It came as no surprise to us to find that the “Opinions of a friend or acquaintance who has used the product or service” ranked number 1 in the list of most trusted consumer sources of information as recently reported in a Forresters Media and Marketing Survey.

This, of course, has been the reason d’etre and underlying basis in fact of the SharedReviews.com business model, and as it turns out, the correct one. Not only do people value the opinions of others, but those opinions can also form the context for which people relate to one another. Just as a couple of friends may have a cup of coffee together and a laugh about the toaster they each own that continually burns the toast regardless of the setting, so do a group of people who have never met each other yet are able to share comments regarding a recently submitted review by another consumer halfway around the world who also suffers the same toaster maladies. Their motivation can range from enjoying the sharing of experiences, to warning consumers about a faulty or badly made product, extolling the virtues of another, or perhaps, if only to simply save one more piece of toast from the same terrible fate.

A product experience as explained by it’s owner gives the reader the ability to easily slip into the role vicariously and connect in a much more personal way than anything a product expert can deliver, the opinions of a blogger or a manufacturer’s testimonial section.