Nobody has to listen. [Marketers] can keep on prattling to the audience exactly as they always have. The only problem is, the people in the supposed audience aren’t listening to you. They’re listening to one another talk about you. They also represent a vast, free marketing channel. In their social networks, they have more credibility and influence than your advertising ever had. And not only is their loyalty, passion, and goodwill yours for the asking, so is their aggregated knowledge, imagination, and judgment. If you don’t try to harness that, you are a simply a nitwit.
Bob Garfield, Ad Age Columnist