The folks who buy a new product when it first comes out, are commonly known as the early adopters.

These people – who are not the same as the “beta testers” – actually spend money to buy the product.

They risk the annoyances, technical and usability issues of First-Generation products in exchange for the “Wow” factor that comes with someone stopping by at your table at a restaurant, or interrupting you on the train, or huddling near you at a party, to ask about your cool new toy.

There is a certain coolness and hipness that comes along with owning the latest and greatest gadget.

But what if the gadget itself is considered a failure? What if you just kept reading poor reviews everywhere you look, especially from the people and web sites and blogs you visit and respect?

Would you still shell out hard-earned-money when you know there is very little “Wow” factor in it for you?

I’m not an early adopter in any way. I am usually on the other end of the curve, buying only the latest version of the most proven products, after the product has been out for a while, after reading tons of reviews and doing a lot of online research.

Even I was initially tempted to get the new Amazon Kindle. But after reading poor reviews everywhere, I finally pulled the plug on this item from my wish list.

Here’s one of the best, most balanced, most informative reviews I’ve read about the kindle.

So, don’t take my word – judge the Kindle for yourself.

If you’ve ever wondered about the power of influence that videos – even free ones – can have in selling commercial products, look no further.

Recently, I was on the receiving end of this power, as I shelled out about $3,200 to buy a Yamaha Motif Keyboard – thanks(!) to two powerful videos on YouTube.

I’ve chronicled it in my rather new blog, MotiFreak.com.

The sad thing is that along with the “Citizen Marketers” come the “Citizen Abusers”.

Any form of user(citizen)-powered marketing will always eventually be subject to abuse, and then the distinct line between a legitimate “volunteer” citizen and a “paid” citizen suddenly becomes very thin. Point in case: Digg.com, BzzAgent.com or a PayPerPost.com.

As time goes by and more “citizens” go up for hire, all user-driven marketing will be viewed through colored glasses.

So, that’s where trusted networks like LinkedIn will come into the picture.

Ravi Jayagopal, “No Business Like E-Business“