The "Good" List

The effects of social media on just about anything you can fathom are far reaching

The effects of social media on just about anything you can fathom are far reaching. Take a look around, find the most obscure thing, and you could probably bet that someone has blogged about it. Whether it is ratings, reviews, or coupons, which span from simply (does the product perform as described to details regarding the company’s sustainability and social responsibility efforts?) if you have an Internet connection, you have access to it. The immediacy and importance of keeping up with social media and websites that serve as product review databases, as The Lempert Report has previously commented on, is imperative, especially in today’s swim or sink marketplace.

One of the most informative, interesting, and unbiased sites is GoodGuide.com. The GoodGuide prides itself on being an extensive database featuring product reviews that focus on three simple things, “Where did it come from? How was it made? What’s in it?” The site also educates visitors about current issues and events, product recalls, and provides a completely transparent description outlining its rating system.

Products listed on the database include food, personal care, household chemicals and toys. There are currently over 70,000 products in the database. Ratings are based on both product and company performance. By employing a range of scientific methods, the GoodGuide assesses and identifies major impacts to human health, the environment, and society. Using health performance as an example, the GoodGuide explains how its system takes into account both the “company’s operations on its workers, and local communities, and the impacts of using a specific product on your health.”
 
The GoodGuide is meant to serve as a tool assisting consumers in finding better products to suite their individual needs. It’s easy to find that you have been browsing the site for hours, running from room to room in you house collecting items to see where they rank; and if you find you have a house full of low scoring products, GoodGuide makes it easy to find better for you products and even provides links to online retailers.

GoodGuide’s website is accessible and user-friendly; SupermarketGuru.com is excited about the GoodGuide app which provides free mobile access to all of the GoodGuide product data while you’re on the go. Not only can it help you take care of yourself and family, but you can also use the GoodGuide as a constructive tool to improve your business and the products you provide. The issues, categories and criteria that the website is based on are not the latest fad, nor the newest celebrity obsession, but instead represent growing concerns among all consumers. Step up to what might seem to be a challenge, and get on the GoodGuide’s good list!