Facebook Star Rating - More reliable feature

Facebook tested this feature with places and pages, allowing users to pick between one to five stars to achieve an overall rating. This system is believed to be more accurate than the “like” system since manipulation isn’t as probable (allegedly). The problem with Facebook likes is that there are now so many fake likes that the system is almost useless, especially since people make endless fake profiles just to manufacture likes for a website or homepage. There is no way of knowing which are genuine and which aren’t, and it gives visitors an unrealistic impression of a product or service. Consider a company set up to scam people (unfortunately, they do exist) that buys 50,000 fake Facebook likes. Most people have no idea these are fake when visiting the site, so they can easily be conned out of money. This is an extreme scenario, but it is becoming all too common, as is the “buy Facebook likes” industry.

Stars will be averaged randomly

People often sell Facebook likes in the thousands, and it has become a MAJOR issue, although the new star rating system could possibly be a solution to that problem. With an average rating system in place, it will quickly become apparent which sites genuinely offer a quality product or service. People will immediately know who they can trust and how much they can trust them. Obviously, if a site has tens of thousands of ratings and averages out at one star, then it should be avoided. There is also a suggestion that nobody will have five stars, but three or above is considered good. Since this is a new system, it’s hard to say what impact it will have on businesses as a whole, but if a business has a quality product that people enjoy using, there shouldn’t be a problem.

New Star Rating will be hard to manipulate

One could argue that people will just manipulate this system in the same way they have with Facebook likes. However, they seem to have found a solution: that is, the system uses random samples rather than an entire collection of ratings, making manipulation difficult (though not impossible). It’s definitely a fairer system, but until we know all the facts, it’s hard to say whether it will be truly fair. Nonetheless, it does seem like a step in the right direction.
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