Blogs Beat Out Social Networking

So it's official (at least according to the latest research): blogs influence online consumers purchasing behavior more than social networking. This is not really surprising, but it's nice to have the stats to corroborate my thinking on this issue.

A 2008 research study of 2,210 online consumers by Jupiter Research, "Harnessing the Power of Blogs," found that frequent blog readers (those who read more than once per month) make up 20% of the blog reading population. These avid readers say that when making a purchasing decision, they trust relevant blog content over social networking content. The survey also finds that the number of Internet users who read blogs at least once a month has grown 300% in the past four years and that when a blog does influence a purchase, it does so at a critical stage in the buying process: "Decide on a product or service" 21%. (Topping: "Refine choices" 19%; "Get support and answers" 19%; Discover products and services" 17%; "Assure" 14% ; "Inspire a purchase" 13%; and "Execute a purchase" 7%.) The key factor bearing on a blog's ability to influence a purchase is its niche focus and topical expertise (natch).

Like I said, this is not surprising and confirms my strong suspicion. Blogs are a more mature Web tool; social networking—though the buzz darling of '08—remains mostly the domain of those 29-and-under and the Internet's lesser-accepted stepchild in terms of hardcore commerce. What I think will be interesting to watch is if social networking follows a similar track to the blog, in its emergence, development, and widespread professional acceptance. Consider: most of corporate America employs bloggers today. Will it be the same for social networking five years from now?

An aside: BuzzLogic, a display ad and buzz-building firm, sponsored the survey. While I think the sponsor has a vested interest in making blogs appear to be an effective marketing tool for your products or services (and thus some of wording of the survey results PRs seemed to paint an overly-rosy picture), they have no reason, as I see it, for favoring blogs over social networking.

What's America Buying?

Amazon has released its “Best of 2008” lists. These lists offer a nice snapshot of products that did well with consumers over the past year and especially over the holidays—when the online retailing behemoth had its best season ever. Granted there’s a segment of the population that will never purchase anything on Amazon, but with the company’s claims to offer “Earth's Biggest Selection” and serve customers in more than 210 countries, these lists do offer a certain kind of gauge. Four separate lists reveal the bestselling, the most positively reviewed, the most popular on personal Wish Lists, and most frequently purchased as gifts, as determined by Amazon.com customers in 2008.

Here are some tidbits I find interesting….

BESTSELLING

• Books: "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)
• DVD: "Wall-E" (widescreen single-disc edition)
• Music: "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay
• Video Games: Nintendo Wii
• Electronics: Amazon Kindle
  

MOST POSITIVELY REVIEWED

• Books: "The Revolution: A Manifesto" by Ron Paul (hardcover)
• Kindle Books: "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
• DVD: "Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity"
• Music: "Noel" by Josh Groban
• Video Games: Wii Fit
  

MOST POPULAR ON WISH LISTS

• Books: "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J.K. Rowling (standard edition)
• Kindle Books: "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" by Eckhart Tolle
• DVD: "Wall-E" (widescreen single-disc edition)
• Video on Demand: "The Bourne Supremacy"
• Music: "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay
• Amazon MP3: "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry
• Video Games: Wii Fit

MOST FREQUENTLY PURCHASED GIFTS

• Books: "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
• DVD: "Best of Elmo's World" DVD Collection
• Music: "At Folsom Prison" by Johnny Cash
• Video Games: Mario Kart Wii with Wii Wheel
• Computers: Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Netbook, sapphire blue
• Software: Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
• Electronics: Amazon Kindle
• Toys: Wild Planet Hyper Dash
• Apparel & Accessories: Pepsi-Cola 1970's vintage beach towel, white

I suspect the Kindle had just *a little* help from maker Amazon to top the Bestselling and Most Popular Gift lists in the Electronics category. (Can we say promotional tusnami and deep discounts on content?) And for full disclosure, I did not buy any of these products, nor in fact anything from Amazon this holiday season. I did, however, walk myself to the nearest indie bookstore in the San Francisco locale I was spending the holidays—Green Apple Books—and bought a gift certificate for my bibliophile brother-in-law. He loved it, world bestseller lists notwithstanding.

For complete Amazon results, visit: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1239459&highlight.

Amazon, in addition to having its best Christmas season ever this past year, is now set to capitalize heavily on big-name author branding and proactive author self-marketing: the online retailer has launched a beta version of a new feature called Author Stores—touted as “new corners of our bookstore dedicated to offering customers a new way to browse and shop favorite authors, discover new books, and more.” The new area features an A-Z list of authors, which links to individual author pages that include a bibliography, a biography, author photo, video streaming, and discussion board. All which can be modified and augmented by the author him or herself—or publishing house on the author’s behalf. And Amazon promises enhancements and greater functionality in the months to come. The beta release currently has about 2,500 of these mini author-sites, and according to Publishers Weekly interview with Amazon publicity manager Andrew Herdener, Amazon's long-term goal is to have an Author Store for every author whose books are available through Amazon. Herderner noted that Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and James Patteron were among the first experimental wave of writers in Author Stores’ development.

On the whole, this sounds like a smart move by Amazon, leveraging the cult-of-personality around popular authors and empowering lesser-known authors to take a greater role in promoting their books—all for the benefit of moving more units through Amazon cyberspace. Of course the proof of the pudding is in the execution, so I'm reserving judment until we can see how these pages and their interface are developed over the next year.

Christmas Retail Winners & Losers

Well, the official stats won't be in for a couple weeks now, but all are indications are that this was a pretty dismal holiday season for retailers. In fact, the past year as a whole was rather humbling. Chapter 11 filings, liquidations, pleas for more time to restructure or for extended lines. A quick cruise around the financial pages reveal the bleeding carcasses of 2008: Circuit City, KB Toys, eToys.com, Linens 'n Things, Steve & Barry's, and Mervyns department stores—just to name a few. More store closings are expected in the fallout from the lack-luster Christmas selling season. Many retailers had hoped Christmas would be their bailout.

But not everyone has suffered. Apple, Inc. had a good year, buoyed by the success of its iPhone release. And online retailer Amazon.com said the 2008 holiday season was its "best ever," with more than 6.3 million items ordered. A recent AP report cites the online gaint’s bestsellers included the Nintendo Wii, Samsung's 52-inch LCD HDTV, the Apple iPod touch and the Blokus board game. Amazon was cited for doing a great job of offering deals and driving customers to its site, and promoting the notion that "the best possible prices" were frequently on Amazon.com. Even struggling Borders Group, Inc.was granted a bit more time to dig itself out of its hole and complete a sale of Paperchase Products unit, staving off immediate bankruptcy rumors. While that doesn’t make it a winner per se, at least it keeps this book industry standard out of the losers pile. For now.

So farewell 2008. You were the best of times, you were the worst of times. You are now one for the history of time. And here’s to 2009! May it be as intense and challenging and savagely beautiful as those before it. (And may we all do a better job with it, too.)

References: Associated Press; http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28389904/