Tricking social media popularity has become quite an industry, and this includes social media fake user factories in many countries. One of the funniest testimony on the matter is the excellent “I Made My Shed the Top Rated Restaurant On TripAdvisor“. It is unclear if it is fully genuine, but it is worth the read nevertheless, if just for the creativity of the author (and the fake food pictures make-of).
The interesting point in this post is how the author managed to trick the fraud check of Tripadvisor (on the basis that nobody would fake a restaurant). It shows that the creativity of individuals is always greater than the creativity of the institutions behind the most popular services.
Of course this also leads to the question of how much we rely on those social services for taking daily decisions (because they add so much value to our lives compared to the previous guides and similar solutions), and if we are manipulated, to what level. We are certainly somewhat manipulated, if indirectly by other social media users, restaurant and hotel owners. Does it exceed a limit that really jeopardises our freedom of decision? Is it really more than before when we were manipulated by the editors of well known guides? The question is open. The level of scrutiny on the topic of fake news and fake ratings will certainly give us a clearer view on the matter.
