At least that’s the implication of a recent article from eMarketer called The Growing Influence of Online Social Shoppers. (You can buy the full report for only $700…)
According to this report, people trust financial analysts more than bloggers. Only 12% of of respondents said they would trust bloggers as a credible source for information about a company.
I have to wonder what this means for our blog networks. Every month, we tell readers take a look at what Zondervan is doing. Or Harvest House. Or NavPress. Or IVP. (Although after IVP’s April Fool’s joke, I’m not sure I trust them anymore!)
Not to worry. It turns out that the true power of blogging may be hidden in this report. Notice the number one source of credible information: “People like themselves.” See, for every Arriana Huffington and Grokdotcom, there are hundreds and thousands of bloggers with micro audiences who know them in the real world. When RealLivePreacher makes a recommendation, I trust him not because he is a blogger, but because he is my friend. Same with L. L. Barkat. Tina Howard. Chris Cree. Gordon Atkinson. Karl Edwards. Dan Roloff. Every Square Inch. Eve. Carl Holmes. Al Hsu. Craver. Mary DeMuth. Heather Goodman. Camy Tang. Merri Destafano. Becky Miller. Robert Hruzek. Abby Dennis. Brandon. Arly (congrats on the baby!) Wendy. And all of my other friends.
And by friend, I don’t mean someone on Facebook who contacted me out of the blue to give them permission to market to me. I mean people I’ve had coffee with. (So if you’re on that list but we haven’t had coffee yet, time’s a-wasting!)
Also, if you’re my friend, go read my interview with the president of Walden Media for the latest scoop on Prince Caspian, Dawn Treader, and The Screwtape Letters.
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I feel honored that you included me here. Thank you.
A lot depends on what the advice is. The people you listed up there I’d trust for book recommendations, writing advice, thoughts (challenges, encouragements) regarding ministry, music, art work (in other words, all things important to me personally), but I’m not sure that I’d take their financial advice. No offense intended, but if I don’t know about your finances (and I’m not asking you to share), I’ll probably trust someone who’s financial situation I’m more familiar with when it comes to buying stock options.
By the way, I saw The High Calling table at the art conference I went to this past week. I was hoping to run into you and kept stopping by the table, but alas, no Mark. (The guy at the table was always chatting with someone–yay!–but I didn’t want to interrupt to ask if you were there.)
Oh no, Heather! I would never dream of giving financial advice. In my mind, money is just something to worry about. The more money I have, the more I worry. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.
That was Steven Purcell that you saw at the arts conference. He’s the director of Laity Lodge and a great guy.
Mark,
Thanks for including me as well!
Though we’ve only virtually klatched, we do need to have coffee the next time I’m in Texas.
As it just so happens, I’ll be in and around the Hill Country later this week. Perhaps we should grab that coffee…
More thoughts–this goes back to the idea of blogging as expert (i.e. marketing) or blogging as community (I was thinking of the post you did the other day–the other day to me can mean yesterday or three years ago, by the way–about this idea). It adds the dimension (or dementia…) of trust in community in social networking and sales. We don’t buy Oprah’s picks because she’s a literary expert but because we (and I’m using a preacher’s we) trust her as a person. Even the experts I go to for advice (Mary DeMuth’s So You Wanna Be Published, Camy’s Story Sensai, Randy’s Advanced Writing), I go to because either I met the blogger or because of trusted word-of-mouth.
Which is what you’re saying, I know, but what can I say? I’m an external processor.
(And I know that you wouldn’t offer financial advice–or I assume as much since you’ve never spoken of it before. That was more of an extreme example.)
Marcus, I appreciate being listed in such good company. If you come to SOBCon this year, I’ll see ya there!
You know, whenever people make comments or observations about large groups of people – especially experts – one wonders what value it has. If one person lives to be a hundred and another dies at birth, does it help to say their average age is 50?
If someone makes an observation about a group of a million people, does it have anything to say to me, an individual within that group? Probably not much.
What is our concern about how “bloggers” are seen? What? What kind of a group are we? We aren’t a group at all. We are a cross section of society, so vast and varied that comments about us are inherently…well…ignorant. Sorry but that’s the truth.
I’m with you man. The trust we have in fellow bloggers is hard earned and hard given. And just as in real life, some people are wise with granting trust and others not so much.
Thanks, Mark, for including me as a friend and as someone worthy of trust. (Ditto!) Trust is hard to establish in the blogosphere, but surely not impossible. It sounds to me like those people checked a box on a survey, but didn’t really read the question.
I mean, I think everyone who surfs the Net has found several blogs and sites that they trust. If those sites gave them information, they would quite possibly believe it.
Don’t we read on-line news and believe it? Granted we’ve come to accept AP as a reliable source. But they get their facts wrong from time to time, they have their worldview that can affect their “take” on a situation. We all have to learn to read between the lines.
So, I agree with the hidden conclusion: “Notice the number one source of credible information: ‘People like themselves.’”
Thanks for pointing out this report to us!
Thanks for the great comments, everyone. This study is a no-brainer to me, but mostly it reminds me that people still don’t quite understand social media–even social media experts like emarketer who separate “people like themselves” from “bloggers.”
I wonder if Christian bloggers have a leg up on social networks, though, since we are used to entering communities based solely on trust?
And, Robert, alas, I had to choose between SOBcon 08 and Mt. Hermon. Since Mt. Hermon was new and I had a chance to present… I’ll think of you guys, though!
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