Online Word-of-Mouth

Hi, my name is Alyssa Ehrlich and I’m a junior Communication major with a minor in Applied Economics and Management. On campus, I’m the president of the Association for Women in Communications, a CALS Ambassador, and pretty involved in my sorority among some other things. I’m a big fan of T9Word text messaging, lemons, post-its, photography, and any of the more intense sushi rolls at Plum Tree. For the past two summers I have had marketing internships which have helped spark my interest in social influence within the communication field.

Technological advancements are consistently creating various channels by which individuals are able to influence one another. An Internet-related phenomenon I’m interested in is the influence of word-of-mouth product recommendations over the Internet and how this online message spreading process differs from traditional word-of-mouth. This phenomenon can take place in the environment which Wallace broadly refers to as the World Wide Web. A keyword search of a certain product or brand which someone is interested in can take them to various sites where individuals (frequently strangers) have already shared their opinion about that product. From customer reviews posted on sites such as Amazon.com to blogs devoted to exploring new products, the Internet provides a world in which we can discover other individuals’ opinions of products by the click of a button before we make a purchase! Why are individuals motivated to share their opinions of various products with the rest of the world? How do we choose which recommendations to trust and how do we determine the recommender’s credibility?

This online word-of-mouth phenomenon can be extended to the specific environment of social networking sites (which although Wallace did not foresee in its current form, incorporates aspects of asynchronous discussion forums and synchronous chats). Social networking sites provide an outlet where individuals are able to be influenced by those who they traditionally have some sort of connection to (whether it be an extremely weak or extremely strong link in “real-life”). With the addition of brand sponsored groups on Facebook.com, individuals can show their brand loyalty (while these companies increase brand awareness and use the Internet to speed up and enhance the effects of word-of-mouth). Are you more likely to buy Mountain Dew after seeing your best friend joined the “Dew Uncapped” sponsored Facebook group? How about if it was that random kid from middle school who you haven’t spoken to in 8 years—would that make a difference? Even viewing which Facebook applications your friends are using can influence you. Are you more likely to download a certain song on iTunes since your friend has it on their “songs iLike” list? Does it matter if you already found their taste in music to be similar to yours?

I think that the World Wide Web as a whole as well as social networking sites in particular are interesting to analyze since we can develop our own opinions on various products judging by others recommendations which we find online.