Friends from Social Network Pursuade Couple's Purchase

My wife and I regularly check-in to retail stores, restaurants and night spots via Foursquare and Facebook. This isn't normally newsworthy for me, but yesterday it proved to be influential on a large purchase we are planning.

Shortly after leaving the retail store of a specialty mattress manufacturer, I noticed that a few comments were left on my Facebook status (which I previously used to check-in) cautioning me to not proceed with the purchase. The comments ranged from tales of manufacturer defects, loopholes to their warranty, and suggestions for alternative mattress manufacturers.

It's funny, because I typically study and share research with my clients about consumer social networks influencing purchase decisions. Guess it's... validating, to experience something like this first-hand.

Thanks friends.

FriendFeed is a Friend Indeed

This week I aggregated all of my social networks into a single source on FriendFeed. It's an interesting way for me to broadcast everything from my blogs, Twitter, Pownce, YouTube, etc. And it's easy to view all of my friends' postings at a quick, dashboard level.