Had the chance to attend Yahoo's research summit, where their new "Brand Advocates" study was unveiled. The study concentrated on 4 key categories (automotive, hotels, consumer electronics, and home loans). It suggests that the Internet is functioning as an "amplifier", enabling the advocates to reach significantly larger audiences. Acvocates now represent a full 40% of online purchasers. The key differences between advocates and non advocates lie in their communicativeness: 44% interact in an online community, vs. 16% among non-advocates; 44% read a friend/family blog, vs. 15%, 40% answer, comment or give an opinion online, vs. 14% (and the overwhelming majority of the opinions are positive).
This notion of peer to peer advocacy was one of the underlying principles of our book, Buzz. When we did the work in 2003, we estimated the cohort represented about 20-25% of the population, and we expected it would continue to grow. What Yahoo is suggesting is that it's getting quite near "mainstream".

 

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