12 Mar 11 Are Canadians Shunning Digital World?
If a recent research report released by comScore is to be believed, this appears to be the case. Or does it indicate something else? A mere shift in the preference, not a complete change of plan?
The research found that, the year on year (YoY) growth of e-mail consumption(unique visitors) in Canada is negative between December 2009 and December 2010. In December 2009, 12 million Canadians used one or another form of e-mail sites, whereas, only 10 million did so in the same month in 2010, which is a 28% decline (see image below to see the e-mail site usage trajectory).
The research has suggested that not only unique e-mail viewership has gone down, but the e-mail engagement has significantly fallen down. The total visits to email websites from Canada has fallen in the fourth quarter of 2010(500 million) from its position in the same quarter in 2009 (650 million). The total visit fell by 18%
The time spent on e-mail sites has also seen a decline. From 5.9 million in the studied period in 2009, it has fallen to 5.2 million in the same period in 2010, which is 11% decline in e-mail minutes. (See the image below for details).
It is hard to draw any conclusion from the above data, unless overall activity of Canadian net users is studied. It might be possible that people have reduced the use of e-mail sites and substituted it with social sites (read Facebook). I must add here that Facebook has also unveiled its own email program ([email protected]). Could it be responsible for the shift?
Not very unlikely! What is your view on this?
Tags: 10 Million, Canada, Canadians, Conclusion, Consumption, Decline, E Mail, Fourth Quarter, Preference, Trajectory, Unique Visitors, Viewership
10 Nov 09 Power of Checklist and Why Should You Have One Handy
It is often impossible for busy freelance writers to keep track of everything that they have to accomplish in order to successfully complete the work at hand. Often times, you end up missing one thing or another, and it is not before you have hit the button send that you realize the mistake you have committed. But by then it is already too late, and the process of sending an apology mail followed by the correct version of the piece that you sent starts. Generally, clients will not say anything, nevertheless, it reflects badly on your reputation and professionalism. Hence, you should work on doing the things right in the first time only, and in that checklists help a great deal.
Benefits of a checklist
A checklist offers many benefits, and unlike its how-to part, it does not require us to invest lots of time reading it. A checklist offers the following benefits:
- It helps us know what we require to accomplish in order to get the work done before we embark upon.
- It works as a guiding post, when we get stuck in the middle of the project and ask now what.
- A checklist helps us verify if we have missed something in the project.
- A checklist is easily scanable, and it should be kept handy when doing some work, as it will help us remember what needs to be done.
- A checklist can help us properly prepare the budget keeping each item in mind.
- It can prove to be a valuable asset when it comes to making a business decision.
Conclusion
One must keep a checklist handy whenever one embarks upon a new job. As said above, it will prove to be a very valuable tool right from the beginning.
Tags: Apology, Budget, Business Decision, Conclusion, Deal Benefits, Freelance Writers, Handy, Invest, Mail, Mistake, New Job, Professionalism, Reputation, Right From The Beginning, Valuable Tool
02 Nov 09 Write an Article in Less than 20 Minutes
Writing fast is the dream cherished by every writer, casual or professional. Some achieves it and other just hope to achieve it. In this post, I will reveal the secret of writing fast. Just follow the steps written below and you will end up writing a well-crafted piece in less than 20 minutes.
Step 1: Research the subject matter
Before beginning to write, gather some key information related to the topics you are going to write about in the article. Do not waste your time in finding every aspect related to the subject at hand. Find only what is necessary to explain what you want to write. Once they are handy, stop researching.
Step 2: Remove all distraction
Switch off your cell phone or put it in silent, remove your landline cord (if you cannot put it in silent), log out from your mail as well as social book marking accounts, log out from all instant messaging services, and also remove the internet connection for the time being.
Step 3: Write down the bullet points
Be quick and write down the bullet points that you are going to cover in the article. It should not take much time, if your pre-writing research is in place.
Step 4: Do not write and edit
Avoid using backspace and delete key when you are writing. Leave the editing work for later. Right now focus your energy on crafting the piece.
Step 5: Edit
Do not waste a life time editing an article. This is nothing but a sheer waste of time, unless you are sending your article for some research or academic journal. Remove the issues you had while writing the article.
Conclusion
Follow these steps and your writing will be quick. Do you wish to know how much time did it take me to write this short piece? Well it took me 9 minutes to write all this. It could have been 6 or 7, if I had not fall prey to editing while writing. Hope, you will not make the same mistake that I did while writing this, and get the work done real quick.
Tags: Academic Journal, Backspace, Bullet Points, Cell Phone, Conclusion, Distraction, Instant Messaging Services, Internet Connection, Life Time, Mail, Mistake, Prey, Sheer Waste, Step 1, Subject Matter, Waste Of Time, Writing Research
