Does Social Networking Affect What You Buy?

Apparently social media doesn't affect the buying patterns of consumers as much as every thinks, according to a new study by everyone's favorite bank, Goldman Sachs. The study indicates that search engines  ranking (at 31%) has vastly more influence on buying than social networking (at 5%), with recommendation engines like StumbleUpon coming in second at 27%. What's more of a surprise, 33% say none of these have any influence at all.

I'd like to read the entire study before I'd get uptight about this chart, but it does correlate somewhat with conventional wisdom. Most people don't seem to pay attention to any of the ads on Facebook, but what's not mentioned in this chart is if direct marketing through social media it addressed or is this just for adverts.

Even so, it's an interesting chart that certainly indicates that there's still a place for traditional marketing.

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