Twitter time and an exploding iPhone

16/11/09 posted by Liz Niland

According to the 2009 Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, online savvy consumers would much prefer to take the opinion of a stranger than simply believe the hype of traditional advertisements. Of the 25,000 international net users surveyed, a mammoth 90% trust recommendations from people they know, and a surprisingly high 70% trust the opinions of unknown consumers posted online.

Brand websites (70%) and editorial content (69%) both rank highly but, from there, the results drop off significantly with some newer technologies garnering little trust, such as text ads on mobile phones (24%). Given this, it is more important than ever to not only get yourself online, but to ensure you are being talked about online. Twitter, Facebook and integrating social media aspects into your own website can all help build the buzz and get people talking.

Rumours are beginning to circulate that Twitter may take home the 2009 gong for Time magazine’s Person of the Year. Although Twitter doesn’t sound like it exactly fits the “Person” criteria, “The Computer” was crowned the 1982 winner. Other than Twitter though, a few living people were nominated including Chesley “Sully” Sulenberger - the pilot who successfully landed a US Airways plane in the Hudson River earlier this year.

If you don’t already, it might be time to start using your mobile phone headset - just in case. A French businessman, along with a handful of other users, has claimed that his iPhone screen shattered spontaneously. Although both Apple and Bouygues, the company that markets the phone in France, have opposed the claim, French authorities have launched an investigation.