If you sell a product that has glowing reviews from dependable expert critics, you’d probably want to point that out to customers. Or… you could just go ahead and make up a bunch of fake “expert” sites filled with fictional reviews. [More]
RATINGS
Netflix Replacing 5-Star Rating System With Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down Approach
By 3.17.17
If you’re the kind of person who thinks very carefully before rating anything you watch on Netflix — carefully weighing factors like plot, direction, and cinematography — prepare yourself for a bit of a change: The streaming service is doing away with its five-star rating system in favor of a “thumbs up/thumbs down” approach. [More]
Zagat Dumps 30-Point Ratings For Simplified Five-Star Designations
By 7.27.16
It’s out with the old and in with the new for dining guide Zagat, as the company relaunched its brand this week with a new app and rating system. [More]
TripAdvisor Now Lets Travelers Bemoan, Praise Airlines Through Ratings & Reviews
By 7.18.16
For years, travelers have been able to review, book, and rate most aspects of their trips on TripAdvisor – everything but their flight. That’s about to change, now that the company has opened the floodgates of praise and ridicule by allowing passengers to rate their carrier of choice. [More]
Report: Some SUVs Fail To Protect Passengers From Injury In Front-Side Crashes
By 6.23.16
Vehicle safety technology has evolved to increasingly protect passengers in the event of a collision, but a new report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (the people who crash cars into walls for science) suggests that not all airbag placements are created equal, and that passenger safety devices in the front seats of some SUVs may not offer the same protection as they do for drivers. [More]
5 Things You Should Know Before Buying Sunscreen This Year
By 5.17.16
Whether you’re hitting the beach, doing yard work, or just out and about in the sun this summer, using sunscreen to protect your skin is generally a good idea. But not all products provide the same level of protection, and some don’t live up to the promises on their packaging.
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Netflix Laughs Off NBC’s Obsession With Streaming Service’s Ratings
By 1.18.16
Last week, NBC spent a good chunk of its Television Critics Association press event claiming that it has reliable Netflix ratings, and that once people bore of binge-watching a show they go back to “watching TV the way that God intended.” Now Netflix wants to know why NBC is wasting its time focusing on something other than NBC. [More]
NBC Exec: Viewers Always Come Back From Binges, Netflix Not A “Consistent” Threat
By 1.15.16
There’s obviously some disruption afoot in the TV marketplace of late. Broadcast and cable networks continue to think that they represent TV. Netflix, Amazon, and an up-and-coming generation of cord-cutters seem to disagree. And yet for all money the young whippersnapper businesses seem to get from the young whippersnapper audiences, at least one member of the old guard thinks it’s all so much chaff in the wind. [More]
Facebook Taking On Yelp, Angie’s List To Provide Users With Highly-Rated Professional Services
By 12.15.15
Finding a reliable service provider can be a test of patience for some consumers, despite sites like Angie’s List and Yelp that aim to connect customers with local professionals focused on repairs, installations, or other jobs around the house. Facebook thinks it has what it takes to make the quest for a dependable handyman, lawn care service, plumber, and other local businesses with its new “Professional Services” feature. [More]
9 Things We Learned About Why Better Business Bureau Ratings Don’t Mean Much
By 9.30.15
In a lengthy nationwide investigation of Better Business Bureaus across the country, CNN interviewed businesses, consumers, and watchdogs, ultimately learning that how consumers see the organizations as something different, and a good grade from a local Bureau doesn’t guarantee that a business is trustworthy. [More]
Home Depot Website Glitch Provides Two Ratings For Some Products
By 9.2.15
While researching products on a retailer’s website, other customers’ reviews and ratings of those items can be helpful. But a glitch in Home Depot’s rating presentation system has caused a bit of confusion: the product page shows two different ratings for some products. [More]
Hardware Designed To Make Child Car Seat Installation Easy Is Often Difficult To Use
By 6.19.15
When driving with the most precious of cargo — your child — you obviously want to ensure that youngster is as safe as possible, but what good are the newest child safety measures if they’re too complicated to use? [More]
New Ratings Service Claims To Know Which Netflix Originals Are Most Popular
By 4.28.15
Netflix is a very data-driven company. They no doubt have clear internal metrics not only on just how many people are watching Orange Is The New Black, House of Cards, and Daredevil, but on how many episodes they’re watching in a single sitting, what part of the country they’re watching from, what time of day they’re doing it, and which bits, if any, they fast-forward. And they keep them all secret. Super duper secret. [More]
See How Ratings For Episodes Of Your Favorite TV Shows Stack Up In Graph Form
By 3.25.14
Do you ever find yourself in one of those arguments with friends that revolves solely around which episode of Such And Such TV show is the ultimate best, the most perfect of perfect, the one never to be forgotten? If ratings matter to you in such a hypothetical situation, there’s an easy way to call up how each episode of your favorite show stacks up against all the others in each season.
What If Yelp Had Halloween Trick-Or-Treat Reviews?
By 10.23.13
First of all, let me just say that it’s a darn good thing we don’t live in a world where houses are subject to Yelp reviews for Trick-Or-Treating purposes (yet). But it’s still pretty funny to think about all the possibilities for hilarious, cranky and otherwise informative reviews if that were the reality. [More]
Hey Kids… This Mystery Shopper Report Tells You Which Stores Will Probably Sell You R-Rated Movies & Games
By 3.25.13
When I was an adolescent, my friends and I had to rely on word-of-mouth about which stores would look the other way when it came to movie ratings and parental advisory warnings on music. But kids today, they have the benefit of the Federal Trade Commission, which periodically looks at how strict various businesses are about sticking to these ratings systems. [More]
Consumer Reports: "Still Reason For Concern" About BBB Ratings
By 7.12.11
Citing examples such as the Better Business Bureau’s A- ratings for Publisher’s Clearinghouse and coin-dealer Universal Syndications, Consumer Reports says there’s “still reason for concern about the accuracy” of the BBB’s ratings, despite recent changes made by the agency. [More]
Downloadable Video Games Will Be Rated By Computers Instead Of People
By 4.19.11
Up until now, the Entertainment Software Rating Board has used a three-person committee to assign video games ratings that determine the age groups for which they’re appropriate. To lighten the load, the ESRB will hand some of their duties over to computer software. [More]
