If we put it on the Internet everyone will think its true.
A recent statement from ReachLocal, the newest wanna-be provider of local search advertising to small businesses in the local search space, caught my eye (source) and I noticed it has also appeared on several other websites:
A recent study by comScore shows 60 percent of consumers have stopped using Yellow Pages print directories as their primary source of searching for local goods and services.
Really? Where did they come up with that study, because if it was real, believe me, it would have been all over the media wires. I checked with comScore, with the industry associations, with several publisher contacts and the common response: it is a complete fabrication (aka lie) and there is NO comScore data that backs up this claim. Instead it may be a statistic drawn from an industry presentation which if you twist it five ways from Sunday could conceivably give you something like that.
But even if ReachLocal retracts these comments, the damage has been done because once you start propagating garbage like this across the Internet, everyone assumes its accurate just because they see it online. On top of that, at a time when the Yellow Page industry is trying to extend the high level of trust it enjoys from its print products and sales forces to now be offering multiple products across a range of platforms (the Internet being one of them), no one needs to have dumb things like this – it reflects badly on everyone.
When you see stuff like this, let me suggest the following:
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First off, be a little skeptical, don’t assume information is true and accurate just because it is online.
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Pay attention to the sources and presentation of this “information” to better gauge its overall quality
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Try to determine who’s responsible for the site. If they will not reveal that information, I’m usually even more skeptical. Often the “About This Site” type links provide clues about the point of view, purpose, or bias of the site.
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Look for an indication of how current the material is. My favorite example has been the PaperlessPetition group which has been soliciting opt-out requests for years and as far as we can determine, has never once contact a publisher.
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If you know the information you are looking at isn’t correct, contact your senior leadership and/or legal group to find out what steps can be taken. This industry has built its reputation over a 125 year history. Let’s not give it up without a fight when stuff like this happens.
And let’s hope that ReachLocal corrects these erroneous comments with as much vigor as they promoted the inaccurate info to begin with.
on May 8, 2008 on 9:03 pm
ComScore? Aren’t they the outfit that’s in a fracas regarding misleading data about Google searches?
Yeah, they are. From Barrons: http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2008/04/17/comscore-shares-whacked-the-paid-click-controversy/?mod=BOLBlog
“comScore is notoriously inaccurate when measuring site traffic because they use panel data vs. census data (which is ridiculous, given that census data is so easily available on the internet). Thus, it only stands to reason that everything they measure will be inaccurate as well. Those deep in the internet media industry know this; everyone else should too.”
on May 10, 2008 on 9:12 pm
John, yes i agree comscores info may be confusing based on how they derive their information i dont even understand what they mean by data vs census data- i’m not a tech guy, but what do you think the real number is then?
I don’t know what the exact figure is, its hard to determine on the internet. i’ve tried to hunt around alot but its very difficult. but i do know that over the last few years (especially the last two) our clinic has noticed a pretty significant drop in people who were calling us from our Yellow Pages so we had my brother-in-law do some google adword stuff for us and now we are getting back to level of calls we had two years ago.
on May 12, 2008 on 5:39 pm
John S:
When was the last time you made changes to your print ad design??
From discussions with a wide range of publishers and the suppliers that provide call tracking services to publishers/advertisers, they say that call volumes continue to RISE not drop, and the only place those unique numbers can be found in in the print Yellow Pages. The only exception is in those major markets such as Orlando and Las Vegas were the economy is very slow. But even in those markets, many advertisers continue to see a rise in the number of calls they are getting…