Webnames.ca, sponsor of The New Ventures BC Competition, would like to congratulate the top 10 Finalists recently announced for the 2010 competition.

The Top 10 in alphabetical order by company name are as follows:

• Catalyst oneMAR
• EnergyCzar Solutions
• Green Sense Innovations Inc.
• Hiretheworld.com
• Jostle Corporation
• MedVoxel
• Quadrogen Power Systems, Inc.
• Solegear Bioplastics Inc.
• Tingle.com
• Weddingful

These companies will go through Round 4 Oral Presentations on September 9th and 10th followed by a media training workshop on September 15th.

Join NVBC September 23rd at the Awards Ceremony at SFU Segal Centre where $300,000 in prize packages will be awarded.  REGISTER HERE.

We're Celebrating 10 Years in Business By Fundraising for Early Stage Cancer Detection

With the Vancouver Canary Derby only 25 days away our fundraising has been kicked into high gear.  We're cranking it up this week by throwing a birthday party that's not all about us.  Webnames.ca is also using our 10 Year Anniversary Party to raise some needed funds for the Canary Foundation.

We're throwing a sweet party next week! We have everything from beer and wine sponsored by the Mark Anthony Group and great food by Tommy's Catering to a dance floor with a live DJ and photo booth.

Every guest will receive a free drink ticket and additional bevvies can be purchased for $5 with all proceeds going to the cause. 

And we haven't even started taking about the draw prizes yet ...

Fun, Fundraising & Prizes Galore

We are thankful and appreciative of the amazing donations we have received from many Vancouver businesses, from yoga studios to designer hotels and our very own BC Lions.

The fundraising draws we have concocted will be a tonne of fun! There are great prizes to be won whether you want tickets to the game,a romantic night on the town or a spa day with your girlfriends!

Tickets will range from $5 to $20 and there are over 60 prizes to be won. And of course, all proceeds will go to the Canary Foundation.

Here's just a sample: yoga studio passes, premium wine, fine cheeses, BC Lions tickets, gift certificates for restaurants, spas and coffee shops, jewelry and watches, plus much, much more!
 
When: Save the night of Friday, September 10th for Webnames.ca's 10th  Anniversary Party & Canary Derby Fundraiser


Time: 6:00pm to 9:00pm, MC'd by Blenz's own George Moen.
With a Special Toast at 8pm with Cybele Negris, Steve Smith, Angus Livingstone, and Byron Holland

Where: Harrison Galleries, 901 Homer Street, Vancouver, BC  (click here for directions)

If you received and invitation and are not able to make the event but still wish to support this fantastic cause, simply click here to donate online (All donors will receive a tax receipt for your donation).

We would not be able to do this without the help of our wonderful event sponsors, donors and Canary Derby supporters: CIRA, Blenz Coffee, Mark Anthony Group, Turning Point Brewery, Amuse Consulting, Travelling Eye Photography, Rami Films, October 17 Media , Miles Employment, McNeill Nakamoto, F5 Expo, E-xact Transactions, Janice Tomich Calculated Presentations, Lolo Jewelry, Yyoga, Cactus Club Cafe, Le Petit Spa, Cookies of Course, Semperviva Yoga, Brioche, Kylie Hall RMT, BC Lions, Listel Hotel, Blo Bar, Bombay Brow Bar, FWE BC, Borden Ladner Gervais, Benton Brothers Cheese, Mio Watches , BFF Make-Up and Silk Concept. Thank you all!! 

Member Nominees Seek Shows of Support For CIRA Election - CIRA has published the statements of those seeking to be included on the Member's Slate in the forthcoming CIRA Board of Directors election. To be included on the slate, a nominee must receive the support of at least 20 CIRA Members. Shows of Support may be registered until 6:00 pm Eastern Time on Thursday, September 9.

ICANN Publishes Draft .XXX Agreement - ICANN has posted for public comment a draft registry agreement with ICM for the proposed .xxx domain. The comment period closes on September 23, and comments are available online.

