F-factor becomes part of our life

September 1, 2011

The F-factor is in vogue now. It symbolizes the power of friends, fans and followers in changing public opinion and consumer behavior in social networks.

The F-factor dictates the fate of politicians as friends, fans and followers create a forum where they express their views in an efficient, relevant and entertaining way. It gives consumers tips on saving time and effort in discovering the best products and services.

In cyberspace, people influence or are influenced by what those around them think and buy, the website trendwatching.com says in its latest report.

It predicts the F-factor will become more prominent on the back of new tools and platforms available to a growing number of voters and consumers.

Social network users are actively broadcasting, remixing, compiling, commenting, sharing and recommending their views, purchases and experiences to their friends, fans and followers.

Now we need to learn the latest jargon about the F-factor.

(1) F-Discovery: People discover candidates, new products and services from social networks.

(2) F-Rated: People increasingly and automatically receive political views, targeted ratings, recommendations and reviews from social networks.

(3) F-Feedback: People can ask their friends, fans and followers to reveal their voting and buying decisions on social networks.

(4) F-Together: People vote together and shop together on social networks although they are not physically together.

(5) F-Me: Consumers' social networks are literally turned into products and services.

(6) F-Voting: Friends, fans and followers influence each others' voting decisions in social networks.

(7) F-Entrepreneurs and F-Candidates: They refer to entrepreneurs and candidates who use social networks for marketing and campaigning.

Will social networking sites (SNS) replace traditional fixed line telephone surveys in gauging public opinion? The answer is partly yes and partly no.

Trendseek, an SNS-based pollster, boasted that it predicted Seoulites' rejection of the free-meal referendum before the voting date. It based the conclusion on its analysis of more than 190,000 comments on two key terms ― free-meal voting and Oh Se-hoon ― on Twitter and on Naver blogs during the campaign. It found that negative views outnumbered positive, 82 percent to 13 percent. It predicts the SNS-based poll as an effective alternative to traditional polling tools.

However, its conclusion masks its fundamental drawbacks. Liberals and middle-of-the-roaders dominate Twitter, Facebook and blogs in Korea. They rarely reflect the views of older citizens and conservatives who are unfamiliar with those media channels. One flaw is that people can open accounts, except for Facebook, anonymously.

Despite the flaws, politicians and marketers appreciate the power of the F-factor as about 10 million Koreans, nearly one out of every five, or 20 percent of the population, are using social networks. People resend comments, positive or negative, to each other on hot issues and hot products.

Traditional fixed-line telephone surveys have lost much credibility. It is no longer a surprise to see polls falling wide of the mark. Many candidates became winners in the elections although they had been trailing the leading candidate in the polls. A clear example is the June 2 local autonomy elections last year. To the surprise of pollsters, the opposition parties won the contest.

Sampling also lacks objectivity as one-third of the telephone respondents are housewives. Jobless and retired males are the additional respondents to the telephone surveys. People in their 20s to 40s rarely use fixed-line telephones these days.

Even telephone directories represent only 57 percent of Koreans. Only one out of 10 receivers of calls is responsive to surveys. Mobile phones are the most reliable tool for surveys as almost all of the 50 million Koreans use the devices. However, pollsters are now unable to use them for surveys.

The Seoul mayor's office might have been successful if it had charted strategies through a careful analysis of what friends, fans and followers were saying on social networks.

Its telephone-based poll showed that 36-53 percent of the adults in the capital would participate in the voting, far above the actual voting rate of 25.7 percent. The referendum became null and void due to lack of the required quorum of a 33.3 percent turnout of all eligible voters.

The office had charted the wrong strategy based on misleading survey results. No strategy can be successful based on false assumptions. It is the garbage-in-and-garbage-out phenomenon.

Social networks may have yet to be established as a credible survey tool due to the dominance of non-conservatives in cyberspace. However, the F-factor has become a critical concept that could change the fortunes of politicians and marketers. Successful people are those who can accurately understand what the three-F groups think, say and behave on social networks. The F-factor has become part of our life.

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