The My Crowd trend is driven by the ability of consumers to connect and share. Most brands have adopted social media strategies in response to this development. But, as we highlighted in the report, it is not necessarily easy for brands to work with this trend.

Since writing the report, however, I’ve been drawn to a couple of successful examples:

• Cliq, which was launched in the US in the late summer of this year. Cliq is one of the sites that helps users decide where to eat, what to buy and what to do based on the opinion of their social network. Users enter the name of the restaurant, business, product or place and Cliq will show which friends have visited, written reviews for or given recommendations. The challenge here is for the service suppliers in terms of the implications of the reviews, etc.
• As we all know, choosing the right gifts at Christmas can be a headache. Retailers have tried to make gifting easier for consumers for many years, without ever really finding the right way to marry up recommendation technology and inventory management. So I was interested to see Walmart’s most recent effort: Shopycat. The app provides gift suggestions for Facebook friends based on data taken from their profiles, while providing links through to purchasing the item. Users can ‘like’ items, share suggestions, make wish-lists, and all the usual ingredients of the social experience. A bit like the Ikea bedroom initiative I highlighted in my October blog piece, it’s not without flaws and limitations, but a nice seasonal example of how the MyCrowd trend can be leveraged.

And with that, Happy Christmas!