"Last week we received from external security researchers a set of user credentials that had been harvested by a piece of malware," a Facebook spokesperson told us. "Our security experts have reviewed the data, and while the majority of the information was out-of-date, we have initiated remedial steps for all affected users to ensure the security of their accounts."

But what exactly does "invalid" mean? According to Facebook, it might include an email not associated with a Facebook account, an invalid password or an old/expired password.

The world's largest social network was pretty lucky that Ramnit didn't hit up active accounts in Brazil, where the user base grew by nearly 300% or in Japan, which experienced 254% growth over the past year.

Users who accidentally downloaded the malware invited Ramnit onto their computer. Seculert found that a total of 800,000 machines were invaded by the worm between September-December 2011.

In November 2011, ZDNet reported on a similar worm, which enticed users into clicking on a photo of two blonde ladies. If clicked, the malware would burrow into the user's computer and attempt to steal banking information.

Jelomu wrote that the social networking site Mixi was stagnating, that Gree and Mobage were more in the "gaming" category than the social network space. He also said that Twitter was already quite popular. Burcher's data agrees with Jelomu's comment: Japanese Facebook users numbered 1,816,140 in December 2010. That number jumped to 6,266,440 by December 2011, which is 254% growth.

Burcher's data and the Forrester report suggest that while the Japanese user base may be growing, Japanese users are mostly there to watch, not create. Facebook penetration in Japan is only at 4.94%, according to data from Facebook analytics site Social Bakers. The largest amount of Japanese Facebook users is concentrated in the 25-34 age demographic, which accounts for 35% or 2,193,639 users.

Burcher's research is in line with a recent Forrester report that showed online consumers in emerging markets Brazil, China, India and Mexico used social media tools at least once-a-month, and also created more content than users in the West. The number of Facebook users in India grew 139.5% over the past year, and Mexican Facebook users increased by 67.6%. Two other fast emerging markets include Peruvian Facebook, which grew 102.8%, and South Korea (+116.5%).

SCVNGR is also switching away from its own proprietary location database. Thanks to its close relationship with Google (SCVNGR is, in part, funded by Google Ventures), the service is the first site to leverage the new Google Places API.]]> As the company's founder and "Chief Ninja" Seth Priebatsch told us yesterday, switching to the Google Places API allowed SCVNGR to quickly scale globally, as it can now rely on Google's extensive location database to power its service. SCVNGR users will now also be able to create challenges and treks - the central gaming elements on the service - at all of these locations. As we noted when Google first announced it, the Places API "could do for check-ins what Google Maps did for maps." As Priebatsch told us, the fact that Google gave his company access to this comprehensive global database with millions of locations made switching to it a no-brainer.

While SCVNGR plans to launch localized versions of its apps in the future, the interface is currently only available in English. Users can create challenges using their own languages, however.

The service, which launched just 20 weeks ago, currently has about half a million users, though it's not clear how many of these are active users. Priebatsch also told us that the company has managed to double the number of enterprise clients since its official launch to over 1000. SCVNGR clearly has a lot of momentum going for it right now and it will be interesting to see how the service develops now that it is going global.

The study aimed to uncover how the world's online behavior may be shifting, in terms of both consumption and communication. And among the findings were that online consumers in emerging, rapid growth markets are more engaged than those in mature markets, with Egypt and China, for example, having much higher levels of digital engagement than Japan, Denmark or Finland.

In these rapid growth markets, blogging and social networking are becoming increasingly popular: 88% of online users in China and 51% of those in Brazil have their own blog, as compared to only 32% in the U.S. And 92% of those in Thailand, 88% of those in Malaysia and 87% of those online users in Vietnam have uploaded photos to social networks, as compared to only 28% of those in Japan.

The report points to the adoption of mobile technologies as fueling these trends. Mobile users spend more time on social networks, and respondents indicated that they anticipate spending even more time on them in the future.

