Amazon lets users post reviews on products that they have actually bought and use. It makes sense since sometimes some users need a bit of convincing by others to determine if the product is right for them. In fact Amazon makes it a point to block reviews from those who might know the author of the book.This seems only fair, but the question is, how does Amazon know the reviewer knows the author? This was something that reviewer Imy Santiago was curious about when she tried to post a review of an ebook on Amazon’s website. Her initial review was rejected and she tried to uploading it again only be greeted by a message that read, “Sorry. You’re not eligible to review this product. For more information, read the Customer Review Guidelines.”
When she probed Amazon further, they claimed that she knew the author of the book but in reality, all Santiago did was follow that author on social media after reading that author’s first book. Given that this wasn’t really something she publicized, it feels like Amazon might have been spying on her social media activity.
Or at the very least Amazon is data mining Facebook and Twitter accounts to better understand its customers, something which we’re sure many would not be happy if were true. Amazon themselves are saying, instead they wrote back stating that due to the proprietary nature of their business, they do not provide detailed information on how they determine accounts are related.
Naturally Santiago isn’t too happy about this, but in the meantime what do you guys make of this?
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