How can Be Seated users trust other user’s reviews?
Research has been conducted into how users trust information from unknown sources. 26.3% of respondents in the study indicated that what lies in the text is the best indicator to trustworthiness. The main traits they referred to where;
- Correctness
- Comprehension
- Length
- Clarity
- Writing style
- Scope
- Neutrality.
Unsurprisingly the better the review in Be Seated is written, the more likely it is to be trusted.
Participants in the study also indicated quality of references made an impact (26.1%). This will be difficult to reconcile with our service as references are unlikely to be used.
Pictures were the 3rd most important factor in judging trustworthiness (12.6%). The quality, quantity and relevance all played a part in deciding how influential the photos were. Photos within the context of our service will likely play a much bigger role. Just like in Trip Advisor, the ability to take an image of the qualms we have about a venue/hotel adds weight to the commentary we make.
Thus, Be Seated users may trust certain user’s reviews over others because of the quality of the writing and the quality of the image they upload. This is not at all a surprise and something we had anticipated.
Reference
Lucassen and Schraagen. Trust in wikipedia: how users trust information from an unknown source. WICOW ’10 Proceedings of the 4th workshop on Information credibility (2010)
