The Fashion World Needs YOU

In 2006, TIME magazine named you—yes, you—as its person of the year. A couple of years down the line, and the web 2.0 world of wiki sites, blogs and other internet-based channels of consumer-generated content are finally now making their mark on fashion retail. We're not just talking social networking here, but a next-level step into SNS culture. Welcome to the world of Fashion 3.0 and the growth of social-shopping sites such as ThisNext.com, Kaboodle.com (bought by magazine giant Hearst last year) and Iliketotallyloveit.com.

Take British social shopping site for women Osoyou.com, which launched during last September's London Fashion Week and is now launching a new Beauty Zone. With a whopping 70% of women in the UK buying beauty products online, adding brands such The Body Shop is a canny move by Osoyou, as consumers wade through waves of product choice and increasingly look to their peers, experts and so-called "mavens" for product referrals and recommendations. MD Dawn Bebe, has catchily labeled this referral economy, married with glossy magazine style content, as "me-tail".

Social shopping is proving to be super-sticky—just click onto ThisNext.com's real-time global map to see a hypnotic array of speech bubbles popping up all over the globe, showing that a visitor in Staten Island just viewed some Tom Ford shades, while someone in Serbia is currently checking out a DKNY trench. Expect to see more sites such as newcomer LoyalTV.com, where users can post videos about the brands and products they love (and hate). In this new world of conspicuous e-consumption, don't just "broadcast yourself"—it's time to stylecast yourself, too.

—Fiona Harkin