It can be tough out there for new products. Everyone with a computer becomes a critic, and the weight of the user review has grown to significant proportions because of it. Enough so that companies like K-Mart are beginning to post user-reviews of video games next to the games themselves on the shelves to help customers make decisions, while other companies like Amazon have learned to thrive off of user reviews. The real user reviews have become essential to the lifeblood of a product, and they are valid and important. As long as they are real.
We recently received a somewhat suspect email, encouraging us to check out a video user review on Youtube. Now, it is rare that most people would randomly email us to watch a review of a product that we may already have lined up for a review of our own. In cases like these, it is more likely that the reviewer is hoping to get their name out there a bit, which is understandable. But then we watched the review.
If you believe that this video is authentic, and you trust the world of the reviewer, then the Samsung ST600 is possibly the best camera ever created. In the history of cameras. The review is positive, to say the least. In fact, there is not a single word of criticism from start to finish. It is also a high quality video, and even the comments are suspiciously positive. There is a sad truth about commenters on the internet. For every two constructive criticisms, there is at least one that is, to say it nicely, mean. The comments for the review are outstanding. In fact they are so good, it is almost as if reps from Samsung wrote them themselves.
In other words, the Digital Trends spidey sense is tingling, and this, ladies and gentlemen, is what a planted video might look like. The e-mail we recieved came from a generic Yahoo mail account and said the following:
Hi, I have a recommendation :)
here’s new samsung ST600 REview video. I just saw it on Youtube and I thought it will be an awesome chance for dual lcd lovers who visit your website often.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnRT-uy8vyA
THank you.
The question is whether Samsung themselves planted the video or not. Does this look a little too suspect? You be the judge.