Word of Mouth for the Masses - eMarketer; December 5, 2007
"Forrester found that the largest segment of word-of-mouth users by age was baby boomers, at 44% of the total, followed by 18- to 40-year-olds, who accounted for more than one-third of those using word of mouth...Word-of-mouth consumers were also an optimistic group. About 90% of WoM consumers said they "always tried to make the best of every situation," compared to only about one-half of non-WoM users who agreed with that statement..."Word of mouth is playing an increasing role in how consumers make decisions: everything from what to buy, what doctor to see and where to travel, to how to vote and what school to choose," said Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst at eMarketer. "It is often one of the top sources consumers cite…" FULL STORY
Business Continues to Move into Social Networking Space - News Long Island; December 4, 2007
"Popular social networking sites, including MySpace.com and Facebook.com, are changing the human fabric of the Internet and have the potential to pay off big for investors. This new runaway popularity and exposure has helped spawn an array of targeted networking sites and advertisers are taking notice. These big Web sites attract masses of people, but those who have dissimilar interests and, ultimately, little in common...Now that moms and dads are joining the social-networking craze, niche sites are targeting new users with offerings tailored to specific ages and tastes, even for commercial businesses. Take, for example, WannaNetwork.com, a real estate social networking web site which was featured in Realtor Magazine’s ‘Great Ideas’..." FULL STORY
New Report Evaluates the Pre-Game Media Impact of Super Bowl Advertising - Marketwire; December 03, 2007
"Cymfony, a TNS Media Intelligence company, today announced the availability of its Super Bowl Advertising Audience Impact report. The syndicated series of reports will evaluate media coverage and consumer discussions about each Super Bowl advertiser, measuring the media impact of both their pre-game promotional efforts and the quality of their ad...Cymfony will analyze Super Bowl ad-related coverage in traditional media and in consumer discussions on blogs, message boards and social media sites..." FULL STORY
Duo Poised to Marry Sales, Social Networking - Denver Business Journal; November 30, 2007
“A small Conifer-based company aims to make its online sales application part of millions of Facebook pages, turning it and other social networking sites into giant retail venues...The company, bSocial Networks Inc., is jumping at an opportunity created when Facebook Inc. and other Internet meeting places with a total of more than 155 million users started opening their networks to applications created by outside programmers...They licensed their transaction-tracking application, Market Lodge 2.0, to three other retailers' websites and developed a way for all four sites to cross-sell products through each other's web pages…” FULL STORY