Not so long time ago Ipsos published a European study about how social media influences consumers. 30% of German internet users said they decided not to buy a product or service after reading negative comments and criticism from private users on the internet. Across the whole of Europe this number is even higher, 34%. But the influence of consumer generated media can be also positive, 52% of all Europeans said, they would rather buy a product that they’ve read positive comments about. Finally, almost a quarter of the respondents said they trust blogs, however some differences do appear between the countries. (See chart below)

European ICT Prize

I received this link from Julia Mews. The document “The hype is real: Social Media invades the Inc. 500” is written by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s Center for Marketing Research.

The study specifically looks at company use of social media, but rather than looking at Fortune 500 behaviour the target group is the fastest growing companies in the US (Inc. 500). The study shows that faster growing companies are using social media tools in a big way. These companies are blogging, podcasting, using message boards or online video, social networking, or wikis.

What prompted the research was a previous study showing that 8% of Fortune 500 companies have a blog, would this number be higher in the faster growing sample set? This was the case as 19% were blogging and 26% of the businesses felt that social media was very important to their business strategy. The data for me is not surprising, but it is good to see the numbers coming through.

For me the real drivers for social media adoption in fast growing companies are the relatively low cost of tools, lower barriers to entry and often low switching costs. The conclusion of the report, “The social media revolution is here, the hype is real”, amen.