When someone I follow recommends a product, I want to know whether they mean it, so I do not buy because of a relationship I mistook for real.

Job context

Who

Someone following personal accounts and channels

When

Each time a recommendation appears

Trigger

Realising someone trusted is being paid

Situation

A one-way relationship that feels like real acquaintance

Constraints

Disclosure exists and sits where few notice it

5 Pains

• No way to know whether a recommendation is paid

  High

  The disclosure sits at the end, in small text.

  Root cause: Disclosure is required to exist rather than to be seen

• A feeling of acquaintance lowers the guard

  High

  Though the relationship runs one way.

  Root cause: Watching someone speak regularly creates a real sense of knowing them

• The recommender has not used it long either

  Medium

  So they know no more than you.

  Root cause: The content is made right after the product arrives

• Criticising a product costs the next contract

  High

  So almost nobody criticises.

  Root cause: The recommender's income depends on brands

• Cannot separate genuine opinion from sponsored content

  Medium

  Both appear in the same feed.

  Root cause: The two kinds of content are presented identically

5 Desired Outcomes

• Know immediately whether a recommendation is paid

  Functional

• Keep their guard despite the familiarity

  Emotional

• Know how long the recommender has used it

  Functional

• Hear criticism as well as praise

  Social

• Separate genuine opinion from sponsorship

  Functional

5 Existing Solutions

A solution is not the same thing as a product, a customer can hire a behaviour or a workaround too.

• Look for the sponsorship disclosure

  Behaviour

  The only available step, placed at the least visible point that still complies.

• Follow people who take no sponsorship

  Behaviour

  The most trustworthy source, a very small group because it does not pay.

• Wait months and see if they still use it

  Workaround

  The best test, requiring more patience than the content cycle allows.

• Read comments from people who bought

  Behaviour

  The nearest counterweight, with negative comments often hidden.

• Treat every recommendation as advertising

  Behaviour

  The safest rule, discarding the sincere ones too.

2 Opportunity Gaps

• The recommender's income comes from brands rather than from viewers, so an honest criticism costs the next contract, and this entire information source can only tilt one way.

  Why existing solutions fail: Viewers do not pay, so they are not the customer, and whoever is not the customer is served by nobody, leaving the honesty of an entire trade to individuals choosing to lose money.

  Potential opportunity: Sources paid directly by their audience, making the audience the actual customer.

• Whoever describes a product to an audience has just received it, so every recommendation speaks about the first week and never about the second year.

  Why existing solutions fail: The content cycle demands constant new posts while knowledge of durability requires time to stand still, and the two rhythms are incompatible, so content always speaks about what just arrived.

  Potential opportunity: One-year-later revisits, treated as a genre with a value of its own.