So sayeth the majority of the 2,260 adults who responded to the latest Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project study.

“The tone of life on social networking sites” takes a look at people’s perceptions about their interactions on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

85% of adults said that their experiences were mostly kind. 68% went so far as to say that they had an experience that made them feel good and 61% felt closer to another person thanks to social media. And how about this? 39% said they frequently saw acts of generosity by others. Frequently!

By comparison, only 13% of adults said someone was mean to them. The same number reported ending a friendship thanks to a social media faux pas and 11% ended up with family problems.

The worst of the bunch, a mere 3%, said they got into a physical fight due to an experience on social media. Incredibly, 3% was also the percentage of people who got in trouble at work due to a posting.

Teens had higher instances of negativity with 25% saying social media led to a face-to-face argument and 22% saw the end of a friendship.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

Watch Your Language

To go along with their more negative bent, teens also reported higher instances of foul language and offensive images. 34% of Millennials used the word “frequently” while only 17% of GenXers noted offensive content.

Logic would say that older people find more things offensive, thus would have the higher reported percentage, but the opposite is true. That tells me that the Millennials are simply hanging around with more people who present this type of content.

What’s interesting is that the survey shows teens are more likely to get involved when things turn ugly. 61% of teens said they would defend a person who was being attacked and / or tell the offender to stop. 45% of adults said they’d ignore the behavior.

Teens also took the higher number when it came to thinking twice about posting. 55% said they decided not to post something that might have made them look bad. Only 45% of adults made the same decision.

This could mean that teens are more concerned about how they appear to others. Or it could mean that Millennials are simply smarter about social media usage having grown up with Facebook as a part of their life.

Jump forward to the 90′s and borrowing wasn’t so hot anymore. Much of this was due to the change in the way we live and socialize. People who knew their neighbors well enough to ask a favor became the minority. We also became more possessive. If we wanted it, we bought it. If our friends had it, we bought it. Even if we were only going to use it once, we bought it.

Fast forward to today and you’ll find people thinking twice before they invest in big ticket items and pricey luxuries. Why spend $500 on camping gear when you might not even like camping? And if making home-made ice cream turns out to be more trouble than its worth, that expensive, single-use appliance is going to sit in the closet or end up at Goodwill.

Enter The Sharing Economy. Ad agency Campbell Mithun commissioned a study on the topic and here’s what they found out.

60 percent of overall respondents find the concept of sharing appealing, but a full 71 percent of those who have used shareable products expect to continue.

The study found that GenXers were more interested in sharing than Millennials, but that’s likely due to circumstance. More GenXers have families, mortgages and a budget, which makes sharing appealing. It won’t be long, though, until those Millennials have a family of their own and that’s why Campbell Mithun says sharing could be the next big trend.

The benefits to sharing are obvious, but here’s a pretty, colorful chart to explain them anyway.

Their is a downside, which includes objects being lost or stolen, damage to items and privacy issues. All of that falls under the heading of trust.

Then there are the logistical issues. Netflix and your local library have sharing all figured out. Sites like NeighborhoodGoods act as the go between, pairing up borrowers and lenders. There’s even Rent the Runway, a site that lets you borrow couture dresses and luxury accessories for that special event. It’s doable. That’s been proven.

The Sharing Economy is picking up steam, no doubt, but will it become the next big trend since the daily deal? Campbell Mithun says yes, because in addition to the rational benefits, there are emotional benefits, too. Through sharing, people feel more connected to their community, they feel like they’re helping others and they feel smarter. Those are all, very powerful motivators.

Is sharing a concept that would work for your business? Would you be willing to rent items instead of sell them outright? And what do you think it will take for this idea to become the next big thing?

Last year video went up 42.1% and it’s expected to keep in the double-digits for the next few years.

More spending, means claiming a larger share of the online ad pie. For video, it’s currently at 7.9%, just barely sneaking past Classifieds and Directories. The share is expected to rise to 15% by 2016, keeping it solidly in third place.

Add in search and banners and these three ads account for 80% of all ads sold. Search, accounting for almost half of all online ads by themselves.

