The excellent Krishna De has just blogged on the latest Technorati ‘State of the blogosphere’ survey.  Of most interest to those into viral marketing or social network analysis is the inclusion of a consumer survey this year.

Despite the proliferation of social media, consumers surveyed said they trusted recommendations from friends and family almost twice as much as those from blogs and social media, and much more than traditional media such as newspapers.  Given that the survey respondents were recruited from visitors to a social media site, it is reasonable to expect that for the general population, the degree of trust placed in online sources is, if anything, overstated. 

In terms of the influence of friends & family, these findings correlate broadly with last year’s Nielsen global advertising survey.

This latest survey underlines what our customers know already: for mobile operators, having a social media strategy is important, but using SNA to target the right influencers in the right way is essential to competitive advantage.

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