The Nielsen Company today reported overall online video usage and top online brands ranked by video streams for October 2009. Year-over-year, unique viewers, total streams, streams per viewer and time per viewer were up, led by a 26 percent growth in total streams.

Time spent viewing video on social networking sites increased 98 percent year-over-year as the number of online video streams viewed on social networking and blog sites increased 45 percent year-over-year.

If the Internet has truly “arrived” and is being taken seriously, why have we not yet seen significant brand advertising dollars follow?

From digital dads to social media mavens, children redefine how parents and kids communicate using traditional and new media. Just ask the eight-year-olds using cell phones—and not for phone calls alone!

The Nielsen Company today reported September 2009 data for the Top Parent Companies/Divisions and Top Web Brands, as well as average Internet usage.

Year-over-year, unique viewers, total streams, streams per viewer and time per viewer were up, led by 25 percent growths in total streams and time per viewer.

Social media has not only changed the way consumers communicate and gather on the Web, but also impacted content discovery and navigation.

If social media and social networks are these all-powerful game changers, shouldn’t they eventually make a newsworthy impact on email, the internet’s original “killer app?”

If you’re in the U.S. and are using a social network like Facebook, Myspace or LinkedIn, chances are you’re more affluent and more urban than the average American.

Americans have nearly tripled the amount of time they spend at social networking and blog sites such as Facebook and MySpace from a year ago.