Add to Any, the makers of some of the most popular widgets for Facebook, have this week highlighted the sharing power of Facebook.

There report shows that when sharing content users are more likely to use Facebook than any other application, including email.

Share of sharing is broken down as follows:
Facebook 24%
Yahoo Bookmarks, Yahoo Buzz, and Yahoo Messenger 14.4%
Email 11.1%
Twitter 10.8%
Digg 4.4%
Bebo 3.1%
Linkedin 0.4%

When you consider that sharing content is the business model for Digg these figures demonstrate that Facebook really is all things to all men.

“A sophisticated micro-payments service” will launch this autumn said Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of the Wall Street Journal.

So it would seem that plunging ad generated revenue has forced the hand of one of the big players in publishing, to a paid for subs model. Interestingly it would seem that they are looking to adopt a model of  micro-payments for individual articles and premium subscriptions to WSJ.com, after years in publishing I would hope this isn’t translated as “all news based content free of charge, with all channel specific content and that deemed as high value paid for”. As the only attractive environments for advertisers within news sites being channel specific and premium content, this model doesn’t make for a great bed follow with an advertising business model as well.

It makes sense that news and topical editorial is free, as a driver for topical relevancy in search, but paying for the ‘good stuff’ or the ‘unique stuff’ limits the opportunity to generate revenue from advertising, as these environments are where advertisers want to be and not next to news stories highlighting topics such as economical doubt.

Anyway this is pretty much conjecture on my part, but will be interesting to see what the plan is when it comes into full effect

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Comscore have just released stats that show ad clutter to be down, 10% less display ads per page than a year ago.

Wonder if that will have an effect on CPMs? Or as I touched on yesterday will publishers start to consider a paid for subscription model again?

“Who started this rumor that all information should be free and why didn’t we challenge this when it first came out? I say this in college classrooms and they start to throw their shoes at me.” Ann Moore CEO of Time Inc, with quotes like that it looks like publishers are back tracking already. Guess if publishers are considering this model, then it might create an environment for YouTube to start making some money through paid for subscriptions?

I really like this site built by the Tate Liverpool, not for its aesthetic but for the incredibly powerful and emotional UGC, it underlines that UGC isn’t just the preserve of teenagers.

This project certainly demonstrates that UGC isn’t something that needs to be feared and that the content produced can often be incredibly valuable.

This initiative also highlights that emotive subjects can translate really well online, just read some of the comments.

Nielsen Online has shown that 71 percent of online shoppers agree that consumer reviews make them feel more comfortable with a product before purchase. 81 percent of online shoppers have used user generated reviews when deciding on their purchases for the festive period.

Multiple reviews for products were important for 63% of those researched, only 14 percent searched for reviews from an established source and just three percent researched using their friends.

I’m currently looking for white goods (new kitchen) and I used more customer reviews than established product review guides. This was due to the fact that I was researching the product online and with the UGC I didn’t need to register or pay for the information, never the less these reviews affected my decision making and strengthen the fact that this research cannot be over looked by any brand. With the economic pinch taking affect people will research harder for the purchases they make, providing brands that offer the best platforms and access to user generated reviews in a strong position to take share from their competitors.