Peter Black's Freedom to Differ

Apparently I'm an attention-seeking extrovert

Australian social networking expert Laurel Papworth analyses social networking profiles for News.com.au:

IF you're changing your Facebook status every five minutes there is a good chance the only thing people will notice is that you're an attention-seeking extrovert.

Social networking analyst Laurel Papworth says there are hidden messages behind the overt displays of self-promotion on websites like Facebook or MySpace.

Status updates can show if someone is an extrovert or fishing for sympathy, she claims.

"The extrovert, they are always going to be updating because the world revolves around them and one can assume that means the world needs to know how they are feeling from minute to minute," Ms Papworth told NEWS.com.au.

"There's a lot of passive-aggressive behaviour in social networks and some interesting statuses — I'm mad at my boss, I'm mad at my mum, my teacher.

"We're expecting our good friends to come and commiserate and give presents on our page or leave comments on our page presumably in support of our emotional state."

Read more here.

A life exposed

The cover story for this Sunday's Times Magazine, is an insightful and poignant piece by Emily Gould looking at the consequences of exposing her life - and the lives of those around her - in her blog Emily Magazine:

Back in 2006, when I was 24, my life was cozy and safe. I had just been promoted to associate editor at the publishing house where I’d been working since I graduated from college, and I was living with my boyfriend, Henry, and two cats in a grubby but spacious two-bedroom apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I spent most of my free time sitting with Henry in our cheery yellow living room on our stained Ikea couch, watching TV. And almost every day I updated my year-old blog, Emily Magazine, to let a few hundred people know what I was reading and watching and thinking about.

Some of my blog’s readers were my friends in real life, and even the ones who weren’t acted like friends when they posted comments or sent me e-mail. They criticized me sometimes, but kindly, the way you chide someone you know well. Some of them had blogs, too, and I read those and left my own comments. As nerdy and one-dimensional as my relationships with these people were, they were important to me. They made me feel like a part of some kind of community, and that made the giant city I lived in seem smaller and more manageable.

...

I understand that by writing here about how I revealed my intimate life online, I’ve now revealed even more about what happened during the period when I was most exposed. Well, I’m an oversharer — it’s not like I’m entirely reformed. But lately, online, I’ve found myself doing something unexpected: keeping the personal details of my current life to myself. This doesn’t make me feel stifled so much as it makes me feel protected, as if my thoughts might actually be worth honing rather than spewing. But I still have Emily Magazine as a place to spew when I need to. It will never again be the friendly place that it was in 2004 — there are plenty of negative comments now, and I don’t delete them. I still think about closing the door to my online life and locking them out, but then I think of everything else I’d be locking out, and I leave it open.

Read more here.

Be afraid, be very afraid

I was surprised to read that online crime (and associated paranoia) in Canada is so high, especially because these findings would be similar in most western countries:

Canadians are more likely to be victims of crime on the Internet than they are on the streets, suggests a new survey commissioned by the Canadian Association of Police Boards.

Cyber crime - things such as identity theft, computer viruses and online harassment - is very close to surpassing illicit drugs as the top crime category in North America.

The survey, completed last January by Deloitte LLP, found that nearly half of the 567 respondents had been victims of cyber crime, and 70 per cent said they did not report the crime.

Almost everyone surveyed - 95 per cent - thought they were being targeted by cyber criminals.

"If that doesn't scare you, I don't know what will scare you," said Calgary police Chief Rick Hanson during a news conference Wednesday.

"It's huge and it's getting worse," said Ian Wilms, chair of the Canadian Association of Police Boards. "You lock your door at night time, but people don't, when online, just take the 30 seconds to update the security patches on their computer."

Read more here (from canada.com).

The panels for the Politics and Technology Forum with Matt Bai

Yesterday I promised that more details on Microsfot's Politics and Technology Forum with Matt Bai would be forthcoming (see here).  So here are the two panels that follow Matt Bai's keynote address on the rise of political movements in the internet age and, as you can see, I am fortunate enough to be on the first panel discussing blogging, social networks, political movements and the media:

 

Here are the details for the day:

Join Government and business leaders and political bloggers for Australia’s inaugural Politics & Technology Forum, proudly sponsored by Microsoft, on 25 June 2008 at the Hyatt, Canberra.

Over an informative morning, you will hear from keynote speaker Matt Bai, author and political writer for the New York Times magazine. Matt will address the rise of political movements in the internet age, with a focus on new forms of Information technology and how they fashion or replicate the political debate and trends.

