Difference between revisions of "Online Reputation Systems"
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== Trust == | == Trust == | ||
| − | Although not flawless, online reputation systems give "a reasonable indicator of a person's relative trustworthiness and reliability" <ref> Kwan, M. (2009-01-01). Trust and Online Reputation Systems. Computing with social trust, 287-311.doi:10.1007/978-1-84800-356-9_11 p. 291.</ref>. Online reputation systems are important because trust is more of a problem in online interactions than offline interactions. In the online realm, normal cues usually used for trust, such as body language, tone of voice, and facial expression, are missing. Trust in reputation systems | + | Although not flawless, online reputation systems give "a reasonable indicator of a person's relative trustworthiness and reliability" <ref> Kwan, M. (2009-01-01). Trust and Online Reputation Systems. Computing with social trust, 287-311.doi:10.1007/978-1-84800-356-9_11 p. 291.</ref>. Online reputation systems are important because [[trust]] is more of a problem in online interactions than offline interactions. In the online realm, normal cues usually used for trust, such as body language, tone of voice, and facial expression, are missing. Trust in reputation systems lets users know that other users have good intentions and that they are also capable of carrying out such intentions. |
== Information overload == | == Information overload == | ||
Revision as of 21:37, 7 December 2011
An online reputation system is a tool that combines collective feedback about users in order to share that information publicly. This is done so that users can gain trust and be comfortable about the validity and reliability of other users.
Online reputation systems do two things; they facilitate trustful interactions between strangers on the Internet and help to ease the problem of information overload.
Trust
Although not flawless, online reputation systems give "a reasonable indicator of a person's relative trustworthiness and reliability" [1]. Online reputation systems are important because trust is more of a problem in online interactions than offline interactions. In the online realm, normal cues usually used for trust, such as body language, tone of voice, and facial expression, are missing. Trust in reputation systems lets users know that other users have good intentions and that they are also capable of carrying out such intentions.
Information overload
The second component to online reputation systems is easing information overload. With all the information and feedback users can leave on the Internet, online reputation systems help consolidate and summarize the statistics. This all-inclusive approach to reputation-building also ensures that all interactions are recorded and ideally, treated as important.
Issues and flaws
There are some issues with implementing an online reputation system, both in terms of trust and in terms of information overload. Online reputations systems are unable to be implemented unless users are willing and able to to present user feedback. Without participation from its users, there is no information for the systems to present. The initial barrier to starting an online reputation is quite high. The first time a user joins an online setting that uses reputation systems, they are starting with a blank slate. Therefore other users maybe unwilling to conduct transactions with someone who has no reputation. This can create difficulties for creating a reputation when there is no basis for other users to trust them.
Another problem is that since new identities can usually be easily created, someone with a bad reputation can start over fresh without his full history attached. This can lead to deceitful, malicious behavior when other users' trust is exploited with this flaw.
The ways in which online reputation systems deal with information overload are not perfect either. Since most online reputation systems give an average score or total a number of responses, this lets individual cases sometimes slip by. A summary of a user's statistics does not give all the information, nor does it necessarily give all the important information.
In addition, these scoring systems can be manipulated into giving inaccurate portrayals of a user's online behavior history.
Types of systems
There are many different types of systems, each with various advantages and disadvantages. Some systems rate users on a numerical scale, others contain a collection of detailed responses, and others still can be a combination of those and other techniques. Also response can be voluntary or non-voluntary, depending on the design of the system.
Online reputation systems are used in many areas, including but not limited to
- Electronic markets
- News sharing websites
- Recommender systems
Online reputation systems have been thoroughly and scientifically analyzed in order to determine what makes a good online reputation system. Ming Kwan and Deepak Ramachandra, members of technology thinktank nGenera Insight, suggested certain guidelines for creating such a system. They suggest that a good system makes users accountable for their actions. This gives them an incentive to behave well in an online setting. Another important feature of a good online reputation system is having a system where reputation is hard to achieve, making a good reputation more valuable. Finally, they suggest providing tools for users to validate and authenticate other users so that trust may be established[2].
