If you're a relatively frequent visitor to this blog, you know that I don't subscribe to the wisdom that 'the more, the better' when it comes to frequency of comments made on blogs. Well, to SEO-philes, I could be wrong. The more postings, the more likely that your witty comments might actually get heard in cyberspace.
In any case, when reading today's NY Times Business section front page, it would appear that the past few days have been particularly slow, or, perhaps the story profiling "Search Takes a Social Turn:" is an illustration that the Times is losing its reporting luster.
The lead-in sentence: "Now, even on the Internet, it is not what you know, but who you know." I'm perplexed as to how this is a newsworthy "revelation". Because I paid for the damn paper, I figured I might as well read on, and was hardly surprised to "learn" that opinions or comments made by friends/associates via social networks are a much better form of product advertising than anything an advertising agency could accomplish..
According to the NY Times article, apparently, we (human beings) are more easily influenced by friends' purchase and consumption habits (food, entertainment, travel, etc) than we are by ads promoting the same products/services. Gee whiz...who would have thunk?
But, in fairness to NY Times reporter Jenna Wortham, the article did highlight a variety of tech-based social network initiatives that are focused on capturing your and my favorite things and seamlessly broadcasting that information to those that we share with on social networks. More than a handful of these initiatives are designed to surreptitiously extract and re-distribute our personal "favs", although most social networks do incorporate means by which I can share what I'm reading, where I ate, where I am eating right now, etc. etc.
[In the same edition, a separate article references a report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project that claims social networking services have doubled in popularity over the past year for Americans over the age of 50; and 42% of online people over the age of 50 now participate in a social network of some type.]
Will I venture out to that trendy new pizzeria/bar because I noticed a friend on Facebook went there and liked it? Maybe. Will I pick up that new book at Amazon or go to Barnes & Noble because someone that I'm linked-in with on LinkedIn said it was a good read? Perhaps.
The King (Traditional Advertising) is Dead...Long Live the (Social Network Influencing) King.
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