• 69% of those interviewed find publicity a violation of their privacy
• 39,8% find it “invasive”

Source: ANSA

The Top Level Domain extension .it - geographical extension that identifies Italy - has reached the 1,5 million activations, ranking 5^th in Europe and 7^th worldwide. Significant changes in the registration process are foreseen later this year, introducing a so-called syncro system which delegates authority of domain name activation to 3^rd parties.Source: NIC

Ericsson and 3 Italy announced the successful conclusion of the first ever high speed mobile internet connection with HSPA+ technology (High Speed Packet Access) reaching 5.8 Mbps transfer rate.Source: ANSA

Audiweb, powered by nielsen, has published panel data gathered in the month of May.

• 24 million users went online at least once during the month of may, 2008, a 5% increase compared to April
• The number of users increases to 25,6 million if instant messaging and software to download music or films are included
• The average Italian user went online 30 times and was connected for an average of 21,5 hours (30 minutes more than previous month) totalizing 1.650 page views
• 19,6 million domestic users (+8% from April) averaging over 14 hours online with an average of 1.170 page views
• Consumer electronic websites were up 6% with 15,7 million visitors: forums and news sites were those showing the most significant increase to 6,9 million
• 7 million flocked to price comparison shopping portals and online purchasing guideline sites (+10% )
• 5,9 million went to online game sites (+12%)
• 3,3 million searched for friends and romance (+26%)
• 5,3 million were in search for wellness and body building (+14%)
• 4,2 million were on the outlook for webistes on food and cuisine (+22%)
• 4,2 million took an interest in DIY and gardening (+15%)

Source: AUDIWEB

Getty Images and Flickr announced a partnership combining (Flickr) creativity and (Getty Images) digital media licensing. In a move to increase reach and enrich offer, Getty Images and Flickr have agreed to a partnership and created the Flickr Collection, images and photos selected by the Getty Images Editors.

Flickr members will benefit from the Getty Images distribution and sales capabilities.

The move is yet another direct confirmation of the interest in User Generated Content and confirmation that Web 2.0 is a viable business model Corporations are carefully studying …

SOURCE: Spot and Web

The report provides a breakdown in users:

• 2,478 million in Lombardia
• 1,271 million in Piemonte
• 1,227 million in Lazio

Data refers to both home and corporate online banking

Source: ANSA

The report is available for download here (after a short registration process).

A few interesting findings of the survey:

• An estimated 50 million active Email boxes in Italy
• An average of nearly 3 Emails per user
• 82% of those surveyed used a PC, 58,4% a portable, 14,1% a phone (non blackberry), 2,7% blackberry, 4,0% PDA/Tablet PC
• Users receive an average of 18,5 per day
• Users are subscribed to an average of 6,3 mailing lists, mostly related to travel and tourism, fixed and mobile telephone services, news and information, eCommerce, Online Communities, Internet, Financial Services, Sports

Source: Mauro Lupi

E-commerce continues to grow and becomes a primary (or secondary) source of income for 16,500 Italians. According to a survey conducted by ‘Research International’ eBay leads the E-commerce transformation with the number of full or part time retailers doubling over the last year and online storefronts tripling over the last 24 months.

Source: ANSA

E-commerce sales totaled € 4,868 Billion with tourism and travel the leading market segment (+ € 800 million over 2006), followed by, consumer electronics and free time activities.

The results of the study were presented in Milan by Casaleggio Associati and Expedia.

Source: ANSA

• 49,6% of Italian families now own a PC, up from 45,3% last year
• 43,1% are now connected to the Internet, up from 38,7% - 75% of active connections are broadband
• DVD players and digital TV (satellite or digital terrestrial) also show a significant rise now at 52% and 29,9%

According to BankItalia, in 2006 Italians spent € 943,00 and paid by cash, approximately 48% of monthly expenditure. Electronic cash suffers slow growth and online shopping is estimated to be present in about 9% of households. Prepaid cards are used by 2,2% of families.

The survey was conducted on a sample of 22.000 consumers in:

• France
• Germany
• Holland
• Italy
• Spain
• Sweden
• UK

Three years after the launch of IM mobile operators appear less than enthusiastic about this technology, fearing cannibalization of profits deriving from text messaging services (SMS), however the growth of IM is seen as “inevitable”

Niek van Veen, analyst di Forrester Research identifies IM as a means to differentiate mobile operators services and improve user experience.

All this will have a significant impact on web and search technology as mobile devices become an integral part of work and leisure.

Source: Spot and Web - N.15

Italia.it was quietly shut down on January 18^th - it simply disappeared form the web after a long agony lasting nearly 18 months.

A project of pharaonic dimensions, Italia.it was conceived as the gateway to Italy, a portal providing information and services to those traveling to Italy (for business and leisure).

Institutions and politicians have avoided talk about this miserable failure [those words bring back memories ?] subject to continuous attacks from the blogosphere for numerous reasons and the price tag: Today Italia.it closes with an overall (official) expenditure of nearly 6 million Euro.

