I’ll be speaking at KREM’s conference about how consumers in Europe are participating in Social Computing – and in particular, in social networks; and what marketers can do about it.

It’s not news that people are using the internet to connect to each other, and use the net to build communities of shared interests, objectives and passions. In 2007, 13% of online European adults were members of social networks, as were over half of young online consumers.

These adoption rates are from before Facebook was opened to everyone; before marketers jumped in to these networks or began creating private brand communities to dialogue with their clients. What a difference a year makes.

At Forrester Research, I examine how these communities and consumer participation will change marketing and advertising.

I’ll write about some of my research on this blog over the next few months: what’s the role of influence; what to do when consumers become a ‘media’; how our definition of customer value needs to evolve, how marketers can involve consumers in decisions about products and services. In short, how marketing can integrate and benefit from communities.

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