Clique Marketing - Do You Approve?

You know what I mean. You rub my back and I'll rub yours. I see it everywhere on here and I generally regard it as being a little odd and often disingenuous.

You leave me a nice review and I'll reciprocate the gesture at some future date. A cosy clique of IMers all rushing to tell those outside their narrow circle how "awesome" (this word gets used a lot) their friends' products are.

Now I don't mind if the review is genuine and honest, but it is rather simple after a while to identify the cookie-cutter type reviews - it's all a bit soulless.

It's getting to the stage where I am automatically zoning out at the more hyberbolic reviews as the language used, although incredibly positive, lacks integrity.

I think some IMers euphemistically describe this process as "networking" but I'd like to think we hold ourselves to higher standards than that. No matter what someone else has promised you or has done for you in the past, you simply should not promote their product with such exuberant language unless you truly believe it so - simple as that.

Now my vertigo is kicking in so time to get off my high horse!