The article by Ritzer et al (2012) introduced the concept of prosumption, involving a combination of product and consumption, and prosumer, one who is both producer and consumer. Although the concept was practically evolved along with human history, it is receiving new attention from academia and business communities, especially in the age of Internet and social media. As the authors elaborated, value of any brand is no longer solely constructed by company newsletter and press releases. Brand enthusiasts voluntarily become brand ambassadors and talk about their beloved brands. Especially, I might be focused on narrow scope, but a grandeur shift toward experience economy powered by technologies is certainly fueling the role of prosumers. Material specifications of product are no longer the single source of consumer satisfaction. Rather, the source of their satisfaction is their experiences with products of services.

In that sense, the significance of peer products and services reviews cannot be emphasized enough because every piece of information is not functions as part of brand super-structure. Also, as Chia (2012) suggested, bloggers’ motivation to become prosumers is shifting from the expectation of financial gains to the acquisition of street creed. Hence, it may not be an accident that consumers are increasingly relied upon peer reviews of products rather than so-called expert reviews or corporate sponsored ads (Willemsen et al. 2011). My reasoning is that expert reviews are often technical specifications and features oriented rather than usability and experience. Hence, I can posit that peer-reviews supposedly offer the sense of down-to-earth feel, suggesting to viewers that some regular Joes like them wrote this review.

Besides, peer productions are not just about their passionate conversations of certain brands or playing a role of brand ambassadors. Prosumers stake their reputation and trust relationship and play a significant role of formulating norms and expectations of their virtual community (Kozinet et al. 2010). Nevertheless, we cannot shake the feeling that the system is rigged. Any bloggers could have written only positive message about certain products and brands in an exchange of any monetary compensation. As Jensen (2011) described, the issue of blogola, paid blog, can be serious ethical challenges in the era of social network. In my opinion, self-regulations and ethical guidelines of corporate sponsorship must be adopted as blogsphere norms.

In fact, we may be given more power than ever before. We can voice ourselves loud and clear, and we may be surprised to find a lot more people do share similar minds. We already surpassed the point where we are happy about a material product alone. Now, prosumers are one of the most significant pieces of the puzzle for successful business because we are part of companies’ ultimate business goal, successful branding.

Jensen takes a look at the idea of “blogola”, which is basically a system in which an organization pays an individual to blog on their behalf. While there are some very legitimate ethical concerns involved, I don’t see these being any bigger of an issue than the typical television commercial we see on television. Political campaigns and product advertisements often give negative, and in many cases false information and mislead consumers into the purchase of products that are not what they are portrayed to be. I don’t think that these paid blogs could do any worse. With technology and communication advancing so much, it really makes sense for corporations to have a designated blogger. As long as the information can be deemed as relatively credible, I have no problem with it. FTC seems to be really lighting into these blogging systems, but in my opinion, there are much bigger fish to fry.

Online consumer reviews have now become a seemingly more credible way to determine the worth of a product or service. Because the consumer has no “ties” of affiliation with the company or product, it seems as if there is nothing to be gained from them making a positive recommendation, other than the feeling of helping to promote a worthy product. Typically, the input of the consumer, especially if other factors (number of comments, the perceived expertise of the reviewer, the diversity of the comments) are favorable, is considered to be more genuine than the information released by the marketer. The fact that a person must have and log into an account to post a review, and is only allowed to post one comment in regards to the product are other factors that seem to give these reviews credibility.

Somewhere in the middle of these two concepts is “Word of Mouth Marketing”. Defined as “the intentional influencing of consumer to consumer communications by professional marketing techniques”, it somewhat differs from “blogola”. Whereas blogola flat out hires a person to blog on their behalf, WOMM entices customers to speak on their behalf, with the offer of prizes, or discounts. The person is not actually on payroll, but is rewarded for their input on the product or service. The writers of this piece go into detail about some of the specific strategies and methodologies used as well.

Willemsen et al’s article discusses the judgments people make about products being sold online and how such judgments are influenced according to the nature of the reviews for that product. Essentially, negative content for products of experience has a stronger impact on choice, and positive content for search products is more influential. Looking at argumentation, the density and diversity of the kinds of arguments surrounding a product are important for a consumer. If there is a star rating and also descriptions, it’s more likely that a person will make better judgments. Lastly, the expertise claims didn’t show a very strong correlation to the perceived usefulness of reviews.

I enjoyed reading the article because it made me think about what I look for in reviews when I shop online, and I think the authors’ findings are consistent with my own experience. For example, when I moved here, I needed a bike to get to campus, so I looked at different department store websites like Target and Walmart for something cheap but with good reviews. I found myself taking more seriously the negative reviews because I didn’t want a piece of junk, even though I wanted it cheap (*irony*). The more reviews I read, the more leery I noticed I was becoming of positive reviews. Is it possible for online reviews to be fake, a deliberate attempt by the company to entice the consumer by providing a positive review? How could I discern between the authentic reviews and the fake ones?

