Both automobile and bicycle purchases fell overall in the first quarter of 2009, but in a surprising twist, bike sales trumped car sales (2.6 million bicycles vs. 2.5 million cars). And while bike sales are down 30% overall from the first quarter of 2008, it’s a slower drop than car sales, which are down over 35%. Granted, bikes are much cheaper than cars–many college students can afford a brand new bike but would be hard-pressed to purchase a car. Still, Dennis Markatos, founder of Sustainable Energy Transition, thinks it is also an indicator of a growing bike culture in the U.S.

Markatos may be right (and just in time for national bike month). With increasing gas prices and decreasing spending money, bikes seem like a reasonable choice for many city-goers who don’t want to brave the public transportation system. New roadways and bike lanes are being built for bikers every day. The East Coast Greenway Alliance plans to connect paths from Key West, Florida, to Calais, Maine, on a 3,000-mile-long paved trail, and New York City is planning to install 33 miles of new bike lanes in the coming year. And with hybrid bikes becoming increasingly common, there’s no reason for even lazy commuters to shun the bicycle lifestyle.

Cars won’t go away, of course, but increased bike sales may mean less-crowded public transportation, cleaner air, and city streets with minimal traffic. More importantly, a swell in the amount of bikers on the road could mean that car drivers will be forced to give bicycle enthusiasts the one thing they truly covet: Respect.

As simple as it sounds, writing GOOD summaries is the key to gaining popularity, high ratings and well, money. Here are some important points to keep in mind:

1. Correct grammar and spelling are essential to the success of your summaries and reviews.
2. Short sentences and short paragraphs (1-4 sentences) are much easier to read. Tip: Sum your paragraph’s main idea in its first line.
3. Write for a diverse audience. The internet is visited by readers of different ages, occupations and interests, not to mention beliefs, cultures and countries . Try to write something that’ll be comprehensive and accessible to everyone.
4. Stress important words and key sentences. Just like we’ve done above…
5. And finally – select a relevant category for your summaries and use tags (relevant keywords) to make them easy to find.

As new technologies come out so does the new use of money and what it’s spent on. This recent chart shows what the average college student spends over four years at a university.

In a nut shell I see it like this: Marketing is more for branding and the business image, where advertising is more for selling and showing a product.

The argument that throws me is why a logo or a logo and name is displayed say on a bus stop bench or sign it is then called advertising? I mean it’s not selling a product, it’s more just trying to get brand name recognition, which clearly is Marketing and not advertising. I mean if you see a sign for a DWHS store. That has the name and logo, is that a add even though there is nothing for sale on it. And would you say “look at the marketing sign” apposed to “look at that advertisement”. My guess is advertising rolls off the tongue better and usually means less so it used more commonly said, even though some ads as we might say are really strictly for the purpose of marketing.

Also I have heard marketing is more about selling the company rather then what they do. For example explaining the company uses solar panels for their office is marketing and saying they have solar panels for the new car they are releasing is advertising.

If you have any thoughts on this let me know!