Rising to Digital Fame
Is it an innate talent, excessive cash or practical connections that get you ahead of the line to becoming the next international sensation? Glitz and glamour may be more achievable than you originally thought… You don’t even have to embarrass yourself and your family by joining the cast of a reality TV show to marry a farmer or roll with guidos from Jersey.
The digital world is opening up all sorts of doors for those looking to hit the big time. Social media giants like YouTube helped set the stage for digital fame by providing a user friendly platform with a massive audience in tole. Users have since used this site to debut their musical stylings or even upload a viral phenomenon like the cute biting baby, Charlie.
New sites promoting digital fame continue to emerge and take things a step further. Where you can host your own channel with pre-recorded videos on YouTube, GabCast.TV provides users with a live, real-time environment to engage their audience. No audition required! Simply create your own TV show and start building your fan base in a matter of minutes.
Teenage star, Justin Bieber, understands the power of using digital for fame. Before gracing the globe with his signature hairstyle, he was not much different than the average YouTuber. He started his YouTube singing collection after this family living internationally were interested in hearing him sing. His first video became an online hit, which inspired him to film and upload more videos. Justin’s YouTube appearances resulted in a signing “custody battle” between pop princes Justin Timberlake and Usher. Most of us know what happened next…
Are you ready to ride the digital wave to fame?
#1. Know your online audience! Think about what fun, interesting and exclusive thing you can give them that they can’t get elsewhere.
#2. Juggle as many social platforms as you can. Know your fan base by creating your own Facebook Page, tweet exclusive tidbits about your life and media library, and bring the audience into your world on Blogster. More importantly, come up with a comprehensive strategy before you launch each one.
#3. Debut your talents in your video library or live streams. If you have it, you have it… and if you don’t, your fan base won’t be as kind as the judges on X Factor.
Until next time!
The YourOpinion Team
“FOLLOWING” IT’S NOT JUST A TWITTER THING
While chatting over lattes with a mate at our favourite café in St Kilda, he pulled the notorious “Facebook Quick Sweep” manoeuvre our generation is increasingly adopting. You know… The mildly annoying tactic where you find yourself in mid-conversation and your mate frantically starts investigating the personal lives of “friends” using smart phone technology. Was our chat really that boring? No. “I’ve checked us in,” he cheerfully interrupts with a cheeky grin.
After clearing more than a baker’s dozen “check-ins” from my Facebook profile, it was time to do some investigating of my own. What exactly is this Foursquare? Foursquare is a location-based social networking application available on smart phone devices. Users check themselves in at venues they have visited for recognition, even rewards. These “check-ins” become available not only on Foursquare’s website, but can be added to the user’s Facebook page. It’s all too similar to the idea of rolling out the red carpet. “I’m here!”
I know, I know. Call me behind the times (because the application has been around for ages), but it’s only recently that the power of this application is beginning to surface. The good, the bad and the ugly are all coming out of the woodwork… and here’s what I mean…
You cannot deny the success of an application that has its own day. New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg announced April 16th 2011 as Foursquare Day in New York City. Over three million “check-ins” were submitted that single day in celebration. Successes like this have gotten the largest to the smallest of businesses thinking of ways to jump on the wagon. Industry leaders like McDonalds and Starbucks have encouraged consumers to “check-in” by offering discounted food and beverages.
So what’s the down side of all this location-based business? Just your privacy… Shea Sylvia, author of the blog “That’s What Shea Said”, knows this all too well. While out to dinner one night, reception approached Shea with a phone call from an unknown party. This “stranger” explained how to find Shea in the restaurant by describing her using only her Facebook profile photo. If this hasn’t given you the goose bumps already, the caller told Shea “You shouldn’t be telling people you are on Foursquare, should you?” and continued to ask her to “hang out”.
Are location based applications, like Foursquare, just another great tool for marketers, and a little too “the call is coming from inside the house” for the rest of us? Is gaining rewards and impressing our friends with all the cool venues we’re frequenting really worth jeopardizing our privacy? It’s all fun and games until you have a creepy stalker joining you for dinner…
I’m turning it over to you. Yes, you… The reader! Comment below to give me your two cents.
Until next time!
The YourOpinion Team
YourOpinion Reflects on Queenland Disaster
Australians have overcome several natural disasters this summer, from flooding to fires. Your selfless donations on YourOpinion have raised over $10,000 to help those in need! Thank you so much for your donations! Be proud of your contribution.
In continuing to give back to Australian disaster victims, we have extended the “Flood Relief Appeal” into a boarder category of “Australian Disaster Relief”. You can find the updated option on the REWARD OPTIONS page.
