Stefan Weitz's presentation Seattle Interactive Conference 2011.

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3. 2.5x more often than local city
guides, 4x more often than online
sites/reviews, and 10x often more
than social media check-in sites.

8. People Rely on Others… Unevenly
Finding a Picking a Getting help
Deciding on new Finding a new dr, hotel, B & B, Getting movie, Getting advice with a
Everyday service realtor, financial or vacation music, or book on a personal technical
Purchase provider advisor, or lawyer rental recos problem problem
(n=558) (n=552) (n=560) (n=574) (n=586) (n=582) (n=576)
Reviews on retailer's sites 58% 22% 17% 31% 51% 18% 26%
All Options
Online review sites 40% 56% 43% 52% 39% 13% 22%
On social networking sites 29% 18% 19% 23% 27% 33% 17%
Forums or discussion
26% 34% 43% 29% 27% 38% 57%
lists/boards
Q&A sites 25% 25% 28% 27% 14% 35% 50%
Blogs 17% 12% 9% 13% 15% 27% 17%
Most Preferred
Reviews on retailer’s sites 46% 15% 8% 19% 43% 12% 10%
Online review sites 17% 45% 33% 41% 18% 6% 12%
Options
On social networking sites 13% 10% 10% 12% 15% 24% 9%
Forums or discussion
9% 16% 30% 12% 11% 25% 40%
lists/boards
Q&A sites 9% 9% 15% 13% 5% 24% 25%
Blogs 5% 3% 3% 2% 7% 9% 4%
IN9. Please indicate where you typically find opinions online when <Insert item from IN1>. Select all that apply. = Top 2 Responses
IN10. Please indicate your most preferred option for finding opinions online when <Insert item from IN1>. Select one.

9. Diversity of Sources, People is Critical
Finding a Picking a Getting help
Deciding on new Finding a new dr, hotel, B & B, Getting movie, Getting advice with a
Everyday service realtor, financial or vacation music, or book on a personal technical
Purchase provider advisor, or lawyer rental recos problem problem
(n=558) (n=552) (n=560) (n=574) (n=586) (n=582) (n=576)
0 Sites 2% 5% 8% 2% 3% 13% 6%
Number of
Websites
1 Site 13% 11% 11% 7% 20% 18% 16%
2 Sites 29% 31% 20% 26% 35% 24% 23%
3 Sites 26% 23% 20% 25% 21% 20% 22%
4 Sites or more 31% 31% 40% 40% 22% 25% 33%
Mean 3.4 3.2 3.9 4.1 2.7 2.7 3.6
1 6% 7% 6% 5% 6% 12% 8%
Number of
Individuals
2-5 46% 51% 35% 45% 52% 45% 50%
6-9 24% 19% 29% 23% 27% 27% 26%
10-49 22% 20% 30% 22% 12% 15% 13%
50-99 0% 2% 0% 3% 1% 0% 2%
100 or more 1% 1% 0% 2% 2% 0% 0%
Mid-Point mean 11.6 11.8 12.5 14.3 10.7 8.7 9.1
49% 55% 69% 41% 41% 78% 33%
IN11. How many websites would you typically visit to get opinions regarding <Insert item from IN1>. Please use whole numbers.
IN12. How many individual opinions would you need to feel confident about your decision when <Insert item from IN1>?

12. Experts? Meh.
Most Important Source of Opinions by Task
Users Experts People I know
55%
Hotel, Bed & Breakfast, or vacation rental 17%
29%
44%
Everyday Purchase 10%
45%
43%
Movie, music, or book recommendations 10%
47%
39%
New Home Service Provider 22%
39%
26%
New doctor, realtor, financial advisor or
24%
lawyer
50%
19%
Help with a technical problem 64%
17%
11%
Advice on a personal problem 13%
77%

13. Decision Influence Factors Vary
Day-to-Day Commercial Entertainment
Influencer Doctor, Home Hotel, B&B, Movies,
Characteristics Tasks Technical Personal Everyday Realtor, Service Vacation Music,
 Problem Problem Purchase Lawyer Provider Rental Books
Expert
Expertise More Experienced
Smart
Personal Personal Relationship
Practical
Personality
Traits
Open-Minded
Share Preferences
Taste/
Picky
Preferences
Great Style
Same Geo
Demog-
raphics
Same Age
IN5. Thinking specifically of <Insert item from IN1>, which of the following characteristics are important to you when getting an opinion from someone you personally
know and trust? Select up to 5 responses.

16. Social Networks Reign Supreme for Questions
7% 17% 18% 24% 34%
Facebook (n=1267)
6% 11% 8% 22% 53%
Twitter (n=619)
5% 8% 8% 18% 61%
Google+ (n=550)
LinkedIn (n=518) 2% 5% 4% 15% 75%
MySpace (n=517) 1% 6% 4% 17% 71%
Daily or more than once a day One to a few times a week A few times a month
Less than once a month Never
Significantly greater than other segment (95% c.l.)
SN2. How frequently do you post a question as your status?

