25% of Entertainment Will be Controlled By Consumers by 2012

A new study by Nokia, "A Glimpse of the Next Episode"predicts that 25% of all entertainment will be created, edited and shared within consumer peer groups instead of the traditional media groups. They gathered the information from consumers from 17 countries regarding their digital behaviors and lifestyles. Mark Selby, VP, Multimedia, Nokia believes that the trends show that consumers have a genuine interest in creating and sharing their own content but that they also remix and pass it on to others within their peer groups. He described it as a form of collaborative social media.

I love finding studies like this. The empowered consumers have so much more power and reach and companies need to adjust and deal with that. I believe that the Word of Mouth Network can help companies by providing a patented software platform tool to engage consumers, increase traffic to their website and potentially increase sales of their products and services. Check out our website to find out how your company can benefit. www.wordofmouthnetwork.com

Online Reviewers Driven Mostly by Altruism

The Keller Fay Group conducted a survey of more than 1,300 online reviewers in conjunction with Bazaarvoice to find out what motivated people to share their opinions. Among the findings were that the vast majority (90%) post online reviews to help others make better buying decisions. In fact, 70% want to help companies improve their products and services. This is good news for those of us promoting word of mouth marketing as a vehicle to engage consumers.

Total Spending on Word of Mouth Marketing Jumped to $981 Million in 2006

PQ Media just released their report on the forecast for word of mouth marketing. Spending on word of mouth marketing has increased from $76 million in 2001 to $981 million in 2006. The growth is expected to reach approximately $3.7 billion by 2011. Word of mouth marketing has become the fastest growing segment of the media industry!

Thank goodness for WOMMA, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. The PQ Media study was presented at their conference in Las Vegas yesterday. Documented research like this provides a measurable return on investment for marketers. Finally, word of mouth marketing will be taken seriously as an industry.

What a perfect time to launch the Word of Mouth Network! I am so excited to be involved in a new venture that involves word of mouth marketing. I was thrilled to read the headlines of an Advertising Age article on 11.15.07 "Spread the News: Word of Mouth Worth $1 Billion". With more companies interested in reaching out to consumers, we have a word of mouth recommendation platform that will help them do so.

$5 million was invested creating and refining our word of mouth software platform. We were granted a patent for the use of rated tags to improve word of mouth ratings and reviews. We have more than 2,200 "wordofmouth (subject).com" domain names. At this time, we are seeking a large digital media agency and expert advisers in a variety of areas such as social networking, microsites, e-commerce, communities, advertising, user generated media, search engine optimization, and word of mouth marketing. If you are a large company with a specific niche focus, you may be interested in this free word of mouth platform in exchange for a revenue share agreement.

Please visit www.wordofmouthnetwork.com for more details and to contact us. We have a white paper and a business concept paper that you can download.

Unwrap A Smile

I love to see the commercials for Little Debbie snacks. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my name is Debbie...but I actually do smile every time. If you can get people to associate a smile with your product, I'd say that's pretty good.

So, have a Little Debbie snack...and unwrap a smile!

The Break Up

This is a great video. Advertising and marketing need to get the message...communication is a two way process. Start listening!