The document provides an overview of trends in social media and consumer behavior from 2008. It discusses the growth of Facebook users over the previous year and shares stats on messaging and social networking usage. The summary also notes insights around how recommendations from friends influence travel decisions more than reviews. Trust in peers over advertising is also mentioned.

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3. Stay tuned!
TheTrendWatch.com
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4. What is a social network?
Mark Zuckerberg Q&A
Facebook founder and CEO
Source: SxSW 2008 conference, Austin TX
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5. Would you have imagined the impact of Facebook?
June 2007 June 2008 % growth
52,167 132,105
FACEBOOK
143%
35,698
North America 49,248
38%
8,751
Europe 35,263
303%
3,712
Asia Pacific 20,712
458%
2,974
Middle East - Africa 14,951
403%
1,033
Latin America 11,931
1055%
Source: Facebook Growth - Age +15, ComScore World Metrix, June 2008
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6. Echo System
The impact of collective intelligence
on consumption and branding
The Trend Watch #7
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7. Before
Planning the trip
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11. 76% say that recommendations from friends and colleagues are important or
very important when booking a hotel online.
41% said the same about traveler-written reviews.
The bottom line: While both types of content are important, personal network recommendations more
strongly influence hotel booking than reviews from strangers.
Source: Forrester research for Sheraton
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13. Instant Messaging, TXT and Video Chat
New cross-messaging functionalities on popular social networking sites
could potentially reach a total of 23.6 million US users
and 54.8 million users worldwide
The number of TXT every day exceeds
the number of people living on earth (more than 6 billion)
Source: comScore stats for ‘the eight sites’, June 2008
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15. Social Technoghraphics Ladder
18% Creators blog, publish web pages, upload videos and photos, write articles
25% Critics post ratings/reviews, comment on someone else’s blog, contribute to forums/wiki
12% Collectors use RSS feeds, add tags to online content, vote for sites online
25% Joiners maintain profile on a social network and spend time interacting
48% Spectators read blogs, watch videos, listen podcasts, read online UGC, and peer reviews
44% Inactives none of the above
Base: US online adults
Source: Forrester Q2 2007 Social Technographics Survey
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16. Day #1
Jet lag
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18. Introducing VRM
Vendor Relationship Management provides customers
with tools for engaging with vendors in ways that work
for both parties.
Source: Doc Searls – Project VRM at Harvard University
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26. Dealing with your detractors
Source: Forester ‘Online Community Best Practices’, Feb 2008
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27. Credible sources of information
about a brand/company
Persons like themselves 60%
Financial analyst 56%
Academic 54%
Doctor / Specialist 53%
Non-Profit Organisation 50%
Employee of company 43%
CEO of company 23%
Blogger 12%
Source: 2008 Edelman Trust Barometer, January 2008
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29. Social Markets
“Networked market are beginning to self
organize faster than the companies that
have traditionally served them. Thanks to
the web, markets are becoming better
informed, smarter, and more demanding of
qualities missing from most business
organizations.”
Source: ‘The Cluetrain Manifesto’ - Rick Levine,
Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger
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32. Day #2
Family time
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37. Trust peers vs. advertising when
making a major purchase decision
Trust peers 30%
Trust advertising 10%
Source: Jupiter Research, March 2007
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38. Groundswell
A social trend in which people use
technologies to get the things they need
from each other, rather than from traditional
institutions like corporations.
Source: Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff ‘Groundswell’,
March 2008
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44. Day #3
Black Friday shopping sales
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45. The Real Story of RSS
Aware
RSS
Unaware
users
RSS
4%
users
27%
Do not
use RSS
69%
Source: Ipsos ‘RSS whitepaper’ October 2005
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56. Worldwide Online Social Network Advertising
Spending, 2006-2011 ($ millions and % change)
2006 480
2007 (155%) 1225
2008 (65%) 2015
2009 (32%) 2665
2010 (22%) 3245
2011 (17%) 3795
Source: eMarketer, May 2008
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58. Why people (18+) contribute to Social
Networks and User Generated Content
Feel part of community 31%
Recognition from peers 28%
Participate with brands I like 9%
Make money 6%
Recognition from colleagues 4%
Other (Share with family, fun) 22%
Source: IBM Institute for Business Value ‘US Consumer Research: Digital
Entertainment & Media’ August 2007
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61. "In a dramatic acceleration of the seven-year sales decline that has battered the
music industry, compact-disc sales for the first three months of
this year plunged 20% from a year earlier, the latest sign of the seismic shift
in the way consumers acquire music."
Source: Ethan Smith, "Sales of Music, Long in Decline, Plunge Sharply"
The Wall Street Journal Online, March 21, 2007
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64. Media Used by US Internet Users to
find information about 2008
Presidential Candidates and Issues
May 2007 March 2008
62%
TV
76%
42%
Internet 55%
42%
Newspaper 47%
Word-of- 23%
33%
mouth
25%
Radio 29%
News 21%
21%
Magazines
Too early, not 23%
12%
looking yet
Source: iCrossing ‘How America Searches: Election 08 Update’
conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, April 2008
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66. ‘We can’ vs. ‘I will’
Democrats have slightly above-average
participation in all social technologies;
Republicans are below average.
Source: Forrester ‘North American Social
Technologies Online Survey’, Q2 2007
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71. Day #4
Beach party
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75. Community needs first!
The consumer relationship best
practices that create WOM
Source: SxSW Zappos conference, 2008
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81. The iPhone's App Store has sold 60 million applications
or two million downloads a day, after one month. Altogether this
netted about $30 million in revenue.
Source: Steve Jobs interview - Wall street Journal - August 11, 2008
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82. Day #5
Gifts, postcards and souvenirs
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85. Dell, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, The
Coca-Cola Company…
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92. The Echo System golden rule
Regardless of your own goals,
always put the network’s needs first.
Stay tuned: TheTrendWatch.com
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