Today is February 2nd, and here is the review of the day’s best links (my picks).

YourFonts
Turn your own handwriting into a TrueType font in 7 easy steps. (via)

The Casandra Report (Sample Pages)
Get an in-depth look into the lives of 14- to 34-year-old consumers. 74% of young people feel personally impacted by the recession. 54% of young people would rather give up TV than give up social networking. The top three hopes/dreams for the future are (in the following order) have one marriage partner for life, have good physical health, and work in a career I love. (via)

Multi-Site Church Self-Diagnostic Tool
How can your congregation know if a multi-site approach is right for you? Try this self-diagnostic tool to gain insight. (via)

The Economy is Hurting U.S. Families
Requests for therapists have soared and domestic-violence and suicide hotlines are reporting increased calls. The demand for therapists surged 40% from June to December at ComPsych. Calls to the National Domestic Violence Hotline have also increased. For example, there were 21% more calls in September than in September 2007. In October, there were 18% more calls than in October 2007.

4 Steps to Laying Someone Off
(1) Predictability, (2) Understanding, (3) Empowerment, (4) Compassion

The Key to Achieving More…
The ROOV guys say, “If you’ll do now what most people won’t. You’ll be able to do, for the rest of your life, what most people can’t.”

Is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer dying?
IE’s drop of 7% since February last year is a continuing trend. Microsoft lost over 9% of browser market share in the preceding two years.

Unsupervised Socializing Increases a Teen’s Probability of Using Marijuana
According to the February issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, the more frequently adolescents reported going out with their friends in the evenings, the more likely they were to report using cannabis. Unsupervised social time is a critical ingredient for cannabis use for many young people.

Here is the review of the most interesting links of 2009’s 5th week (my picks).

DESIGN

• 22 Most Used Free Fonts By Professional Designers [iShift]
• 50 Must-Have Photoshop Brushes [Smashing Magazine]

MARKETING

• 5 Steps to Going Viral on Twitter [Copyblogger]
  (1) Call to action. (2) Timing. (3) Links. (4) Social Proof. (5) Value.
• The Do’s and Don’ts for Expanding Into the Hispanic Market [Chief Marketer]
• Top Tactics for 2009 [eMarketer]

RESEARCH

• 2009 Facebook Demographics and Statistics Report: 276% Growth in 35-54 Year Old Users [iStrategyLabs]
• Boys With Unpopular Names More Likely to Break Law [LiveScience]
  Boys in the United States with common names like Michael and David are less likely to commit crimes than those named Ernest or Ivan.
• Income Distribution Within U.S. Religious Groups [The Pew Forum]
• Infants Draw On Past To Interpret Present, Understand Other People’s Behavior [ScienceDaily]
  University of Washington psychologists have learned that 10-month-old infants use their prior exposure and understanding of familiar actions by a person to unravel novel actions. However, this ability is limited by the location in which the new action is performed.
• Remember That Time? New Study Demystifies Consumer Memory [ScienceDaily]
  Our findings suggest that marketers may engineer experiences to maximize customer enjoyment by improving the most memorable events. For long-term customer enjoyment, marketers should attempt to make consumers’ initial experiences with a service or product very positive.
  
• Repeat abortions among teenage girls have risen by 70% [Daily Mail]
  In 2007, 5,897 girls under 20 had their second, third or even fourth termination. Sixteen years earlier, in 1991, the figure stood at just 2,934, the journal Contraception reported. Abortions in the UK have reached record levels.
• Teens and Cell Phone Use [Harris Interactive]
  40% say they would die without their phone. 42% say they are able to text blindfolded!
• Video games linked to poor relationships [TechRadar.com]
  Researchers at Brigham Young University in Utah talked to 813 university students across the US and found that as the amount of time the students spent playing video games went up, the quality of their relationships with friends and family suffered. The more people play videogames, the more frequent their involvement in ‘risky’ behaviours such as drinking and drug abuse.

THE REVIEW OF 2008
Jan. 28th - How to be a Better Listener in 3 Easy Steps
Jan. 29th - 7 Church Leadership Mistakes to Avoid

THE REVIEW OF 2007
Jan. 26th - Women Prefer Direct Mail More Than Email
Jan. 30th - 4 Things Young Adults Want in a Church
Jan. 31st - 4 Qualities of Successful, Growing Churches