SearchEngineUpdate with Vanessa Zamora - 06-13-2008 Part I
Abstract: 1. Researchers Effort To Help With Growing Technological Distractions, 2. MySpace Plans Redesign For Lauch Next Wednesday
Vanessa Zamora
Video Content Producer, SearchEngineWorld
4:47 pm on June 13, 2008 (utc 0)
Transcript
Friday June 13, 2008
Researchers Effort To Help With Growing Technological Distractions
With the growing presence of the iPhone, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter all serving as distractions while at the workplace, its a wonder anyone is able to get anything done. Reportedly about once every three minutes, typical cubicle dwellers set aside whatever they're doing and start something else, consuming as much as 28% of the average U.S. worker’s day, and accounting for $650 billion worth of productivity loss a year, according to business research firm Basex. Researchers hope to leverage social networking software and communications technologies, responsible for distractions, to keep workers on task with the development of new products meant to help people prioritize the influx of information. One such product is a digital assistant, which with the application of mathematical formulas, is meant to predict the cost and benefit of interrupting a person at work. Another product, developed by Microsoft, is the Outlook Mobile Manager that enables Outlook to recognize urgent e-mails and to do "presence forecasting," to determine whether the message should be forwarded to a persons computer, phone, or other device. IBM is testing an instant messaging answering machine prototype known as IMSavvy, that tells people a person is busy, but also suggests ways to try and make contact, including a whisper option, with text that flickers on the recipient's screen, even if the system has been instructed to withhold messages. In today's busy society, tech-savvy workers may finally be able to use some of the world's vast and readily available distraction-creating computing power to help them stay focused on work.
Starting next week, users of social networking Web site MySpace will encounter a surprise when they log in to their profiles, with the announcement that MySpace plans to introduce a global site redesign in attempt to appeal to more demographics and boost user engagement. Included in the changes will be the redesign of the MySpace home page, site navigation, profile editor, search, and MySpace TV player facilities, with more changes rolling out at a later date. Along with a new interface, MySpace has added heightened security, availability on mobile and instant-messaging services, and the ability to create categories of friends at work, school and family, among dozens of other new features. MySpace, with about 110 million users worldwide, claims to be the most trafficked website in the United States, adding that about 300,000 people sign up each day.
