What's a WOM?

In my recent trip to LA, I was a guest of WOM World. I had to ask myself - what is WOM?
WOM stands for Word of Mouth. It's the idea that the consumer's word speaks louder than the word of any marketing campaign. In this Web 2.0 world, it's more true than ever.

The Nokia Internet Tablets did very well in this regard. The community, developers, and consumers were heard by Nokia and software updates, next generation hardware, and programs were built in response to this chatter.

Word of Mouth is good and bad. Sometimes some of the loudest voices scare off consumers and sometimes people are so excited and dedicated (like me) that you wonder if you can trust them. With enough voices speaking, though, the "middle truth" emerges and consumers can make up their own minds.

As Nokia Internet Tablet users, let's keep our WOM loud. If something is great (like the screen resolution and Skype,) tell a friend about it. If something sucks (like the camera or lack of a "sunlight readable" display,) keep the conversation alive and suggest solutions.


p.s.

Am I biased? Heck yes. I think the 770 was fun and the N800 is a vast improvement to it, but also can promise you that I've never received a dime from Nokia. If I did, I'd lose the freedom to post FCC filings, comparisons with other devices, and more. Keeping a relationship with Nokia as a journalist (even as a close friend) still means I have to wait for a lot of my information. That's why you find me groveling to them as I did a few posts back. I can admit bias to the internet tablets just as I can toward Toyota because I love my Yaris - even if i still have several years left to pay for it. In short - my bias is based on experience.