Picks To Click

• The .nz Domain Name Commission is conducting a consultation on some practical issues and proposed solutions concerning the introduction of DNSSEC into the .nz domain. Submissions are being solicited until October 11.
• DNSSEC was deployed for the .edu domain on August 2.
• Alexa Raad has resigned as President and CEO of .ORG the Public Interest Registry, effective on September 24.
• DKH Retail Limited wins a dispute over superdry.ca.
• Fluor Corporation wins a dispute over fluor.ca.
• AOL Canada Inc. wins a dispute over engadget.ca but loses a dispute over luxist.ca and weblogsinc.ca.

Timeline

• Thu, Aug 26 - Thu, Sep 9: shows of support for Member Nominees for CIRA election
• Tue, Sep 14 - Tue, Sep 21: online forum for CIRA Board of Directors election
• Tue, Sep 21: CIRA Annual General Meeting
• Wed, Sep 22 - Wed, Sep 29: CIRA Board of Directors election
• Thu, Sep 23: last day for comments on draft .xxx registry agreement
• Sun, Dec 5 - Fri, Dec 10: ICANN meetings in Cartagena, Columbia

I come to work every day at 8:30 AM and by 10:30 AM I am on the phones making calls to our wonderful customers about their domain and service renewals.  What I could do in this role is stare at the yellow, white and black screen with its array of links, click the domain name that is up for renewal, not look at the associated website, but instead move on to the next new yellow, black and white screen where I can review your account history, billing and other information.

 

How much fun is that? 

 

You're probably thinking not very much fun, but there is also miraculous little button on the side of the screen that says "view website".  And for most of you, I've already hit that link by the time we're talking.  I like to get a feel for the projects you're working on, it makes the customer service side of my job so much more meaningful having a sense of who you are, and what you do while I help to renew your domains.

 

I've been with Webnames.ca for five weeks now and I love it.  I want to share with you a few of the sites that have made my day for one reason or another in these last five weeks:

 

Kathleenwesterhout.ca

Bloodylucky.ca

Lostnhound.com

Learntransfusion.ca

Wildernesscommittee.mb.ca

TJAA.ca

Heartbuddy.com

Daveybarr.ca

Wildernesscooking.com

Eversaferanch.ca

 

So thank you Webnames.ca customers, for making my day- one way or another every day!

www.lostnhound.com

 

There is a new game in town and the name of that game is Group Coupons.

Group Coupons is an email subscriber based system of offering deep discounts on a product to consumers ONLY if enough people purchase the coupon.

The major player in this market is Groupon. Groupon started in 2008 and has really taken off in late 2009 and now 2010. Their success has bred a host of new players such as Grooster, Good News, Living Social and Ethical Deal.

The group coupon value to the consumer is clear - half price or better on goods and service. The value to the retailer is a little less clear.

If you have a good, say jewelry, and you normally sell it for $50, the likelihood is that you paid $25 for it. Now you offer a Group Coupon of "$50 of jewelry for $25". Your coupon company takes half the $25 collected from the consumer and you get the other $12.50. That is a clear loss of $12.50 to you.

When faced with the math, Group Coupons look like a bad deal for retailers.

But you can mitigate that loss. What if you only offer your highest margin product? You paid $10 for Object A. You regularly sell it for $80. You coupon it for $40 - you get $20 and you still make $10.

You could make a decision to go for the loss.  You know the true value to your company is that the email went out to 40,000 or more consumers and then it got posted on Twitter and Facebook and the email got forwarded around to non subscribers. None of these people ever knew you existed and now they do.

Yesterday I got the Groupon for a cheese shop. I had a conversation at lunch with a friend who works in my building and we were talking about food and he said "I got this thing forwarded to me today about a deal on cheese".  I said I knew and then we talked about the cheese shop and expensive yummy cheeses. That same day, I went to the beach after work with another friend and she said  "Did you see the Groupon today for the cheese shop?". Two friends who don't know each other both mentioned it to me and now we're contemplating a cheese tasting party. Now that's effective email marketing.

