Everything old is new again - People want 'recs' from people they trust

In days of olde, people received recommendations on things to buy by way of conversations in their village. People judged and acted upon recommendations for butchers, bakers or candlestick makers based upon how familiar they were with the recommender or with his reputation in the village.

With the advent of mass media people started reluctantly listening to radio or reading newspapers to try to find recommendations on what to buy. When the internet emerged it was search engines who instructed folks on what and where to purchase something.

Happily with huge advancements in social media “conversations” are back in a big way and we can now get product and service recommendations from where we really want to - from individuals we know or from those whose reputations we trust.

In fact very recent studies by Neilson & JDPowers have shown that in today’s advertising-saturated world we are increasingly reliant upon personal recommendations for our buying decisions.