A study presented at conference for computational linguistics provides the answers to these questions. In this study, Hancock et al develop a system that detects “deception opinion spam,” testing the veracity of reviews from hotels and other companies. An example of a deception opinion spam is based on yelp.com: “My husband and I stayed at the James Chicago Hotel for our anniversary. This place is fantastic! We knew as soon as we arrived we made the right choice! The rooms are BEAUTIFUL and the staff very attentive and wonderful!! The area of the hotel is great, since I love to shop I couldn’t ask for more!! We will definatly be back to Chicago and we will for sure be back to the James Chicago.”

Some of their findings show that truthful reviews commonly speak about “spatial configurations (e.g. bathroom, on location)” as opposed to the liars. The liars tend to speak more about “aspects external to the hotel being reviewed (e.g., husband, business, vacation). Deception also includes less usage of first person singular, and reviews tend to be more positive than negative.

Here’s a link to the article: http://aclweb.org/anthology/P/P11/P11-1032.pdf

and how it is discussed in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/technology/finding-fake-reviews-online.html

I’m thinking that fake reviewers could learn a lot from both articles. I feel weird about making this conclusion because it’s almost as if I’m encouraging deception in reviews. But I’m glad to be better informed about what to look out for when I shop online.

The Ritzer et al. (2012) article discussed the idea of the prosumer. The article stated, “the term prosumption was coined by Alvin Toffler in 1980 and refers to a combination of production and consumption (Ritzer et al., 2012).” The article discusses how production and consumption go hand in hand. This article also cited Lusch and Vargo’s (2006) concept of a “service-dominant logic of marketing.” This idea has been very influential within my academic field. One of the foundational premises of S-D logic is that “the customer is always a co-creator of value (Lusch et al., 2007). That is, the customer plays a role in both the producing and the consuming. This idea meshes nicely with the marketing concept, which basically informs marketers and businesses to be customer focused. It appears that this co-creation is not a new concept; rather, it has been more noticeable with the development of new technologies and platforms.

Although the consumer is providing free labor, he or she does appear to be voluntarily providing it. For instance, I know that I am giving Facebook data about myself, and that I am freely providing content for the site. However, I choose to do this, but I do agree that companies can be and should be more forthright in letting us know that they will be using our data. But what are we getting in return for our labor? As the Chia (2012) article points out, there are plenty of bloggers out there who provide all of this content, but only to a small audience. These bloggers do not have much hope of making a lot of money off their blogs, but they can find reward in the conversations they generate with a handful of others who are willing to take the time to read their blog and interact with them. Money isn’t everything!

Much of this weeks articles also discussed blogs and advertisements.  The Kozinets et al. (2010) article had an interesting analysis of how individuals present WOMM within their own blogs, and how their readers responded to the endorsements. It was interesting to see how the content of a person’s blog impacts the norms that are expected within a certain community. It appears that context may matter in whether or not WOMM will be accepted by potential consumers. Jensen (2011) also discussed blogs and advertisements. However, this book chapter was more concerned with the ethics of sponsored posts. I was most alarmed by the idea of flogging. “Flogging occurs when fake or false accounts of happy imaginary customers and consumers are created (Jensen, 2011). I cannot believe that any company would risk their reputation by participating in such an unethical activity. I think that I agree with the idea of disclosure. If someone is being paid to post about a product, he or she should inform the readers of this happening. I can remember receiving a note from my apartment that offered to put me in a drawing for a cash prize (if I remember correctly) for posting a review about the complex. I do not believe that they said it had to be a positive review, but they gave an example in the note of a shining review. I did not participate. It just felt funny.

Although individuals may rely on WOM from other online users, it appears that the unethical acts by businesses and bloggers may bring into question the legitimacy of much of these claims. Willemsen et al. (2011) also pointed out that “negative arguments along with positive arguments contribute to higher perceived usefulness” when it comes to online consumer reviews. Therefore, it appears that blogs that display unwavering favoritism toward a brand or product, may not be judged as being useful to potential consumers. An individual reading a blog like this may assume some form of flogging, whether or not this has taken place.

References

Chia, A. (2012). Welcome to me-mart. The American Behavioral Scientist, 56, 421-438.

Jensen, R. (2011). Blogola, sponsored posts, and the ethics of blogging. In B. E. Drushel & K. German (Eds.), The ethics of emerging media: Information, social norms, and new media technology (pp. 213-232). New York: Continuum.

Kozinets, R. V., de Valck, K., Wojnicki, A. C., & Wilner, S. J. S. (2010). Networked narratives: Understanding word-of-mouth marketing in online communities. Journal of Marketing, 74(2), 71- 89.

Lusch, R. F., & Vargo, S. L. (2006). Service dominant logic: Reactions, reflections, and refinements. Marketing Theory, 6(3), 281-288.

