My Advice To Consumer Reports.

Not to long ago I got fed up with looking for product information on the web. It's a quagmire out there. I am convinced that user to user sites are populated with people of questionable interest. like people trying to sell training on a software product, or just plain old sales and marketing people hired to sit in front of computers and relate their "personal" experiences about the product. Sure, many honest "real" people take the time to rate stuff they buy, but for each one of those, it would be a really simple matter to offset any timid "it didn't work that great" 3 star ratting with a glowing "OMG, this thing is awesome!" 5 star fix.

So, it dawned on me that I DID know of at least ONE impartial source of consumer information... The now classic Consumer Reports. So I signed up for their website to see what they had been up to. Now for those of you that don't know how CR works, here is the scoop.
1. They sell no ads.
2. They test all products impartially. I believe they actually buy them when possible.
3. They are a non-profit
4. All the testing is supported through the sale of the publications and now subscription to the website.

Problem is I think only people my age or older even, know anything about them... and I had forgotten. Worse yet, when I signed up the 2 things I looked for, had no reviews... sorta common stuff too if you ask me. I looked for electric toothbrushes and colorimeters for calibrating monitors... what? you don't think everyone needs clean teeth and a color correct LCD?

Today I got an email from them asking me to take a survey. I have a feeling that they are feeling a bit like a fish out of watter in a time when people throw up oppinions on the web constantly and they are scrambling to understand their place in it.

It's simple really, there is NO shortage of product information on the web... what there IS a desperate shortage of is QUALITY ORGANIZED IMPARTIAL product information. At the end of the survey they gave a place for notes... allways a bad idea when it comes to me, heh. Here is what I wrote to them.

Consumer Reports people,
I really hope you can become a force to be reckoned with in the digital age. User to user message boards and user "review sites are RIFE with companies "virally" hawking their goods disguised as real people. My own blog about headaches has people constantly posting about remedies that I highly suspect are paid to act as if they too are sufferers... It's getting really sick out there.

But in order to remain relevant I am afraid you may need to get aggressive. I was a very young kid in the 70's when consumer rights was the rage. People need to get mad again about being sold things that don't work, don't last, or are dangerous. I might suggest fighting fire with fire and get some people that really understand the bleeding edge of tech and have them creating "short attention span versions" of the hottest reviews and comparisons you do. (you may have to do a faster less in-depth "quickie" to be sure its still a product people are currently exited about) then they should "seed" these stories on sites like digg and reddit.

I may be telling you a bunch of stuff you already know, but I never see a CR story listed on Digg for example. Now your in a tough spot due to the whole "information wants to be free" dogma that is sweeping our culture and how that is in serious conflict with how you do your work... so I guess you may have to let "some" of it go... like I mentioned.. the "short attention span version" of the reviews. Get them reading, then REALLY play up the direct support with no advertising angle and maybe even EXPOSE the hidden advertising and "gaming" (fixing ratings) on other sources that they seem oblivious too.

The new systems of "monetizing" information are becoming too indirect and convoluted. Advertising is embedded in everything, as a response to our abandonment of our end of the contract to "Pay" for the content we watch and listen to. So now, the consumer has no tools to know wether he is looking at an ad, customer opinion, expert review, entertainment, piece of art or some combination of all of the above.

I am afraid I see it as a bit of a war, and you may be some of the last remaining "good guys". You offer a simple and honest relationship. "Buy our publication and we will gather a well rounded opinion of products for you so you can make better purchases."

I would hate to loose that.