Now, we thought we’d share some of the stories and inspirational messages we’ve received in our Flood Relief Appeal Discussion. You can continue to share by sending a message to enquiries@youropinion.com.au or selecting “leave a comment” at the top of this article. Here’s a look at what your fellow members have said…
Members shared their own close encounters with the Queensland Floods:
“On the Saturday following, we had an army of volunteers come to help with the clean up. Barrow loads of tools, stains, paints were wiped out… Queensland weather is “flooding one day, perfect the next” Rob-014
“I live in Yamba and we have been cut of from the world hear for over a week Holiday makers stuck hear and can’t get out .But you got to feel for all in Queensland as they have had it bad .I only moved down hear from QLD 3 years ago and their has been 2 floods since I have been hear.” Barbara-F66
“I live in Gympie Qld and am currently stuck in Griffith NSW as the roads to get home are still closed and or flooded.” Chelle Bea-71A
“I lost my job as a result of the floods in Brisbane. I went back to work as soon as the water had receded and helped with the clean up of the factory which was a muddy mess. Then without warning, in the same week of returning to work, my position was terminated on the spot.” ck-7AE
“Due to recent floods builders and all trades not only that they had no job due to long rainy season majority of materials have been short in supply or non existing. I my self with two painters in my crew had no work for several weeks now due to shortage of material.” Sam-D30
“We were very lucky not to have been caught in the middle of the flash flood in Toowoomba. On the way from Warwick, we were held up by an accident, for 20 minutes, and that saved our lives. It made us 20 minutes late for everything, and so instead of being in the Grand Central Car Park, which was completely inundated, we were waiting out the worst of the rain, lightening and thunder bumpers in the St. Andrew’s Hospital Pharmacy..” Jan-947
Members shared family and friends’ close encounters with the Queensland Floods:
“I have a young daughter who moved to charlton only 6 months ago and already has indirectly gone through 3 floods. Her little farm is safe so she has 3 other affected refugees staying with her also 2 dogs and 2 extra horses to feed. though it is not as catastrophic as the QLD floods they are a small community and also will need our support to survive as some of these people have lost some of their possessions twice….” Elisabeth-7A5
“I wasn’t affected by the floors but my brother was. His whole work was destroyed; the door was even so smashed by the flooding that it didn’t close properly after the floods. Desks, doors, rooms, fridges, microwaves, paperwork, offices were destroyed! They spent days cleaning it, water blasting, ripping up carpet! He is still now without an office, working from co-workers houses!” kate-511
“My father was evacuated from his home on Saturday in Donald. He abandoned his bike in the river and swam the rest of the way across with his heart medication/blood pressure tablets above his head to get to the other side to be reunited with his beloved terrier dog!” Allison-114
“My sister was one of then that was affected by the floods and lost some of her items but most of all her mum die and because of the bad weather she could not get out to come to Sydney.” heather-D16
“We were lucky enough to have 10 family members in 3 different houses rescued from roof tops. But many friends were not so lucky. The rest of Qld has been devastated and I feel for them all especially the ones that have no insurance but please be aware that where as the rest of the state had days warning.” desley-9B4
“We didn’t flood, but our relations did at Chelmer. The water came in so quickly that they were lucky to escape with their lives. My son’s rear bumper bar was dragged off by the force of the water. Then came the cleanup. There is just no comparison between how things have been handled this time and what happened in 1974.” DELROY-132
“I personally haven’t been affected by the floods but a relative of mine as been again in Clunes who is 82 years old. Just got back into her house after September and bought new furniture etc and her house has been flooded again. I personally am so sad for Queensland and Victoria and for the people that have been lost.” jennifer-7B7
Members offered inspiring words to those directly affected by the floods:
“My heart goes out to all those who faced the full brunt of the devastation and had their lives turned upside down. The real tragedy is those who have lost loved ones. Possessions are merely that and can always be replaced, but a life cannot.” Rod-66F
“I think everyone was effected by the floods, either physically or mentally. No one was left untouched, but hopefully this will make us more caring, with our friends, neighbors and perfect strangers. We will come out of this hardship much stronger and united” Toni-FE1
“The flood has brought out the best in thousands, amazing grace in hundreds and the worst in a few people. 
