The old adage that it takes an awfully long time to build trust and a very short time to lose it, has been brought to life in recent days by the scandal that led to the closure of the News of the world after 168 years.

The role of Twitter in communicating the anger of the public, principally aimed at influencing the actions of the paper’s advertisers, was key in speeding the diminuation of trust in the newspaper, but never before has something happened so quickly to destroy such a well-established brand.

This indeed is a sign of the times and has huge consequences for any company.

Consumer power has never been more evident. Trust has never been more important and you can bet that brands will be devising ways to build trust over the coming months with a renewed vigour, following the hacking fallout. Tesco, for once, was humbled by not withdrawing its advertising from the News of the World in a statement that suggested that commercial considerations outweighed moral ones.

What will the consumer do next? They will be more suspicious of everything. That’s what happens when trust disappears.

It will probably manifest itself in a new lease of life for good old word of mouth, the oldest and most trusted form of communication that exists.

It’s time to make use of all the people – your friends- who you can actually trust...

What happens when a brand makes a mistake?

For instance overcharging you for home insurance over a period of 4 years or not giving you the right number of pension units 8 years ago? Well, I received a cheque from Nat West for £600 for the overcharging and £190 from Prudential for the pension mistake. I had absolutely no idea I was due this money and one part of me feels good that they recognised their mistakes and have paid me some money. Is it the right amount of money? Haven’t a clue. Does it make me trust those brands more? No. Does it make me trust those brands less? Yes. Do I feel that other financial providers would be any better? No.

The reason why they felt compelled to pay some money back was more to do with what a new auditor had uncovered, rather than any moral high ground being sought. The tone of the letters, that accompanied the cheques, were not very apologetic, having been suitably screened by the various legal departments. A minor gap in the month’s accounts will result but they can explain that away as a one-off to their shareholders.

It is true that in many companies, particularly those companies that charge you monthly for services, it is the loyal customers that stay with a brand year after year, that get the worst deal and it is the new customers, who get the best deal. This enables brands to have a seductive “Headline Shout”, whilst not having to give this great deal to their existing customers. How does that sit with a value like trust?

Yet these are the very companies that declare trust to be one of the things they hold dear. Increasingly, trust has become a term without substance, when applied to the way that a company operates.

Instead it is the consumer, who decides who they trust and they then share this belief with those that are closest to them in the form of recommendations. Hasn’t it always been so? In a way, it has but with people being able to communicate so much more than they have ever been able to before, then the potential to pass on these recommendations has never been greater. Imagine if all the emails you received every day were sent as letters. Or if each search you performed on the internet was delivered to you as a newspaper.

Or each text message delivered as a telegram?

We have come along way in the last few years and the volume of communications between people will only increase. Which means that word of mouth, the oldest of all the communication channels, is back.

And back with a vengeance.

I need to go on holiday – somewhere that I know the food will be good , somewhere with a kids club, and somewhere not too far from the airport.

‘Has anyone got any recommendations?’ you may ask a set of four friends at the pub.

“Don’t have kids”,  “I stayed at this brilliant Michelin starred castle in France a few years ago where the food was fantastic”, “ Not too far from the airport – the Greek islands are best for that” - friends recommendations when they are culled from a sample of four people who you have the occasional once a month outing with, are probably not going to come up with the right answer.

However, broaden that circle of friends to 10 or 20, and the chances are that you will get a variety of different answers each of which ticks all your boxes. It’s because we tend to have friends, who are vaguely similar to us and hence have the same requirements as us if you broaden the net beyond your immediate drinking pals.

Yet this is a group who are rarely consulted on such things as the best place to go on holiday. Instead we take the view of a travel agent or Google or some random reviewer, who has posted something up on TripAdvisor. Lots of money is then invested on the basis of someone you have never come across, telling you what you should do.

Which is slightly insane. In fact, very insane.

The recommendations you get from any search engine is skewed by a whole number of factors – all based on an inamimate object processing data. So last year I was looking for a digital camera to buy someone for Christmas. And indeed I duly bought one – that at the time was high spec, good value and I was happy with my purchase. For the last 6 months, my inbox has been clogged with offers , from the retailer I bought it from for better quality, better value digital cameras that have undermined my purchase decision. I now feel conned.

I really don’t trust computers as a source of intelligent recommendation – is it any wonder?

I do trust my broad circle of friends though – human beings who are concerned that they don’t give you duff information.

‘Better the devil you know’.

There are certain friends, who I would go to for certain recommendations with a 100% certainty that their recommendation on a particular subject area was going to be brilliant. On another subject area, they might be terrible or just very different to what you are looking for. The brain is far better at filtering stuff than any collection of data – we are after all humans.

