Next Generation Consumer Reviews

People have been using the web to share their reviews of services, restaurants, plumbers, music and books for years and years. the user reviews at Amazon are held up as a best-practice example of a relevant recommendation "package" which, in their case, leads to a useful recommendation engine. My local listserv is where you get recommendations on contractors, electricians and dog walkers.

There are two new examples of user "reviews" that express two ends of the spectrum. That spectrum is the simple-to-complex; bite-sized-to-meal-sized; micro-engagement-to-maxi-engagement.

On the simple side of the spectrum is Amazon's Unspun (reported by Random Culture). i am a long-time Amazon customer and contributor. I create book lists within the service and use those lists as training resources for my staff. I was thrilled to see that Unpun's registration was tied into my existing account. All I had to do was login to localize it and begin adding my own...lists. The service features lists from users. The initial batch features the following type of lists:

1. best programming language
2. top beers
3. best text editors
4. best movies of all time
5. top women you would leave your partner for
6. best movie characters

The beauty is in the simplicity. I  quickly added "Best Restaurants Near Takoma Park". (and then stalled out at 6 entries which is really pushing it as there aren't many good restaurants nearby) Users then rank lists Digg-style to add to their relevancy. It's simple and fast. But will it be useful with no commentary? The more pecise the list, the more useful (vs. just entertaining). I also would like to see a credit to the user who first created the list. (UPDATE: The folks from Unspun pointed out to me that that credit does exist)

On the other end of the spectrum is trustedopinion.com which is in the ever popular beta-phase, invitation-only. Mindy Roberts who is one popular mom blogger and now an editor at the service sent me an invite. The idea is simple: I will get more out of reviews from people I know and even the people they know then complete strangers. My established social network comes with some insight - I know or sense why a friend likes a movie and might recommend it. Those are my built-in filters that are intuitive and instantaneous. The premise is sound. Right now they are doing movies but other categories like restaurants are already greyed out in the pulldown (coming soon).

The reviews are easy to make - a star scoring system plus any comments I want to make. I am encouraged to invite friends into the service to make it more useful and relevant to me (kind of a good-natured pyramid scheme). Active reviewers get higher ratings usefully flagging those who are really contributing. You get one of these funky "radars" within a review that gives you a sense of how close to your circle of friends the reviews are coming from.

Liek a lot of social media, Tusted Opinion's success is dependenty upon some unknown level of yet prolific participation. the more friends and the more friends actively reviewing stuff, the more useful. Do we all have time. I am intrigued (and opffered my opinion on "The Departed:" I gave it a 10.)

Comments

[Mindy]

"The Departed" ROCKED. ; )

And so do you. Now go invite more friends!

P.S. The next release is going to blow you away. I can't wait.

[Mike P]

Hi,

You can see a lot of consumer reviews at this site:
http://www.pissedconsumer.com/consumer-reviews.html

Regards,

[steven davies]

The creation of online consumer communities to provide product review and advice has been touted as an important, albeit somewhat expensive component of Internet retail strategies.

[nick patel]

I Have 35 Prima LCD tv Bought from Hotel Vision Canada Ltd. in Toronto, Ontario. within 2 weeks 4 of TV got Bad, i asked for get it repaired, which is not taken care since last many weeks. When i called Manufacturer warrenty department, they don't reply back i left 100's of messages, but no reply. When i called dealer Joe Collura of Hotel vision canada, toronto. he asked me to keep 10 to 15% TVs extra in spare. he asked me if i would like to buy 5 to 10 more spare TVs from him. however he has not follow up with my faulty TVs for repairs.
Prima is bad TV's . i dont recomand anyone to purchase it. how ever Joe collura of hotel vision canada is completely worst person to deal with.