"Socially rewarding" business directory

Many websites, provide product and business "reviews" but its difficult to determine the genuine reviews from the fictitious posts, posted by those with a vested interest, including paid reviewers or even those determined to sabotage a business for personal vendettas.

But, we all know the power of word of mouth, we as consumers often seek guidance from trusted friends and family when seeking to purchase product, use a service or visit somewhere for a special weekend or family adventure.

So, how can we get the guidance from our trusted sources?

Old school methods include asking friends at a dinner party or weekend BBQ or we "phone a friend", new tools such as Facebook make it even easier to post a question & those keyboard companions will come to the rescue, but if you are like me, posting those type of "help me" posts, aren't really something Im comfortable to do, for many reasons, so instead, i spend time researching & pouring through untrusted reviews, hoping to find one that looks genuine!

Many of us are connected to our trusted sources on Facebook, so social media gives us a multitude of more efficient options, and with business pages, its even easier to work out which one of our trusted friends has visited or recommends a business, product or service - problem is, that its not organised into business categories. If I know a business, i can find their page and connect the dots with my friends, but do I really know if that is "the" business most recommended? Not likely, as there is no comparison with all of the other "restaurants" my friends recommend, unless i check the social pages of every one and then do the maths.

Surely, there has to be an easier way!

So it got me thinking how to solve this problem & with the help of my development team, we worked out a really useful & innovative way to organise facebook page likes, business listings, ranked by either my trusted friends or by the broader social community. Even better we worked out how to do this on Google maps, so that we can search on the mobile, whilst standing in front of strip of restaurants trying to make a last minute decision and I can also let my friends know about a business that I really value or appreciate!

Being a local from Terrigal, central coast in NSW, Australia, I thought that was a good place to start this socially rewarding idea, so I bought the domain www.terrigal.com.au and we just launched it as a cool, socially rewarding business & information directory, check it out & share your good experiences with others!