James.

It takes years to build a reputation and only a day to destroy it.

Last week, there was a story about a hotel in New York, which had to close because of some nasty reviews that had been written about it on TripAdvisor. Apparently staff were seen smoking weed in the bedrooms as they went about their cleaning duties, rats were prevalent in the kitchens and mattresses stank of urine.

Yet this had been a well-respected family run hotel, that had done well for many years.

According to the friend that told me this story, the negative reviews were posted by a rival hotel rather than real customers.

The fact that there were lots of really favourable reviews on TripAdvisor for this same hotel becomes irrelevant if you think there’s a chance that your mattress is going to smell of urine – however good the other aspects of the hotel may be. TripAdvisor, to be fair, does give any hotel the chance to respond to this type of comment, but who would you believe?

“I stayed in that hotel and the mattress stunk of wee”
OR
“ I can assure guests that if any mattress stunk of wee, it would be replaced immediately”

So reviews of service-based products, such as hotels shouldn’t always be trusted – it is so easy for people with malicious intent, to skew the view of the masses.

It’s less easy with things like TVs, where the extent to which you can credibly slag off a really good TV is limited. Still possible though – ‘the sound was really fuzzy and it became really hot to touch after being left on for 6 hours’ - that sort of statement would put me off even the highest rated TV.

Recommendations from people you trust though are worth their weight in gold.

They may not always be good recommendations but if you know the person providing the recommendation, chances are that you will be able to put it into context. If one of your friends has got a bad breath problem and they recommend a particular product for easing the problem, that’s a very valuable reccomendation. Compare that to a beautiful celebrity endorsing a fresh breath product – you sort of know that they only endorse it for the money and you suspect that their celebrity breath smells beautiful anyway.

That probably explains why, in a recent study, friends recommendations were trusted by 65% of people and only 8% trusted those of a celebrity. Yet still many brands spend millions on getting celebrity endorsement and they wouldn’t do that if it didn’t work.

The moral of the story – if you want to buy something or go somewhere, before you do nything else , ask your friends.

The power of a recommendation from a friend is worth a thousand reviews, to steal from the old adage of a picture being worth a thousand words.

The reason is very simple...

Reviews available on review sites provide no context as to the reviewer’s outlook on life.

They may be a cheapskate, so if anything is really cheap, it’s really good. They may be a hopeless romantic, so their idea of brilliant customer service in a hotel may be putting rose petals on your pillow rather than a half-melted mint chocolate. They may have a very old TV, so when they see any new one, they may be super impressed. With restaurants, they may or may not be a foodie, which may or may not be a good thing.

Go on to the review sites for local trades and, because the number of reviews will be fairly small, there is no way of knowing whether the reviews have all been posted by members of an inner circle of friends and family eager to push the business of one of their own.

Internationally focussed websites can generate a huge quantity of reviews, and then order them from the best to the worst, so you have to be really thorough to understand the downsides of something that has a decent average score. Chances are that a high average score with a high number of users is a pretty secure and believable review, but not always.

I’ll always remember the (one and only) time I went to DisneyWorld in Miami...

I was there with two youngish kids, one of whom managed to get lost for a while (but that's another story...).  The day was an endurance test with lots and lots and lots of queueing, a few rides that had been there for many years and showing the downside of using plastic as a building material. The food was terrible. The kids were fed up with queueing and I was just fed up after 6 hours of a very average experience.

As I waited dutifully in line with my wife and two boys for the last ride of the day, The person next to us in the queue, started to speak to the kids. He was about 70 and was there with his wife, who was of a similar age. They were in Miami for a trip of a lifetime. “Isn’t this the best thing ever? I have waited all my life to come to Disney and it’s like all my dreams came true in a single day. Do you feel that young boy do you?”. Patrick, my eldest son, replied with the truth of an 8 year old. “No, I think it’s rubbish”. You can imagine what the elderly couple would have written in a review site and of course Patrick just wouldn’t have bothered to write anything.

Contrast that with a secret tip off from a friend about a little publicised B&B in Argyll, run by Ross Appleyard, a TV journalist, that is literally awe inspiring.

A friend told me. I told a friend.

There’s no review site to find it, just good old recommendation from someone you trust, that you know has the same views as you do. Satisfaction is guaranteed, unless you go when the midges are rampant. A friend will tell you this as indeed will Ross.

That’s why they are called friends and that’s why their recommendations are indeed worth a thousand reviews.

James

Most of us only have one Hen or Stag Do, so it's important to find the right place to enjoy the last vestiges of freedom. I've been on a fair few stag weekends and so I feel I'm in a good position to comment on most of the Top 10 most recommended locations for Stag Do's on LoveThis...