And on average, across the globe, we are spending more time on social networking sites. The heaviest users of social networking are in Malaysia where people spend nine hours per week. In Russia, online users spend 8.1 per week on social networking sites, and in Turkey, they spend 7.7 hours a week.

Malaysians Spend the Most Time, Have the Most Friends on Social Networks

Malaysians also have the highest number of friends on these sites - an average of 233. In Brazil, the average is 231. This is compared to countries like Japan, where the average is 29, and South Korea, where the average is 50.

According to TNS Chief Development Officer Matthew Froggatt, "We've seen that in mature markets where people have been online for years and where access is ubiquitous, the Internet has already become a commoditised item that consumers take for granted. However, in rapid growth markets that have seen recent, sustained investment in infrastructure, users are embracing these new channels in much more active ways."

For the complete results, including some very nice infographics, visit the TNS Digital Life site.

Over the next several weeks, we will be showcasing many of the other ways the Web is untangling logistical nightmares for companies large and small. Here's a look at what to expect as we explore the rapidly evolving global choreography of goods and information.

Internet of Things

We are no strangers to the Internet of Things (IoT) here at ReadWriteWeb, and this growing field of tech plays a large role in the logistics world today. Many fun consumer IoT implementations have already begun to change the way customers interact with businesses, and a lot of that is due to the growth of smartphone penetration.

Hotels have already begun to let visitors unlock their room doors with smartphones, and RFID chips are looking to help schools keep tabs on the whereabouts of students, faculty and equipment. In the coming weeks, we'll look at how the Internet of Things is revolutionizing logistics and supply chains and is helping businesses get more done.

Mobile

Another key trend we have covered extensively is the growth of mobility, particularly how it helps businesses achieve higher efficiency out of the office. In no surprise that business large and small are investing in mobile enterprise solutions with the big boost it provides to accessibility, as well as the new data that can be captured and analyzed to tighten the loose pieces of the well-oiled business machine.

The benefits of mobility go far beyond communications. With the spread of smartphones, mobile solutions are not just a way to keep business operations in line, but also to reach customers in personal ways right from their pockets. Later on in this series, we will look at how mobile technologies are helping supply chain efficiency with the help of things like sensors and always-on Web-connectivity.

Sustainability

And finally, one of the other areas of the new logistics we will delve into is how these new methods can increase business sustainability. Technology is at the front lines of the fight to make businesses and the world a more eco-friendly place, and a recent collaboration between Columbia University and IBM is one example of that.

For businesses, jumping onboard with the "new logistics" can mean increasing not only environmental sustainability, but business and financial sustainability as well. With the Web and the other technologies mentioned above, business operations are becoming increasingly more efficient, and sustainability challenges are continually being met.

Look for these topics and more as we explore the changing logistics landscape for businesses worldwide in the coming weeks. Have ideas on how technology is helping to shape new logistics? Leave us a comment below and look out for our "new logistics" continues.

Enterprise Marketing Management and Automation Tools

Aprimo Marketing Studio, SAS On Demand and Unica On Demand are some of the market leaders in Web-based marketing management and automation for enterprises. Unica was recently acquired by IBM, possibly to integrate it with some of its e-commerce properties like Sterling Commerce and WebSphere. Logistics software company CDC also offers a Web-based marketing automation tool.

SMB Marketing Tools

SMBs needing a streamlined solution for both logistics and marketing automation should take a look at Netsuite. Other Web-based marketing automation tools for SMBs include Salesforce.com and SugarCRM. If the marketing automation tools built into the solutions above don't cut it for you, Pardot is a marketing automation application that can integrate with CRM solutions like Salesforce.com and Netsuite.

If you just need a Web-based tool with limited automation features for dealing with e-mail marketing campaigns, take a look at both AWeber and Mail Chimp. AWeber also supports some limited social media engagement in the form of sending Facebook and Twitter announcements.

