Ratings and reviews

Mr. Bill Szczytko wrote an important piece over on his blog BSitko. The gist of the post speaks to a ruling handed down in a Virginia court this past week. In essence it calls into question identity of a reviewers’ as a relates to leaving malicious or false remarks about one’s products or services. The court ruled that Yelp must turn over the identities of people who left negative reviews on the basis that they were not true customers of the business who brought the suit.

I don’t care anymore

It got me thinking about the last time that I actually used a review to consider a purchase. It was on Amazon. I took the time to read a couple of reviews written about a book that I intended to buy. I remember getting to the end of the narratives and deciding that I really didn’t care about reviews anymore.

Half of them sounded like sales speak. That is to suggest that somebody who had an interest in selling more books was reviewing the literature in a very positive light. Another group railed against the literature and/or supported it in a way that was just borderline mindless. And still others sounded like – I-need-to-keep-my-review- quota-up-so-I-will-say-a-few-nice-things.

Prediction

At some point in the next three to five years people will revolt against ratings and reviews; writing them off as just another platform overcome by savvy marketers. Gone will be the need or want to know who said what because nobody will care. And gone will be the day that ratings and reviews carried any merit at all.

Your writing ratings and reviews off three to five years ahead of its time MultiFamily Maniac,

M