A general consensus among job seekers is connections. It’s not just about jobs though but about getting things done that is knowing the right person to make things move. And so it goes to just how much influence referral has on our lives. However much technologically advanced the world gets we will still want to hear people’s experience about something we are interested in despite how repeatable the process is.
This is also true when it comes to consumer products especially those driven by the online revolution. There is a hungry drive to attract customers especially with so many companies offering similar stuff. So at the bottom of every page there will be a list of comments by people purported to have bought or used the service before. Most of often these comments are in praise of the said item and how it is reliable. But then this raises a question, just how reliable are the comments or rather the reviews. How can one tell that these comments are authentic and hence reliable?
There is a case of reviews like those found on http://sendy.co.ke/#how. They are simply built into the website and from my opinion, possibly fabricated. How can one be sure that they actually came from a client who enjoyed great service? I am a proponent of the use of social media comments then embedding them into a website. This is more like what we see with apps on Google play. Dirty linen is hung out in public and it makes sense since the developers of the apps don’t control the comments. Taking control of comments away from the product owner challenges them to strive for the highest quality and this is good for whatever industry it might be.
Therefore customer reviews have a major role to play in the wellbeing of the communities all around us. With objective comments producers will be put on the spotlight not just for the bad but also for the good. #Twitterbigstick has more significance now than ever before. That said I would challenge all the businesses, instead of putting up creative reviews, let them integrate social media into their website. Let us see the real time comments coming from reactions of their consumers. Let us see people complain about how Safaricom customer care is unreachable, Kenya Power blackouts are happening, or how KFC chicken is awesome.