Social Media Marketing Management

For those going beyond e-mail, several tools have emerged for managing social media marketing campaigns. KickApps offers a social media management tool that includes a full content management system, so that you can tightly integrate your entire wWb strategy - from your own site to Facebook - through one tool. It also integrates with other CMSs and WebSphere.

Jive Software offers a market-leading social media engagement solution, and WildFire is quite popular as well.

Website Localization

If you want to have your site available in multiple languages, automatic translation tools aren't going to cut it. You're going to need to hire professional translators and website localizers.

However, if you really need to have a site translated but can't pay for it, and you're fluent enough in another language that you could translate someone else's website, you can check out Free Localization. It's a translation exchange site - you volunteer some time translating a site, someone else translates your site.

For more information on Web localization:

Ten Tips for Website Localization

About.com's localization site

Photo by jaylopez

Says Hellmis, "That's one of the advantages of developing from a mobile device background. We're aware of the consumer's resources. You don't wait to download your maps on a wireless connection and you don't need a sim card. You've got the entire world in your pocket rather than on a server."This sort of functionality is particularly useful for those who travel frequently and are used to suffering from high data connection costs and unstable network coverage. The service also includes information on safety cameras, speed warnings and pedestrian shortcuts, in addition to 6,000 3D landmarks.

Ovi Maps' voice navigation is immediately available for download on 10 handsets including the Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia E72 at nokia.com/maps. Additional phones will be added in the coming months. The fact that Nokia's handsets account for 51% (83 million) of the total number of GPS-enabled devices shipped last year, means that the company may quickly be the world's largest navigation services provider.

English is the de facto lingua franca of global business (pardon the Latin). If you want to do business globally, you have to be able to speak and write English. But most of the world's conversations occur in other languages. We want ReadWriteWeb to be a venue for conversations about innovation not just in English but in all major languages. We want to hear stories about innovation in those languages by people who live and work in those countries. We also want some of those stories to be translated back into English for a global audience - English serving as the hub, as it were.

Our Trailblazing Site in France

ReadWriteWeb France is blazing a trail that we want to follow into other countries. Web innovators in France can now read a selection of posts from ReadWriteWeb in French. Fabrice Epelboin and his team translate ReadWriteWeb posts into French, localize the stories, adding bits that make them relevant to France, and create new stories specific to France. Some of these stories are clearly important to readers outside of France, and we will be bringing these to our global audience. One example is Fabrice's crusade against the Hadopi law. The law is specific to France, but the issues are global, and other governments are working on similar issues that could have alarming outcomes. We hope that ReadWriteWeb becomes both a local and global voice on issues such as this.

5 Other Country Versions in the Pipeline

Versions of ReadWriteWeb are currently being created for:

• China
• Korea
• Spain
• Holland
• Brazil

In each country, we are working with an entrepreneur who is passionate about Web technology.

These countries are all large economies. We already know how many people from these countries read our content in English. Many more will read and engage if the content is in their local language.

Engagement is critical. Reading is easier than writing. Many people are comfortable reading a post in a foreign language: even if they don't understand everything, they at least get critical information that is not available in their native language. But writing a comment and engaging in a conversation is much harder in a foreign language.

Why We Naturally Take a Global View

Many people assume, looking at our content, that ReadWriteWeb is based in Silicon Valley. We are not. We do have writers in the Valley, and we congregate there frequently for major events. But ReadWriteWeb's founder and editor, Richard MacManus, is based in New Zealand. Our COO, Bernard Lunn, is based in New York but is a Brit who was born in Berlin and has lived and worked all around the world. We are a networked business, with no single location, using the online tools that we write about to run our business. So viewing anywhere in the world as a good place to report from and not regarding any place as "foreign" comes natural to us.

For the quarter ending this past June, we compared the findings of three research firms that reported on the money invested in Q2:

• July 21, MoneyTree (PricewaterhouseCoopers, with data from the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters): $3.7 billion, with 612 deals,
• July 18, VentureSource (DowJones): $5.27 billion, with 595 deals,
• July 14, ChubbyBrain (a New York City-based startup partnering with ReadWriteWeb): $5.329 billion, with 613 deals.

