Having failed to work Linkedin effectively (there are people out there but no ones listening) and been disillusioned by Second Life, a reasonable question might be “is this just another fad.” I am kind of reminded of the way people reacted to the Internet when it first arrived. Business was now ‘Internet Business” if you were not an Internet Business in 5 years you were out of Business.  The fact of life is that this kind of buzz generates investment, we have to do it our competitors will! Ultimately though this is not about a new business model and more about a new business channel. We can already see some of the increasing power of the channel in the travel industry; tripadvisor, developments from BT and the Daily Mail (from Online Conference) and the like are also key exemplars of the approach. Social Media then, whilst currently immature, has the potential to add to consumers feelings of trust and distrust especially in the prior purchase process.

With a plethora of products and services out their getting this channel right will be an important differentiator particularly in the virtual environment where at one click you can easily go to the next webite selling similar products and services. Perhaps not for buying a can of beans but in a more involved service environment, one where risk is involved, what better way to mitigate this than ask other consumers in  neutral or at least perceived neutral environment. And this last point is important, how social media platforms are run is important, already Amazon.com reviews tend to be mistrusted: authenticity is its key value otherwise it just becomes a me-too marketing medium.