Unsung everyday heroes who simply do what they can to help out then move on without seeking recognition or reward. And the unbelievable hundreds who have had their lives turned upside down and have lost almost everything but can then say that they are ok because there are others who are worse off than themselves. Helping at at an evacuation centre, cleaning out flooded homes and businesses and working in a community recovery centre i have met them all and am very proud of all but the few.” Vic-CC0
“We are aussies and strong so we will go on, however the people who were affected by the Toowoomba hit, my heart goes out to them, no warning and so many lives lost and affected this is the disaster, we only had one death in Brisbane so how lucky are we. I wish all who were affected well from North through to outback and may you have the strength to carry on.” Denise-13C
Members recalled their own experiences with the 1974 Floods:
“I was in the 1974 floods. While they were very bad, these latest floods are more severe. We lived on acreage where there was only tank water & when we wanted water it had to be bucketed out as there was no pressure pumps & hoses couldn’t be used. We had to fill buckets from the tank & carry them into the house & try to broom & shovel the mud out & then wash the floor with the buckets of water while throwing the water over the muddy floor & then try to sweep the mud out.” Pamela-676
“In the 1974 floods my grandparents on my fathers side and mothers homes were flooded in Gracveville, I was 11 and still remember it. I wish a speedy recovery to all people affected by the floods and to those who lost there loved ones I feel deeply for you. We are Australians and we are tough.” Carrie-FB9
“I personally can remember the 1974 floods, just, as I was 4 at the time, and the flooding this time brought back those memories. I do have to though, that if the Wivenhoe Dam had not been built when it wa, then the flooding this time would have been as bad, if not worse than what was suffered. Even though the flood waters were not as deep this time, the aftermath is harder as people who were affected by the ’74 floods must clean up a second time.” Jane-233
“I was a victim of the floods of northern nsw coast….around the Coffs Harbour/Urunga area. I was not insured for floods nor considered it necessary because it had NEVER EVER FLOODED in HISTORY where I was located. I lost 95% of my possessions and had to start again at my own expense. Fortunately…I live in Australia and KNOW THAT I WILL SURVIVE. Material possessions mean nothing…and can always be replaced. It was however most tragic to see memories/photographs/nostalgia/heirlooms lost forever. My mother had just passed away and those family items were difficult to discard. I realize however…in comparison to the recent flooding…..my dramas were very very minor. CHERIE-182
Members explain how they personally have helped with flood relief:
“Although we weren’t affected by floods, we donated when appeal first opened via Telethon.” Carol-221
“Early last year, last week had part of the wall washed away with the rapid pace of overflowing water, and also as an SES volunteer, I have been active with a few long shifts.” Ed-5C4
“I have been totally devastated by the horror of the Qld floods. I cannot possibly comprehend what these families and businesses are going through. I donated $50 and then I had to buy children’s clothes as a newspaper article was saying that they are screaming out for kid’s clothes, toys etc. I could not live with myself if I had not contributed in some way.” susan-CC7
More power to the people, even if they cannot agree
AUSTRALIAN women hate nuclear power. Men don’t mind it, but women would rather use candles.
This is the startling finding of Auspoll’s latest research, a poll of 1500 Australians’ attitudes on energy generation. Australians were often divided along gender lines.
Overall, 36 per cent of Australians support uranium as an energy source and 44 per cent oppose it. Pretty even.
But digging deeper, just 19 per cent of women support it as an option for our future generating needs and a huge 59 per cent are against. By big contrast, 53 per cent of men are in favour. Why? I’ll leave that to the gender studies faculties. They get paid to take risks.
We agree much more about coal, which has provided almost all of our light, heat and Sunday roasts for many generations.
A substantial 42 per cent are against coal as part of our future mix compared to only 28 per cent for it. Another 30 per cent are undecided. Oil scores almost identical numbers. Both are starting to be seen as hangovers of a passing age, with less and less place in our future.
With power prices rising quickly, these are high-voltage issues for politicians. Somehow, they have to cope with growing anger about power bills, rising fears about the environment and deep community confusion and division.
If husbands and wives can’t agree, how on earth do governments shape coherent policy?
There’s only one safe harbour for politicians in this stormy sea of public opinion: So-called “green power”.
Support for the renewables is emphatic across the population. Nearly 90 per cent want wind generation to feature in our future and an extraordinary 93 per cent feel the same about solar. The number who disagree on solar is close enough to zero.
An interesting middle case is gas. It seems understood that gas generation has a fraction of the carbon impact of coal, although the very hard-line “anti fossil fuel” lobby is prone to reject it on the grounds it still emits some carbon. But that’s a minority view – 63 per cent favour its continued use, with only a paltry 12 per cent opposed.
Approving of something and realising its limitations are two different things. We asked how much of our growing demand for energy each fuel source could realistically meet.
A third of us think wind power could cover a large part of our needs and half think solar could. Our view of this technology is both approving and optimistic. Only a tiny 13 per cent agree that solar could only meet a small part of energy demand.
Digging into motivations, we asked respondents if each alternative was a good option for the environment.
Again, wind and sun scored in the 90s while coal and oil were booed off the stage. More people think gas is eco-friendly than don’t, while 30 per cent think nuclear could be a friend to biosphere, too (though not many women). But nearly half of people disagree. Must be those three-eyed fish in the river where Homer Simpson works.
So next time you flick the switch and fill your home with instant light, heat, clean laundry, television and home cooking, or next time you open your quarterly energy bill, don’t just take it for granted. Get worked up about it. Oh, I forgot. You already are.
Ross Neilson is Auspoll CEO
A week in poll land
Honest, conservative, idiot. Strong, intelligent, backstabber. Strewth—who’d be a politician?
You wouldn’t want to ask people to tell you honestly what they think of you unless you’ve got a thick political skin. But at Auspoll, that’s what we did last week.
The results are graphic, as you can see. It paints a picture. It’s not a pretty picture and maybe it tells us as much about ourselves as it does about our contending future Prime Ministers. The news in it is pretty mixed for Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and English teachers. Six people mis-spelt ‘‘liar’’. Time to build that education revolution? It’s interesting to spend a few minutes looking at the resulting ‘‘word cloud’’: the bigger the word appears the more frequently it was used by our respondents. For the record, we had to edit the responses a little. Asked for just one word to sum up our two leading pollies, some people produced answers that just aren’t right for Australia’s biggest-selling family newspaper.