Lusch, R.P., Vargo, S. L., and O’Brien, M., (2007), “Competing Through Service: Insights from Service-Dominant Logic,” Journal of Retailing, Vol. 83, No. 1, 5-18.

Ritzer, G., Dean, P., & Jurgenson, N. (2012). The coming of age of the prosumer. The American Behavioral Scientist, 56, 379-398.

Willemsen, L. M., Neijens, P. C., Bronner, F., & de Ridder, J. A. (2011). ‘Highly recommended!’ The content characteristics and perceived usefulness of online consumer reviews. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17(1), 19-38.

The antelope consume the grass and produce meat for the lions. The lions consume the antelope, die and produce grass for the antelope.  The nature of an ecosystem is defined by the ways in which all members consume and produce resources.  Economic systems are another form of ecosystem.  As such, each member of an economic system is and has always been both consumer and producer.  Ritzer et al correctly point out that the traditional consumer/producer dichotomy limits our understanding of social and cultural interactions.  However, rather than thinking in terms of members as prosumers, it would be more helpful to view those interactions as manifestations of the ecosystem.  Economic and power relationships can then be illuminated by understanding the ways in which resources are allocated.  In this way, we can understand that production is mediated by the basic needs of consumption.  The allocation of resources devoted to the production of a blog (time, and technology) are mediated by the consumption needs of the blogger (food and shelter).  Sustaining a blog can only be accomplished when its production does not consume more resources than are available to the blogger.  Popular and successful blogs require a good deal of time.  Time that could otherwise be spent working on something that returns more tangible rewards, like a job.  As the article states, very few blogs are actually consumed enough to sustain their producers.  In this regard, there is nothing special about bloggers.  Just ask any poet, actor, minor league ball player or any of a number of other professionals where all but the elite practitioners have to support their activities with another job.  For those blogger on the cusp of financial viability but worry about selling their souls, they can take heart that their dilemma is nothing new either.  How many musicians have faced “selling out” to make the big time? A closer corollary can be found in traditional forms of journalism and media.  Newspapers and broadcast networks constantly balanced independent reporting and production with the need to sell the advertising  which enable the production in the first place.  We have long since become comfortable with the paid spokesman on radio, tv, and in print.  Ethical questions arise when there in not transparency in the relationship.  We have enacted laws and other forms of regulation to create that transparency in older forms of media, and we will do the same for the blogosphere.  Regulation has always lagged behind technology and regardless of what is enacted, there are those who will find ways to exploit the system.  Caveat emptor!

This is a webinar that I received an e-mail advertising…

http://thompsoninteractive.com/site/offer.jsp?promo=001629EM&priority=00296004996&utm_source=00296004996&utm_medium=email

Immaterial labor seems like the natural way of things on the net. Ritzer, Dean and Jurgenson’s “The Coming of Age of the Prosumer,” provides a nice summary of prosumption as an idea that runs rampant on the Internet but isn’t limited strictly to computer-based activities. Mixing production with consumption has wormed its way into our lives in how we shop for food in supermarkets (cutting out the old-fashioned grocer and more recently the living cashier) and how we dine in fast food restaurants such as McDonalds. We, the prosumers, very willingly engage in labor that cuts costs for businesses. As this article hints at and this week’s other readings take on fully is the sense of community that is tied to the notion of prosumption and how that community perception and loyalty waxes and wanes dependent on the perceived influence of marketing and truthfulness.

The immediate formal result of prosumption on the Internet is evidenced in our co-creation of social network sites (something I had never considered as labor before), blogs, and virtual marketplaces such as Amazon.com. Interestingly, Jenny Davis’ article on Transableism, introduced in “The Coming of Age of the Prosumer,” is about healthy people who want to be disabled, which is relevant to prosumption as a co-creation of identity made possible by a website. I was reminded of Tobias Funke’s “never-nude” affliction on the show Arrested Development. With a supportive online community, a wide variety of identity-shaping psychic alterations seem likely to occur.

The rest of the readings took on the complicated task of figuring out how influence can be judged amongst the prosumer community. From weighing the “usefulness” of online peer reviews to the effects of blog advertising on the community of blog readers, the articles considered the issue from many angles. The ethical concerns of blogs measured in “Blogola…” by Ric Jensen were fascinating in a comparative consideration to journalism, a tradition that upholds certain frameworks and expected behaviors of reportage in an effort to remain a credible source of information. Being a credible source of information also means that you are who you say you are, not a corporation posing as a citizen news source/promotional opportunity.  “Networked Narratives: Understanding WOMM in Online Communities,” by Kozinets, Valck, Wojnicki and Wilner extends the ethical analysis to the blog reader community and how perception of a trustworthy, or at least consistent, blogger may shift when he or she is enlisted by marketers to participate in advertising campaigns. The case studies depicted in this article were a cool way of integrating empirical research.