Magazine ads for a product were the most common inspiration for a later online search for that product, reports MediaPost.
A new research report from BIGResearch says 47.2 of online searches for a brand or product are spurred by a magazine ad, 42.3 percent were moved to action by a newspaper ad, 42.8 by a TV spot and 43.7 percent from a news article.

Some 50.8 percent of those searches are about electronics, compared with 31.9 percent for clothing and apparel and 27 percent for appliances.

After they've done their searching, 68.9 percent of those people talk about what they found with someone face-to-face; 53.1 send their findings via email, 50,9 percent talk about it on a telephone and 30 percent use their cellphone to do so.

Those age 18-24 primarily use instant messaging to discuss brand names and such; 37.5 percent of them use IM for their brand discussions, 23.7 percent use text messaging and 20.6 use another form of web communication.