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researchers found that reviewers are easily manipulated by “social influence bias,” a feedback loop in which positive reviews beget more positive reviews

The Italian newspaper Italia a Tavola recently proved how necessary that enhanced insight is. Staffers scammed the ratings system by creating a profile for a fake restaurant in Moniga del Garda then posting 10 glowing ratings (under different usernames) over the course of a month, Jezebel reported. Within weeks, La Scaletta had the highest TripAdvisor ratings in town—despite the fact that it didn’t exist.

Why were people so quick to take the reviews at face value? “Stories that come from other people [are viewed as] much more believable than information from companies, because our working assumption is that [individuals] don't have an ulterior motive,” says Sarah G. Moore, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Alberta. Additionally, given a lack of identifying information, we