Conducting an experiment
Posted by Matt Dean on June 22nd, 2007
Between 10:30 am and noon today Central time, Bryan Sims and I are presenting a session on Gen Y at the CUNA Mutual Group Discovery conference. One of the characteristics we’re discussing is how connected and collaborative this generation is. In particular I want to talk about how much we rely on the experiences and opinions of our friends and peers to make purchasing decisions and how easy it is to share those opinions.
As a live case study, I’m putting this question out there and hoping to have a few responses by the end of the session:
How have you used technology recently to get recommendations or advice from your friends and peers?
+10 points to anyone who references this on their own blog and posts a link in the comments.
Don’t worry if you’re not part of “Gen Y.” We want to hear from anybody and everybody!
If you don’t have an example to share, here’s another question: What’s something fun to do in Nashville tonight?
I wanted to get into the band Old 97s and I used Twitter to ask my friends which album to start with. Ross said, ”’satellite rides’ is the album you’re after.”
And I heart him for it.
And I’m about to do the same for my next digital camera purchase.
Just bought 2 point and shoot digital camera’s for a trip to Europe. The process, emailed my photography friend, ask him what brand to go with, (his repsonse word for word: “Canon. Always Canon.”) and then quickly checked CNET reviews + customer reviews. Within an hour I had my choices made.
@Charlie: Buy a Canon! We have the SD1000 and the A560 and love them both. Checkout http://www.flickr.com/photos/markandshevawn for example photos and http://www.markandshevawn.com for a taste of their video quality.
(Was that a shameless plug for my own photos and videos of Europe….maybe!)
It’s already happening!
*gives technology a kiss
Thanks, Mark, I’ll give Canon a second look.
I’ll take those 10 points, Matt. :)
Reccomended…
Damn my spelling. That would be “Recommended”.
It’s you and me both Charlie. I talked through a digital camera purchase with a professional photographer friend of mine on Facebook. (She too said Canon. Period.) She warned me that you can get a cheap one without a USA warranty, but don’t take the risk.
I sent her an eBay link with the Digital Rebel I wanted, and she told me to go for it. I missed the bidding on that one, but found a comparable body two nights later. I won the bidding from … ahem … my bathroom.
I’d like to send a shout out to WiFi for that one.
Matt, I have posted an indirect lending survey (from SurveyMonkey) on my blog to find out how other CU’s are succeeding at indirect lending. I am looking for both technological and overall business ideas!
Matt,
I’d say that I don’t purchase much of anything without doing some searchs for bloggers who’ve reviewed products.
I specially purchased my Logitech Harmony 880 universal remote, Garmin Nuvi, and Canon XTi DSLR based on extensive blog research.
I’ve written one review for a laptop bag that I purchased for my MacBook Pro. Joanna ( www.industrychick.com ) blogged about her Jawbone bluetooth headset that I told her she just had to have. She thought it was amazing, so she blogged about it.
I would also say that the closer I am to the blogger recommending the product, the more likely I would be to purchasing that item if I needed it.
Interesting topic, I look forward to hearing more.
Matt -
In the spirit of the topic, here’s some Yelp! reviews for Nashville …
Restaurants … http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=restaurants&ns=1&rpp=10&find_loc=nashville+tn&action_search.x=0&action_search.y=0
Clubs … http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=clubs&ns=1&rpp=10&find_loc=nashville+tn&action_search.x=0&action_search.y=0
Music … http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=music&ns=1&rpp=10&find_loc=nashville+tn&action_search.x=0&action_search.y=0
Coffee joints … http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=coffee&ns=1&rpp=10&find_loc=nashville+tn&action_search.x=0&action_search.y=0
Have fun! Jeff
The last fun thing I bought was retaining wall stones from Home Depot. Fun stuff. Last cool thing I bought was from Newegg and it was a kick a$$ Viewsonic monitor and used used their peer reviews heavily when making my selection.
B. Rogers, thanks for the camera advice. And thank you for owning your water-closet web browsing. I do the same. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.
*gives technology another kiss for wifi
Thanks for your help! We had 6 comments by the time we got to this part of the presentation, and I think it helped the audience understand just how important it is to make sure they give their members a reason to recommend them to their growing network of friends.
Elaine, thanks for the post! I left a comment on your site with a recommendation of my own. It’s always good to see new names in the comments—I hope you’ll continue to add to the conversation.
By the way, last night Kelly and I went to Monell’s in Franklin with our good friend Reco. It was fantastic! I’ve been to family-style restaurants before, but at this one you get put at a table with other guests and share your food with complete strangers.
We walked away from the dinner with six new friends. I highly recommend it next time you’re in Nashville.
Thanks for the posts everyone. Matt, good catching up and enjoyed speaking at Discovery with you.
Matt, I just linked you guys on a post I made yesterday.
I have actually stood in Costco with my Treo 700 and looked up reviews on products while shopping. I dont think that I have bought a single piece of technology without hitting cnet or epinions or doing a blog search for the product.
“Back in the day” we used to trust our friends and neighbors to tell us what mechanic to use or what vacuum to buy. CoWorkers around the water cooler talking about lawnmowers or where to find the best deals. Now, I can take advantage of the user experience of hundreds of people online before any major decision.
Thanks to Yelp, BBBOnline and Google maps reviews and the countless other online resources available to everyone, I now have the inside scoop on who is naughty and who is nice.
Tony,
Your post, and that comment rocked. If it’s cool, I’d like to quote part of that comment in a presentation I’m doing on Emerging Marketing Technology. You said it better than I would have.
Brent,
Feel free – thanks for the slap on the back. You can never get too many of those. I’ll try not to let it go to my head ;)
If you are recording your presentation – I would love to hear it a-la podcast.
I know I am outside the Y age group, but I do think I have a lot of the same tendencies as do the people that post comments on my blog. Here are a few examples of received advice, reccomendations.
What new gadet you thinking of? http://www.burke-frazier.com/archive/2007/06/11/29.aspx
When looking for new music, the group never has a shortage of input. Here is a ‘share me 10 random songs from your ipod’ http://www.burke-frazier.com/archive/2007/06/20/35.aspx
I look forward to hearing the podcast when you are finished.
Hi Trey!
Is the follow-up for this posted anywhere or in podcast form?
Would be great for research.
Kind Regards,
Amy