The rise in video ad spending is certainly being spurred on by the rise in video consumption. Recent numbers from comScore show that 182 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 23.2 hours of video content per viewer in December.

Video is the new TV but it’s cheaper and easier to put ads on a hit YouTube series than on a hit TV show.

If you need more proof that online video ads are on the rise, answer this. When was the last time you watched a video that didn’t have either a banner or a pre-roll ad? I can’t think of one.

The first part is available right now (it’s free) and right off the bat you’ll find this little gem.

Comparing social media to high school isn’t an original concept, but I do like the way they’ve phrased it. It’s funny. It’s all true and it explains why social media is such a fickle beast.

Here’s another gem:

40% of social networkers log on
to a social site before they get
dressed in the morning.

No wonder General Mills is so set on making cereal boxes digitally interactive.

The report goes on to explain the history of social media, which is fun and fascinating. You should read it if you have a few minutes to spare, but I’m going to jump down to the next part, the forces that shape the web.

First off, we see that social media development works in a loop. Sometimes apps create behaviors and sometimes behaviors create apps. Facebookers write their location in the posts, so Facebook makes location a post option. Twitter takes microblogging to the next level, now everybody Tweets.

This two-way street is an important concept. Look at how your customers are using your tools and social pages then tweak where needed. The study talks about two large chains that have Facebook pages just for their most popular products. Doesn’t matter if you sell all types of clothing and accessories, if a large portion of your customers are coming for the shoes, make a page for the shoes.

All of this is meant to get customers to engage and have a good feeling about a brand. Now how about this fact:

60% – 65% of social networkers are more likely to buy your product if you answer their Twitter questions.

Funny how far you can get with a small amount of recognition.

Other important factors, simplicity and personalization. Social networkers want relevant content and they want to be able to act on that content in one or two steps.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

Think of the social web as a huge, high school lunchroom. People come in and they want to sit where they feel the most comfortable. Some will choose the cool table, others hang with the jocks and for many, the geek table is the place to be.

Which table are you? And more importantly, is that the table your customers would want to sit at? You don’t have to be the most popular, you just have to be the best fit for your crowd.

You can read the full report for free when you click this link: Untangling the Social Web Part 1

That quote shouldn’t take you by surprise. It’s the circle of life. A new crop of young, working, educated men and women who have discretionary income. In other words, the people you need to keep your business alive.

One hitch, a study by Bazaarvoice says that Millennials don’t make purchase decisions like their mothers did, not even like their big sisters did! Since Millennials are growing up in the social media age, they rely on the opinions of others more than any other group before them.

What’s really interesting is that millennials are way more likely to depend on the kindness of strangers than their forefathers. 51% said they were influenced by comments on the web made by people they don’t know. Only 34% of baby boomers put their trust in strangers. They preferred to hear from friends and family (66%). As for millennials, only 49% said they were influenced by people they actually know.

This means that consumer comments and reviews are extremely important to your business. But 73% of millennials surveyed said that consumers care more about customer opinions than companies do. They felt that companies don’t offer enough ways to share and that companies don’t take feedback seriously.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

Time to take a look at your own business pages. Are there easy ways to leave comments and reviews? Are reviews public? The good ones and the bad ones? What happens when someone leaves a bad comment? Does anyone follow up to solve the problem?

The bottom line is that whether they’re buying a car or lunch, Millennials want to assurances from others that they’re making the right decision. It’s up to you to give them the information and tools to find their own way.

NOTE: Thank you to Ian Greenleigh of Bazaarvoice for gently pointing out a typo in the title. It’s official, we’re not perfect .

In the real world, it doesn’t work that way. You already knew that, but did you know how much it doesn’t work that way?

AdAge recently published the results of a study by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute and here’s what they found.

1.3% of brand fans on Facebook are actively engaging with the brands they like. (Meaning I fudged the 99% in the headline slightly, but it’s more about the point than the number.) The study tracked the top 200 brands for six weeks, counting all of those actions that go into the “People Talking About This” number. That means shares, likes, comments, posts and tags.

Take that number, divided by the number of brand fans, and you get the 1.3%. Then the study takes it down even further by removing new likes and it drops to .45%.

