Over the past 16 years, technology critic Marques Brownlee has amassed more than 18 million subscribers on YouTube, and each of his videos receives millions of views.So he caused a bit of a stir when he recently reviewed Humane’s new product Ai Pin In a video titled “Worst product I’ve ever reviewed…so far”
Tech investor Daniel Vassallo tweeted:
I find it offensive and almost unethical to say this when you have 18 million subscribers.
It’s hard to explain why, but with great scope comes great responsibility. It’s the smell of carelessness that can ruin someone else’s early projects.
First, do no harm.
Vassallo wasn’t the only one fighting back against Brownlee.
Superlocal CEO Alex Kale said: Said“This @MKBHD review is disastrous for Humane’s future. Sales will be watered down even though the most trusted tech reviewers say it’s the worst product they’ve ever reviewed.” .”
Influencer Alex Finn tweeted“MKBHD bankrupted the company in 41 seconds.”
But Brownlee wasn’t the only one to slam Ai Ping. I have not yet read any positive reviews about this product. Brownlee is a fair and thoughtful person, so we believe his reviews are his honest opinions.
Changing attitudes towards technical reviews
But even if his review was disingenuous, it doesn’t matter because I’m not here to talk about Ai Ping or Marques Brownlee. I’m here to talk about expectations regarding technology reviews. I’ve been reviewing technology products for over 10 years and now work in marketing, so I’ve been on both sides. Rather than sending free products to journalists and influencers out of philanthropy or the love of a free press, marketing departments hope to earn free (or cheap) advertising in the form of positive reviews. and do it.
But journalists have other motives, or at least they should. Historically, journalists understood that doing something untruthful to their readers would damage their reputations and even the reputations of their publications. Marketers understood that shipping a product was like rolling the dice, and if they received a negative review, they had to accept the lump and move on. And sometimes, there’s no such thing as a bad reputation.
Most companies have a healthy attitude towards reviews. To Humane’s credit, Sam Sheffer, the company’s head of new media, said: Said, “Every honest, solid review is fair and valid criticism, and both good and bad feedback is a gift. We continue to reflect, listen, learn, and build.” He later added: Ta. “I’ve also watched almost every video he’s ever put out. He’s very good at his job. And I hope he continues to do what he does and stay true to himself and his craft. I encourage you to do so.”
This healthy attitude was much more common when I started in the industry, but then some things happened that changed the balance.
- Bloggers (like those at the now-defunct Gawker) realized they could get more traffic by being sarcastic and trolling everyone and everything.
- Technology companies and journalists became increasingly wary of each other.
- Marketers have become more demanding and precise, wanting to minimize negative reviews and maximize positive reviews.
Most importantly, social media influencers have larger audiences than traditional journalists. As a plus (for marketers), they had no training in journalistic ethics and were easily bribed. In most cases you didn’t even need to do this explicitly. Some random people who suddenly have a lot of followers are excited to receive free products to review. Reviews reflect that, especially when positive reviews have the implication of encouraging retention with a product.
As a result, technology companies have become quite spoiled and often expect positive reviews. One major technology company in particular was upset that I called the product best in its class and didn’t act amazing in my review. I don’t know how much better you could hope for than that.
Will Brownlee destroy Humane?
But here’s the problem. Brownlee may or may not be well-versed in journalistic ethics, but he’s built an empire on his words. His livelihood, and perhaps more importantly to him, the livelihood of his entire team, depends on viewers trusting his reviews.
I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I never volunteer to review a product that I think is the worst. That’s not my idea of fun. On a completely selfish level, spending a lot of time using inferior products is frustrating and unpleasant. And as I grew up, I also realized that the effort people put into these things didn’t work out as well as they expected. People with even a little bit of empathy don’t like to undermine other people’s efforts, even if it sucks.
Brownlee’s review is not a doom for Humane.A barrage of negative reviews from multiple media outlets maybe Humane is doomed, but what ultimately dooms Humane and other companies is shipping a bad product and running out of money before the company can fix it or ship a better product.
And if you want your product to receive good reviews, there’s a very easy way to do it. That means shipping good products. Also, if you want your product to get great reviews, don’t expect reviewers to be surprised by last year’s product with an extra layer of clear coat.
Expecting influencers and journalists to smooth over product failures out of a misplaced sense of capitalist charity is the definition of entitlement. At Return, we strive to highlight companies and products that use technology to make lives better. Additionally, we always do our best to provide honest and unbiased reviews of the products we cover.
