Internet turning us into a "small town"

I know, it sounds weird. But it's certainly true when we look at ourselves as consumers. Whenever we are paying for a service or product or some event, the most powerful influence on our decision making is word of mouth. If we hear a neighbor tell us this restaurant is good, we'll give it a shot. If someone we know says this book is really good, we'll check it out.

Salesmen are no longer needed here, at least for those who decide to use the awesome power of the internet. Not only can you get what you want for the cheapest possible price, but you can make sure that's the product you want.

It's the reason behind the huge success of Blogs, Customer reviews (first seen by me at Amazon.com, and now everywhere) - you get access to thousands of these opinions. Manufacturers can't really lie to you anymore and expect to succeed in selling you something. The flaws will get out. Bad service will be chided.

What the internet allows us is, as consumers, to get as close as we can to the truth behind a product and to decide whether or not it has everything we want.

Now, whether we really need it or not, that's a whole other issue.