It’s tempting to think about user-generated content, peer influence and viral communications as new concepts.  But the reality is that these social concepts have been around for a long time.  When we were sharing the Architecture of Influence concept with Chris Shipley, she pointed out that housewives in the 50’s were coming up with jingles and entering contests — a form of user-generated content.  The product company — whether cereal or dish soap — got creative ideas and very engaged customers, for little cost.  Tupperware and Amway are two other classic examples of the power of word of mouth and peer influence at work.

And don’t forget the classic chain letter.  I remember painstakingly copying letters and sending them on to my friends, for fear of breaking the chain and incurring the wrath of the broken chain letter gods.  “Do not break the chain!”, the letters admonished, always citing examples of the poor sap who got hit by a truck or some other calamity.  Turns out the concept of the chain letter goes back to the Middle Ages, when a letter, purported to be from an Emperor of Rome, made the rounds in various forms.

As anyone with email knows, the chain letter is alive and well.  There are entire web sites devoted to chain letters.  http://chainletters.net/chainletters/ The web has breathed new life into many classic forms of communication.  It’s easier than ever to come up with your own content and share it with friends and colleagues.  Some might argue it’s too easy.  But either way, the sharing culture is firmly entrenched and here to stay.

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As 2010 begins, Gartner bolsters its position in the IT analysis market.

Gartner and Burton Group both announced that Gartner, Inc. has agreed to purchase Burton Group for $56 million in cash. This marks Gartner’s second acquisition since Dec. 1, 2009 when it acquired AMR Research.

Gene Hall, Gartner’s chief executive officer, stated, “…Burton Group is a great strategic fit for Gartner and should enable us to offer a more complete solution to every level and functional expert within an IT organization.  By leveraging our scale and worldwide distribution capabilities, we expect to significantly grow Burton Group’s business over time.”

It will be interesting to see how this affects companies’ perceptions of independent firms and individuals. Will companies be comforted by the massive size and resources of the Gartner conglomerate, or could there be backlash and a fear of receiving cookie-cutter consulting, particularly among smaller organizations with limited research budgets?

My two cents: More than ever is it important to pay attention and engage with independents via blogs and other channels such as social media. For example, former Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang’s Web Strategy blog is an excellent resource for technology insight.

The Gartners of the world may continue to dominate the business of research. The independent analysts and firms, however, are on the rise, and they’ll stand a fighting chance if they have the connections and ability to deliver more focused insight for companies in important niche markets.

The wave of acquisition and consolidation continues, this time in the world of research.

Gartner and AMR both announced today that Gartner, Inc. has agreed to purchase AMR Research for $64 million in cash, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.

Bruce Richardson, Chief Research Officer for AMR, offered an explanation of what it might mean for its clients and analysts.

He also noted some key assets Gartner has to offer, including a bigger audience, global reach, presence in more vertical markets, access to many more research resources, and a focus on quality writing.

I’m curious to see what this will mean not only for these firms but for the competitive landscape as well.

We’ve never been on the bandwagon that has declared brands are dead but we do understand why the claims are being made.  There is now a lot more that goes into buying decisions by consumers and business buyers than just brand awareness.  But to claim that brands don’t matter is naïve.  I guess Yahoo agrees based on its latest search offering.

And yet the Yahoo search filter seems to suggest that, just possibly, the idea of the brand isn’t dead after all. With branded search filtering, Yahoo is acknowledging that many searchers don’t want results from just anywhere, regardless of how algorithmically relevant those results may be. Searchers want results (from trusted Web sites) — which is to say, from trusted online brands.

Source: c__

We’ll be talking a lot more about the need for looking at communications and marketing in an entirely new light–one where search, branding and word of mouth need to coexist for companies to really take advantage of all channels to create awareness and preference for their offerings.  I get a chuckle…and some times totally annoyed…when I see dramatic claims about PR being dead, social media being free and branding irrelevant.  Glad to see that others agree.

The power of social networks. That’s what we’ll be discussing at Duarte Design in Mountain View this evening at 6:30 PM, the site of tonight’s Social Media Club San Francisco Silicon Valley chapter.

The evening will kick off the evening with a half-hour fireside chat with John Hagel, network effects expert and Director at Deloitte Consulting LLP.

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Kevin Spier

In our weekly, “Break through the Noise” podcast, we like to give you a wide variety of influencers, not only to get your creative juices flowing, but also how to grow communities and, ultimately, new revenue opportunities.

And so I introduce you to a friend and visionary, Kevin Spier, executive at Bunchball. If you don’t know what they do, you need to know PDQ!

[Listen Here]

But first, a little about Kevin and his journey from there to here…

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Have you ever stood at the podium delivering what you think is the best presentation ever, but felt that no one was listening?

That’s how it can feel on Twitter.

You set up your new account, and you even change the look-and-feel to match your company brand.

And you tweet…….. and you tweet…….

But……

No one can hear you.

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By Jennifer Lindsay, Director of Digital Services, Social Media Evangelist / New Media Guru

So, as you know from my post last week, I attended a fab Social Media Club event. It was fab in every way except that I was left a little irked. I guess I’ve allowed this to fester into a full-blown annoyance, so in advance I ask your patience while I vent a bit.

So here’s the deal: Everyone seems to use media examples to discuss social media success.

Hello?

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