Matt will then join two panels of distinguished speakers for a forum discussion on Information Technology and its influence on political movements and campaigning.

Seats are strictly limited. To register visit here. The event ticket code is BAI. Should you have any inquiries email Sassoon Grigorian at sassoong@microsoft.com

Beware of those depressing blogs

At The Inquisitr Duncan Riley rants about how Australian football players have apparently been banned from reading blogs by the Australian Football League Players Association as reading blogs causes depression:

The AFLPA contends that blogs don’t provide any decent feedback, and are racist, carry sexual overtones, are a form of bullying and only provide titillation.

The AFLPA is also calling on people to boycott fan sites due to the criticism of players dished out.

Pippa Grange, AFLPA:

“I wouldn’t encourage any players to use them. I think it’s for bloggers, and I think it’s mostly for titillation rather any decent feedback…I wouldn’t encourage any players to use them. I think it’s for bloggers, and I think it’s mostly for titillation rather any decent feedback,”

There’s no restriction of what people are able to do with the internet…blogging on websites about players is a form of bullying, it’s public bullying of people in celebrity positions.

And even worse is the huge plague of fake footballers:

More serious, she said, were players’ identities being taken by bloggers.

“The biggest thing I’ve encountered in my role where it’s been a problem is where people take the identity of the player and claim to be making comments on behalf of the player,” she said.

“They get obviously quite upset about that.”

Lets break down what the AFLPA is saying here: fans shouldn’t express a negative opinion about a player, this should only be the role of the mainstream media. People should boycott fan sites and definitely never pretend to be a footballer.

...

The notion that all blogs are bad on the basis that some are is similar to someone saying all footballers are bad because some take drugs, beat up women and regularly get drunk. Blogs have long since moved on from personal playthings and are even the basis for multi-million dollar businesses. Would Grange call for a boycott of the mainstream media because they criticize a player?

Calling for a boycott of fan sites is even stranger again; fandom encourages participation in the sport. In calling for a boycott of fan sites Grange is calling for a boycott of fandom itself. Do football clubs want less members, less people through the gate on the weekend, and less people watching the game on TV?

When did criticism of a football player become bullying? Does Grange expect the public to only think positive thoughts about players and never express a negative thought? The celebrity angle is interesting as well; Grange argues that as celebrities they should be left alone, but doesn’t the very exposure lead to negative as well as positive coverage? If they don’t want the coverage, get out of the game.

Read more here.

It was only a matter of time

Silicon Alley Insider breaks the news that Redlasso is in legal trouble:

Redlasso, a TV clip service favored by bloggers everywhere, is being threatened with legal action by three of the major media conglomerates: Fox (NWS), CBS (CBS) and NBC (GE). The three companies have sent the Web firm a cease-and-desist letter for recording television and distributing it without their permission, and are giving them until May 29 to stop or get hauled into court.

What's Redlasso? It's hard to imagine media and political blogs like Huffington Post, Perez Hilton or Hot Air without it. The company records live TV and allows users to search for clips, grab them and embed them on their own sites. It's pretty sweet! It's also a version of what Sling Media is trying to do -- except Sling is going through the laborious process of getting the networks, producers and the countless other rights holders to give it permission.

Apparently Red Lasso hasn't done so.

Read more here.

Politics and Technology Forum with Matt Bai

Microsoft Australia has confirmed an their inaugural Politics & Technology Forum:

Join Government and business leaders and political bloggers for Australia’s inaugural Politics & Technology Forum, proudly sponsored by Microsoft, on 25 June 2008 at the Hyatt, Canberra.

Over an informative morning, you will hear from keynote speaker Matt Bai, author and political writer for the New York Times magazine. Matt will address the rise of political movements in the internet age, with a focus on new forms of Information technology and how they fashion or replicate the political debate and trends.

Matt will then join two panels of distinguished speakers for a forum discussion on Information Technology and its influence on political movements and campaigning.

Seats are strictly limited. To register visit here. The event ticket code is BAI. Should you have any inquiries email Sassoon Grigorian at sassoong@microsoft.com

More details to follow.

QUT Legal Practice 30th Anniversary Free Public Lecture by Justice Michael Kirby

The QUT Legal Practice Unit is hosting an exciting event on 17 June:

To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the QUT Legal Practice Unit, Justice Michael Kirby is presenting a Free Public Lecture.

