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Can a new wave of apps kill the 5-star rating system?

November 22, 2011 | Online Marketing

The era of the five-star rating system for user generated review appears to be coming to an end. But which company will lead the review system of the future is still up for grabs.

Today, the most well-known product review sites allow regular people to be full-fledged critics. Users on sites such as Yelp and Amazon write detailed evaluations and judge on a multi-star rating system - the same mode established by professionals such as the New York Times’ restaurant reviewer Eric Asimov or Rolling Stone‘s movie critic Peter Travers.

But the reality is, most of us usually look to our friends and family for much simpler input on things that they’ve bought or experienced. Was it good, or not? Was it worth it? That is exactly what a new iPhone app called Stamped aims to help people do.

The way Stamped works is simple: You use the app to give a “stamp” of approval to something you’ve bought or experienced and liked, such as a book, movie or restaurant. Each stamp can be commented on by other app users. Stamped makes money by taking a cut each time a user buys something on sites such as OpenTable, Amazon, iTunes (aapl) and Fandango based on another user’s recommendation.

Get the full story at GigaOM

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