NY Times and Consumer Generated Media

Pete Blackshaw, longtime colleague, writes in his always lively consumer generated media blog about an article in the NY Times on consumer generated media: " ... the writer, Keith Schneider, using Nielsen BuzzMetrics as his backdrop, asks all the right questions about whether CGM, and in particular CGM analysis and text-mining, is destabilizing the typical "go to market" strategy for most brands ...". Fascinating view of where all this is going, where measurement is ultimately the driving force. Quote from the NY Times article:

" ... the branding game has changed radically, largely because of the myriad choices the Internet provides consumers and because of the economic influence of widespread Web pontificating, known as the blogosphere, which barely existed as a popular force until about four years ago...As consumers eagerly post word-of-mouth commentary in online communities, message boards and Web logs, a straightforward question confronts brandmeisters: Who wins and who loses as time-tested practices of mass production and mass marketing are undermined by the informed and often cranky voices of the knowledge age?... "