Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Study: Social Media Transforming Our Influences on What to Buy

Re: Study: Social Media Transforming Our Influences on What to Buy

Fuzzy — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:12:47 -0000

good research

Re: Study: Social Media Transforming Our Influences on What to Buy

Matt Denver | Advertising & — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:03:41 -0000

The social media phenomenon reminds me of jr. high school. You get what the popular kids get, and then youâ€™re more likely to fit in. Realizing that you and someone else (or hundreds of someone elseâ€™s) likes a certain band or a certain book makes you feel like part of the â€œinâ€ crowd. I think thatâ€™s part of the draw of social media. Also, people like to be heard and on social media pages you get to say whatever you want for as long as you want. I agree with New Kids â€“ you donâ€™t have as much to lose of trusting a stranger for an opinion and giving your own â€“ you werenâ€™t friends to begin with so thereâ€™s nothing to lose, only to gain.

Re: Study: Social Media Transforming Our Influences on What to Buy

New Kids — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:09:18 -0000

Its a very interesting question, but online you don't have much to lose by trusting strangers (for the most part). There's always the added (or perceived) risk of danger interacting with people in "the real world". But I think people WANT to trust strangers, and the internet makes that possible.

Re: Study: Social Media Transforming Our Influences on What to Buy

Jules Pieri — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:44:19 -0000

Good point Richard...good clarification.

Re: Study: Social Media Transforming Our Influences on What to Buy

Jules Pieri — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:12:08 -0000

I do agree that word of mouth has always been the highest, best way for people to make decisions about products or purchases, but the big point really is the trusting of strangers thing. I find this behavior to be at the highest end among women, in particular moms. They really need social media to do their jobs...much like software developers use social media (forums etc.) to crack tough problems, so do Gen X and Gen Y moms. Social media is their go-to place for advice, support, and recommendations. And since moms control 15% of the American economy, social media is the place to be for any product or service looking to be noticed and adopted by that powerful population.

Re: Study: Social Media Transforming Our Influences on What to Buy

Martin Edic — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:21:52 -0000

We monitor social media and collect the data for use by our analysis tools. We have over 700 million historical results with up to 30 fields of meta dataÂ associated with each. We're adding 10 million results daily. This is just in the last ten months- which indicates how fast this conversational layer of the Internet is growing.
This ushers in an entirely new market research or competitive intelligence model, observational research on a global level.
So I'm not surprised by your results- this is not a novelty or a short term trend, it is an entirely new and permanent addition to our collective lives...

Re: Study: Social Media Transforming Our Influences on What to Buy

suresh — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:55:10 -0000

I completely agree with you. Even in my case, previously I used to buy on my own, maybe asking a couple of family and friends.

Now, its all the reviews and experiences other people online who share that influence my buying decisions..Web is transforming like never before

Re: Study: Social Media Transforming Our Influences on What to Buy

Shannon Nelson — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:45:15 -0000

I 100% agree with you. I've been a beauty blogger for 3 years and over the last two began seeing more and more women basing their beauty purchases based on what "we" are saying. It also means that brands no longer can just say "Here is our miracle product--it works!" because chances are, several beauty bloggers have tried it out and are writing about it online--good or bad.

Creating a product that delivers on its promises is not just an option anymore, but something consumers are demanding with beauty bloggers (and all other niche bloggers) giving their personal review of it.