Meeker has been reporting on the state of the Internet and related industries since the mid-90s. Most recently she issued her “Internet Trends 2011″ report at the Web2.0 conference this week in San Francisco. The report touches on the increasing globalization of the Internet, the huge growth and potential for the mobile market, the flow of ad dollars to the Web and mobile and the potential for community building with mobile devices.

Some specifics:

The Web is Really the World Wide Web

In the past three years, China added more Internet users than exist in the US. Growth in Internet use outside of the US is outpacing growth here so fast it isn’t even close. Similarly, more than 80% of users of the top 10 web destinations are from outside of the US.

It’s a Social Web

Social network users today exceed the total number of Internet users in 2006. And, no surprise here, we’re spending more and more time on social network sites like Facebook.

It’s a Mobile Web

Mobile apps and devices are revolutionizing how we live. Now we are no longer tied to a desktop or even a laptop. Mobile has enabled global information flow and action in events like the Arab Spring or the earthquake and tsunami in Japan earlier this year. In fact Meeker calls the empowerment of people through mobile devices the “Mega-Trend of the 21st Century.”

And along with the explosive growth in mobile usage, mobile advertising and mobile commerce is quickly ramping up.

Meeker spends a great deal of ink in her presentation talking about the intersection of local commerce and mobile. Apps like OpenTable, Foursquare, Yelp, Shopkick and products like Goupon and Livingsocial are rejuvinating local businesses. On the flip side, however, shoppers have a world of information – price, reviews, availability – right on their mobile devices. More than 50% of individuals with smart phones who abandoned an in-store purchase did so because they found the same product online for a better price.

If you work around social media or the Web at all, you should give this a read. It’s got something for everyone who works on or with the Web, espcially folks like us who’s business it is to understand trends and how they impact our business.

KPCB Internet Trends (2011)

Privacy Improvements

A few weeks ago Facebook added stronger privacy controls, giving users the ability to control who can see each individual update to their feed – friends, friends of friends or the whole world. This was in response to criticism of its previous system where the default setting shared each user’s updates with the whole world unless they changed their privacy settings.

Many privacy advocates pointed out that the typical Facebook user may not realize that while they are sharing updates with friends, they are in fact sharing those updates with the World.  These changes, offering more granular control over who sees what, are in response to those concerns.

Subscriber Buttons

The latest change allows users to subscribe to other users’ feeds without having to friend them. You might have noticed ‘subscribe’ buttons popping up on some users’ profiles. This allows you to follow that user without having to be their Facebook friend. It also means the old 5,000 user limit on the number of friends anyone can have is no longer meaningful to high profile users who get hundreds of friend requests a day.

Only posts that are marked public can be shared this way. Anything you post that’s only for friends will only go to your friends. To start sharing, go to your profile page and under your picture there is a “Subscriptions” tab. Click it and follow the directions to start allowing users to subscribe to your feed.

Merging Your Page ‘likes’ into Subscribers

If you are an individual who is maintaining a Page (not a personal profile) for yourself, Facebook will now allow you to merge your Page into your personal profile and maintain all of your old likes as subscribers to your public feed.

This is a subtle shift for Facebook. Previously all sharing on Facebook was synchronous or one-to-one. I can only share with those who I have agreed to be friends with, and vice versa. This model is more like Twitter and Google+ where I can follow other people who choose to make their feeds public, without any obligation on their part to follow me back.

We expect further changes to be announced in the run up to Facebook’s F8 conference next week.  And of course we’ll always be here to explain them and make sure you understand how they impact you and your business on Facebook. And of course you should always double check your privacy settings on your personal Facebook account to ensure you are only sharing with the world what you want the world to see.

Jeff Pulver launched the first #140 Character Conference in 2009. Since then numerous #140Confs have been held around the world, exploring the effects of the real-time Internet on individuals, business and society. Kingston might seem a bit out of the way but in many ways it fits in perfectly with the themes of the #140Conf.

Kingston sits on the Hudson River, a region rich with history but still very much relevent today. First settled by the Dutch in the 17th Century, the Hudson Valley played a central role in the War of Independence, the rise commerce and trade in the 18th and 19th century and in the growth of IBM and other high-tech companies in the 20th. The Hudson Valley has been a part of our history for nearly four centuries.

The conference will be exploring social media and its impact on life and on business outside of the major cities and in the small towns and communities like Kingston and the surrounding towns up and down the Hudson. Speakers range from the owner of a vintage boutique in Saugerties to the editor of an online newsite in Roscoe, along with SEO and social media experts, entrepreneurs and technologists.

David will be talking about how NASA is using Twitter and other social media channels to communicate with space enthusiasts as well as ordinary folks who might not be aware of all that the agency is doing. This is a topic close to David’s heart – he’s participated in NASA sponsored Tweetups and he’s a life-long follower of all things space and space exploration. This is also somewhat of a homecoming for David who’s lived most of his adult life within a few miles of the Hudson River including attending graduate school in Albany.

