Articles tagged “ugc”

Let's be clear: Not all hotel guests and review-writers are angels. But the solution is not dodgy hotel contracts and taking punitive actions against customers. Business owners, as well as consumers, should remember the wisdom of the crowds is pretty good at protecting from one-sided and impure reviewers.

If Google is using the "wisdom of the crowds" to determine how it arranges restaurant information in search results then in a lot of ways it believes professional reviews, and especially those from its Zagat franchise, trump user reviews. But when it gets down to displaying the text of diners' reviews, Google unfairly believes that its own consumer reviews are the fairest of them all.

Lots of consumers start their trip-planning with flights. Expedia will use its customer reviews of flights to spur more flight bookings but the company is also focusing on up-selling and facilitating smooth navigation to hotel and vacation-package options.

TripAdvisor has taken a few lumps in the UK and the bashing by a prominent UK critic in The Guardian undoubtedly was a factor in Kaufer's decision to pen a rare, formal response to a pundit.

We don't know the terms of the transaction. Still, messaging, mobile and review analytics all make for a nice concoction and the two companies will likely be better for the mixture.

Translation: Show them you care, but don't go overboard.

As consumers increasingly opt for image-driven content over other digital formats, destinations need to take greater control of how they market their visual identity. Download CrowdRiff's free report to learn the five questions marketers must ask to own their visual strategy.

No one company has cracked local discovery the way people have long hoped some company would. But as mobile devices become more knowledgable about what we see and do, services like Foursquare and its rivals could become much more interesting.

Yelp's frustrating attempt to push users from the mobile web to its smartphone app has apparently paid off.

Truly a five star and all-thumbs up performance.