VentureSource and ChubbyBrain seem to agree on the top line number. But MoneyTree's number is what most people report, and that is about $1.5 billion different.

As the old saying goes, "A billion here, a billion there. Sooner or later it adds up."

Disclosure: Our VC Funding Report

ReadWriteWeb has an interest in this. We sell a report for $299 that has details on the 240 deals done this quarter in the Internet, mobile, and SaaS space (not clean tech or bio tech), and this is powered by data from ChubbyBrain. So we are biased. But it also means that we are engaged and have been looking at this fairly deeply.

Who Cares?

We also think that accuracy matters, and we are trying to figure whom accuracy matters to. We see three main types of participants in the industry:

1. VCs. They need accurate data for their own fund-raising. They have to be able to benchmark their own funds relative to the broader market.
2. Entrepreneurs. Data on what funding deals are being made, and why, helps them figure out how much to raise, when, and from which VC.
3. The startup "community." This is a catch-all for everyone else, who tend to align to either VCs or entrepreneurs. Journalists, the non-aligned fourth estate, want reliable data to key off interesting stories.

Why does this matter? The startup community matters to the health of the overall economy. As the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA, the trade association of VCs) likes to point out:

"Originally, venture-backed companies have created companies that accounted for 10.4 million jobs and over $2.3 trillion in revenue (based on 2006 data)."

So a headline like "VC Investments Falling Off Cliff in the US" really impacts a lot of people. That is the kind of headline that most journalists/bloggers wrote in April 2009, based on data reported by those trusted sources.

We wrote a really boring headline:

"VC Investment in Internet Deals Did Not Fall Off a Cliff."

That's a lousy headline for generating page views. It's a story about "the dog that did not bark."

The point is that headlines drive business behavior to wild excesses on both the down-cycle bust and the up-cycle boom.

Just good reliable data would help.

Innovation Is Global, But It Keys Off US Data

At ReadWriteWeb, we love to track innovation from far-flung corners of the world, and we see the globalization of innovation as a critical trend.

So we want to be able to report on financing trends for early-stage Web technology startups across Europe and Asia, in addition to the US. And we expect any research process to be able to scale to that challenge.

But the reality today is that, globally, entrepreneurs and VCs key off US data. If they were to key off bad data, that would matter to everyone.

Why This Matters

Driving with one's eyes in the rear-view mirror is dangerous. We take action based on what authoritative sources tell us is happening today, and we base our assumptions on what that means will happen next and plan accordingly.

In reality, these sources tell us what has happened in the past, and they may not even tell us that accurately.

When we at ReadWriteWeb look at the macro picture, we favor a contrarian view simply because the reality we see today is often not what the headlines trumpet. When the markets were in the late stage of a boom, we were sounding the warning signals.

When the markets were melting, we began to see surprising signs of life in the early-stage Web technology world we live in.

Whether you are an entrepreneur or an investor, knowing what the crowd is thinking -- and what the headlines are trumpeting -- is valuable. Even more valuable are the underlying facts and trends that may be missing from those headlines. In the disconnect between the two often lies a lot of opportunity.

We hope to ignite a debate that leads to greater accuracy and transparency of these numbers.

But that's not all. If you play well enough, show some creativity, and exude passion, you may find yourself seated in the famed Carnegie Hall, performing live with other YouTube musicians.

The contest is open to all musicians over age 14, regardless of instrument or skill. But it's not going to be easy. It's going to take some practice.

To begin, download the sheet music and start learning your part. The music? You get to pick your favorite classical piece to showcase your talent. And you'll also have the opportunity to perform a new piece - "The Internet Symphony" - by Chinese composer Tan Dun, the Grammy and Oscar winning composer of the score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

But you won't be practicing alone. YouTube will help you learn the music, rehearse, and upload your performance for the virtual symphony video. Along the way you'll gain insight from Tan Dun and the London Symphony Orchestra, and get tips from pianist Lang Lang. Rest assured, all of your hard work and practice will pay off, culminating in a unique YouTube concert composed of users from around the globe.

