1. Digital Pulse Study Summer 2010
How
willing are
Australians
to share
personal
information
online?
The
Privacy
Issue 1

2. Every quarter we Our cover story
4-9
ask a nationally
How comfortable are Australlians to
share personal information online?
representative sample Regular features
of 300 Australians Q2 How deeply has the internet
become a part of our
10-17
what they’re up to everyday lives?
online. Here’s the Q3 What are Australians choosing
to do online?
18-19
issues explored in Q4 How are people harnessing the 22
November… Q5
internet in different ways ?
How are Australians interacting 32
with brands online?
Q6 What are Australians buying online? 34
Pulse Check Summer 2010 3

3. To share or not to share?
It’s a generational thing
Google CEO Eric Schmidt speaks So just how seriously are Six in ten Australians polled feel more circumspect. Just 48% feel
with breathtaking candour on Australians taking the issue of comfortable sharing their personal comfortable sharing their name
the topic of online privacy. He online privacy and how carefully interests and attributed opinions and address details, 38% their
recently said, in a totally matter- are we rationing the information with others online. It will surprise credit card or telephone numbers
of-fact way: “We know where you that we share with others online? no one to learn that eight in ten and just 13% their passport
are. We know where you’ve been. This quarter our Digital Pulse young web users, less than 25 or drivers licence numbers
We more or less know what you’re study explores the extent to years of age, feel comfortable online. Australians are astutely
thinking about”. In an even more which we feel comfortable sharing to share such personal opinions distinguishing between low risk
Orwellian moment he quipped “If different kinds of information over freely. While youth lead the way, ‘public me’ data and high risk
you have something that you don’t the internet, from our personal a clear majority of Australians, ‘private me’ data shared online.
want anyone to know, maybe you interests and opinions, to regardless of age or gender, now And this distinction is most clearly
shouldn’t be doing it in the first photographs, name and address embrace the idea that sharing recognised by the young.
place”. In light of Google’s recent details, telephone and credit card their ideas and experiences online The stereotype of the young online
scrapes with the Australian Privacy numbers. helps companies to deliver better user is of someone recklessly
Commissioner, we all have reason We’ve discovered that people are products and services, more in sharing personal information,
to reflect carefully upon Schmidt’s quite open to sharing certain kinds tune with their needs. oblivious to the risks. Yet the
warnings. of personal information and highly But when it comes to sharing reality is their online behaviour
resistant to sharing others. seriously personal data, is highly evolved. On the one
Australians are considerably hand they do relentlessly share
Pulse Check Summer 2010 5

4. To share or not share? The privacy issue…
Our findings
their personal opinions, lifestyle Between 2009 and 2010 the For boomers, photos remain in the An interesting counter-trend in the
activities and photos with peers percentage of students who province of ‘private me’. Yet for study is the relatively high levels
online, yet on the other hand changed their privacy settings four young Australians, online photos of comfort that Australians 40-
they are consistently wary about or more times doubled from 24% epitomise the whole idea of living plus have with sharing personal
sharing data that allows their to 51%. And just 2% of students online, despite the reputational identifiers like name and address
identification out in the real world. had never reviewed their privacy risks. As Schmidt, the king of details, phone numbers and credit
The very real risks of identity theft, settings at all. the internet cache reminds card details online. This may in
cyber bullying and stalking are It’s the sharing of photos online social networkers “when you part be driven by the lesser risks
clearly well understood by online that most divides the generations. post something, the computers of cyberstalking to this generation,
youth, given their cautious sharing While nearly two thirds of young remember forever”. Just as young but also flags their belief that the
of unique personal identifiers and web users feel comfortable to post people have learned to become internet is primarily a transactional
their surprisingly active use of photos online, just one third of 55 selective about their sharing of tool. It’s amongst older Australians
privacy settings on social sites. pluses are at all comfortable with unique data identifiers, they may that the e-commerce opportunity
The online journal First Monday the idea. The middle generation, grow to recognise there’s a high is most pronounced. It’s time for
recently published research 26-55 are at present perfectly price to pay for liberally posting brands to take the silver surfers a
amongst first-year university divided on the topic, so represent personal photos and videos. That good deal more seriously.
students in the US, noting just how an enticing new growth target for these too represent a unique
engaged they have become with the likes of Flickr and Facebook. personal identifier online.
their privacy settings on Facebook.
Pulse Check Summer 2010 7

