Study: Canadians suffer from multiple (online) personalities
Not surprisingly, Net-savvy Canadians claim to have multiple online accounts to manage — such as a Facebook page, Twitter feeds, LinkedIn profile, IM and email accounts — but managing them all can be a pain in the, er, mouse-clicking finger.
Not surprisingly, Net-savvy Canadians claim to have multiple online accounts to manage — such as a Facebook page, Twitter feeds, LinkedIn profile, IM and email accounts — but managing them all can be a pain in the, er, mouse-clicking finger.
MSN Canada commissioned Harris/Decima to survey online Canadians on their social networking habits and found 9 out of 10 have more than one online profile to manage, while 1 in 5 claim to have 10 or more accounts. More than half (53 percent) concede it's time-consuming to log in and keep up with it all.
"This survey finds it can be difficult to manage all of your profiles, with most of us staying on top of only one or two" says Andrew Assad, research manager for Microsoft Canada's Consumer and Online Group, in a phone chat with Sync.
"We found the majority of Canadians would like a way to aggregate all of their profiles in one place, which can help save time and better manage their online identity, or brand" he adds.
Assad is referring to today's announcement about the new Windows Live Essentials, a suite of free services that can give users a view of their online life by glancing at the home page. Those who already use Windows Live Hotmail or Windows Live Messenger will automatically be upgraded with these new consolidating services, while new users can download the software for free.
Simply click the "Home" tab at the top of the screen and add whichever networks you'd like to access from the main page. Assad says MSN Canada is currently negotiating with more than 50 partners to add feeds to the Live interface in the coming months.
This online poll of 1,019 Canadians was conducted in February and March, 2009, using a random sample of Harris/Decima panel members.
Click this picture if you want to see what the new Windows Live homepage will look like:
Filed Under: Computers & Software
So far, this is just a new look to an old msn social networking, and the new Windows Live, like this survey and article, seem like they are part of a ploy to bolster interest in a dying competitor for social networking interest.
If facebook, Twitter, etc. are willing to work together, it could be a helpful site. If they do, then they are essentially serving Windows Live. In the process the users will suffer by eventually being drawn into a painfully-slow, poorly constructed, ad-overloaded system.
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