A spokesperson for the study says this is not bad news. I wouldn’t say good or bad. I’d go with irrelevant. It’s common sense that the majority of people who like a brand are already loyal customers. So even if they don’t leave a comment, they’re still buying the brand. What Facebook does so elegantly, is it acts as a gentle reminder. I love my local Chick-fil-A, but I might not have lunch there today. Then I see a Facebook post about a special on the menu and that makes me change my plans.

Marketing Pilgrim’s Social Channel is proudly sponsored by Full Sail University, where you can earn your Masters of Science Degree in Internet Marketing in less than 2 years. Visit FullSail.edu for more information.

I didn’t leave a comment. I didn’t share the news, but I’m still going to give them my money.

This brings us back to yesterday’s discussion about how to measure ROI. If all you’re counting is brand interaction, then I come up as a “zero” for today. But if you’re counting dollars, then kaching – that Facebook post was a success.

It’s all about balance, folks. A fun, engaging Facebook fan page is nice, but if you’re not bringing in new customers, then you’re not really doing your job.

Google conducted a study of cell phone users in the US, the UK, France, Germany and Japan and found that globally, smartphones are on the rise. The UK had the highest concentration with 45%, up 15% from the first half of 2011.

The US is looking at 38% and Japan is the lowest with only 17%.

On the other hand, Japan has the highest percentage of daily internet usage on the smartphone. Germany had the biggest increase in usage from the first part of the year to the later.

Now, what’s up with France backing down to 36%? Suddenly they don’t like the internet?

You might think this means that smartphone owners have no need for computers, but 75% said they still use the old desktop to surf the web on a daily basis.

Tablets aren’t even close to taking over. The US has the highest mix of smartphone owners with tablets at 17%. Everyone else comes in closer to 10%.

Two other interesting facts from the survey:

• More women are using smartphones, particularly in Germany and Japan
• More people in the surveyed countries use a mobile phone (feature and / or smartphone) than a computer.

I don’t know if those two facts have any impact on your marketing, but they’re interesting tidbits that you can use to start a conversation at dinner tonight. You’re welcome.

In this, I am not alone. Look at this chart from a new survey by Hearst Magazines and Fleishman-Hillard International Communications.

The women surveyed. . .

Well, two out of three ain’t bad. The numbers come from part four of the Women, Power and Money series of reports. This one is called “Game-Changers: Women Defining the New American Marketplace.“

What they found overall is that women feel responsible for the well-being of their families. That need to help often extends out to their co-workers and friends of both the physical and virtual kind.

In 2011, more than 50% of the women said they regularly influence purchasing decisions of friends and family. This is up from 31% in 2008.

33 percent had recommended a product or service in the past six months; while 19 percent recommended that someone not buy a specific product or service.

That last part really hurts.

The study shows that women are even more careful about how and where they spend their money. Much of this is due to economic stress. A full 75% of women said they shop differently than they did before the recession. 71% agreed that life is now more complex.

Choosey Moms Choose. . .

Being an informed shopper was important to most of the women in the study. They used the internet to research purchases and they also relied heavily on recommendations from others. 84% of millennials said they have or haven’t purchased an item based on a recommendation from a friend or family member.

51% said using social media to talk about what they’ve purchased makes them fell empowered. 66% said shopping was more of a game than a chore.

When it comes to choosing a product, quality and price were the biggest factors. They also want companies to provide details about the materials used in the product, reviews from users, craftsmanship notes, and elements of design and style.

The study notes that only 6% of women were interested in a company’s environmental or community impact. Guess those days are over.

Now check this out:

Price and quality, once again, top the list. What didn’t make the top 10? Celebrity endorsements, “tugging at the heartstrings” and a catchy jingle. See that Hallmark, we will no longer be easily led by your tissue-invoking ads, so just stop!

The study, which you can view for free, covers even more ground than I’ve mentioned here. If you market specifically to women, I’d recommend you give it at least a skim.

The bottom line is that women are taking charge of their spending and they won’t be swayed by flash and glitter. They want a good product at a good price and if you provide that, they’ll reward you with good word of mouth. Sounds like a win-win for everyone.

