BlogPulse is hosting a free Webinar on consumer-generated media (CGM) on Tuesday, July 20 from 4-5 p.m. edt. The last BlogPulse Webinar was well-attended by large consumer/technology brands and I highly recommend it. You can register here. So, what is CGM?
"Consumer-generated media describes a variety of new sources of online information that are created, initiated, circulated and used by consumers intent on educating each other about products, brands, services, personalities and issues.
Ever growing in number and format on the Internet, CGM refers to any number of online word-of-mouth vehicles, including but not limited to: consumer-to-consumer email, postings on public Internet discussion boards and forums, consumer ratings web sites or forums, blogs (short for weblogs, or digital diaries), moblogs (sites where users post digital images/photos/movies), social networking web sites and individual web sites.
Although influenced or stimulated by traditional marketers and marketing activities, online word of mouth is nonetheless owned and controlled by consumers, and it often carries far higher credibility and trust than traditional media, especially as media channels become more fragmented and less trusted. The growth of its influence poses challenges and opportunities for marketers."
CGM's broad focus includes blogs in its definition and I think the term works better than particaptory journalism. Participatory journalism sounds too academic. (Phew. There, I said it.)
Tracking CGM provides marketing intelligence that can provide insight into areas including product launches, quality and safety issues, customer service, advertising effectiveness, relationship marketing and corporate reputation.
Which reminds me, during Global PR Blog Week 1.0, Anita Campbell wrote about using blogs to track trends.
To provide some more insight into this new entry in the blog tool arena, I'll also be interviewing Pete Blackshaw. Blackshaw is CMO at Intelliseek, the creators of BlogPulse. Prior to Intelliseek, Blackshaw co-founded Procter & Gamble’s first interactive marketing team. He lead initiatives dealing with online issues monitoring, rumor tracking, online sampling, viral marketing and word-of-mouth behavior. He's also an avid blogger with a great story to tell on the power of blogging. Stay tuned.
I noticed you commented on the story about what happened in Cincinnati and wondered if it was written by a disgruntled employee.
Check this out... http://wizbangblog.com/archives/003056.php
Posted by: Thomas Galvin | 07/19/2004 at 11:45 PM
The station's general manager posted this note:
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/station/3556677/detail.html
Posted by: Kevin Dugan | 07/21/2004 at 09:42 PM