Lousy Data About Social Networking Influence

So I just read this article that starts with a conclusion that online social networks do not influence most women's buying decisions. Forget that I'm in the internet marketing and social media business. I participate in social networks as a general user, and I see people interacting, and the premise of this article doesn't jibe with my personal observations.

Let me clarify what those observations are based on my Facebook experience, where I spend a bit of time. People talk about all kinds of things there, spanning business, health, relationships, entertainment, economics, politics and other news. (By the way - I wish they'd stop posting business stuff there - especially my professional peers!).

Anyway, I don't see a lot of specific questions or answers about products or services, or buying decisions. But there is no doubt in my mind that what we do share on these networks influences our friends buying decisions.

For example, as the summer of '09 wound down, I noticed a lot of friends posting pictures and comments from their vacations. I saw lots of responses about how great this looked, and how I wanna go there, and I am certain that the experiences shared by some will affect the plans of others for next year. Heck, they're our friends and family!

So thinking of myself as a rational guy, I want to rationalize my opinion with data. And I read on in this article. And what I see in some of the information cited in the article looks like just bad research. For all intents and purposes, they all but asked users if they relied on social networks to make buying decisions, and nearly 75% answered: "no." No big surprise, given the question. To me, "influence" and "relied on" are pretty different criteria.

Later in the article, other research quoted shows a statistic that 79% of women in a poll said that they use social networks to "Research Product and Service." Another simplistic statement that I think glosses over the powerful, if subtle phenomenon in human interaction.

I hope these two bad pieces of research cancel each other out. Makes me wonder: why isn't someone doing real research to test the influence of friends on online social networks.

I guess I'm a glutton for sensational information about my profession, and like most gluttons, I get a stomach ache from indulging...

The Importance of Context

Did you ever set out to get somewhere and part way into the trip, realize you were on the wrong road? Okay, good for you. But it happens to me sometimes - at least metaphorically.

I set out on a quest to brand "the" Gary Levine (me) online a little over a week ago, and its been an educational week to say the least. I updated profiles all over the place: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Naymz, Plaxo, Google, my personal blog, YouTube channel.

And I started reading articles and books and soliciting help from friends - all about "branding myself."

Well, I've had a slow epiphany (is that an oxymoron?). What I really wanted to do was to get the visibility of THIS Gary Levine to the first page of Google results over all those others. I was just like my clients! I didn't want to figure out what I had to say, no less why anyone else would care. I just wanted that ranking.

The more I read about "branding yourself," the more I realized that it involves more self discovery, and self disclosure, than maybe I wanted to engage in. Its all about substance and that kind of stuff. It requires work. I just want to be on page 1 of Google!

Oddly, I am not giving up on that goal - I still want to be up there with the other Gary Levines. But I've learned I need to go back and focus more what I've got to say and who cares in order to do it.

Clients, are you listening?