A new Pew Internet study shows that tablet ownership nearly doubled between the end of 2011 and the start of 2012. Take a look:

Okay, so 19% overall isn’t anything to write an article about, but look at the jump from just a year and a half ago. It’s pretty striking. What’s even more amazing is that ebook readers, which were expected to go on the decline thanks to tablets, popped up, too.

One of the biggest reasons for the jump has to be Amazon’s release of their inexpensive Kindle line. The iPad comes off as an expensive toy that only the wealthy can afford and the techy can understand. Amazon’s Kindle Fire is just the opposite. It’s not just lower in price, it feels like a product for the everyman.

Tablets also need to give thanks to the lowly cell phone. There was a time when we were fascinated by the concept of carrying around a browser, six books and a whole record store worth of tunes in a gizmo no bigger than a box of playing cards. Now, that’s common and we want more, more, more. The tablet is that “more.” It’s everything our computer was but with the portability of a cell phone. Seriously, why doesn’t everybody own one?

 Who Does Own Them?

The Pew study shows that the highest concentration of tablet ownership is in households earning over $75,000, college graduates, 30-49 years old. There was no real difference between male and female and race numbers were only slightly lower for whites.

For the ebook reader, women dominated with 21% versus only 16% of men. Over the age of 50, there were more ereader owners than tablet owners. Higher incomes and education still mattered, but there isn’t as big a gap between brackets as there is for tablet owners.

All of this is good news because we know that tablet owners use them to shop. They spend more time browsing for goods and they spend more per purchase. As for ereaders, well, they’re no good unless you fill them with ebooks and that means more dollars for downloads.

Think tablet ownership will double again before the end of 2012? I’m saying yes and then some.

The study took a look at the behaviors of “Xtreme Shoppers” around the globe. They don’t offer a clear definition of which shoppers fall into this category, but they’re definitely people you want on your side.

Europe has a larger concentration of xtreme shoppers with Russia and the UK taking the lead, well over the US. What’s really fascinating is how folks on the two sides of the globe answered the following shopping questions.

Note the big difference in regard to couponing and deals. The US shoppers eat that stuff up, while the European shoppers put it last on their wish list.  I wonder how much of this behavior is a response to availability or are we here in the US simply bigger, penny-pinchers?

Where Europe does dominate is in their use of the internet for shopping. Europe also beat the US in regard to increased online shopping. 82% of the respondents in Poland said they’re using the internet more often, the overall percentage for Europe was 67% but only 62% for the US. Germany came in last with only 52% of respondents noting an increase in online shopping.

Shopping with a mobile device is also on the rise. Russia and Spain topped the charts with more than 33%. Europe overall came in at 25%, only slightly above the US. (Asia and South America were not included in the study.)

Finally, when asked about customer loyalty, shoppers around the world said they want to be rewarded for their business or they’ll go elsewhere. And they really mean it. More than 90% of respondents in Russia, Poland and France agreed with that statement. Tough markets. I wonder how they’d feel about a coupon for 25% off their next order?

Let’s start with the Post-Click Campaign Action Mix. Here we find that Store Locator is up 47% month-over-month. Not surprising, given that November was the big push to get shoppers into stores for holiday sales. Going along with this was an 64% rise in m-commerce, still, m-commerce as the final action is on the low side.

Biggest click actions? Enroll/subscribe, application downloads and store locator shared the top three slots.

When it comes to advertiser goals, there was a shift toward lead generation, making it the second most mentioned campaign goal (25%, an increase of 63% month-over-month). Sustained in-market presence was still number one, but only with 28%. Millennial Media says the shift was due mostly to financial and educational verticals aggressively tracking down leads for their products.

Hitting the Target

The difference between targeting ads and broad reach is getting thinner with 42% choosing to target ads. The vast majority of targeted ads were based on location with only 31% responding to behavioral or demographic data.

MM’s “Did You Know” of the month: Kindle Fire impressions grew at an average daily rate of 19% since its launch in mid-November. I did not know that. Did you?

If you like numbers and nifty charts, you can see the full Millennial Media S.M.A.R.T. report for nothing but the cost of your email address. Just follow this link.

