A doggone reality check

"We spend too much time talking to ourselves in this industry, rather than getting out there and finding out what's really going on in the world."

So says David Hackworthy, chief strategy officer for ad agency DDB London as relayed via a Reuters story.

The provocation for this rather sage outburst? DDB questioned a panel of taxi drivers, pub landlords and hairdressers -- as Reuters describes them,"often seen as barometers of popular trends":

• Nearly 90 percent had no idea what a podcast is.
• More than 70 percent had never heard of blogging.

"Our research not only shows that there is no buzz about blogging and podcasting outside of our media industry bubble, but also that people have no understanding of what the words mean," said Sarah Carter, DDB's planning director. "It's a real wake-up call."

Carter says that when she said "blogging," panelists thought she meant "dogging."

As Reuters explains: Dogging is the phenomenon of watching couples have sex in semi-secluded places such as out-of-town car parks. News of such events are often spread on Web sites or by using mobile phone text messages.

OK, so maybe this text-message thing -- an area where the U.S. is behind -- does have legs. But that's a bit more than I wanted to know, thanks.