Quick and painless baby zapper
If the picture is anything to go by, there’s a new product on the market designed to zap your baby’s forehead quickly & efficiently. In actuality, it’s a Kidz MedThermofocus Non-Contact Thermometer that gets great reviews.
Buzzillions & Steve Greenberg are hitting the small screen to update America on the must-have gadgets for Back to School. The Gadget Nation author will be highlighting Buzzillions users’ feedback on two sets of earbud headphones. Mark your calendar and set your TiVo!
Appearance Schedule
Syndicated “DayTime” –July 30th
NYC CW11 Morning News –Aug 4th
Philly WCAU NBC The 10! Show –Aug 5th
Wash DC WUSA CBS Morning News –Aug 6th
Miami WPLG ABC Morning News –Aug 8th
Chicago WGN Morning News –Aug 11th
Houston KHOU CBS Great Day Houston –Aug 12th
Atlanta CBS Morning News –Aug 13th
San Francisco KGO ABC A View From The Bay –Aug 18th
Seattle KING NBC Morning News –Aug 20th TBA
How to Avoid Fake and Biased Product Reviews
A recent Wall Street Journal article alleges that a dozen rave reviews of espresso machines on Amazon were written by the DeLonghi brand’s employee. Russ Taylor, an Amazon enthusiast looking for a new espresso machine, was suspicious when he noticed 12 positive reviews on DeLonghi products written by the same person. He went to Google to investigate further & found that the person was actually a DeLonghi employee. After he raised the issue with Amazon, the reviews were removed. DeLonghi admitted that the reviews came from within their ranks, but denied any wrongdoing.
Also in the news, the FTC has decided to take on bloggers who write product reviews for pay or product kickbacks. The practice is prevalent among bloggers with loyal followings, and there are even e-books that tell would-be bloggers how to cash in. While many writers give honest assessments of products, it’s not hard to imagine that many are less than objective.
So goes the double-edged sword of consumer generated content. The same tools regular consumers use to speak their minds are susceptible to manipulation by brand advocates, manufacturers & profit-seeking bloggers. Does the misuse of reviews amount to fraud? Perhaps, but it certainly makes the job of a product researcher that much more difficult.
Wherever you get your product reviews, these tips will help you avoid bogus feedback:
Ask questions
Many bloggers have advertising disclosures or FAQ that will tell you who their sponsors are & whether they accept payment for posts. If you don’t find such information, take the next step of emailing the writer to get some clarification. If everything is on the up & up they should have no problem disclosing their policies to you. Similarly, on review sites, you should be able to find out where reviews come from by consulting the FAQ or About Us page.
Know the warning signs of fake reviews
Many glowing reviews on a product or brand line written by one person are a good warning sign, as is unnatural “sales-y” sounding language. Conversely, you might see marketers or brand advocates littering competitors’ products with negative reviews. If you see several reviews on a product written in short succession that don’t fit in with the others (much higher rating or much lower rating) you might have a fake.
Test the process
Many review sites & shopping comparison engines allow anyone to post reviews & do little in the way of oversight. Try writing your own review. Are you prompted to login or can you leave a review on the fly? Does your review show up instantaneously or is there a lag for it to be checked over? The more your own review is scrutinized, the better; you know others are held to the same standard.
Report abuse
If you see potentially fraudulent reviews, contact the site administrator with examples of the problem reviews. At best, you’ll be able to get the issue investigated & the suspect reviews removed. At worst, you’ll be able to guage how seriously the site takes the problem by its response or lack thereof.
For information on how Buzzillions combats fake reviews & verifies authentic product owners, see the following articles:
http://blogs.buzzillions.com/2009/05/07/buzzillions-and-the-case-of-the-anonymous-reviewer/
http://blogs.buzzillions.com/2008/07/15/how-do-i-know-who-wrote-this-review/
Every secret project needs a code name & when project “Fluffernutter” launched on Buzzillions we had to celebrate. Naturally, we made Fluffernutter sandwiches to commemorate the occassion. As an East Coaster, I was alarmed to learn that some of my colleagues had never tried Fluffernutter. If you’ve never had Fluffernutter here’s how to make your own:
Ingredients
lots of Marshmallow Fluff
lots of peanut butter
2 pieces bread (preferably Wonder Bread)
Directions: Liberally spread peanut butter on one slice of bread. Even more liberally spread Marshmallow Fluff onto the other piece of bread. Close sandwich, eat, & enjoy the stickyness.
We’re happy to announce that we recently added product reviews from HSN.com and the official New Balance store (nbwebexpress.com) to Buzzillions.
A little video about New Balance’s Skowhegan, Maine factory:
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