More QR codes must mean more people are using them! Right? Sort of. A new study from Chadwick Martin Bailey shows that people are scanning, but they don’t know what do with the results.

Here’s a visual from Marketing Charts:

I’m part of that top line, too. When QR codes were new, I scanned them all the time. Now, I rarely bother. I find that most codes just lead me to a website that I could have arrived at more easily by typing in the URL. Other than that, I’ve been led to a few recipes and some behind the scenes videos for movies. Nothing thrilling and certainly nothing worth sharing.

I suppose there’s some hope in the fact that 18% of people made a purchase after using a code. I don’t recall this ever being an option on codes I’ve scanned but. . .41% also said they found the information to be “useful.” Which is funny, seeing as most people said they didn’t use this “useful” information.

So what are people expecting when they scan a QR code? Not much. 41% said “more information,” but 46% said they scanned simply because they were curious. Only 16% were looking for exclusive content and that’s a problem. Shouldn’t the information hidden behind a QR code be “exclusive?” QR codes are codes. That implies they hold the secret to a treasure. But why bother if what you access is available to anyone who visits the site online, code or not?

Here’s the most interesting stat from the study. 18% scanned a QR code in order to get a discount, coupon or gift. You can bet that number is low not because people don’t want deals but because brands aren’t using QR codes that way.

I don’t get it. A QR code is the perfect path to an online deal. If I’m going to go through the trouble to pull out my phone, line up the code and scan, then I want something for my efforts. Something tangible, like a B1G1 Free sandwich as my favorite fast food place.

QR code creators, stop sending us to your generic, company website page or presenting me with a recipe I could find anywhere online. Put something truly unique and cool inside those QR codes and become part of the of “shared it” line on the graph, instead of the “I did nothing.”

Times haven’t changed all that much. Today, parents are still avoiding the aisles by doing a large amount of toy shopping online. Even when they don’t buy online, the internet is influencing their decisions on what to buy. Check out this chart from the new Google study “The Role of Digital in the Toy Shopper’s Journey.”

As you can see, online toy sales have climbed quite a bit in the last seven years. And why not? Online allows parents to shop when their kids are in bed and it allows them to pinpoint exactly what they want. Or rather, what they’re kids want. 67% of toy purchasers were significantly influenced by children. This is because parents know that when Johnny asks for a Power Ranger Samurai Megazord Action Figure, a generic, plastic robot simply won’t do.

The Google study found that toy shoppers hit an average of three different resources before buying. Online retailer sites was the most often used resource (44%) with video sharing sites coming in next at 43%. That one perplexes me. Are they watching toy demo videos? Ads for specific toys? How does video fit into this puzzle?

Search and manufacturer’s sites both scored 39%. Traditional offline advertising such as TV, newspapers and magazines never rose above 24%.

Toy Shopping Goes Mobile

Only 18% of shoppers said they use a mobile device when looking for toys. The vast majority preferred to use their home computer. I wonder if this is more about the average toy buyer demographic and less about the mechanics of mobile shopping.

The study found that most people used their phone for pre-purchase research. 50% used it to compare prices and 32% read reviews. What’s really interesting is that after researching 31% went to a store to purchase the item and only 25% continued with their purchase online.

Looks like mobile still has a ways to go.

Are you in the toy biz? Now that your busy season is over you have time to peruse the full “The Role of Digital in the Toy Shopper’s Journey” study. It’s 37 slides of interesting insights into how toy shoppers decide what to buy.

These are the kinds of things that keep me up at night. It’s like calculating how long it would take me to watch every minute of every DVD I own. I don’t know that either feat could be accomplished in the time we have on this earth.

According to Nielsen, 166.9 million unique US viewers watched nearly 22 billion videos in November 2011. In January of 2011, the unique viewer number was 143,930 watching almost 15 billion videos. That’s quite a jump in only ten months.

What hasn’t changed much is the average amount of time we spend watching online videos. We went from around 4 and a half hours per person per month to a little over 5 hours. Nielsen doesn’t break it down, but I imagine that a large portion of that time was devoted to watching cute animals and babies and people failing at everyday things. Sigh.

