Study: When it comes to influence, bloggers beat friend lists

Facebook likes to trumpet the value of "trusted referrals"--recommendations and ads with the endorsements of members of your friends list. But a new study from Jupiter Research, commissioned by analytics company BuzzLogic, says that consumer purchases are more likely to be influenced by what they read on a blog versus what their social-networking rosters recommend.

Half of all those surveyed who identify as "blog readers" (people who read more than one blog per month, a fifth of total survey respondents) say that blogs are important to them when it comes to making purchasing decisions. But they don't necessarily find them to be all that reliable: only 15 percent of blog readers, and five percent of all those surveyed said that in the past year they had trusted a blog to help them make a purchase decision.

That's still higher than the number of people who said they used social-network recommendations, though: ten percent of "blog readers," and four percent of all those surveyed.

Results of the survey are similar when it comes to advertising: a quarter of "blog readers" say they trust ads on blogs that they read (versus 43 percent on "familiar" or mainstream media sites), but a slightly lower 19 percent say they trust the ads on social networks.

So what does all this mean? Well, it's good news for BuzzLogic, which tracks blogger influence for clients and has seen blog advertising pushed aside a bit on Madison Avenue in favor of "appvertising" and social ads. Aside from that, the real take-away point is that the results seem to indicate most blogs are less mainstream than you might think: Only a fifth of respondents say they read a blog at least once a month.

That's actually really surprising--or maybe blogs have become so ingrained on the Web that people don't even know they're reading them.

[galacticcruiser]

"or maybe blogs have become so ingrained on the Web that people don't even know they're reading them."

Or maybe we forget that blogs are not a major part of the internet, but as people working in IT and media related industries we see some things, like blogs, more than most people???

[cyberDJ-2038765336053745013836]

The blogs I read are mindless (but often funny) diatribes from people who should have taken their medication.

You should always do your research after something is "buzzed" about on the Web. People are crazy and the Web gives them free reign to waste your time on a constant basis.

[Tish Grier]

Your last comment, Caroline, is spot on: many people do not know they are reading a blog. They believe they are reading a "website." The distinctions between the two--that blog content is updated more frequently, that there are sidebars, etc.--are often lost on lots of people. What they find, and see, is the information they are looking for, in the moment. The form that contains it is inconsequential.

Interestingly, that question also came up a couple of years ago at a Word of Mouth Marketing Association symposium discussing ROI measurements. One of the presenters said that blogs weren't even figuring in to what people were reading on the Internet. Yet there was no distinction made, or question posed to the respondents, if they knew the difference between a blog or a website (I believe the figures also supported the marketing firm rep's assertion that websites were more important than blogs.)

So, if people surveyed do not know the difference, they are likely to say "website." It's what's most common.

I wonder about the social network recommendation though. Are the recommendations from a friend on a social network? That would then be similar to word of mouth marketing in a face to face environment. I don't think the social network in general (like those cheezy little ads on Facebook) carries that much credibility (at least it doesn't with me.) Further, people's skepticism when it comes to blog endorsements is probably well-founded. Who knows if those endorsements are paid for or not, esp. if the site is a product review site. I'm more inclined to see a product review site as one that is being paid to endorse certain products over others--unless they state that they do not get paid. And that whole thing--paid vs. unpaid and disclosure--is something marketing bloggers are always discussing.

[ghostofitpast]

Tish, you raise a good point; but it may be the tip of an iceberg that could sink the entire Jupiter Research methodology (taking the results down with it). The problem with any survey is that the question often bias the nature of the answers. In this case the important question is what people REALLY DO when they are trying to collect useful information before making a purchasing decision. Yes, information like that can be found on blogs; and those "trusted referrals" probably have at least some decision-support value. On the other hand how many users are out there who, out of either a lack of technical understanding or just plain laziness, set up a Google search and seek out things that look like opinions in the little content excerpts? Given the generally low numbers in this survey, we cannot dismiss this (admittedly naive) sector without a better understanding of who they are and what they think they are doing. We may thus be wasting too many cognitive cycles on what is fundamentally a GIGO project!

[ChrisLang]

@Caroline, >>That's actually really surprising--or maybe blogs have become so ingrained on the Web that people don't even know they're reading them.

Actually blogs are the web. Any webpage(s), that have a unique RSS feed, a dynamically created URL and cover a certain topic is a blog. Especially in Google's eyes.

Social bookmarking profiles, (they have a unique feed) , Twitters, Google Reader Shared items, FriendFeed, it's a blog. Or before I get flamed "mini micro blogging platform" to be correct. Think about Google blog search now with it's own RSS feeds for each search term. RSS and blogs are most of the Internet, most just do not realize it.

You can ask most people over forty if they ever read a blog and they will say "I don't go for junk like that." They think blogs are written by guys wearing X-files T-shirts and living in their mother's basement with a Kevin Rose poster over their bed.

Chris Lang
keywebdata.com

[caroline.mccarthy]

Yup. I wonder if they know that the New York Times runs many of its stories in blog format now, and whether those were counted in the survey...it's interesting.

[Harrison912]

There's lots of interesting information on blogs. I've picked up some very valuable material on how to socially market market my safety and security web site as well as raise awareness for the products. Most of them allow for comments which is a great way to interact with the author and expand the discussion. Bloggs are awesome!