Blogs more trusted than TV, email ads

Blogs are becoming a force to be reckoned with as a means of advertising products. Reuters reports that an Ipsos MORI poll finds the Internet journals are a more trusted source of information than TV advertising or e-mail marketing.

The survey found a direct link between blogs, or user-generated content, and people's intentions to buy goods or services. Any company that fails to come up to standard should beware. The blog is replacing word of mouth for endorsing or condemning a product or service.

About a third of those Europeans questioned said they had been put off making a purchase after reading negative comments on the Internet from customers or other web-users, while 52% said they had been persuaded to buy after a positive review on a blog.

Get it right, and blogs could be a boost to companies and even save on their advertising and marketing budgets. Blogs are a more trusted source of information (24%) than television advertising (17%) and email marketing (14%), the survey commissioned by Hotwire, a technology public relations consultancy, said. But they still lag behind newspapers (30%).

Gareth Deere, head of technology research at Ipsos MORI, said: “We all trust people’s opinion in the real world. Now we’ve proven the same link online, and it’s having a major impact on people's buying behavior. Word of mouth is no longer restricted to close friends and family, it can have the same level of influence upon millions of people across the world.”