For my latest Q&A, I came across the piece, “Social Media Not Preferred Recommendation Resource” by Laurie Sullivan of MediaPost.
Q: How do we know a recommendation from a friend isn’t something from the Web?
A: In this day and age, I kind of assumed that word of mouth (WOM) inherently also included digital communication between friends and family. Apparently, a survey by Opinion Research Co., sponsored by ARAnet didn’t get that assumption. They either had motive to separate or they don’t really understand social media. Separating Twitter and Facebook into “online resources” is like putting personal letters sent through the mail and the newspaper into the same category of communication. They’re both delivered the same way and they are written on paper, so it’s the same thing, right? Wrong, one has a person you know behind it, the other doesn’t.
I think the more appropriate way to phrase this type of survey should’ve been: “Where do you get recommendations?” The answer to this is going to be and will always be from referrals from friends and family. The next important piece of information should be derived from a sub question: “By what methods do you use to get recommendations from your friends and family?” When you place “social media,” “Twitter” and “Facebook” as completely separate categories, after covering the friend and family routine, it’s clear that social is not getting a fair shake in these types of surveys.
If you’ve got a question for me, feel free to ask by emailing me (michael [at] appssavvy.com).
Michael Burke
Co-founder and President
