• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 9, 2011

From restaurant reservations to TV show selection, who needs "experts" in a world of opinionated Facebook friends? Turns out -- the majority of consumers, according to new research from social-sharing platform Meebo.

Indeed, rather than getting content recommendations from their online social circles, a full 53% of survey respondents said they seek advice from knowledgeable strangers, or "everyday experts" as Meebo calls them.

Why? One's "friends" often lack the inside dope on specialized information like good sushi in Sarasota, Florida, or the best "Braveheart" mashups online.

"Web discovery today largely happens through people or influencers we already know, but people are expressing frustration about the inability to find relevant content from their social circles," said Seth Sternberg, Meebo's co-founder and CEO.

"As more discovery solutions are developed, 'everyday experts' will gradually surface within specific interest areas and become important advocates in the future," Sternberg predicts.

This is not to say that social graphs will increasingly lose ground to independent experts. On the contrary, the findings suggest that consumers are prone to "friending" experts with whom they share a common interest. According to Meebo, nearly half -- 48% -- of respondents expressed an interest in aligning with like-minded experts.

Meanwhile, more than one-third of consumers -- 38% -- turn to anonymous sources for product and service recommendations, Meebo found.

When narrowed down to specific interests or hobbies, nearly half of the people are interested in connecting with everyday experts over those who they know.

When looking for information about a shared hobby or interest, 39% of people said they would turn to strangers for content recommendations, whereas only 28% would look to those with whom they have existing relationships.

Specifically, 41% of people said they would prefer to connect with "everyday experts" on travel information, whereas only 17% would turn to people they already know. Also, 43% said they would turn to unknowns for recipes or cooking-related content, while only 22% would connect with people they know.

Meanwhile, while 68% of people are experts and are passionate about something, according to a recent Forrester Groundswell study, connecting to those people is not believed to be easy. Indeed, according to Meebo, only 22% of people think it's easy to connect online to people with whom they share a common interest.

Conducted in partnership with Erica Rutt+ Associates, Meebo says its research study is nationally representative.

For the study, Meebo said it sampled 1,473 people, including populations across gender, ethnicity, household income, location, education level and age.