A fundamental shift in the way we communicate

Comments

1. Allen H Simon says

   July 1, 2010 at 11:11 am

   The statistics are very impressive, but I’m not sure the business-related implications are that significant. Sure, more people trust a friend’s recommendation than a TV ad, but that was true 20 years ago also. Sure, a company’s brand image affects its business, but that’s hardly a recent invention. If more people have products “find them” via social media than search for them on Google, that’s a shift in Internet usage, not necessarily lifestyle overall. I still find Cheerios by going to the store, not waiting for them to find me on Facebook. Anyway, how many of the 50 gazillion posts on Facebook are about products? Most of them seem to be basic gossip, clever cat videos, or personal opinions, emotions, activities, etc.

    

   From a business standpoint, it seems like only few products could really take advantage of this information: online games, ebooks, trendy stuff. A lot of companies try to create clever videos, hoping they’ll “go viral” on social media, but would someone choose to buy a car, or even a food product, because of its clever video? How can a company affect what people say about them online (or offline), other than providing a good value product and good customer service?

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