This collection examines a key new development in the contemporary marketing landscape, the relationship between the informal exchange of information and advice among consumers - known as word of mouth (WOM) - and emerging social media. Whereas WOM has been around since as long as people have engaged in conversations, its transmission is no longer limited to face-to-face interactions over the clothesline and across backyard fences. Today, the dissemination of WOM through online channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube channels, blogs, and consumer forums has significantly altered the alacrity by which product and service messages are spread across a dramatically expanded consumer audience. As marketing practitioners have come to recognize the power of online WOM in terms of its impact on consumer beliefs, attitudes, and purchasing behavior, effective strategies for leveraging the consumer conversation require greater insight and understanding of WOM and social media.

Introduction Allan J. Kimmel and Philip J. Kitchen 1. WOM and Social Media: Presaging Future Directions for Research and Practice Allan J. Kimmel and Philip J. Kitchen 2. Word-of-Mouth Marketing Influence on Offline and Online Communications: Evidence From Case Study Research Lars Groeger and Francis Buttle 3. Word-of-Mouth Rhetorics in Social Media Talk Anat Toder-Alon, Frédéric F. Brunel and Susan Fournier 4. How Credibility Affects eWOM Reading: The Influences of Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Similarity on Utilitarian and Social Functions Jonas Reichelt, Jens Sievert and Frank Jacob 5. eWOM and the Importance of Capturing Consumer Attention within Social Media Terry Daugherty, Ernest Hoffman 6. How "Social" Are Social Media? A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Online and Offline Purchase Decision Influences Kendall Goodrich and Marieke de Mooij 7. Understanding Online Firestorms: Negative Word of Mouth Dynamics in Social Media Networks Jürgen Pfeffer, Thomas Zorbach and Kathleen M. Carley 8. Tweet This, Not That: A Comparison Between Brand Promotions in Microblogging Environments Using Celebrity and Company-Generated Tweets Natalie H. Wood and Janee N. Burkhalter 9. Missed eWOM Opportunities: A Cross Sector Analysis of Online Monitoring Behavior Nora Ganim Barnes and Stephanie L. Jacobsen