Do you trust the information on internet?

[Frank_Ho]

In this research, the researchers classified services into experience services (consumers can get information by experiences) and credence services (consumers are not able to get information by experiences). Frequently, we make evaluation and decision not by our own experiences but by others’ experiences on internet. Do you trust the information on internet? Would it influence your preference for separated or unseparated services?

[MH_Huang]

If by definition it is difficult for consumers to evaluate the value of credence services by first-hand experiences, how can others' experience have a stronger impact? This is an interesting angle to look at the issue. Will third-party information sources more influential than first-person experiences for credence services? If this is the case (or if not), what are the implications for service design?

[TA_Max]

If by definition it is difficult for consumers to evaluate the value of credence services by first-hand experiences, how can others' experience have a stronger impact? This is an interesting angle to look at the issue. Will third-party information sources more influential than first-person experiences for credence services? If this is the case (or if not), what are the implications for service design?

In my opinion, although the utility of credence services is difficult or impossible to ascertain, consumers can still rely on some field experts' testimony. Vitamin products and medical services are good examples. As a result, the promotion campaign of these products or services should take advantage of field experts' testimony.

Moreover, the product manufacturers or the service providers should put a high premium on the social network websites because consumers nowadays tend to trust more in the opinions or recommendations of the crowd even though they don't trust on a single stranger. Therefore, word-of-mouth advertising can also be taken into account.

[Erin_Lo]

If by definition it is difficult for consumers to evaluate the value of credence services by first-hand experiences, how can others' experience have a stronger impact? This is an interesting angle to look at the issue. Will third-party information sources more influential than first-person experiences for credence services? If this is the case (or if not), what are the implications for service design?

In my opinion, although the utility of credence services is difficult or impossible to ascertain, consumers can still rely on some field experts' testimony. Vitamin products and medical services are good examples. As a result, the promotion campaign of these products or services should take advantage of field experts' testimony.

Moreover, the product manufacturers or the service providers should put a high premium on the social network websites because consumers nowadays tend to trust more in the opinions or recommendations of the crowd even though they don't trust on a single stranger. Therefore, word-of-mouth advertising can also be taken into account.

I agree with TA Max.
Here's an example: There's a popular bbs website called "PTT" which is used by more than a hundred thousands of people. And there are boards of food and movie on PTT. Consumers may share their experiences on the board, and before we decide to consume a product or choose a restaurant or go to a movie, we may check the board to know other's valuations about this product. Even though we may not know the person who posted those responses, we still take those responses into account when considering. Therefore, more and more product manufacturers and service providers put their focus on advertising or marketing on PTT.

[Jamie_Tang]

I think that the reason why most people would find third-part information even more influential than first-person experiences is because we want to be cautious and so we go to check other people's opinions on things like "PTT" So in that case, third-person information is more influential than first-person experiences. In many cases, it is difficult to determine how valuable/effective of services from only one person's experiences alone. So yes, I do believe the internet is able to influence a person's decision between services, separated and unseparated.

[camille_girard]

I also think that information on internet about a service is very important. As service are intangible, it'is difficult to evaluate and to know what will be deliver. So the good way to know if the service will be good it's to get the information to people who already experience it.
But sometimes, the information on internet can be false and the perception can really differ to each other. It depends what you expect to the service provider. So usually when I want to have information about a service I choose those which have a lot of comments.

[Lu_Song]

I think we tend not to trust the information from a singular source, whether it's 1st person or 3rd person. We use the internet as a vehicle to gather many opinions and rely on the majority opinions to make or decision. I've noticed a personal tendency to seek out negative or bad reviews and pay attention to those more than good reviews. I want to know what are my risks before benefits.

[Ian Chen]

I tend to believe some professional user's words by looking at their "experience with professional comments" on the Internet. Compare several opinions with each other and then decide whether to buy it after I have made my judgment. For instance, in order to buy 3C products, I usually go on some professional 3C communities or blogs such as "Mobile01" "Engadget" & "Cnet" to see what's good and bad.

[chiaying_lin]

i agree with Lu song and Ian.

we check and trust information online, basically not because it's 1st personal or 3rd personal experience, but because majority opinions are more convincing to me.

Also, there are always someone who are more professional in some fields than us.
so i always tends to trust or at least to consult there professional comments before i do my decision.

All in all, yes, I also think that the information online are influential to people's decisions between services, both separated and unseparated ones.

[Lin_Chen]

I personally trust information from online through 3rd-person experiences. I am always reading food blogs and restaurant reviews (yes, i LOVE to eat :p). Thus, if I hear about a new restaurant or see a restaurant that looks interesting, I look it up online first to read what others though of it. Same thing when buying skincare, technology (phone and laptop) products...I always read reviews before purchasing.

[Eva_Berends]

I rely on other people's experiences on the internet to the extent that I can determine what kind of person it is.. When I want to go to a fancy and new restaurant I won't take the experiences into account from somebody who has never been to one before, for example. So it depends on the person and kind of service, but in general I trust the information on internet and take it into consideration.

[MaoHung_Wang]

In most case, I trust 3rd personal experience. But if it is possible, I will check the identity of the author. If he could not gain benefits from the article, then I will trust it.
And usually we can't get 1st personal experience when buying new products which we never used before. In this kind of case we can only rely on 3rd personal experience.

[Eva_Berends]

For me it also depends on the kind of website at which the experience is shared. When it is some kind of crappy website with many ads I might be a little careful in relying on the experiences

[Nemo_Kuo]

I also trust information on the internet through 3-rd-person experiences.
Like Erin Lo said, a lot of college students in Taiwan like to get information from the famous BBS site--PTT.(bbs://ptt.cc)
People can get a extremely large amount of information from PTT and they usually post their experiences on it.
Take me for example, i often check 3-rd-person experiences on PTT when i want to go to hair salons to get a new hair-cut.
But interestingly, i have heard that some hair salons hire people to pretend to be their customers and to post good-experience article to PTT.
In this case, are 3-rd-person experiences on internet really worthy to believe?

[Eva_Berends]

Yes that's true! I worked for a small hotel and sometimes we were asked to write a review at an important travelling website in Holland using different names.. But not like giving everything the highest grade, but it had to look 'real'. Crazy...

[Erin_Lo]

In most case, I trust 3rd personal experience. But if it is possible, I will check the identity of the author. If he could not gain benefits from the article, then I will trust it.
And usually we can't get 1st personal experience when buying new products which we never used before. In this kind of case we can only rely on 3rd personal experience.

That's a good point. When a new product is going to the market, the company sometimes pay to some celebrites to make recommendations of the product using their blogs or websites, trying to attract customers. In this case, I won't trust this because they say good thing about this product in order to earn their payment from the company.

[Eva_Berends]

In most case, I trust 3rd personal experience. But if it is possible, I will check the identity of the author. If he could not gain benefits from the article, then I will trust it.
And usually we can't get 1st personal experience when buying new products which we never used before. In this kind of case we can only rely on 3rd personal experience.

That's a good point. When a new product is going to the market, the company sometimes pay to some celebrites to make recommendations of the product using their blogs or websites, trying to attract customers. In this case, I won't trust this because they say good thing about this product in order to earn their payment from the company.

Yes, but sometimes you just don't know when this is the case, as I mentioned in my hotel example above. In that case you can't know it, but you could definitely bear it in mind

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