A recent study of QR code usage among consumers in the US, UK, Germany and France found that Americans were the most likely to have used the technology. According to the study of 2,000 Americans and 1,000 Europeans undertaken by Pitney Bowes, US consumers were more likely to report having scanned QR codes across every medium by which the codes were delivered.For QR codes printed in magazines, nearly two out of five Americans between 18 to 24 years old and 36% of Americans between 25 to 34 years old reported having scanned one. In Germany, where usage was next highest, 27% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 23% of 25- to 34-year-olds had tried scanning barcodes in magazines.

via US Ahead of Western Europe in QR Code Usage – eMarketer.

Almost all B2B companies suffer from contact databases that are “unreliable” (64%) or “questionable” (34%), according to [download page] a new study from NetProspex. The study examined hundred of millions of B2B contacts over the past year, evaluating database health across 4 best practice areas – record duplication, record completeness, email deliverability, and phone connectability. Using standardized scores for each component, the study arrives at a data health scale, with 98% of companies scoring on the lower end of the scale, and just 2% having “functional” databases.

via 64% of B2B Companies Said Having “Unreliable” Marketing Data.

35% of Americans agree that they regularly check out brands’ social networking pages, according to the latest survey results from Ipsos Open Thinking Exchange. Interestingly, that means that more Americans follow or engage with brands on social networks than regularly check out those brands’ pages. Predictably, among age groups, 18-34-year-olds are most likely to regularly visit brand pages, with 48% of respondents doing so. That compares with 35% of 35-49-year-olds and 21% of 50-64-year-olds.

via 1 in 3 Americans Regularly Check Out Brands’ Social Networking Pages.

How many times does an informed consumer need to hear something about a company to be convinced it’s true? More than twice, for most of them, according to results from the “2013 Edelman Trust Barometer.” The online survey of 26,000 general population respondents across 26 countries found that a plurality 35% of those identified as “the informed public” need to hear company information 3 times to believe it, while another 29% need to hear it 4-5 times.

via 8 in 10 Informed Consumers Need to Hear Company Info More Than Twice to Believe It.

It’s no secret that Twitter is catching on in France, but an analysis from November suggests a surprising group is leading the way: users 55 and older. According to comScore Media Metrix, the number of visitors to the Twitter website from members of that age group increased 100% last year, to 1.3 million.Despite social media as traditionally the province of younger individuals, the 55-and-over crowd is better represented on Twitter than any other age group. The next largest demographic of Twitter users in the country is the 15-to-24-year-old set, of whom there were 1.2 million, representing an increase of 62% over 2011.

via In France, Twitter Finds an Older Niche – eMarketer.

Of the various drivers of B2B website traffic, email has by far the highest conversion rate, finds Optify [download page] in its “2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report.” The study, which examined more than 62 million visits, 215 million pageviews and 350,000 leads from more than 600 small and medium-sized B2B websites during 2012, found email’s conversion rate to be 81% higher than the average (2.89% vs. 1.6%) and 42% higher than the next-best performer, referrals (2.04%).

via Email’s Conversion Rate Outperforms Other B2B Web Traffic Sources.

In 2012, the microblogging network became one of the top 10 most visited sites in the world, with an audience of roughly 170 million people per month—a dedicated userbase that includes everyone from President Obama and Beyonce to fandom communities and GIF artists. While Tumblr Storyboard—the company’s in-house editorial operation—helps spotlight and foster users’ creative contributions, the site’s simplistic interface drives the sharing of content, according to Lee Rubenstein, Tumblr’s seventh user and cofounder of art forum EatSleepDraw.”It is still very easy to use compared to Facebook,” he said.Yet, amid never-ending reports on potential buyers, long-term profitability, and advertising revenue, Tumblr’s future appears to be planned out in dollars and cents instead of notes—the internal mechanism that tracks how many likes, reblogs and comments a post has received — a sentiment furthered by founder David Karp recent Forbes profile.

via Beyond Reblogging: Tumblr in the Future.

Of the various drivers of B2B website traffic, email has by far the highest conversion rate, finds Optify [download page] in its “2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report.” The study, which examined more than 62 million visits, 215 million pageviews and 350,000 leads from more than 600 small and medium-sized B2B websites during 2012, found email’s conversion rate to be 81% higher than the average 2.89% vs. 1.6% and 42% higher than the next-best performer, referrals 2.04%.

via Email’s Conversion Rate Outperforms Other B2B Web Traffic Sources.

Over the past decade social media usage has been one of the most rapidly and universally adopted activities since the invention of breathing. More than half of the world’s 2.4 billion Internet users sign in to a social network regularly — a figure that is rapidly increasing.SEE ALSO: Biggest Social Media Moments of 2012Even without China, the world’s largest Internet population, Facebook boasts more than 1 billion active users. From Facebook on down the line, the figures for social media adoption are impressive.Check out the following infographic, made by Social Jumpstart and hasai, for more information about global social media usage.

via How the World Consumes Social Media.

First came social sharing, then came social login. By now, the vast majority of internet users have encountered an online site with the “Log in with” button alongside a social network logo, allowing them to sign in using their network credentials.

There are plenty of benefits to using social sign-in, for both users and brands. For online companies, social sign-in provides a portal to a user’s social data, while for consumers, it’s faster than filling out yet another web registration form and easier than having to come up with—and remember—another set of login credentials.

But still a significant percentage of users don’t click.

via Privacy Concerns Keep Users Away From Social Sign-In – eMarketer.