TurnTo hopes to improve on the online shopping recommendation model by offering users reviews only from people they know. The network debuted earlier this month in beta mode with four merchant partner sites.
Unlike sites like Amazon or TripAdvisor, where users can see reviews from a plethora of anonymous strangers, TurnTo CEO George Eberstadt says his company differs in that members shopping on partner sites have free access to reviews from people in a personal network they themselves have personally created.
The network could be comprised of friends, or even people who went to your university or work at your company, he notes. But the site itself isn’t aiming to become a social network, like MySpace. As the service evolves, members will be able to integrate friend and address lists into TurnTo from other social networks or applications like Outlook. At present, the service is integrated with LinkedIn, and will soon launch a similar function with Facebook.
“There are lots of ways to get recommendations from anonymous strangers,” says Eberstadt. “That’s great but its very different from a review from someone you know personally.”
Members of TurnTo can access reviews by clicking on the TurnTo widget on partner merchant sites. The revenue model is performance based, notes Eberstadt. If someone uses the service and then goes on to make a purchase, the merchant is charged a small percentage based on the sale.
So far, four partner sites are working with TurnTo: jewelry seller Angara; tea merchant Teavana; electronics store CompSource; and environmental volunteer travel nonprofit EarthWatch.
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