Sunday, July 12, 2009 If you value your spare time, don't start posting comments and reviews on Amazon, Mark Espinosa suggests. It can be a hard habit to break.

Given his rank as the online retailer's No. 1 reviewer, he would certainly know. Espinosa might be one of the most influential consumer-tech pundits whose name you've never heard. Although he specializes in gadgets like memory cards and video game systems, he also dabbles in movie and jazz criticism. He's even reviewed a kitchen faucet. ("A pleasure to install," he wrote of a chrome, double-handle model manufactured by Delta.) A tech security consultant who lives in New Jersey, Espinosa has weighed in on more than 500 products. He spends about 10 hours on a review -- and no, he doesn't get paid for it.

In the age of user-generated content, with Web users getting into the habit of turning to sites such as Yelp for restaurant recommendations, reviews like Espinosa's carry increasing weight among manufacturers and consumers alike.


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By Kim Hart

Could you survive without your social networks? Perhaps underestimating their own ability to adapt -- or pick up a telephone -- just 29% of Facebook and LinkedIn users say they could "probably do without" the popular networks, according to a new study by Anderson Analytics.

Apparently a somewhat less vital recourse, 35% of the 5,000 U.S. social media users surveyed in May said they could do without MySpace, while a more modest 43% thought life still worth living without Twitter.

Under 35, people rely on social networks for "fun" and contacting friends, while older consumers increasingly view them as indispensable for staying in touch with family and close friends.

Correspondingly, the majority -- 75% -- said Facebook was their most valuable network, followed by 65% who cited MySpace. Only 30% said the business centric LinkedIn was their most valuable network, followed by the 12% who gave it up to Twitter.

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