Uit onderzoek van webhostingbedrijf Hostway blijkt dat weblogs belangrijk zijn bij de keuze van aanschaf van een product. Ruim driekwart van de respondenten gaf aan dat hij/zij informatie van weblogs zou afhalen om tot een productkeuze te komen. Als reden werd de betrouwbaarheid aangegeven; het is geschreven door echte personen en gebaseerd op persoonlijke ervaringen.

Meer resultaten

In the survey of attitudes to blogs most of those questioned, 77%, said they thought the regularly updated web journals were a useful way to get insights into the products or services they should buy.

As many blogs were the work of individuals, many believed that they were more honest and reliable because they were not subject to the same marketing pressures as corporate or commercial websites.

"Consumers are tired of marketing gloss and so the interest in blogs is not surprising," said Paul Halfpenny, product manager at survey sponsor Hostway.

"We all want impartial advice and information, as far as consumers are concerned blogs deliver this," he added.

The messages on blogs about the merits or mistakes in gadgets or consumer goods can reach a huge audience, said Mr Halfpenny.

Those most likely to let opinions on blogs influence what they bought, 83%, were those in the 25-34 age group.

As yet, though, the research found that consumers still thought almost every other form of media was at least as trustworthy as blogs.

Almost half, 49%, thought blogs were as credible as articles in magazines, 46% thought web journals were as trustworthy as newspapers and 40% thought web logs and TV news programmes were just as reliable as each other.

» Shoppers use blogs for bargains

Update 29-09
Het volledige onderzoek staat online:
» Hostway Blog Survey: Top-Line Results