17. Using Social Networks for Decision Making
Start a conversation (e.g., what are the Chargers 28%
chances to make the Super Bowl?)
Get an opinion on something (e.g., should I wait for the 24%
iPhone 5 or just go with the iPhone 4?)
Make an invitation (e.g., does anyone want to see this 12%
show with me?)
Get recommendations (e.g., what new bands should I 9%
check out?)
Copied from someone else’s status (e.g., everyone 7%
answer this question: what was I wearing the first…
Get “How to” help (e.g., how do you get gum out of 6%
your carpet?)
5%
Ask for a favor (e.g., can anyone babysit tonight?)
Networking (e.g., I have a job opening on my team. Do 5%
you know anyone who might be interested?)
Make an offer (e.g., I’m selling my car. Is anyone 4%
interested?)
SN3. What was the purpose of the most recent question you asked one of your social networks?

18. Questions Get Asked for Diversity, Closeness
37%
Just for fun/to satisfy my curiosity
I wanted a variety of responses
30%
I wanted to connect with other people on my social 27%
network
To get opinions from people I know because I trust 24%
them more than strangers
I know people in my network share my tastes 19%
I thought it would be faster 17%
It wasn’t the kind of question you can ask a search 16%
engine
It’s easier 16%
I knew someone in my network would have the right 15%
expertise to answer this question
I wanted more complete information
8%
I thought I’d get a higher quality answer 5%
I had already tried other resources and couldn’t find 4%
the answer
SN5. Why did you ask this question of your social network? Select up to 3 responses.

21. 62% look for positive experiences others
People Look for Experiential Opinions had with a product, brand or company
Europe Europe regions
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
...positive experiences others had 62%
...negative experiences others had 53%
...the launch of a new
product, brand, or company 45%
...feedback about products/services
others received from a company 45%
...promotions others saw
40%
...games and contests related to the
products, brands or companies 32%
...online advertising others saw or
heard about 28% Europe
West
North
...advertising via traditional media (e.g. East
tv, radio, magazine, etc.) others saw or
25% South
heard about
Q : What exactly do you consult then about products, brands and/or companies? Consulting information about... N Europe = 2876 / F = If consulting information

22. Facebook is the place to consult
Again, on FB information about products and
Q : You’ve indicated that you sometimes consult information about products, brands and/or companies. When doing brands
this, which social network sites do you use for consulting that information?
Europe Europe regions
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Facebook 74%
Twitter 14%
Vkontakte 13%
LinkedIn 6%
MySpace 5%
Hi5 3%
Xing 3%
Netlog 3%
Badoo 2%
Hyves 1%
Orkut 1%
QZone 1%
Tagged 1%
Ning 0%
Habbo 0% Europe
West
Bebo 0% North
East
Friendster 0% South
N Europe = 2876 / F = If consulting information

23. Positive experiences are also
Impact of consulting on buying intention reported to have the highest
impact on buying intention
Europe Europe regions
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Positive experiences others had
52%
Feedback about products/services
others received from a company 32%
The launch of a new product, brand,
or company 29%
Promotions others saw 25%
Negative experiences others had 23%
Games and contests related to the
products, brands or companies 19%
Advertising via traditional media (e.g.
tv, radio, magazine, etc.) others saw 15% Europe
or heard about
West
North
Online advertising others saw or East
14%
heard about South
N Europe = 2876 / F = If consulting in general
Q : When you consult information about products, brands and/or companies, does this information have an
impact on your intention to buy the product / brand / something of the company? (top2%, 1-5)

24. Impact of consulting on brand perception
Europe Europe regions
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Positive experiences others had 54%
Feedback about products/services 32%
others received from a company
The launch of a new product, brand, 32%
or company
Promotions others saw 28% Positive experiences
are reported to have the
highest impact on
Negative experiences others had 26% brand opinion
Games and contests related to the
products, brands or companies 21%
Online advertising others saw or
heard about 16% Europe
West
North
Advertising via traditional media (e.g. East
tv, radio, magazine, etc.) others saw 15% South
or heard about
Q : When you consult information about products, brands and/or companies, does this information have an impact on your opinion about the product /Europe/ = 2876 / F = If consulting in general
N brand company? (top2%, 1-5)
24

27. Bing: More Human
Focus
Key Benefit
Bing Release
Focus

29. Rising Above the Noise
Things you already do New things to consider
Interesting & useful content Make it easy to Like and
Quality
Share content. Include links
in Tweets and Updates
Trust Trustworthy sites linking to Trust-worthy people sharing
your site; anchor text your links or tweets; avoiding
spammy clumps
Popularity # of high quality links # of people Retweeting or
Liking what you said/shared
in the last minute, hour, day,
week
Timelines Update your site, blogs Be prepared to turn on a
s dime, and for the flash mob

30. Behind the Scenes
Content Goes to Public Information
People Share and
Facebook and Comes to Bing,
Like Content
Twitter real-time
Content
Ranking and
Processing and User Experience
Annotation
Indexing

31. Reputation: More
Than Followers
Users’ Users’
Attributes Actions
Retweets
Friends
Replies
Followers
Others that share the
same link
Follows
Likes

32. Social Spam?

34. Spotting spammy behavior
Naturally connected community Spam marketing campaign
Spammy communities are highly visible – don’t be part of one!

35. What about
serendipity?

36. Who Cares?