News Flash: People Trust Their Peers' Opinions

I thought this line was almost comical:

Adoption of social marketing tactics stems from the discovery “30 percent of frequent social networkers trust their peers' opinions when making a major purchase decision, but only 10 percent trust an advertisement,” said Emily Riley, JupiterResearch analyst and lead author of the report.

Source: ClickZ, “Marketers Increasingly Use Social Networking Sites”

This article discusses a recent JupiterResearch report on the uptake of marketing as a channel for brand marketers (48% to be precise).

What surprises me is that this revelation should not be new. Since the beginning of commerce, we’ve relied on our relationships as the primary filter for transactions of all sorts. As we increasingly use technology as a filter, it’s amazing how simple facts can seem to get buried - like the fact that we trust our friends.

Of course, what I do find more interesting is the shift in mindset. I doubt that most companies have gotten “edgier” in recent months, spawning their interest in using these sites. Instead, it might be more likely that the undeniable fact that these sites have become destinations for many different types of individuals and that the messaging and culture within that micro-community is indeed normalized. Put another way, perhaps it’s not so scary down in the muck.

Technorati Tags: brand+marketing, jupiter+research, reputation, social+networking