Online Consumer Reviews and Ratings (UGC) Report: Usage and Perceptions in Selected Categories

Consumer reviews and ratings for virtually every product or service available can now be found on the internet. While there is much hype surrounding this quintessential “2.0” practice, how much impact do consumer ratings and reviews actually have on consumers compared to other information or advertising sources? Which are the ratings and reviews sites that are best known? Who uses ratings and reviews and to what extent? How credible are they seen to be? What tactics do people employ to better evaluate what they read? These questions and more are addressed in this fact and insight filled report based on a representative market survey of 1600 US online adults in January 2009. The report covers the role of consumer reviews and ratings across 16 categories, and focuses in-depth on books, cell phone, computer hardware, computer software, consumer electronics, and personal travel shopping categories.