In a recent article about online review websites, Marketplace Money pointed out that while users look for word-of-mouth recommendations of services and products, they trust their personal friends more than online reviews. The author, Leonora Chu, also talks about how to vet online reviews in order to find the opinions you can trust.

If you’ve had doubts about some of the reviews you read online, you’re not the only one. You never know who’s writing what and why, says Los Angeles Times consumer affairs columnist David Lazarus. Anyone can post a nasty review under the name John S. or Crystal M. So, did they really hate the service or are they just seeking personal revenge? [...]

On the other end, a business owner’s best friend or brother might have posted that glowing review, says Lazarus. Perhaps it was even a corporate plant.

Since trust is a challenge many review websites are facing, we have thought about this early on in our development process. This is one of the reasons that the reviewers profile plays such an important role at SharedReviews and we are creating a social network to build and support much needed trust.

While trust is an important factor, it is equally important that the reviews you find are written by people that have a background similar to yours. If you’re a business woman in her mid-forties, you probably don’t want to know which cell phone is hip with the 14 year olds today (unless you are in market research). Detailed user profiles help facilitate targeted search results.