A survey conducted by Gartner found that businesses were missing out on the huge potential that social networks present.  Garner survey found that businesses who harness how employees use social network sites stand to increase savings , productivity and profits.

The survey revealed that 38% of more than 4000 PC and mobile phone users, connect to sites like MySpace and Facebook via PCs.  Top users of these networks were singe people, teenagers and more men than women.

Another interesting find was that social networking was taking a place alongside e-mail, and is replacing e-mail in many instances.

Read more on BBC News.

SEOmoz surveyed 3000+ search marketers, from nearly every major country in the world, who answered questions about themselves, their work and the search industry early February 2008.

Some of the interesting points that stand out in the survey results are that a vast majority of SEM agencies use tools to aid their marketing efforts, marketers are still unsure about things like the potential of negative effects from registering with Webmaster Central, and the response from more than 2060 people reveals that less than $73 million is spent on PPC per month.

Visit SEOmoz to view full results on how most SEOs learnt SEO, income by company type, income by job type, keyword research usage by company type, keyword tools by job type, search engine registration by company type and much more.

According to June data from the UK trade group, Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, buying goods and services is now the third most popular online activity in the UK.

The range of products bought online is also growing.  Books, music, tickets and clothes are no longer the leading retail e-commerce as online grocery shopping become extremely attractive.  44% Of UK Internet users surveyed said that they had shopped for groceries online.

This change could be attributed to the rise of fuel costs, which makes it more cost effective for shoppers to do their shopping through the web.

Read more on eMarketer.

Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 new video capabilities provide a wider range of interactive publishing capabilities, along with improved engagement methods for users. 

The special benefits for search engine marketers is that Acrobat 9 offers the first all inclusive software program that can implement, distribute and event optimise video for search results, into a user-friendly and inclusive software platform.

This is a huge plus for those search optimisers who want to take advantage of video, but lack video post-production technical skills.

Visit Search Engine Land for more details.

According to a study conducted by Direct Partners, e-mail has surpassed direct mail and all other forms of traditional direct marketing.

35% Of companies surveyed said that they use e-mail as their primary form of direct marketing.  The survey was only conducted among companies with revenues in excess of $100 million.

Read more on iMedia Connection.

A study conducted by the Swiss Institute of Technology, Google and IBM found that 600 million users had not updated their browsers and are at risk of being exploited by criminals.

According to the study 83% of Firefox users tend to use the most up-to-date versions compared to 65 % of Safari users and 47% of Internet Explorer users.

The report authors recommend that a “best before” date be introduced to browsers to help educate users about the need and importance of “refreshing” their browsers.

Read the full story on BBC News.

Domestic tour operator, Hoseasons, expect to sell out of UK accommodation within the next few weeks.  Other tour operators have warned of limited available accommodation as a result of the sudden increase in domestic sales.

Hoseasons product director believes that it is the concern over poor exchange rates and reports of airport problems that are driving the current trend, and is showing no sign of slowing down.

This is not good news for foreign destinations typically visited by the Brits …. such as South Africa.

Read more on TravelWeekly.

In today’s multi-channel environment, fine-tuned data-quality is essential to ensure targeted marketing messages actually reach the right customers and prospects.

According to Forrester Research “B2B CMP Investment Priorities 2008” 50% of B-to-B marketers plan to increase resources against creating marketing databases, cleaning up customer data, improving sales force automation and CRM integration.

These findings are in-line with a survey released earlier this year by Alterian, which revealed that 67% of marketers will invest most efforts in resources for database and analytics to support online marketing efforts this year.

Read the full story on BtoB.

According to comScore the vertical Travel Ad Network, founded in 2003 by CEO Cree Lawson, has experienced strong traffic growth in the past year.

While most online travel agency sites, such as Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz, provide a way to efficiently book flights or hotels, they fail to provide more comprehensive services for travellers. 

The niche sites in the Travel Ad Network attempts to break up the various travel subjects to provide more detailed information such as ideas, peer reviews, and other information to promote travel experiences, resulting in the migration of the medium from a booking tool to a planning tool.

Read the full story on MediaPostPublication.

Consumer reviews play a major role in the online purchasing decisions of online shoppers.  According to a June study conducted by Opinion Research Corporation 61% of respondents said they checked online reviews, blogs and other online customer feedback before buying a new product or service.

A February study commissioned by PowerReviews also suggest that consumers need four to seven reviews before making a purchasing decision.

Read more on eMarketer.