Universal McCann Preach Influence ...
By Liam McCance ...
Universal McCann recently conducted a global research study on a topic very close to our hearts at Vocanic - Digital Influence.
The UM study ‘When did we all start trusting strangers? How the internet turned us all into influencers’ was conducted across 29 countries engaging 17,000 internet users to gauge what they were influenced by, how they influenced others and how social networks have shifted the power of influence.
Beyond confirming the stuff we kind of already knew – the rise of social media,
28% give opinions on brands on their blog 66.9% use instant messenger to communicate with friends and like myself 18.3% are using online social networks to try and find love.
UM’s study reveals some major shifts in trust behaviour of people when they are looking for a recommendation on a product or service.
Semantics: UM’s Super Influencers = Vocanic’s Influencers
Although we are extremely appreciative of UM conducting such an extensive study and releasing the findings, we do however have some differences of opinion when it comes to terminology. UM classifies all people as influencers because of the voice social media has given everyone, were as we at Vocanic only really classify people as influencers if they are highly contagious (socially) and have a large social network. This is probably closer to what UM refers to as Super influencers.
Regardless a couple of key conclusions from the study included;
‘Anyone can influence anyone: We now trust groups of strangers as much as our closest friends.’ This is driven by people exerting casual influence via voting buttons or commenting. Which directly drive the next conclusion;
‘Everybody is an influencer: The power to influence no longer belongs to the experts. Personal recommendations are stronger influences than any traditional paid for communications except sampling. A clear demonstration that being active in social media will become increasingly important for brands.’ Enough said
‘New super influencers rise above the mass: Not all consumer influencers are equal. A new breed of “super influencers” has been created by the tools of the social media revolution.’
So this UM study tells us consumers are using their voice and listening to each other, they trust each other more than traditional messaging and there are people out there who exert higher levels of influence over their peers – No wonder Ian has been smiling all week.
The full Universal McCann study ‘When did we all start trusting strangers? How the internet turned us all into influencers’ can be downloaded from below (caution - 16mb!)
What amazes me about the collective power of online communities is that it's not new. It is as old as civilization. Humans have always been influenced by word of mouth. The only thing new is the platform and the tools we use for global reach. Some who are more active than others can influence than others, but that's not new either. It's the power of the medium which has propelled a centuries-old societal attribute into a modern day phenomenon.
Posted by: Bernie Borges | October 04, 2008 at 10:30 PM