Guardian Readers and Weak Ties

Nothing to do with their taste in clothes, but lots to do with their ability to influence other people and spread word of mouth. These are the findings of new research from, of course, The Guardian.

It's actually a serious piece of work, taking on board existing theories about influencers and the process of word of mouth and building in new qual and quant evidence to bring the whole thing to life. It was conducted on behalf of The Guardian by Crowd DNA (led by Andy Crysell formerly of Ramp Industry) and is nicely packaged - although the design and art direction could be a bit more more exciting. Check it out here

It sits very much on the Gladwell end of the Gladwell vs Watts debate over influencers, in other words some people are much more influential than others and can be identified as such (it's easy, they read The Guardian!)

You can certainly see the logic that people with bigger social networks (made up of more 'loose ties', rather than simply strong ones to close friends and family) are likely to be more vocal and potentially more influential. But there is still the sense that word of mouth is very sector-specific, ie an influencer for nappy brands probably has little influence with regard to mobile phones.

Still, it is good to see media owners doing this kind of research in times like this - although I bet it was commissioned pre-downturn.