Antwerp – I would personally recommend this as I went there last year. It’s really easy to get to via Eurostar. Full of bars, karaoke and decent restaurants. Incredibly cheap hotel rooms. Not so popular that stag or hen nights are banned or unwelcome. I stayed at the IBIS hotel, which is central and went to many bars, the names of which elude me but there was one where the barman was incredibly tall (well over 7ft). Try Petrol if you really want to party or Den Hopsack if you want to see local artists of all backgrounds perform on a quieter night.

Edinburgh – Not great if you are very posh and very English but great for everyone else. (Why? Listen to the words to ‘Flower of Scotland’). The downside ( or it could be an upside) is that there will be lots of other stags and hens happening at the same time and that you are unlikely to get turned away from anywhere (have you ever heard of a Scot turning away money?). The piano bar in Hanover St is a must as is a trip to one of the many fish and chip shops (Haggis in batter is incredibly tasty). The Good Pub Guide recommend a few pubs on LoveThis, including The Bennets.

Bournemouth – if your impression of Bournemouth is lots of old ladies huddled in blankets overlooking the sea, then you probably won’t know that Bournemouth is the clubbing capital of Britain. And what better way to sober up than a dip in the sea? Try The Dean Park for a good, hangover curing Sunday roast.

Newcastle – Aside from having to dress up to get into clubs, Newcastle is one of the friendliest cities in the world and a place to have a laugh. The Bigg market is where it all happens and everyone takes going out very seriously ( hence the strict dress code).

At a music festival – One friend went to the V Festival 6 years in a row  without seeing a single band. As an environment to be around your nearest and dearest friends, it takes some beating. Other benefits are that you’ll walk a lot and you’ll be outside the whole time, so it’s a healthy option.

Paris – The Parisians are known for their aloof attitude/ rudeness, but on a stag or hen do, this really doesn’t matter because the chances are that you will be rather more obnoxious than they are. Plus great food almost everywhere, a McDonalds that sells beer and hotels to suit every budget. Hens wanting a (somewhat) civilised cocktail should visit The Hemingway Bar.

Prague – the stag and hen capital of Europe, due to cheap beer and cheap clubs. Although there are nice places to eat, you have to know where to go. Mecca is a popular ‘superclub’ amongst LoveThis members and Studio 54 is open late (or rather, early..) for those who plan to have an all-nighter.

Las Vegas – If you haven’t seen the movie, The Hangover, do. It’s all the inspiration you need for a trip to Vegas…

Krackow – Some say it’s the new Prague. Avoid if you fear going underground as most of the bars seem to require descending some stairs, but otherwise it’s a great (and cheap) place to visit. 

Cabo San Lucas – A fair few celebrities have chosen to party here before tying the knot, including Christina Aguilera and Zoe Ball.  Americans will be ware of Los Cabos, but many Europeans haven’t heard of it.  Think an American version of Amsterdam with sun, sea and sand. Try the One&Only Palmilla if you want a quiet bit of luxury for your hangovers (maybe not if you intend to go too crazy..).  And you have to visit the Happy Ending Cantina, one of Cabo’s most famous bars

Enjoy!

James

P.S. See what Alexis, founder of LoveThis, has to say on his blog...

(The power of the recommendation of something that is so good, you actively don't want to recommend it)

When you have a secret, other people don’t like it if you don’t share that secret with them. They feel alienated.

On the other hand if you do share a secret with someone, they feel privileged.

When someone says someone is a good friend, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ve had to donate a kidney to you, it often means that they have just been really helpful to you.

One of the best ways to show your friendship is to let people in on a secret. If we forget the type of secrets that will earn you thousands of pounds in the News of the World, the next best kind of secret is the secret place that you find – it might be for a weekend away or a holiday villa – but one that you just don’t want to tell everyone about, for fear of making it too popular.

Those recommendations are very special and you sort of enter into a secret pact not to tell anyone else about it.

It’s not like recommending Virgin Media for broadband (if you live in a fibre zone) or recommending North Face waterproofs ( because they are the only ones that are truly waterproof), this is about recommending something that is in limited supply. When it comes to hotels or villas or a restaurant where you can always get a table at the last minute, your selfish side doesn’t want to spread the word too much about how good it is. But as a sign of true friendship, there is nothing more powerful.

Lovethis.com is the place for such a secret – only your friends will see it.

Of course, if you have recommended the ultimate place to conduct an illicit affair, posting it up on Lovethis.com, may not be the wisest thing as it could get just a little embarrassing, but any other recommendation is likely to go down a storm with your friends.

Secrets are very powerful.

