Word-of-Mouth May Not Be All It’s Cracked Up to Be

Godes also explained the selfish nature of the transmission of word-of-mouth, questioning the very motive of word-of-mouth among consumers. “A lot of people would like to think we pass things along to help people,” he said. “But there’s more negative word-of-mouth than positive.”

In another experiment, Harvard discovered that experts care about looking good in word-of-mouth. “Technical experts want to look good talking about digital cameras,” Godes said. “Rather than actually helping, they shine a light back on themselves as being experts.”