When it comes to unique viewers, YouTube has no competition. They took the top slot with 130,775. The next closest was VEVO with 42,729. They also take the top slot for most streams, with Hulu a nowhere near close second.

Where they can be beat is in time per viewer. The average YouTuber spends only 3:07 hours, but GorillaVid and Hulu both come in at 3:11. The top watcher? Netflix, with a whopping 10:43. Proof that people will indeed sit still for long-form, streaming videos as long as you have a star or something interesting to say.

What was the last video you watched online. Come on now, be honest.

Here’s what I watched: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msGymOBEu9o and I hang my head in shame.

ForeSee has just released the results of their Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index and overall, it’s looking good. They ranked the Top 40 E-Retailers and came up with an average index number of 79. 80 is considered excellent. Prior to 2009, the scores averaged 75, which means consumers are now happier in their online shopping experiences.

Amazon took the top slot with a score of 88. That’s up two points over last year. On the bottom? Not surprisingly, Netflix dropped from an 86 to a 79. Gap.com (6%) and Overstock.com (5%) also showed declines.

Other winners include TigerDirect, JCP.com, and Dell.

The report notes that increasing customer satisfaction is one of the most powerful tools for increasing sales. It’s also one area that the e-tailer has control over. A small online store may not be able to cut prices as low as Amazon, but they can offer personalized service to make up the difference.

This holiday season, I bought gifts from several online outlets that dealt in unusual, artisanal and handmade items. These items cost me more than their mass-produced counterparts but they felt really special. And in the case of a hand-knitted hat for my niece, I got to choose the exact colors and fabrics I wanted. When buying a mass-market hat for my son, I was stuck with the color choices and sizes that were left by the time I got to the store.

When you look at this list of Top 40 Online Retailers, it’s easy to be intimated by their size. Just remember that JCP.com started out in 1902, with one dry-goods store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

Where will your company be one hundred years from now?

Compared to the same shopping weeks last year, 2011 came in 15% higher. And here’s a chart that lays it all out for you in black and white.

Okay, so they probably didn’t actually check in with every website and it’s not that I don’t trust their numbers but I do wonder how they arrived at this total. . .

Anyway, let’s take a second to bask in the joy of these numbers. Look at Cyber Monday with a 22% increase. And what’s with these new special days, “Green Monday” and “Free Shipping Day?” Next we’ll have “Deep, Deep Discount Day” and “Last Chance Day” for all those who wait until the last minute.

Seriously, look at the week ending December 25. Remember, this is online e-commerce. I wonder how much was paid out in overnight shipping fees in order to get all of that merchandise to arrive in time. (Maybe those numbers were boosted by Best Buy customers who had to start over again!)

Downloads Galore

comScore also totaled up the download sales on Christmas Day and guess what they found? Digital content and subscriptions accounted for more than 20% of online sales on December 25. On an average day in December, downloads only account for 2.8%.

Looks like a lot of people got tablets, e-readers and smartphones under the tree this year.

Any predictions for holiday 2012? Better numbers? Worse? Or about the same?

The survey, which was conducted by random sample by Nielsen for The Conference Board, showed an improvement in both current conditions and hope for the new year.

The Present Situation Index increased to 46.7 from 38.3. 16.6% said the business conditions are “good,” up from 13.9%.

There was also in increase in those who thought available jobs were “plentiful” and an almost equal decrease in those who said jobs were “hard to get.’

What’s really encouraging is the outlook for the future. The Expectations Index rose to 76.4 from 66.4. A higher percentage expected business to improve and they anticipated more available jobs in the near future.

Higher consumer confidence should translate into higher sales for marketers but Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center warns us not to get too comfortable.

“While consumers are ending the year in a somewhat more upbeat mood, it is too soon to tell if this is a rebound from earlier declines or a sustainable shift in attitudes.”

I choose to believe its a sign that 2012 will be a great year. Who’s with me?

BestBuy.com was one of the big winners for the month. They ranked #1 in their category with 35.3 million visitors and #2 on the list of top gainers with a 78% increase.

