The experts are making a comeback. Twitter, here’s your opportunity.

When everyone is a critic, whom do you trust?

20 years ago, if you wanted to find a good restaurant, a good hotel, chances were you’d consult a guide book or go to an established “critic” website: Michelin, Zagat...

With the web 2.0, everyone became a critic. And the idea was: maybe taken individually our judgement is not as solid as a critic’s. But the sheer number will make up for the difference and ensure impartiality.

Platforms such as Yelp thrived, and restaurants/lifestyle are just an example:

Everything can be commented, judged and rated by everyone.

This vision was grand and it felt right. The Internet was the perfect enabler.
But think about it for a second. These days, would you say that:

• you do trust platforms such as Yelp or Google Reviews?
• when you are checking a movie, what matters more to you: the critics’ or the audience’ rating?

My take is that “everyone’s a critic” has peaked. And the problem is not so much philosophical (can everyone indeed be an expert in everything?). It is much more basic. It has become too hard to trust this system:

• It’s badly manipulated. In fact, an entire business ecosystem exists now whose sole objective is to “game the system”.

• there’s a pernicious incentive for individuals to review and comment more and more often. You get “karma points” (or equivalent) and you build up your online presence. Your own reputation becomes more important than the one you review.

Many are trying to tackle this major problem: Amazon will show comments from “verified purchasers” first, lawsuits have been filed against fraudulent e-reputation activities, etc. I am sure it will get better.

But until then…

Let’s hear the experts

One of the positive, knock-on effects of the massive “everyone has a voice” phenomenon is that it has pulled the “experts” with it: academics, successful entrepreneurs, investigative journalists, critics… They are now more vocal and more present online than ever:

1. as experts they feel a responsibility to get their voice heard in the conversations
2. it’s exhilarating to realise you can touch millions instantly
3. in the connected world, your expertise is also measured by your network of influence… or said bluntly: they have to have a voice.

The experts’ platform of predilection has always been Twitter. It’s not Facebook (too personal?), it’s not LinkedIn (not a conversation platform).

And that’s a major silver lining for Twitter. Sure, they don’t have a fifth of Facebook’s reach and it’s very noisy. But where else do you get noted experts like David Wessel — a Pulitzer Price recipient — commenting in near real time the world’s economy? Fei Fei Li, Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence lab director, sharing ideas?

Now Twitter just need to make sure these guys are easy to find and cut through the noise.

I do have some ideas for you, Twitter :-).

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