Observer Editor Leaving... Hirschorn's Predictions...

BUT ARE THEY LOOKING AT THE ADS?: Time spent on social networking and video sites has grown dramatically during the past few years, according to a new report from the Nielsen Company. The report found that during the last year alone, time spent on sites such as Facebook surged 73 percent. And in February, social network usage exceeded e-mail for the first time. There have been 87 percent more online social media users than in 2003, with 883 percent more time devoted to those sites. Time spent on video sites has also shot up almost 2,000 percent since 2003 and the number of Americans frequenting online video destinations has increased 339 percent during the past six years. Unique viewers of online video rose 10 percent during the last year, the number of streams grew 41 percent and the total minutes spent with online video increased 71 percent.

— Amy Wicks