Amid the post-caucus pundit spin (that followed the surprise wins of Obama and Huckabee), came the comment that word-of-mouth did more in Iowa to invigorate these candidates' campaigns than traditional advertising. The implicit point: People are increasingly distrustful of communication in the form of ads.People are listening to friends, family, colleagues more - placing greater weight on personal recommendations when forming their opinions and preferences.

Netpop is showing the same dynamic at work in the way consumers make choices about which movie to go see, which song to download or what new car to buy. The digital-splintering of mass media spurred a trend towards personal autonomy. With a wealth of information now available online, people have a far greater ability to access, analyze and interpret information themselves. If my opinion can be formulated and sharpened by the research I can do myself, then my opinion can be trusted. And the same goes for the opinions of my friends, people I know and trust - people who I know are like me.

So what should the goal of advertising be, aside from raising awareness and reminding everyone that your brand exists? Of course, it's to communicate a message or image, to entertain, engage, and/or be informative. But in the next - "second decade" of digitalization - the influence of traditional advertising will continue its decline, while marketers figure out ways to engage and SHAPE the conversations among consumers, both online and off.