Source: SPOT and WEB - complete set of data can be downloaded here.

UPDATE:

The survey was conducted interviewing 50.000 minors throughout Italy. The results showed that 11% encountered individuals with “bad intentions” -  of these 75% said nothing to their parents.

(Source: ANSA)

Assointernet published online marketing expenditure figures provided by major agencies, showing a +11% w.r.t. the previous month of October 2007.

Expenditure breakdown:

• banners +26 %
• sponsored links and “buttons” +32 %
• other + 60 %
• SMS +1178 %

• 9 million active users from the workplace
• 23 million users who made at least 1 connection to the Internet during the entire month, increased to 24,5 million users when considering applications such as Instant messengers, audio/video reproduction, VOIP, and Google Earth) - up 3 % from previous month
• Metrics related to online information consumption remain substantially stable with 31 sessions and 1.600 pages, and a total of nearly 22 hours spent online
• The trend for 2007 is an increase of 4 million users and the amount of time spent online - up 23%
• 80% of all users rely on “fast access” to the Internet responsible for 92% of all page views and 87% of all time spent online
• 58% of users are male 42% female, the latter showing a higher growth rate
• The age group 12-17 showed a significant increase (+24%) reaching nearly 2 million
• The age group 35-49 reached 8,3 million a 52% increase w.r.t 2006

Top 10 brands for November 2007 are:

1. Google with 81.4% reach
2. MSN/Windows Live with 50.8% reach
3. Alice with 45.0% reach
4. Libero with 43.6% reach
5. YAHOO! with 42.0% reach
6. eBay with 35.6% reach
7. Wikipedia with 34.3% reach
8. Microsoft with 28.7% reach
9. YouTube with 28.6% reach
10. SeatPG Directories Online with 24.1% reach

Top 10 Internet Applications for November 2007 are:

1. MSN Messenger Service with 49.3% reach
2. Windows Media Player with 48.7%
3. eMule with 32.3%
4. Skype with 16.6%
5. Apple QuickTime with 12.0%
6. iTunes with 10.3%
7. VideoLAN Client with 10.3%
8. RealPlayer with 10.2%
9. WinAmp with 10.1%
10. Google Earth with 6.3%

• Ecommerce growth shows signs of slow growth with a 6% increase over 2006 and a 44% penetration amongst users, still far from UK France or Germany where the average ranges between 60% and 67%
• In this phase the Internet is a strategic research tool , a guide to assist the consumer in the decisional (purchasing) process.
• The end of 2007 shows an increased attention to the social web , web 2.0 and blogs with 6,4 million consuming information on blogs.
• Web 2.0 users spend an average 40% more time online with 57 sessions compared to the average 41

Source: Nielsen Online NetView, Internet

Tags: Internet users Italy, Nielsen Online NetView, web marketing italy, search engines italy

The once informal gatherings of passionate internet users has rapidly become a worldwide phenomenon limited to the U.S. just a few years ago.

All information on barcamps and barcamp activities in Italy is available here.

Tags: barcamps, italy

Hackers have aggregated into high tech gangs creating virus kits for rent or direct purchase. Nowadays all viral software is developed to damage computers for money …

Source: ANSA

The Schengen agreement has been extended from 15 countries to 24 giving a wider borderless Europe with no internal border controls or checks and an open market of over 400 million people. Coming into force on the 21st December, the Schengen agreement makes physical inter-trade between bordering countries easier to manage for marketers. As Europe opens its borders, and search grows quickly in Europe, Schengen makes European business roll-outs more attractive and achievable with faster distribution and lower border costs.

The new countries joining the agreement are:-

• Czech Republic
• Slovakia
• Poland
• Hungary
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Estonia
• Malta
• Slovenia

I decided to test this with a visit to the most northerly Balkan state of Slovenia travelling from Austria through a 5 mile tunnel to the south side of the Alps. True enough the European blue flag and stars had become the standard border crossing notification and the rows of kiosks and border controls were empty and unmanned as we headed to the capital Ljublana.

Ljubljana is a town of around 230,000 people with a pretty baroque style and attractive old quarter. The local search engine is “Najdi” and the local domain is .si.

The Schengen agreement was first signed by five countries in 1985 in a small Luxembourg town ‘Schengen’ - these original five were later joined by ten others and the agreement came into force in 1995. The agreement basically means that the internal borders between the treaty countries are removed - but that those same countries cooperate to strengthen the outer border using the Schengen Information System - a database where data is exchanged. There are also special rules on how police forces work together.

The original five countries were:-

• France
• Germany
• Netherlands
• Belgium
• Luxembourg

Other countries which joined up to 1995 when Schengen was finally realised are:-

• Spain
• Portugal
• Greece

Countries who joined after 1995 but before 1997 are:-

• Italy
• Austria
• Denmark
• Norway
• Sweden
• Finland
• Iceland
• Monaco

The Schengen Agreement has only ever, in part, been deployed by the British or the Irish for fear of it encouraging immigration and terrorism - though it doesn’t seem to have helped much staying out.