I’m looking for industry analysts who are studying digital media impacts on brain development in children, and internet addiction. I’m fairly keen to find out which analysts are studying these issues and providing fact-based guidance to organizations and consumers. If you are one, or know of one, please post a comment here or contact me directly.

To better explain:

Multi-tasking and normal brain patterns: I vaguely recall hearing at a Forrester IT Forum some years ago that the millenials’ brains are wired differently than previous generations, and this is a direct result of exposure to digital content/devices during their formative years. In other words, the impacts are not limited to behaviour, they’re cooked into the brain itself. Or not. Who’s studying that? And, if true, can that generation truly “multitask” as a result of differences?

Internet addiction and abnormal brain patterns: Do you know of studies showing whether internet addiction — including use of online gaming, mobile communications devices, email — is a growing problem in the workplace and/or in the general population? Who’s looking at addiction rates and best practices for employers and family members — by industry, job, age, or other demographic — or by mobile device/service type?

Through Yankee’s Web site, I did track down a recent article, “Power messaging users may be mentally ill?” at TelecomTV, based on an editorial by Jerald J. Block, M.D., in the American Journal of Psychiatry*.

Dr. Block describes internet addiction as encompassing:

excessive use, often associated with a loss of sense of time or a neglect of basic drives;

withdrawal, including feelings of anger, tension, and/or depression when the computer is inaccessible;

tolerance, including the need for better computer equipment, more software, or more hours of use;

negative repercussions, including arguments, lying, poor achievement, social isolation, and fatigue.

(* Am J Psychiatry 165:306-307, March 2008; doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.07101556)

451 Group security guru Nick Selby has packed in his personal blog, in light of the additional expectations of his recent promotion and the launch of a new company blog on security.

It’s funny how you get attached to some blogs. I was partial to that one. Nick, I’ll miss your waggish wit. I trust we’ll see hints of it surface in your posts at the new blog.

Meawhile, I’m dutifully adding two 451 blogs to the directory: one on security and one on information management.

I’ll summarize all the blog directory adds and deletes in the normal monthly update post, right around April Fool’s day.

Dave Rossiter has navigated the Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) blog into an ongoing discussion about analyst ethics and independence. The post more or less recounts the usual assortment of issues and war stories, and then poses the perennial question:

“As analyst relations professionals, we face a challenge. What responsibility do we have for ensuring these practices are stamped out? Are we proactive or do we just refuse to support them? Do we have a ‘quiet word’ in the right ear? Do we out the bad apples in public?”

Whether the IIAR is truly sinking its teeth into the issue — or simply jumping the shark — remains to be seen.

The IIAR needs to focus attention on where it can make a positive impact. If you look closely, David does bring up one area where the IIAR could make an impact: the misuse of briefings as sales calls.

This is actionable because it’s a specific business practice, it’s commonplace, each occurrence is obvious, and each occurrence is easily documented. As an added bonus, there’s no “objectivity” rhetoric around it to make AR practitioners uneasy: an analyst sales pitch is attached, or it’s not.

Plus, a precedent exists. ESOMAR’s guideline, “Maintaining Distinctions between Marketing Research and Direct Marketing,” addresses similar issues within the context of consumer market research:

“Whenever researchers are acting in their capacity as researchers they must not be involved in carrying out direct marketing or other non-research activities. Such activities are by definition incompatible with Rule 4 of the International Code which safeguards the confidentiality of respondents’ personal data which have been collected for marketing research purposes and prevents these from being used for any non-research purpose.

“This Rule does not prevent researchers, when they are acting in a different capacity (e.g. as a general information manager), from being involved with the operation of marketing databases. However, in such a case they must clearly differentiate such an activity from their work as a marketing researcher and avoid any confusion arising between the
two types of activity.”

Of course, the IIAR would need to clean up some questionable AR practices around briefings, as well.

I’ve finally defined the new, improved “blogroll logic” for the Tekrati analyst blogs directory. The first rule going into effect disqualifies all blogs that have not had at least two posts per month for the last four months. These blogs will be gone by Monday morning, San Francisco time.

The complete qualification logic with regards to positing activity:
* Blogs have at least two original posts per month for the last four calendar months.
* Newly minted blogs get a four-month honeymoon, starting with their inaugural posting.
* Blog deletions will be listed in the monthly “directory update” post, here in the Keeping Tabs blog.
* Send requests for inclusion/re-listing in the blogs directory to me at editor, here at tekrati.