Mostly, though, you get the sensation of standing in the corner of a crowded pub or cafeteria, listening to the murmur of people talking about the imminent federal election, just catching the odd word cutting through the background noise.
There’s admiration, vitriol, partisanship, contempt, humour and savagery bubbling up through the crowd chatter. If you were the leader of one of our major political parties, if you were Tony or Julia, you’d hear things in there to hearten and encourage you. But you’d hear plenty more that could seriously dent your selfesteem if you were sensitive to criticism.
So we’ve looked at clouds from both sides now—what are they telling us?
Well, size is strength in an exercise like this, so the size of the big words speaks of the relative degree of currency for the
sentiment they represent. Tony Abbott has a problem with credibility. He has performed a couple of 180-degree turns about a series of issues he once took emphatic positions on: climate change and WorkChoices come to mind.
He cops his share of ‘‘untrustworthy’’, ‘‘dishonest’’ and more bluntly ‘‘liar’’ (however it’s spelt). Yet he also has an engaging and direct style of communication and often appears heartfelt in what he says, earning him big votes for ‘‘honest’’ and good dash of ‘‘genuine’’.
Julia Gillard has vulnerabilities, too. ‘‘Strong’’, ‘‘confident’’ and, interestingly, ‘‘female’’ scored highly. The fact we have
our first woman in the top job is significant to many people. But the circumstances of her ascension to it and some fairly widespread public shock and disillusionment about it is still strongly there in the pub hubbub of ‘‘backstabber’’
and ‘‘untrustworthy’’.
Both these phenomena are things the respective campaign teams would do well to address as best they can in the time
remaining. The cloud also shows our partisanship, especially now when the political contest is on at its most earnest.
People with loyal feelings to one side of politics or the other can express it with vitriolic vigour when prompted about the leader of the ‘‘enemy’’ side. Some of the words volunteered here are obviously the most damaging one a person with strong party loyalties could think of about the leader of their opposing side.
All the research shows, however, that the proportion of people who hold onto such fierce loyalties is decreasing over time and the fastest-growing segment is those whose votes may swing. These are certainly the ones the major parties are most interested in understanding. Sorry loyalists. For the students of gender politics, it’s noteworthy that a word relating to appearance, ‘‘ranga’’, scored strongly for our first woman PM, while there was no equivalent ‘‘buffed’’ or ‘‘budgie’’ registration for her male opponent.
It’s an interesting but not particularly edifying bit of pub chatter you’ve been tuning in to. It’s easy to go home thinking
‘‘I really don’t know clouds, at all.’’
■ Ross Neilson is the Chief Executive Officer of Auspoll
August 8, 2010 THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH www.sundaytelegraph.com.au
The mining tax brawl is there to be won
Sunday Agenda
PM’s message not getting through by ROSS NEILSON
The mining tax brawl is there to be won.
If you haven’t noticed, there’s an almighty blue going on over the Rudd Government’s move to cut the rest of us in on the minerals bonanza by whacking mining companies with a tax on some profits.
In recent weeks, I’ve been reminded of that classic Sean Connery line from the The Untouchables.
Playing a hard Chicago cop, Connery responds to a gangster brandishing a large, lethal knife with a dead cool remark about idiots bringing knives to a gunfight — before blowing the hapless baddie away.
It has seemed as though the Government, having announced its plan to tax some of the most mindbogglingly wealthy, tax-averse and hardball-playing corporations in Australia, had to sustain a dozen gunshot wounds before it understood that this wasn’t a fight that the Marquis of Queensberry would have approved.
Auspoll surveyed 1500 people nationwide last week as both sides blazed away in cashed-up advertising blitzes. While the Government’s opponents have criticised its use of publicly-funded advertising, you could argue that it was in a gunfight without ammo before returning fire. And Australians love a fair fight.
What we found was instructive. Almost a third of people (31 per cent) neither support nor oppose the tax, or don’t know. No-one has convinced them, either way. While the debate has been super-heated, neither side has yet persuaded a big proportion of voters that it’s a game-breaker. How much effect is either side having with these ads? It’s hard to know for sure, but we do know that the proportion of people neither supporting nor opposing hasn’t budged a centimetre in a fortnight. Since he no longer has his Great Big New CPRS Tax to play with, Tony Abbott has seized on the RSPT with renewed gusto and declared this one is now the fatal blow that will bring our economy down around our ears.
