Recently I have noticed that word-of-mouth marketing has been receiving a fair amount of attention in the media.

Word-of-mouth seems like a pretty obvious idea to me. Someone has a good experience and they tell their friends. The same idea works if they have a bad experience. So wouldn't it make sense to put effort into this?

Here's an article that I read in the Womnibus Weekly this week. (Womnibus is WOMMA's weekly newsletter - Word of Marketing Association.)

Excerpt:

"THE INTERNET PROVIDES SO MANY ways for users to spread information in ways never before possible. E-mail, for example, can easily extend the reach of someone's brand by a factor of 10, 100, 1,000 or over 10,000. The Internet also serves as a vast digital repository of such information -- accessible at any time, from anywhere and by anyone. Millions of opinions about your company's brand are only a click away on search engines, blogs, product ratings sites, podcasts and other digital platforms. The immediacy of the Internet is giving way to more word-of-mouth marketing and viral campaigns. Below are eMarketer's top ten reasons for the explosive growth of word-of mouth marketing, and why we feel it will continue to be a major factor in consumers' and companies' lives."

More...

CNET News.com March 09, 2005, 14:30 GMT

After several recent high-profile incidents involving people being fired for the content of their blogs, we take a look at what you should and should not do when it comes to avoiding your employer's wrath.

Read more

NET News doesn't agree:

CNET News has published a guide to blogging in the workplace in frequently-asked questions (FAQ) style.

Unfortunately, this is not one of CNET's better efforts to address a topical issue (see this guide to RSS for an example of a really good CNET guide).

You decide. Read more here.

In today's eMarketer newsletter they had an interesting article about identity theft. According to a new survey/report, most cases of identity theft still actually occur offline (e.g. lost wallet)

Another interesting point in the article was that those who "discovered the crime through electronic means — online, ATM or other — averaged a lower amount of monetary loss than those who found the theft on their paper statements."

Overall I think people should continue to use common sense/best practises when making purchases on and offline.

Read the complete article here.

Pew Internet recently published a brief but interesting report on blogging.

The State of Blogging
"By the end of 2004 blogs had established themselves as a key part of online culture. Two surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in November established new contours for the blogosphere:
- 8 million American adults say they have created blogs;
- blog readership jumped 58% in 2004 and now stands at 27% of internet users;
- 5% of internet users say they use RSS aggregators or XML readers to get the news and other information delivered from blogs and content-rich Web sites as it is posted online;
- and 12% of internet users have posted comments or other material on blogs.
- Still, 62% of internet users do not know what a blog is."

Read the full report here.

Today eMarketer had an interesting article on phishing. There are seems to be a number of articles on phishing these days. Phishing is being discussed as the new online concern for 2005. In this article the discuss the results of a survey by Cyota (an anti-fraud provider for financial institutions). According to Cyota, "the number of bank accountholders who have received phishing emails grew to 50% in November 2004 from 25% in April 2004".

Another interesting phishing article published recently discussed how phishers will not limit themselves to individual identity theft, but steaking organizational credentials as well.

I have put together a short list of how individuals can protect themselves from phishers.

Prevention Tips:

1. Do not respond to unsolicited emails that ask for any personal information regardless of how urgent the request appears. Legitimate companies do not ask for personal or sensitive information in this format. If you are concerned about your account – contact the company directly using an email address or phone number you know is legitimate.
2. Do not email any personal or financial information. If you initiate a purchase online, look for indicators that the site is secure. E.g. a lock icon, a url that begins with “https:” (the “s” stands for secure)
3. Review your credit card and bank statements as you receive them to ensure that everything is correct.
4. Get spam and anti-virus protection and keep it up to date. Some email defense services/products on the market can detect phishing emails (through the same methods as detecting spam) and filter them out of inbound email - stopping them from  entering your inbox.
5. Report anything suspicious. Contact the legitimate company in the suspect email using an email address or phone number that you know is correct.

eMarketers team of analysts and researcher give their predictions of what to look out for in 2005 in the Internet, e-business and emerging tech areas.

They include:
Alternative Advertising
RSS
AOL Changes
On-Demand TV
Wireless Broadband
Radio Frequency Identification
Voice-Over Internet Protocol
Linux
Cross-Channel Retail
IT Security

Read more here

Recently I read an interesting article in eMarketer.com. The article discusses how Canada is a world leader in Internet connectivity but behind when it comes to ecommerce (buying/shopping).



The story goes on to say that this is interesting as conventional wisdom says that Internet broadband connection is an enabler of online buying because dial-up is too slow.



Canadians it seems are still very cautious to buying online. My opinion would be that we are worried about security which would seem odd since we are apparently don't have a problem when it comes to doing online banking.

Read the rest of the article here.

Tip: If you do wish to shop online, and you are worried about security, get a dedicated credit card. Use it only for your online  purchases and keep the credit limit on it low.