This video has been around about a year now on YouTube. If you do not understand Web 2.0 this will teach you the basics in five mins!



As for the scary title, though, I am not sure. Yes, Facebook uses your personal details for marketing and advertising and Google has recorded EVERY single search we have all made during our lives, in order to effectively target us with pay per click advertising.

However, marketiers recording information about us is not new. Everytime you use your loyalty card in store, the Tescos of this world know the contents of your lunch and whether you have an excessive wine consumption habit. Yes, that's you, Mr Smith from Bristol in the BS8 area with an annual salary of £100K and driving a Merc....

We should be shocked that this habit has taken to the Web 2.0 sphere.

However, the thing that they can't control (yet) is the content and if your Web 2.0 (blogs, video or social networking site) is to be successful, it's all about the content - something that Montage can help you with, if you're interested!

Small, cute and quite deadly to the corporate brand?

I was interested to read a report by Esomar Research regarding the power of the "word of mice". This term basically has been coined to mean the word of mouth in the blogosphere, on social networking sites and via viral marketing campaigns.

The idea is that "word of mouth" (ie. face-to-face) and "word of mouse" combine to create a powerful "buzz" about a product, service or organisation.

Yes but surely, I hear you say, we are going to listen to our mates down the pub more closely than some blogger? Well...... this is still true but the "word of mouse" is on the increase.

A recent study (Weber, 2007) that measured the usage of different communication methods for recommending products or services  by US baby boomers reported that 84% of this communication happened face-to-face, 82% via the telephone and only 42% online.

However, of this 42% there is a huge amount of influence now when it comes to choosing a product / service. According to Esomar's research, consumers are collecting information about brands in online forums (38%), company websites (36%), blogs (32%), in chat sessions (30%) and on websites specialising in online movies (30%). Information is actively shared both via more selective channels - such as e-mail articles (26%), online movies (24%) - and sharing platforms - such as chat (20%), online forums (20%), blogs (16%) and websites specialising in online movies (10%).

This means 42% of the population are influenced by people they do not know (or have met only in the blogosphere) and have no basis to qualify their 'trust' in the individual. These people are referred to as 'mice".

The basis of this trust is formed on blogosphere / viral marketing campaigns that are based on the following drivers of the "word of mice":

1. Excitement, which refers to a person's enthusiasm generated by the content or the featured brand, product or service;

2. Willingness to help the company or the creator of the online content;

3. Recognition or the desire of the sender to be well-viewed by the receivers;

4. The wish of a person to give others a good feeling (e.g. make them laugh, sportsmanship, provide them with relevant information);

5. Involvement with the message or the brand will also spur word of mouth behaviour.

Graphic examples of the 'power of the mice' are numerous on the web. For instance, the video Rats in a KFC in the USA made it onto national US TV. In the UK, Guido Fawkes, a blogger, caused a media feeding frenzy over Peter Hain and eventually claimed his scalp, as he was forced to resign.

I have got to watch out for those mice................