Founded in 2003, Mr & Mrs Smith is a boutique-hotel booking service representing the coolest, sexiest and most intimate places to stay around the globe. Each of its 500-plus properties is rigorously researched, visited personally and then reviewed anonymously by an array of tastemakers and travel detectives, including fashionista Stella McCartney, burlesque icon Dita von Teese and jetsetter Bee Shaffer to name just a few. Mr & Mrs Smith is offering all PSFK readers a complimentary BlackSmith membership which is valid for one year. Members have access to life-enhancing extras, from champagne and free nights to late check-outs and room upgrades, when they visit any hotel in our collection.

Today, we reached another milestone: 150 million people around the world are now actively using Facebook and almost half of them are using Facebook every day. This includes people in every continent—even Antarctica. If Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria. When we first started Facebook almost five years ago, most of the people using it were college students in the United States. Today, people of all ages—grandparents, parents and children—use Facebook in more than 35 different languages and 170 countries and territories.

leader in measuring the digital world, today released November 2008 data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that U.S. Internet users viewed 12.7 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 34 percent versus year ago. Hulu Retains #6 Ranking In November, Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with nearly 5.1 billion videos viewed (representing a 40 percent share of all videos viewed), with YouTube.com accounting for more than 98 percent of all videos viewed at the property. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 439 million videos (3.5 percent), followed by Viacom Digital with 325 million (2.6 percent) and Yahoo! Sites with 304 million (2.4 percent). On the heels of a surge in viewership in October, Hulu retained its #6 position with 227 million videos viewed (1.8 percent).

What were the top social media sites of 2008? ComScore came out with its worldwide traffic stats for November a few days ago (so these don’t include December). They are a mix of social networks and blogging platforms. Blogger, the orange line in the chart above, still rules the roost with an estimated 222 million unique worldwide visitors in November (up 44 percent from November, 2007). Facebook, the blue line, is on pace to pass it soon with 200 million unique visitors (up 116 percent). (Note, though, that this is more than the 140 million active users Facebook itself reports—go figure). MySpace is pretty steady at 126 million uniques. Wordpress is a close fourth and gaining with 114 million (up 68 percent). And Windows Live Spaces is down 22 percent to 87 million uniques

To that end, OMD is testing a new offering called OMDPro (as in "proactive") with one client that offers a mix of competitive business intelligence, consulting, pop culture trendspotting and new techniques for using both emerging and traditional media. Cohen declined to name the client, but sources said it is Dial, a unit of Henkel Corp. "We want to be like the CIA for our clients," he said. Media shops have to be seen as an extension of their clients' marketing departments, he said. Otherwise, "we're not doing something right."

those that have “the skill, the will and the till” will be able to market their way through these tough times and end up on the other side with a stronger market share and a more powerful brand position. “‘The skill’ means they have the marketing expertise. ‘The will’ means they have a culture to go against what seems to be a tough trend. And ‘the till’ means that they have some resources to be able to invest.”

One segment that still needs to prove its ROI value is social networking. Sites like MySpace and Facebook are still grappling with how best monetize their massive amounts of inventory, and that struggle is likely to receive increased attention in 2009. What of still-emerging segments like mobile and video games? An even more ROI-obsessed environment makes things tougher. But there are exceptions. “Just saying emerging media is all vulnerable is wrong,” said Baehr. “For example, if my target is men 18-25, then I’ve got to look at gaming.” Because dollars will be tighter across the board, publishers, like buyers, will also have to be pickier. Maybe not every site launches an iPhone app, five new widgets and a Twitter program this year. “As a publisher, you’ve got to keep publishing,” said Naylor. “The survivors will be rewarded. But you have to make decisions about where you innovate.”

In place of MediaSentry, the RIAA says it will use Copenhagen-based DtecNet Software ApS. The music industry had worked with DtecNet previously both in the U.S. and overseas, and liked its technology, said RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy.

For Mr. O’Neal, the transition to outright promotion is more complicated, Ms. Hessert said. “It’s a delicate issue — you don’t want the authenticity to be smeared by the commercialism,” she said. “People who know that you really care, this is really you, will accept a certain degree of commercialism down the line

Wired, which is usually thick with consumer electronics ads, was the worst hit, down 47 percent from a year ago to 43.6 ad pages. Architectural Digest fell 46 percent, to 63.2, from 116.8. Vogue and Lucky were both down about 44 percent.

Book sales have deteriorated since the beginning of October, falling about 7 percent compared with the same period the previous year, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 70 percent of sales. That slide is driving much of the immediate cutbacks, but the publishing industry is also being convulsed by longer-term trends, including a shift toward digital reading and competition from an array of entertainment options like video games and online social networking.

Unless you work in a nuclear power plant, the answer is certainly no (and if you work there, I hope the answer is yes.) No, everything is not okay. Not in a growing organization. Not if your company is making change happen, or dealing with customers. How could it be? And yet, that's what so many managers focus on. How to make everything okay. We spend so much time smoothing things out, we lose the opportunity for change, or for texture or creativity. Instead of working so hard to make everything okay, perhaps it is more helpful to work hard at living with a world that rarely is.

Digital is still small, and stalling: All of this would be fine if digital revenue was growing to meet the shortfall, but current growth rates are not nearly enough. DMGT-owned Daily Mail (LSE: DMGT) publisher Associated Newspapers nearly trebled its online income to £9 million in the year to September, while regional stablemate Northcliffe made 42 percent more at £17 million.

It’s kind of touching. And if we’re not quite ready to offer public-radio-style donations to keep Hulu alive, the least we can do is sit through some ads. Sanctimony has even developed among Hulu users. When a viewer complained on the site, “There are soooooo many commercials,” another shot back, “It’s FREE. Go somewhere else if you are not happy. Or perhaps you would be willing to pay Hulu? Until that time, there will be commercials.”