There's a growing body of evidence that corporate communication execs ignore the internet at their own peril.
A new study released last week by the Pew Internet & American Life Project says that with an increasing number of Americans using the Web for conducting business,
so-called online rating systems have become a major element among internet users.
Online rating systems, also known as "reputation systems," are online applications that allow users to express their opinions and read opinions posted by other participants.
(See charts.)
According to the May-June study, 26% of adult internet users in the U.S. - or more than 33 million people - have rated a product, service, or person using an online rating
system. Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life (Washington, D.C.), says such numbers are only going to get bigger. "[PR] people need to figure out
this important feature of the Web," he says. "And people who don't understand it are going to get dusted."
He adds: "The old model of push marketing, is going to give way to a new system of conversations between people who want to sell and people who want to buy."
The Pew Internet & American Life Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization funded by the Pew Charitable Trust to examine the social impact of the
internet.
The survey revealed certain characteristics about people who rate a product or service online. For instance:
More experienced and active internet users. Of users who have been online for more than six years, 32% have rated something online, compared with 14% of those with
either two or three years access, and just 12% of those with one year or less of access; 31% of users who go online daily have rated something, compared with 19% of users who go
online several times a week.
Higher income users. In households with a combined yearly income of more than $75,000, one-third of those internet users have participated as opposed to only 22% of
those who live in a household with an income of less than $30,000. PRN