Having become so enamoured with the phrase, it’s nice that he still has something great, which is also big and new, to kick around. But it’s a big call to base your whole campaign around it, however attractive the prospective
financial support for that campaign. Abbott has placed the RSPT squarely at the centre of his election strategy, saying it’s the main issue he will fight on. Our figures suggest that strategy is questionable. With a third undecided on it, almost half (47 per cent) say it will make no difference to their vote. More oppose the tax (36 per cent) than support it (33 per cent), but does that amount to the centrepiece of a campaign to sweep a government from office after one term? The Government’s sales pitch is that it will use the money to cut other business taxes and improve superannuation. Staggeringly, when we asked people what they thought it would be used for, 6 per cent mentioned super and only 4 per cent business taxes! This compares to 20 per cent who said health and 17 per cent who said ‘‘waste it or spend it on themselves’’.
If you want to see the real meaning of these figures, go no further than the TV commercials that the mining companies paid for (then, amusingly, cried foul when the Government also discarded its pen knife and unholstered the Glock semi-automatic).
The ads are very good. They try hard to make voters in marginal suburban seats in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane fear that they are directly threatened by this tax, even though they and their jobs have nothing to do with gigantic iron ore pits in north Western Australia.
That’s because huge numbers of them don’t see the connection — and won’t change their votes on it. And, if no-one persuades them to, the miners lose. But there’s a massive job for the Government here, too. If it is to hold its ground and win, it better convince those people that the RSPT will do something real and fair and beneficial for them. Because so far, they haven’t heard the message.
■ Ross Neilson is chief executive officer of Auspoll
www.sundaytelegraph.com.au THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH June 6, 2010 107
supposed
to happen
ROSS
NEILSON
Well, what a
campaign that
was. Almost
nothing that was supposed
to happen seems to have
happened. And a whole lot of
weirdness that isn’t supposed
to happen surely did.
Tony Abbott was never
supposed to be Liberal leader.
And he was never supposed
to be within cooee of
winning government.
Having seized his party’s
leadership by one vote, in a
desperate rearguard action to
stop a done deal with Labor
for a popular (and arguably
mandated) carbon-emissions
scheme, it was inconceivable
he could be a viable contender
in less than a year.
Abbott is known as The
Mad Monk, a moniker he
can’t enjoy. Implicit in it
is that he’s supposed to be
unpredictable, loose-lipped,
gaff-prone and a little scary.
What we got instead was
iron discipline, absolute
clarity around three or four
highly defined campaign
themes and a five-week
clanger-free zone.
This reflects his campaign
experience as the favourite
apprentice of John Winston
Howard and that of the
campaign team around
him (unsurprisingly, most
of JWH’s senior crew).
Labor, by contrast, hardly
took a trick. There aren’t
supposed to be Cabinet leaks
composed and timed to cause
maximum damage, exploding
under a leader almost from
the outset. We’ll never know
where they came from, but we
know it was someone privy to
Cabinet discussions.
Your most popularly
reviled and comprehensively
rejected former leader is not
supposed to rise from the
grave and lurch zombie-like
around the country, dogging
your campaign, brandishing a
Channel 9 mic like a light
sabre and a licence to kill.
Labor’s campaign bounced
from one oxygen-sucking
distraction to the next—a
pinball with everyone’s hands
on the flickers but their own.
A mixture of self-inflicted,
allowed-to-be inflicted by the
Libs, like a week-long debate
about a debate and wounds
that seemed inflicted by acts
of perverse and angry gods.
Despite this, Gillard has
persevered with extraordinary
strength of purpose to pull the
campaign back to equilibrium
in the past fortnight.
At the time of writing, we
don’t know who won the
election, but we do know
Tony Abbott’s Coalition
was never supposed to be
a snowflake’s chance at a
Darwin Christmas dinner.
Not tonight, and not when
the gun fired five weeks ago.
So, whoever is PM this
morning, we know who
won the campaign.
■ Ross Neilson is
the CEO of Auspoll
QuickPoll: Internet Censorship
Recent Poll on Internet Censorship
After a recent poll of over 5,000 of our members, it seems the federal government’s plan to bring about a mandate to block a black list of websites has us divided as to whether this would be beneficial to the public or not, with 45% of people agreeing to such a mandate, 43% disagreeing and 12% who have no opinion.
However, on closer inspection it seems that men have a stronger view than women, with 58% opposed to the mandate compared to only 33% of women sharing the same view. There is also a consistent increase in support for the mandate as age increases with 50% of people aged 55 years and over in favour compared to only 31% of 18-24 year olds. And interestingly, the ACT is the region showing the least support.
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Mother’s Day Statistics
Mum’s the word!
Between mobiles phones, Facebook and Skype, it is now easier than ever before to contact our loved ones. That said, knowing how easily a child can be contacted, creates an expectation of more regular contact for Mother’s everywhere.
In the week before Mothers’ Day, as part of the fortnightly Omnibus survey we asked 1,500 Your Opinion members about their relationship with their mother and the importance to them of Mothers’ Day. The results are this survey are summarised below:
Average frequency of communication with our mothers
Daughters communicate with their mother on a more regular basis than sons, 78% of female’s state they are in touch at least once a week compared to 59% of males.
Contact with our mother seems to decline as we get older. 84% of 18-24 year olds say that they communicate with their mothers at least once a week, the highest proportion amongst all age demographics.
