Author: Paul Wallbank

Paul Wallbank is a speaker and writer charting how technology is changing society and business. Paul has four regular technology advice radio programs on ABC, a weekly column on the smartcompany.com.au website and has published seven books.

Trusting online reviews

How do we spot fake reviews on sites like Tripadvisor, Yelp! and Eatability

Review sites where customers can post their experiences are changing consumer behaviour and bringing a new level of accountability to businesses, but how do we trust the comments on which appear online?

Travel review site Tripadvisor is a good example of how consumers are able to spread the word about their good and bad business experiences, much to the displeasure of the UK hotel industry and its media friends. To make things worse, many of those reviews are further spread by social media services like Twitter and Facebook.

While the travel industry complains about fake reviews from competitors and disaffected customers, the majority of fake reviews are from hoteliers themselves pumping up their own business. It’s always interesting how many gushing reviews are from anonymous posters with only one or two reviews to their name.

Should any of the threatened court cases actually make it before a judge, there may be a few hoteliers finding themselves in an uncomfortable position, a classic case of being careful about what you wish for.

That’s not to say Tripadvisor doesn’t have a problem, the comments in a recent Telegraph story about the service show they have the web 2.0 problem of lousy customer support which comes from a low cost, user generated business model.

A more serious point which is overlooked by most of the critics is that Tripadvisor, like most travel sites, is linked to certain booking services. If you attempt to use the site to book a property that isn’t aligned with the site, it may well falsely report there are “no rooms available”, which is deceptive and will almost certainly fall foul of competition laws in most countries.

For users of sites, it means we have to be careful with what the reviews and the sites themselves tell us. So what should we watch for?

Spotting dodgy reviews

The obvious thing is the planted review. The easiest way to spot this is by the number of reviews submitted by the commenter.

If a commenter only has one or two reviews then it’s almost certain they either have an axe to grind or they have been submitted by the establishment or it’s staff as most rational people don’t have the energy or time to build a comprehensive profile of reviews just to shaft one place.

Another useful tactic is to look at the reviews around it, do others disagree with that reviewer or are they consistent? Outlier bad reviews can indicate a plant, a grudge or simply a bad day in the kitchen.

Dealing with bad reviews

As we’ve pointed out before, consistent bad reviews on these sites usually indicate a structural problem in the business however if you suspect a fake or planted review, most services have a “flag as inappropriate” option or a dispute mechanism.

Be careful using these however as flagging a legitimate complaint as malicious or fake may antagonise the poster and give the poor review more publicity than you would like.

The social aspects of the web, such as review sites and social media services like Twitter and Facebook, are going to become more important over the next few years as internet users use them to help sift through the massive amount of information on the net.

All businesses, whether in hospitality or other industries, need to take these sites and the reviews on them seriously.

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Re-evaluating social media

How are you using social media services in your personal and business life?

We often forget the Internet as we know it is less than thirty years old and many of the social media tools we use have been around for less than five.

In such a new field, we’re all learning and experimenting which means some tools become essential while others are recognised as yesterday’s shiny toys.

As the depth of the name wars and the related privacy issues become apparent, it’s worthwhile re-evaluating how we use these services. Here’s how I’m now using some of the online social media platforms.

Foursquare

I quite like Foursquare, the idea of knowing which friends are nearby when you’re out on the town is great. But as someone who has a dismal social life, it was wasted on me.

The gamification angle is interesting, but the privacy implications of the service make me uneasy. I’ve stopped checking in and will probably close down my account pretty soon.

Empire Avenue

As a sociological experiment on the rampant egos and deep insecurities of the social media community, Empire Avenue is wonderful. Otherwise, it’s just another spammy online application trying to harvest personal information – I came, I saw, I decided life was too short.

Quora

On first glance, Quora looked good, but the changing of posts by moderators concerned me, the cliqueiness of users was the killer and I closed my account. I suspect Google Plus will kill this platform.

Google Plus

Apart from being a Quora killer and having some interesting collaboration feature, there doesn’t seem to be a compelling reason to use Google Plus instead of Facebook.

While it’s in its early days, I’m finding it less than compelling while Eric Schmidt’s claim it is an identity service rather than a social media platform deeply unsettles me and makes me less likely to engage in conversations on the service.

