New York Post – Brand Seek Online Fans

The New York Post has a light article on word of mouth advertising in online communities. It focuses very much on the idea that major brands are ‘playing’ with communities to see if its worth implementing a campaign that may end up with more negative comments than positive ones.

The article makes no mention of hyper users, the older term “word of mouth” is used instead of the hipper “viral marketing” (see, I’m in the know!) and nothing is said of the fact that people already swarm and discuss movies. I will personally swear that all 5 million members of World of Warcraft community were online the night of the last Harry Potter launch. and they yelled out (in the ingame chat) the ending.

“The first thing I say to companies is, are you sure you’re ready for this,” Donnelly said. “Most companies, to be perfectly honest, are not prepared for the good and the bad. It’s a big commitment.”

Well gosh, people are going to get online to discuss movies and stuff anyway, unless big companies find a way to ban discussions on their products *rolls eyes* don’t laugh – they might try it.

“Given a choice of what your friends think versus a company or a professional reviewer, what movie would you pick?” Friedman said.

I don’t know what he thought the answer would be – mine is… a friend. Unless my friend was notorious for choosing sucky movies, chances are s/he and I have similar tastes. Well, which would you choose – friend or reviewer?

Technorati Tags Online Communities, Hyperusers, New York Post, Viral Marketing,