Most of us will spend less in 2009.  Much less. And use coupons. Many will seek reliable 

recommendations when we do. If that’s true for you, check out this service. Ever see something a friend bought and want to get it too? Before you buy something online, see reviews from others in a trusted online community. If you are proud of what you sell online, then sell more by enabling prospective buyers to

 see your customers’ opinions.  That’s the business model of George Eberstadt’s startup network, TurnTo. 

How does his firm make money? “When a user sees a ‘trusted reference’ on one of our partner sites and then goes on to purchase we get a small commission on that purchase.”

Some trend forecasters cast this as part of  the new normal social shopping. No, not the usual “does it look good on me?” kind of face-to-face group wisdom activity. Yet this online way to compare shopping recommendations may help us wade through this precarious economy.

BenMark thinks,  “The service is particularly well-suited to ticket and events ecommerce…someone can go online and see what concert their friend is going to, and then buy tickets to that same show.”

 Several sites are competing for the chance to make us smarter shoppers, able to get  better bargains.

You’re strolling down a boutique-lined street. A restaurant catches your eye. You whip out your phone, scan the bar code on the window then go online to peak at reviews. It got raves so why not go in? After all, you’ll get a ring on your phone if your parking meter runs low whilst you’re dining. Then you can pay for more time – by phone. These are just two of the mobile phone location-based scenarios that have launched here in San Francisco. More to come.

We’ve come a long way since Howard Rheingold first wrote about Smart Mobs. The U.S. still lags behind some countries in the proliferation of uses for cell phones. Soon we’ll see a flood of location-based services (and ads?!) for those out shopping or exploring, according to Geographical Sciences professor, Paul Torrens, who is studying crowd behavior.

“Crowds of shoppers, endowed with smart chip credit cards and RFID tagged merchandise are trailed by long-lasting data shadows that follow them ubiquitously. Embedded in urban infrastructure and in the very products we consume, new technologies are emerging to enable cities to think about—and process—the people that pulse through them, with a burgeoning code-space being developed to capture the actions and interactions of individuals within large dynamic crowds.”

Recall soccer fans’ post-match riots? Notice the apparent increase of teen and tweens’ cyber bullying and other tragically belittling behavior via computer, texting and Twittering? Now staging flash mobs from a distance and anonymously, using technology, can create havoc and/or change opinions almost as quickly as inciting a riot at a stadium.

And one can attract larger crowds. People don’t even have to know each other to gather. They can literally take their rage and revenge to the streets faster, armed with the right location-based technology. They can swarm to surround a victim with less forethought and more speed.

In short the stakes are higher, for good and bad location-based crowd behavior now. The flip side of this sometimes lethal, tech-supported action is the ability to swarm to a location to play, protest or even surround people who in danger – a human ring of protection. For buying products, collaborating, sharing opinions – and so much more – the trend toward technology-supported, location-based services will probably touch your mobile life.

That’s why I wanted to interview the far-sighted, thoughtful Howard Rheingold.

Like to cover a concert, political campaign or a boycott as you see it, literally? Want to give your slant on your local back roads? How about recruiting some friends and creating a weekly show around your favorite hobby or other interest?

YouTube just made it easer to attract an audience to video programs you produce. Become a part of their new Citizen News Channel. (See the new channel category for “citizen journalists.”) From on-the-scene coverage to your kind of lively interviews to “how to” episodes (or all three in one?) you can create the programs in the genres that match your hottest interests and expertise. Now you can find some of the best news content on YouTube. Already, on the Global Voices channel, Miyong G. Kuon from South Sudan, is covering the conditions in refugee camps.

The channel’s news manager, Olivia Ma describes who might want to participate and why:

• People who tote around their cameras offering “on-the-scene” coverage of local news and events.
• Students producing their own weekly newscasts.
• Active community members who conduct interviews with local leaders.
• Engaged citizens who love providing commentary and analysis on issues affecting the world at large.
• Professional journalists using YouTube as an additional outlet for their work.

After you put your citizen news story up on YouTube’s new channel, go over to BBC’s Your News, then the Reuters/Yahoo You Witness News and, finally to CNN’s iReport. Put your program up on each of those sites too.

Other than inadvertently becoming part of a scandal, crisis or other notably bad or good news, here’s the most likely method for becoming part of a media story – in a positive way. Get briefed on stories for which reporters, producers or bloggers are seeking input – right now.

For $99 a month, get PR Leads, a daily email of updates, customized for your situation. Dan Janal is diligent and savvy.  He depends on happy referrals to get more business.  Two other popular media matching services are free. Publicist (and sky diver) Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out (HARO) email gets delivered to you three times a day. At the top of each email is a summary – one-liners on the kind of sources reporters are seeking. Scan it quickly to see if you’re a match for one of the queries. In just a few months over 10,000 sources signed up, as you can here. Journalists submit their query here.

ProfNet, a venerable fee-based service was upset with this upstart.

The other free service is Getting Ink Requests. It is run by another social media maven, Sally Whittle and a large collective of journalists. You can get queries via a daily email or Twitter or add value to your blog by featuring Getting Ink Requests on it.

