The hidden language and ‘wonderful experience’ of product reviews – Claire Byrne, O’Reilly Radar, Jan 2012
[Regarding Amazon reviews] “Never received” is a killer phrase in terms of reputation. It reduced the price a seller can charge by an average of $7.46 in the products examined. “Wonderful experience” is one of the most positive, increasing the price a seller can charge by $5.86 for the researched products. Extremely positive reviews that contain no concrete details tend to be perceived as non-objective. Reviews containing spelling and grammatical errors consistently result in suboptimal outcomes
Can negative reviews ever be good? It can when the review is overly negative or criticizes aspects of the product that are not its primary purpose. When customers have unreasonable expectations: “Battery life lasts only for two days of shooting.” Readers interpret these types of negative comments as “This is good enough for me,” and it decreases their uncertainty about the product
Alignment – Seth Godin, May 2011
Long-term brands and relationships are built on alignment: I want your company to help me, and your company wants to help me.
- True: I want Apple to be cool. Apple wants to be cool. That’s why there’s little pushback on pricing or obsolence or disappointing developers
- True: I want the cheapest possible prices and Walmart wants to (actually works hard to) give me the cheapest possible prices. That’s why there’s little pushback about customer service or employee respect
- True: I want to eat sustainable foods that make me feel good. You want to grow sustainable foods that make me feel good. (Farmer’s market)
- False: I want a cheap, boring, reliable computer. You want to make more profit. (Dell)
- False: I want to see the shows, you want to interrupt with ads. (Media)
How reputation affects knowledge sharing among colleagues – MIT Sloan Management Review, January 2010
Because critical information is often held privately by individuals, workers often can choose to share or withhold such information in their interactions with colleagues without fear of sanction. That leaves reputation as a key motivator in any decision to share or withhold information.
The 4 big myths of profile pictures- OKCupid, Jan 2010
Analysed 7,000 pics. To be positively received: Women – smile and have eye contact. Men – smile without eye contact. Quite a few other details too incl cleavage and shirt on/off.
Confidence for Good – Bobulate, Jan 2010
People, both women and men, should be so fiercely passionate about good ideas that self-promotion is a natural extension. Otherwise, why is it worth doing in the first place? It’s when confidence and self-promotion are obfuscated from passion that the claims become flimsy and empty. Confidence can bridge the gap between desire and outcome as long as the integrity for what we believe and the authenticity of what we create remain in place.
The accuracy of first impressions – Bob Sutton, Jul 2009
…this research is stunning because –even if the effect is say only half as strong in the general population– the degree to which people can make accurate evaluations on the basis of the smallest hints is scary for job candidates and for bosses… it means that people size you up very quickly and make judgments that may turn out to be quite consistent with those who know you well.
How do you make a reputation for yourself? – Dave Munger, Cognitive Daily, Jun 2008
It turns out that your reputation for cooperativeness is only affected by your behavior if you’re already popular. If you’re not popular, it appears that no one takes notice of your behavior, so it has no impact on your reputation.
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