I see a very similar model for product reviews. Product reviews from site users could be generated at the web site of an independent publisher who covers a given product category (perhaps a local newspaper, perhaps a niche publication or trade journal). That user review data could be shared with other publishers by posting it all publicly. Other sites or tools would then leverage that data and use it to get their users to contribute to the wider pool. A federation of similar media properties would then be able to foster product research in a very robust way for their combined audiences.
Jon explains how the problem of different event data coming from different sources could be solved:
"Compare the Upcoming and EVDB records for the Keene metro. The superset of these records is more useful than either individually: one lacks a precise address, the other lacks the theater's URL. Similarly, the superset of venues tracked by these (and other) services will, over time, be more complete than the sets tracked by individual services...Who is motivated -- and would be trusted by the community -- to own this process? My hunch is that local newspapers are the ideal candidates for this role."
Similarly, users reviewing products at different web sites may have different names for the same products or different ideas of what constitutes a product. Publishers should be motivated to solve this problem. The benefits are very powerful -- Users are talking about products on your site. Advertisers are crawling over each other to talk to your audience. You're making loads and loads of dosh.
The obvious question of competition quickly follows. If NichePublisher X is better at driving user reviews into the pool than NichePublisher Y and NichePublisher Y is using all that content on their web site to drive additional page views, then NichePublisher Y is getting more value for less effort than NichePublisher X. And what about managing quality control?
It's an interesting problem. Maybe there's a link carried with the review to the site that facilitated each product review, thereby rewarding sites that are good at driving more data into the pool. Maybe certain licensing rights need to be applied to the content to curb malicious behavior.
Regardless, a system like this would clearly create some new winners and new losers, but I'm certain that after the shakeout, the new losers will be the ones that failed to drive reviews, proving that they were unable to serve the needs of their own site users. The new winners will be the ones who are first to market, first to identify how to serve their users, first to help marketers reach potential customers in ways that customers want to be reached.
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