If you perform well enough, there may be more in store for you. Musicians who exhibit that certain je ne se quois will get the opportunity to perform at the renowned Carnegie Hall, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, music director of the San Francisco Symphony.

Submissions are open until January 28, 2009. The live performance in Carnegie Hall will be held in April 2009.

Now, would be a good time to start practicing.

Last month, a post by Marissa Mayer on the Google Blog pointed out the necessity of machine translation for the future of search, saying that the idea of machine-assisted translation is "an incredibly empowering idea" that could "change the way users experience the web and communicate with each other."

That same concept of empowering communications has been incorporated into the new SDL Automated Translations tool, too. The difference with SDL's tool is that instead of just focusing on translations for the web, it also translates documents, emails, chats, company intranet sites, and even internal business applications. Thanks to the tool's open nature, it can be incorporated into anything from customer-facing content on the web to an internal wiki or blog.

The quality of translations can be adjusted to fit your needs, too. For example, you may want your homepage to offer perfect translations of your text, but would rather have on-the-fly, instant translations for use in IM and email. For those quick translations, the tool simply gives users an approximate understanding of sentences and phrases by using something the company calls 'gist' translations.

Why This Is Big

According to Gilbane Group analyst Leonor Ciarlone, technology advancements and pure computing power have made machine translation not only viable, but also potentially game-changing. A global economy, the volume and velocity of content required to run a global business, and customer expectations is steadily shifting enterprise postures from "not an option" to "help me understand where MT fits."

In their group's Multilingual Communications as a Business Imperative report, they discovered that participants in the study, content management practitioners in multinational organizations, identified machine translation as one of the top three most valuable technologies for the future. Also of note is global communications company Language Weaver's prediction of a potential $67.5 billion market for digital translation, fueled by machine translation. That predication takes into account how new technologies now provide translation at dramatically lowered costs than before. This opens up new, untapped markets, asserts Language Weaver CEO Mark Tapling.

Markets and making money are obviously the focus for the companies involved in these ventures, but we're excited to see machine translation going beyond Google Translate and opening up the business world, too.

Those big conclusions may be relatively unsurprising but the study also includes a number of other tidbits that might be news to you, as they were to us. It's a really interesting snapshot of different cultural contexts and technology use patterns.

• The United States has the world's highest percentage of Opera Mini users over the age of 48 (7%) and 20% of US web users are women.


• Mobile web users in India are 97% male and that country has the lowest percentage of under-18 mobile web users (5.6%)


• South Africa has the world's highest percentage of women mobile web users (25%) and Facebook is the top site accessed in Opera Mini in that country.

The study is full of interesting statistical observations like the above and is displayed in a very readable format.

While the mobile web and Opera Mini in particularly are very widely used around the world, they are also only a part of the emerging global mobile experience. We like to read about mobile social change activities, often based on SMS, over at MobileActive - a great place to learn about different ways people around the world are using their phones. danah boyd's recent blog post about the way that Palestinian girls receive cell phones as a gift from boyfriends to facilitate serendipitous communication and then struggle with expectations that they will not use it to communicate with other people is also a very interesting read.

Some people argue that a binary definition of gender is falsely limiting and inappropriate for an accurate observation of any cultural experience, but the vast majority of people in much of the world do self-identify as one gender tied specifically to their sex. In that context, it's unclear on what it means that men are 10X as likely to use the mobile web as women - but who would have been surprised if the study had concluded that men spent 10X as much time on the mobile web (including at the dinner table)?

Opera's study will no doubt be discussed in settings ranging from marketing to advocacy of social equity in technology. It's a good one to have in the back of your mind when thinking about the mobile web.