Tourists saying ‘no’ to user-generated opinions
The proliferation of user-generated opinions on various Web sites is increasingly being challenged.
“In short, the expert is back,†writes Newsweek.
“People are beginning to recognize that the world is too dangerous a place for faulty information,” said Charlotte Beal, a consumer strategist for the Minneapolis-based research firm Iconoculture.
She adds that choice fatigue and fear of bad advice are creating a “perfect storm of demand for expert information.”
Evidence:
o BigThink.com, a self-styled “YouTube for ideas” backed by former Harvard president Larry Summers and others, debuted its cache of polished video interviews with public intellectuals. “We think there’s demand for a nook of cyberspace where depth of knowledge and expertise reign,” said cofounder Victoria Brown.
o Mahalo recently launched the final test version of its people-powered search engine, which replaces Google’s popularity-based page rankings with results that the start-up says are based on quality and vetted by real people.
o The decade-old reference site About.com says its traffic has jumped more than 80 percent since 2005, thanks to a growing network of 670 freelance subject experts called Guides.
Many of the reader-generated reviews of hotels, restaurants, destinations and other travel services on the Web may have started their lives as independent blogs by travel buffs. But they have consolidated into major online businesses, taking an ever-growing piece of the market from print guides, according to Newsweek.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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