The types of Consumer Products you will find reviews for on Epinions.comThis key section is able to make your reviews professional through the feature of asking you to give a one sentence pro and con about the product you are reviewing in order for the consumer to skim through several Epinions user reviews and get the point you are trying to make about a product without having to read a full blown article. Also with writing the one sentence pro and con you need to make sure that it is written in away that will draw the eyes of consumers visting Epinions.com because your review will be posted on a giant list with other user reviews and while looking at this list I found myself interested in reading the reviews that had the most attention grabbing pro or con.
A portion of the list of reviews that can be found on a product
The list of rules Epinions requires you to follow when writing a reviewProfile Page
Unlike the write a review section, the profile page is not about making your reviews professional, it's about giving them credibility. For example the Epinions user Awoolcott who has a reputation for reviewing video games uses his profile to make other users aware of the fact that he is a staff writer for the professional video game review site Gaming Target by providing links to articles that he has written. Through Awoolcott being a paid reviewer of video games it make sense why he is listed as a top reviewer on Epinions because the fact that he reviews these products for a living makes his opinion extremely credible to consumers including those of you in our Class who have an interest in gaming. Although for us average Internet Joes in New Media Class we do not have the luxury of being able to say that we are professional product reviewers but the profile page contains several other features that can enhance your credibility as a reviewer on Epinions.
The profile page belonging to the Epinions user AwoolcottThis feature is what allows you to give general information about yourself such as where you live and your e-mail. However at the same time it helps enhance your credibility by asking you to give the addresses of three websites that you are interested in which helps because most of Epinions users list review sites that they based their own reviews on in order to prove to people like us that they put thought and effort into their work.
The About Me featureThe component of this feature you need to focus on in terms of enhancing your credibility as a reviewer is not the number of people you have as friends or trust but the number of people that trust you because the more people you have, the more other Epinions users will take you seriously.
The Web of Trust featureThis feature works in the same capacity as the Web of Trust based on the fact that the higher your ranking is, the more chance you have of being seen as a credible reviewer on Epinions.
The Rankings featureCompared to the Social Networking site I reviewed for you last week entitled Fanpop, I honestly have to give Epinions.com a lot of credit for setting up the features on their site to make user product reviews more professional. Despite this the average Joes like all of us in our Writing for New Media Class, who can be classified as Citizen Journalists are still writing these reviews which means their credibility can only be taken so far, but the fact that Epinions' creators are trying to remove the amateurism behind the user-based writing on their site they might be at the forefront of the future for Social Networking.
An excellent introduction to and commentary regarding this site. I hope you'll share with the class. In particular, the credibility stuff is fascinating.
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