The snow is all kinds of serious here in Cambridge, but what better time to cozy up with a latte and some Nielson numbers? Hey, It’s New Year’s Eve, let’s get crazy…

Upon reading The Television-Internet Connection yesterday (a Time article from ‘07 that is still particularly relevant), I was struck by the stat that 37% of the U.S. population over the age of 12 use their computers while watching television at home (Solutions Research Group). Because LocaModa focuses on building products that are cross-channel (i.e. work on out-of-home signage, web, mobile), it’s not surprising that such a significant chunk of the population is already habitually multitasking their “screen viewership,” yet it is a bit surprising that it’s happening so quickly.

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The lines for the polls were loooooong this morning… but worth it!

To add to the intense buzzy-buzz of the day, we’ve teamed up with ObamaMinute to make Wiffiti the interactive centerpiece of the media FRENZY in Times Square today!

Check out our social media release, which has lots of new resources to view and share… as well as the official release.

*Also, a big shout-out to Ken and Dury and the others I met in line at the Somerville polls this morning… and both of whom sent messages to the Obama screen already!

David Armano, yes yes yes. This was way too good not too repost.

Combine this diagram with yesterday’s Battelle quote, and there’s your nutshell view of many brands entering the digital media sphere for the first time. The more fear and trepidation a brand shows in entering the social media space, the more lame the campaign is destined to be.

This post from John Battelle dates back to December 2006, in which he discusses major media corps jumping (somewhat blindly) into the interactive/digital pool.

Battelle writes, “And while I may get beat up for saying it, I must insist: Things are different running interactive properties. Deeply, importantly, significantly different.”

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That’s tall.

Built by Daktronics, the ENORMOUS screen takes over the entire side of the 35-story “Podium” office building, part of the Dubailand development project.

The screen is scheduled to run “messaging, art, and advertising,” and seems like it would be a perfect opportunity for interactive apps.

Now, I wonder how long it would take Usain Bolt to run down that monstrosity? I suppose you’d need to charge that as wind-aided…

In any case, LOOK AT THIS THING:

[img cred]

Elliot: He’s a man from outer space and we’re taking him to his spaceship.

Greg: Well, can’t he just beam up?

Elliot: This is REALITY, Greg.

Today, this “REALITY” got a little weird. Even from E.T.’s vantage point.

Social networking site Bebo (much like Facebook and decently popular among European teens) beamed out a message to the planet Gliese 581C, in hopes of contacting human life. The message was a binary-encoded signal containing personal messages from 501 Bebo users. The most popular messages from a huge pool of Bebo submissions were selected to make the voyage.

The signal is scheduled to reach Gliese 581C (catchy name, eh?) sometime in 2029.
Um… Mark your calendars?

Outerspace lag time notwithstanding, I’m pretty impressed by the endeavor. I mean, I talk about the web outside…. But this is taking things to a whole ‘nother level…

Yep… more than half of teens consider their cell phone the “key” to their social life. Surpassing jewelry, watches, and shoes, teens say a cell phone is a prime indicator of social status – falling only to clothing (WHAT? Tiny dogs didn’t make the list?!).

And where does texting fall into this whole social strata? Well, 47% of teens say that their social lives would seriously suffer without text messaging. SRSLY?

What’s more… 47% say they can text with their eyes closed. Hey waaaait a minute, is this the same sample set as above? Are we talking Social SMS Survival of the Fittest here?

Check out the full rundown of stats from the new CTIA/Harris Interactive Survey, Teenagers: A Generation Unplugged, including the chart below (courtesy of Harris and CTIA).

To bring you this nugget from Diggnation’s Kevin Rose:

I don’t care what it is, when it has an LCD screen, it makes it better.

The man has a point.

Speaking of Digg, our announcement that Wiffiti will be at the DNC and the RNC went out this morning (nudge, nudge). We’ll be in St.Paul for the RNC this Sunday!
[flickr cred]

In one of the best analogies I’ve heard in a long while, the guys over at GrowYourWiki (Matt Moore, Doug Cornelius, and Stewart Mader) have compared the Location-Based Social Networking model to the age-old, much refined practice of dogs peeing on fire hydrants (uhm, excuse me, “marking their territory”).
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