5. Four ways to
build trust with 1 Learn to listen
your online 2 Say less, engage more
customers that 3 Give and keep on giving
will encourage
them to share 4 Convince, respect and protect
data with you:
Pulse Check Summer 2010 9

6. 1 Learn to listen
Everyday, people are talking about Orange, the European phone
brands online. Everything from latest company, knew people were talking
offers, the service they received, to about their services online, and that
things they wish for most. it needed to listen. Orange identified
and listened to the key forums in
Be it positive or negative, the
which its products are discussed
value of tapping into the stream of
and the ‘super-contributors’ who talk
conversation across online platforms
most about the company – and then,
can provide clear insights for your
put what it heard to use, below are
business.
two examples of this:
These platforms range from dedicated
1. Orange has been able to identify
online forums and groups to popular
and solve numerous “collective
social media sites such as Facebook
problems”. Recently, for example,
and Twitter.
40,000 clients who signed up for a
specific package complained of not
TRY THIS receiving the amount of memory they
Use some of these free methods in had signed up for; the problem was
scanning the social sphere to see what quickly fixed.
people are saying about your brand
2. Orange have been able to spot
Visit http://www.socialmention.com offers from their competitors that their
Do a Twitter search: http://search. customers want in their own plans.
twitter.com/ Family calling, for example, is now part
Search Google or Yahoo! Groups:
of the Orange Open calling plan.
http://groups.google.com;
http://groups.yahoo.com
Pulse Check Summer 2010 11

7. 2 Say less, engage more
New products provide an excellent Audi posted images of its new A1
opportunity to engage both a brand’s model across the social web, then
existing fans and prospective buyers aggregated mentions from across
online. social platforms and reposted
them on a microsite. The microsite
Smart companies are using the web
didn’t just report what people were
to engage consumers in new brand
saying, it also allowed users to
concepts, to harness their insights
customize their own Audi A1 and
and build pre-launch buzz.
then encouraged them to share
A social platform can become it with friends. Almost 40,000
neverending well of customer insights people created customised versions
that can be tapped into again and of the new model. In total 5.5
again. Here brands can connect their million people visited the microsite
audience together in a community, 119 million times, generating the
answer questions and concerns and largest number of car pre-orders
get them to learn more about the in its history.
brand and new products.
SO ASK YOURSELF
How do you feature new products
online to drive reappraisal of our brand?
Is there an opportunity to seed new
ideas online to gauge consumer
response and tap into the creativity
of the crowd to make the ideas
even better?
Pulse Check Summer 2010 13

8. 3 Give and keep on giving
When private information is sought H&R Block introduced a new service
of individuals, brands need to offer called Premium Tax targeted at
something in return of value.This may higher-income customers. However,
be in the form of a competition, useful it was a service that needed to be
content or exclusive invitations to explained before customers could
underground events. grasp its value.
Today opt-in or Permission Marketing Their internet banner which said
is the most effective weapon in a “H&R Block: We’ll pay your taxes
marketer’s arsenal. According to Seth sweepstakes” had more than 50,000
Godin, “Permission marketing turns responses from people who paid
strangers into friends and friends into taxes and knew what H&R Block was.
loyal customers,” he says. “It’s not In order to gain a chance to have their
just about entertainment – it’s about taxes paid by H&R, the consumers
education.” gave the company permission to tell
them more about Premium Tax. In this
Getting them in is the first step,
case, permission marketing worked
keeping them is the challenge. If
effectively in getting the attention of
what you offer is once-off or flakey
their target group and elicited enough
then they will simply opt-out.
interest to gain their permission to
further promote the service.
DON’T BE A SORE LOSER
If you lose them, make it easy to opt-
out. Don’t ruin any chances you have
by keeping them against their will.
Pulse Check Summer 2010 15

