EVERYONE–IS–TALKING.

Just yesterday, I was sitting in Union Square (San Francisco) listening to those around me spreading “the word,” talking up a storm about this and that (blah-blah-blah).

Word of mouth (WOM), a popular PR and marketing strategy has spun out of control making its way through blogs, across websites, into chat rooms and of course back to the daily dish of those out to lunch in Union Square (typical, old fashion lunch gossip – aka- WOM).

The whole world is now involved in PR, but little do they realize (the public) how quickly a buzz can become a “buzz kill.”

How much do we trust what we hear? With so many channels to gather our information and get “the scoop,” how are we measuring what’s real, fake, BS or not? 

The public has taken the concept of WOM (see wikipedia), maximized it via the Internet, and made it a thousand times easier to create a “buzz” (or "buzz kill" for that matter) and deliver it to an unlimited amount of people.

According to many, the public relations industry is taking the heat for the very public campaign of what I like to call: “have mouth, will travel.”  Thanks to this ‘virtual’ generation, WOM is traveling at a rapid speed.