Grab the OPML today, if you want your own personal archive of those sleepers.

Your thoughts on this policy are most welcome.

Press releases about research studies cross my desk every day. Here are a few of the basic tips I like to share with research marketers and PR agencies.

Keep the headline short. 10 words is the maximum. Anything longer is sheer vanity or an inability to communicate.

Start with the keywords that matter most to the audience. Unless you are promoting your latest study for Britney Spears or Al Gore, embrace this truth: your company name is not the most important word in the headline or lead paragraph. Don’t treat it as though it is, by placing it ahead of other keywords in the headline and first paragraph. People are looking for news about the topics you cover — not about your company. Find the right wordsmithing formula so that your keywords get picked up with highest priority and your company name gets picked up as well. Don’t try to cheat with a report title containing the keywords. That’s advertising in a flimsy disguise.

I do recommend leading with the company name in other types of releases — financials, business announcements, events.

A report catalogue description is not newsworthy; don’t publish it as a press release. This seems to elude decision makers at research companies. Think about it like this: Would you hold a telebriefing dedicated to reading the table of contents of one of your reports? Seriously, would you expect people to dial in or download the audio file, just to hear you read the table of contents or some other list of topics that are covered in a report? No, of course you wouldn’t. Nor should you use a press release in this way.

Use consistent names. Don’t switch back and forth between a full name and a nickname when quoting the research staff. Use the same, precise spelling on your website, biographies, report descriptions, promotions, press materials, and tags on all of these things.

Avoid those leading vendor traps. Here’s the deal: research companies live in glass houses. Any sweeping claim — “first study ever”, “only comprehensive study”, “only accurate study”, “industry bible” — should reflect some quality competitive research. Otherwise, such claims could backfire and undermine corporate credibility.

Use clean code. Make sure that all symbols are encoded properly. It’s still very easy to break your own RSS feed — and others’ — with a errant percentage sign or ampersand. That applies to company names as well as research findings.

Other tips, opinions are welcome!

During February, I added 9 blogs to Tekrati’s Directory of Analyst Blogs, and archived 1.

February adds

Some are new, some are newly discovered.

Company: FAO Research
Lisa Ross formally announced her first blog, Outsourcing Perspectives. It debuted with quite a bit of content and comment.

Company: Forrester Research
The title says it all: George F. Colony’s Blog: Counterintuitive. He launched the blog with several posts about Davos — personal takes on the who and why, a bit about his own agenda there. The blog will feel familiar to fans of his long-running “My View” columns and newsletters.

At this point, Green IT Sourcing by Euan Davis and Christopher Mines, is added as a vote of encouragement. Don’t let this one die.

Also, check out Wicked Flavory, a personal blog on local/organic foods, by Kerry Bodine. Hat tip on that one to Jeremiah Owyang, who solicited coworker blogs and faves for submission to Jonny Bentwood’s Top Analyst Blogs.

Company: Greentech Media
Scott Clavenna and (primarily) editor Daniel Englander have been busy blogging at Green Light, an extension to the company’s cleantech/greentech industry media and research.

Company: Guidewire Group
The original company blog has been replaced with The Guidewire, written by CEO Chris Shipley and analyst Carla Thompson. Also, check out Carla’s personal blog, Sharp Skirts.

Company: Jupiter Research
At last, a Jup analyst with a personal blog. John Lovett’s personal blog, Musings on Web Site Technologies and Operations, came to my attention when he criticized and linked to one of my posts.

Company: RedMonk
Greenmonk Associates, a blog by RedMonk James Governor. Hat tip to Jonny Bentwood’s Top 100 Analyst Blogs, for finding this one.

Blogs archived in February

Just one: Chris Shipley’s Guidewire Connection, replaced by the new blog.

This is a community directory. Please help.

On February 29th, the directory contained 267 blog listings. Those with valid feeds are also included in Tekrati’s blog rolls and the directory OPML.

The Tekrati Directory of Analyst Blogs and OPML is a freely available service.

Please support this effort by sharing tips on blogs/bloggers that are missing, acknowledging your use of the directory/OPML as appropriate, and spreading the word.

Thanks!
Barbara