NewCommForum: Making the Case for a Social Media Strategy with Jim Nail of Cymfony
Jim Nail highlighted research data that shows that consumers trust each other most -- even if they are strangers to one another. He spotlighted how technology amplifies consumer voices by allowing messages to spread more quickly and easily.
Blogs in particular are an obvious driver. The fact he finds most interesting is that the "authoritative blogs" (as tracked by Technorati) are more than any other media:
- 30,488 blogs with high or very high authority
- 13,000 radio stations
- 9,000 TV stations
- 17,000 magazines
Demographic data he shared from Pew suggests that bloggers are
- more male (slightly)
- younger
- more educated
- higher income
He describes social media creators then as "demographically appealing." But it isn't just about blogs, YouTube/video, MySpace/social networking, and Wikipedia all represent important trends in the social media space.
Consumers use online content to decide what products to buy, where and how to travel, what cars to drive, etc. Journalists use blogs to get story ideas.
He says that eBay beats Wal-Mart online because of the social component (I'm not sure I agree, I think there is more to it than that). Warner Brothers attributes $100M in revenue to a single "Mommy podcast." (I hadn't heard that stat before but it sounds compelling.)
Jim walked through examples of specific cases of consumer discussion on products, including Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD.
(As an aside, Jim had a number of opportunities to go into a pitch for Cymfony as a result of audience questions, and he resolutely avoided doing so. Kudos for that!)
UPDATE: Sharon Barclay has a detailed criticism of Jim's presentation.
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