Over at www.Trendwatching.com they have and excellent analysis of how the trends toward social networking and referral marketing are melding to help people get more qualified referrals from people they’ve never met.

Link: TRENDWATCHING.COM Newsletter–Global Consumer and Marketing Trends–June/July 2005.

Now, through an onslaught of new collaborative filtering software, millions of new personal profiles, exclusive communities and what have you, the TWINSUMER phenomenon is turning millions of reviews, ratings and recommendations into truly valuable results fitting one person’s very particular preferences or even lifestyle. Whether it’s a one-off TWINSUMER union or an ongoing relationship. TWINSUMER therefore isn’t about access to reviewings or ratings or even trust in general (those are fast becoming hygiene), but about relevance.