The BBC recently reported that people are turning to weblogs as a source of what they should and shouldn't buy. More than three-quarters of those questioned said they consulted weblogs before they bought a product. The people who did use blogs to research a purchase said they did so because they trusted the blogs. They felt blogs are written by real people based on actual experiences and that the weblogs were not subject to the same pressures as corporate or commercial websites. [source: BBC UK]

So how do you use blogs to research a product? Well the traditional way would be to use a search engine like google or yahoo. You could start by simply entering the product you are looking for and hope for the best. You could also try adding the keyword "blog" or "weblog" to your query. However the perferred method would be using a service like Technorati.

Simply put, Technorati is a blog serch engine. It indexes and organizes much of the weblog content on the Internet. In addition to Technorati, Google recently announced its blog search, although there are still many kinks to work out. So next time you are looking to buy a new microwave, or even find out what your competition is doing, hit the blogosphere and do a search.

tags: catalyst studios, blogs, consumer trends