Offset Printing Services - Technology Ranks World's Most-Trusted Industry in 2013

Source - http://mashable.com/
By - Zoe Fox
Category - Offset Printing Services
Posted By - http://tinyurl.com/BusinessCardsArtwork

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The technology industry has been ranked most-trusted for the second consecutive year, ahead of the automotive, and food and beverage industries, according to the 2013 Edelman Trust Barometer.

"As an industry, I think tech companies pre-anticipate and solve problems for consumers," Ben Boyd, Edelman's corporate global practice chairman, told Mashable. "I also think in today's world where technology is connecting people, it's the companies that get credit for making it happen. It really creates a halo effect for the industry itself."

The findings of the Trust Barometer, an annual survey of 31,000 people in 26 countries evaluating trust in leaders, institutions and industries, were released Monday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Edelman's primary takeaway from the study of people in 26 countries was an overwhelming distrust in leadership compared to institutions.

The 20-minute online survey was conducted between Oct. 16 and Nov. 29, 2012 by research firm Edelman Berland. The survey was completed by 26,000 general population responders and an oversample of 5,800 informed publics (college educated, high earners who regularly watch the news). 

Among respondents, 77% say they trust technology companies, which is down from 79% in 2012. Boyd warns that the tech industry will face more scrutiny should larger data breeches occur. 

"It's a double edged sword: As technology enables more data capture and data dissemination, data concerns are going to rise," Boyd says. "For the tech industry, that's how do we continue to deliver value while not compromising things customers' value."

The least trusted industries are media, banks and financial services, which have been embroiled in major recent controversies. The second-ranked automotive industry, Boyd notes, has regained trust after its late-2000s crisis.

Offset Printing Services - Facebook Lost 1.4 Million Users. Does That Matter?

Source - http://mashable.com
By - Chris Taylor
Category - Offset Printing Services
Posted By - http://tinyurl.com/GoogleAd1 

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You've probably heard that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." It's fair to say the English poet who first wrote that wasn't thinking about social network usage data. 

Still, in an age when we're bombarded with statistics, the phrase has become more appropriate than ever. And it's why you should take recent reports that Facebook lost more than a million active users with a pinch of salt. 

Case in point: when Instagram's Daily Active Users seemed to drop by a quarter at the end of December, according to AppData, some commentators took it as a sign that the Terms of Service kerfuffle had driven 25% of the photo app's users away.

But as Instagram announced Thursday, its Monthly Active User count has actually grown 10% since December, to 90 million users. Monthly active user numbers are more reliable, and less prone to day-to-day fluctuations. (AppData had also shown a rise in monthly users before Instagram stopped reporting its information to the service.)

Now comes news that Facebook lost 1.4 million monthly active users in the U.S. in early December, as reported by the analytics firm SocialBakers. That's a more reliable indication that the service is slipping, right? 

Wrong. First of all, SocialBakers is tapping into information Facebook gives its advertisers to test the reach of their ads; it isn't intended for precision user metrics.

But even assuming the number is right on the money, consider that 1.4 million users is less than 1% of Facebook's U.S. total active user base — which is 167 million. 

Facebook's growth has never gone in a straight line. No growth ever does. As you can see in the video above, it has slipped back several times in the past — and always bounced back.

Then again, Facebook is certainly approaching the definition of a mature market in the U.S., with more than half of everyone in the country using the service. Considering those under 13 can't join it, and many of those over 65 don't care to, it doesn't have that much room left to grow at home (though it is still growing like a weed internationally.)

What do you think? Will Facebook user numbers continue to rise in the U.S., or is this the beginning of a stagnation period? Let us know in the comments.