If you choose the loss, put a reasonable limit on how many coupons you are going to sell - say 40 or 50. I've seen a few of the spas hit 1400 coupons and I know it will take them ages to service all those people.  Will the experience be good enough to bring that consumer back again?  How will the coupon activity impact the spa's current clientele? Will everyone wind up with rushed appointments and difficulty booking their next appointment even a month in advance?

For Service businesses, I recommend a limit of 250 coupons. You know you can service that number without upsetting your staff or your current clientele.

Restaurants seem to be the big winners in Group Coupons.  Like the Entertainment Book, these Group Coupons get consumers to restaurants that they would not normally go to. Diners are going to spend more than the value of the coupon and the margins on food and alcohol are pretty good. Put a limit on the number of coupons that can be redeemed per table and add an expiry date for the coupon and you are good to go.

You may also want to factor in the "unredeemed" coupons. If you sell 1000 and only 700 get redeemed, it could make up for the loss. A friend said that she can't remember all of the Groupons that she has. She's got "unredeemed" written all over her.

In summary here are my recommendations for retailers and Group Coupons:

• There is a huge value in the email/viral marketing and getting to new consumers who have never heard of you.
• Retailers with low margins should limit their coupons to 40 or 50 - high margin retailers, the sky's the limit!
• Service based businesses should limit their coupons to 250.
• Restaurants should limit the number of coupons accepted per table and apply an expiry date.
• "Unredeemed" may mean money in your pocket.

Further Reading & Case Studies

Groupon marketing results study - Phillip Greenspun Blog

Shops grapple with fallout from group coupons - MSN.com

.NL and .ORG Reach Milestones - The Netherlands' .nl domain has reached four million registrations, and the .org domain has achieved 8.5 million registrations. According to SIDN, the .nl registry, "in proportion to its population of 16 million, the Netherlands has the highest local domain name density in the world, with roughly one .nl domain for every four people." The .org information comes from the bi-annual report "The Dashboard".

ICANN Board Approves More IDN ccTLDs - The ICANN Board of Directors has approved the delegation of these IDN ccTLDs: Sri Lanka (.ලංකා "Lanka" and .இலங்கை "Ilangai"), Thailand (.ไทย "Thai"), Occupied Palestinian Territory (فلسطين "Falasteen"), Tunisia (تونس "Tunis"), and Jordan (الاردن "al-Ordon").

Picks To Click

• VeriSign has submitted a proposal to ICANN to allow it to auction one- and two-character .net domain names. It indicated that it intends to submit a proposal for .com domain names as well.
• The opportunity to show support for Members' nominees for the CIRA Board of Directors election commences on Thursday, August 26. To be included on the ballot, a Member nominee must receive the support of at least 20 CIRA Members.

Timeline

• Thu, Aug 26 - Thu, Sep 9: shows of support for Member Nominees for CIRA election
• Tue, Sep 14 - Tue, Sep 21: online forum for CIRA Board of Directors election
• Tue, Sep 21: CIRA Annual General Meeting
• Wed, Sep 22 - Wed, Sep 29: CIRA Board of Directors election
• Sun, Dec 5 - Fri, Dec 10: ICANN meetings in Cartagena, Columbia

Member Nominations For 2010 CIRA Board Election Close Soon - CIRA has issued a call to its membership to submit nominations for the Members' Slate of the 2010 CIRA Board of Directors election. Nominations are being accepted until Monday, August 16. Each nominee must receive at least 20 shows of support from CIRA Members in order to be added to the final list of candidates.

Picks To Click

• auDA, the Australian domain name administrator, has announced a phased plan for the deployment of DNSSEC in the .au domain.
• Nominet has published a summary and analysis of a recent consultation "on the release of two letter, one character and other reserved .uk domains". There is substantial support for the release of one- and two-character names.
• "Domain Name 101 - What Do the Various Domain Extensions Mean?", by Webnames.ca's Cybele Negris in the Small Business BC blog.
• Jay Daley of InternetNZ explains why ENUM is important.
• UAP Inc. loses a dispute over napa.ca.

