'Stemaps' identifies stores that may be engaged in stealth marketing on Google Maps
Google Maps allows you to view reviews of restaurants, beauty salons, etc., but some of them may contain 'fake reviews that are not true to their actual condition.' A ' Stemap ' was released that evaluates the reliability of each review on Google Maps and detects stores that may have fake reviews, so I checked it out.
ste-map top page
Google's policy states the following, and posting false content on Google Maps is prohibited. Receiving payment from a store to post a review is basically a violation of the rules, and in Japan it may be a violation of the Act on Premiums and Representations . However, there are many restaurants and beauty salons that offer discounts if you post a review on Google Maps, and the reality is that there are a large number of fake reviews on Google Maps.
Content posted on Google Maps should be based on real experiences with businesses and places - false engagement is not allowed and will be removed.
This includes the following:
Content that is not based on real experiences and does not accurately represent the location or product in question.
Content posted in exchange for an incentive provided by a company (monetary compensation, discounts, free products or services, etc.).
This includes content submitted in exchange for incentives to correct or remove negative reviews.
Content posted from multiple accounts in an attempt to manipulate a place's ratings.
Content posted in an attempt to interfere with or disrupt normal operations, including through the use of emulators or other device tampering services, modified operating systems, or other means to mimic real-world engagement or manipulate sensor data or analytics.
Merchants are not permitted to:
Soliciting or encouraging the posting of content that is not based on real-life experiences.
Offering incentives (such as monetary compensation, discounts, or free products or services) in exchange for posting a review, or correcting or removing a negative review.
Discouraging or prohibiting customers from posting negative reviews or selectively soliciting positive reviews.
Posting content about competitors' businesses or locations that disparages their businesses or products.
Merchants are permitted to:
Soliciting or encouraging people to post content based on their real-life experiences without offering any incentive.
Stemap is an information site that allows users to see rankings of shops by area and genre, and as a 'useful bonus feature,' it detects shops that may be engaged in stealth marketing. The 211,044 shops registered are those with a Google Maps star rating of 4.0 or higher, out of the 3,032 train stations around Japan. Stores in remote areas and areas too far from stations are excluded.
Let's try it out. When you access the top page and scroll down, you can access links to check the rankings for each category of 'restaurants' and 'beauty' or by prefecture. This time, I clicked on 'Tokyo' as a test.
Next, click 'Choose a genre.'
Let's select 'Ramen' on the genre selection screen.
Then, the popularity ranking of ramen restaurants in Tokyo was displayed as shown below.
Stemap has its own indicators, 'attractiveness' and 'stealth marketing? degree.' The popularity ranking is 'collected from stores with 4 stars or more, and the 'attractiveness' is scored based on the star rating and number of reviews to use as an indicator,' and the attractiveness is calculated as 'star rating x 1000 + number of reviews.' We will discuss 'stealth marketing? degree' later.
When you click on the store name to check the details of the store, reviews posted on Google Maps will be displayed.
Next, select 'Beauty salon' on the genre selection screen.
In the same way, a ranking of beauty salons in Tokyo is displayed, but this time it seems to be a stealth marketing campaign.
According to the creator of Stemap, the degree of stealth marketing is calculated from the 'average number of reviews by users who have given 5-star reviews,' and if only reviews from users with a small number of reviews are posted, the degree of stealth marketing is high.
However, just because a user with a small number of cumulative reviews gives a 5-star rating does not necessarily mean that it is stealth marketing. The creators explain that 'these are merely reference values, and we cannot say that we are currently able to accurately determine the degree of stealth marketing,' and that 'these are indicators that show the possibility of stealth marketing reviews, but they do not identify or conclusively determine stealth marketing activities,' and are asking for users' cooperation in making more accurate judgments about the degree of stealth marketing.
When you check the details of a store on Stemap, you can post a comment unique to Stemap. You can post anonymously, and when you post, you can rate the level of stealth marketing with 'white,' 'gray,' or 'black' along with your comment.
The evaluations collected in this way will be displayed as 'Everyone's Stealth Marketing Judgment.' This is an attempt to evaluate the degree of stealth marketing on both Google Maps and Stealth Maps, but it is important to be careful as there is a good chance that stealth marketing comments will be posted in this 'Comments on Stealth Maps.'
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in Web Service, Posted by log1p_kr