A new IBM online survey of consumer habits as they relate to the web and TV contains findings that small-cap companies will find important in determining their future IR campaigns. The actual survey results are available here, while a press release summarizing the survey can be found here.
From my perspective, here are some of the more interesting points:
- The global findings overwhelmingly suggest personal Internet time rivals TV time.
- Consumers are seeking consolidated, trustworthy content, recognition and community
- An average of 81 percent of consumers surveyed globally indicated they’ve watched or want to watch PC video.
- Consumers are increasingly contributing to online video or social networking sites: 26 % of U.S. respondents reported contributing to a social networking site.
- Of those who contributed content, an average of 58 percent worldwide did so for recognition and community, not monetary gain.
Community, community, community. Investors want it and you need to provide it. It is that simple.
Why?
Humans have always congregated around fields of interest. We work with people who share our passion (medicine, engineering, teaching, construction, mining, technology, etc.), we socialize with people that share our sense of fun (bars, nightclubs, restaurants, sports venues, lakes, etc.) and we take up causes with people that share our pain (cancer, MS, diabetes, etc.). Bottom line, we do almost everything in our lives with other people who share the same field of interest.
As such, it only makes sense that we want to surf the web along with those that share our interests. Young children love to play at Club Penguin (acquired by Disney for $350 million), teenagers congregate at MySpace (acquired for $560 million, College students and grads are on Facebook (valued between $5 – 10 billion).
Investors are no different. They want to share information with other investors like them. This is especially true for the small-cap space where information and analysis from major media and finance firms isn’t readily available. In fact, I would contend that small-cap investors are an even more rabid group than any of the communities listed above because investing is not a social exercise. It involves their personal finances and livelihood.
The case for building and maintaining a high-quality small-cap / micro-cap community is getting stronger by the day. It is never looking back. Don’t make the mistake of thinking this latest phase of the web (Web 2.0) is going to end like the dot-com implosion of 2001. Web 2.0 is not built on greed, stupid business models and insane valuations. This phase of the web is being built on applications that are actually being used by millions and millions of people. It is powerful and unstoppable.
Any “C” level small-cap executive that ignores these facts is going to find themselves far behind those small-cap companies that embrace them and capitalize on them.
Regards,
George
