| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) | Faisal Farooqui |
| Website | mouthshut.com |
| Type of site | Social network, Social Media Consumer Reviews |
| Advertising | Banner ads, customized marketing |
| Registration | Required for posting reviews and diaries |
| Launched | 2000 |
| Current status | Active |
MouthShut.com is a highly popular user-generated content and consumer review website on the Internet. At the core of MouthShut lies a global Web 2.0 social media platform. Any visitor can become a member (for free) and then can influence or be influenced by others. By writing reviews, sharing photos and diaries, members create buzz about brands and products, in turn influencing consumer decisions.
MouthShut.com's pioneering work has been featured prominently in the Wall Street Journal,[1] Entrepreneur Magazine,[2] London's Financial Times [3] and almost all the newspapers and TV channels in India. MouthShut.com's founder and CEO Faisal Farooqui has been named among the Top Contemporary Entrepreneur in India [4]
Mouthshut.com has been recommended by various social media commentators and its credibility cited[5] and materials from the website used in at-least fifty non-fiction books, including the popular "Marketing Management" textbook by Philip Kotler [6]
Contents |
MouthShut.com was founded in the year 2000 by Faisal Farooqui as a platform for people to talk about their experience with products and brands. Soon, the website was flooded with reviews of restaurants, movies, FMCG goods, travel destinations, banks etc.[7] The Indian blog contentsutra.com reports that MouthShut.com pioneered the whole user-generated content space in India [8] Mouthshut has been featured in The Economic Times, Times of India, CNBC, NDTV, Star News, and almost all major news outlets in India.[9]
The company was founded in Mumbai (Bombay), India and according to India's largest newspaper, The Times of India, MouthShut.com continues to be the leader in the user-generated content space in India.[10]
MouthShut is a recipient of Red Herring Asia Top 100- 2008 Award [11] Earlier, the website was awarded the Manthan Award for Best Youth Website in India- 2006 for its impact on Youth and popular culture revolution in reviews and technology in India[12] This award was presented to MouthShut CEO, Faisal Farooqui by India's Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Sachin Pilot. On March 11, 2010, MouthShut was awarded the Best Portal of the Year Award- Gold the highest award at the India Digital Media Awards.[13]
A Nielsen global survey revealed that 87 percent of Internet accessing Indians trust recommendations from others over any other kind of advertising, making word-of-mouth, the most powerful tool in the industry.[14] Asian Age newspaper recommends that most Indians online are referring to MouthShut for first hand product reviews and product information [15]
A CNBC- TV 18 interview reveals that MouthShut.com has more than 2 million (2005) registered users from India and the globe making it a profitable venture with value for Internet users [16]
MouthShut is part of Google's snippet program. This Rich Data Format revolution, allows Google to display product ratings from MouthShut.com directly in Google Search result.[17]
MouthShut.com participates in Google's Adsense Publishing Program. Although this is not an exclusive arrangement with Google, MouthShut's use of Adsense is a Google case-study.
More than 66% of Internet users in India believe that online movie reviews influence their choice of watching a movie in the theaters. This study was conducted by India's apex Internet Association- IAMAI. It suggests the growing popularity of independent movie review sites such as mouthshut.com [18] Several movie production houses in India have used MouthShut.com movie ratings as part of their advertising campaign.
MouthShut has been cited in various newspapers and journals for its innovative marketing campaign behind the backs of auto rickshaws in India. Indian Express newspaper reports that MouthShut.com was the first to use autorickshaws as a medium for marketing campaigns since 2001. MouthShut.com painted the URL of its website behind the backs of thousands of rickshaws in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata etc.[19] Portals have reported that Mouthshut.com's rickshaw advertising concept has been so successful that even large companies such as Oracle have copied the idea in India. Popular blogs such as pluggd.in have cited the Mouthshut rickshaw campaign as the most creative original innovation in startup advertising.[20]
In 2008, MouthShut.com announced the MouthShut Mobile Service. Users can send SMS-based reviews. Any cell phone user can post on MouthShut through short messaging by sending it to +919769696967.[21][22]
Recently MouthShut.com launched a revamp of its user interface and has local content organized around 20 cities in India. .[23] The revamp allows MouthShut's users to write reviews, upload and share photos, posts blogs and diaries and share virtual gifts.
Due to the depth and variety of original content published, MouthShut.com has been used by researchers in the corporate and academia to understand consumer behavior.
A number of articles and MouthShut's content has been used to cite consumer and culture pattern, such as Advertisement And Promotions: An Imc Perspective by Alan D'souza Kruti Shah (Paperback - 2008) [24][25]
A book published by Klett Verlag GmBH in Germany included reviews from MouthShut.com as additional reading material. This was used in Germany for school-level reading material.[26]
MouthShut was discussed extensively in Consumer Behavior (Wayne et. all, 2008) [27]
Mouthshut does not let users delete the review unless specifically requested by the user. Similarly, MouthShut does not delete any reviews even if threatened by brands and corporations. MouthShut.com's stated policy has been that they will delete a review ONLY if the original author requests or if there is a court order asking it to remove a review.