Timeline

• Tue, Aug 3 - Mon, Aug 16: call for Member Nominees for CIRA Board election
• Thu, Aug 26 - Thu, Sep 9: shows of support for Member Nominees for CIRA election
• Tue, Sep 14 - Tue, Sep 21: online forum for CIRA Board of Directors election
• Tue, Sep 21: CIRA Annual General Meeting
• Wed, Sep 22 - Wed, Sep 29: CIRA Board of Directors election
• Sun, Dec 5 - Fri, Dec 10: ICANN meetings in Cartagena, Columbia

When I used to think about Foursquare, my mind would go to rubber balls or squares drawn on pavement. Now the first place my mind goes to when I hear that term is social media.

So What Is It?

Foursquare is a location-based social network that connects you with your friends and syncs with your other social media like Twitter and Facebook. However,  unlike Twitter or Facebook, Foursquare is about sharing the places you visit (restaurants, clubs, venues, retail stores, etc.) and recommending them to other people..

The application allows you to share your physical location with friends. So, when you walk into a bar or restaurant or store, you "check-in" (Foursquare's term) on your cellphone or mobile device, and your friends cansee where you are on a Foursquare map.

Foursquare engages a local audience by encouraging them to explore their neighbourhoods and cities and rewards them for doing so.  

By combining friends and city guide elements with game-like technology, Foursquares' members earn points leading to "Mayorships" and can uncover all kinds of bonuses for not only trying new places, but going back to old favorites.

Playing the Game

As a Foursquare user, you can earn points every time you check-in at a location, unless you check in to the same location repeatedly. Foursquare encourages its users to step outside the box, awarding more points for visiting new places, trying new things, or going to multiple venuesin one night.  After the network has been built a user can earn points for giving recommendations and crossing off their "to-do" list ( a virtual "note to self" about what you should do or where you should go next).

The goal of the game however is not just to try new locations or revisit old ones, you need to claim these locations, and by doing so earn points towards a "Mayorship".  Becoming a mayor gives someone bragging rights for being the person who comes to a specific location the most and as businesses know, customers love being rewarded for visiting places they genuinely like. 
 
(Congrats to @Yarbo on Twitter who became the new Mayor of Webnames.ca yesterday!)

For your mayorship, you're not just competing against your friends; you're competing with everyone in your location that week (because on Sunday at midnight, the scores are all reset to zero- Monday is always a new game). Are you beginning to see how this can be good for business?

Foursquare for Business

Take me as an example. I recently moved to Vancouver, a big-ish city in which most people stick to their neighborhoods - Kitsilano, Main Street, Gastown, Yaletown, North Van, West Van - you get the picture. I already have a circle of friends in Vancouver who are on Foursquare. As a user, I can add tips for other locals to know where go in a 'hood and what not to bother with.  Before I even check out a new place (which Foursquare encourages me to do  ... remember new places equal more points), I already will have an idea of what to expect from what other people are saying about it.  A business can develop some serious word of mouth advertising through Foursquare these days.

As Foursquare continues to develop, so does the way businesses are using it to interact with customers and potential customers. Similar to Yelp, businesses can encourage their patrons to post reviews and also offer rewards to their customers. A café or shop can let its community know they are "in the game" by registering on Foursquare and adding their mailing information to the list for free Foursquare window decals. From there a business can promote itself by rewarding customers with discounts for checking in or even freebies like Starbucks, Sports Authority, Ben and Jerry's and Whole Foods have done.

To cite a local example, Granville Entertainment Group recently did a promotion that saw them raffle off Canucks tickets to FourSquare mayors who visited the company's Doolin's Irish Pub on a specific evening.

For businesses, the simple act of recognizing customers as "regulars" can better their relationship with them and encourage repeat customers. Since joining Foursquare, some Starbucks have seen a 50% increase in check-ins at locations and AJ Bombers (a Milwaukee burger joint) has seen a 30% increase in menu item purchases (Foursquare Blog, 2010). How is this possible? Well, Foursquare isn't exactly fringe anymore. This past spring it surpassed 1 million registered in April 2010, and since then has it has only picked up momentum! 
 
