Blogs, Online Communities, and a New Trust

Consumers are perhaps the ultimate source of consumer advocacy, and thanks to the death of distance and communities of practice made possible by the web, getting a broad cross section of consumer reports has become a simple proposition.

One of the more common sense resources in this area might be the Consumer Reports blog itself. There are many others, though, running the gamut from advocacy to anti-advocacy, and points in between. As in other cases, consumer blogs or blogs supporting a particular cause, although they allow for interaction via the "comment" feature, are more journalistic than they are conversational.

Online communities allow for more give and take and may be more suited to presenting a balanced view, since they allow more for debate and give equal priority to opposing viewpoints. Many communities have developed an ebay-like feedback feature for the commerce section of their sites - Talkbass is a good example. A great feature of the site is that it allows members to post classified ads. If you are looking for bass gear, you will find it there without having to dig through lots of unrelated stuff. However, very few would feel comfortable sending either money or equipment to an unknown, far-away party without any idea of their integrity or intent to fulfill their side of the deal. The feedback system allows both parties to get an idea of how the other has performed on such deals in the past, and without it interpersonal e-commerce would be much more rare.

In addition to feedback on interpersonal transactions, communities also provide a means of consumer reporting. Do you need opinions on which kind of fishing line to buy, need help deciding between two different washing machines, or want user opinions on a particular brand of off-road tires? You find communities of practice for almost any interest imaginable. In addition to opinions on the products themselves, online communities also provide information on the performance of service providers and retailers. This high level of transparency creates the trust that is necessary for commerce to occur over long distances, or makes it difficult for poor performers to stay in business.