The Pew Internet & American Life Project recently released a report on “The Internet’s Growing Role In Life’s Major Moments” and a data memo on “The Internet’s Penetration and Impact.”

Pew’s numbers indicate that the Internet continues to become more important in our everyday lives: for example, helping us cope with illness or make a major purchasing, investment or career decision. Meanwhile, more Americans than ever have Internet access, and the number of broadband users continues to grow.

Takeaway for marketers: Duh.

“Nothing gives a person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances.”
—Thomas Jefferson

According to this AdAge article, here’s how to deal with a blogger who is giving you bad press:

1. “The first step is to contact the blogger and discuss the issue in a non-threatening way. See if you can reach an agreement.”

2. “Second, you might have to accept what you cannot change. It’s the bloggers’ rights to communicate their opinions as long as the information was obtained through legal channels.”

3. “Try to find a third party to broker a discussion between you and the blogger.”

4. “Blog back, but only if you already have a blog.”

Seems like they left out step five: Think about what the blogger is saying, and whether it has any validity. If it does, address it. If not, ignore it. If it’s genuinely libelous, you know what to do.

Takeaway for marketers: Bloggers are not some rare species of wild animal that require special rules in order to be dealt with. They’re people, just like you. So just talk to them … honestly.

This article from Forbes is enlightening: The bandwith bill for YouTube is running at about a million bucks a month. Odds are it’s not going down (or holding steady) any time soon. They’ve raised $11.5 million in venture capital in the past year, which means that six months from now, you’re likely to see a YouTube with a lot more ads, plus pay-for-premium-placement real estate on the home page.

Limelight Networks is the bandwidth provider to YouTube. No, they’re not a public company.

Politics aside, I think it’s a safe bet that Stephen Colbert’s remarkable celebration of free speech at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner will easily become one of the most-viewed Internet clips of 2006.

And in an interesting example of citizen media springing up like mushrooms after the rain, check out this page, a thank you to Colbert that elicited 13,000 comments in its first 24 hours online.

MAY 3 UPDATE: The YouTube links posted previously have been taken down “due to copyright infringement.” They reached about a million views before they were removed. The page above has links to the video. If that fails, you know what to do, Googlers.