As former consultants, we’re used to hearing questions about how to measure (or simply certify) the impact of consumer-generated media on purchase decisions. A recent conversation with an old boss triggered for me a revelation about persistent influence and the lifespan of individual pieces of content (e.g. blog posts).

For example, the first two pages of search results for a particular digital camera on Google might include links to a handful of individual blog posts or consumer-written reviews. Some of these individual posts or reviews might retain their high ranking (and therefore influence) in Google search results for weeks or months or even longer. Would our app consider the sources (meaning authors or blogs) influential? Are the sources actually influential, or just the pieces of content in the context of a particular search? What’s unquestionable, however, is that these pieces of content are influencing numerous purchase decisions w.r.t. a particular digital camera.

How should we think about these kinds of individual blog posts and reviews? How should they factor in?

Posted by Shawn in Marketplace