How tech manufacturers manipulate reviews

Tricks hardware manufacturers (ab)use in order to control online reviews of their products. #misinfo

• Giveaways during reviews
  • Companies offer reviewers X copies of a product you haven't tested yet to give away to your followers.
  • Reviewers aren't gonna be critical of a product right before doing a giveaway.
• "Coming soon" features
  • Headline-worthy features that are not available at launch.
  • Reviewers can't test those features.
  • Reviewers end up including a couple of sentences about it straight from the manufacturer uncritically.
• Dual embargos
  • First impressions embargo at a certain date, and a full review embargo a couple of weeks later.
  • If a company restricts the reviewer, all reviewers can talk about on the first impressions embargo is shiny new features the company wants them to talk about.
  • Embargos are selectively applied. If your first impressions review ends up being a little too detailed or touches upon things the manufacturer doesn't like, they have an excuse to ask you to take it down.
• Exclusives/interviews
  • Masking negative publicity by timing exclusive access interviews.
  • Manufacturers will want to talk about new products in ways that flatter them, and (good) reviewers have to twist it into something that will not just be a promo.
• Out-of-context quotes
  • Taking (very short) quotes from reviewers out of context to portray the product in the best way possible.
  • Sometimes they'll mash them up together to display the product very idealistically, cutting out everything negative.

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