The canceling of Jericho by CBS (NYSE: CBS-A) underscores the problems that a lot of online noise provides for content providers.
As mentioned on ReadWriteweb, other similar situations have presented themselves; like Ron Pauls' presidential bid, "Quarterlife," and one I've mentioned before on thealphamarketer: the movie "Snakes on a Plane."
The problem, in a nutshell, is online viral tools and networks offer a small number of people the power to create a lot of online noise, which generates the perception that something is extremely popular, when in reality, those making the overall noise are the market.
That's why a lot of people thought "Snakes on a Plane" was going to be a breakout hit, because fans went crazy on the Internet in creating the illusion that it was going to be a hugely popular film. It wasn't.
This also can apply to negative feedback as well. Small groups of people with every agenda under the sun are instigating negative campaigns about anything they don't agree with or don't like.
So the reverse happens in these cases. Just like marketers may think they have a huge hit from the buzz, they can also be made to think they have a huge problem on their hands from the seemingly viral effect spreading across the web about them in a negative way, when it's just a small group of people attempting to manipulate the situation.
We have to be extremely careful on both ends of this spectrum. We can make decisions based upon a small group of people that aren't representative of the reality that's out there.
On the positive and negative side of the loop, some people have learned to "bomb" others with their agendas through various online communities and tools. To accept temporary feedback from these types of strategies has to be taken with a big grain of salt. Most the time it's not anything to get too excited about either way.
While we need to watch feedback overall for our companies, products and services we offer, we have to understand that the new online community is able to create illusory images in our minds through a lot of different ways, which don't truly reflect how things really are in the real world. We neglect this new ability to our peril.
So what's the problem with online noise? Most the times that's all it is.
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