WhirLocal Launches New Community Trust Network to Make Local Word-of-Mouth Visible Online

New platform connects businesses, organizations and neighbors around the people and places they already know, like and trust.

SALEM, Ore. —Local businesses spend years building relationships, earning trust and generating word-of-mouth in their communities. But most of those relationships remain invisible online.

WhirLocal Media Group is setting out to change that with the launch of the WhirLocal Trust Network™, an interconnected community trust network designed to make real-world relationships and recommendations visible online.

Rather than creating another social network or traditional business directory, WhirLocal is building its platform around two simple questions:

Who do you trust? And who trusts you?

"Some of the strongest local businesses have spent decades building relationships and earning people's trust, but almost none of that is visible when someone looks them up online," said Tim Fahndrich, co-founder and CEO of WhirLocal Media Group. "We're building a way to change that."

Businesses and organizations can claim a Trust Profile and publicly recommend other local places they know, like and trust. Those recommendations become their Trust Network. Individual community members can create personal Trust Lists of businesses and organizations they recommend.

WhirLocal also makes the other side of those relationships visible, showing the businesses, organizations and neighbors who know, like, and trust a particular place.

As participation grows, individual recommendations connect to create a broader community-wide network of trust.

A Realtor might recommend a roofer. The roofer might recommend an electrician. The electrician might recommend a CPA. The CPA might recommend a restaurant. A neighbor might recommend all of them.

"We're essentially taking relationships that already exist in the real world and giving them a place to live online," Fahndrich said. "We're not trying to replace word-of-mouth. We're trying to make it more visible and useful."

Trust, Not Algorithms

WhirLocal sees the Trust Network as part of an emerging alternative to local discovery driven primarily by algorithms, advertising, anonymous ratings or annual "Best Of" contests.

Customer reviews remain an important part of WhirLocal, but the company believes recommendations provide another meaningful trust signal.

"A five-star review tells me something about a business and the experience a customer had there," Fahndrich said. "But there's also something powerful about seeing that a business I already know and trust is willing to put its name behind another local business."

Unlike some existing B2B social networks, WhirLocal does not require reciprocal recommendations. Businesses and neighbors are encouraged to recommend places because the trust has been earned, not because they expect something in return.

WhirLocal's long-term vision is to help communities build year-round networks that reflect real relationships between local businesses, organizations and the people they serve.

"We believe technology should strengthen human relationships, not replace them," Fahndrich said. "Local communities have always run on trust and word-of-mouth. We're simply building the infrastructure to bring more of that online."

Businesses can claim a WhirLocal Trust Profile and begin building their Trust Network for free.

About WhirLocal Media Group

WhirLocal Media Group helps local businesses stay visible, build trust and be remembered, so they can get referred and chosen more often while supporting others in the same way. WhirLocal combines local media, Trust Profiles, reviews and its new Trust Network to help make real-world community relationships more visible online.

Today, the WhirLocal platform includes more than 23,900 local places across 550+ neighborhoods. Since launching the WhirLocal Trust Network™, businesses, organizations and neighbors have already created almost 1000 trust relationships, with that number continuing to grow.

WhirLocal Media Group is based in Salem, Oregon, and its technology platform is available to businesses and communities throughout the United States.

Media Contact:
Tim Fahndrich
Co-founder & CEO
WhirLocal Media Group
help\@whirlocal.io
https://whirlocal.io
503-217-2800