Impact of online reviews
As the internet continues to grow larger, it has become a viable source of information for consumers before using products or services. Because of the strong impact of online reviews, business have become heavily affected. For example, for a business, a multitude of good recommendations by consumers can raise profits to unbelievable heights while multiple negative reviews can make it obsolete. However, how often is a review falsified or completely irrelevant? In fact, according to “The social graph won’t save us from what’s wrong with online reviews”, 1/4 of Yelp’s reviews are “unreliable”.
A way that this article explores the possibility of combating irrelevant reviews is using the social network to decide which comments and recommendations to show to a consumer. By displaying the recommendations and activities of people in your social media, you get the reviews from people 1-2 degrees of separation away. However, the author isn’t that optimistic that this will solve our problems. According to the author, the solution operates under the pretense that your social media friends and the platforms for which the social graph is drawn out are reliable.
Source: http://theconversation.com/the-social-graph-wont-save-us-from-whats-wrong-with-online-reviews-40743