Real world example of digital hijacking (social) for political reasons. IMDb users are voting politically on The Promise without having seen it!
The Terry George-directed filmstars Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac and is set during the final days of the Ottoman Empire, leading up to the Armenian Genocide that killed 1.5 million.
At the time of writing, it has 86,704 ratings on IMDb, 55,126 of which are one-star and 30,639 of which are 10-star, with very few ratings falling anywhere in between. The majority of votes were cast by males outside of the US. However, at the time of writing, there were only 3 screenings held worldwide!
Full article here:
What does this mean? For one, it highlights how easy it is to hijack ratings and reviews. Secondly, it shows the impact this has on consumer perception of the product of service based on third party reviews – the written word is still misconceived as gospel truth!
Social media and review sites can be a double edged sword and the biggest mistake business owners can make is to ignore it.
Pay attention to the chatter, authenticity is key!
Checkout the trailer for the Promise whilst you’re at it.