Facebook

When Facebook first became available I was intrigued as able to connect with relatives along with past and present friends always struck me as being one of the Internet’s killer apps. As various business features evolved, it was clear Facebook was a serious online tool.

The problem with Facebook has been the way strangers become friends, not to mention how acquaintances and relatives have a habit of posting private things you don’t particularly care to know about, along with the wave of invites to games and applications that come and go.

Overall, I’ve been using Facebook for business purposes rather than sharing private information for nearly two years now. That works, but it isn’t the intended use and I’m probably not getting the maximum benefit although I am preserving some modest degree of privacy.

Linkedin

As a means to establish your professional credibility, LinkedIn is unbeatable. For those with a lot of time, the various professional LinkedIn groups can be a valuable way to show your industry knowledge.

One thing that surprises me is how many people notice your status changes so it is certainly a good way of keeping your business network up to date with what you are doing.

The concern with LinkedIn is similar to Facebook and Google Plus in that there’s a lot of market intelligence being gathered on our professional networks and the recent attempt to ‘enhance’ social advertising around our online personas does not fill me with confidence that LinkedIn is the best platform to be displaying our professional abilities.

Twitter

I’ve had a turbulent relationship with Twitter and it took me three attempts to really see the point. I’m still careful about what I post and who I follow.

However Twitter has become my main news source and I find it keeps me ahead of the major media outlets. For this reason alone, Twitter has become the social media service I use the most.

What occurs to me in writing this is that these social media tools are really about listening, not talking or marketing. Perhaps that is the point we’re missing in the noise generated by these services, that listening is where the real power lies in these online platforms.

The six tools I’ve listed are just a small subset of a massive range of social media services, I’d be interested in hearing which ones you find useful and why.

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A Capital Question

How do we raise money for a new business?

How do you raise funding for new venture? Business coach Lindy Asimus asked over the weekend. It’s a question that perplexes many people starting out a new enterprise or trying to grow an existing one.

The real question though is “how much capital do you need?” Being undercapitalised will often stunt a venture’s growth and is probably the reason why many otherwise excellent business ideas fail to achieve their potential.

How much money do you need?

While business plans are often disparaged, one of the great advantages of doing one is the budding entrepreneur gets an idea of the capital required along with the cash flow required to service any debts. Even if the business plan itself is filed away and never looked at again, understanding the upfront cash requirements can help avoid some nasty mistakes.

The other key factor is the business itself, if you’re buying a fast food franchise, setting up a store or fitting out a restaurant then there’s going to be some big upfront capital costs involved before you start trading but there is more to it than just the immediate cash needs.

What is the type of business?

A business’ capital needs are going to vary with the type of business and the objectives of the owners, not just in size but also in type. As business writer and educator Steve Blank says, there are six types of startups and for certain types an equity investment from say an angle investor or venture capital company will be more appropriate than a bank loan.

For small businesses, the type that Steve Blank describes as “work to feed the family” businesses, a bank loan that can be paid back out of cashflow is going to be the most obvious way to fund an enterprise while it would be rare a venture capital investor would even answer a phone call from such a business.

On the other hand, a family member or friend might be interested in taking equity in such a business, the old “families, friends and fools” is a time honoured way of setting up a venture.

Government grants

In these times of rampant corporate welfare for big banks and major corporations, it’s tempting to think the government may be able to help the small businessperson. Sadly most of the grants available are small sums for specific purposes like export programs or hiring trainees, they aren’t designed or intended to provide entrepreneurial capital.

Bootstrapping and “sweat capital”

Most businesses though are best served by “bootstrapping” and “sweat capital” for most, particularly in the service sectors, funding your business out of cashflow and the hard work of the founders is the way to grow a viable enterprise.

The term “sweat capital” refers to the founders working hard and capitalising their businesses from the sweat of their brows while  scrimping and saving every penny. Most founders of successful businesses have stories of spending years expending that “sweat capital” while living on cheap pizzas or packet noodles.

Bootstrapping, funding your business through sales, is the other great capital source. In many ways, this is the best form of capital in that it proves a business is viable and doesn’t involve signing over assets to banks or giving equity away to investment partners. Again a well thought out business plan quickly shows whether this is feasible.

