An honest review/opinion about a good or service is very helpful to consumers when deciding whether to purchase the good or service. Some people obtain that information from magazines such as Consumer Reports. Some read consumer (online) reviews for recommendations on goods and services. There are online reviews on a variety of products/services – movies, books, restaurants, and so on.

Consumers (the readers of online reviews) have to judge how authentic or trustworthy an online review is. Some may be fake, some may be biased, and so on. Some consumers may be more inclined to believe the information in an online review.

Here is a paper that researched how much international tourists trust travel information available on social media:

The trustworthiness of travel and tourism information sources of social media: perspectives of international tourists visiting Ethiopia
By: Kassegn Berhanu, Sahil Raj
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240584402030284X#bbib5

The main findings include: (1) Visitors do trust the review information available on social media, and (2) Males and females trust the information equally. Older visitors and less educated visitors trust the review information less.

I found another interesting article on online reviews:

Who doesn’t read online consumer reviews, and why?
By: Adrian R. Camilleri
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886921003299

This article provides information on the consumers who choose not to read online reviews. Those consumers do not trust online reviews and tend to rely on other sources. Similar to the other research, the researchers found non-users tended to be older and less educated visitors (among other findings).

This post reminds me of the movie ‘This Means War’ starring Reese Witherspoon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yS78J4xGxo). Reese Witherspoon’s character Lauren worked at an organization that reviewed products on behalf of consumers. Her knowledge of vehicles from her work saved the day.

(Post from the New Carrollton Library in Maryland)