So why not get in the game? Not only is Foursquare a good way to connect with new customers and reward returning ones, like Twitter it has become an important tool for monitoring your brand and keepting tabs on the competetion. Sign up and play a part in growing a community around your business.

Learn More

Learn the lingo at Foursquare? An Introductory Guide by PublicRelationsblogger.com

Join in by visiting Foursquare's Business Page

Visit the Foursquare Church for news and articles 

  

When I heard about .co I immediately groaned and said "not a faux .com domain".  Yes, I was skeptical.

But I've had time to rethink that thought. When I started looking into .co and how they have positioned themselves in the marketplace I changed my mind.

.co sees itself as an opportunity to get the name you really want (and have cleverly set their landing page to www.opportunity.co ). They use the example of The Madison Group who had tmgstudio.net and have now been able to rebrand with tmg.co.

I am a bit of a pedant about the original gTLD extensions. In my books .org is for organizations, .net is for ISPs,  and .com is for companies.

.co goes one further than .com - it is right for commercial purposes of course, but then extends to communities and contests - it's a very clever repurposing of this domain extension. They also suggest communication and content - really the web is their oyster.

With only 400,000 (plus change) .co names registered, there is an amazing opportunity for all you .biz, .net, and .info branded websites to get a well targeted .co name.

Shorter, stronger, better!

There are so many great names still available - here's a handful:

redroom.co
peppercorn.co
offsetter.co
couponer.co
rhumba.co
ecoworks.co
lamplighter.co
highfibre.co
yellowfin.co

Click here to search for other .co names, or to register one from the list above.
Learn more about .co at the official .co registry.
Read the latest news about the new .co domain extension.

CIRA Announces Nomination Committee Candidates For Election - CIRA has announced the Nomination Committee slate for the 2010 CIRA Board of Directors election. The candidates selected by the committee are: Paul Andersen, Daniel Blanche, Gary Evans, John King, Martin Kratz, Rowena Liang, Louise Macdonald, and Brian Wentzell. The call for Member nominations commences on Tuesday, August 3.

Picks To Click

• "Taking Back the DNS", by Paul Vixie of the Internet Systems Consortium. Beginning with the statement "Most new domain names are malicious", the article describes a technology called Response Policy Zones (DNS RPZ) that will allow nameservers implementing the specification to resolve or not resolve domain names based on policy rules. The rules may be maintained locally or be imported from a reputation provider. The article has drawn a spirited response.
• An article on Norm Ritchie, one of seven Trusted Community Representatives holding data that would be used to regenerate the DNS root keys in the event of a major disaster.
• The first .uk Internet domain names were registered 25 years ago.
• After a ruling by an Australian Court of Appeal, auDA has terminated the accreditation of Bottle Domains, one of its .au domain registrars, for "a serious breach of its obligations under the Registrar Agreement".
• ".xxx Ushers in a New Era of Internet Governance?" by Byron Holland of CIRA.
• The second annual Internet Governance Forum USA took place on July 21.

Timeline

• Tue, Aug 3 - Mon, Aug 16: call for Member Nominees for CIRA Board election
• Thu, Aug 26 - Thu, Sep 9: shows of support for Member Nominees for CIRA election
• Tue, Sep 14 - Tue, Sep 21: online forum for CIRA Board of Directors election
• Tue, Sep 21: CIRA Annual General Meeting
• Wed, Sep 22 - Wed, Sep 29: CIRA Board of Directors election
• Sun, Dec 5 - Fri, Dec 10: ICANN meetings in Cartagena, Columbia

The Internet just got a little bigger today with .CO opening for general registration. Beginning at 11:00 AM Pacific Time, .CO registrations began rolling in fast and furious at Webnames.ca.

A new domain launch is always exciting. For registrants it provides a rare opportunity to get truly premium domains - names that are memorable, dictionary words, combinations of words, popular phrases, trending terms and topics, first names, last names and place names.  Really good stuff is available at this early date!

Around the office, it's exciting to see the variety of names being registered and share in our customers excitement when they get the exact domain name they want, or in some cases, have wanted for years.

