More revealing, perhaps, is that 44% of those online shopping consumers reported reading consumer reviews and comments found on the sites, the study found.

This demonstrates that such e-commerce sites have transformed into virtual social gathering places and information destinations, according to Nicholas Scibetta, Ketchum partner and director of the agency's Global Media Network.

"Not only are people posting their thoughts via consumer-generated reviews, but they are also responding to each other's comments," said Scibetta. "The effect is the creation of pockets of social networks found all over the Web."

Indeed, consumers are placing more trust in the experiences of their online peers than they are on the retailer's product descriptions, which Scibetta considers as one example of the broadening definition of a social networking site.

In addition, consumers are using a wider variety of channels, including blogs and social networking sites. The survey found that 26% of consumers use social networking sites, compared to 17% in 2006. Blog usage, meanwhile, nearly doubled from 13% in 2006 to 24% in 2008.

This is especially true among influential consumers, which compared the media usage habits of 1,000 adult U.S. consumers--including 200 influential citizens, or "influencers"--and 500 communications industry professionals.

Among influencers, a full 43% read blogs by non-journalists--compared to 16% of the general population--while 32% read blogs written by journalists, compared to 8% of the general population.

Conversely, the use of more established media channels continues to deteriorate.

The survey revealed that 65% of consumers use major network television news as a source of information--down from 71% in 2006.

Local television news witnessed a more severe drop, with a decrease from 74% to 62% of U.S. consumers from 2006 to 2008.

Search engines, meanwhile, are maturing as a medium--becoming a ubiquitous source of information among consumers off all stripes, according to the report.

"The more media melds, the more search engines will continue playing a prominent role in our daily lives," Gur Tsabar, Ketchum's vice president for Interactive Strategies, said in the report.

The use of search engines has remained steady over the last year, as 59% of consumers used them regularly in 2008 compared to 60% percent in 2007.

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