The PR Agency Ruder Finn has build an ongoing online research study called the « RF Intent Index » that focuses on 295 reasons motivating people to go online. The results are shown on a map to visually compare and contrast intents for separate groups including men, women, youth and seniors.

Top line results:

Socialize
-    More than twice as many people go online to socialize (81%) than to do business (39%) or shop (31%).
-    Seniors are going online today for the same reasons younger people are: to have fun (82%) and to socialize (80%).

Learn/Have Fun
-    More people go online to be entertained (82%) than entertain others (48%).
-    People seek education and entertainment: most people go online both to learn (88%) and have fun (83%).
-    Almost half of people (47%) go online to learn to improve themselves and nearly one-third (31%) to find self-help experts or books.
-    The desire to learn drives people to the Internet; top areas are new subjects (68%), the world (65%), a disease or condition (61%), eating  healthier (55%) and managing finances (37%).

Shop/Engage in Commerce
-    Three times as many people go online to compare prices (66%) rather than people via dating sites (21%).
-    E-commerce isn’t dead — one-third of people (34%) go online to purchase an item; tops are household items (49%), electronics (45%); music (35%), movies (29%), and school/work supplies (29%).
-    More men (42%) than women (36%) go online to do business.

The Complete RF Intent Index

The Reuter Article

Wordnik.com, a dictionary that evolves as language does. On Wordnik, users can add new words and meanings, tag words with related expressions, see real-time search results for words from Twitter and Flickr, discover how many Scrabble points each word is worth — all on one page.

http://www.wordnik.com/

The founder of Wordnik, Erin McKean’s, gave an inspiring TED Talk on her vision of the lexicography and the evolution of dictionaries. See the presentation on TED.

No doubt why “Why So Serious?” has made it at the Cyber Lions this year. This 360 alternate reality experience has involved over 10M unique participants in 75 countries for the launch of the Batman Movie The Dark Knight released last summer.

View the complete case here.

Chatting and texting has not only to do with friends but also with teachers. Social media tools such as Twitter are now giving teachers new opportunities to engage with their students.

On a personal level, my eldest daughter will be starting high school next September and take part in a new program called “Simplix”, which stands for “Engagement”. Each student will be given a laptop and access to internet during the classes.

As a mom, I’m looking forward to follow her on Twitter during her @classes.

Interesting cases:

The Twitter Experiment at UT Dallas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WPVWDkF7U8

Twitter in the classroom?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OxIz_3o3O0

HBO has launched an original contest inviting users to create an ad to help Ray, the main character of the new HBO series “Hung”, get customers.

The show “Hung” revolves around Ray Drucker, a divorced, financially unstable man who uses his endowment to his advantage by becoming a male prostitute. One problem: Ray needs a pimp.

On http://www.pimpray.com users are encouraged to help Ray by submitting a Facebook ad. Three finalists will have their ads placed on Facebook. Three finalists will have their ads placed on Facebook and the winner will be chosen based on their ad’s click-through rate.

The grand prize is $10,000, so start crafting copy.

The contest is live until Aug. 2. Deep Focus created the campaign.

http://www.pimpray.com/

Interesting case presented at the Cannes Lions – Special thanks to Stephane for the digital spotting !

This bank as decided to launch a campaign that would support emerging young bands with an “In Banner Concert” streaming live performances. Musicians had to performed in little recording studios matching the size of the banners.

View the Axion Banner Concerts Cyber Case