Comments on: The Double-Edged Sword of Online Transparency

By: Does Social Media Give us a Taste of the Celebrity Life? « Seo by Swaby

Does Social Media Give us a Taste of the Celebrity Life? « Seo by Swaby — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:05:34 +0000

[...] question of being too transparent online is a popular topic. If you’re a casual social media user, the question is simpler to answer – set your [...]

By: Case Ernsting

Case Ernsting — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:52:42 +0000

Hey,
You basically summed up my entire post in 14 words.
“Engage people honestly; readers aren’t stupid, and they can see right through this stuff.” haha

What was that developer thinking? A better strategy would have been to add something to the review with a comment describing the gameplay depth rather than just plugging it (show vs. tell). Icrontic does a great job of keeping communications straight forward and genuine. Like a Superman ridding your site of internet spam.

Thanks for such a solid comment.

By: @primesuspect

@primesuspect — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:20:46 +0000

Great piece, and timely too.

Today we posted a review of a great game called Osmos. Soon afterwards we had a comment from a guest named “ZenGamer”:

“Osmos is a charming game with a great deal of thoughtful gameplay depth. The subtle complexity of the gameplay and the variety of puzzles and levels keep me coming back for more. And at only $10, you can’t go wrong.

Note the game is also available directly from the developer:”

It’s obvious spam, and a little digging revealed it was FROM ONE OF THE DEVELOPERS.

Now, we just published an unsolicited review of your game that was positive. Why on earth would you not engage us honestly? Why try to anonymously lead people to your ecommerce site so that they can buy your game?

We deleted the comment with a slight reprimand to the developer. Engage people honestly; readers aren’t stupid, and they can see right through this stuff.

Glad you posted this. Thanks!