0, iLife ’10 and integration of all those components in this “newest creation”.

What do you think it will be called?  iSlate? Macbook Tablet? Apple Canvas (if you interpret the invite design)?

Let me know what your guess is.

Even if you have the dead tree version (ehm, hardcover version), you’ll definitely want to hear the audio version.  As with anything Gary does, he does it his way and I must admit that the “off script” stuff is totally worth it.  They are like little gems!

Funny even HE can’t stick to his own words.  Gary just bursts with such enthusiasm and yes, passion, that he cannot even contain his urge to “sidebar” himself. Ha!

Totally worth owning both copies!

Daisy Whitney asked me to design a T-Shirt for Suzanne’s upcoming The Naughty List young adult novel and the rest (as they say) is history.

Suzanne’s book is due out on February 4, 2010! That’s really soon, so save your pennies and buy it!!

I am tremendously honored to be part of it (even if it is like the size of a grain of sand).

Woot!

Another interesting survey tid-bit is that Gmailers have a click rate of 7.41% compared to the less than 5% for the others mentioned above.

It clear to me that Gmailers demonstrate a willingness to try something new and this open-mindedness can be reflected right back to Google as a company.

As humans, we tend to be attracted to other like-minded people and somehow Google has managed to do just that but as a brand. That’s very powerful. Google consistently offers alternative online experiences and for those who want come along for the ride and don’t mind the numerous beta products; there are benefits, bonuses and advantages.

In the end, it’s up to you where you click and whatever email client you choose to use, but one thing seems to stand out, Gmail users have drank the Google coolaid – so yeah, it is a “demographic kinda thing”.

The answer is Google.

I tweeted the link to the post on Twitter today and @wickedboss replied.  It got us both thinking.

The interesting question here is where does Google fit in our modern ideals of what defines a brand  in 2009?

For my part, I say Yes it is a brand!

As I tweeted:

I figure that anything that you use at least once a day… has a place in calling itself a brand.  Don’t you?

BTW:  Thanks for the RT @wickedboss!

Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t that the case for the rest of as well?

Anyways, here’s what the study revealed:

Gen Y consumers are eager to see “innovative services” that allow them to better control, organize and manage email coming from brands.

• 78% would like their email client to automatically categorize and delete expired promotional messages.
• 62%  would like communicate directly with retailers about their favorite products in exchange for getting the best prices from them.

• 44%  say they’d subscribe to an email service that collected and summarized multiple offers of interest to them.

• 32%  say they’d share promotional email offers with members inside a social network and open emails from others.

More than half of Gen Y consumers (51%) say they’d join a separate social network dedicated to managing brand interactions

Now the better question is “Is someone listening to this out there?  Or better yet, has someone already figured this out and is working on the next BIG THING”.