With the recent press on Trip Advisor and bogus reviews posted by disgruntled guests trying to get discounts and refunds to hotel owners posting overly positive reviews about their own establishments - I see it only getting worse as Social Media becomes every more popular.
Both Facebook and Google stepping up their efforts to use user profile information as a marketing tool. This information is being made available to 3rd party app developers and is generally brokered. Google has recently seen fit to update their privacy statements. Facebook is in the process of an IPO.
The abuse of the Internet in general is going to get worse.
This bullying is just one of the "scams" that seem to have developed on the new "social web", others include Groupon and other sites designed to cull consumers information with the pretext of helping the consumer get a better deal when all that the website owners want to do is to maximize their profits and broker the personal information.
TripAdvisor
I am of the opinion that using the Internet in this way is despicable and those that use these techniques need to be "outed". However, I am a great believer in the ability to make an anonymous comment about something you do not see as "right". These comments should be restricted to opinion and not extend to the "you will do X or I will say Y" Taking the case of TripAdvisor, the threat of a negative review unless a discount or a free night is obtained does not mean that an honest review can be made even if the proprietor does not like what is said. In fact, commenting on any enterprise should be free from "come-back" from the owner of that enterprise just because they don't like what was said. The owner may think that what has been said is false, but that is what the Internet is all about, as long as what was said was not fabricated. Saying that something seemed too good to be true or a company has appeared to have changed their name so that they are not associated with previous activity are only opinions.
Both Facebook and Google stepping up their efforts to use user profile information as a marketing tool. This information is being made available to 3rd party app developers and is generally brokered. Google has recently seen fit to update their privacy statements. Facebook is in the process of an IPO.
The abuse of the Internet in general is going to get worse.
This bullying is just one of the "scams" that seem to have developed on the new "social web", others include Groupon and other sites designed to cull consumers information with the pretext of helping the consumer get a better deal when all that the website owners want to do is to maximize their profits and broker the personal information.
TripAdvisor
I am of the opinion that using the Internet in this way is despicable and those that use these techniques need to be "outed". However, I am a great believer in the ability to make an anonymous comment about something you do not see as "right". These comments should be restricted to opinion and not extend to the "you will do X or I will say Y" Taking the case of TripAdvisor, the threat of a negative review unless a discount or a free night is obtained does not mean that an honest review can be made even if the proprietor does not like what is said. In fact, commenting on any enterprise should be free from "come-back" from the owner of that enterprise just because they don't like what was said. The owner may think that what has been said is false, but that is what the Internet is all about, as long as what was said was not fabricated. Saying that something seemed too good to be true or a company has appeared to have changed their name so that they are not associated with previous activity are only opinions.
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