How well do you know your 'friends' on social media networks?

I would like to think I have a vast following of readers for this blog, hanging on my every post about various topics relating to strategic communication. There are thousands of IP addresses clicking in each day, seeking my lofty, unbiased opinions about strategic communication trends, successes, and failures. However, I have access to the “traffic stats” for my blog and I know my vast following has yet to arrive.

I am surprised by the level of traffic I do have, but it is nothing to get excited about just yet.

What makes for a successful opinion leader? Can opinion leaders use social media networks as a channel to reach even more followers than they might already have on traditional media networks? Would you know an opinion leader is using the social media network for commercial purposes?

Think about your own life. If you are in the market for a new TV, will you be seeking out the opinion of your computer geek/nerd friend or the opinion of the gym rat friend who does not even own a TV and hikes 150 miles every weekend just for fun?

According to Diffusion of Innovations theory, the first 2.5% of people who try a new product or innovation are called “Innovators.” The next 13.5%, called “Early Adopters” encompass most of the opinion leaders relating to the particular subject matter at hand. These are the people the rest of us take our cues from when making decisions relating to a particular topic.

For our example, you will rely more heavily on the opinion of the one you feel has more of a relevant insight into which TV is a better value for the money. But what if you have never met face-to-face this “friend,” this opinion leader about all things electronic? The study of electronic word of mouth marketing (WOMM), specifically in online communities, is extremely interesting and may make you wonder about some of your “friends” online.

A study conducted by Robert V. Kozinets and published in the Journal of Marketing (2010) broke down how opinion leaders were viewed after they participated in a marketing campaign, depending on how they presented the information: did not announce it was a campaign, announced the campaign, recommended the product or did not, etc.

Three things Kozinets observed: the message was communicated, the communicators staked their reputation on the message, and the message was converted by the communicators to fit the various online communities.

Back to our TV opinion leader you have never met face-to-face. What if you were to learn your “friend” is actually an employee of BetterBought electronics superstore? Does that change your opinion of the recommendation he made? How would you even know?

This makes me think about my own social media network affiliations. I am a member of a number of general social media networks (Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+) as well as some special-interest networks (Deviant, LumberJocks, Flickr, Instagram). As I note in my profile, I make rustic furniture from recycled wooden pallets. I post pictures and simple descriptions of the various pieces of furniture I design and create. I upload them on LumberJocks, for example, and there are usually a number of comments left by other members about how wonderful the project turned out, what a great way to be “green” or questions about designs/tools, etc.

What if Irwin Tools were paying me to weave into my discussion or responses mentions of their wood drill bits or clamping tools? Would the other members of the community know? What would their reaction be to the use of our little social network community for commercial gain through my “name dropping?” What if I raved about how much easier it was to do a particular project with the tools from Krebs for pocket-hole joinery?

[Writer’s Note: Irwin Tools, Krebs nor any of the social media networks mentioned have employed me to hawk their goods, sing their praises, or drop their names in any of my blog entries. I will entertain all offers, though.]

With the proliferation of social media networks and use of the internet touching almost every facet of our lives, WOMM is a growing field, ripe with huge potential. In additional to the obvious ethical questions about disclosure and transparency, how will these online opinion leaders remain significant over time? In a TED Talk presentation from May 2011, Eli Pariser warned of the “filter bubbles” that can be created as internet companies incorporate relevance filters and algorithms designed to “learn” the user and automatically filter out things it deems as not of interest to the user based on the choices previously made.

If you routinely click on headlines about sports events and rarely click on headlines about art shows, your searches on your web browser will load query results with more of a connection to sports because it has learned this is of more interest to you than query results related to art shows. Pariser warned that these algorithms had the potential for creating a “filter bubble” around your interactions on the web, inadvertently sheltering the user from information that may be different, uncomfortable or just thought to be of no relevance.

As we become more and more entrenched in the use of social media networks and the internet in general, those opinion leaders who use primarily the internet as their source of information have the potential for being shielded by filter bubbles, skewing not only the information they use to formulate their opinions, but as a result, skew their opinions in general about topics that may be important to you. Rely on a single source opinion leader? Not likely. Not anymore.

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About the Author: David is a dedicated husband and proud father of a strapping fourteen year-old son and twin five year-old daughters. He has twenty years of professional communication experience, working in the public relations field. He has worked for public relations firms in Metro Detroit, hospitals and a state-wide faith-based social service organization helping at-risk children and their families. He grew up on a mid-sized Michigan blueberry farm, spent two years in Texas and now resides with his family outside Tampa, Florida. An avid reader and photographer, David also enjoys building furniture using recycled/upcycled wooden pallets.