It is a fact that not all people tell the truth in a review, so it’s unlikely that everything you read is going to be the whole picture. To counter that, especially when in connection with something as ethereal as word of mouth information, listed here are a number of statistic’s and sources that you (if you so desire) can check for accuracy at your leisure.

1. Family and friend recommendations beat out all others when influencing decisions when giving out word of mouth information (AdAge).

2. Traffic to a site that posts reviews will typically return to that site nine times, and are twice as likely to purchase from that website than others (source: McKinsey and Co./from Jupiter Media Metrix).

3. Consumers have a higher level of trust with friends more than experts or celebrity endorsements (65%, 27% and 8%, respectively; Yankelovich).

4. A Nielsen worldwide study of some 26,000 users in over 40 markets reported that consumer recommendations were the most credible form of word of mouth information advertising within the 70% plus of respondents.

5. The figure is enourmous, 116 million user generated content was made in the U.S. in 2008 alone, with an additional creators of content totaling 82 million. With the extended reach and influence of Web 2.0 and social networking, these figures are set to climb (eMarketer).

6. Social network users are three times more likely to purchase a product on the strength of recommendation from a peer rather than any form of advertising. (Jupiter Research).

7. 86% of people asked said they trust a friend’s recommendation over the experts, with 83% saying they trust user generated comments over a critic’s (Marketing Sherpa).

8. 66% of social networkers are more likely to buy because of a recommendation, compared to 52% that are not social networkers (Royal Mail home shipping tracker).

9. 81% of holiday shoppers read user generated reviews before purchasing (Nielsen Online).

10. Consumers totaling 86% read reviews on businesses before buying, with over 90% saying that they trust those reviews (Kudzu.com).

11. 49% of shoppers reviewed stated that they have made purchases on the strength of reviews. Of this total 53% decided on the strength of user reviews;48% in comparison charts,41% bought due to editorial reviews and comments; 58% from shared shopping lists.

12. Almost two thirds (62%) of home consumers read on line user generated product reviews before purchasing (Deloitte and Touche) with the same percentage stating that they would consult sites with user reviews in order to make entertainment purchases (Marketing Sherpa).

13. 7 out of 10 people who read consumer generated news and reviews are highly likely to share those opinions, which amplifies the impact (Deloitte and Touche).

14. 74% of those surveyed state they base purchasing solely on user generated reviews of their customer service experiences for a product or company (Society of New Communication Research).

As you can see, word of mouth information coming from trusted sources such as friends, consumers, etc. is the most powerful form of advertising.