Breitbart: Facebook executive Andrew Bosworth claimed he would ask employees to take down 5-star Amazon reviews they had left for the company’s own smart camera product, Portal.
New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose discovered that at least three glowing 5-star reviews of Portal on Amazon came from users with the same names as Facebook employees.
“Speaking of coordinated inauthentic behavior, what are the odds that all these 5-star Facebook Portal reviewers on Amazon just happen to have the same names as Facebook employees?” posted Roose to Twitter, Thursday, along with screenshots.
“I have historically not been a big Facebook or other social media user, but I took a chance and got 4 Portals and 1 Portal plus for the family just before Thanksgiving,” declared one alleged Facebook head in a 5-star review. “We are all having a blast video calling and hanging out for several hours at a time.”
“Really cool camera tracking tech,” wrote another alleged Facebook employee.
Roose also pointed out on Twitter that it is against Amazon’s rules to leave reviews for products created by your employer.
“It’s also not exactly an indicator of confidence in how well they’re selling organically!” Roose proclaimed. more here
Three? I’d bet good money there’s a lot more.
The late comedian John Panette had it exactly right in one of his routines about the good ole days when you just walked in, picked off the shelf the product you wanted, paid cash, and walked out. End of story.
Now the seller wants your name, phone number & email address. [ I’m thinking they also want my 23AndMe DNA report too. They just haven’t worked up the nerve yet to ask for the report number].
Then the retailer wants a product review. The company that actually made the product wants a review. The company that shipped you the product wants a review. Hell! before I retired my employer was pushing us to appeal to customers as dear friends, and beg them to be sure and give us 9 or 10 rating for every area asked about. Because if we got an 8 or below rating, at our next employee review the boss would say it might be a good idea for me to start looking for a new job. I don’t meet company standards. Which was quite true. Receive an 8 rating, produced an un scheduled quarterly review, and action plan to only get a 9 or 10 the rest of the year and a prophesy of a job hunt in the near future if I got a 7. Didn’t matter if the 7 was because the repair part was a day late because FedEx was snowed in & the airport closed, and everything else was a 9 or 10.
Whatever happened to a one transaction purchase and done?