OMG, scandal! npr.org/blogs/money/2013/10/29/241372607/top-reviewers-on-amazon-get-tons-of-free-stuff Come on, the Amazon Vine program has existed for years. It is a good program. It creates a framework for companies to provide products to influential reviews in an aboveboard, honest, disclosed matter. It shows companies what an outreach program should look like. What should worry people is the reviews posted by people who received free products from outside of Vine and didnt disclose that. Or, far worse, people who review their own products, pay people to review products or post negative reviews as part of some campaign to knock someone down a peg. The Amazon customer reviews system has issues (managingcommunities/2011/08/15/amazon-reviews/), but Vine is not one of them. Disclosure: long term Amazon shareholder.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 16:28:35 +0000