Targetting e-Fluentials

Roper Starch Worldwide produced some research back in the dotcom days entitled, ‘The E-Fluentials’. It suggested there may be some people on the Internet who are more influential than others. 

“E-fluentials” are individuals who “…are much more active than other Internet users in terms of their online influence, using e-mail, newsgroups, bulletin boards, and other online vehicles to convey their messages.“ They are described as opinion leaders, marketing multipliers (the opinions of these e-fluentials being “far-reaching, radiating to a level of influence disproportionate to their actual size…”) avid communicators, technologically savvy and new product innovators.

The research claimed these e-fluentials have the potential to facilitate the much sought after “viral” marketing.

When The E-Fluentials report was published, there weren’t as many people participating in online communities as there are today, and it definitely wasn’t as easy.

The concept of E-Fluentials is even more important today, and understanding how to work with them is key to effective social media management.