So the question of capital is complex, but having enough is always the biggest struggle for those starting a business.

Of course it is possible to have too much capital and we might talk about that in another blog post.

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How Google’s identity obsession hurts

How the search engine giant is damaging business and its own reputation

Imagine giving a presentation at a conference where you fire up a live demonstration of a product you’ve been urging the audience to use and the audience start giggling.

You turn around to find a bright red message at the top of the screen stating your account has been suspended. It wasn’t there the night before and you certainly didn’t receive an email warning you this had happened.

Embarrassing or what?

That happened to me with Google Local earlier this and the many stories like it illustrates a serious management problem within the world’s biggest search engine company.

Local search – where businesses can be found online based on their location – is one of the main web battlefields with Google and Facebook, along with outliers like News Limited and Microsoft, are competing to get business of all sizes to sign up.

Recently though Google seems to be going out of its way to squander the massive opportunity they have in this sector despite the CEO, Larry Page, identifying local services as one of their priorities.

Despite Google’s intention to promote Places – as their, and Facebook’s, local search platforms are called – many businesses are finding the company’s arbitrary and often incorrect application of its own rules and Terms of Service difficult to understand and use.

“I have found that with the ‘moving target’ Google is presenting to businesses” said Bob, a commenter on one of my blogs, “is paralyzing them from doing exactly what Google wants, which is updating and providing fresh content on their listings pages.”

In many ways, this is a small front on the “nymwars” that has broken out since Google introduced their Plus social media service and started enforcing their “rules” on “real names”.

Unfortunately their real names “policy” – and I use inverted commas deliberately – is vague and arbitrary with users finding their accounts suspended despite signing up with “the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you” as required by Google.

Account suspensions are wide and varied; some people, quite legally, have a name without a surname, others have a combination of languages such as Chinese or Arabic, while others have simply fallen foul of the computer and Google’s secretive bureaucratic culture.

This secretive bureaucracy would be funny if it wasn’t so downright hypocritical. Any correspondence with Google about account suspensions either on Places or Plus is signed off by an anonymous functionary from “no-reply” email address. So it appears real identities, and accountability, don’t extend to the company itself.

Last week at the Edinburgh International TV Festival, Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt, announced Plus is not a social media platform, but an “identity service”. Good luck with that, Eric as your staff’s arbitrary and often incorrect interpretation of the company’s own rules doesn’t engender confidence in any identity verified by Google.

That announcement by Google’s chairman should worry investors, as this is a company that is first and foremost an advertising company powered by the best web search technology.

Management distractions such as becoming an “identity service” or buying a handset manufacturer distract focus from the core business and result in the mess we’re seeing around business and private accounts.

For the moment, Google Places remains a service that businesses must list on given the visibility the results have when customers search the web for local services and products.

If you aren’t already on Google Places, do sign up but make sure you get your listing right first time as editing your profile once it’s up risks your account being suspended or cast into “pending” purgatory.

Should you have already an account, leave it alone as any change risks coming the attention of Google’s anonymous bureaucrats.

Hopefully, this madness will pass and Google will clarify their policies, ground them in the real world then enforce their terms fairly and consistently. Until then, you can’t afford to rely on your personal and business Google accounts.

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Online tools to turbocharge your business

Flying Solo’s Independents Day looked at how the web can help business productivity.

Flying Solo’s 2011 Independents Day conference featured our Online Tools to Turbocharge your Business.

We looked at some of the most popular cloud computing, social media, productivity and collaboration tools that can help a business make more money and grow faster.

Most importantly, it shows how business owners can free up some of their most valuable asset – their time.

Some of the tools we discussed include the popular social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and how they can be used for customer service and market intelligence on top of being marketing services.

We also looked at how collaborative and cloud computing services can help small businesses work together and improve the ways consultants can work with big business clients. In many ways, collaborative tools like Google Apps, Zoho and Dropbox help build team and deliver projects more effectively.

The Online Tools to Turbocharge Your Business presentation itself is available on Slideshare and if you subscribe to our newsletter, you’ll receive a free copy of the accompanying Online Business Essentials e-book.

Online Tools to Turbocharge your Business

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Apple after Steve Jobs: ABC Weekend computers

What does Steve Jobs stepping down as Apple’s CEO mean to Mac users?

