Forums as a Buzz Measurement Tool

[martinibuster]

NYTimes Article [nytimes.com] about the substance of Buzz in relation to internet forums.

Discusses the role of forums as a popularity measurement tool for marketers.

...the online comments may have reflected offline conversations... this result suggests that marketers can tap Internet forums to see how their products might fare.

Second, the study found that how much buzz a show gets does not predict much about how it will do. Who's talking matters more than how much they talk.

Another factor did, however, predict whether a show's audience would build over time: dispersion, or "entropy." This technical measure essentially picks up how widespread the discussion is. Word of mouth spreads more quickly when it begins in different places or among people with different interests.

Doesn't discuss forum seeding. Interesting to see what effect forum seeding would have.

[Travoli]

>Who's talking matters more than how much they talk.

Very interesting. Speaks for the "quality over quantity" factor.