I knew last summer, the moment credits rolled for An Inconvenient Truth that some critical mass of collective American consciousness was about to change. My husband Mike and I stepped out of the theatre, into the twilight. A silent glance between us confirmed the urgency we felt to lighten our family's environmental footprint. We weren't alone.

A study, with archived webinar, released by Nielsen BuzzMetrics, a company that mines and monitors consumer-generated media (CGM) like blogs, forums, message boards, etc. for market insights, reports that online buzz about environmental issues is up 169% over a year ago.

This study spanned natural clusters of conversations not just among environmental activists but also among moms and mainstream consumers. What were the drivers of heightened buzz about sustainability? Research suggests Al Gore, growing media attention and other factors such as scrutiny over bottled water.

The chart below demonstrates how online buzz about bottled water spiked 520% on July 27 (vs. the beginning of the year) on the heels of bottled-water bans in San Francisco and Ann Arbor, and admission by two major bottlers that they are, in fact, bottline tap water:

7 Reasons Consumer-Generated Media (CGM) Matters
The webinar builds a compelling case for why CGM matters. Seven of my favorite reasons (some my own; some Nielsen's), with a few highlighted below with charts complements of Nielsen BuzzMetrics, are:

1. Real accounts / actual verbatims from hundreds or thousands of vocal customers can be powerful impetus for organizational change. What most people say on blogs is the real deal. It's unsolicited, unbiased "voice of the customer" without the bias of focus group dynamics.

2. CGM -- opinion posts on blogs, comments on review sites, etc. -- IS word of mouth. And word of mouth is the most trusted source of product information:

3. Online word of mouth is trackable and measure-able. It's also a reasonable proxy for offline word of mouth -- previously a phenomenon that could not be measured, and therefore, not be managed.

4. Online CGM gives a single voice with a powerful idea exponential reach and influence. For instance, I started this group on Facebook a month ago to invite people to stop buying bottled water. It has a modest 77 members. Yet I know from offline interactions with people I've shared this with and haven't joined that they are at the very least damning me because I've planted this idea with them. Thereby, ruining bottled water for them. In one instance, an owner of a company who did not join my group initially cancelled delivery of bottled water to his office and bought every employee a washable glass with which to enjoy filtered tap water. This story illustrates the 1% Rule of Internet culture, which suggests that for every one person who leaves a digital trail -- in this case, joined my group, commented or linked to it -- there are roughly 100 other people who are at least aware of this meme.

5. Speakers -- aka online content creators -- influence seekers of information. Online speakers are opinion-leaders. Throw in search as a variable and the influence is even more profound.

6. Does CGM or online buzz / word of mouth reflect a change in behavior? This chart suggests it does:

7. CGM reflects the Truth (with a deliberate, cap "T") of your brand. Brands aren't what companies say they are anymore; it's what their stakeholders believe they are. With CGM, there's a whole new slew of mirrors reflecting the truth of your brand, category, etc.:

Mining CGM Insights: An Overview

If you're new to this emerging and important market research industry, which I have the privilege of working within from time to time, I would recommend checking out the archived CGM 101 sustainability webinar. It opens with a good CGM primer and builds to a wake-up call for marketers that believe their environmental practices are still optional.

For a quick overview of the space, I can tell you that each of the leading companies in this space typically utilize some combination of search, data mining, artificial intelligence and human analysis to collect -- from thousands or millions of online conversations that occur on blogs, forums, message boards, review sites, etc. They then cull, interpret and package -- often with lovely visualizations -- key insights about specific topics -- whether a specific brand, company, industry, product or issue. For their sustainability study, for example, Nielsen BuzzMetrics studied conversations that naturally clustered around terms such as "green" and "sustainability" and "plastic."

Leading service providers in this industry -- MotiveQuest, Nielsen BuzzMetrics, Cymfony and Umbria -- each approach "online anthropology," to borrow MotiveQuest's elegant characterization, quite differently. Yet, listening to
honest opinions of influential, online individuals -- even if you just use ad hoc free blog search tools like Technorati or Blogpulse -- is essential.

Questions? Comments? Not convinced? Contact me.