Buying decisions are increasingly in the will of the Web, according to new research by Gartner.

Jeremiah Owyang, Forrester analyst whose Tweet alerted me to this research has given the findings a broad thumbs up, which is a recommendation in itself.

In fact, the research suggests that by 2012, half of what we buy - including offline purchases - will be directly affected by the Internet in the form of seeking recommendations on blogs, comparing prices, etc. We may end up buying from a bricks and mortar outlet, but the impetus will have come from from the digital world.

But, as the article from Gartner goes on, companies should beware of rushing headlong into using online social networks as part of the business plan in the belief that just being there will generate sales.

Still, Gartner predicts a flourishing of Web-based customer communication in any recession as a cost-effective way of keeping relationships alive. 

According to analysts, Gartner, social networking sites are not doing it for business. Well, who am I to contradict that global behemoth but - you know what - here goes…

Strategic communications consultant, Merryn Myatt, signed up for Linkedin about a year ago and promptly forgot about it. Latterly, she started to build up her professional network using the site and then needed some input for a project, so posted a question on Linkedin. Not only was the response enormous, but the profile of the people responding very impressive.

So what, you might say? Apart from Merryn getting a host of great material for her work (i.e., content - what web 2.0 should be good for) it shows that business people are online wanting to interact, share knowledge, learn and build contacts. Isn’t that the start of a beautiful (business) relationship?