You should read this if you use Amazon. We are beginning to see that the true fabric of the online commerce industry is all about making a buck. It’s not that different from the brick and mortar world, but now on a grand scale, requiring no work. The leading tech mongers have programmed themselves into deliriously extravagant profits with fewer and fewer costs — and they don’t mind whose backs they stab in the process.
When did they turn bad?
When Amazon first started, you could not write a review of a product unless you had purchased it. That seems like the right way and the honorable way to do things. Then somewhere along the way Jeff Bezos probably thought : “These customer reviews are really cool … but so many are brutally honest! I can make a huge pot of money just by removing the restrictions for honest reviews!”
Or, something like that. The Post writes:
- of the 47,846 total reviews for the first 10 products listed in an Amazon search for bluetooth speakers, two-thirds were problematic, based on calculations using the ReviewMeta tool. So were more than half of the 32,435 reviews for the top 10 Bluetooth headphones listed.
Well, of course, that’s why I bought Bose equipment. I don’t need reviews. I know it’s a quality company and a quality product. But you see, therein lies the problem. There are very few people left who understand the lessons of getting what you pay for, and paying a few extra pennies to get quality. I read one review in Amazon (probably paid) that said the product was better than Bose. I knew that was a lie.
In a Washington Post article, investigative writers Elizabeth Dwoskin and Craig Timberg reveal the whole sordid story about Amazon’s dirty business. You should read the article if you use Amazon. bottom line:
Amazon rankings are the new “battlefield” for online manipulation, said Renee DiResta, policy lead for the nonprofit Data for Democracy, a group of technology researchers dedicated to promoting integrity online. She has conducted research on paid Amazon reviews by joining some of the Facebook groups.
You can read the whole story here?
There’s a dark side to the race for the stars
. . . so I’m not real sure if I want to be part of this, but as long as the service is so good, should I be worried that they’re crooks? Something to think about!
Photo by Lucas Favre on Unsplash
Fred Showker explores design, graphics, computing, social media, marketing, and the online world with an eye to entertaining, amazing information that will possibly make you think!