Portrait of an iPod owner
p2p news / p2pnet: If you`re an iPod owner, there’s a better than even chance you’ll repeat whatever the mainstream media and advertisers tell you.
In what amounts to the definition of an iPod owner, “Consumers who own iPods are significantly more likely to create and spread consumer-generated media (CGM) on the Internet, a trend likely to increase with the incorporation of video content into iPods, says buzz analytics firm Intelliseek.
Buzz analytics, eh? Heh.
“iPod users have more word-of-mouth tools at their disposal to spread opinions and reviews about their iPod experiences,” says spokesman Pete Blackshaw. “Provided iPods continue to delight consumers, Apple will benefit from a growing volume of free, trusted advertising from other consumers.”
According to the company’s 2005 Consumer-Generated Media and Behavior Study, “while word-of-mouth recommendations from personal acquaintances carry the most weight in influencing purchases, even CGM from Internet strangers is a more powerful influence than paid advertising.
iPod users are twice as likely to have authored a blog than consumers who don’t own mp3 players, and they, “outpace” other mp3 owners on “creating and posting content online, says Intelliseek, going on:
iPod users are also 2.5 times as likely to exchange text messages on cellular phones (59% vs. 24% of non-owners), three times as likely to take photos with a camera phone (45% vs. 15%), and three times as likely to download video clips and movies to a personal computer (47% versus 16%).
Not only but also, iPod users are product innovators, significantly more likely to own digital video recorders, personal digital assistants, digital cameras, laptop computers and cell phones than non-iPod owners”.
They also tend to use broadband and wireless and are more likely than others to skip past or filter advertisements, especially online, a behavior that may be linked as much to high usability/interface expectations as it is to a dislike of advertising.
That`s interesting given that iPod owners are seen as terrific advertising tools in and of themselves.
Anyway, The amount and depth of consumer-generated media about Apple products on message boards, forums, ratings sites and other CGM venues support this conclusion, the report states.
On blogs alone, nearly 1% of all new blog entries directly or indirectly mention iPod products, roughly equal to the total amount of online conversations citing MP3 players in general. First-person product testimonials about iPods also index highly across message boards, forums and ratings sites.”
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See:-
Intelliseek – iPod Users Are Among the Internet’s Most Prolific Advertisers and Influencers, Intelliseek Study Finds, October 24, 2005
October 25th, 2005 at 3:11 pm
iPod owners are good little hypnotized consumers. The kind that corporations would give anything to get an army of. People who will consume, consume, consume, consume and consume, whatever they throw at them, and create a hype about.
F*cking sad…
October 25th, 2005 at 3:48 pm
What do you have against Apple? Your always on at them.
October 25th, 2005 at 4:47 pm
I dunno. I guess I don’t like anything that’s over-blown to the gills by the lamescream media while the competition is virtually ignored.
I don’t like the way Jobs tried to crush online reporters who had the temerity to find out, and report on, Apple product before he was ready to start hyping it; but, who didn’t say a word when lamescream outlets did exactly the same thing.
But most of all, I absolutely detest the way he, and Pepsi and the RIAA, scammed 16 teenagers and their parents into letting themselves be used in a shoddy and disgustingly cynical iPod SuperBowl ad.
http://p2pnet.net/story/677
Apart from that, though, I really like Apple ; P
Cheers!
October 25th, 2005 at 4:56 pm
SCRATCHES EASILY…
Two words that are often heard from owners of iPod. We are starting to see a growing trend of defectors who expect more… no, actually expect what OTHER mp3/ogg players offer.
October 25th, 2005 at 4:58 pm
Enough said…
October 25th, 2005 at 7:23 pm
yesterday, i looked through amazon for portable media players. amid all of the crappy, overpriced, restrictive pods are a whole lot of other, larger, better players. ones which play all types of media including xvid, divx and ogg. there are dvd players and HDD players. all with larger screens – 3point5inches to 10 inches – and have larger storage capacities.
portable dvd players
http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/002-2237739-4047217?node=172521
portable media players
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=xs_ap_l_xgl23/002-2237739-4047217?search-alias=electronics-aps&keywords=portable%20media%20players
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=pd_rhf_s_2/002-2237739-4047217?%5Fencoding=UTF8&index=blended&field-keywords=portable%20media%20players
there are also 2 shinco players on the firebox website which play everything.
Shinco Portable Media Player
http://www.firebox.com/index.html?dir=firebox&action=product&pid=1074&showAllImages=0
Shinco Portable DVD Player
http://www.firebox.com/index.html?dir=firebox&action=product&pid=825
yes, most of these players are more expensive than the ipods, but one must pay more for quality, mustn’t one?
October 26th, 2005 at 12:30 am
All this article says is that people who buy iPods are tech savvy. Duh? Spreading opinions via web and by word of mouth does not make iPod owners “hypnotized consumers,” it simply makes it obvious that people who own iPods, and similar electronic equipment, talk about it. Who woulda thunk it?
October 26th, 2005 at 12:45 am
If you hear someone say they NEED any of this kind of consumer entertainment fluff, please correct them. No one NEEDS ANY of it. Sure you may want it, but need is not the issue. If you think you really do need an iPod, or a DVD recorder, PSP, etc, etc… GET HELP.
October 27th, 2005 at 4:06 am
Ipod owners are mostly rich pampered snobs and 80% are as “tech-savvy” as a woodchuck. What kind of a pinhead actually uses that stupid description , “tech-savvy” anyway?
December 14th, 2006 at 11:56 pm
Right; but the folks at http://www.buzzanalytics.com have measured an initial upsurge in the Zune product from Microsoft. I seems to be a bit “klunky” but the Buzz Analytiocs folks said that the change in the Zune mind share in their Internet Hype Curve is a lot greater than the Ipod at the same stage in their intro – - -
The Buzz Analytics executives and analysts seem to be ex-CIA and Intelligence people who are now harvesting the internet, chat rooms, and other internet hangouts for all sorts of datamining activities to measure opinion and other trends for special clients.
January 6th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
This is old stuff. The firm Buzz Analytics LLC ( http://www.BuzzAnalytics.com ) has done some early and continuing research here showing the relative WOM ranking of ipods and the competition. There are some very close seconds and thirds here with almost no statistical difference.
The big problem that Apple has in what’s coming out of tiwan, where they may be a law suir involving apple’s claim on the design. Check it out. Buzz Analytics seems to be run by some ex-intelligence agency types who like to remain in the background.