CGM - Consumer Generated Media.....Fast Facts

Consumer-Generated Media (CGM) is content created online by anyone (other than a professional journalist) that is made available to other consumers through digital technology. Blogs, message boards, online forums, usenet groups, and consumer feedback sites are the most common examples. Marketers and communications professionals can benefit from CGM by “listening” to what the consumers are saying to gain unfiltered insights.

- According the the Harris Interactive 2005 Survey, 85% of respondents said word-of-mouth communication is credible, compared with 70% for PR & advertising

- 65% of consumers trust their friends the most for product recommendations, while 27% trust experts, and 8% trust celebrities (Source: eMarketer)

- 26% of the top search results for the world's 20 largest brands are consumer-generated media sites (Source: Jupiter Research)

- Online influencers will forward positive messages to an average of 11 people and negative messages to an average of 17 (Source: Burson-Marsteller)