Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Death of a Salesman, Committed by Facebook

by Warren Riddle on February 14, 2010 at 08:30 AM

When those school candy bar and calendar drives heat up, the amateur salespeople's' first targets are always family members and close friends. Professional salespeople who practice direct marketing techniques adhere to that basic principle, as well. They know what we all hate to admit: it's pretty hard to say "no" to someone in person, particularly if you know them.

That dynamic is apparently shifting, though, as people seem to be rapidly losing trust in their friends, peers, and acquaintances when it comes to products and companies. The Edelman organization recently conducted a Trust Barometer survey, and it determined that people's faith in one another has plummeted since the previous 2008 report. According to Business Insider, the survey revealed that only 25-percent of the people polled trust their peers when it comes to product information, as compared to 45-percent in 2008. Trust, in general, took a massive hit in the survey, as the numbers for TV news, radio news, and newspapers all dropped significantly.

Richard Edelman, the CEO of Edelman, believes the rise in peer-mistrust can "absolutely" be attributable to social networking. The constant flow of ads posted by friends on Facebook is apparently starting to take a toll on uninterested recipients. So, let that be a lesson to all you MonaVie hawkers and Facebook shills of other dubious products. Please stop it, before you completely destroy whatever shred of humanity is left in this world. [From: Business Insider]

Tags: edelman, facebook, marketing, sales, socialnetworking, top, web

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular