Can we trust the reviews?

I’ve come across another interesting Slate magazine article. This time it’s by Garth Risk Hallberg and titled “Who is Grady Harp?: Amazon’s top reviewers and the fate of the literary amateur.”

The basic premise of the article is as follows:

“Amazon had been hailed as a harbinger of “Web 2.0″—an ideal realm where user-generated consensus trumps the bankrupt pieties of experts. As I explored the murky understory of Amazon’s reviewer rankings, however, I came to see the real Web 2.0 as a tangle of hidden agendas—one in which the disinterested amateur may be an endangered species.”

What Hallberg uncovers is that Amazon’s Top 10 Reviewers (one of whom is Grady Harp) are being granted some major perks: free books, DVDs, even electronics. Hallberg also insinuates that some of these reviewers may be in the back pocket of the publishers, leading to some very biased reviews (like the one of his own book).

For those of us who read and trust customer reviews on sites like Amazon, this information is somewhat disturbing, though perhaps not very surprising. In an era when more and more people are getting their information from the web, it shouldn’t be a shock that companies try very hard to control their online-image, especially if it will mean financial gain. The question is whether this is simple savvy marketing, or a more insidious practice of deceiving the consumer.

One of those 20/20-type news shows (in fact, I think it was 20/20) recently rain a piece about reviews on travel websites such as TripAdvisor and Travelocity. According to this report, hotel reviews were often being written by various members of hotel staff. For example, a hotel manager would give her resort a glowing review. Conversely, she might give a negative review to a rival resort.

Not cool.

So how can we trust web-reviews? User-generated content is great; I’d always rather hear what the average person has to say about something than some hoity-toity expert. Still, I want to know that person has my best interest in mind and not simply their own.

What this all boils down to is that the world of Web2.0 is simply nowhere near as democratic as it supposes itself to be. So keep that in mind next time you buy a novel on Amazon based on a stellar review, or book that trip to Mexico because of all that positive response online.

FEEDBACK:
• Do you trust web-reviews? Do you write them yourself sometimes?
• How do you think web-reviews can be made less biased?