9. 4 Convince, respect and protect
Instilling trust in users to provide their A well worded and designed privacy
particulars requires ease of input, statement and form will instill trust
professional design, clarity of privacy and put customers minds at ease.
policies and, ideally, the endorsement Follow this link to find a template
of trusted third parties. for a good privacy statement.
Keep their trust by ensuring the http://online.businesslink.gov.
information collected is safe and uk/Growth_and_Innovation_files/
secure, as misuse can damage the Sample3_privacy_policy.doc
relationship beyond repair.
FIGHT TEMPTATION…
…of sharing client information with
others, particularly affiliate partners
without their permission. Nothing irks
a client more then when they provide
personal information and then get
spammed. Make it clear and simple
for clients to select affiliate offers, and
always make the default unselected.
Pulse Check Summer 2010 17

10. refuse to generally generally totally
share uncomfortable comfortable comfortable
sharing sharing sharing
Comfort with personal interests
sharing types attributed comments
of personal
personal photos
name and address
information… credit card numbers
telephone numbers
drivers licence or passport numbers
Pulse Check Summer 2010 19

11. Q How comfortable are you sharing
the following types of information
over the internet?
Comfort
All
Australians 14-25 26-55 56+ Female Male
Personal interests +31 +71 +31 +5 +36 +25
with sharing Attributed, not
anonymous, comments
+15 +46 +20 -14 +11 +20
divides the Personal photographs
Name and
-3 +25 -1 -25 -7 +1
generations…
-5 -29 -1 +5 +2 +12
address details
Credit card details -24 -39 -16 -30 -22 -27
Telephone numbers -25 -54 -21 -14 -29 -20
Drivers licence &
-75 -68 -77 -75 -80 -69
passport details
Significantly more comfortable (95% confidence interval)
Significantly less comfortable (95% confidence interval)
Scores represent the balance of opinion:
Totally and generally comfortable minus generally uncomfortable and refuse to share.
Pulse Check Summer 2010 21

12. Our regular quarterly findings Pulse rising
Pulse rising Pulse falling
Pulse rising Pulse falling
Pulse falling places
• Wifi at work and in public
• Apple iPhone & iPad usage
• Plug-in connections at home, work and school
• Accessing the internet via Nokia devices
• Viewing branded films & ads online • The relevance of cinema amongst
14-25 year olds
• Using Facebook Like This and Facebook Places
• Requesting information from brands via online forms
• Online purchasing of travel services,
computer equipment and supplies, music, electrical • Writing blogs
appliances, wine, beer and spirits.
• Reading tweets/following brands on Twitter
• Posting CV’s online & commenting negatively about
work, experiences; possibly reflecting a tougher job
market?
• Online purchasing of books
Pulse Check Summer 2010 23

13. Q2 How have
you accessed
the internet
in the past
month?
In what ways
are Australians Desktop at home
connecting with Laptop
the internet? Desktop at work
or school
Mobile phone
iPad or other tablet Pulse rising
Pulse falling
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Percent
Pulse rising
Pulse falling
Pulse Check Summer 2010 25

14. How have you connected to Brands of mobile
the internet in the past month? device used to
Percent of total connections
access the internet
in the past month
Other eg. Pulse rising
tethering
Pulse falling Pulse rising
Plug-in Pulse falling Other
at home
Apple iPhone Pulse rising
Wireless USB
'dongle' device Pulse falling
Blackberry
Wi-fi in
a public
Pulse rising
place eg. library
Pulse falling
Samsung
Pulse rising
Plug-in at work Pulse rising
and school Pulse falling Apple iPad
Pulse falling
Pulse rising
Wi-fi at work Pulse rising
Pulse falling
Pulse falling
Plug-in a public Pulse rising Nokia
place eg. library
Wi-fi at home Pulse falling
Pulse Check Summer 2010 27

15. Connection 100
A laptop
60
A mobile phone
differences
50
80
40
60
by age
30
40 20
20 10
0
0
14-25 26-55 56+ 14-25 26-55 56+
years years years
years years years
A homebased A desktop computer An iPad
desktop computer at work or school
80 60
100
70 50
80 60 40
60 50
40 30
40 30 20
20 20 10
10
0 0
0
14-25 26-55 56+
14-25 26-55 56+ 14-25 26-55 56+ years years years
years years years years years years
Pulse Check Summer 2010 29

