Though Amazon quickly understood that customers like to know a little about something before buying and though some home page owners with passions in various fields have, from the beginning, offered reviews and personal observations, some innovative internet entrepreneurs recognized the need to organize reviews and to offer those separate and apart from the online store model.
Sites such as CNET.com and Review Centre UK post a number of reviews on a wide range of products. SideStep.com focuses on travel and spiders (searches) wanderlust information and deals outside a private database used by more well known travel brokers online. Even niche areas have spaces where topic targeted reviews are catalogued. For example, Dating Site Reviews details the major dating sites with feedback for potential consumers. If you’re going to shop for a man or woman online, then you might as well go with a site given the thumbs up by other partner shoppers.
The Big Dog - Epinions
One of the major players in the review site arena is Epinions.com (now owned by shopping.com and being sold to Ebay later in 2005). Started in 1999, Epinions originally offered review writers pennies per hits (visits) to build a community of members interested in writing reviews on everything from paper clips to high end sports cars. The site currently offers thousands of reviews in a variety of categories ranging from college/universities to deep fryers.
Though Epinions has changed many times and in many ways over the years, the general concept has remained the same. Average consumers provide unbiased and unedited information for potential buyers. If Jane Doe wants to discuss her dandruff shampoo, then she can click in and share her views. Little Johnny can ramble on about the latest MP3 players, and Aunt Maria can share her thoughts on her new muffin pans and even toss in a few recipes. In fact, members can even share poems, short stories or thoughts on current events in a section called "Writers' Corner."