Recommendations from people I know are human and trust, make me 10 times more curious and accepting of the product or service.

Plus they don't exaggerate like ad companies.

The current national debate over health insurance reform — a debate being conducted across all media — is a great lesson about truth and lies. The Harris poll on September 21 startled me by reporting that “large numbers of people…believe damaging misinformation about the health care proposals…” Specifically, Harris cited a few complete untruths that are widely believed, including:
32% believe the president’s proposed reforms would phase out Medicare
25% believe the president’s plans would “promote euthanasia to keep costs down”
And so on….

I was surprised, frankly, that such large numbers of people believe such patently false assertions. But there it is.

I'm convinced, of course, that this kind of magical thinking extends well beyond healthcare. Unfortunately, lies can be indistinguishable from the truth and no one can rely solely on the online zeitgeist to keep the record straight. Quite often, large communities are dead wrong about a fairly large number of things. The common wisdom is not always wise.

What do we — as people, citizens, marketers — do about this? Well, naturally, we remain open and honest. But beyond that, we need to create a renewed respect for information over disinformation; a new community of support for verifiable facts.

Any ideas about how we do this would be welcome, of course.

The current national debate over health insurance reform — a debate being conducted across all media — is a great lesson about truth and lies. The Harris poll on September 21 startled me by reporting that “large numbers of people…believe damaging misinformation about the health care proposals…” Specifically, Harris cited a few complete untruths that are widely believed, including:
32% believe the president’s proposed reforms would phase out Medicare
25% believe the president’s plans would “promote euthanasia to keep costs down”
And so on….

I was surprised, frankly, that such large numbers of people believe such patently false assertions. But there it is.

I'm convinced, of course, that this kind of magical thinking extends well beyond healthcare. Unfortunately, lies can be indistinguishable from the truth and no one can rely solely on the online zeitgeist to keep the record straight. Quite often, large communities are dead wrong about a fairly large number of things. The common wisdom is not always wise.

What do we — as people, citizens, marketers — do about this? Well, naturally, we remain open and honest. But beyond that, we need to create a renewed respect for information over disinformation; a new community of support for verifiable facts.

Any ideas about how we do this would be welcome, of course.