I'm always surprised when there's a great deal of news buzz over something everyone knew was going to happen.  When I lived in Milwaukee, we'd joke about the first snowfall of the year and the sorry assignment given the lowliest reporter to stand on a giant pile of municipal salt to report on the efforts to clean the streets. We all know it snowed, we can see the snowplows--what's newsworthy about this, exactly?

That's the way I felt reading all the headlines about comScore's report that time spent with Facebook exceeded Google in August.  Any informed person knew the trends and expected this to happen, so whether Google or Facebook is No. 1 is less interesting to me than what the trend really means.  This week's news is not as immediately dire for Google nor as immediately beneficial for Facebook as the headlines would imply. That said, the trends do highlight the fact that Facebook has succeeded where Google has not in creating a single, cohesive experience that gives today's consumers what they want.

When people hear the Google name, the first thing that comes to mind is the search engine which, of course, is not a place where people spend a lot of time--users search and leave quickly.  But Google has many popular "sticky" sites, such as YouTube and Gmail, and despite the news, these sites are not losing attention.  In fact, Google isn't shrinking while Facebook is growing, it's just that Google isn't growing as fast as Facebook. 

Social media has given consumers a voice, and brands are extremely concerned about how detrimental a bad review can be once it is posted online. But while this has taken the spotlight and has become an important, top-of-mind issue on marketing teams, it’s vital not to ignore the simple word-of-mouth review. Our Technographics® research shows that almost half of all consumers have complained directly to a family member or friend versus the mere 3% who have posted on a web site like Yelp/Trip advisor, or the 1% who have tweeted their complaints.

Listening software has made it easy for organizations to understand the latitude of negative feelings about their companies and brands and has given them some tools to directly address a complaint online by responding to an individual. It is nearly impossible to harness the conversations going on offline among groups of friends, although the numbers show that the effects of these talks are more widespread than the ones online — especially when you take into account that research shows that consumers trust friends and family most when making decisions.

Co-creation and crowdsourcing are hot because companies see these social technologies as a tool to engage with consumers in new and innovative ways and at the same time benefit from their involvement in the design and development of products. In a recently published report, “US Consumers Are Willing Co-Creators,” Forrester Technographics® data shows that 61% of all US online adults are willing co-creators, and they are open to co-creating across a large range of industries.

But interest isn’t equally high across different consumer industries. Below, you’ll find a graphic showing the top five industries that consumers are interested in participating with for co-creation efforts.

Household technology products like PCs and TVs top the list, but CPG, home entertainment (i.e., movies and music), household appliances (i.e., washing machines and refrigerators), and small kitchen appliances follow closely. As usual, men and women have different interests: While women account for 51% of all willing co-creators, they account for a much greater share of the audience interested in co-creating with CPG companies and clothing, footwear, and small kitchen appliance manufacturers.

The sheer number and types of devices on which people can listen to music have expanded enormously in the past few years. How has that affected people's music consumption? Our Technographics survey data shows that the car stereo is the most popular device on which to listen to music, followed by the home stereo and the PC. About one-third of US adults regularly listen to music on a MP3 player, and 8% listen on their cell phones.

Even though music functionality on phones has been around for about six years, only iPhone owners have adopted it in a significant way. What keeps consumers from adopting new music offerings? A recent Forrester report called "Which Device Offers The Best Music Experience?" uses Forrester's Convenience Quotient (CQ) methodology to assess a sample of devices to evaluate consumer experiences. This analysis shows that every device currently available leaves consumers with a wish list of features and improvements: challenges with installation and setup, an inability to share music, a broken link between music and video, or a lack of logic in the navigation. The tradeoff for consumers is simple: They only adopt something new when the benefits are bigger than the barriers.