Consumers are Facing an Unprecedented Data Deluge... and Unfiltered Flood of Information is Taking Its Toll

First Annual Digital Lifestyle Survey finds web users hungry for a new way to filter the flood

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Apr 27, 2011, 09:00 ET

NEW YORK, April 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In April of 2011 200 content consumers and web surfers were surveyed for the "Digital Lifestyle Information Survey 2011," which finds that consumers are facing a torrent of data growing faster than ever before. Results prove that the continued growth of content and data creation, without new ways to manage the consumer experience, will create catastrophic results for business productivity and people's personal lives and wellbeing.

The impact is widespread. A stunning 48.5% of the survey respondents said that they where connected to the web: "from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed." The majority (64.2%) said that the information coming at them today had grown by more than 50% compared with last year. A staggering 72.7% described their data stream as: "A roaring river," "a flood," or "a massive tidal wave," Said Steven Rosenbaum, CEO of Magnify.net and author of Curation Nation, who fielded the survey:

"The impact on the workplace is clear. Workers from all walks of life are online more, and anxious when they're not connected to the web."

76.8% "My job requires me to be available online"
50.3% "My clients expect to be able to contact me at all times"
41.2% "I expect my team members to respond to me at all times"
31.6% "When I'm offline, I am anxious that I've missed something"

And the impact is more than just at work, people's personal lives are impacted as well. Perhaps most startling, 33% of respondents said they check emails in the middle of the night. Personal time and work time have blurred, so much so that even the middle of the night is no longer of limits.

76.7% "I read emails and respond on evenings and weekends"
57.4% "I never turn off my phone"
43.2% "I will answer texts or emails while on a date/social occasion."
33.0% "I check emails in the middle of the night"
35.2% "I will answer work emails while with my children"

Today, people are missing important news, information, and appointments. Friendships and family suffer. They hope for a new filter to manage the flood.

46.9% "I am unable to answer all my email"
41.4% "I feel I miss important news"
39.9% "I feel I ignore family or friends"
16.9% "I miss appointments"
62.5% "I wish I could filter out the flood of data"

Trying to manage the Data Deluge has individuals racing to keep up, trading sleep for productivity, and then –often just throwing in the towel. We asked

"What do you do to cope?"

79.5% "I check my email all of the time"
76.6% "I work weekends/evenings"
46.6% "I admit I can't keep up"
33.8% "I try and sleep less"

People are engaged in Social Curation and see content publishing, linking, and re-tweeting as a key part of their emerging Digital Identity. Individuals managing and sharing content no longer consider it a hobby, but rather part of how they define themselves in the digital and social web world.

61.3% "I consider the content I share part of who I am"
58.4% "My friends on Facebook count on me to share interesting things"
47.4% "My followers on Twitter read my tweets and RT's for info"
40.9% "I take pictures and post them at many events I attend."
38.7% "My co-workers follow me, and read my posts and tweets"

Key Findings:

31.6% "When I'm offline, I am anxious that I've missed something"
79.5% "I check my email all of the time"
46.9% "I am unable to answer all my email"
62.5% "I wish I could filter out the flood of data"
61.3% "I consider the content I share part of who I am"

Conclusions:

Says the author of Curation Nation, Steven Rosenbaum: "The volume of raw data coming at us has increased more than 50% in the past 12 months. As more digital devices and software services proliferate, the volume of data and speed of increase will grow exponentially. This simply isn't sustainable. Working harder, or sleeping less are recipes for disaster."

Google's Eric Schmidt has said publically that we are now creating 5 exabytes of data every 3 days. That's all the information that was created from the beginning of time through 1978. There's significant empirical evidence to show that the creation of both human and machine made data and information will only continue to increase.

Says Rosenbaum: "People have reached their capacity to manage data, impacting family, friends, productivity, and even sleep. Algorithmic solutions (better spam filters, smarter search, more connected devices) will in fact expand the problem, creating more undifferentiated data."

He says the future is not in better computers, or smarter algorithms, but in embracing the powerful human ability to find, sort, and contextualize information and ideas. It is the dawn of a new era for the web, the human filtered web. The curated web.

Explains Rosenbaum: "human data management, shared and community filtering, and personal recommendations will fulfill individual's Digital Identity as content curators – while allowing content consumers to 'surf' less, and consume curated content delivered to them by trusted sources."

Increasingly "you are what you curate," says Rosenbaum.

FOR MORE INFORMATION;

Steven Rosenbaum is widely considered to be one of the world’s leading experts in content curation, both how it has emerged and how it is rapidly evolving. He speaks publically about how serious individual data overload is, and how much it is within our control to change the way information impacts our lives.

For full report, please visit

http://www.magnify.net/learn/download/Lifestyle_Information_Survey_2011

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