If I were to look for a moniker for 2009, certain buzz words would immediately come to mind: trust, social, community and interaction. After all weren’t the principals in Trust Agents and the strength of social media what drove companies to engage their customers? It was all about people right?

According to the 2010 Trust Barometer from Edelman Public Relations shows that trust in business is up by 18 points, so the concept appears to be working. While this is great for companies, the same survey shows that trust in peer-to-peer reviews has dropped from 45 percent to 25 percent since 2008.

Image - HubSpot

As a consumer, those numbers have me scratching my head as one of the first thing I do when looking to make a purchase is to ask opinions of people I trust as well as reviews on sites like Amazon and tech review blogs. I never turn to the company for advice as their messaging is always slanted to making the sale. So what gives?

This 20-point drop in word of mouth trust can almost be accredited to the saturation of “friends” that we have in the social media age. In the release and multi-media page Edelman notes who was chosen for the survey and some basic demographics but doesn’t break down who they are or where they are active. David Armano makes some interesting points to this study in relation to previous polls by Forrester on the subject on his blog questioning who peers are and why there is a lack of trust.

I would argue that with extended networks, you really don’t know who friends are on social networks for the most part and your network has ballooned. So the question may have been weighted, for example how large is your network (following, fans, LinkedIn connects, etc.) and how many people do you go to for purchasing advice? In 2008 I would have said the network was 10-50 percent smaller than it was in 2009. On the flipside, I look at it as having more folks with opinions I can trust, but given proportions, I probably fit perfectly into the circular hole.

For a company looking to expand their reach and look to place value on the reach and strength of their base this survey might throw a few more variables into these equations. Instead of focusing on these numbers though, focus on the words and building up the relationships for now. It is still new for the most part and is ever-changing, so focus on what you do well and how it drives the needle on a micro level. Thinking big is good, but with factors ever-changing you may be setting yourself up for a headache.

If I were to look for a moniker for 2009, certain buzz words would immediately come to mind: trust, social, community and interaction. After all weren’t the principals in Trust Agents and the strength of social media what drove companies to engage their customers? It was all about people right?

According to the 2010 Trust Barometer from Edelman Public Relations shows that trust in business is up by 18 points, so the concept appears to be working. While this is great for companies, the same survey shows that trust in peer-to-peer reviews has dropped from 45 percent to 25 percent since 2008.

Image - HubSpot

As a consumer, those numbers have me scratching my head as one of the first thing I do when looking to make a purchase is to ask opinions of people I trust as well as reviews on sites like Amazon and tech review blogs. I never turn to the company for advice as their messaging is always slanted to making the sale. So what gives?

This 20-point drop in word of mouth trust can almost be accredited to the saturation of “friends” that we have in the social media age. In the release and multi-media page Edelman notes who was chosen for the survey and some basic demographics but doesn’t break down who they are or where they are active. David Armano makes some interesting points to this study in relation to previous polls by Forrester on the subject on his blog questioning who peers are and why there is a lack of trust.

I would argue that with extended networks, you really don’t know who friends are on social networks for the most part and your network has ballooned. So the question may have been weighted, for example how large is your network (following, fans, LinkedIn connects, etc.) and how many people do you go to for purchasing advice? In 2008 I would have said the network was 10-50 percent smaller than it was in 2009. On the flipside, I look at it as having more folks with opinions I can trust, but given proportions, I probably fit perfectly into the circular hole.

For a company looking to expand their reach and look to place value on the reach and strength of their base this survey might throw a few more variables into these equations. Instead of focusing on these numbers though, focus on the words and building up the relationships for now. It is still new for the most part and is ever-changing, so focus on what you do well and how it drives the needle on a micro level. Thinking big is good, but with factors ever-changing you may be setting yourself up for a headache.

If I were to look for a moniker for 2009, certain buzz words would immediately come to mind: trust, social, community and interaction. After all weren’t the principals in Trust Agents and the strength of social media what drove companies to engage their customers? It was all about people right?

According to the 2010 Trust Barometer from Edelman Public Relations shows that trust in business is up by 18 points, so the concept appears to be working. While this is great for companies, the same survey shows that trust in peer-to-peer reviews has dropped from 45 percent to 25 percent since 2008.

Image - HubSpot

As a consumer, those numbers have me scratching my head as one of the first thing I do when looking to make a purchase is to ask opinions of people I trust as well as reviews on sites like Amazon and tech review blogs. I never turn to the company for advice as their messaging is always slanted to making the sale. So what gives?

This 20-point drop in word of mouth trust can almost be accredited to the saturation of “friends” that we have in the social media age. In the release and multi-media page Edelman notes who was chosen for the survey and some basic demographics but doesn’t break down who they are or where they are active. David Armano makes some interesting points to this study in relation to previous polls by Forrester on the subject on his blog questioning who peers are and why there is a lack of trust.

I would argue that with extended networks, you really don’t know who friends are on social networks for the most part and your network has ballooned. So the question may have been weighted, for example how large is your network (following, fans, LinkedIn connects, etc.) and how many people do you go to for purchasing advice? In 2008 I would have said the network was 10-50 percent smaller than it was in 2009. On the flipside, I look at it as having more folks with opinions I can trust, but given proportions, I probably fit perfectly into the circular hole.

For a company looking to expand their reach and look to place value on the reach and strength of their base this survey might throw a few more variables into these equations. Instead of focusing on these numbers though, focus on the words and building up the relationships for now. It is still new for the most part and is ever-changing, so focus on what you do well and how it drives the needle on a micro level. Thinking big is good, but with factors ever-changing you may be setting yourself up for a headache.

If I were to look for a moniker for 2009, certain buzz words would immediately come to mind: trust, social, community and interaction. After all weren’t the principals in Trust Agents and the strength of social media what drove companies to engage their customers? It was all about people right?

According to the 2010 Trust Barometer from Edelman Public Relations shows that trust in business is up by 18 points, so the concept appears to be working. While this is great for companies, the same survey shows that trust in peer-to-peer reviews has dropped from 45 percent to 25 percent since 2008.

Image - HubSpot

As a consumer, those numbers have me scratching my head as one of the first thing I do when looking to make a purchase is to ask opinions of people I trust as well as reviews on sites like Amazon and tech review blogs. I never turn to the company for advice as their messaging is always slanted to making the sale. So what gives?

This 20-point drop in word of mouth trust can almost be accredited to the saturation of “friends” that we have in the social media age. In the release and multi-media page Edelman notes who was chosen for the survey and some basic demographics but doesn’t break down who they are or where they are active. David Armano makes some interesting points to this study in relation to previous polls by Forrester on the subject on his blog questioning who peers are and why there is a lack of trust.

I would argue that with extended networks, you really don’t know who friends are on social networks for the most part and your network has ballooned. So the question may have been weighted, for example how large is your network (following, fans, LinkedIn connects, etc.) and how many people do you go to for purchasing advice? In 2008 I would have said the network was 10-50 percent smaller than it was in 2009. On the flipside, I look at it as having more folks with opinions I can trust, but given proportions, I probably fit perfectly into the circular hole.

For a company looking to expand their reach and look to place value on the reach and strength of their base this survey might throw a few more variables into these equations. Instead of focusing on these numbers though, focus on the words and building up the relationships for now. It is still new for the most part and is ever-changing, so focus on what you do well and how it drives the needle on a micro level. Thinking big is good, but with factors ever-changing you may be setting yourself up for a headache.