As you review your compilation of media queries from HARO, Gettng Ink Requests, PR Leads or ProfNet, look for strong matches. Can you offer tips, insights, information, stories or examples that directly relate to what the media person is seeking? Be brief, specific and to the point.

See, for example, how Peter got HARO to be a part of this New York Times story. If you are off-topic or too self-promotional you’ll get be blacklisted by that media person. Here’s Sandra Beckwith’s tips on how to respond. (Don’t get featured on the Bad Pitch Blog.) 

Kristen King also writes bluntly about the biggest mistakes some people make in responding to queries. Here’s tips for offering what a reporter needs to cover your story.

Also, if you’re paid for your expertise (or you want to be) then help people find you when they want what you know. To raise your visibility and value, you may want to emulate Sally Whittle or Peter Shankman’s community-building model. That is offer a social media-based, free compilations/matching service related to your business.

If so, remember this. While Sally actively encourages people to share the media queries she collects, Peter also allows you to share, yet not online, please. So far Peter is attracting far more queries and members it seems.

Ann Hanley sees Peter’s approach as a healthy sign of our social media future. Erik Sherman describes why Peter should be able to copyright his compilations to preserve the value he creates for himself while facilitating a service that remains free for “us.” That’s the “Me2We” way.

As you can see, taking this “first ever” approach can raise helpful thoughts and competitive concerns among those who are accustomed to having more control. The downside of this free-for-all future is the weakest link.

The weak links are the aforementioned, irritating off-topic responders who spoil it for the rest of us.That’s why some journalists and others are seeking sources among their existing circle of colleagues, as Shel Holtz describes.

Hint: How many media pros are you LinkedIn to?

When a Seattle couple, self-described indie professionals, couldn’t find the kind of low-key business get-togethers they enjoyed, they decided to host some. 50 events later they’d founded an online community. Members can volunteer to host the kind of comfy, relevant face-to-face gatherings and seminars in which they most wanted to participate.

It’s now called Biznik. In the delicate, ongoing art of managing a lively, sometimes out-spoken community, they walk the tightrope in hewing to their decidedly non-corporate motto, “Business Networking That Doesn’t Suck”. Indies can join, meet and talk with each other online for free or choose from a two-tier, monthly membership level to host or attend gatherings (some like to meet while walking their dogs, others over after-dinner drinks) and to get more deeply involved online.

The more you contribute (writing articles, responding to queries, offering podcasts, teaching a seminar, etc.) the more visibility you earn on the site.Most gatherings are small (20 people or so) and the founders like that because participants are getting better acquainted and able to discuss ways to help each other.

As evident in our interviews with Anita Campbell, Diane Danielson, Dan and his wife, Lara Eve Feltin, are experimenting as they go with their business model. They, too, are trying out ways to attract and keep locally-based, mutually-reinforcing, close-knit, niche-serving and profitable communities where members meet online and off, sell to and serve each other and get special offers from the companies that pay for access to the niche.

In this podcast interview, learn from Dan McComb the “go slow to go fast” methods that are attracting active, paying, active members.

From carpentry to cooking, from pediatrics to pest control – who do you choose or turn to for answers? Soon you may have a top-of-mind web site to find the best expert.

That is the same place you want to be seen as a trusted expert. Plus, when you share your expertise, you can get paid. You rake in some money – if your insights are top rated by others. And you’ll become more well-known around the world for your knowledge.

Just hop aboard the brand new google-backed plan to beat out the trailblazing Wikipedia – or be complentary. That’s a lofty goal. Yet, in true Me2We fashion, google is offering participants money and perhaps more glory than Wikipedia. Thus google may suck the crowd their way. They promise that they will “highlight authors” yet, as Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins notes, it may need “a strong guiding hand” to serve the common good.

Stepping on the stones of incremental yet innovative change provided by Seth Godin’s Squidoo and Jason Calacanis’ Mahalo and the smaller Citizendium, google’s Knol (units of knowledge) will be a leap forward in the collaborative sharing of best and latest information – again free to all. A far leap from the top-down sharing of knowledge in the printed volumes of encyclopedias. Plus, as John Blossom observes, Knol may provide a more efficient way for you to compete with others to become the most respected, “subject matter expert” than, say About.com. Yet it may also represent a possible conflict of interest for google.

To set a high bar for quality, google has invited certain experts to make their best contributions in this “by invitation only” beta stage. So create a google alert for Knols so you can be among the first to share your knowledge when it opens to public participation. Get a peek preview. Unlike Rob Hof, I believe that, by this time next year, Knol could be the most widely linked to best place for finding credible answers. What a sweet spot for finding the experts with whom you may want to collaborate. Also for being discovered by the kind of partner with whom you’d want to work.

Update: On January 6th Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales strikes back with Wikia Search. Wikia focuses on community and, ostensibly, greater transparency rather than highlighting individuals’ expertise. The for-profit Wikia Search enables experts to rank, rate and filter search results.

Create a google alert (any irony there?) as a reminder to check it out and tell us what you think.