This is really my point. There are probably better sources of truth than "some people I hang out with sometimes".

Those sources vary depending on the subject, but they probably won't be "someone I don't know, from the internet" either, unless he happens to have that specific expertise and you have a common need.

Website/app/resume: for me this just equates to "how is the business doing", and I don't ask friends; this is what data is for. There's a possible conflict of interest here with our CEO (my primary source of truth for financial status), because he wants to motivate the company (and hence generally add a positive spin); but he's also well-aware that transparency & trust are far more important than any temporarily gain from faked positivity.

Outfit: sure, appearances matter in life & work. But I have better sources of truth here as well than "ask a friend"; hello again CEO/founder, for one. We talk about what we're wearing if that's going to be relevant, and (more likely) how we're speaking on phone calls, and what can be better. Think he's honest? Well, he'd be a fool not to be.

But most of the time my wardrobe only matters to the extent that my wife feels I'm appropriately dressed if we're out in public, and she's perfectly capable of pointing it out if I've misjudged. It's just "oh hey, don't forget we're going out to dinner before we come back home tonight", and that works.