Twitter Moms launch peer recommendation with its own Seal Of Approval

The traditional approach of “product reviews” by bloggers is sometimes called blogola:  A slang term used in online marketing circles to describe the act of bribing or paying influential bloggers to create a buzz in the blogosphere about a specific product or technology in their blog.

This technique is often seen as suspect or non-transparant. On the other hand, there's this huge base of very active "Twitter Moms" who are very eager to vent their opinions about household and food products. Their audience: other "Twitter Moms" who trust advice from their peers more than anything else.

Here's a very interesting take to that problem: TwitterMoms Seal of Approval.

From the press release:

Products carrying the TwitterMoms Seal of Approval have been subjected to a structured evaluation process designed by members of the TwitterMoms team. A minimum of A minimum of 25 independent moms were selected for their geographic and demographic diversity then complete the structured evaluation process in their own households and submit their qualitative and quantitative feedback for review and analysis. To be awarded the Seal of Approval, a product must meet or exceed expectations in all areas of the evaluation 85% of the time and the same percentage of evaluators must be willing to recommend the product to others.
The TwitterMoms evaluation panel is comprised of experienced moms who are active in social media from across the United States. 60% live in the suburbs, 18% are rural dwellers, and 22% live in cities. Nearly 75% of the panelists have two or more children. 26% have babies in their household, 23% have preschool-age children, 33% have kids that are in grades K-8; 11% have kids in high school. Household income ranges skew slightly higher than the US average: 25% of the evaluators report HHI of more than $100K, 36% report HHI of $60-$100k, and 28% report incomes in the $30-$60k range. 62% keep large pets in their home.