In this public lecture Justice Michael Kirby will describe recent developments in the High Court of Australia concerning the interpretation of legislation and the Constitution.

In recent years the Court has repeatedly insisted upon the adoption of a ‘purposive’ interpretation of legal texts. This has led to closer attention to the purpose and objects of legislation in place of the often literal attention to statutory language that marked earlier decisions. The new approach has, in turn, refocussed attention upon context as well as text. However, differences can still arise. These will be illustrated by reference to the High Court’s recent decision in Carr v Western Australia (2007) 82 ALJR 1.

Also in recent years there have been strongly expressed differences concerning the use that may be made of international law materials in interpreting provisions of the Australian Constitution. Reference will be made in this connection to the strongly divided opinions in the Court in Al-Kateb v Godwin (2004) 219 CLR 562 and Roach v Electoral Commissioner (2007) 81 ALJR 1830.

Event: QUT Legal Practice 30th Anniversary Free Public Lecture

Speaker: Justice Michael Kirby, Justice of the High Court of Australia

Title: New Approaches to Interpretation - A very practical question

Date: Tuesday 17 June 2008

Time: 4.30pm - 5.30pm

Venue: Lecture Theatre Z401, Level 4, Z Block, QUT Gardens Point Campus

RSVP: rsvplaw@qut.edu.au

Do bloggers exist?

At The Local Anthony Dever highlights an interesting post by Joel Postman arguing that claiming to be a blogger is now a misnomer:

A blog is a tool. There is no such thing as “a blogger,” or someone who can be rationally defined by their ability to use a blog, no more so than there are “wordists,” people who define themselves based on their ability to use MS Word. The number of people who blog is now so large, and the things they blog about and the reasons they use blogs so diverse, that classifying someone as a blogger doesn’t makes sense.

Read the post here.

Facebook overtakes MySpace in Australia

Ben Shepherd is reporting that Facebook now has more Australian users than MySpace:

Facebook passes Myspace in AU for first time

April Neilsen numbers are out and Facebook has passed Myspace in terms of usage.

Facebook: 2.646m users
Myspace: 2.623m users

Source: Neilsen Netview, April 2008

Myspace has shed over 380,000 users in the past 5 months.

Read it here.

(Hat tip: hello.com.au.)

Twitter Come Back

With Twitter down again this evening (although at least this time it was a planned outage), I thought I'd post this song  "Twitter Comes Back" (well, it is sort of musical):

Al Jazeera English keeps trying

Al Jazeera English is looking to expand its reach and gain access to the US market:

The English-language offshoot of Al Jazeera, the Arabic television news network, is pushing for a "breakthrough" that would make the channel available to American TV viewers and help it move beyond a turbulent start-up phase, according to its new managing director, Tony Burman.

The hiring of Burman, a former editor in chief of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, was announced last week by Al Jazeera English, whose first year and a half of broadcasting has been marked by intense scrutiny of the coverage and the recent defection of several high-profile Western journalists who had been recruited to lend credibility to the channel.

Al Jazeera English, which is part of Al Jazeera Network, based in Qatar, also announced distribution agreements last week in markets as far-flung as Portugal, Ukraine and Vietnam, increasing its potential audience to 110 million homes. Conspicuously absent, however, was the United States, where Al Jazeera is still largely unavailable on television. Viewers can watch it on the Web through a deal with YouTube, the online video service.

In a U.S. market of 300 million people, with hundreds of pay-television services, "the idea that certain channels would effectively be banned is medieval," Burman said.

Al Jazeera English is not actually banned, of course, but the reputation of its Arabic sibling as the preferred outlet for videos from Osama bin Laden has made the English-language version too hot to handle for some U.S. cable operators. A lack of space on crowded cable systems has also made it difficult for operators to offer Al Jazeera English.

... Burman said Al Jazeera also planned to invest in new bureaus; it already shares more than 60 bureaus with its Arabic sister organization. And the channel plans "more provocative" current affairs programming and investigative journalism, he said.

"Our goal is to go in the opposite direction to so many other news organizations which are, sadly, cutting back on their coverage of the world," said Burman, who left the Canadian public broadcaster last year.

In an effort to control costs, he said, there will be more collaboration between the Arabic and English services, with news crews sharing equipment, for example. Burman insisted that the channels would still be able to keep separate identities.

"The reality is that Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera English are two different channels that cater to different audiences," he said.

