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October 13th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

For the last two years I have been running global research at Universal McCann that tracks the usage of social media. The results of which have clearly demonstrated the massive growth in usage that is occurring across the world.

The most recent report interviewed 17,000 people in 29 countries and is called “When did we start trusting strangers.” It conclusively proves that as we thought, social media is now directly impacting the way we buy products and services. The publishing of billions of thoughts, opinions and experiences online in the form of blog posts, videos, ratings, reviews and photos is fundamentally changing the way everybody online sources opinions on products, brands and services when they buy something.

This has huge impacts on the way that advertisers and brands have to think about social media - moving involvement from a “nice to have” to an “essential to have.”

When did we start trusting strangers?

The clear trend that emerged was that consumers were sharing opinions in unprecedented numbers. Instant Messenger and email were the top online channels for informing people about products and services, with 44.5 %, 42% having done so in the last month. But more importantly, social channels where opinion spreads wider have become hugely significant, with over 29% having commented on a product or brand on a blog and 27% having posted an opinion on a social networking profile.

The level of commentary varied between product categories. At the top were the entertainment categories, with 60% having recommended a film and 52% music. But technology wasn’t far behind; 57% have recommended home technology, 54% portable technology and 54% a mobile phone service.

In fact, it has become so easy to influence that we can now consider everyone, well certainly everyone online, an influencer to some degree. Of course we’re not all equal, some people shared more influence than others, the prolific bloggers, photo sharers and the video uploaders – the sort of people who read Mashable, are at the forefront.

The result of this new revolution is that we look to and trust new sources for information and the research clearly shows we now trust the opinions of strangers we read online as much as our closest friends and certainly more than advertising. This demonstrates the fundamental importance of the social media revolution that we are living through now.

What do we say to our clients? Participation in social media is not a choice, it is now a default. This is a consumer revolution, they choose who takes part and they are already talking about and commenting on all brands. It is down to companies to decide whether to be actively or passively involved.

Secondly, transparency is essential. Consumers are constantly commenting on products and brands, so honesty and openness are vital. Companies should share their inner workings. Mistakes have to be admitted quickly and control has to be loosened to allow consumers to discuss, share and interact with your brand.

Most importantly, invest in product. The number 1 reason that consumers review a product is a good experience, or a friend having a good experience. In a market driven by consumer recommendation, good companies will shine out.

It’s also remembering that Brands have a major advantage over consumers. They have the resources and contacts to create exceptional online experiences, content and services all of which can establish their presence and reputation online. In fact, brands have some of the most interesting stories to share and have every right to share them. This content needs to be in social networks, blog and video sites, not hidden away in branded websites.

Tom Smith is Head of Consumer Futures at Universal McCann, a global media planning company. Tom’s role is to understand the impact of technology on consumer trends, in particular how it impacts advertising, marketing and media consumption.

Source:Mashable!

Company

Rudder

20-Word Description

Rudder is the next generation in online personal finance, enabling users to manage their money straight from their email inbox.

CEO’s Pitch

By adapting to human behavior and delivering customizable widgets that analyze a user’s financial situation and provide valuable, forward-looking alerts, Rudder provides unprecedented ease and control over your personal finances.

“Because we understand that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to handling finances, we developed a solution that can be tailored to the needs of every user and continue to grow with them,” said Nikhil Roy, founder and CEO of Rudder. “Rudder has finally solved the problem that others have attempted to solve for years, ensuring that our users spend less time managing their finances and more time doing the things they truly enjoy.”

Mashable’s Take

Rudder is a free online financial management service that works mostly through your email account. Once you join and setup your bank accounts you can setup Rudder to work with your email system by configuring notifications that will be sent to you on a regular basis. Many of the top banking institutions are supported including Citibank, Bank of America, etc.

Even though you can get Rudder to do everything via email, there are some useful features on their site should you decide to log into your account. For example, there are several handy widgets that you can add to your account, much like bloggers do on their sites. Here are some of the widgets you can add:

The Bills widget seems to be the most useful as it monitors all of your accounts and due dates for payments and reminds you in advance so you don’t miss your deadlines and perhaps avoid penalty fees.

The What’s Left widget does exactly that. It tracks what’s left after the smoke clears from all of your financial accounts after paying your bills.

The Savings widget shows your progress when it comes to saving money. It will give you an overview of all your savings accounts so you can track your saving history. Also, the Speed Widget tracks how fast you’re burning through your wallet and sends you warnings when you’re spending your money too quickly.

There are a few well-known money management services such as Mint and Wesabe that provide email notification services, but none of them appear to offer as many options as Rudder. Besides the usual summary messages with totals, Rudder has actually developed technology that analyzes your income and expense behaviors along with your schedule of bills and generates appropriate messages based on those scenarios and sends them to you.

Making your financial management service work so closely with your email account, something you probably use multiple times a day, is a smart move in this day and age, especially considering the economic situation we’re all dealing. It’s become more important than ever to stay on top of our personal finances, so being able to automate the process and get notified anytime and anywhere is extremely useful.

While Rudder users can use any mobile device to access their emails, it would be extremely convenient if there were an application available for iPhone users. Also, now that the Google Android platform is finally being deployed (October 22,2008), they might want to consider a Rudder app for that as well.

As for security issues, Rudder implements Truste, which provides 128 bit SSL encryption protection. While I’m sure many will still be concerned about using their email to keep track of finances, if you’ve already embraced online banking and don’t mind using your email, Rudder fits the bill.

Editor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series at Mashable - The Startup Review, Sponsored by Sun Microsystems Startup Essentials. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

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Rudder Helps You Manage Your Money From Your Inbox (The Startup Review)

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