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I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

fusion.net

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Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#51

Post by tim333 »

marwann wrote: post #20

In France, an agency created a fake company selling kebap sandwich on Mars. They had 105.000 views on their video, 46k followers, 20k facebook fans...and orders. What's scary isn't the fact people buy fake reviews/followers/etc. but the fact people actually believe in these vanity metrics and want to order afterwards.

Reviews aren't actually a bad source of information if you are ordering on line. If you can't check it out directly what else can you go on that is better? I tend to look at the negative reviews which probably have not been paid for and see if they seem that bad or not.

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#52

Post by kissickas »

UK-AL wrote: post #22
WA wrote: post #4

That was a good write-up. Thing is, this works. Even (or especially) for startups. Only if to kickstart the hype a bit. Real followers and likes will follow, but let's be honest here: Who doesn't automatically trust a business that has 19K Twitter followers and a few good reviews out there? From the article: And these days, which is more real: a fake business with a real website or a brick and mortar business with no…

Reminds me of reddit, and their fake users to start it off. The thing is that the internet is so biased towards incumbents, you need to cheat a little to get the initial pull.

To me there's a big difference between real activity under multiple "fake" names, where content is still being submitted, and artificially raising the profile of one's company by just buying fake reviews (or followers or likes, which are basically micro-reviews of approval). Just like there's a difference between paying to have Facebook promote your page to real users, who can then decide whether or not they would like your page or status on their own, from just paying directly for the likes.

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#53

Post by athenot »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #11

This site brought up at lease two separate overlay popups while attempting to read it. I don't usually complain about this, but that's totally obnoxious and meant I didn't finish reading the article. Is there a good method to block this aggressively user-unfriendly bullshit?

In Safari, simply switch to the Reader view, even when the popups are up. It gave me the text in a clean format without any distractions.

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#54

Post by logicallee »

As an entrepreneur, I became so disappointed with this article about 60% of the way through, that I had to stop reading. When the author started getting phone calls on his burner phone from people wanting to hire his van, he should have manned up, stuck with this damn business, and written instead about bootstrapping. With stats like the ones he reported, he should have stuck with Freakin' Awesome Karaoke Express even if it meant moonlighting as a KJ and eventually backing into a seed round he never anticipated.

Seriously. Those facebook reviews sound authentic because those are real user stories just waiting to really happen. The real user queries prove it.

I'm so disappointed at those unfielded phone calls that I can't even bring myself to read any more. A business was born three months premature, and instead of nurturing it in neonatal intensive care, the author just let this beautiful creature die. :*(

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#55

Post by kevindeasis »

Paul Graham said that if there is alot of potential energy from a broken system there must be a way to monetize it. Really, it seems like someone can make a startup to verify the company and reviews.

In fact, why dont we all open source this thing.

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#56

Post by kevindeasis »

kevindeasis wrote: post #55

Paul Graham said that if there is alot of potential energy from a broken system there must be a way to monetize it. Really, it seems like someone can make a startup to verify the company and reviews. In fact, why dont we all open source this thing.

refering to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7K0vRUKXKc

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#57

Post by marwann »

Retra wrote: post #39
marwann wrote: post #20

In France, an agency created a fake company selling kebap sandwich on Mars. They had 105.000 views on their video, 46k followers, 20k facebook fans...and orders. What's scary isn't the fact people buy fake reviews/followers/etc. but the fact people actually believe in these vanity metrics and want to order afterwards.

To be fair, almost the entire advertising industry is built around trying to effectively lie to people.

True that :( I've worked in the industry during 3 years before figuring that out! The problem is mostly for platforms to find a way of identifying which reviews are real or fake, depending on IP, rate of reviews, recency of the user, etc.

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#58

Post by akshat_h »

WA wrote: post #4

That was a good write-up. Thing is, this works. Even (or especially) for startups. Only if to kickstart the hype a bit. Real followers and likes will follow, but let's be honest here: Who doesn't automatically trust a business that has 19K Twitter followers and a few good reviews out there? From the article: And these days, which is more real: a fake business with a real website or a brick and mortar business with no…

I remember reading a research paper on how liking a post for initial two or three time could greatly increase the probability of the post actually taking off. I can't find the exact paper now though, so if anyone can remember reading a similar one, can you please link it?

Re: I created a fake business and bought it an online reputation

#60

Post by mrfusion »

sokoloff wrote: post #49
rcarrigan87 wrote: post #33

This is particularly bad in the moving industry. Not only are movers notorious for bribing customers to post good reviews but there are also several well ranking "Moving Specific" review sites that are completely fake. The industry also happens to have some of the most horrific scams...

The less frequently someone needs a given service, the more confusing (in the best case) and scammy (in the normal to worse case), the sales process is. Look at weddings, funerals, residential remodels, residential HVAC, and the like as other examples. Some of those make used car sales look pleasant and transparent...

I've noticed this phenomenom too. I think mattresses is another good example. Is there a name for this?
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