Do you use online product reviews to help you decide what cell phone is right for you? If so, you're in the majority. A recent survey shows that 60 percent of Americans use research online outlets to determine their cell phone purchases. A few years ago, this would have come as a stark surprise. As we progress technologically, though, consumers are starting to feel the benefits of such a democratic online environment. It's not only reviews that we're using, either. Over 30 percent of respondents claimed to use blogs, like Consumerist, to guide them in their purchasing decisions.

With the widespread adoption of online shopping, review outlets logically followed. What better way to promote a product than by allowing people who have bought it to leave their thoughts? This is something we most commonly identify with Amazon, though most every online shopping outlet now provides space for users to rate and comment on products and services. If not, well, there are plenty of other online outlets that do. Whether it's online software reviews or prepaid cell phone reviews, allowing for user reviews and ratings is basically a requirement at this stage.

The use of blogs to aid with purchasing decisions is a bit more fascinating. After all, blog is still a dirty four-letter word in many circles. Consumers, it appears, are increasingly using these new media outlets to stay up on current events, read about their favorite sports team, and yes, getting the skinny on products and services they intend to purchase. And why not? A reputable blog can oftentimes be a more reliable outlet than an old media entity. It seems that the people are starting to realize this.

There are many ways to use a blog in promoting consumer awareness. The first, and most outdated, is through bookmarks. The idea is to create quality content day after day, compelling a user to place a bookmark in their browser and to return regularly. In more recent times, we've seen a wider use of RSS -- Really Simple Syndication. This makes use of a feed reader, which collections information from blogs. When an update occurs, the feed reader loads it, so you can view all of your blogs in one place. This is a major source of traffic for gadget blogs like Engadget.

However, perhaps the best method for finding product and user reviews on blogs is through a simple Google search. This is the most democratic method available. Thanks to Google's search algorithm, we now see the most relevant and trustworthy links atop the search engine results page (SERP). Yes, the algorithm isn't perfect, but it stands far beyond the methods employed by other search engines. This also provides users with a list of reviews they can read, rather than relying on the users of just one blog or review site.

Most of all, this is another sign of our evolution into a more user-centric media model. We don't just want static content to read. We want material we can critique and review. We don't just want to read what the editor has to say about a product. We want to voice our own opinion, based on experience. We now have that outlet with online media. The survey is just another indicator of that.

Joe Pawlikowski is the editor of Prepaid Reviews, a site that provides information on prepaid cellular services, as well as industry news.

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