“What other people think” has always been an important piece of information for most of us during the
decision-making process. Long before awareness of the World Wide Web became widespread, many of us
asked our friends to recommend an auto mechanic or to explain who they were planning to vote for in
local elections, requested reference letters regarding job applicants from colleagues, or consulted Consumer
Reports to decide what dishwasher to buy. But the Internet and theWeb have now (among other things) made
it possible to find out about the opinions and experiences of those in the vast pool of people that are neither
our personal acquaintances nor well-known professional critics — that is, people we have never heard of.
And conversely, more and more people are making their opinions available to strangers via the Internet.
Indeed, according to two surveys of more than 2000 American adults each