With most of the quality .COM's taken in the primary market, it's getting harder to secure a good, global domain name unless you are willing to pay the going rate in the aftermarket. When searching for a new domain to represent a business, product or brand, most people have to go through dozens of variations before settling on a second rate domain.

.CO presents a rare opportunity for people to get all their names - brands, business and product - and also register relevant generic domains they can use to drive traffic, expand their brand or hold onto for future use.

Online shopping giant Overstock.com announced today that they acquired the domain "O.CO" specifically to target new audiences and expand its global brand.

"We think the O is a really important part of our brand," said Jonathan Johnson, Overstock.com president. "We think many people think of us as the O. And single-letter domain names are rare so we're glad to have this one."

Overstock paid $350k for their new .CO domain, however you don't need deep pockets to follow their lead. .CO domains are only $29.50 at Webnames.ca and this is the best opportunity you will every have to register great brand building and marketing domains.

Register soon, an opportunity like this only comes around once every couple years.  This is your chance to get the domain that got away from you in both .COM and .CA!

Everything You Need to Know About .CO













Where:   Register .CO at Webnames.ca

When: .CO General Registration begins Tuesday, July 20 at 11:00 PDT

Cost:  .CO is $29.50 US/year at Webnames.ca.
(This is the best price available for .CO, lower than most discount registrars including GoDaddy.)

Term: .CO can be registered for 1 to 5 years.

Meaning:  Associated globally with the words "company," "corporation" and "commerce," .CO is a flexible domain for businesses.  It is also a great platform for socially networked companies or individuals.


.CO Highlights

• .CO is meaningful, flexible and available!
• .CO is easy to understand when writing, spelling or speaking over the phone for example.
• .CO can represent a company, corporation, or other commercially focused endeavor.
• .CO is a great fit for communities, cooperatives, coalitions, collaborative ventures, content sharing and communication platforms. [Learn more about .CO]

Help Shape Canada's Internet!

Are you an experienced professional with Board of Directors experience?

Are you looking for an opportunity to have a positive impact on the .CA domain?

Member Nominations are being accepted from August 3 - 16.

Who should apply?

Professional Canadians with Board experience and/or an interest in technology and the Internet. Expertise in one of the following areas would be an asset: accounting, education, law, marketing and communications, human resources, or technology.

Why should this interest me?

Becoming a CIRA Board Member is a unique opportunity to work with Canada's Internet leaders as they develop strategy and policy that positions .CA for operational excellence.
You will gain valuable insight and experience around technical innovation, Internet policy, and organizational governance.

The yearly commitment from Directors includes approximately five in-person week-day meetings in various cities across Canada throughout the year as well as committee work.

Members of CIRA's Board of Directors are remunerated for their time and reimbursed for expenses. For detailed information, please visit: http://www.cira.ca/board-compensation.

What is the role of CIRA's Board?

CIRA Directors help determine strategic direction and provide oversight for Canada's .CA domain name registry. CIRA is a member-driven organization that develops and implements policies that support Canada's Internet community and represents the .CA registry internationally.

How do I apply?

CIRA Members can nominate themselves or another individual (who can be either a member or non-member) by completing the online Nomination Form from August 3 - 16.

To be included on the final Members' Slate, Member Nominees must then receive the endorsement of at least 20 CIRA Members during the Show of Support stage. CIRA Members will then vote during the September 22 - 29 election.

There is one Member Nomination seat available which will hold a three-year term.
For more information and to apply, please visit: www.ciraelections.ca

Root Zone Signed - DNSSEC (DNS Security Extensions) has been enabled at the root zone as of July 15. The work was done by VeriSign and ICANN, working in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Commerce. DNSSEC supports the digital signing of DNS data, and the signing of the root zone together with the establishment of a root trust anchor should encourage widespread deployment of DNSSEC in the Internet.

Picks To Click

• "The End of the Beginning for DNSSEC", by Ram Mohan.
• Nominet's Policy Advisory Board has ceased to operate, and the organization is introducing an open approach for developing policy for the .uk domain.
• The U.S. Internet Governance Forum is meeting in Washington on July 21.
• The .nz domain is introducing IDNs, in the form of macrons over the vowels, to coincide with Māori Language Week 2010 which starts on July 26.
• Carleton University Students' Association Inc. wins a dispute over cusaonline.ca.