The September 11 ABC 702 Sydney Weekends segment discussed what Steve Jobs’ stepping down as Apple CEO means for Mac users.

Simon Marnie and Paul Wallbank looked at why Steve Jobs was important to Apple, who will be taking over and whether this affects whether you should buy an Mac computer, iPhone or iPad.

Listeners’ Questions

As usual, we had plenty of great questions from listeners and some of them we promised to get back to, these included the following.

Removing Mackeeper

Cheryl called about MacKeeper warnings that keep popping up on her Apple computer.

MacKeeper, and other variants like MacProtector and MacSecurity, are known as malware – software designed for malicious reasons – which has been the bane of Windows computer users for years.

Removing Mackeeper is relatively easy and Apple has released a security patch to fix it. Details and download are available at the Apple Support website.

Wiping an old computer

The most valuable thing on a computer is the data, so it’s important to wipe any system before disposing of it. Deborah asked how to wipe her old Mac system before she left it out for her council’s e-waste collection.

If you have an OS X or OS 9 disk, you can completely wipe and “zero” the disk to make it extremely difficult for someone to recover any data from the old computer. Apple have detailed instructions on this at their How To Zero All Data On A Disk page.

Warning! Before following these instructions, make sure you have backed up all important and valuable data.

How to disable automatic Windows Updates

Updating your computer, whether you have a Windows or Mac computer, is very important as new security bugs are found all the time. Gary though was finding his system automatically installing Windows Updates often disrupts his work.

It isn’t a good idea to totally disable the Windows Update service as those updates and patches are important, but you can change the settings so they are downloaded but not installed until you choose to do so.

Microsoft’s Knowledge Base describes how to change the Windows Update Settings, we recommend the download updates but let me choose when to install them option.

Next 702 Weekends tech spot

Our next Weekends spot is scheduled for 23rd October when we’ll be discussing how to backup your valuable data. Check the Events Page or subscribe to our newsletter for any changes to the 702 Sydney programs and any other upcoming radio shows.

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Microsoft’s lost decade

Ten years ago Windows XP was released by an untouchable Microsoft. What happened next is a lesson for all businesses.

Amid the discussion of Steve Jobs standing down as Apple CEO last week, a quiet milestone was passed. Ten years ago last Wednesday, Microsoft released to manufacturers their latest operating system, Windows XP.

Windows XP turned out to be the most successful computer operating system ever and probably marked the peak of the personal computer era.

The glitz and glamour of the Windows XP launch showed the power of Microsoft at the time – their products dominated the desktop markets, Apple were crawling their way back to profitability and relevance with the iMac while mobile phones were barely capable of sending anything more than SMS messages.

In 2001 the business model of Microsoft was built upon the perpetual upgrade cycle, as computers were expected to last three to five years which would then be replaced by new systems requiring an updated operating system with the latest office software.

Ensuring maximum revenue from the upgrade cycle, Microsoft encouraged retailers to sell XP systems with bundled software locked to the individual computer, these “deals” made sure users would have to buy new programs when the existing machines were replaced.

The three year upgrade coupled with the need to buy new software every time made Microsoft’s model seemingly unstoppable in 2001, but problems were already developing for this strategy.

A major part of breaking the “upgrade every few years” mentality was the late running of Longhorn, Windows XP’s successor, which was released as Vista three years behind schedule and the product’s poor quality meant customers were reluctant to upgrade.

Unfortunately the market rejection of Vista and the wait for the next version of Windows saw the rise of reliable and affordable cloud based services, that ran on web browsers which made the need to upgrade less pressing. Today many people are quite happily running seven and eight year old computers that meet their needs adequately.

It would be foolish to write Microsoft completely as their revenue is still strong and in the past they have seen off major threats like Netscape and the web in 1995 and the rise of cheap Linux based netbooks in 2007. Google’s takeover of Motorola and HP’s abandonment of WebOS may open new opportunities for Microsoft on tablets and mobile phones.

For businesses, the immediate lesson is to look closely at upgrading options however for managers and owners there’s a much bigger lesson when looking at how Microsoft lost its way in the last decade despite a seemingly untouchable and lucrative business model.

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