Those with children in the household to have more regular contact with their mothers, our research shows that on average they have are in contact approximately 20% more times than those without children. This may be a result of an increased sense of ‘family’ and that grandkids provide a renewed bond and revitalise ties.
Who initiates the contact?
We asked who tends to instigate the contact with their mothers and we found that mothers are twice more likely to initiate the contact with a male offspring than a female, just 11% of females say that there mothers initiate contact with them (26% claim they make the contact and 63% acquiesce that it’s a 50/50 split), however, 20% of males admit that it’s down to their mother to keep in touch.
Just 15% of the 18-29 age group claimed they were the lead instigators in making contact with their mothers compared to 28% of the 30-49 year olds, 44% of the 50-64 and 53% of the 65+.
There was also found to be a significant differences between urban dwellers and those living rurally, with 30% from metro areas claiming that they are the ones to initiate contact compared to 22% of those who live rurally.
Preferred method of communication
Face to Face is the preferred method of communication, particular for females. 58% of us overall chose face-to-face as the way the most prefer with their mothers. The telephone is more preferred amongst males, 26% than females (21%).
Accept your mother as a ‘friend’ on Facebook?
A cursory glance of the Facebook homepage reveals the slogan “Sign Up – It’s free and anyone can join”. Those older, and perhaps slightly more cynical, users may doubt the truthfulness of this claim. Of course, anyone with an email account is eligible to join, but will those internet savvy Mother’s really be accepted by their children? ‘Insidefacebook.com’ reports that Women over 55 have been the fastest growing user segment, up 175.3% in the last 120 days.
Our findings demonstrated that Facebook is a reflection of real-world relationships and identity. An overwhelming 71% said they would accept their Mother’s Facebook request. That said, this idea was least popular with 18-24 yr olds with 20% declining. Those that weren’t interested cited reasons such as privacy concerns.
Perceptions of Mothers’ Day
Like anniversaries and birthdays, Mother’s Day is a day you don’t really want to forget. Yet our survey found that one in four Aussie males treat mother’s day as any other day. A further 1 in 5 (19%) believe that Mothers Day is just another ‘Hallmark’ occasion and exists only for commercial purposes.
Females have a much higher regard for Mothers’ Day, 3 out of 4 of women (73%) acknowledge the day and will show their appreciation with a card or a gift.
We also found that women on average are likely to spend more on gifts for their mothers than men.
Nearly half (44%) of the sample intends to call their mums’ on mothers’ day and just over 1 in 4 plan to take them out for a meal. Flowers are still a perennially popular gift, particularly with women, where 1 in 3 (34%) say they will buy flowers.
1 in 3 of all respondents will buy a card and add a personal message. As a sign of the times 1 in 10 of us plans to say ‘happy mothers’ day’ by text message.
Overall relationship with our mothers
We asked respondents to describe how close a relationship they have with their mother. On the whole most Australians enjoy a strong relationship with their mothers, 3 out of 4 describe their relationship as at least close, with 3 out of 10 (30%) would describe as ‘Very close’ and 1 in 7 (14%) say that their mother is one of their best friends. Females are found to have a even stronger relationships with their mothers with 1 out of 5 saying that they are best friends with their mum.
2009 Annual Happiness Index
2009 ANNUAL HAPPINESS INDEX
The Global Financial Crisis caused the world to spin a little slower in 2009, resulting in Australians
finding an increased level of everyday happiness by staying home, relaxing and saving money
instead of going out and spending, national research into Australian happiness has found.
Yet it is women who find the greatest happiness in life, not only getting more joy from a wider
range of activities than men but also experiencing a greater increase in their happiness this year
when compared with last.
Annual Happiness Index is an annual study conducted ny The Leading Edge of what makes Australians happy, and this year found that rather than put a dampener on our happiness, theGFC caused us to slow down, go out less, spend less – and find that we actually enjoyed life a little more.
While women found the greatest happiness benefits in the slower pace, with a happiness index of
32.9, men experienced a small increase in their level of happiness to 29.5 – although alarmingly, 4% of men said nothing had made them happy at all.
The more positive attitude of women generally was evident in that women found the same or a
greater level of happiness than men in everything except sex, the internet, drinking with mates and
watching or playing competitive sport.
Surprisingly, almost everyone found less joy in the bedroom in 2009, with only 39% of Australians
saying they had found happiness from being intimate with a partner – down from 43% last year.
While people aged 25-34 get the most everyday joy from intimacy and romance (50%), it is 35-44
year olds who were only age group not experiencing a decline in happiness from intimacy.
The Leading Edge Director of Client Consulting Seonaid Anderson said in 2009 Australians did not
look to their family and friends for their happiness, but more to themselves, with people finding
happiness in relaxing, saving money, a little body pampering and receiving gifts.