Timeline

• Tue, Aug 3 - Mon, Aug 16: call for Member Nominees for CIRA Board election
• Thu, Aug 26 - Thu, Sep 9: shows of support for Member Nominees for CIRA election
• Tue, Sep 14 - Tue, Sep 21: online forum for CIRA Board of Directors election
• Tue, Sep 21: CIRA Annual General Meeting
• Wed, Sep 22 - Wed, Sep 29: CIRA Board of Directors election
• Sun, Dec 5 - Fri, Dec 10: ICANN meetings in Cartagena, Columbia

Digital Influence Index identifies Canadians as social media savvy but cautious about information found online

Study by Fleishman-Hillard Study

Consumers across the globe are embracing the Internet as a primary source of information, but Canadians are unique in their use of digital and social media. The 2010 Digital Influence Index, released in Canada by Fleishman-Hillard in conjunction with Harris Interactive, reveals that Canadians have high online engagement but a lower level of trust in the Internet.

The study also measures several key aspects of consumers' use of the Internet, from media consumption patterns, to the degree of adoption of various digital behaviours, to involvement in social networking. Now in its second year, the Index has expanded to include 48 per cent of the global online population, spanning the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, China, Japan and Canada.

"Canadian consumers are comfortable yet cautious when it comes to using the Internet," said David Bradfield, senior partner and global chair of Fleishman-Hillard's digital practice. "We lead the world in social networking and call the Internet our most influential source of information. There's a gap though. While consumers migrate online, marketers aren't making the move to digital fast enough. They need to realign their marketing and communication programs or risk irrelevance in the consumers' mind."

The Digital Influence Index reveals the following key insights that set Canadian consumers apart from the rest of the world:

1. Internet Most Influential Medium: The Internet is the most important and influential form of media consumed by Canadians. Compared to the 37 per cent of Canadian consumers who say that newspapers are important to their lives, 52 per cent say that the Internet is most important. 
2. Canadians are Sociable: Sixty-nine per cent of Canadian consumers have a Facebook account, compared with the 47 per cent average across the seven countries. Though Canadians embrace social media, they are cautious about its use and how much they reveal about themselves.  
3. Canadians Seek Accuracy: In Canada, consumers are more likely to identify and follow a couple of trustworthy sources for the most accurate information on the Internet.
4. Cautiously Trusting: Canadians are most likely to seek advice from others when making a decision and value conversations with friends, families and co-workers when it comes to decision-making.
5. Twitter Know-how: Consumers in Canada are the most knowledgeable of microblogs but have low levels of trust in companies that microblog.
6. Pay to Play Doesn't Pay-off: Consumers call into question the truthfulness of an article written by a blogger if the blogger was given a free sample or was paid by a company.
7. Adopting Mobile Behaviours: Canada has a relatively low level of adopting many mobile digital behaviours compared with other mature markets (U.S., U.K, France, Germany and Japan).
8. Where to From Here: Although the Internet is already considered an influential medium, only 24 per cent of Canadians believe that it will have a greater influence on their decisions in the next two years.

Download a complimentary copy of the Digital Influence Index white paper and read in-depth analysis on global insights.

View video commentaries from some of the sector experts at Fleishman-Hillard Canada.

About the Digital Influence Index
The Digital Influence Index is a joint venture between Fleishman-Hillard and Harris Interactive. The project was designed and led by Fleishman-Hillard's digital research group, a team within the agency's network focused on providing research that supports the digital transformation of communications. Analysis and insight development was conducted in partnership with Harris Interactive.

The fieldwork for this study was also conducted by Harris Interactive through a comprehensive, 15-minute online survey among a representative sample of 4,243 Internet users in China, the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

This work took place between December 2009 and January 2010. Respondents to the survey were recruited from the various panels managed by Harris Interactive across the markets surveyed.