Read more here (from the International Herald Tribune).  I've blogged before about the disappointing unavailability of Al Jazeera in Australia (see here and here) but this reports makes me hope that Foxtel will reconsider its position and offer Al Jazeera to Australian households.

More McCain

Here is another video of John McCain on Saturday Night Live:

For a previous video, see here.

Burgundy and Brokaw

Ron Burgundy interviews Tom Brokaw:

Blogging 2.0

The always opinionated Duncan Riley opines on Blogging 2.0:

Blogging 2.0

If blogging 1.0 was about enabling the conversation on each blog, blogging 2.0 is about enabling the conversation across many blogs and supporting sites and services. The conversation has matured and no longer is it acceptable to believe that as a content owner you hold exclusive domain over conversations you have started. Users/ readers today demand more than a conversation on one site, and blogging 2.0 facilitates this.

Acceptance

I’ll be the first to admit that accepting the new paradigm of blogging 2.0 isn’t easy. I started this site still firmly entrenched in the thoughts of blogging 1.0, having not run my own large blog in two years, but likewise having been schooled in blogging since it first came to prominence in 2002-2003. I’ve come to the conclusion that what is happening in blogging 2.0 is something that I can’t stop nor change, so it is something I’m going to fully embrace, for all the inherent risk part of me is telling me it represents. I accept that others will rally against this: it’s human nature to do so, but no amount of protest will change the evolving reality of blogging 2.0. My advice to others: embrace it, or miss out.

Read more here (at The Inquisitr).

British PM launching online question time

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has finally found a use for YouTube:

Gordon Brown is seeking to embrace the digital age by launching an online version of prime minister's questions.

He has pledged to respond to video clip questions submitted via the Downing Street YouTube website.

The prime minister, who is trying to reconnect with younger voters, said the forum would be a "regular event".

Mr Brown also addressed Google's annual conference, where he promised a hi-tech revolution in UK public services.

BBC political correspondent Jo Coburn said the prime minister's online question time was a bid to counter claims by David Cameron that he was an "analogue politician in a digital age".

It was also an answer to the Tory leader's live webcam broadcasts from his breakfast table, which made him appear more in touch with digital technologies, our correspondent added.

In an introductory video on the Downing Street YouTube site, Mr Brown says the online question and answer sessions will be a "regular event" and offers to answer questions on globalisation, climate change, housing, jobs and public services.

"Politicians get a chance in prime minister's question time and other question times - I think it's time the public had a chance," he says.

Read more here (from BBC News).  I wonder Kevin Rudd will also attempt to engage with YouTube (outside of an election campaign)?

Bodysnarking

At Concurring Opinions Frank Pasquale introduces me to a new term, "bodysnarking":

Author Hannah Seligson coins a new term in her critique of celeb-mocking websites: bodysnarking, which she defines as

the snide, often witty, comments that have become a ubiquitous part of under-30 female conversation. In an age when the digital camera is a must-bring accessory for a night out (how else are you going to upload the pictures to Facebook?), when blogs give everyone with an opinion a venue for comment, and when tabloid culture has made it fine to dissect other women's looks, bodysnarking appears to be a favorite female pastime.

The watershed moment for bodysnarking, Ms. Redd says, came a few years ago when Google introduced its advertising program AdSense. "The program allowed sites to track pages viewed and make ad revenue based on the number of visitors. [Blogger] Perez Hilton realized that nobody cared about his personal shopping trips; they cared when he [mocked mostly female celebrities.]" The masses had spoken: Bodysnarking was now a revenue generator.

As I've noted before, sometimes the technology that "gives the people what they want" serves only to reinforce destructive trends. In addition to Seligson's analysis, I'd say that the rise of the bodysnarkers is an unexpected side effect of the prevalence of plastic surgery. Whereas "defects" in appearance were once largely assumed unavoidable, they can now be "cured." So celebrity's "fans" demand ever more appearance-wise. Given their wealth, whatever can be fixed, must be fixed.

The bodysnarkers may also be reacting to the trend of "faked photos:"

Increasingly, photos for print are enhanced and perfected to an astonishing degree. Not only are moles, acne and subtle facial hair erased from already pretty faces, but retouchers are routinely asked by editors and advertisers to enlarge eyes, trim normal-size ears, fill in hairlines, straighten teeth and lengthen . . . already-narrow necks, waists and legs . . . .

