BC, Canada -- (SBWire) -- 04/12/2012 --The internet has been a boon to consumers everywhere in a multitude of ways. Most obviously, the web has created a global marketplace where people can browse, shop and transact basically without limit.

One noticeable trend which has gained traction over the last several years is the availability of user-reviews for almost any product or service imaginable. This “crowdsourced content” has become a trusted source from which millions of buying decisions are influenced globally. In fact, according to marketing agency Razorfish, over 60% of consumers now rely on user-generated reviews to influence their purchasing choices.

For the affiliate marketing sector, this has led to much consternation. Up to this point, no crowdsourced review site (such as Epinions) has facilitated affiliate marketing for the contributor – all referring links are owned by the site itself. As a result, the web's most popular “user review” sites are either the retailers themselves (such as Amazon), or sites that don’t really let users profit from their hard work – only offering meager compensation through things like shared ad revenue.

With the launch of new review platform Ukritic, however, this may be a thing of the past. Understanding the effort required to generate quality, in-depth reviews and content, the team behind Ukritic set out to build an environment which enables contributors to be directly and proportionately rewarded to the exact extent that they influence the sale of products and services. By investing time and effort into creating informative and compelling review content, marketers can now be compensated in line with the commercial activity their content generates.

In other words, if anyone makes a purchase decision as a result of reading a review on Ukritic.com – whoever created that review is likely going to be paid a commission.

Consumers also have much to gain from the Ukritic platform. Co-Founder Chris Rempel says, “The success of Ukritic will really depend on tight moderation. Ultimately, we believe that only accepting objective, high-quality content that truly helps the consumer over and above 'gunning for the sale' is going to be the ticket. It means that only a few contributors will make the grade – and that's OK. It also means that in time, consumers will see Ukritic as a trustworthy source of product commentary - and not a pitch fest or a compilation of ambiguous blurbs.”

Ukritic is already attracting attention in the affiliate industry based on its premise – sort of a “Squidoo” for product reviews – and because it openly facilitates and encourages affiliate marketing. (Most user-generated sites frown on it, because it's an industry that is rampant with abuse and low quality publishers).

Time will tell if Ukritic ultimately succeeds – but at least it's setting the bar at the right level out of the gate. It may prove to be a powerful platform for contributors who can pass through Ukritic's moderation gauntlet.

About Ukritic
Ukritic.com is a user generated content platform specifically aimed at fostering extremely high-quality content standards whilst facilitating affiliate marketing activity and associated income generation. While the industry has watched other crowdsourcing platforms wither and die due to lack of trust and poor compensation for users, Ukritic is promising both marketers and consumers everywhere access to a platform where reviews are in-depth, and where in-depth reviews are worth creating. For more information, visit http://www.ukritic.com