This has been on mind since ages to warn all you parents about the mushrooming of articles and blogs about any topic, brand, service or institution on the internet. The growth of internet is exponential and the truth about any product or service is not really trustworthy anymore.

A couple of years ago I was approached by a cosmetic brand to write about their service on my SuperIndianMom blog.

Well I asked them to send the details about the service so that I can read and write about it.

The reply was a shocker to me.

They did not want me to review their service. They wanted me to write 100 reviews posing as different satisfied female users! All these were to be posted all over the internet as part of either comment or replies or reviews on cosmetic related sites, blogs, forums etc.

Ofcourse I did not reply back to them. 🙁

That’s when I became aware of this trick which is used by almost all brands, products, institutions and service providers. They hire writers by paying them measly amount for 100s of articles to praise their brand.

There is some thing called internet image building. There are companies that offer to improve your internet search result about YOU or your BRAND or your COMPANY.

This helps a brand improve their image by pushing the negative comments on the 100+ page when searched on internet. That is why many negative feedbacks are rarely seen about smart brands. So if you want to really know about them look for 50th page on googel search. (just a number to start with).

So when you next check out about any brand on any review site, open your eyes and try to read special writing style which you may have encountered in many other reviews and forums.

How  to look for fake comments and reviews :

• A review writer who has written fair reviews and not just positive feedback in the entire comment or article.
• Pick up a part of the line from the comment and search on Google. If you see similar comments in many other sites, you know what’s up!
• Each writer has a style. The style can be language, words, phrases or special characters used. Check for them in all reviews about the brand you are searching.
• Some of the infamous companies resorting to paid review writing belong to travel, cosmetics, hotels, spas, schools, MBA colleges, hospitals, banks of low ratings.. etc
• So when in doubt ask me. ;). I think I have now developed the knack to detect fake and genuine writing.