“This year has turned out to be the year when Australians rediscovered the joy of being alone, of
taking time out from the rat race of life and just appreciating the peace and quiet of sitting still,
either having a massage, watching the tele or surfing the internet,” Ms Anderson said. “We were
possibly too tired for more sex, or more time with the kids, or more time with our friends. Instead,
we learnt to find happiness in the smaller things in life and to get back in touch with ourselves.”
Ms Anderson said Gen Y had the greatest adjustment to their lifestyle as a result of the GFC,
having to cut back drastically on nights out drinking and socialising with friends and household
purchases. But she said rather than replace these activities with team sports and physical
exercise, they resorted to the couch to watch their favourite TV show and to eat chocolates,
biscuits, pizzas and other “comfort food”.
“Gen Y has taken the opportunity of the GFC to become a generation of couch potatoes,” Ms
Anderson said. “Almost three quarters reported finding happiness on the couch while more than
half found happiness surfing the internet. They did get more enjoyment from pets and from reading
but only 38% found happiness in being physically active.”
Happiness Index
*The Leading Edge conducted a national online survey of 1500 YourOpinion panelists aged between 18 and 74. The survey was conducted through The Digital Edge from September 1-3, 2009.
About The Leading Edge
The Leading Edge is Australia’s largest strategic market research consultancy, working with many of Australia’s and the world’s biggest and best businesses and brands. The Leading Edge solves business problems through insights, uses creative solutions and delivers results.
2009 The Leading Edge Happiness Index Findings
Family
• Rest and relaxation continues to be high on the priority list for two thirds of Australians when it comes to
happiness, and is one thing people generally want more of.
R&R has become far more important to 18-24s and to fathers in the 35-44 bracket (increases of 22%
and 16% respectively in the past year), with almost 50% of both groups wanting more R&R.
• The one thing that makes the most people happy is quality time with their partner. While important to
50% of people, it was the most important thing for one in five Australians and becomes more important
as we get older. Interestingly, young women aged 18-34 are either getting less happiness from their partner, or fewer have a partner to spend quality time with.
• Sex, romance and intimacy has fallen as a happiness trigger in the past 12 months by 10% for men and
7% for women – and neither sex is fussed about getting a lot more. 60% of men don’t want any more sex
than they are currently getting (up 10%) and 68% of women are happy with their level of sex and
intimacy (up 6%).
• Only 35-44s are getting the same amount of enjoyment from sex this year as last – one in eight in this
age group say sex, romance and intimacy was the one thing which gave them the greatest amount of
happiness, but not if there were kids in the house! 25-34s still the age group getting the most satisfaction in the bedroom, with one in two saying sex, romance and intimacy made them happy in the past week, although the proportion wanting more fell to just 40%.
• Children make us happy, but less so than last year. Women aged 25-44 got less happiness from playing
with their children this year than last, possibly as the recession meant many have had to go back to
work, sacrificing family time. This was reflected in 50% more women from households with a higher
income saying playing with their kids made them happy when compared with women from lower income
households. One in two parents said they wanted to increase the amount of time they spend playing with their children.
• Just gathering for a family mealtime still makes one in two people happy, with women in particular
enjoying getting the family together for a meal.
Entertainment
• When it comes to entertainment, Australians get the most enjoyment from television, movies and the
theatre with 60% saying one of these activities made them happy in the past week. There was a big
increase in 18-24s getting enjoyment from these activities (up 18% to 72%), widening the gap between
them and older age groups.
• Mothers are increasingly enjoying the internet as a way of socialising and connecting with other people
while the kids are napping or at school. While men still get the most enjoyment from the net (50%), the
gap between the sexes narrowed from 13% to 10% in the past 12 months.
• Men also still love watching competitive sport, with one in three men finding happiness in front of the box
or at a sports game compared with one in seven women.
Time alone
• For Australians aged 65 and older, nothing beats a good book for happiness with two in three saying a
book brought them happiness in the past week. For one in 10 people in this age group, a book was the
one thing that brought them the greatest happiness. Books are more important to women than men, with 50% of Australian women finding happiness in the pages of a book, compared with 30% of men.
• Pets are an important source of happiness for almost half of all Australians, with 18-34s and 45-54s
getting increased enjoyment from pets this year when compared with last. The group of Australians who get the most happiness from their pets are baby boomers with low incomes and no kids at home.
• Australians generally are getting less happiness from their religion or spirituality in 2009 than they were
in 2008, with a drop of 40% (14% to 10%) for 45-54 year olds. Over 65s got the greatest happiness from
their religion, with one in five saying it had made them happy compared with only one in eight young
Australians. Australians are also looking to be less spiritual than last year, with only 12% wanting to increase time spent on their spirituality (14% last year).
• Food is an important source of happiness for Australians, with 38% deriving happiness from “good food”
or “comfort food”. While women derive greater satisfaction from food than men (42% compared with
33%), one in two 18-24 year olds say comfort food made them happy and one in eight are planning to
eat more comfort food.
Helping others
• Helping out a friend makes four in 10 people happy but more so if you are older or on a lower income.
One in four of us want to spend more time helping our friends.
