trust in advertising

Last week Nielsen released the 2009 Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries. The survey covers degrees of trust consumers have for advertisers/brands. The top 3 are worth highlighting:

* 90% of consumers surveyed trusted recommendations from people they knew personally
* 70% trusted opinions from other consumers posted online
* 70% trusted brand websites
The key takeaway for me is that “strangers” opinions posted online offer as much trust to the consumer as the company website. That can be a glass half full or half empty depending which side of the social fence you sit on.