Most companies would be celebrating, but Best Buy is now feeling nothing but pain for their efforts. Seems their heavy advertising push and slashed prices (to compete with Walmart and Amazon) made them a little too popular. The company sent out notices to a large number of customers saying that they have to cancel their orders, orders that were gauaranteed to arrive by Christmas.

Now Best Buy is facing a firestorm as angry customers take over their forum and the news media blasts them for Grinch-like behavior. Best Buy claims they oversold some of their products like laptops and HD TV’s, but could it be that they underpriced themselves into a hole and thought canceling was the only way out?

Consumer electronics was up 28% overall. In addition to BestBuy.com, eBay Electronics, RadioShack and Buy.com did well.

Toys R Us was another obvious winner in November. They popped up 34% to 28.9 million web visitors. LEGO sites, Disney Shopping and AmericanGirl.com also saw nice bumps in traffic.

50% off Diamonds

comScore’s numbers showed a 112% jump in visits to coupon sites in November. Groupon took the lead with 11.8 million visitors, LivingSocial with 4.2 million. As expected, BlackFriday.info had the biggest rise in the category with a 756% increase in visitors.

Yes, we love a deal, but some are still willing to splurge. Luxury Goods rose 23%. 6pm.com was the leader, followed by Zale, BradfordExchange, Coach and Kay Jewelers. (So apparently not EVERY kiss begins with Kay.)

Want more details? You can download the comScore Media Metrix report for free when you click here.

The numbers come from Break Media’s “Digital Video Advertising Trends: 2012″ report and overall, it shows that video advertising is on the rise. Mobile shows the most growth going from use in 39% of video ads in 2011 to an anticipated 55% in 2012.

In order to pay for the increase in video spending, 45% of advertisers are taking the money out of the online display budget while 38% expect an increase in their overall ad budget to cover the difference.

So all this confidence must come with a big reward, right? Could be, say the video advertisers, if only we had a way of measuring our success!

39% of respondents said they measure click-throughs and 38% measured actual product sales. Visits to a brand website and brand recall were also noted but in general advertisers are frustrated with the current measurement options.

Nearly half of all respondents said ROI was hard to measure and 35% said they could measure it but there wasn’t a big enough return. Interesting. We can’t verify the results and we aren’t happy with the results we can verify but we’re going to spend more next year anyway because it’s the thing to do. Sounds kinda like social media spending, doesn’t it?

The reality is, it’s a whole new marketing world. We’ve gone way beyond Whack-a-Mole banners and that’s a good thing, even if we can’t measure individual results. What you can measure is your profit margin. If your company is making more money this year than it made last year, you’re doing something right. If that something is Facebook, mobile apps, or video advertising, keep doing it and do some more. You may not be able to tell exactly which ad influenced a sale, but if the accountants are happy then you’re doing a great job.

Jon Swallen, SVP Research at Kantar Media North America lays it out for you,

“From +4.1 percent in the first quarter, to +2.8 percent in the second quarter and now a barely palpable +0.4 percent for the July to September period. During Q3, an expanding number of the largest marketers became even more conservative with their ad budgets and these reductions have neutralized the healthy spending growth occurring among mid-sized advertisers.”

Aw, that’s not good, is it?

Looking strictly at internet ad spending, it was a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul

Paid Search declined 14.4%, which Kantar says comes from reduced spending by insurance companies, legal and medical services. But Display is sitting pretty with a 15.8% increase in spending. What do you suppose that’s all about?

As for the rest of it, it’s kind of dismal. Spanish Language Magazines are still booming, but otherwise print is still hurting. Local radio is hanging in there and syndicated TV is doing well.

Deep Pockets

Who is behind all the spending? Automotive spent the most with $9,908.4 million. Local Services came in second with $7,144.2 million. The biggest percentage of change goes to Direct Response. They’re up 10.6 percent in Q3. That’s good news for all you insomniac shoppers.

Breaking it down by advertiser, Procter & Gamble spent $2,127.2 million, giving them the top slot. AT&T, General Motors and Comcast follow.

Here are the top ten, looking only at internet spend.

Add and subtract and in the end, internet spending is up. But I’m still wondering why Paid Search took such a dive. Any conspiracy theories you’d like to mention? I’m listening.