You can find out more about the #140Conf Hudson Valley on their website. If you are interested in attending, contact us for a discount code. You can follow the conference on Twitter by following the #140ConfHV hashtag; David will be tweeting the conference all day from the @nurenu account.

The newest social network is finally here and we’ve been playing with it for close to a week now. Here are our thoughts on what businesses and individuals need to watch out for.

Growth here is rapid.

Google+ is projected to reach more than 20 million users in less than three weeks. This rapid growth brings new follows and friends into the network, and like Quoara a few months ago, we expect most users to be overwhelmed. While Google+ offers ways to organize your friends (into circles), it will still take some time for users to get on top of things. Read Tara Hunt’s account of the torrent of follows she had to grapple with here.

It takes work to control the flood of information.

We agree with Robert Scoble who says Google+ needs a filtering mechanism before it goes mainstream.

One way to filter is by separating out your contacts into different circles and following only those circles you might be interested in at the moment. However, as Scoble points out, unlike Facebook Groups, where the associations are by interest, Google+ circles are ad hoc and there’s no guarantee that your circle of friends in the healthcare industry (for example) will talk about healthcare issues.

Friendship on Google+ is asynchronous.

On Google+ you can follow anyone you want to but unlike Facebook and Linkedin, the people you follow are under no obligation to follow you back. This makes Google+ more like Twitter, a fact noted my many, including GigaOm’s Matthew Ingram who points out that Google+ may be a bigger threat to Twitter than it is to Facebook.

Although Google+ adds a layer (circle) between the consumer and businesses, it boasts the Twitter-esq ability to network effectively with other businesses. And, like Twitter, Google+ will allow like-minded companies to engage each other without scaring off their consumers.

Google+ is real time.

Ingram’s article also points out that Google+ content sharing and interactions all take place in real-time, which creates a real threat towards the Twitter format. There is no ‘wall’ for you to share and archive. There is only the torrent of information you actively share in real-time with your various circles or with all of your friends.

The business experience is still unclear.

Some businesses have already signed up and created profiles. Google is promising a better user experience for business users and has asked businesses to hold off on signing up until it is ready.

There have already been reports of spammers and the early adopter community on Google+ has been quick to report any signs of brands trying to work their way into communities.

Careful …Google+ is not there yet. Start thinking outside of the box.

Our advice to businesses: be patient. It would be ill-advised to jump into the un-defined waters of this website before Google’s approval. Right now, people are looking for people and not for businesses.

However, prime your keyboards and get ready to join the network soon. Once the users become comfortable with the Google system, you can be sure that there will be an amazing amount of opportunity to be realized. Savvy consumers may even start building a “deals” or “coupons” circle, which could provide distance between consumers and their social life yet allow them to engage with businesses on their own terms. This will provide businesses a very real opportunity to be “polite” online (an increasingly difficult achievement through Facebook).

Joining Foursquare is easier and more beneficial than you may think.

Sophisticated mobile apps are now giving smart phone users a whole host of tools to help them find out where to shop, dine, and find entertainment wherever they are, right at their fingertips. Add to that the ability to instantly share their location and leave behind tips and reviews and you have a powerful combination for consumers, retailers and restaurants.

You’ve probably heard of Foursquare and figured it’s just the latest social media flavor of the month. But while it’s fun to share your travels with friends and family, it’s so much more than a game. From humble beginnings, Foursquare has grown into a crowd-sourced guide to what’s new, what’s happening, and where to shop and dine in almost any community.

Here are the four easy steps for you to take advantage of Foursquare.

1. Sign Up

You can’t play unless you join. Create an account so you can check in to your location and others in your neighborhood. You can also see who else is checking in and what they are saying about you and the other businesses in your neighborhood.

2. Leave to-dos and tips

One of the most popular features of Foursquare is leaving tips and to-dos at check-ins. Consumers can leave mini-reviews and suggestions behind for their friends.

You can use this to tell visitors what makes your venue special and why they should visit. Tips and to-dos are also shared, so if your friends check-in anywhere in your neighborhood, they’ll see what you have to say.

3. See what’s being said and who’s stopping by

Foursquare allows you to claim your physical location so you can offer specials to people who check in at your store. Claiming your location also gives you access to information about who is visiting and how often they come by your shop and allows you to offer deals and specials to your customers who check-in.

You can use Foursquare to track traffic over time, see who’s visiting and when, what they are saying and how often they are stopping by. Historical information from before you claimed your location is also available. You can even track how a special changes traffic over time, allowing you to customize and optimize deals you offer through Foursquare.

According to Foursquare, there are more than 3 million check-ins every day! Imagine how many check-ins might be at your store or restaurant; and what’s being said by the people checking-in.

4. Reward your Mayor

Foursquare rewards the person who has the most check-ins at any location by proclaiming them ‘The Mayor.’ The Mayor of your shop is without a doubt your ideal customer. He or she is the person most likely to tell their friends how much they love shopping at your store or eating at your restaurant.