16. Q3
How deeply Approximately how much
has the internet time in the average week
would you spend accessing
become a part of the internet, including
emailing, instant messaging
our daily lives? and social networking?
Pulse Check Summer 2010 31

17. Time spent online
in the past month
20
15
Percent
10
5
0
Up to 5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 25-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 50
hours Hours hours hours hours hours hours hours hours hours hours +
Male
Female
Up to 15 16-30 31-45 45
hours hours hours hours +
Pulse Check Summer 2010 33

18. Which of the following media would
you describe as being difficult
for you to personally live without?
14-25 years % 26-55 years % 56 + years %
Internet 91 Internet 89 Television 83
Television 63 Television 76 Internet 81
Game consoles 27 Newspapers 41 Newspapers 60
Radio 27 Pulse risingRadio 38 Radio 57
Cinema 18 Cinema
Pulse falling
25 Magazines 19
Newspapers 13 Magazines 21 Cinema 8 Pulse rising
Magazines 11 Game consoles 12 Game consoles 2
Pulse falling
None of the above 2 None of the above 4 None of the above 2
Pulse Check Summer 2010 35

19. Which of the following Cinema Internet
100
Television
100 100
media would you
80
describe as being 80 80
difficult for you 60 60 60
to personally live 40 40 40
without? 20 20 20
0 0 0
14-25 26-55 56+ 14-25 26-55 56+ 14-25 26-55 56+
years years years years years years years years years
Game consoles
like Xbox, Wii
Newspapers Radio 100
Magazines & Playstation
100 100 100
80 80 80 80
60 60 60 60
40 40 40 40
20 20 20 20
0 0 0 0
14-25 26-55 56+ 14-25 26-55 56+ 14-25 26-55 56+ 14-25 26-55 56+
years years years years years years years years years years years years
Pulse Check Summer 2010 37

20. Q4 What are Australians choosing to do online?
MORE THAN 75% + 50-75% 20-49% LESS THAN 20%
Browsing the internet 91% Internet banking 70% YouTubing 47% Reading brand blogs 16%
Accessing personal email accounts 91% Browsing eBay 62% Researching brands 43% Commenting positively about a brand 15%
Networking with friends SMS texting 39% Commenting positively about work 14%
57%
(Facebook, Myspace, etc) Accessing work email accounts 38% Writing blogs 14%
Reading email from brands 50% Hunting for property 33% Friending brands 13%
Tagging friends in photos 30% Using Facebook Places 12% Pulse rising
Clicked on Facebook Like this 29% Pulse rising Business networking (LinkedIn, Pulse falling
9%
Skyping 29% Pulse falling
Plaxo etc) Pulse rising
Watching catch-up TV 29% Reading Twitter posts 9% Pulse falling
Viewing branded films or ads 27% Using GPS mobile apps 9%
Gaming 27% Using Cloud applications (Google etc) 8% Pulse rising
Planning trips & holidays 27% Posting CVs 7% Pulse falling
Visiting online forums 27% Pulse rising Using cameras on mobile devices 7% Pulse rising
Participated in an online forum 26%
Pulse falling
Pulse rising Commenting negatively about work 6% Pulse falling
Job seeking 26%
Pulse falling
Commenting negatively about brands 6%
Opting in to receive brand Subscribing to and reading RSS feeds 5% Pulse rising
information 24% Pulse rising Writing blog entries 5% Pulse falling
Pulse rising
Requesting info from brands 24% Pulse falling
Writing tweets 5% Pulse falling
Entering brand competitions 23% Dating 4% Pulse rising
Illegal downloading 22% Participating in webinars 3% Pulse falling
Pulse rising
Listening to podcasts 21% Following brands on Twitter 2% Pulse falling
Selling on eBay 21%
Clicking on ads 20%
Pulse rising
Pulse falling
Pulse Check Summer 2010 39

