This via Sally Falkow, whose blog is always good for some thought provoking...thoughts (start working, brain, or I'll stab you with a q-tip!). She recently wrote an entry about a study on content and consumer trust, put together by Intelliseek. The study attempts to gauge "consumer-generated media", or the millions of consumer-generated comments, opinions and personal experiences posted in publicly available online sources on a wide range of issues, topics, products and brands. CGM is also referred to as Online Consumer Word-of-Mouth or Online Consumer Buzz." Here's where this comes from:

• Blogs
• Message boards and forums
• Public discussions (Usenet newsgroups)
• Discussions and forums on large email portals (Yahoo!,AOL, MSN)
• Online opinion/review sites and services
• Online feedback/complaint sites

The study shows that "consumers place far more trust in their fellow consumers than they do in traditional marketers and advertisers...For any marketer, advertiser or business professional trying to be heard or break through the clutter, understanding and managing consumer generated media is critical to survival."

Next big point: "Secondly, CGM is prolific and increasingly easy and inexpensive to create. Online discussion forms, membership groups, boards and Usenet newsgroups represented the first CGM wave. Blogs represent the latest wave of CGM that's easy and inexpensive to distribute…and influential in its impact." Let's talk about this for a sec. How many of you are using blogs to communicate/market/connect? Vote at the polls.

Last big point: "CGM influences traditional marketing in wholly new ways. Because CGM data is easy to find on search engines, marketers and advertisers no longer "control" the message or the medium. When a consumer types a company name, brand or product into a search engine, it's almost certain that some of the first results—good or bad—will be posted and created by other consumers."

Do me a favor and Google "walmart." Right up there with the expected listing is a site called Walmart Watch, The Walmart You Don't Know, and Walmart Sucks. THAT is the power of consumer generated media. These sites are not bigger or better than Walmart's ginormous site, they don't have more brand recognition, but they function largely on word of mouth.

This is why companies should not disregard the lone blogger who decides to take on a huge corporation, because nowadays, it's not a David and Goliath story anymore. Once the Web grapevine gets a hold of something, it spreads like wildfire. Another good example of this is Jeff Jarvis and his ongoing battle against TPTB at Dell. That link is to a Google site search of Jeff's site so you can view all the comments and posts. Interesting stuff - made more powerful by the power (cue the orchestra) of consumer....generated...media!

Obscurely, this reminds me of the Little Green Men in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: "We are strong. We are united." Yes, it's a cartoon but it's relevant to what we're talking about...in a roundabout, too early in the morning sort of way. Work with me.

Related: Use my blog finding resources to search for blogs that are buzzworthy, read the top ten search engine optimization blogs, learn about RSS and how it is impacting SEO, or search social bookmark sites such as del.icio.us.