Technology
This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.
Ask in DM before posting product reviews or ads. All such posts otherwise are subject to removal.
Rules:
1: All Lemmy rules apply
2: Do not post low effort posts
3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff
4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.
5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)
6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist
7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed
view the rest of the comments
It really isn't, which is why it's news when something like that comes out. People sometimes confuse being cynical with knowing how things work.
That said, this one is confusing, because it really does seem like Google is blurring the lines here between an ad spot or a product placement spot and pre-release samples for tech influencers intending to review them.
Honestly, cynicism aside, The Verge does a good job of breaking it down, including clarifying that they are under no such stipulations for their own review, so I'd recommend just reading the article in full.
Find an article with a review, and there's a 90% chance it links to an Amazon ref link, or similar.
Which means they completely ignore products that are only sold on other stores.
And they probably don't even look at the product, half the "top 10 lists" obviously just base the list off of Amazon reviews and SOMETIMES reddit posts.
You really have to search to find decent reviews sites like rtngs or similar.
Ultimately the reviewer should be paid for their efforts because honest reviews are their livelihood. Saying, "I liked this and if my review helped, buy through this link to support me for free," is a fairly innocuous way.
Is it completely unproblematic? No, but earning money for your opinion is always going to be fraught.
I don't mind them making money, but if they're only pushing products that can make them money, then you can't trust them.
What if the best product is only sold at Target? Forget it cause they'll claim a worse product that's sold on Amazon is #1 cause they get a kickback.
See, this is the exact process I am trying to describe. I'm sure that made sense in your head, and I'm sure if you think about it for a second you'll realize that Target will very happily set up an affiliate link, just as Amazon does. And, of course, a whole bunch of the SEO listicles are the SEO hooks of bigger traditional review sites, including RTINGS, IGN or whatever. For the sake of argument, punching in "best bluetooth speaker" on DDG returns SEO listicles from Tom's Guide, Wired, RTINGS, the New York Times, CNET and The Verge, in that order.
Which is not to say it's not annoying, affiliate links and SEO have done terrible things to how practical reviews on websites are presented and parceled out. But that's not to say they aren't done honestly or lack validity on the sites that do it right, which are also the more successful ones.
I mind them making money. Getting anything in return for a review is advertising, not reviewing.
So all reviewing should be volunteer work, I guess.