"Twenty-five percent of search results for the world's top 20 largest brands are links to user generated content and thirty-four percent of bloggers post opinions about products and brands"
About this Quote
The intent is practical and a little alarm-bell: stop treating “social” as an add-on. Search, the place we once went for supposedly neutral facts, is portrayed as a battleground where unpaid strangers write the first draft of brand meaning. That’s the subtext: the center of gravity has shifted from broadcast to ambient consensus. If you don’t participate, you don’t disappear; you get narrated.
The quote also smuggles in a new definition of authority. “User generated content” and “bloggers” are framed as measurable forces, not noise. In the late-2000s/early-2010s context that Qualman helped popularize, this was both a warning and a sales pitch: the age of managed messaging is over, so you need listening tools, community managers, and a thicker skin.
What makes it work is its blunt arithmetic. It doesn’t moralize about authenticity; it weaponizes inevitability. Brands can negotiate with journalists. They can’t “negotiate” with the crowd.
Quote Details
| Topic | Marketing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Qualman, Erik. (2026, January 15). Twenty-five percent of search results for the world's top 20 largest brands are links to user generated content and thirty-four percent of bloggers post opinions about products and brands. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/twenty-five-percent-of-search-results-for-the-148908/
Chicago Style
Qualman, Erik. "Twenty-five percent of search results for the world's top 20 largest brands are links to user generated content and thirty-four percent of bloggers post opinions about products and brands." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/twenty-five-percent-of-search-results-for-the-148908/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Twenty-five percent of search results for the world's top 20 largest brands are links to user generated content and thirty-four percent of bloggers post opinions about products and brands." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/twenty-five-percent-of-search-results-for-the-148908/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.
