Let’s do a quick comparison of Yahoo! Buzz (beta) and MSN xRank (beta) …

You will see below that Miley Cyrus is right up there in terms of Top Searches on Yahoo! as a result of the Vanity Fair photo shoot (Annie Leibovitz was the photographer) … not earth-shattering stuff … Paula Abdul’s latest antics and American Idol cover 20% of the Top 10 … not a mind-bending result either ... Note that the Giant Squid wins!!

MSN xRank however, doesn’t even have Miley Cyrus in their Celebrity xRank - despite listing over 6,000 celebrities.

‘Buzz marketing’ is not a new concept. I recall working with a client around twenty years ago in the PR industry. The PR firm rented out a bar, hired some models / ‘beautiful people’, invited the ‘who’s who’ and the media … and then generated buzz about the new vodka being launched. Marketing 101, right?

The big difference between the vodka party twenty years ago and buzz marketing today is a dramatic change in media. The ability to reach, engage and mobilize large audiences at low cost has been super-charged. Additionally, broad participation via social media and user generated content have dramatically changed the engagement and marketing landscape.

Buzz marketing has now been renamed Word-of-Mouth Marketing and has it’s own association, WOMMA – you guessed it, the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association.