A recent article from the The Wall Street Journal Online, The Wizards of Buzz, breaks some very interesting news about online customer ratings, comments, blog posts, and social book marking sites. There exists a certain level of trust between online users and online consumers, a trust that is continually strengthened by the popularity of online social networking. Therefore, when a member of the network rates a service highly or blogs about a particular topic, the online community pays attention. The community especially pays attention when one of their prolific pundits gives something a mention.
Although hundreds to thousands of people post on sites such as Reddit.com, Del.icio.us, Stumbleupon.com and more, a relatively small group of people make up the majority of posts. These individuals are followed by readers and become respected for their expertise or entertaining content. It is this group of commentators who then have the ability to direct traffic in droves to websites or attention to recent news pieces.
With their fairly wide exposure, these seemingly ordinary people gain a shade of celebrity status among their web readership. We all know that celebrities are courted left and right to promote causes, well now these web personas are being pushed by sites and companies to plug their products. What does these mean for the social networking sphere which promotes such a sense of community and trust? Just as quickly as companies are entreating web personas to create some buzz about their products, social networking sites are initiating teams dedicated to nipping this in the bud. If users cannot trust the integrity of the commentary on a site and the viability of the user ratings, then there will be no reason to visit.
Marketers are trying their best to infiltrate the latest trend in online activity, hoping to go beyond site ads and clickthroughs to blog mentions and inflated rankings. With people spending so much time online talking and interacting, it is an ingenious, yet treacherous frontier to pursue for creating buzz.
Although hundreds to thousands of people post on sites such as Reddit.com, Del.icio.us, Stumbleupon.com and more, a relatively small group of people make up the majority of posts. These individuals are followed by readers and become respected for their expertise or entertaining content. It is this group of commentators who then have the ability to direct traffic in droves to websites or attention to recent news pieces.
With their fairly wide exposure, these seemingly ordinary people gain a shade of celebrity status among their web readership. We all know that celebrities are courted left and right to promote causes, well now these web personas are being pushed by sites and companies to plug their products. What does these mean for the social networking sphere which promotes such a sense of community and trust? Just as quickly as companies are entreating web personas to create some buzz about their products, social networking sites are initiating teams dedicated to nipping this in the bud. If users cannot trust the integrity of the commentary on a site and the viability of the user ratings, then there will be no reason to visit.
Marketers are trying their best to infiltrate the latest trend in online activity, hoping to go beyond site ads and clickthroughs to blog mentions and inflated rankings. With people spending so much time online talking and interacting, it is an ingenious, yet treacherous frontier to pursue for creating buzz.
1 comment:
Thanks Professor Gregson for the great article reccomendation!
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