Do Blogs Influence Purchasing Decision?

Recently I came upon an article (eMarketer) on blogs and purchasing decision. According to that article, blogs do have influence on purchasing decision of consumers. Now it can be anything...Its been over three years since I started writing in a review site which is really a consumer blogging site. It is amazing to observe there how you can influence the minds of a consumer. For example a movie which has bombed in box office may be portrayed in a positive light. And if the review comes from a star writer of the site...then just imagine?

The eMarketer article, Blogs and the Purchasing Decision states:

“For a portion of Web users, blogs rival search as a navigation tool, which has really interesting implications for advertisers,” said Rob Crumpler, CEO of BuzzLogic, in a statement. “Blogs are becoming trusted guides, steering users who are seeking very specific information to places of interest online.”

The number of consumers influenced by blogs will rise, based on overall blog readership projections. More than two-thirds of Internet users will read blogs in 2012, up from one-half who did so last year.

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Now survey results like this sounds very sunny during recession when there is hardly any extra money to spare in ad campaigns for products.