• Older Australians aged 55+ are more interested in doing something for the environment or volunteering
than younger Australians, with people on lower incomes more likely to get enjoyment from volunteering
than those on higher incomes. However, young Australians are becoming increasingly aware of the need
to volunteer, with 13% aiming to spend more time volunteering – up from just 8% last year.
Exercise
• While young Australians are getting an increasing amount of enjoyment from comfort food, they are
getting less enjoyment from physical exercise – but planning to do more. 35% of young Australians
derived happiness from exercise in the week of the survey compared with 40% who got happiness from
comfort food, yet 50% want to increase the amount of exercise they are doing.
• Playing a team sport brings happiness to a small proportion of the population, predominantly young men.
Personal development
• The recession saw Australians getting an increased amount of happiness from saving money, with most
Australians cutting back their discretionary spend and instead finding they could enjoy seeing their bank
balance grow. For 35-44 year olds, 32% more reported getting happiness from saving money in 2009
compared with 2008. Saving more money is of greater importance to women than to men, with the recessions seeing this gap between the sexes widen. 45% of women want to save more money, compared with 33% of men. Young people are also keen to save more.
• A third of Australians get happy from learning something new, with young women most likely to find
happiness in new wisdom. This group is also the most likely to find happiness in success or praise at
work, although women of all ages reported increased happiness from praise at work in 2009.
Going out
• Australians spent far more time at home in 2009 when compared with 2008 – one of the big impacts of
the recession. Women were the hardest hit by the GFC –they reported a 21% reduction in happiness
attained from a night out drinking with friends compared with an 8% reduction for men. Young
Australians also reported a 22% drop in happiness derived from a night out drinking while the 45+ age
group reported fewer nights out with friends.
Gifting
• Australians get on average twice as much happiness from buying and giving presents as they do
receiving, unless they are aged under 25! One in three people derived happiness from buying a gift for someone else and one in six found happiness in receiving a gift – although the amount of happiness Australians got from receiving gifts increased by 33% last year, most likely because people were spending far less on themselves and therefore valuing gifts more. Young people aged 18-34 attained the most pleasure from receiving gifts, with 18-24s getting as much happiness from receiving as giving. The older people get, the less happiness they get from receiving and the mort happiness they get from giving, with 7% of the 65+ age group saying receiving a gift made them happy and 32% saying giving made them happy.
Retail Therapy
• All Australians cut back on retail therapy in 2009 when compared with 2008, the level of happiness for
buying household items falling by 20% and the level of happiness obtained from buying new clothes,
shoes, accessories etc falling by 10% overall. While younger Australians get three times as much happiness spending money on clothes, shoes and accessories as older Australians, and women reported double the happiness from retail therapy as men, everyone cut back on their personal clothing spend this year. Young people aged 18-24 also had a 30% drop in the happiness derived from buying items for the household – far more than any other age group.
But things are looking up – 20% of women plan to spend more time shopping!
• In contrast, all age groups spent a little more on pampering themselves in 2009 and were a little happier
as a result. While only one in eight men admit to getting happiness from a haircut, massage or spa visit
in the week prior to the survey, this increased to more than one in five women, with 18-35s most likely to
be found luxuriating in a spa in any given week.
Women enjoy pampering themselves so much that one in four is planning to spend more time in the spa
in the future – signs of an industry that is recession proof as people spent less on their clothes and
furniture and more on their hair and skin during the recession.
Financial Stress in Australia
In August, Your Opinion included questions which asked Australians how they had suffered in the last financial year, what they went without and how they spoilt themselves. It then looked at what Australians thought would happen in the current financial year, both for the Australian economy and their household finances, and how they were looking to spoil themselves.
As a result of your answers, we found 53% of Australians believe 2008/09 was a tougher year than previous years, 31% said it was no different and 16% thought it was a better year for them financially.
Older Australians suffered the most – one in three seniors aged 65 plus thought 2008/09 was “much tougher” than previous years and a further 55% said it was “a little tougher” or “the same” as previous years. As a result, the elderly struggled with less money for household spending (56%), less money for going out (51%), less money for clothes (42%) and fewer holidays (44%).
Not surprisingly, households with annual incomes of less than $40,000 also did it tough, with redundancies and unemployment hitting 17% of these households and one in four suffering depression as a result of financial stress. One in three low-income households cited financial hardship as being a reality for them, resulting in a third of these households having fewer holidays and half going without new clothes or dinners out to save money. Three in five were forced to cut back on everyday household spending, seeking cheaper meal options and household items.
Depression due to financial stress hit Gen X the hardest; one in four people aged 35-54 stated that the year brought financial hardship, and one in five said they had also suffered depression. People aged 18-34 had the highest exposure to redundancies and unemployment in their homes , while almost half of all households had less money for going out and household spending.
The results of this survey were provided to the Sydney Morning Herald, which ran a story on 13 August 2009. See the story on http://business.smh.com.au/business/media-and-marketing/consumers-get-ready-to-spoil-themselves-20090812-eick.html
