Kudos to my colleague and friend Kelly for emailing this article about social media and how it’s doesn’t really drive purchase decisions (press release here). This strongly conflicts with other, credible research I have examined that states the contrary. 

Bob Duffy, in an email string to Kelly and I, responds with the following:

Saying Social Media doesn’t drive purchase is like saying, talking and listening does not lead to decisions. Study is flawed because it does not consider reciprocity of the conversation.  Also flawed because they assumed the association needs to be with the site and a purchase decision and they ignored the association is between trusted sources and purchase decisions.

I have to agree. First, advertising on social media sites is not participating in social media.  That’s talking AT the conversation; not IN the conversation. As I have said before, the true essence of social media is direct-one-to-one conversations between two people; in this case a consumer and a brand (when I say brand, I am referring to a community manager of sort). Now, we all like to bash MLM; but the reason companies like Amway are so successful (they are a billion dollar company, I think) is because everything they do revolves around direct interaction and communication.

Additionally, the study states “less than 5% of social media users regularly turn to these sites for guidance on purchase decisions”. While this may be true; it doesn’t mean that they cannot be influenced in the social web by participating brands or influencers. The premise of the study is whether people use social media to “seek” product information. Perhaps the study should have asked, “have you been influenced by others’ in the social web to buy a specific product/service” instead.

My two cents for what it’s worth. Follow me on Twitter if you like me or I make any sense. : )