Astroturfing
Astroturfing can be defined as presenting opinions or feedback through deception to create an incorrect impression of something (Zhang et al., 2013). The aspect of astroturfing can be seen in false online reviews that aim to change the impression of various businesses, such as improving the impression of a business through fake positive reviews or reducing the positive impression of a business through fake negative reviews. Astroturfing reduces the reliability of online reviews. Online reviews are expected to be trustworthy and represent the true perception of a business. Astroturfing removes the trustworthiness of online reviews.
While Haikarainen (2014) notes the difficulty in detecting fake online reviews, various measures can be used to identify the legitimacy of a review of the group’s e-commerce startup. One way to do this is by identifying the reviews that offer constructive feedback. While some reviews about the e-commerce startup might be negative, their legitimacy can be identified by identifying whether they offer any constructive feedback rather than just negative feedback. Fake online reviews are often left by individuals using fake profiles. Analyzing a reviewer’s profile can also determine whether their review on the e-commerce website was fake or legitimate.
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Fraudulent bad reviews aim to tarnish the perception of a business. Addressing fraudulent bad reviews involves removing them to prevent them from being visible to others. Additionally, confronting the reviewer to provide evidence on the issue can also be used to address the fake reviews. Legitimate bad reviews do not aim to reduce the perception of the business but rather to provide legitimate feedback. Hence, addressing the legitimate bad review can include addressing the issue raised by the reviewer and even contacting the reviewer to apologize for the experience that resulted in the negative review. Similar to fraudulent bad reviews, fraudulent good reviews can tarnish the perception of a business. Therefore, fraudulent good reviews should be addressed similarly to fraudulent bad reviews.
References
Haikarainen, J. (2014). Astroturfing as a global phenomenon.
Zhang, J., Carpenter, D., & Ko, M. (2013). Online astroturfing: A theoretical perspective.
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Question
Astroturfing
Assignment:
Review the Insight on Society: Phony Reviews case study located on page 615 of the textbook. Discuss the following in your initial post:
- Describe astroturfing and its impacts on the reliability of online reviews.
- Describe how you would determine if a review concerning your group’s e-commerce startup is legitimate or a fraud.
- Discuss how you would handle the following cases:
- fraudulent bad review,
- legitimate bad review, and
- fraudulent good review.
NOTE: This is a graded assignment that is two weeks in duration. In order to receive full credit for the first week, you must make an initial post of 300-500 words in which you:
- Describe astroturfing and its impacts on the reliability of online reviews.
- Describe how you would determine if a review concerning your group’s e-commerce startup is legitimate or a fraud.
- Discuss how you would handle the following cases: fraudulent bad review, legitimate bad review, and fraudulent good review.