links for 2011-07-12

With social networks competing for our attention, personal blogs that didn't professionalize — turning into miniature versions of the publishing behemoths they were intended to overturn in the first place, completing a dance of mutual co-option — simply became ghost towns.

”A few students said that they didn’t see blogs as journalism, because anyone could do them,” the professors wrote. “They were in class to learn about reporting and writing — capital-J Journalism — and not to repeat what they already do on their own time.”

According to business advisory firm Deloitte which conducted research into mobile consumption, 81% of apps with portability functions were more likely to be downloaded than any other.

The research also found that 45% of consumers with smartphones downloaded an app at least once a week, and that less than 1% of apps published by global consumer and healthcare brands had been downloaded more than 1 million times.