What we watch and play is usually subconsciously influenced by external sources. We are directed to things we enjoy and feel a sense of comfort and reward when we invest our ultimately precious time into things we love. But the game that we decide to load on our console, the tracks we listen to, or which movie from Netflix we go with, ultimately isn’t always up to us.
Reviews influence how we interact with the world. When shopping for a new sound mixer, more likely than not, the final decision of which one to purchase is only going to happen after reading through a ton of reviews. This is a powerful tool because it taps into the voice of the crowd, which ultimately takes some responsibility off an individual’s shoulders when it comes to decision making.
Crowd Wisdom
Why do we care about what other people think? After all, everyone has different tastes and opinions. There will be people out there who believe that the number one-selling album of the year sounds awful. It’s all a matter of taste, but it’s not the individuals we are there for; it’s the collective.
Review sites, specifically for online casinos, are an excellent example, as they typically produce lists of the best-ranking operators. If there is a substantial amount of positive online casino reviews for a particular operator, then that is likely to sway a user’s decision to open an account with them compared to one that’s ranked 50th.
Even though that top-ranked site will probably have some negatives, perhaps withdrawal fees or lack of a mobile app, it’s the overall positive support from the crowd that guides the hand. Things with high aggregate scores from a high volume of reviews indicate that there will probably be a positive experience.
Cutting Out The Noise
Music streaming apps come with a feature that recommends songs to the user, like the latest hot new tracks that have dropped. These recommendations simplify what they think you may like based on your previous listening history. Often, this is extremely useful because of the high volume of daily releases.
Recommendations can help us cut through the noise and get a more focused picture of what to listen to. They work like a filter. While giving the listener some new options, those recommendations also leave out a lot of free choices.
Seeing ten music recommendations for the day is a very narrow scope of the overall music on the streaming platform. So your hand is being guided only by what the platform, which AI usually drives, is showing you, which has a huge influence on your picks.
Having Our Expectations Shaped
The same happens on streaming platforms like Netflix. Although the catalogue is huge, only a small portion is shown to us — and it’s different for every user. So our expectations are being shaped all the time. Taking the time to really do an in-depth search can be time-consuming, so we often just go with something from the main page.
But how do we select what to watch out of those recommendations? Again, reviews play a major role in the decision-making process. Sometimes, that is very simply by looking at the description of a show and seeing how many stars it has “earned”.
Reviews don’t have to be in-depth — anything with a one-star will immediately be off-putting. In contrast, seeing something with five stars will probably create a sense of anticipation and excitement that it will be good.
The Framework Problem
When looking to purchase a new microphone, for example, it’s likely that only the first few comments left by real customers will be considered. Those initial views can have a huge impact on a purchase.
Either way, reviews can be helpful for decision making, whether picking out an online casino platform, the next new album to listen to, or which movie to watch. But there’s another side to this, because in-depth reviews that have sound reasoning can force biases upon us.
The review sets up the initial framework for what we will listen to. However, if we read great reviews for an album, we might be more forgiving of it, even if we don’t personally love it — just because those positive reviews influenced us.
That’s in stark contrast to a negative review of an album that you still give a spin, regardless. The negative bias may make you look at it in a different light and miss something about it that you actually like.
Influencing Power
There is something comforting about reading reviews, and that isn’t going to go away. Social media is now flooded with influencers trying to sell products or give reviews of the latest hottest TV show.
But out of all the noise, reviews can be a tremendous way to find some hidden treasures. That could be a positive, honest review of a new album from an unknown artist. That comment could be enough to spark curiosity and send the user down a rabbit hole of exploration of something new.
Finding independent and niche material like that is a great way to get off the beaten track and find some great indie films and artists, for example. Passionate reviews can help the smaller fish get attention from targeted audiences, which is fantastic for discovery.
Reviews Count
Reviews can also create a feedback loop, letting artists and their promoters know what is working and what is not. This is crucial research because all artists, shows, and video games want to reach as broad an audience as possible, and knowing what went wrong means it can be fixed.
Reviews matter, and they are everywhere. Mainstream media still reviews everything from books to albums and video games, while niche sites produce expert reviews of things like the best casino platforms. Whatever the reviews are for, they have become an integral part of the online experience now, dictating everything from what we buy to what we watch and listen to.