With 750,000 members and counting, Angie’s list is on the SCENE…Big time. It started in Columbus Ohio, and over the last ten years or so has spread across the Nation. This is only the beginning of this sites success I’m sure, because it fills a need and provides services that the members, and soon to be members, can capitalize on. By “capitalize” I mean –for a small monthly fee, made even smaller with the following promo code:
SCENE
That will get you 25% off any membership with Angieslist.com
You will save time, aggravation and plenty of money when it comes to hiring a person for a wide variety of different services: Auto Repair, Accounting, Animal Care, Health Care and even Weddings.
Angies List like Factoidz.com and other sites on the Web 2.0 horizon, use the “wisdom of the group” philosophy to get the job done. As websites become more interactive, and users and members have more responsibilities in posting the content and the information that the site provides, everyone benefits from the “wisdom of the group.” Studies have been done in many different areas that show how a group consensus, even if the group is not made up of top notch experts, can out-do in accuracy, completeness, and wisdom a determination of a single expert.
For example, a group at a county fair was asked to judge the weight of a steer. When the average of the answers tendered by the group was calculated, it was far more accurate than any guess of a single expert. Angie’s list applies this melting pot of opinion and experiences different local people have had with a service provider such as a plumber or dentist or someone to install your patio cover. Before long, this collection of experiences that include much detail (I’ll get into that later) will begin to separate the wheat from the chaff as far as service providers are concerned.
When you use Angie’s List to find, contact and utilize that service provider, you can be assured that your dealings with them will be reported to the public record. So as not to sound all threatening about it: “Screw me over, and I’m tellin’ on you and you’ll be black-balled in this town.” Let me say that it seems that the intention of this site is to give a hard working professional an opportunity for free, honest, and unbiased advertising through real life reviews.
Of course you can see where Angie’s list may have the potential for abuse; e.g., contractors could promote themselves, or expect Angie’s List to promote them for the payment of a fee. This potential has been expertly nipped in the bud. Service providers do NOT pay a fee to belong, and are prevented from promoting themselves. Although they are permitted to answer, that is, tell their side of the story regarding any negative feedback a customer may have unfairly reported. Angie’s List has a very clean-cut and simple system for dealing with these negative feedback issues. They also show a lot of wisdom in warning members not to be scared away by a couple of negative reports regarding a service provider. Angie’s List understands the old mantra “You can Please some of the people some of the time.”
