Before buying, we used to research the "big stuff", like cars and washing machines. Now we're looking for information about absolutely everything– right down to the ingredients in our cereal, what those tiny green dots are in your toothpaste, and what your mice think about your mouse traps. Everyone is officially researching everything before they buy it.
The challenge upon us now is the Splinternet — Forrester's term for the fractionalizing of the web due to multiple apps, platforms, and devices. (More at http://bit.ly/cvFm2r).