Some of the "10 million women and one million men in the United States who struggle with anorexia and bulimia" turn these impossible standards on themselves. The bodysnarkers choose to reinforce the norms for celebrities. . . and increasingly for others.   It's not surprising that some people simply give up in response. As one article notes, "the contrast between the girls on the catwalks and the girls at the mall is creating an atmosphere ripe for binge dieting and the kind of unhealthy eating habits that ultimately result in weight gain, not loss."

Read it here.

Think twice before you sign up for an online service using a fake name or email address

Much has been over the past few days of the decision to indict a Missouri mother on charges connected to the suicide of a 13-year-old MySpace user (see my post here).  However, MSNBC approaches it from a different angle:

Think twice before you sign up for an online service using a fake name or e-mail address. You could be committing a federal crime.

Federal prosecutors turned to a novel interpretation of computer hacking law to indict a Missouri mother on charges connected to the suicide of a 13-year-old MySpace user.

Prosecutors alleged that by helping create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist, Lori Drew, 49, violated the News Corp.-owned site's terms of service and thus illegally accessed protected computers.

Legal experts warned Friday that such an interpretation could criminalize routine behavior on the Internet. After all, people regularly create accounts or post information under aliases for many legitimate reasons, including parody, spam avoidance and a desire to maintain their anonymity or privacy online or that of a child.

This new interpretation also gives a business contract the force of a law: Violations of a Web site's user agreement could now lead to criminal sanction, not just civil lawsuits or ejection from a site.

"I think the danger of applying a statute in this way is that it could have unintended consequences," said John Palfrey, a Harvard law professor who leads a MySpace-convened task force on Internet safety.

"An application of a general statute like this might result in chilling a great deal of online speech and other freedom."

Read it here.

McCainPedia is not a real wiki

"McCainPedia" may well be good name for a website, but the DNC seems to have totally missed the point of using a wiki:

The DNC will tomorrow launch "McCainPedia," a wiki-like hub of their opposition research on the GOP nominee.

The site features a bevy of articles and documents organized into such categories as "economy," "security" and "ethics."

Unlike WIkipedia, though, the general public (and McCain's campaign) can't offer their own edits to the material.

Read more here (from Politico).

Desperate times call for desperate measures

The New York Magazine reports on a NYU student who has invented a virtual girlfriend ... as part of art class:

Photo: Courtesy of Drew Burrows

You work late. Like, every night. You probably screwed up your last steady relationship, and, well, maybe there's no one to curl up next to in bed when you stumble in the door at night. Drew Burrows knows the feeling. "I'm in this grad program right now, and it's totally consuming," he said. "I come home every night to an empty bed." So Burrows, 28, engineered (literally) a solution, which he unveiled to the public last night at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program Spring Show at Tisch School of the Arts.

It's simple to behold — a single mattress, tucked into a dark, curtained back room of the showcase space. On it: a lithe brunette. She's perfectly quiet, but once you sit or lie down, she responds to your every move. Lie on your back, she snuggles up right next to you in a log position. Curl up in the fetal position, she spoons. The only hitch: She's 2-D. "Yeah, you can't feel the girl. That's the thing," Burrows explained as he demonstrated his invention, an "infrared sensitive" light projection (meaning it reacts, and the projected woman moves, based on an infrared sensor) called INBED. "Still, it's so nice if you're tired and worn out to have someone to curl up with."

As for satisfying those not-so-innocent late-night desires, this lady adheres to her role as steady girlfriend. Give her kiss on the check and she rolls over and buries her face in the pillow. And yes, she stays fully clothed at all times. Nonetheless, Burrows suggests his new alternative to a full-body pillow or (ugh) blow-up doll could provide late-night comfort for traders, lawyers, or any other single guy in Manhattan who simply works too hard to keep a girlfriend. Speaking of, how long has Burrows been single?

"Long enough to come up with this idea," he sighed.

Read it here.

McCain is old

On Saturday Night Live John McCain makes fun of his age: "I have the the courage, the wisdom, experience and, most importantly, the oldness necessary [to be president]".

OMG ... TTYL

According to NewScientistTech the much-aligned IM txt may not be that bad after all:

LOL, OMG and TTYL: parents and teachers worry that teenagers' use of these and other forms of online shorthand is harming their language skills. Perhaps they will take comfort from a study suggesting that instant messaging (IM) actually represents "an expansive new linguistic renaissance".