21. Q5 How are Australians interacting with brands online?
Total 14-25 years 26-55 years 56+ years Female Male
Accessed a bank or investment account online 70 50 75 74 72 69
Received and read an email promoting a company or brand 50 34 51 60 50 50
Researched a brand 42 38 44 42 42 44
Clicked on the Facebook ‘Like this’ feature Pulse rising
29 46 28 19 33 25
Watched a commercial or branded film on Youtube
Pulse falling Pulse rising
27 41 30 14 22 33
Planned or managed a business trip or holiday online PulsePulse rising
falling
27 14 29 30 27 26
Requested further information from a company online Pulse falling
24 14 25 26 23 24
Opted to accept promotional offers or information from a company or brand 24 13 29 22 26 21
Participated in a brand-sponsored contest or sweepstakes online 23 14 24 25 22 23
Clicked on a digital ad/banner 20 25 22 13 16 23
Read company or brand blog 16 18 17 13 16 16
Commented positively to others about a brand 15 21 16 9 15 15
Friended a brand on Facebook or MySpace 13 20 15 6 14 12
Used Facebook Places Pulse rising 12 11 13 11 12 12
Commented negatively to others about a brand
Pulse falling
6 9 6 2 5 6
Subscribed to or read an RSS feed from a company or brand 5 5 6 5 4 7
Followed a brand on twitter 2 7 1 1 2 3
Significantly less likely to do (95% confidence interval)
Pulse rising
Significantly more likely to do (95% confidence interval)
Pulse falling
Pulse Check Summer 2010 41

22. Q6 What are Australians buying online?
Total 14-25 years 26-55 years 56+ years Female Male Metro Regional
Travel Services Pulse rising
32 14 36 36 33 31 35 28
Computer equipment falling supplies
Pulse
and Pulse rising
31 30 35 24 23 40 34 25
Tickets to movies, concerts or shows Pulse falling
28 32 34 16 28 29 33 21
Clothing and footwear 28 30 34 16 34 22 31 23
Music Pulse rising 28 36 33 11 25 31 29 24
Electrical Pulse falling
applicances Pulse rising
25 25 31 14 19 32 29 18
Insurance Pulse falling
24 18 25 26 18 30 27 18
Games 22 36 25 7 18 26 22 21
Applications rising
Pulse 21 27 27 7 15 27 23 18
Books Pulse falling 20 23 23 13 22 18 21 18
Fast food 18 29 20 8 21 16 23 11
Movies & TV shows 18 29 23 2 19 18 20 1
Wine, beer or spirits Pulse rising
15 7 17 17 11 19 18 10
Cosmetics Pulse falling
12 14 15 3 16 7 12 11
Nutritional products 11 13 14 6 11 12 14 7
Groceries 10 13 13 2 9 10 12 5
Stationery 10 13 11 8 8 14 14 4
Newspapers & Magazines 10 11 11 8 8 13 10 10
Significantly less likely to buy (95% confidence interval)
Pulse rising
Significantly more likely to buy (95% confidence interval)
Pulse falling
Pulse Check Summer 2010 43

23. How do positive and negative
online experiences with brands
affect actual purchasing?
Can you recall an occasion Did this positive Can you recall an occasion Did this negative
when an online experience experience influence when an online experience experience influence
changed your opinion of a whether you actually changed your opinion of a whether you actually
brand in a positive way? purchased a product brand in a negative way? purchased a product
or service from this or service from this
No brand? No brand?
79% 80%
No 17% No 11%
Yes Yes
21% 20%
Yes 83% Yes 89%
Pulse Check Summer 2010 45

24. Appendix
The Survey Sample
Age Region Gender
200 120 200
100
150 150
80
100 60
Number
100
Number
Number
40
50
20 50
0 0
14-25 25-65 56+ years NSW VIC QLD WA Other 0
years years & ACT
Female Male
Regional Metro
NB. Sample weighted to be representative of the Australian population.
Pulse Check Summer 2010 47

25. For further information on:
Digital Pulse: digitalpulse@principals.com.au
Principals digital offer: tessa@principals.com.au
Any other enquiries: Tom Brigstocke
0418 447 094 | tom@principals.com.au
Office locations:
Sydney:
Level One 58 Lower Fort Street
Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
Melbourne:
1 Stewart Street
Windsor VIC 3181 Australia
www.principals.com.au