In this new market space carved out by social media, every product, every topic you can name from fashion to office supplies to politics  can be discussed, argued over and researched and bought as part of a vast conversation among people interested in it.

I’m in the market for an iPAd but before I purchase I ask around first-on twitter, facebook, via chat groups:  “What do you think? Is it any good? Has anybody checked it out? What’s the real battery life? Recommendations? Horror stories?

My friend is in the market for a good desk dictionary for her children and it’s off to Amazon.com but not just to whip out her credit card but to find first a large number of opinions already expressed.

“I love the look of this book and the publisher did a great job but I made a mistake of buying it without realising that it was first published over seven years ago."

"I’ve had this book for two days and my children and  I keep going back to it. What a wonderful reference."

On election night in Trinidad and Tobago I looked at TV with my husband and had heated discussions, but I spent as much time on Twitter conversing, laughing, sharing.

In all these conversations there is a lot of debate not just  about price (product), value ( service), but about the other currencies of location, position, reputation and every other quality  that is subject to rising and falling opinion.

When I think about it though, all this new buzz is nothing new, in one sense. The only advertising that was ever really effective was word of mouth which is nothing more than conversation. Now word of mouth has gone global.  The one to many technology which  brought significant benefits  to mass production and then mass marketing for years is  now available to ordinary Joe and Jane. You and I. And we’re eager to make up for up for lost time.

That’s why I think the the way Twitter and Facebook  worked during the T&T  elections and the evening of the results was so instructive. Advertising, media headlines and grandiose claims from the hustings had their part to play but  more importantly we  found ourselves connected to one another in a space  that enabled us just to explore  various realities behind the claims.

The sound of those conversations on social media threw into stark relief the monotonous, biased, self centered, and  many times inaccurate  drone emanating from  the usual channels and instead offered the pure sound of the human voice not the elevated speeches, or the headlines that are designed to sell papers.

Certainly not all of these voices were unbiased but  collectively  they told their own ‘truths’ based on their  real experiences. To some this is dangerous, it represents a loss of control.

On the other hand, I think the ability to share, reach out and seek the mass opinions and reflections of others in one social space  has all sorts of powerful implications not just for purchasing products or sharing our experience but also for  shaping how we receive and share  news. In looking at the whole Dudas catastrophe in Jamaica never once did I turn to  the newspapers as a first source but relied on the tweets of my regional colleagues to direct me to  other rich voices (sometimes first hand accounts) and conversations emanating from the Web.