Is Work the New Neighborhood? Word of Mouth Implications.

I must be a bit of a paradox living in this cold, detached city of Toronto. See,  I have a wonderful group of neighbours that based on interests and proximity make up some of my strongest social ties. It would appear based on a recent study "Is Work the New Neighborhood?" - I am a distinct outlier.

In the study (profiled in the National Post by Anne-Marie Owens this weekend and done by Eric Dahlin and Erin Kelly from the University of Minnesota), 34% of people responded that they have a strong social tie to co-workers while only 7% reported a strong social tie to a neighbour. It would appear "you are where you live" has turned into "you are where you work".

The study's findings have implications, both for word of mouth and broader societal implications:

- word of mouth takes place more frequently and pervasively within the workplace
- a greater share of male driven word of mouth is found in the workplace
- the lack of neighborhood word of mouth is leading to a loss of local community and support of local retailers
- encouraging word of mouth forums in the workplace create strong ties and attachment to the company
- people who are younger are disproportionately forming relationships with people at work not the people they live closest too
- as competitive work practices, longer hours and heightened career expectation ratchet up - the word of mouth trend may steer even more to the side of work
- community based policing initiatives and neighborhood & community-building efforts may be failing  not due to a lack of investment but due to lack of strong local social ties
- people who don't have strong work-related networks (artists, writers, entrepreneurs, unemployed), may feel a sense of detachment and lack of peer support
- in companies where work hours are the longest,  the  word of mouth connections are likely also strongest
- as traffic snarls worsen in urban environments and the trend towards tele-commuting becomes more prevalent - will the pendulum swing back or will we lose most of our valuable ties all-together?
- in the future, will you move into neighborhoods with people that have similar work and career interests as you (imagine a neighborhood of lawyers - good luck getting anything done)

Not surprisingly, the study also notes that "blood is thicker than water"  with word of mouth in the family still reigning supreme - 85% of respondents having at least one strong tie to a family member.

Still, if you want to start some "buzz" on your brand - you might be better investing in company lunches, fund-raisers  and off-sites than the local festival parade.