Check this video out to see these amazing statistics.

Brazilians spend an average of 30.2 hours/month online (work and free time), which is substantially higher than the worldwide average of 25.7 hours/month. Of these 30 or so hours, 8.2 hours are spent on Orkut, the leading social networking site in Brazil owned and operated by Google. These are impressive numbers for a country where socio-economic disparities is still a big problem.

Orkut has 80% of market share in Brazil whereas Facebook is becoming more and more popular. I have an Orkut and Facebook account and every day I receive a request from Brazilian friends to be added to my networking. In 2009 most of my Facebook’s friends were European people. In 2010 the number of Brazilian’s friends in my Facebook increased drastically. According to comScore.com  Orkut is the dominant social networking site in Brazil. So far Orkut has a commanding position in the Brazilian market. But do you think that Facebook  can beat Orkut soon?

According to this article, the days of free online news are over. Do you believe that?  Publishers have been unsure about the best model  for online versions of their publications. Online advertising never covered the cost of editions, so newspapers in Ireland and overseas are starting to charge for their sites. This summer The Times and The Sunday Times will start to charge to read their online articles. They won’t have their news on the Google search engine any more. They urged newspaper to “stand up” to Google and let the search site gather its own news. Others newspapers such as The Irish Times, Independent Newspapers and The Sunday Business Post, are now looking at charging for content.

I think that many could be a barrier to the internet and very few people will pay. However, if  you  live abroad and want to read news about your country, you  might accept to pay  for this.  But looking at the perspective of generating revenue from online news, I think that this approach is a  good solution to keep the newspapers doing well in their business.  Online newspapers have high cost as much as printed newspapers. They have to pay journalists, web-designers, programmers and so on.  Business is business. The Web has changed the business model for many industries. And each one will need to adapt to this digital world.

• The Soccer World Cup 2014: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Brasília, Cuiabá, Manaus, Fortaleza, Salvador, Recife and Natal are the cities which will be held the world cup. It’s expected to have 500 000 tourists in one month, 10% of the total Brasil receives in an entire year, in the cities which will host the events. The estimated investments are US$ 60 billions. It’s expected that the World Cup will bring new jobs, increase tourism, promote the revitalization of urban areas and ensure great investments in the country.
• The Summer Olympic Games 2016: It will be held in Rio. It will be the first time the Olympic Games will host the Latin America. The estimated investments are US$ 20 billions.

Certainly the World Cup and The Olympic Games will boost exports, as well as investments in infrastructure. Total investments forecast, US$ 80 billion, are equivalent to 3.8% of the Brazilian GDP. Based on this, I hope Brasil will improve its economy as it happened with the countries that hosted the last events.

This is my first post and I’d like to share with you this video about the future of mobile and communication. I saw this video in a social media conf which I was attending last week and that’s why I have decided to create this blog.

This video has changed my opinion about social media and online marketing. It’s a new world we are about to enter,  one where recommendations from friends and search engine optimization strategy are very important, and one where your news and opinions will be passed around the world very quickly!

I hope you enjoy it!