James

P.S. Read the latest thoughts from LoveThis Founder, Alexis Dormandy...

BRILLIANT – A FANTASTIC ARTICLE ON THE TOP NEW HOTELS IN NEW YORK, PARIS AND SOMEWHERE ELSE

What do you do, when that article that you read over someone’s shoulder recommending all the new hotels in your favourite cities, steps off at the next station?

You google it of course.

But then when you type in “Top new hotels in New York and Paris”, the article doesn’t appear on the first few pages of results and you are besieged by a mass of sponsored links...

So most people give up.

Those with a bit more patience will eventually find the article and may then bookmark it, along with everything else they have bookmarked.

Chances are the article will never be seen again (For those that are interested, you can find all of the Guardian's Travel recommendations on LoveThis).

Wouldn’t it be good if you could organise all these recommendations into a single place, and where you can search for it whenever you want?

That’s basically what LoveThis lets you do and then lets you see all your friends recommendations at the same time.

So if your friend has just stayed at the Design Sorbonne in Paris, you’ll know that it really is good.

James

P.S. - Once you've found a hotel, take a look at the most recommended restaurants on in New York and London on LoveThis, the place to find the things your friends recommend.

 

One of the truest cliches is that, when it comes to fashion, men and women don’t understand each other.

If you ask a member of the opposite sex for a recommendation on which of the latest fashions you should buy, chances are you will get a lukewarm response akin to asking an anarchist whether they enjoyed the royal wedding.

To generalise even further, women like to shop in the company of other women, they love to try lots of things on and are eager for the opinion of others in helping them make their decision – it is a social occasion rather than a practical exercise to find things to wear. Men tend to get frustrated if they can’t find what they want within seconds of walking in to their chosen shop and definitely do not want to get the opinion of their mates as to whether they should buy something or not.

In fashion though there is so much choice – even if men tend to want to buy a newer version of what they are currently wearing – so how do people make their choice?

The average high street is stuffed full of shops offering seemingly unlimited fashion options, yet window shopping is only one means of deciding what is going to make it in to this season’s wardrobe.

A mass of newspapers and magazines report on fashion with glee and in lots of detail. Editors of fashion magazines are celebrities in their own right. The gossip magazines are as much about fashion as they are about gossip.

In short, fashion is incredibly important.

Also important are recommendations. Particularly given the bewildering number of options available. The Telegraph has introduced an I-Spied section on its website, which is effectively a tiny online shop, with the journalists pick of the day, or week's, items. You can also find these recommendations on LoveThis. Quality vs quantity.

Even better is to get this type of expert advice and the advice of your trusted friends, which of course, you can get from LoveThis. Just don’t ask your boyfriend or your husband, even if they are a trusted friend.

James.

P.S. - The rest of the LoveThis team share their thoughts on the social recommendations space at blog.lovethis.com

 

When BBC Radio 6 was saved from the chop after an impressive campaign by fans and presenters, one of the key reasons was cited as the station’s reputation for playing the best new music around. Less constrained by the larger stations adherence to playlists that require certain songs to be flogged to death, at last there was a station that really did concentrate on the best new music.

But what is best in this context?

Music is highly subjective and therefore it is almost impossible to determinebest. 'Most popular' ends up with such classics as Bob the Builder/ Britney Spears/ Cheryl Cole and the like, none of which ever make it into any respected music aficionado's top 1000, let alone their top ten. X Factor rules the charts immediately after the programme’s run has finished but then most of the ‘artists’ disappear from view quicker than a dewdrop in the desert. The Brits, with the benefit of a music industry panel, has also come up with some strange choices when choosing the best. Paul Weller is nominated as best male year after year, even if his output is one average song that doesn’t trouble the top 20 charts.

The truth is that music preference is as individual as fingerprints. At the same time, people are constantly on the lookout for music they like, even if it is something they have never heard before. Radio stations tend to play the most popular choices as defined by an increasingly small pool of buyers, so unless you listen to the specialist shows, are rarely that useful for adding new classics to your collection.

That’s why it is useful to know someone who is passionate about music and has similar tastes to you. That way you will find the best new music without having to do the extensive research that your music mad friend has probably (willingly) done.

Sharing playlists on Spotify is great but also wouldn’t it be good if you could have access to all the best new music as recommended for by your friends?

That’s what Lovethis provides. How else would you be able to discover tracks like “Total control” by the Motels (admittedly not that new)?

Because the other thing about the phrase ‘best new music’ is that ‘new’ really means music you have never heard before rather than music that has only just been released.

James.

P.S. - The rest of the LoveThis team share their thoughts on the social recommendations space at blog.lovethis.com