Lawyer Cat and Windows 11 – home PC demand to rise [TUPdate]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, July 16, 2021

What do lawyer cat and Windows 11 have in common?

Embarrassment or fear of humiliation may boost home PC sales. If that doesn’t do it, staying connected and current will encourage home PC users to upgrade.

If you missed it, the “lawyer cat” viral meme recently had its day of fame. A tech-challenged lawyer compelled to participate in a mid-pandemic judicial hearing over Zoom got confused and embarrassed by having his face appear as a cat’s. Webcam software bundled with an older Dell PC featured a filter that changed a person’s image before being displayed through Zoom.

The lawyer cat meme has a connection to the upcoming launch of Microsoft Windows 11. There could be the fear of something going wrong using older PCs, especially those with older bundled software.

The newest version of the venerable operating system will reportedly require more robust hardware than is present in much of the installed base. The final requirements are still in flux. However, Windows 11 is likely to need users to have newer home PCs than what they’re actively using today.

Continue reading “Lawyer Cat and Windows 11 – home PC demand to rise [TUPdate]”
Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. It may not be used in a generative AI system without express written permission and licensing. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

Communication platforms – fast, now, or visible? [TUPdate]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, March 12, 2021

The frustrated plea “can you hear me now?” has evolved to include “can you see me now?” During pandemic and suddenly-working-at-home times, video calls have driven home the importance of having a robust, fast, and synchronous connection. Asynchronous activities such as text messaging and email don’t have the same need for speed and an instantaneous persistent connection.

It got me wondering – are people choosing one device over another for communication that demands higher-bandwidth or low-latency connections? Is there an age difference preference for right-now synchronous versus later-on asynchronous communication activities? Furthermore, are there other aspects beyond bandwidth and immediacy that encourage people to choose one device over another for certain types of communications? Are video work meetings, for example, more PC-based than smartphone-based?

So, I investigated our results from TUP/Technology User Profile 2020 to compare how widely communication activities are in regular use. I netted together asynchronous activities separately from synchronous ones. Then, I looked at differences by device type – smartphone, home PC, and tablet. I also looked at differences by age group, knowing that younger adults often have different sensibilities and experiences around communication than older or the oldest adults.

Continue reading “Communication platforms – fast, now, or visible? [TUPdate]”
Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. It may not be used in a generative AI system without express written permission and licensing. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

Device type used most often for communication [MetaFAQs]

There are many ways to communicate with our connected devices – a voice phone call, video one-on-one calls, text messages, emails, and others. Do people use one type of device for every type of communication activity, choose different devices based on the type of activity, or is there a mixture? This MetaFAQs looks at users in the US, UK, Germany, and Japan to see which types of devices (smartphones, PCs, tablets, or some combination) are used the most widely for each of a dozen communication activities.

Continue reading “Device type used most often for communication [MetaFAQs]”
Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. It may not be used in a generative AI system without express written permission and licensing. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

Active use of social networks Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp by country [MetaFAQs]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, December 28, 2020

How many adults actively use Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp? How does this vary by country? How has their share shifted over time? This MetaFAQs shows the number of online adults who reported using these social networks in the previous 30 days in the US, Germany, and the UK.

Continue reading “Active use of social networks Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp by country [MetaFAQs]”
Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. It may not be used in a generative AI system without express written permission and licensing. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

How many social networks do Americans actively use? [MetaFAQs]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, December 23, 2020

Social networks’ power comes alive with its connections, so people want to be where their friends and contacts are. However, not all networks are the same, and some people choose different ones. How many social networking platforms do Americans actively use? Are they broadly connected to a wide number, or do they only use a few? This MetaFAQs shows the distribution of online American adults by the number of social networks they actively used – having connected in the prior 30 days. These include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, SnapChat, Twitch.tv, Tumblr, Nextdoor, and others.

Continue reading “How many social networks do Americans actively use? [MetaFAQs]”
Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. It may not be used in a generative AI system without express written permission and licensing. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

Active use of Instagram by age group and country [MetaFAQs]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts, December 18, 2020

How many adults regularly use Instagram? Is there an age skew? How does any age skew vary by country? This MetaFAQs reports on the active use of Instagram by age group and country.

Continue reading “Active use of Instagram by age group and country [MetaFAQs]”
Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. It may not be used in a generative AI system without express written permission and licensing. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.

Meetings are dead. Long live meetings! Are we digitally transformed yet? [TUPdate]

Dan Ness, Principal Analyst, MetaFacts – December 17, 2020

During the pandemic and with many employees working from home, much of communicating with coworkers and managers has shifted online. Employees have many options and are using most of them.

Video and online chats by employer size

Employees working for all company sizes are actively using a range of video calling, video conferencing, and group chats. Employees working for larger employers have a higher share who regularly communicate online than among employees with smaller employers.

These communication methods are more entrenched in the US, with most online employees regularly doing at least one of these activities.

Online employees in the UK are almost as actively communicating as Americans are. In Japan, however, the shares among both larger and smaller employers are lower than in the US, UK, or Germany.

Continue reading “Meetings are dead. Long live meetings! Are we digitally transformed yet? [TUPdate]”
Usage guidelines: This document may be freely shared within and outside your organization in its entirety and unaltered. It may not be used in a generative AI system without express written permission and licensing. To share or quote excerpts, please contact MetaFacts.