"Instant messaging represents an expansive new linguistic renaissance"

Sali Tagliamonte and Derek Denis at the University of Toronto, Canada, say teenagers risk the disapproval of their elders if they use slang, and the scorn of their friends if they sound too buttoned-up. But instant messaging allows them to deploy a "robust mix" of colloquial and formal language. In a paper to be published in the spring 2008 issue of American Speech, the researchers argue that far from ruining teenagers' ability to communicate, IM lets teenagers show off what they can do with language.

"IM is interactive discourse among friends that is conducive to informal language," says Denis, "but at the same time, it is a written interface which tends to be more formal than speech."

He and Tagliamonte analysed more than a million words of IM communications and a quarter of a million spoken words produced by 72 people aged between 15 and 20. They found that although IM shared some of the patterns used in speech, its vocabulary and grammar tended to be relatively conservative. For example, teenagers are more likely to use the phrase "He was like, 'What's up?'" than "He said, 'What's up?'" when speaking - but the opposite is true when they are instant-messaging. This supports the idea that IM represents a hybrid form of communication.

Nor do teens use abbreviations as much as the stereotype suggests: LOL (laugh out loud), OMG (oh my god), and TTYL (talk to you later) made up just 2.4 per cent of the vocabulary of IM conversations - an "infinitesimally small" proportion, say the researchers. And rumours of the demise of you would appear to have been greatly exaggerated: it was preferred to u a whopping 9 times out of 10. Tagliamonte and Denis suggest that the use of such short forms is confined mostly to the youngest users of IM.

Read more here.

Is Google becoming evil?

TechCrunch's Michael Arrington highlights a difficult issue for US technology companies - balancing commercial interests against free speech:

These stories are becoming more common as Internet companies operate under the laws of many counties.

In February A Moroccan man was arrested for pretending to be the Moroccan king’s younger brother, Prince Moulay Rachid, on Facebook. Facebook complied with Morrocca information requests about the man, leading to his arrest. The man was granted a royal pardon after his sentencing, and was out of jail by mid March.

Today we’re hearing of another arrest, this time in India. 22-year-old IT professional Rahul Krishnakumar Vaid. His crime was writing in an orkut community named “I hate Sonia Gandhi.” Sonia Gandhi is a prominent politician in India.

Vaid was charged under section 292 of Indian Penal Code and section 67 of the Information TVechnology Act because he created a profile and then posted content in vulgar language about Sonia Gandhi in the community.

During investigations, the cyber crime cell of Pune police communicated with Google (which owns Orkut) seeking details about the who formed this forum and circulated the obscene content. It was known that the vulgar message about Sonia Gandhi was circulated through an email address – Rahulvaidindia@gmail.com . The owner of the email id Rahul Vaid was traced, using information supplied by Google, to Chakarpur in Gurgaon city of Haryana.

He was thn charged under section 292 of Indian Penal Code and section 67 of the Information Technology Act because he created a profile and then posted content in vulgar language about Sonia Gandhi in the community. If he’s convicted, he can be imprisoned for up to five years and may have to pay a fine up to Rs one lakh.

This is an issue that needs to be addressed everywhere, but the hot spots right now are areas where extreme laws make what would be legitimate actions in the US or Europe into fairly serious crimes in their jurisdictions. Our companies have to decide if they’ll defy the law and take the consequences. On the upside, users will flock to them knowing their data is secure.

Read more here.

Phone more important than wallet?

PC World reports on the results of a surprising survey:

More than one-third of workers would choose their mobile phone over their wallet, keys, laptop or digital music player if they had to leave the house for 24 hours and could take only one item, a new survey has found.

The survey, conducted by market research firm IDC and sponsored by Nortel Networks Corp, found that while more than 38 percent of the 2,367 people polled chose their mobile phones, less than 30 percent chose their wallets first.

Through the survey, Nortel -- North America's biggest maker of telephone gear -- was looking to find out how many workers around the world can be defined as "hyperconnected," or as those who have fully embraced multiple devices like cell phones and laptops, as well as applications like e-mail or social networking sites like Facebook.

The answer: 16 percent, and growing.

The survey classified the hyperconnected worker as someone who uses at least seven devices for work and personal access, in addition to at least nine applications like instant messaging, text messaging or web conferencing.

The country with the highest percentage of hyperconnected respondents in the study was China. Canada and the United Arab Emirates had the fewest number among the 17 countries covered in the survey.

Read more here.  I may be hyperconnected but I think I'd still choose my wallet over my mobile phone.  How about you?

The social networking chase

Do you ever feel as though you are being chased in the social networking wars?

(Hat tip: Ross Hill.)