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Story URL: http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39165504,00.htm

User-generated content most trusted by travellers
Power to the people

By Tim Ferguson

Published: Monday 29 January 2007

User-generated reviews are the most trusted source of online information for holidaymakers, research has revealed.

Twenty one per cent of those surveyed said the 'most reliable information of all' comes from web 2.0-style user content such as peer reviews.

Only 15 per cent of respondents think official local information sites are the most reliable, with just 12 per cent saying the same about travel agent websites.

A greater proportion of frequent travellers (those who have four or more holidays per year) find online peer reviews the most reliable information source - with 33 per cent saying this.

Taking a business trip any time soon?

Check out the user generated guide to airport internet access around the world, atlarge.com.

And the popularity of peer reviews is spread across all areas of web content and ecommerce.

Amazon pioneered online customer reviews on its website. An Amazon spokesman told silicon.com the inclusion of peer reviews dramatically increases the amount and quality of information available - effectively employing the opinions of thousands of impartial reviewers.

Customer reviews are something Amazon customers respond to very well, he added.