A very comprehensive study was released by Universal McCann, and reported on by Mashable, that looked at the growing role of Social Media in influencing people’s purchasing behavior. Called, “When Did We Start Trusting Strangers“, the study collected responses from 17,000 people in 29 different countries. Operating a Mobile Social Platform like Next2Friends we clearly align and have believed from the outset in much of the study’s findings. Some of the key takeaways from Culture-Buzz:
44% of people surveyed have a blog (compared to 28% in 2006)
Internet users do not rely on just the brands to inform themselves. While 69% visit brands’ official websites, 82% prefer to search for information on a search engine or to read people’s comments on personal profiles on social networks like Facebook, for example (55%). Internet users’ preferred method for exchanging information about a product is MSN Messenger (44.5%). E-mail comes in at a close second (42.4%), followed by blogs (30.4%), and social networks (27.6%).
Most telling is the 82% of people who prefer to search for a products online and read other people’s reviews. Indeed, Jaramiah Owyang highlighted this phenomenon in his post titled, “Your Corporate Homepage is Really Google.com“.
You can have a look at the Slideshare presentation of the data:
Will This Extend to Mobile?
We think the answer will most certainly be yes, if the right tools exist. IM is the most frequented channel for recommendations right now because it is the most ubiquitous. It is present on nearly every social network and delivers immediacy like nothing else…well, almost. We asked ourselves years ago what would happen if information between a person’s social networking profile and their mobile phone could flow seamlessly. We didn’t want to stop at simply recreating the “sitting in front of your computer” experience on a mobile phone, rather, we’ve been tirelessly interested in the unique ways that the mobile phone can deepen the experience of social interaction. And this directly relates to the way people interact with each other over brands. Tools like Next2Friends Ask, where members can ask, respond and receive answers to media rich questions from their mobile, provide even broader possibilities and a level immediacy that just hasn’t been seen or utilized in this space yet. Marry that to Real Time Video Broadcasting from Mobile and you can start to see how much farther this can go. Indeed, this is just the beginning. The future looks very bright for the wisdom of the crowd!
Next2Friends - It’s NOW!
