Erik Qualman

“You're talking about a younger generation, Generation Y, whose interpersonal communication skills are different from Generation X. The younger generation is more comfortable saying something through a digital mechanism than even face to face.”

“The easier things are to buy, the more we consume.”

“It's about listening first, then selling.”

“Twenty-five percent of search results for the world's top 20 largest brands are links to user generated content and thirty-four percent of bloggers post opinions about products and brands.”

“At a minimum the majority of search dollars will flow to a social media model because people care most about what their peers think and the technology is there for that information to be quickly shared on products and services.”

“That's the power behind a tool like Facebook Connect. It is making a Web without walls. Facebook allows you to go to other sites to comment, rate, etc., without having to set up a new profile for that site.”

“It had not yet been named Silicon Valley, but you had the defense industry, you had Hewlett-Packard. But you also had the counter-culture, the Bay Area. That entire brew came together in Steve Jobs.”

“The power of social media is it forces necessary change.”

“You can spend your time daydreaming or make use of it in other ways.”

“As social media is less about technology and more about relationship building, we are starting to see more women have a heavy influence if not dominant role in the social media space. It's no wonder that Facebook is being run in part by chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.”

“Increasingly, consumers don't search for products and services. Rather, services come to their attention via social media.”

“Social media has made the web all about me, me, me.”

“Best results are often achieved well before you need a job, by consistently networking so that when you find yourself job-hunting you have a large network to work with.”

“Language is always evolving. It's difficult to read Shakespeare now because language has shifted. Similarly, kids these days can get to the point really quick in about 140 characters or less because of these new tools.”

“One thing we seem to be missing is that just as we no longer search for the news, the news finds us today (e.g. this article found me) we will no longer search for products and services, rather we will look to our social graph to what products and services they like and don't like.”

“Folks want to be listened to, they want to be heard.”

“Everybody's got the mindset that everything should be measurable.”

“With the growing reliance on social media, we no longer search for news, or the products and services we wish to buy. Instead they are being pushed to us by friends, acquaintances and business colleagues.”