Word of mouth now has an online ear

By Wang Xinyuan

The Nielsen Company today launched a new online platform which is expected to change the way Internet companies understand and analyze what consumers say and think about their sites.

Nielsen, the global information and media company, unveiled BuzzMetrics, described as a monitoring service platform.

“Consumers’ reliance on word of mouth in the decision-making process, either from people they know or online consumers they don’t, has increased significantly,” said Jed Meyer, managing director of media services at Nielsen Greater China.

According to the latest Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey that covered 25,000 Internet consumers in many countries and regions, referrals from personal acquaintances and opinions of consumers were deemed the most trusted forms of advertising around the world, with 91 percent and 78 percent of trust respectively in China.

BuzzMetrics can find out the views of online users both positive and negative, said Mitch Barns, president of Nielsen Greater China.

Alvin Chiang, chief marketing officer at Oak Pacific Interactive, told the Global Times that some users prefer not to see negative comments on the websites.

“We need to serve the brand of our customers; on the other, we need to remain objective and unbiased,” said Chiang.

China has 338 million Web users, of whom 190 million visit SNS sites weekly, according to Nielsen.

The BuzzMetrics service is about listening.

“Trying to control what consumers say is a stupid idea,” said Sail Ma of CR-Nielsen, the joint venture of Nielsen.

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