The data was weighted to online population targets, including those based on age, gender, education, region and Internet usage. Further weighting was applied to the analysis of the combined results to reflect the online population sizes in each country.

The Digital Influence Index was constructed by factoring in both consumption of a medium and the importance consumers attach to that consumption. Respondents were allowed to give various media a score out of 100 for the amount of time they spend on them and then rate how important this time is to their decisions. Consumption and importance were each scored out of 100 to produce a percentage score for each and a total score out of 200. This latter score is halved to produce a combined percentage score that sums up the influence of the medium.

About Fleishman-Hillard
Fleishman-Hillard Inc., one of the world's leading strategic communications firms, has built its reputation on creating integrated solutions that deliver what its clients value most: meaningful, positive and measurable impact on the performance of their organizations. The firm is widely recognized for excellent client service and a strong company culture founded on teamwork, integrity and personal commitment. Based in St. Louis, the firm operates throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Latin America through its 80 owned offices. For more information, visit the Fleishman-Hillard website at www.fleishmanhillard.com.

About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American, European, and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us - and our clients - stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

Here are notes on a number of topics from the ICANN meetings held in Brussels on June 20-25, 2010:

• .XXX Domain Application Moves Forward - Following ICANN's 2007 rejection of ICM Registry's application for the .xxx TLD, and after an Independent Review Panel issued a finding against ICANN, the ICANN Board resolved to accept the panel's findings. This does not yet mean that the .xxx application is approved, because several steps still have to be carried out including the possibility of consultation with ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). It was clear that there was some discomfort, as indicated by these remarks from Director Harald Alvestrand:
  
  "To [say] that I am uncomfortable with this situation is an understatement. I believe that our process has been followed, our reconsideration process has been followed. We have received competent legal advice on what is the reasonable path forward for what the organization should do, and that effectively this forces me to say that it is in the best interest of the organization and the interest of the furtherance of the organization's goals to act as if something is true that I believe is not, in fact, so. This is a very uncomfortable situation, but I can see no better way to move forward."
  
  Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush thanked Alvestrand "for a very concise explanation of the position that I think many board members find themselves in". No one voted against the resolution, but two people, including CEO Rod Beckstrom, abstained.
• Five Chinese IDN ccTLDs Approved - The delegation of five new Chinese IDN ccTLDs was approved: two for China (中国 and 中國), one for Hong Kong (香港), and two for Taiwan (台灣 and 台湾). The audience greeted the approvals with a standing ovation.
• .ORG DNSSEC Deployed - ICANN and the Public Interest Registry (PIR) held a press conference to announce that .org is the first gTLD to offer full deployment of DNSSEC, the DNS Security Extensions. Also, during the DNSSEC workshop it was announced that the Internet Society's domain isoc.org was the first signed domain in .org. ISOC's Leslie Daigle reported that due to a transcription error there was an issue with validating the newly signed domain.
• IGF Workshop - A workshop on the Internet Governance Forum was held; a summary of the session has been posted on the ICANN blog. The UN General Assembly is expected to vote later this year on the continuation of the IGF.
• Panel on DNS Vulnerabilities and Risk Management - An expert panel was convened to discuss the Domain Name System and security. Moderated by ICANN's Rod Beckstrom (second from left in the photo), the panelists were: Whitfield Diffie, one of the fathers of public key encryption; Paul Mockapetris, father of the Domain Name System; Steve Crocker, Internet pioneer and chair of ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee; and Dan Kaminsky, who two years ago famously unveiled an exploit of the DNS.

Timeline

• Thu, Jul 15: production signed root zone to be available
• Tue, Aug 3 - Mon, Aug 16: call for Member Nominees for CIRA Board election
• Thu, Aug 26 - Thu, Sep 9: shows of support for Member Nominees for CIRA election
• Tue, Sep 14 - Tue, Sep 21: online forum for CIRA Board of Directors election
• Tue, Sep 21: CIRA Annual General Meeting
• Wed, Sep 22 - Wed, Sep 29: CIRA Board of Directors election
• Sun, Dec 5 - Fri, Dec 10: ICANN meetings in Cartagena, Columbia