I mentioned that I had a great experience using Uber to get around DC. Within days, people started sending me negative articles about what an awful company they are. True or not doesn’t matter here: A company that earns bad word of mouth (especially one that provides a great service) is in trouble. It takes […]
Tag Archives: ethics
I notice when you squeeze me (and I don’t like it)
We use a hosted email service that makes it very easy to add a user with just a few clicks, and it automatically adjusts the bill up. But when you cancel a user, you have to contact them to reduce the price. They could easily automatically reduce the price. They do it willingly on request, […]
You’ll always get busted. Always.
This is big news. Nineteen companies have just agreed to stop writing fake reviews and to pay $350,000 in fines. Congratulations to New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and his team whose undercover investigation caught the sleazery in action. “Operation Clean Turf” found companies were using their employees, freelance writers, and “reputation management” services […]
Ethical disclosure is ridiculously easy — learn how
We’re required to disclose any form of compensation when writing a blog post, which has led to all sorts of stresses, excuses, legal discussion, and bloviating by bloggers. It’s really easy to do proper, simple, legally-compliant disclosure: Just write a sentence at the start of each post explaining your relationship to whomever is compensating you […]
Fake reviews are like toupees. No matter how good you think it is, we all know.
Hey, all you fake review-writers: We know when you’re lying. Don’t think you’re going to get away with it. It’s always obvious and you’ll always get caught. Why? It’s just not possible to write a fake review and sound genuine. People can tell. It never sounds right. A simple Google search instantly reveals a pattern […]
Which politicians are most corrupt?
State legislators in Texas and North Carolina are taking bribes (sorry, campaign contributions) from local auto dealers to prevent Tesla from selling cars in their state. They are calling it unfair competition. Unfair because Tesla’s Model S outsold the Mercedes S-Class, BMW 7 Series, and Audi A8 last quarter? Unfair because Consumer Reports is calling the […]
4 key groups to train on word of mouth ethics
This is a post from our WordofMouth.org project. Check it out for more great word of mouth marketing tips like this every day. Nobody is going to put their reputation on the line to recommend you if they have any questions about your trustworthiness. It takes a long, long time to build this level of trust — […]
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