Quote:
Originally Posted by latepaul
And this has nothing to do with "changes rippling through the industry" - neither the idea of ads or reviews is new, nor sadly the idea of paid-for ads masquerading as reviews.
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It has to do with the question of discoverability.
And with the value of crowd-sourced reviews, which has been up for discussion for years. Long before this new kerfufle.
Most recently:
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...ted-reader/%29,
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...ative-reviews/
Ads masquerading as reviews is hardy a new development; many magazines have for years featured marketting supplements--not always clearly identified--ad TV has long been littered with informercials. Other similar gimmicks come to mind: Tupperware "parties" etc.
Some people tend to over-value reviews and live their lives with Consumer Reports as their holy book. Others are a bit skeptical of even the most pristine of consumerist organizations.
Caveat Emptor goes back to the Romans, so skepticism when dealing with any kind of commercial advocacy/evaluation is hardly new.
What is new is that we as consumers need to learn how to evauate the variety of inputs in the (relatively) new ebook space. Cars and TV sets have been around long enough for educated consumers to have internalized a set of guidelines for navigating the product advocacy space (buzzwords, double-talk, marketting tricks, promo schemes, etc). eBooks? It's early.
To me, the main takeaway is that in addition to axe-grinding reviewers, slacktivists, clueless kneejerkers, and sock-puppets (all of which have been acknowledged as issues before this) we now have to watch out for paid shills.
In other words: this is an incremental degradation, not a sea change.
The sky isn't falling.